A little more story stuff, because why not?
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USS Indiana Jones (NCC-1936)
Unnamed planet, system designation SILVER SAINT MARY
May 3, 2024
One of the most important things when conducting archaeology is the site survey: getting a general feel for the size and layout of a dig site is critical, not just for the context of the site but also to make sure that you don’t accidentally park your port-a-johns on top of something important. When doing a dig hundreds of light years away from Earth, the site survey becomes even more critical. In the brave new world of the twenty-first century, the traditional surveyor’s techniques had been enhanced by the use of long-range orbital scans, which would get a snapshot of how big the site was before sending the archaeologists in to do things the hard way.
So as the Indiana Jones drifted in low orbit over its target, the scientists had little to do but wait for the scans to finish, look out the window at the off-green world below them and gossip.
“So they still haven’t named this rock yet?” One of the geophysicists said. “It’s been, what, a month? Two?”
“Oh you wouldn’t believe how crazy it is right now,” Jade Hasegawa said, ears drooping. “Communications is like in open war with ballot-stuffing channers. An entire eastern European country’s worth of computers are trying to force ‘Planet Dickbutt’ through the website. Aunt Katze’s just about ready to send in the marines—like actual Fleet Marines. It’s just nuts.” She sighed dramatically. “We should just name the stupid thing Bob and be done with it.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’ll work any more than Planet Dickbutt,” the geophysicist pointed out.
“Yeah, I suppose.”
The annunciator chimed. “Bridge to lab,” the XO’s voice said. “We’re coming up on the Tannhauser signature. Scanners are hot.”
“Understood, bridge,” Jade replied. “We’ll take it from here.” The waiting over, the lab section shifted into gear as scientists took their assigned consoles and started pulling feeds from the Indiana Jones’s sensor array. Jade took control of the main array and pointed it at a hot spot in the Tannhauser display. “Okay guys let’s get ready. Target should be coming into visual in five minutes.”
Five minutes later the ship crawled over the unnamed planet’s limb and the visual scanners picked up their first glimpse of the target. The image was pretty stark: a large, pronged tower draped in thick vines, jutting out of a mound in the center of the plain. Where the bare surface was visible the metal glittered the unmistakable red-gold color of stargate alloy. “Woof, okay yeah that’s our boy,” Jade said, aiming the sensor array. “Confirmed Tannalloy readings, getting some stuff on the manatron too. Looks like it’s got residual magical signature if nothing else. Anybody else got anything?”
“I’m looking at the mounds around the structure,” replied an archaeologist. “Those look really regular for dunes. Might be building remains.”
“Check that maybe,” the sensor operator said. “I’m picking up refined aluminum, some hydrocarbon... might be plastics, and maybe some handwavium. I think we’ve got a settlement.”
“Have we seen anything like this elsewhere?” Jade asked.
“Not yet, but if it’s in that level of disrepair we might not have seen it on the low-gain. We only have this resolution on the scanners because of the Tannhauser signature.”
“Hrm.” Jade tapped open a comlink. “Lab to bridge: when we get a spare moment put in a request for a dozen or so satellites with high-gain planetary survey scanners. We’ve got signs of prior settlement but we can’t tell if this was an outpost, a colony or a homeworld from here.”
“Understood,” the duty officer said after a brief pause. “We’ll let Command know on the next message buoy. Have you made any progress on our signature?”
“Only that it’s pretty big, still intact and it hasn’t shot at us yet. We’ll let you know more as we figure it out. Lab out.”
Excerpt from “The Weave Gazetteer” (2034):
“THE STATIONMASTER: An artifact believed to be of Builder manufacture found on the surface of [REDACTED] during the initial survey of the Core Node systems. The Stationmaster is a vertical pillar of gate metal reaching some 550 meters from the prairie of [REDACTED]’s northeastern continent, making it easily visible for kilometers in all directions. Researchers believe the tower to be hollow, or at least that much like the gates more complex machinery can be found within but to date have not found an access point to the interior. The Stationmaster is believed to be active in some fashion, as it emits a steady stream of RF and manatronic radiation.
The area around the Stationmaster includes the ruins of a settlement established roughly 8,000 BP. This settlement (nicknamed “Shining Time Station” by the surveyors) appears to have been built well after the Builders visited [REDACTED] and is clearly focused on the Stationmaster. The exact purpose of the settlement; scientific, religious or otherwise, is still a matter of some debate as little useful data has been gleaned from excavation...”
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
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USS Indiana Jones (NCC-1936)
Unnamed planet, system designation SILVER SAINT MARY
May 3, 2024
One of the most important things when conducting archaeology is the site survey: getting a general feel for the size and layout of a dig site is critical, not just for the context of the site but also to make sure that you don’t accidentally park your port-a-johns on top of something important. When doing a dig hundreds of light years away from Earth, the site survey becomes even more critical. In the brave new world of the twenty-first century, the traditional surveyor’s techniques had been enhanced by the use of long-range orbital scans, which would get a snapshot of how big the site was before sending the archaeologists in to do things the hard way.
So as the Indiana Jones drifted in low orbit over its target, the scientists had little to do but wait for the scans to finish, look out the window at the off-green world below them and gossip.
“So they still haven’t named this rock yet?” One of the geophysicists said. “It’s been, what, a month? Two?”
“Oh you wouldn’t believe how crazy it is right now,” Jade Hasegawa said, ears drooping. “Communications is like in open war with ballot-stuffing channers. An entire eastern European country’s worth of computers are trying to force ‘Planet Dickbutt’ through the website. Aunt Katze’s just about ready to send in the marines—like actual Fleet Marines. It’s just nuts.” She sighed dramatically. “We should just name the stupid thing Bob and be done with it.”
“Somehow I don’t think that’ll work any more than Planet Dickbutt,” the geophysicist pointed out.
“Yeah, I suppose.”
The annunciator chimed. “Bridge to lab,” the XO’s voice said. “We’re coming up on the Tannhauser signature. Scanners are hot.”
“Understood, bridge,” Jade replied. “We’ll take it from here.” The waiting over, the lab section shifted into gear as scientists took their assigned consoles and started pulling feeds from the Indiana Jones’s sensor array. Jade took control of the main array and pointed it at a hot spot in the Tannhauser display. “Okay guys let’s get ready. Target should be coming into visual in five minutes.”
Five minutes later the ship crawled over the unnamed planet’s limb and the visual scanners picked up their first glimpse of the target. The image was pretty stark: a large, pronged tower draped in thick vines, jutting out of a mound in the center of the plain. Where the bare surface was visible the metal glittered the unmistakable red-gold color of stargate alloy. “Woof, okay yeah that’s our boy,” Jade said, aiming the sensor array. “Confirmed Tannalloy readings, getting some stuff on the manatron too. Looks like it’s got residual magical signature if nothing else. Anybody else got anything?”
“I’m looking at the mounds around the structure,” replied an archaeologist. “Those look really regular for dunes. Might be building remains.”
“Check that maybe,” the sensor operator said. “I’m picking up refined aluminum, some hydrocarbon... might be plastics, and maybe some handwavium. I think we’ve got a settlement.”
“Have we seen anything like this elsewhere?” Jade asked.
“Not yet, but if it’s in that level of disrepair we might not have seen it on the low-gain. We only have this resolution on the scanners because of the Tannhauser signature.”
“Hrm.” Jade tapped open a comlink. “Lab to bridge: when we get a spare moment put in a request for a dozen or so satellites with high-gain planetary survey scanners. We’ve got signs of prior settlement but we can’t tell if this was an outpost, a colony or a homeworld from here.”
“Understood,” the duty officer said after a brief pause. “We’ll let Command know on the next message buoy. Have you made any progress on our signature?”
“Only that it’s pretty big, still intact and it hasn’t shot at us yet. We’ll let you know more as we figure it out. Lab out.”
~***~
Excerpt from “The Weave Gazetteer” (2034):
“THE STATIONMASTER: An artifact believed to be of Builder manufacture found on the surface of [REDACTED] during the initial survey of the Core Node systems. The Stationmaster is a vertical pillar of gate metal reaching some 550 meters from the prairie of [REDACTED]’s northeastern continent, making it easily visible for kilometers in all directions. Researchers believe the tower to be hollow, or at least that much like the gates more complex machinery can be found within but to date have not found an access point to the interior. The Stationmaster is believed to be active in some fashion, as it emits a steady stream of RF and manatronic radiation.
The area around the Stationmaster includes the ruins of a settlement established roughly 8,000 BP. This settlement (nicknamed “Shining Time Station” by the surveyors) appears to have been built well after the Builders visited [REDACTED] and is clearly focused on the Stationmaster. The exact purpose of the settlement; scientific, religious or otherwise, is still a matter of some debate as little useful data has been gleaned from excavation...”
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"