Chapter Sixty-One (Kark)

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.299

Arrived at Starbase-4973 with the Dakota and our crew. Turned over information to the local Starfleet representative as well as SUDS data for the other ship's crews. Spoke to Commodore Dunsten of Starfleet who requested a template for what changes the Dakota has undergone. Was counseled that my point totals will not count toward any ladder rankings due to 'extreme non-canon changes' to the Dakota as well as my crew personal armaments and shuttle modifications.

In shocking news, the Battlestar Fleet and the Cylon Collection have arrived. Talk about the big guns. Those guys carry the big Creation Engines that can pump out a Viper or Cylon fighters in roughly 10 seconds with only a 30 second cooldown/slushdown feature.

Met with the Space Force representative and turned over my battle logs. He, in particular, wanted the in-depth scans we performed on the various Precursor ships. Our practice of boarding the ships is, at this time, the most common strategy.

We discussed the fact that Space Force considers forcing the Precursor vessels out of the system to by a phyrric victory and that the system will require a heavy metal posting. Was also informed that the fact that the Precursor fleet retreated from the planets and then from the system was a 'statistical oddity' and he wanted more scans. He also inquired as to whether or not I ran an in-depth scan on the gas giants, which is where the Goliaths were spawning from. I regret I had not, merely a scan for a Goliath.

He appears quite concerned with the actions undertaken but did congratulate me on defending the system.

Transphasic Photon Torpedoes are considered standard armaments for all Starfleet vessels from here on out. There is talk of smaller planet-crackers being put in use among the crew, but planet crackers rely on the mantle to core interaction. Quantum torpedoes are nothing option that I am seriously considering. Phased plasma torpedoes are largely considered in the OP-Class of weaponry but I am seriously considering just loading everything up and going for broke. Tricobalt missiles might be another option but the last time anyone used that was during the Fifth Dominion War. The Dakota is so far out of specifications that mounting such weapons is not as far fetched as it may have sounded a month ago.

It isn't like anything we're going to do is going to count for the leaderboads.

On a personal note, some of the crew members have reported headaches from their SUDS interfaces. McCoy is working on it, but he also warned that the transporter may have to be reconfigured after the discovery that the Precursors can hijack the signal and capture crew members that way.

Starfleet transporters are much more carefully aligned than the earlier 'mat-trans' and 'teleporter' systems used by the 40K LARPers. Safety interlocks prevent our transporters from being used in many cases that a teleporter could be used, require more power, and have a triple-feedback redunancy check.

An amusing point: Teleporter systems seem to go straight through the shields. McCoy and Spock both believe that lengthened amount of time for buffer checking allows the Precursor shielding to be adjusted for the algorythm used by Starfleet vessels.

Another amusing point: During my LFG call, the Wesleys were lined up around the station core. Nobody is taking them on these, despite the class advantages because, outside of structured missions for Starfleet Games, nobody is going to suddenly have Wesley Weaknesses just because.

On a personal note: My Riker has grown out his beard and has been socializing with his Space Force peers in order to get us more information on this threat.'

--Picard 8873

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.304

One thing they don't mention in the sheer amount of time you spend moving from place to place. Warp drive is highly efficient and safe compared to stringdrive, slipstream, gates, and jumpspace. Unlike hyperspace, AI's are able to remain conscious in warp. Still, I feel the urge to yell "GO FASTER" at the warp nacelles.

My Spock took me to the side and warned me that Starfleet vessels may be making a serious mistake. Often, the Precursors take damage and flee the system, using Hellspace to jump out. He has noticed that after roughly 8% of their structure is damaged they then flee. He also had checked Starfleet records.

I'm the only vessel, at this time, running transphasic photon torpedoes.

He has suggested an experiment. Utilize transphasic torpedoes, phased plasma torpedoes, but leave one out of every barrage of 10, with the phased plasma torpedoes, with a subspace beacon. In that manner, we can discover where they are running off to.

My Spock has put forward the theory, and my Scotty and LaForge, as well as my Riker, all agree.

They have refitting, repair, and construction bases somewhere.

Perhaps our plan to put a phased subspace beacon aboard one of the larger vessels will pan out.

I do feel concern about what my crew and I might find in a Precursor shipyward.

--Picard 8873

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.306

We have returned to the system that myself and the others had cleared. In particular, we are running long range sensor scans of the gas giants. My Chekov has suggested, and I concur, that getting in close and running more detailed but shorter range scans might put us too close.

I would really like to avoid a barrage of nCv shells.

Our Uhura (She's extremely qualified and did not object to me doublechecking her bonafides) is keeping a careful ear out for any Precursor transmissions.

I have left orders that at the faintest whisper of Precursor code the Dakota is to move to red alert.

The system looks empty, but there is something that makes me think that there are only four lights.

--Picard 8873

ADDENDUM: There is apparently no structures or other masses in the gas giant at the depths our long range passive scanners can reach.

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.307

Our Uhura spotted it first. Subspace whispers. Complex and shifting binary, barely audible. While others suggested we move in, trying to get a lock in on what was whispering across subspace in such a manner I ordered the ship to immediately go to silent running, no emissions.

We observed a Goliath exit Hellspace near the larger gas giant, streaming vapor and metal, its attendant vessels exiting with it. As we watched it allowed the attendant vessels to board through the massive docking ports.

Sidenote: Some of those docking bays are the size of the real San Francisco Ultraplex.

The 'whispers' picked up and the massive Goliath sank into the gas giant.

My crew's estimation that the three initially engaged Goliaths of our last action had repaired themselves was confirmation bias.

For a bare moment the whisper got louder and the Goliath that had sunk into the gas giant was in plain view on our passive long range scanners then it simply vanished.

The belief of my Spock and Scotty is that the Precursors have some kind of shielded refit structure inside the gas giant beyond the scanner horizon. LaForge has stated that the pressures at such depth would make any construction or repairs inordinately difficult.

My Riker reminded LaForge that the Precursors were engaged in a war when they vanished and these bases are not only war-time bases, but that there are no living crews to worry about.

I ordered my crew to remain on silent running. There is enough debris on that planet to cover a probe approach. My LaForge has suggested putting a probe data relay in the Oort Cloud to give the signals a few 'bounces' and to use only phased tachyon streams with reversed polarity.

Sometimes I wish we didn't have all our own names for technology. Why could he have just said paired quark communications?

--Picard 8873

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.309

The probe was moved into place carefully, following a piece of debris from the previous battle. During this time our Uhura caught another scrap of what she has come to call "Precursor Whispers" from the other gas giant.

My Spock reminded me that the intense pressures inside a massive gas giant could make foundry work easier, allowing the creation of hyperalloys that we need massive foundries for to utilize the inherent pressures of a massive gas giant to create 'alloy farms' inside the gas giant.

A disturbing thought indeed.

Another ship type has arrived, which I have labeled the Enki class Precursor, has arrived and taken to carefully going over the debris fields of the Starfleet battle.

Thankfully the Klingon and Romulan officers routinely utilize anti-matter charges to clear any debris from the destruction of our ships.

It moved to the wreckage of the mining ship and has been spending time there. It is at extreme range and I am becoming nervous about what it is doing.

The Precursor attitudes within this star system are concerning.

Have you ever looked at an inanimate machine, with no living characterization like a Data possesses, and thought to yourself "What are you up to?" as you watched it?

I have that unique experience.

They are up to something.

--Picard 8873

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.310

The probe provided us with valuable information that is critical to disseminate.

We are now, to use my Riker's phrase: running like a bat out of hell.

Passive scans can only penetrate to a certain depth within a gas giant. Starfleet has been largely worried about planetary scans as well as deep space and intrasystem scans. Combine it with the fact we use a lot of gamification in our systems, gas giants were largely used as "spawn points" for crafts. This meant that, naturally, our scanners largely could not penetrate deeply into gas giants.

My Scotty and LaForge re-calibrated the sensor arrays to get a good look inside the gas giant.

My Spock was right. The Precursor was 'growing' large alloy fields down there. There was a repair and manufacturing base the size a continent down inside the gas giant with massive 'alloy farms' around it. Before the scale would have shocked me until my Spock pointed out that the Great Eye of Jupiter is twice the size of Terra itself. Nearly two dozen Precursor vessels were 'docked' at the facility.

Discussions on how to 'deal with' this massive repair and refit base were discussed at a closed meeting of my command crew. It ranged from using a Genesis Device on the gas giant (Not recommended. My LaForge stated that the Precursor ships we are facing here are more adept at 'learning' than previously encountered Precursor types and the last thing we should do is provide them with planet killers that create more resources) to attempting to use a modified planet cracker on the gas giant (Again, tabled due to concerns the Precursors would imitate it).

We settled on phasic trans-phasic photon torpedoes mixed with tricobat missiles.

Out attack was dual: Destroy the debris field of the Romulus class mining vessel, which was being thoroughly combed over by Enki class Precursor vessels, damage or perhaps even destroy the facility and the 'alloy farms' inside the gas giants.

We came in from above the stellar plane, at a high velocity angle. When facing Precursor vessels your speed and maneuverability are key to staying alive. We fired probes while still 25 million miles above the stellar plane. We came in with only debris shields at full power.

The probes reported back that while there were life signs on the planets in the Green and Amber zones the Precursor vessels around those planets and upon the surface were not engaged in wholesale slaughter or destruction. We practically turned the sensors inside out getting deep scans of everything.

Once in range (Starfleet weaponry is somewhat, to use my Riker's term: short legged compared to Space Force line weaponry) I ordered a full scan at maximum power and resolution. Normally this is avoided to prevent damage to sentient beings and xeno-species but the Precursors aren't a foe that one should concern themselves with scanner-burn.

Percursor vessels were not rising from the gas giants. While some immediately launched or moved to engage us from various points in the system, sheer distance and geometry prevented any attacks. At 30 million miles even nCv weapons or phaser beams move too slowly to engage a ship the size of the Dakota. We launched weapons and immediately began accelerating to be able to put enough distance between any Precursor vehicles and our own vessel.

We got our scan data back and immediately realized that engaging the Precursor vessels was now a secondary, if not tertiary, mission.

All four of the gas giants contained refit facilities of a size that is best described as 'geological'.

That was not the key data.

Our Uhura was able to isolate the 'Precursor Whisper' and while unable to decode it, was able to confirm what it is.

FTL data-streams.

Their battle, strategic, and tactical network.

The planets, while full of life and possessing several species known to be "Unified Civilized Races", were all at Stone Age technology. Precursor vessels were moving to protect the planets and their inhabitants for an unknown reason.

This information is vital to Starfleet, Space Force, and all other Confederacy organizations.

--Picard 8873

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.311

The Dakota has now had its very own AbramsKhan moment.

We were fired on in warp drive.

The Precursor vessel mounted one of the Galaxy class Starfleet vessel's engines and pursued us. With a lighter frame, higher energy output, and not having to concern itself with warp drive effects upon living beings, it was not only able to catch up to us, but fire upon us.

My Riker has stated that anyone who mocks up for having such thick armor after this will be starting a brawl.

We are alive only because of my insistence on heavy armor, structural integrity fields running the same type of shield frequency algorithms as our main deflector shields, with dual structural fields layered between armor and structural layers.

Immediately upon being fired upon we dropped out of warp drive to engage the small Precursor vessel. Chekov stated it would be between stellar bodies and it should have been a bare battlefield with not even gas wisps.

Instead, we dropped into a half dozen Jotun class vessels waiting for us.

We are currently undergoing evasive warp maneuvering as estimated by my Spock and my LaForge.

--Picard 8873

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.313

They're attempting to "drive" us deeper into the Dead Zone.

This gives us a fairly unusual opportunity. We can see what they are attempting to push us into or we can attempt to escape.

Spock and Scotty believe that it is imperative we discover what it is that the Precursors believe can take us out compared to the Jotuns following us.

Riker and LaForge maintain our goal should be reaching Federation/Confederate Space.

I believe I have a better idea.

--Picard 8873

Captain's Log - Stardate 8532.315

Rather than allow us to be pushed further into the Dead Zone I ordered the ship to move at a right angle to the galactic plane at full warp 9.3. While this can interfere with SUDS uploads and storage I have decided that the risk is necessary.

Captain's Log - Stardate 8532.317

The Precursor machines are still in close pursuit. They are arranging for attempted ambushes. LaForge has theorized that the one following us, which is a warp capable photon-torpedo launcher welded to the the Galaxy class engine and wrapped in neutronium armor, sends out a "whisper" as soon as it sees the 'warp flare' from our engines. That enables the Precursor vessels to Helljump to where we will be exiting.

Scotty has a plan.

Luckily, I did not dump my old class data, so I have a Kirk knowledge database.

Spock is overriding the interlocks to allow me to access that knowledge.

It is risky, but acceptable.

Captain's Log - Stardate 8532.317 - Supplmental

By utilizing the holodeck, a blank SUDS, and carefully aligned emitters, Spock believes I will be able to load the data from the Kirk character class into my memories despite being a Picard. He will attempt to use his Mind Meld ability to keep me from collapsing under a dual class.

The Precursor Pursuer will be in range inside of 30 minutes.

I have no choice.

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.317.7

The melding was somewhat successful. I have conflicting emotions and desires regarding many subjects but thankfully both my knowledge and personality templates are Starfleet officers. By use of the Mind Meld my Spock was able to use an older exploit involving class rank and player knowledge.

Contrary to popular opinion, Kirk classes are not womanizing hot-heads (Despite AbramsEra semi-canon) but rather highly innovative early Starfleet officers. It is just that the mission files force Kirk to use half-experimental technology in innovative ways in order to overcome unknown experiences and foes. One of the things often overlooked is Kirk made the rank of Admiral and was quite cautious in many ways.

Still, the dissonance between a Picard and a Kirk class is quite intense.

I am suffering nosebleeds. McCoy says it is from intercranial pressure as my brain attempts to sort through the information.

I have not informed him of the fact I have a severe SUDS hangover.

--Picark 8873

Captain's Log - Stardate 8532.318

After examining old scans of the Galaxy class ship that was defeated I was able to ascertain its hull number. Using that number, and knowledge possessed by an Admiral Level Kirk Class, when the Precursor Pursuer came close enough to fire I was able to drop its warp-shields. The Precursor Pursuer was exposed to raw warp energy at that time, inhibiting its ability to see the Dakota, specifically causing us to appear much further ahead in the warp conduit.

The Precursor Pursuer fell back and I ordered the Dakota to move to Emergency Warp Speed.

9.998 Okuda Scale

The Precursor Pursuer immediately went to maximum speed of the Galaxy class engine attached to little more than armor, bare shields, and a torpedo launcher.

Warp 10.

Without Transwarp shielding or any other technology, the Precursor Pursuer achieved infinite velocity and infinite mass.

The explosion damaged the Dakota and left us drifting in normal space.

Scotty and LaForce estimate repair times of 3 weeks.

--Picark 8873

Captain's Log - Stardate 8532.325

We are again underway after our successful destruction of the Precursor Pursuit vessel.

Maximum warp is limited to Warp 5.4.

Estimated time of arrival at Starbase 4973 is 11 days.

--Picark 8873

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.332

My SUDS has been scrambled and bad. I'm no longer Jeffery van Leedle, born on Rigel, but instead and curious combination of the character neural templates and my old personality.

Scotty, McCoy, and LaForge are examining me. Not in any hopes of untwining the personalities, but rather to forward the information to SoulNet in hopes that it can be prevented for occurring to others, no matter how unusual the circumstances.

The 'Gamed' memories no longer have the distinguishable overlay that Starfleet uses for safety measures. Instead, all of my memories feel the same.

Which is... confusing.

I remember racing a motorcycle in the wheat fields of Oklahoma, outside of Paris, under a Rigellian red sky.

My gestalt personality agrees that it is worth it for the information we have and to save my ship and my crew.

--Jeff Picark 8873

Captain's Log - Stardate 8532.334

Pro-term Acting Captain Riker-2173 commanding. Previous Captain suffering the effects of the SUDS/Template merger needed to access information to allow the destruction of the Precursor Pursuer.

Captain Jeff Picark was relieved of command, with acceptance and willingly, two hours ago.

Bridge and Command Officers are in agreement with this action.

We are two days out of Starbase 4973.

--Riker 2173

Captain's Personal Log - Stardate 8532.335

Would I have done it, knowing what I do now?

Yes.

My SUDS cannot update. The neural template recordings fragment and unravel.

I am no longer immortal.

But there is no such thing as only human. Humans, without the SUDS, accomplished incredible feats with just grit and determination.

However, I can no longer participate in active combat Starfleet games. Two hundred years of LARP down the tubes.

I made a good choice with my Riker. The hardest thing to do is relieve your Captain for cause.

He had good cause.

--Jeff Picark 8873

Captain's Log - Stardate 8532.336

I have docked the Dakota and am granting shore leave to crew. Captain Picark was taken to the Space Force infirmary via stretcher with McCoy in attendance.

Our mission is complete. Space Force has our data in their possession.

For some reason, the Precursors keep entire worlds of roughly half the xeno-sapients of the Unified Civilized Races.

Gas Giants must now be treated as Precursor base risks.

I am hoping "Jeff" recovers. The fact that he remembered an ancient piece of lore from OldTrekKhan is, honestly, impressive. Undergoing an in-mission partial respec was risky.

Will report to Starfleet and see what happens.

--Riker 2173

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STARFLEET GAMING CENTRAL NOTICE

Jeffery van Leedle, player number 7c345a7e1-8873, is hereby promoted to Starfleet Admiral and is hereby recalled to Earth-42 to Starfleet Headquarters in New-SanFran.

In accordance to his wishes the Dakota a non-canon America class ship, is hereby given to Riker 56a817c38f2-2173, including all templates and player rewards.

-----NOTHING FOLLOWS-------

SPACE FORCE MEMO

ALL CAPTAINS

Initial estimations of 30-50 Goliath class total forces in is error.

New ship types encountered, new facilities discovered (See Attached File).

-----NOTHING FOLLOWS---------

CONFED MEMO

Mantid, any idea what this is about?

----NOTHING FOLLOWS-------

MANTID FREE WORLDS

Beyond "cattle worlds" we cannot estimate why Precursors, of all things, would have the older races, reduced to primitive, on worlds just being observed.

-----NOTHING FOLLOWS--------

BLACK CRUSADE

Experimentation, idiots. That Balor Hellship should have made you think of that.

They're trying to figure out a way to counter us.

------NOTHING FOLLOWS------