Our arrival at the system that is home to the Ghost Planet is quick but none of the stories I have read or been told have prepared me in any way for what I see on my main view screen. Derelict ships of every size and shape imaginable drift lifelessly throughout the sector, their crews long gone or dead. Many of the ships predate known space travel and still other are designs unknown in this galaxy. A feeling of foreboding permeates the Sable as we navigate the floating wreckage of this starship graveyard. As we clear a massive destroyer the likes of which would make the Sathari envious I see the the vortex. A beam of energy connects it to the planet below and something immediately grabs my attention: Fully half of the planet has been torn away from the core creating and asteroid field as treacherous as any I have ever navigated. Every story and very once of research I have been privy to describes the planet as whole but with a thin atmosphere yet the planet before me has clearly been torn asunder and what atmosphere remains reads as thick and breathable. I call the senior officers to my briefing room along with Dr. Omega and his assistant to discuss this turn of events before we proceed.
Assembled around the conference table is The Doctor, Fred, The sage Caewon, Shadawar my first officer, and Sabrina my newly acquired chief engineer. The vertical windows in the back of the room clearly show the destruction and devastation we are about to address,
"Ladies and Gentlemen as you can see we have something of a problem, we are at the correct coordinates but a planet that should be in one piece clearly is not and we need to know why before we get and closer to that vortex which is dangerous enough on it's own. Doctor have you seen anything like in your travels?"
The doctor looks ponderous as if scanning through his vast memories to find some comparison with his brow furrowed he looks at me and says
"I have seen destruction of this magnitude before but there are typically traces of high levels of radiation and ionization from the discharge of a massive weapon of some sort which would be readily apparent to your scanners.'
"True," Shadawar adds "However, none of our scanners cked up radiation levels high enough to indicate the use of such a weapon."
Caewon stares out the window, his voice barely above a whisper, he says: "If one was simply going to demolish a planet then why bother replenishing the atmosphere? It doesn't make sense."
"I agree with Caewon's assessment, it wouldn't make sense unless..." Dr Omega's words trail off.
"Unless what?" I almost say "Idiot" since he stopped so abruptly but I resist the urge, if he knows something I want to hear it and the sooner the better.
"Unless that's not the ghost planet."
Everyone in the room looks stunned at that revelation, but if that's the case I'll know in a hot second.
"Chief Walters, I want you to luanch some probes to the other side of that planet and then scan the debris field and taking into account the various ships that are here. combine the data from the probes and our scans and see if there's enough debris in this asteroid field to account for one and a half planets."
"I'm on it captain."
"As for the rest of you, see what other theories you can come up with. I don't care how far out they might seem. If they're even slightly plausible I want to hear em."
Everyone agrees in turn and I head back to the bridge with Shadawar to help prep the launch bays for the probes. As soon as they're ready we launch. as the probes pass the vortex two of the seven fired are snagged by energy tendrils from the vortex as they and are instantly vaporized. The remaining five make it into position and we begin receiving data.
As the data is finished being analyzed I get an urgent call from engineering.
"Engineering to the bridge, captain Dr Omega and I know what's going on...beyond any shadow of a doubt. Gather everyone in the briefing room."
Within moment we are all reassembled and anxious to know what exactly is happening.
"Okay Chief tell us what you got."
"We scanned the debris field as you ordered and sent out the probes. What we found was that your suspicions are spot on. This planet isn't the ghost planet, and it doesn't match anything on file."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning it came here from somewhere else."
"How could that be?" Caewon asks.
"I'm glad you asked, The planet we're looking at can only have come from one place and the probe data confirmed it."
"And where is that chief, please keep in mind my patience is thin"
"Quite simply..." Dr. Omega says, it came from the vortex.
This revelation is a surprise indeed...and for me only brings up more questions.
Shadawar asks "How can an entire planet come out of that vortex, the apagey ism't nearly large enough to accommodate a battleship let alone an entire planet?"
"No true." the Doctor continues, "What you see with your eyes and what initially appear on scanners is something of an illusion, when subjected to tachyon burst the true scale of the vortex is nearly 12,000 miles wide more than enough to accommodate that planet. What remains of the ghost planet is largely debris and the side of the planet that we can see is relatively whole but where the two planets impacted is pure devastation. Still enough gravity remains to hold on to what precious little atmosphere remains."
"Okay then, doctor..." I ask breaking the silence of the stunned room. Where the hell is that beam of energy supplying the vortex coming from if not from the ghost world?"
Caewon interjects at this point and clears the whole mess up. "It's easy to figure out captain, the source of power is magical in nature." Gesturing to Shadawar he asks "Can't you feel it? That feeling of nausea and uneasiness like you're in the presence of something truly powerful?"
It sounds far fetched, a vortex sustained by magic, I have seen permanent spells that create light or other spells in place such as with swords and items of power even relics but nothing of this...sheer magnitude. Someone would have to tap into the very fabric of the energy that makes magic possible in order to do something like this. What were those fools thinking.
"So the vortex is self sustaining then? Regardless of any intervening forces even cataclysms like two planets smashing into one another?"
"It's hard to say for certain but I'd wager it's more likely than not given the evidence at hand."
Dear gods, what have I gotten us into.
"Okay everyone make whatever preparations you need to because we're gonna head straight for the center of that vortex and gods willing we'll make it there and back in one piece."
I only hope I'm making the right call here because the alternative is grim..very grim. |
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2016/10/26 17:52
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Re: The Ghost Planet
