Trembles in subspace

Posted on Tue Jul 1st, 2025 @ 3:14pm by Warrant Officer Gen'Terta CrystalCliff

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Primary science lab
873 words - 1.7 OF Standard Post Measure

The door to the science lab slid open with a soft hiss. Warrant Officer Gen’tetra Crystalcliff stepped inside with the near-silent grace of her kind, the subtle swish of her long, snowy tail the only indication of her movement. Her luminous green eyes flicked across the glowing readouts on the wrist-mounted interface of her field armor.

“Those calculations are off by a factor of 3.44,” she muttered, eyes narrowing. “Computer, rerun the simulation. Bypass the safety filter on dilithium resonance tolerances.”

Her tone was low, clipped, betraying tension behind her usual calm.

“Dilithium?” came a voice from across the room. Ensign Kira Noras, a young human science officer, looked up from her console in the corner. “What are you working on?”

Gen’tetra didn’t answer right away. Her eyes remained on her readout for another few seconds before she glanced up, ears twitching slightly.

“I am attempting to replicate an experiment I contributed to on a previous assignment,” she said at last, voice as soft as it was composed. “Concerning subspace wave propagation.”

Kira leaned back in her chair, interest piqued. “I don’t think I’ve seen that one in the logs. Have you had any positive results?”

“Federation systems appear to have built-in restrictions that prevent the full sequence from running,” Gen said with a flick of her ear. “There’s a security subroutine. Something referencing the prohibition on subspace weaponry.”

That set off quiet alarms in Kira’s mind. She tried not to let it show. “Weaponry?” she repeated carefully. “Is that what you're working on? Weapons?”

“No,” Gen’tetra replied flatly, her tail twitching in mild agitation. Then, softening her tone, she added, “It’s a theoretical hypothesis. One that still unsettles me.”

Kira stood up and walked a little closer, arms loosely folded. “If you want to give me the rundown, I might be able to help with the overrides. I don’t mind helping you run a simulation… but I need to know what I’m authorizing.”

The vulpine officer hesitated, ears flattening slightly as her eyes shifted to the deck for a moment. She exhaled slowly. “A self-propagating subspace wave,” she began carefully, “created by a fault in the lensing system of a subspace telescope array. It’s only a theory, of course—but the implications are disturbing.”

Kira’s brow furrowed. “Alright… so in your simulation, you’re theorizing that a malfunction—or design—could trigger a fault that spreads through subspace?”

“Yes,” Gen’tetra said softly. “A distortion wave that could, theoretically, disrupt warp fields… or pull vessels violently out of warp mid-flight.”

Kira blinked. “Just… throw a ship out of warp?”

“If I’m right,” Gen said gravely. “It wouldn’t just be one ship. Under the right circumstances—enough energy, the right frequency modulation—it could destabilize subspace across an entire sector.”

Kira glanced back at her terminal and started logging into her credentials. “Well, I don’t have a problem helping you simulate this, but let’s make sure we’re careful. We’ve got enough weird passengers and transients aboard lately, and we’re deep in Circinus sector—barely within Federation reach. Let’s not give anyone ideas if they go snooping.”

Gen’tetra’s expression was unreadable for a moment. Then she gave a tired sigh, her ears flicking back again. “I’m not attempting to build a device. Only to analyze anomalous energy patterns in dilithium-rich environments. But… I’ll scrub the simulation if this makes you uncomfortable.”

Kira raised a hand. “No, no, I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about someone else stumbling across your work and drawing the wrong conclusions. We're isolated out here. I just want to make sure your research stays under wraps—for your safety and ours.”

The Arten nodded slowly, rubbing at the bridge of her muzzle. “Understood. I should have consulted with you first. I’ll take additional precautions going forward.”

“No apology necessary,” Kira said with a reassuring smile. “Honestly, I get it. This place is practically a floating lab of secrets. Let’s just make sure this one stays behind the right doors.”

Kira keyed in a few more commands and nodded toward the screen. “Alright, you should have limited clearance to run your test environment. Let me see what you’re trying to simulate exactly.”

Gen’tetra took a deep breath and tapped her wrist-mounted controls, linking them to the terminal.

“The premise is to induce sympathetic subspace waveforms in a contained dilithium dish—ten kilometers across, ten centimeters deep,” she explained. “By generating phased pulses at the outer edge, and a focused hard pulse at the center, the dish would theoretically amplify subspace emissions enough to disrupt warp fields in a localized region.”

Kira whistled lowly. “That’s... terrifying. But I see the logic.”

She began typing. “Okay, I’m applying temporary overrides to allow your environment to run unrestricted within this lab only. We’ll sandbox the simulations—no external network access. That work for you?”

Gen’tetra nodded, still clearly uneasy. “If the simulations confirm my fears, I’ll flag it to command through official channels. Quietly. I… want to be wrong.”

Kira nodded in agreement. “That makes two of us.”