“We wanna fly under the radar, so we’re going for Rokkla”, you say confidently. “Commandant Reddling, please set the course.”
Within seconds the course is set and the ship smoothly transitions to warp speed. The stars and planets visible through the front portals blur out of view and then back again.
“Sir”, Reddling exclaims, “we’re tracking a scrambled distress signal to our portside. It reads as an OEA ship...but the strange thing...is that it seems that the signal has been transmitting for over a decade.”
“What does the signal say, Commandant”, you ask.
“Mayday, mayday”, you hear over the intercom as Reddling plays the message. “Emergency distress signal...ship identification: OEA explorer-class Intrepid 504, crew: fifteen, status: all crew dead, ship severely damaged, cargo: high priority cargo - classified, please assist.”
“Computer”, you say, “check the database for the ship ‘Intrepid 504’.
You wait in silence as the ship scans its database.
“Ship: Intrepid 504”, the female voice on the computer complies.
“Last mission recorded: October 2133.”
“Mission Commander: Colonel Marshall Brooke”
“Mission details: Classified”
“Mission status: Contact with the Intrepid was lost as it was returning from deep space. Priority cargo was never returned. All rescue missions were aborted. Cause of disappearance unknown. Recovery of cargo of utmost importance. Any OEA ship coming into contact with the Intrepid should report its position immediately and secure the cargo for retrieval.”
“What shall we do sir”, Reddling asks. “We’re five minutes away from Rokkla...and to be honest, we’re already on a priority mission.”
“I’ve heard of this”, Lieutenant Commander Shields chips in. “I did a brief stint in Intelligence and there the story was somewhat of a legend. It was referred to as the Intrepid mystery.” Looking around, Shields saw that she had everybody’s attention and continued.
“Rumour has it that the Intrepid was rigged with a prototype inter-dimensional transporter. A device that could apparently enable the ship to explore other dimensions. However the theory behind it was somewhat questionable. For the ship to make inter dimensional jumps, it required obscene amounts of energy. Energy that could be tapped from high-energy fields in supernovas. Brooke was ordered to take the ship out to a supernova known as Thor’s pillars. It was on the fringes of charted space back then. Anyway, apparently they made the journey safely there and ‘jumped’ the super nova as it was called. However, as far as anybody could tell, they never made the return journey. The project for the pursuit of inter dimensional travel called ‘Tartarus’ was stopped after the failed mission. Nobody knows what dimension they were heading for or what the details of their mission were. It was also mentioned that they have a high priority cargo, but whether this refereed to the prototype device that could enable inter dimensional travel, or if it referred to something they picked up on the other side, was never clear...One thing has always been clear though, the OEA would love to get their hands on the lost Intrepid 504.”
“What do we do, Captain”, Reddling asks after a moment of silence.
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