The Box Is Opened

Posted on Mon Oct 7th, 2024 @ 2:53pm by Commodore Jacob Kane

Mission: Pandora's Box
Location: USS Athena - Ready Room
Timeline: MD-01
726 words - 1.5 OF Standard Post Measure

The summons had been curt, and the request for immediate attendance had been akin to someone triggering the Omega protocols, though without locking down the entire starship. Kane had barely had time for a morning coffee when the unceremonious summons had come through.

He didn't recognise the Admiral on the other end of the secure communications channel. A dark blue Bolian with a more serious expression than most of his kind stared through the screen at him. The fact that it wasn't Dulac or Minawara immediately gave him pause.

"Commodore Kane. Forgive the abrupt nature of the call," the Bolian Admiral nodded. In typical parlance, nobody was really asking for forgiveness when saying that. It felt more like a tradition at this point. "Fleet Command sends their apologies, things are moving at a rapid pace, I'm sure you'll understand."

"Noted. What's the situation?" Kane asked, ignoring the pleasantries.

"Ten hours ago, Relay Station 412 picked up a signal, just beyond the frontier of Federation space." The image minimised, revealing a set of sensor data followed by actual imagery. "All known data matches that of a Doomsday Machine. A planet-killer." The words sent a slight chill down Kane's spine. A doomsday weapon of that scale had not been seen since the days of Kirk and the Enterprise. It had caused enormous damage and cost countless lives.

"What's its heading?" he asked, leaning in.

"That's the peculiarity; it's not." The Bolian Admiral shook his head. "The Relay Station sensor data showed it moving towards an uninhabited planetoid, and rather than destroying and consuming the planet, instead it appears that the Doomsday Machine...crashed into the surface."

"What?" Kane frowned. "What does that mean?"

"We're not entirely sure, but all evidence suggests that the planet killer may not be fully functional, and certainly not putting out enough power to consume a planet." The Admiral's pensive expression suggested that their understanding was limited. "It looks like the entire thing is down, still partially functional but potentially dying."

There were a number of questions and possibilities arising from that fact. Kane kept them to himself for now, wondering what Starfleet brass had in mind for the scenario.

"We're mobilising a wider taskforce, but the order from Admiral Dulac was clear: we're invoking the Pandora Protocols. That entire system needs to be locked down from outside interference. The potential for game-changing discoveries resulting from a captured and analysed weapon of that magnitude...I don't have to tell you how significant that could be for the quadrant."

"The Pandora Protocols..." Kane noted. He knew of them, of course; a set of principles and regulations for when power balance-altering technology was discovered. Typically through temporal events, or unforeseen advances, there were instances where highly advanced technology was discovered that would give a major power a significant tactical advantage over any rivals. If Starfleet felt that capturing a planet-killer would give them that, then perhaps it was right to invoke the protocols, but time would tell for sure. "That means we're expecting potential company?"

"I think it's clear we're taking no chances here, Commodore. Command wants you to take Paladin Squadron to lead the recovery and control the site. A specialist research team is being pulled together but we need time to assemble them, equip them, and get them to the location. You need to have that planet firmly in Federation control by that point, understood?"

"We'll be underway immediately, sir."

"Good. I don't need to tell you just how grave the consequences could be if this potential technology gets out, Commodore. Godspeed." The Bolian Admiral's face winked-out, leaving just the raw data for him to ponder.

Punching the control on his desk, he signalled to the duty Ops officer. "Signal Captains Travers and T'Rin on the Valiant and Aurora, and Commander Lance of the Edison, I need to brief them urgently. And have the helm set course for these coordinates. I want us in Quantum Slipstream in half an hour."

He didn't wait for the acknowledgement. Instead he pondered the elongated cigar-like weapon of mass planetary destruction on the screen in front of him. A weapon of such power that it filled Starfleet Captains with dread. This wouldn't be anything like their normal missions, he decided, reaching for his coffee. And if Starfleet was right, it might change everything.