"I have an environmental bogey sir," said Amanda; three point two hours into Excelsior Alpha's official mission commencement here. That was relatively soon, but then again the Visar region was very much shrouded in mystery; hence why Starfleet had given it level one research priority. "Source?" "From probe 23 in grid T221." "Put it up lieutenant." The science grid appeared on the bridge's massive main viewer. I leaned forward in my chair and narrowed my eyes at it. "Show all EM readings for it lieutenant." "Putting up contextual electromagnetic overlay now sir." It was from a solitary dark matter star that was giving off a ton of dark energy radiation; well above regional averages. "Scans show it to be the most radiation intense star in the immediate study grid," said Amanda. "Probe 23's status?" "It took some damage sir but it's auto pulled back and is initiating self repair measures. Its scanners are still functioning properly." That was a good sign; so long as it could transmit data the better for our mission here. We had plenty more probes we could send but I wasn't one for waste either. Plus it could cause real time research delays we didn't want if it could be avoided otherwise.
"Report on the target star lieutenant." "It's around 300 million years old sir. It's moderately aged compared to the other dark energy stars throughout the region. Scans indicate it is more more unstable than its neighbors; and likely has always been so." "Why?" "Its core never formed properly based on what we can see. It also has a greater amount of dark energy flare activity than its regional counterparts as well." "Could this dark energy flare activity account for the immediate area's increased anti gravitational instability?" "Yes sir; that's a solid theory. This also serves as a possible exhibit A of what could happen on a regional level if the total dark energy levels here don't level off naturally." "Which they likely won't," said Xon. I could only nod at that. And again, there was no intelligent malicious design behind any of this. Sometimes nature was its own worst enemy.
"Can we bring the ship in closer to it without risking our safety?" "We can sir; but I'd recommend staying at least 200 thousand kilometers away from its corona," said Amanda. Donatra said, "Sir, I'd recommend raising shields if we do that." "Agreed," said Xon. Safety was their job as XO/tactical. All perspectives would be considered here. "Noted. Raise shields and bring us closer; yet only within recommended safety distances." Conn brought us in at half impulse. We then cut speed at the ideal positioning and focused all ship scanners on it; our below decks experts worked with us around the clock too.
We reinforced our real time subspace radio link with probe 23. It continued to show signs of some damage/instability but it was otherwise holding together. My officers had designed this probe network itself and it had take some tome to do. It was obviously a flexible network with backups in the operational sense; the network could still conduct solid research scanning even if a good portion of the network went down; almost two thirds even. That was solidly reliable until replacement probes could be sent back out. Most probes and their constituent components could be replicated at will; we also had an industrial replicator aboard which most smaller/less powerful ships did not. Our ability to replenish vital research assets could occur nearly readily. And of course we had a Q... But all Q level or similar interventions would remain last resorts where Excelsior and her missions were concerned. Our constant Shakespearean question was the use of godly power, or not, in any given situation. That was the theme of our story you could say.
"Captain, probe 23 is showing signs of increasing instability." "Why Mister Rogers?" "It's the dark energy radiation from the target star; it's now affecting its power systems." Damn. I didn't want our real time scanning affected if it could be helped. Xon said, "We could beam a host of nanobots into its primary matrix to affect real time repairs." "Good idea. Mister Rogers?" "It should buy us time as Mister Xon suggests but the dark energy distortions are affecting beaming capability." "Go Q?" Amanda looked back at me and nodded/grinned. "It would help speed things up in the repair sense." I sighed. "Make it so." More smiled at my growing use of signature JL phraseology. It was rubbing off on me; I had to admit!
Amanda did her Q thing and "beamed" the nanobots into the probe to bypass the beaming limitations. Xon said, "Nanobots are in position and are affecting repairs." "Their repair directions/priorities are clear?" "Yes sir." Amanda said, "It's working sir! The nanobots have stabilized the probe's power grid and are now focusing on reinforcing all science sensors." Now we waited for the ultimate operational verdict.
Everyone waited with bated breath; we were frontier researchers after all. Amanda and Xon made real time non superhuman adjustments. We'd only needed that selective Q cheat; and it was working naturally now. I still preferred to do things the conventional/old fashioned way where possible. Even though in this case that was very much still cutting edge where non superhumans were concerned.
"Bingo!" said Amanda. "It's working captain; we're still in the game." "Good job people. This star is puzzling the hell out of us. I want to know why. What makes this heavenly body tick? I want to know that answer at the quantum level. Understood?" "Aye sir," they said. Now those kinds of orders, science orders, I didn't mind giving one damned bit.