While we were of course disappointed with our lack of first contact success with the Talanath we at least had established that for the time being that the Nax were right about them. But Dr. Tora had said it well in that meeting - this region's isolated evolution had caused the species here to develop very differently than many others in the galaxy. The key to why was also as Tora had said - the barricaded nature of the region due to its unique dark energy properties. And this barricade was more than cultural; it was very difficult to physically travel in this region; and would be the same for the Visar cultures here to travel in ours. If this hadn't been the case Visar cultures and the rest of the galaxy might have established relations long ago. The Nax data also indicated that they and the other Visar warp cultures had had their variant warp tech for many centuries. They could easily have made contact with the fed by now if the dark energy barriers had not blocked possible relations as they had. In this way the chief obstacle for Fed/Visar relations wasn't even really cultural, as it usually was; it was rather environmental. This in turn created unique problems for Starfleet with regards to this region; and that wouldn't change when Excelsior was finally done here. Still, Excelsior's mission here was a spear tip venture only; this was also preliminary front line exploratory ops. It constituted some of the most dangerous jobs that Starfleet did; but they were easily some of the most rewarding.
Our destination now? Tu102 star group (where we were before). I wished things had gone better with the Talanath, but I for one was glad to get back to the more "boring" stuff of exploration. Still, this return warp trip would be cut down to only nine hours; and we could now do warp seven without too much trouble. Eight and nine were likely soon to come; but this was plenty good for now. We had to remember that we defied the odds every light year we beat in this manner. And for the moment we were the only fed ship that could navigate this region this readily short of Amanda snapping her fingers or similar.
We returned in record time and resumed scans of tu102. In this case it would be more complex due to the four stars (one binary; two solitary) that made up this celestial grouping. We would generate probe networks as we had with hybrid tu990; this time though we'd need to employ our industrial replicator as well. The heavy replicator would be working a little overtime due to the total number of probes we'd need to get this job done. Amanda's estimates put the number at nearly a hundred; that was a lot of replication/assembly! Even for this exploratory ship of the line! Wesley would personally oversee the process. His latest report indicated resources shouldn't be stretched thin and that power wouldn't need to be reallocated to the heavier probe creation process. This was further improved due to our better navigating methodology now. Less power had to be put to shields/subspace field generation. Plus Wesley and his many shipboard eggheads were developing a way to create a standard subspace field that could be permanently made part of our navigational deflector's SOP. If this was achieved (and it likely would be; I had faith in my people!) it could make navigation in any such environment like this all that more possible; Visar and beyond!
"Probe networks ready sir," said Amanda. This would also be one of the largest continuous probe series ever launched by Starfleet! I loved achieving firsts! "Make it so Mister Rogers." Yep; had to go JL there! The probes launched away from all tubes/launchers; and from all directions. Again, it was similar with tu990 but tu102 was much higher. Plus these 102 probes would travel further from their points of launching and self maintain at greater distances, and possibly for longer durations although the 990 probes were still active/transmitting solid data.
The main viewer (which would make one hell of a home tv screen!) showed the real time space maps. Tu102 was at the screen's center; Excelsior was at the bottom/"southern" part of the viewer. The hundred probes, still being launched, arced out in both directions, mostly from the Excelsior's port/starboard flanks. From their launch points they sped up to one third impulse (their max velocity) and came at the 102 group from the "sides." The assigned perimeter probes took up their positions and began their intensive celestial scans.
Wesley, now on the bridge at the rear engineering station, said, "Series one now in position." That was the perimeter ones (they would form up from the perimeter inwards). I exhaled while seated in my rather comfortable boss chair and continued to watch with great interest. We were of course keeping an eye out for other non humanoid locals but so far nothing yet; and to say I had a tireless bridge crew was an understatement; in more ways than one. And as the late/great Harlan Ellison would say - hydrogen/stupidity were the two most common elements in the universe. The latter "element" was something I wanted to avoid more than ever (although it wasn't too bad in the 24th century. In the 21st century... Well...). Research assignments like this would help do that.
I wished I could bring 21st century humanity to this century of the 24th and prove to them what worked and what didn't. But they didn't have the perspective that I did; most didn't; except for Amanda and those like us that could traverse universes with ease. And don't forget what Einstein said about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results...
"Series two in position," said Amanda. "Keep it up people," I said. Series two would go deeper into 102's interior solar envelopes for deeper scanning yet. Series three and four had yet to be fully deployed, but we were already kicking super research buttocks right now even! The risks to series three/four would be higher because they'd be dangerously close to the stars themselves. That's why we redundantly "layered" them as we did (redundancy - the secret to Starfleet's "miraculous" engineering capabilities). It also ensured that we would lose less vital research data by creating a two way "data chain."
'I can sense your joy from here captain!' said the sole Q aboard in my head. 'Yes, Amanda, I am very happy with this mission so far. You've seen what I've been through; it's a welcome relief...' 'Yeah...the Q could never understand that.' 'You do.' 'Yes...but I was raised among humans too.' 'There's so much more that I can learn from you...Diana.' 'Let's learn from each other.' 'Aye aye captain.'
"Series three in position," she said aloud. Four then ended up in position; the deepest probe set we would deploy yet for this mission, and turned them loose. The data coming in was amazing... What a wondrous creation my father made... As the Olympian Christ figure I could say that!