Melkor

Confederacy: 2784- The Legend of the Gatekeepers (Open)

Steven couldn't think of anything immediately that would tell them what the pirates were after. His intuition said some cargo, or a wealthy family, but he couldn't think of it. In the meantime, the captain had asked the pilot about the Trantis Run. I recognize that one… That's never been done with a ship of this size…

The captain had turned to Steven asking if the ship would be able to take the maneuver. Hewlett had almost opened his mouth to say ”Without a doubt!” But, the pilot cut him off, exclaiming that she could do the maneuver with a ship twice the size of the Enterprise.

“And, that, I'd rather doubt.” He gave the pilot an apologetic look and continued, “The Enterprise should be able to pull it off, even if she is twelve thousand meters long. My only two concerns with trying that with a ship of this size is the differing rotational speeds of different sections of the hull. If we try to rotate too quickly -” he positioned his hands so one was the fore and the other the aft. He twisted them to signify the ship breaking apart.

“But, we have rotational dampeners for that. I'm sure they'll do their job. My main concern is the ring drive. It will be extended while we perform this - the inertia it will feel is the equivalent to trying to push an old battleship with your pinky - it's just an obnoxious amount. I'm concerned that they're going to rip apart more than the ship.

“While in hyperspace, the inertial dampeners are removed from the drive. This is because the drive isn't actually moving and it would impede the performance. But when we drop - the ship is shot out of hyperspace and the drive's dampeners are turned back on as quickly as possible. Usually the force doesn't cause any major damage. But if we want to roll around while dropping, move the shields to one side and fire from that side. I'm a little concerned. When we drop, we'll need to retract before we roll, otherwise we risk destroying our ring drive.”

He let that sink in. “Also, I'm going to set a hacking program to give me all of their files. It's quantum based, so distance doesn't matter. This way we can look at locations they've visited. Along with any calls they've made and what they might be searching for.”

Confederacy: 2784- The Legend of the Gatekeepers (Open)

After the Captain signed off, Steven entered his computer and said, “Computer, open the code for the hyperdrive.” The computer let off a beep and a cascade of holo-windows appeared in front of Steven. “Err… let's try just opening the code for the optimal power warning.” The windows disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. “That’s better.” He sat forward and began typing at a such a high pace and with such accuracy that his hands could hardly be seen and he never had to press the back button on his holo-keyboard.

After Steven changed the if statement to only warn if the power was below eighty-three percent, his com beeped. The Captain asked Steven to meet him in the conference room of the command deck in twelve minutes. Does he know that I’m more than two-hundred floors beneath him..? Steven saved the file and ran it then jumped out of his chair. “You’re in charge Hardwick! I’m off!”

With that he ran into the turbolift, the doors closed behind him. “Good morning, again, Lt. Commander Hewlett. Where are you going?” The polite, female, voice of the ship’s AI was fed through the speakers in the lift.

Before the AI had finished asking the question Steven began speaking, quickly. “To the Command Deck! I need to get there yesterday, computer!”

“Hold on, Commander.” The computer warned him as the turbolift shot upward toward the command deck. Along the way it shifted several times into different lift tubes in order to make its way to the command bridge. The shifting process took a few seconds, it had to make sure that no other lift was coming and then move to the next one and start moving, over, again.

In just under nine minutes, Steven made it to the conference room of the command bridge. He had to make his way out of Engineering, into the turbolift and then had to make his way down several corridors before he reached his destination.

Confederacy: 2784- The Legend of the Gatekeepers (Open)

A few minutes passed as the starship navigated its way through system space before making the jump to hyperspace. When that happened, Steven’s computer made another beep as the Captain’s voice emitted itself from his speakers. “...but could you give the hyperdrive a little more power?”

“Sorry sir, despite what the specifications say, I can say as a Hyperphysicist that this is the actual optimal power level for the hyperdrive. Anything more than this, is just wasted energy.” He had written many papers on the effectiveness of hyperdrives and knew, for a fact, that eighty-seven percent power was the golden-spot. Anything more had granted a marginal increase in ability and wasted power. He relayed this explanation to the Captain. “And the way I see it sir, we could save the additional power and redirect it to shields so when we drop, we are safe from an ambush."

The Bureau: Supernatural Division (Always Open)

As the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk was on patrol, none of the crew knew that there was an artifact aboard the carrier, on it’s way to New York, where the ship was headed. On the other hand, some unsavory folk knew about it and made their move as Flight London One, flew overhead. Some of the attendants moved in the commercial flight to take it over, the one who’d taken the flight deck made a distress call.

The crew of the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk had turned its attention to the attack happening overhead, this captured most of the crew's attention so no one noticed the parachutes open mere hundreds of feet above their own deck. As the first of them were landing, another jumped out of the helicopter, which had transported the assailants. He landed on the deck, without a parachute, before he struck he punched the deck and broke through it. With the force he generated in the attack, he’d collapsed the first three levels of the carrier.

The ship’s emergency sirens blared and crewmen and soldiers alike began to flood the third level down from the deck. “What happened? A bomb that didn’t detonate?” The captain was shouting at junior officers. “A man? No, impossible!” Not long after the initial attack, there were many loud, shrieks as metal was torn from the ship and ripped apart. “What is that?” The captain squealed a bit.

“Sir! There’s a man down here ripping everything apart. Bullets don’t have an effect, we can’t hit him - he’s too fast. We need reinforceme-” The radio died.

“Mother of God…” The captain was at a loss for what to do. Within minutes, fifty-seven percent of the crew and almost every soldier aboard the ship were dead. Their remains were too dismembered to be recognized. They had to be identified by their dental records later, when the Navy got to that. All in all, the attack lasted for about six minutes before the helicopter descended on ship to collect the assault team. The mysterious man, who seemed to have the strength and speed of a god, carried a metal box which was too large for ten men to carry. He managed without noticeable effort.

Within minutes they had managed to disable the ship and cut off communications, rip the interior and the crew to rubble and make off with the head of Medusa, the real one, contained in a heavily reinforced container such that it couldn’t be easily transported or opened as a mistake.

Confederacy: 2784- The Legend of the Gatekeepers (Open)

“How are the shields chief?” Steven had made his way to the generator, found the man in charge - someone called Charles Hardwick, also known as Master Chief Hardwick. He was a scrawny man, a certified nerd, who didn’t have a family willing to allow him to attend an educational institution but managed to show his accumulated knowledge of shields and land himself a minor officer rank and oversight of the shield generators.

“Yes sir! Commander Hewlett!” He, almost shouted in his squawky voice. “The shields are at optimal performance sir!” He didn’t seem to know if he should salute, this left his arm twitching at his side.

“Thank you, Hardwick. There’s no need to salute…” Steven waved off the salute and made his way to the next station. He seemed to have to remind him of this whenever they spoke, though they’ve only spoke twice - he figured this was going to be a common occurrence.

After a few similar encounters, with other oversight officers, Steven took a seat in his office and got back to coding a hacking program he’d been working on when the computer made a beeping noise and Captain Langley appeared on his screen.

“Yes, sir.” He fumbled a salute, forgetting briefly that the Captain didn’t like saluting. “All systems are a go.”

Confederacy: 2784- The Legend of the Gatekeepers (Open)

After the captain left engineering, evidently having other matters to attend to, Hewlett thought about his words. He’d never really been one to brag or boast. This had caused him to forget how fascinatingly amazing some of his accomplishments had been. He didn’t really need to ask why the post had been given to him, he already knew why - he was the best dammit and shouldn’t need anyone else to tell him that. In hindsight, the question makes me seem weak. Like I need some sort of self assurance… Dammit Steven, don’t do that… You’ve only just impressed everyone - they think it impressive that you reused old technology… Even if that was mainly because I can’t design that well so the old nacelle seemed perfect to use…

“Oh, well. Best keep the ship running.” He stepped outside of his office to find the chaos had subsided, though still present. “Excuse me,” He had touched the arm of an enlisted man who was significantly taller, better built, incredibly more muscular than Steven was, to a degree that the man could probably crush Steven with his pinky finger. The man stopped immediately when he saw who’d begged for his attention.

He snapped to attention and spouted, “Yes Commander Hewlett?”

“I just wanted to get an update on what we’re doing at the moment. I was in a meeting for the last few minutes.” He hadn’t had a chance to realize what sort of power he’d been given. He had what looked like several hundred people at his command in Engineering. Better keep that in mind...

“The engines are ready to run sir,” The man - Steven looked at his uniform and found out his name was Carlson - Carlson stated, “But as far as anything else goes, I wouldn’t be the man to ask, sir. I can find out if you want.”

“Thank you Carlson. You should get back to what you were doing. I’ll consult each station.” With that, Carlson saluted and left. “I’ve got to get used to all of this 'head of engineering' stuff… Not used to it.” Steven muttered to himself as he made his way through the crowd to the shield generator.

Confederacy: 2784- The Legend of the Gatekeepers (Open)

James Langley wanted to find out about Steven, and since Steven wasn't an ass kisser, per say, he didn't plan on doing so. But, he did know that he needed to make a decent first impression on his commanding officer. So he began to pay attention long enough to hear the captain ask Hewlett about his impression of the C.S.S. Enterprise. In-between thoughts, Steven had heard something about the ship being comparable to the much newer Z-19 Destroyers, but decided to simply answer the question as plainly as he could.

“I think the idea to use particle colliders as an energy source on the ship is brilliant. I know the base technology is several hundred years old, but it still functions perfectly in practice. When we launch two rodnium particles at each other, the energy released is about sixty times what we put into it. It is incredibly efficient. The quantum reactors transport certain energies from hyperspace, including materials like rodnium, in order to be used in experiments, for energy, and to be thrown into the collider for both.

“On another note: the artificially intelligent quantum computer on board is so much more advanced than anything I've worked with before. The base is the same, I can still program and such, of course, but the processing capabilities are beyond anything I've seen before.” Steven took a breath then continued rambling onward, “I’m impressed with the ring drive’s protection functionality - in a battle that would surely be an obvious target, but if it's very difficult to hit then it isn't nearly as much. Also, forty-one point six-seven kilometers per second is pretty quick. Not quite there, for space travel, since the universe is so incredibly huge. I mean massively huge, like - you may think that walking a few miles to the store is a big distance, but that's peanuts to the universe.” Steven occasionally made wild hand gestures as he spoke, but usually caught himself and got his hands under control.

“Though, I do want to know - is there really no one more qualified for this position? Don't misunderstand me, sir. I'm incredibly honored to have been granted this post - it's my dream job - but it's my first assignment. I thought I'd have to work my way up here.”

Confederacy: 2784- The Legend of the Gatekeepers (Open)

Engineering quickly became a chaotic mass of enlisted men running about, getting everything working, on Steven’s order. He’d introduced himself to his staff, then quickly got everyone to work. As far as he was concerned, the ship needed to function and for that to happen they needed man power.

This was the Enterprise’s first time out of the space dock after the systems were updated, Steven refused to have anything fail on his watch. After several minutes of chaos, Steven managed to busy himself rewiring one of the holo projectors, it hadn’t been installed right. He was on the floor, on his back, underneath one of the consoles messing with the cables when he heard the voice of a man, he recognized it from earlier.

“Captain,” He said as he crawled out from underneath the console and quickly saluted, “please step into my office sir.” He beckoned the captain into the room they were next to. It had a desk, a fully integrated quantum holo-computer, three chairs and some holo projectors. Steven took his seat and offered the captain one of the others.

He had a holo-window opened on his desk, displaying each system and its current status. He grabbed it and moved it to the wall, next to the desk, so he could speak to Langley.

Confederacy: 2784- The Legend of the Gatekeepers (Open)

The evening prior was the graduation ceremony from the academy, Steven was one of the only that had received a PhD. He was also one of the youngest of the graduates. Most disappeared to parties the night before to celebrate, it showed on their faces as the new guys and gals stood there. They looked tired and a few were having a hard time staying at attention. When they'd been given time to mingle, many of them looked relieved. Steven didn’t know how most would stay awake during the day ahead.

Hewlett spent a few moments introducing himself to other graduates but, quickly, decided to just make his way down to engineering to give it a look. As the doors closed on the lift he’d entered, an AI spoke in a soothing woman’s voice, “Good morning Lt. Commander Hewlett. Please state your destination.”

“Engineering please, upper level.” He replied, looking at his holomap of the ship. The lift launched downward to the bottom of the ship, where all of the systems where located. Life support, weapon systems, generators and so on. The upper level of engineering housed all of the displays for the systems. Quantum energy levels, current power to the different systems, shields and so on.

After a few minutes, he found his office and the lab next door. It had all of the bells and whistles, he couldn’t wait to use it later. He made his way back to the control room and began to make sure that all of the systems were in working order.

Confederacy: 2784- The Legend of the Gatekeepers (Open)

Steven

Name: Steven Hewlett

Age: 21

Profession: Engineering

Nationality: American

Strengths: Incredibly gifted, mentally. In just six years, he has earned two PhDs - one in Hyperphysics and another in Starship Engineering.

Weaknesses: Worthless in a close encounter fight. Can't help but observe: he may be inclined to approach a collapsing star in order to get a better view.

Special Skills: Steven was number one in his class at Mars University, he has two PhDs and he has made one of the most prominent leaps in technology, in the last two centuries, with his development of the Hyper Nacelles.

Brief Biography: Steven's mother is from China while his father is from Australia, and they were not the wealthiest of familes.

He had always been a curious child, building his first quantum computer in his early teens. Not long after, he graduated from primary education at fifteen years old and began taking classes on Mars.

Not long before graduating primary school, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He tested out of most of the preliminary classes, that first and second year students had to take. Within the first year and a half he had earned his bachelor's in Physics and Engineering.

He was quickly accepted into the University's Masters programs, completing those in the same amount of time with research done on hyperspace and the start of a project on the engineering side of it, he began his PhD work.

His final project for both PhDs were the same, he was developing the Nacelle to replace the Ring Drive as the method to access Hyperspace. He'd been in the military academy portion of the University, studying to join the Confederacy in order to explore and get funding for his projects.

He recently graduated and was assigned to the C.S.S. Enterprise as the Chief Engineer. He was given a field promotion to Lieutenant Commander to fit his new position.

Personality: Steven is the type to get along with everyone he meets. But when it comes to work, he is very serious - there was no other way to manage getting two PhDs in six years in the academy. He can usually be found explaining how the universe functions to those who don't know, studying in the lab or watching old Star Wars movies.