The Final Frontier (Chapter 1 - Launch Day)
[Commissioned story series ^^]
_November 6, 2071
Launch Day._
_This day would be the most important one in all of Earth's history, except perhaps the discovery of fire. The first interstellar vessel was ready for launch, and my, Voyager 3 is a thing of beauty.
Named after the Voyager 1 & 2 probes, probably the closest thing Earth had to interstellar vessels - being the furthest man made objects in space. It seemed strange to think Voyager 3 would overtake them in a matter of days. In fact, that is our first mission, to retrieve those probes. It's a bit silly of a task, the probes will only take up space, but it will be an easy way to test all our systems. And if the Dark Matter drive fails - limping back home in sub-light we'd still be back in time to live a little longer; whereas if the first mission was to Alpha Centauri we would be long dead by the time the spaceship arrived home.
Not all is fine and dandy though, a lot of humanity is upset that an anthro is not only in the captain's seat, but anthros make up half of the crew. Already, two terrorist attacks to shoot down Voyager 3 were made to day, luckily they were stopped. NASA did their best though, they at least balanced the male to female ratio 4 to 4, and the furry to human ratio 4 to 4. I figure though if the people in charge down home didn't want us here, we wouldn't be. Personally I think giving us these positions is a PR move for the current administration, to show how progressive they are. Surely their are more qualified people than us for this job...
We're just waiting for the captain now. Not just the crew, most of the world is watching. Hope he has a good speech... At any rate, I talked to Ted and he told me some interesting things. Can't wait to see how the captain reacts when he finds out a new fangled AI was installed and Ted modified the probe launcher so it can launch 'torpedoes' - NASA was really hesitant about allowing that but even they realize if we actually do meet hostile life, a couple vulcan guns aren't going to help much.
I have to go, I think the captain is about to come onto the bridge...
~ Lieutenant Samantha Arrow_
Voyager 3 hung in Dry Dock One, the most resent add on to the International Space Station. It was made solely for assembling Voyager 3 in space. Voyager's design made it impossible to build on earth and launch, let alone the cost it would take to launch that much weight. Nor was it something that could be lifted off from earth on the Space Elevator, the ascent through the atmosphere might have fractured the hull.
So the solution was to use the space elevator to bring the components up to space and assemble the vessel in a space dry dock. It turned out not to just be cheaper, but the vessel was build extremely fast, without the restrictions of gravity, it was effortless to assemble. The last time a vessel had been built in space was the Orion spacecraft the first brought humans to Mars in 2020. Although it was still an expensive process, because the components were launched up as the space elevator wasn't built yet.
Ever since that epic flight, the scientific world had focused all it's effort on Voyager 3. The two hugest steps mankind had made into space since the manned Mars flight were the Space Elevator and Dry Dock One - both of which were needed to even imagine Voyager 3 or any other interstellar vessel. That's not even to mention the small, but hard hitting innovations that make up Voyager's technology.
Fusion power core is one. Chemical power(combustion) is incredibly inefficient, with a matter to energy conversion of less than 2% at best. Fission(nuclear) power is better, at about 25% conversion, but the radiation involved with it makes it a touchy subject for humanity to accept putting into space. Fusion power however has nearly 50% efficiency and is not dangerous as the only material needed for it is water. It's entirely ideal for space flight like this, high conversion rate and easy to find fuel for the fusion process.
But perhaps the most important piece of technology on Voyager is the Dark Matter Drive(dmd). It's the device which makes faster than light(ftl) travel possible - and therefor allowing living people make it to other star systems in an acceptable about of time - four days to Alpha Centari for example. The complexities on just how it works are hard to describe, but to put to explain how it works - it compacts space itself in front of the ship - allowing it to cover more ground with less effort and not actually exceeding the speed of light.
Mankind wasn't only focused on space flight however. Genetics also went a long way, in debate-ably immoral or moral directions. Genes were fully mapped to the point every gene sequence was known to what it controlled, and how to change them. It couldn't be done to adults, however unborn children could have their genes changed to modify their appearance at a parents request.
It was quite the moral dilemma for mankind. Was it right to change someone like that? Wouldn't everyone start looking the same as most people have the same image of a perfect body? And wouldn't it give credit to Hitler, if they did the very thing he was trying to achieve with his Aryan race?
First the Supreme Court, and then the United Nations decided to not allow parents to be able to modify the unborn child, unless it was to correct a harmful defect. However, they did not disallow lab growing life forms with the new gene technology - which happens to be a simple task using a mix of the new gene theories and cloning methods.
One of the first attempts was to make a better soldier. There wasn't much further human DNA could be changed to make one more superior than another. However, they realized they could introduce animal DNA to open up a whole new world of opportunity in genetic design. It failed to produce any "super soldiers", but the result of the rampant experimentation with this introduction create a whole new race of "man animal hybrids", or anthros.
Some mixing of genes failed, the only form of human to animal combination that worked was all animal - except in stature, general anatomy, and intelligence.
Humanity didn't respond to the new race very well, many believed that this new combination was the "Devil's work" or was morally wrong - and so treated the anthro race as second class. The discrimination they faced wasn't that different than the type blacks were suffering in the first half over the 20th century.
However, the anthros persevered. They are now well into their second generation and starting their third. The Second and Third generation anthros aren't lab born, but the biological offspring of their parents. The second generation was very outspoken for their rights, and were able with time to lessen the rage against them, but many humans still detest them for archaic reasons.
Voyager 3: http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt166/lanceo90/Mapped.jpg
Voyager 3 was a thing of beauty. It's design was rather elegant, slender and long - and comparatively very clean compared to rocket launched objects. The Russians had their own design for Voyager 3, it would have been the exact opposite - big, bulky, and ugly; but it would have been cheaper and more efficient.
Captain Havok probably would have preferred the Russian design, it would have reflected his attitude better. Havok was a second generation anthro, a rottweiler. As soon as he was old enough he joined the navy for 8 years, then transferred to the army for a few more years, a couple more in the airforce before he finally was hired by NASA as an astronaut. At the same time he went trough astronaut training, he also keep up the physical exercise program of the army on his own. Needless to say, all that training and exercise made him one strong man - maybe the scientists did get what they wanted with him, a super soldier?
He walked onto the bridge of the ship(only the living section of the ship had centrifugal gravity, but the entire ship had velcro padded floors, and the shoes had the other side of it - allowing for walking). He, like the rest of the crew was in their formal uniforms, and the powerful rottweiler looked like he was about to burst out of his outfit. By the look on his face, it was easy too tell he did not like the uncomfortable formal wear.
The bridge was extremely crowded with the entire eight member crew there, it was only meant to hold a couple at a time - but still far bigger a command area than any space craft so far. In fact, it was the only ship to have a real bridge - everything else only had cockpits. The crew being in there was only temporary, to put on a good show for everyone watching this moment on TV.
Lieutenant Arrow would have stood at attention for him, but there was no room to stand. So instead she just swiveled her chair around to face him and saluted. "Captain on the bridge!" She announced.
The crew turned to face him, four anthro faces looking at him in expectation, four human faces looking at him with a hint of jealousy...
Havok nodded lightly then made his way to the captain's chair, having to squeeze between people before he was able to stand in front of it, looking directly at the camera. "I've never best at giving a long, elegant speech. I thought it would more respectful to play the recording Captain Benjamin made."
Sam gasped slightly. Why would Havok do that? She had known him for some time, and for him to decline this kind of opportunity wasn't like him. Sure, she'd agree he wasn't the best speaker, he was a man of action - but he also wanted to be famous... Perhaps it was a PR stunt.
Captain Benjamin had been the first pick for captain of Voyager 3, but he suffered a heart attack a few weeks before Voyager was scheduled to disembark. He had picked Havok as second in command, so the right to voyager fell to him. Honoring him by playing his practice speech would be great media material, and might calm some anthro-human tension over the fact a anthro was in command of just an important vessel.
Captain Havok tapped a key on his command console, the light sound of static in the background of empty recording was heard, before Benjamin's voice was heard over the comm system - filling the bridge.
"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Anthros and humans. Today marks the most important step for everyone who inhabits Earth. The sole purpose of life itself, in my opinion, was to bring us to this point. Where we leave our small, delicate egg and burst free into deep space."
Sam's ears flicked a little, the speech could be better, but after all - this was just some practice recording Ben never expected anyone to hear.
"Staying on one planet is not an option. One stray comet and it's all over. We have to find other planets like ours where we can live comfortably. Oh sure, we've left our planet before. But the moon? It's a useless rock. Mars? Going to take centuries to get that place terraformed, and it's going to be dependent on Earth till then. Our only option for finding other homes is in other star systems, Sol has no more to offer us."
"As you are all aware at this point, half the crew are anthros. I know what the general feeling about them is, but I will not tolerate that bigotry on my ship. The anthros are just as capable as us, if not more so. I've known Commander Havok for a long time, and know we will make a good first officer."
"Well, it's time for us to leave Earth. Voyager 1 and 2 just get farther and farther away, if we waste too much time, and they get too far away - if the Dark Matter Drive fails us, we won't have enough supplies to make it back on sub-light engines. Goodbye Earth, wish us luck."
Havok grumbled a little, the conclusion wasn't as historic as he would have liked, but he wasn't sure he could have done better. Maybe he could...
"We'll honor your ideals Ben. I'll make you proud you made me your second in command." Havok said to the air, before sitting in his chair. "Crew - to your stations."
The crew slowly filed out of the bridge, pulling their feet off the floor they would float down the long corridor of Voyager, it was a lot faster than walking. Soon only Sam and Havok were on the bridge.
"So what was that about Captain Havok? It's not like you to deny a opportunity like that..." Sam smirked a little.
Havok glared at Sam, "It's good PR, and Ben was one of my closest friends so I thought it would be the right thing to do.... Also I was kinda put on the spot so didn't have anything planned to say."
Sam giggled some, covering her mouth to try to muffle it. "I think it's just because you're a bad speaking."
Havok flexed his arms a little, "Quiet lieutenant or I'll have to punish you. Is that clear enough speaking for you?"
The vixen shivered a little, it tempted her to keep talking... "Aye captain."
Havok sat up straight in his seat and tapped the key for communicating to the engineering section, "Ted, is the dark matter drive prepped and ready to go?"
Ted, who was the only first generation anthro on the ship was the chief engineering. His whole life had been focused on this exact Dark Matter Drive, and he knew it inside and out. He was a black and white border collie, in his late fifties. He pressed one of the comm panels in engineering to answer the question, "Yes captain. Just a reminder though, since I don't believe you've been on a ship with dmd before. It takes some time to charge once you give the command to jump - just so you don't think it's broken. Also, it's a pretty rough transition."
Captain Havok accepted the information then looked at Samantha, who manned the helm. "Take us out of dock, Lieutenant. Let's get this underway." He ordered.
Sam nodded lightly and looked to her helm controls, "Aye captain." First however she used the comm system to hail the space station, "This is Voyager 3 to ISS. Please release all docking clamps so that we may disembark."
"Confirmed Voyager. Proceed to disembark when the clamps are released."
Sam sat back and waited, pressing a key from time to time to see different external views of the ship, to see the progress of the clamps. Soon she saw them release.
She keyed on the thrusters, ahead full. Slowly the long form of Voyager 3 pulled out of Dry Dock One. It took some time for it to clear the port and reach the designated safety distance from the station for an FTL jump.
"Now Lieutenant, plot in the course to Voyager 1, it's the closer of the two probes. Then take us there at maximum FTL speed." Captain Havok ordered.
Samantha had never brought a ship into FTL before, she felt like she was under tremedous pressure. She took a deep breath and entered the data of Voyager 1's location, then had the ship auto orient to face that direction. "Course set..." She diverted more power to the DMD, before activating the drive. "And the Dark Matter drive is enguaged."
As Ted had mentioned, the ship did not immediately jump. Instead the ship started to groan and began to shake. Sam watched as all available spare energy automatic diverted to the DMD. The technology was new, and like most most original versions of items - it was not energy efficient.
The cause of the energy drain was all part of how it worked. It must attract Dark Matter - in the particular form called Dark Matter Beta (DMb). This dark matter only has gravitational effect on space/time - but not real matter. When it reaches a high enough point of density it can warp space very drasticly, with no damage to the ship(because it's real matter).
In order to attract it, and make it dense enough for the gravity well - plasma must be produced. High energy plasma is the only matter DMb seems to interact with. Why is unknown, the affect was discovered by accident. To produce high energy plasma takes a geat deal of energy - it wasn't even possible before cold fusion power cores.
Soon plasma filled the attraction coils, and all was left was for the core to spike it with energy till it jumped to FTL. Right when the groaning of the ship couldn't get much louder, the windows went dark when the ship hit the DMb intensity mark - jumping into FTL.
After the ship seemed safely in FTL, Captain Havok stood up and stretched.. The he activated his station's comm system. "All hands this is the captain - the jump was a success and we are now en route to Voyager 1... How soon should we be there, Miss Arrow?"
Sam spoke up so his console would hear her voice, "Voyager 3 moves at the rate of one light year per day. Voyager 1 is less than one lightyear away so it should only take a few hours."
Havok blinked, to think these craft had been traveling for decades to get this far, yet this distance was child's play with a FTL drive equipped. "For the record, I want the golden disk from Voyager 1, but on Voyager 2 we will have a drawing to see which crew member gets it."
He pulled his finger off the comm button. He figured that the little raffle would be a good morale booster, and he was even a bit proud of his creativity with the situation to be.
"You know captain, if you are concerned with keeping up crew morale - you could designate the commander. When you were promoted to Captain, the space went unfilled..." Samantha offered.
Havok grinned a little, "I'm aware of the fact Lieutenant. Who did you have in mind?" he asked her, knowing what the answer would be.
"Well, the officer would need to be a charismatic speaker, friendly, and being attractive wouldn't hurt..." She explained, using her own profile as a guide.
"Huh. I don't know anyone on the ship that meets those requirements other than myself." He said, struggling not to laugh.
Sam's cheeks flush deeply, oooh that Jacob, what nerve. She was about to speak out when he grew more serious.
"I have to be extremely careful who I pick to fill that position, Samantha. If I pick another anthro, the people back home would be angered that both major command positions have anthros in them. But if I pick a human, just for that cause, I might not pick someone truly qualified for the position. So for now it can wait, till the right opportunity presents itself."
Sam nodded in understanding, although disappointed she didn't get what she wanted. She turned back towards the helm controls, checking to see everything was running properly.
Ted groaned in exhaustion as he looked at one of the displays, it showed that engineering was 89 degrees Fahrenheit. "Engineering get sooo hot when the plasma conduits are full." He began to pant lightly.
One of the other crewman, a white male human by the name of Thomas Caldwell replied to him. "Huh, maybe anthros shouldn't be allowed in engineering then. It's all that fur that's making you burn up, I feel just fine."
The border collie eyed the human carefully, he had deal with specie-ism all his long life so could recognize it rather easily. He certainly felt it from Lieutenant Caldwell. Luckily, Ted held high rank than him, being Lieutenant Commander. "Yeah... Why don't you head to one of the bio spheres and make sure all the UV lights are working."
The repairman snorted a little bit and stepped out of engineering. Ted rolled his eyes, "Geeze, what's his problem?" He didn't care though, he preferred to work alone anyway. He went back to his work with the DMD.
It wasn't much longer before Lieutenant Caldwell came back into engineering. "Yeah, there was nothing wrong in there. Can you just let me take a break now? Nothing needs to be fixed..."
Ted turned away from his panels, "No, your shift is still on. Besides, we'll come up on Voyager 1 here soon and then we will be repairing it."
"Why do that? It's just trash at this point."
Ted shakes his head, "No. It's a scared relic of engineering to most people. It was still running WAY longer than when it was suppost to die. I want to refurbish the probes, and assign them a new task, I have a new piece of technology I'm working on that will make good use of their longevity."
"Yeah no, I'm not going to help a little furry with a silly pet project."
"Excuse me, Lieutenant?"
"You heard me." Said Caldwell as he started to approach the old collie.
Ted growled lightly, "It's not a pet project, it's serious business - something I can order you to work on."
Caldwell stepped up to him and grabbed Ted by the front of his jumpsuit uniform, "I said, I ain't helping no furry on something as dumb as that."
"What's going on in here?" A booming voice came from the hallway. It was Captain Havok, and by the look on his face he was none too happy with what he saw happening on his ship. "Let go of him lieutenant." He commanded.
Caldwell let go, and turned to face the captain - trying to still look confident even though he was scared out of his mind by the strong canine captain.
"I didn't think I would have to do this - especially not this quickly. But until I get a full report of what happened in here, I'm confining you to your quarters till the end of the mission." After explaining what he was going to do, he gave no time for Caldwell to make excuses. He ran up to him and grappled him tightly, and escorted him out. "Oh, by the way Ted, the reason I came down here was to tell you we're just about to leave FTL and grab Voyager 1. Be sure the probe launcher it ready to take it in."