Full Circles and Tangents -- SD 10306.22

[LoAmi 0]

Full Circles and Tangents:

Chief Science Officer's Report to the Captain

Re: The Vogarts, Miren VI ... and the Vogarts

Lt. Arphazad Lo'Ami's Duty Log, Stardate 10306.22

CC: Science Dept, All Department Chiefs, Operations, Marine Corps

:: Prepared while sipping a mocha latte on shore leave at Starbase 36, but you didn't need to know that, did you? ::

 

Compiled from all data obtained between Stardates 10301.15 and 10306.18.

 

Synopsis:

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Arcadia first encountered the Vogarts on stardate 10301.15.  By order of Starfleet command, our mission was to initiate first contact with this distant, highly advanced, yet mysterious race.  When normal communications procedures were initiated, no response was received from the alien ship.  The ship used a transporting device to kidnap twelve officers, including Captain Moose, to an unknown location, presumably for communication.  Afterwards, we were directed by the Vogarts to a nearby, inhabited M-class planet.  The locals on the planet were being attacked by large creatures.  This incident turned out to be an odd morality test by the Vogarts.  After telling us that they would contact us again in fifty years, when we might be able to pass their test, the Vogarts used their faster-than-warp technology to throw Arcadia back into Federation space.  

 

The Captain surmised that the real test was not a morality test of our actions on the planet, but a technological test of our ability to get back.  Using hypertachyon particles remaining on Arcadia's hull and a hastily concocted theoretical equation, Arcadia made an attempt to return to Vogart space at faster-than-conventional-warp speeds.  Arcadia found itself alone, inside a void, with shattered dilithium crystals, and on reserve power only.  In an attempt to map the void, the captain's yacht and one crewman were lost.  The yacht and its crew (myself included) were on an M-class planet, later determined to have been ancient Bajor.  Using some kind of thought-warp linkage, we returned first to modern times, then to Arcadia.  Arcadia was linked in the same space, but a different dimension, to the Vogart ship that we had been following.  They required us to help them replace their dilithium crystals, and, in the process, gave us a replacement crystal.  

 

The Vogarts dumped us out of the void and near Miren VI, a resort planet known for its hospitality.  Meanwhile, science and engineering installed the pure Vogart crystal into Arcadia's systems.  The slave operation on Miren VI was then discovered, and a second mystery ship began to appear on sensors.  The pursuit of the Blue Note, Thomas and Rochelle Riker's slaving ship, put our investigations into the mystery ship on hold.  After the slaving operation was destroyed, the rescued refugees, most of them Federation citizens, were scheduled to be returned to Starbase 36 for transportation to their homeworlds.  Six refugees were unaccounted for, and four were later found dead.  Two armed assailants later surrendered aboard the starbase, and two more beamed over from the Vogart ship, were captured by Marines aboard Arcadia, presumably attempting to retrieve their associates.  Given the danger posed by the mysterious ship (the Vogarts), a recon mission was sent using the SS Revere, a 23rd century freighter, as a base for covert operations.  Revere was captured by the Vogarts, who then revealed themselves to its crew.  Arcadia's rescue attempts were stymied by space-time distortions and sensor deceptions.  Revere was later released next to Arcadia.

 

The motives for the Vogarts' actions are still unclear.  On the surface, their actions appear confused and purposeless.  During our second encounter, the Vogart representative said something about it all making sense in some higher dimensional order of space-time.  This may indicate that the Vogarts are pan-dimensional beings, or it could have been yet another deception.

 

The Vogarts:

It appears now that the Vogarts are either a joined species or that they are actually two species.  When Arcadia personnel first entered the Vogart ship, we encountered beings that resembled "lightning bolts" - a pure form of highly ordered energy.  These beings "store" themselves in creches located throughout the ship.  The purpose of these devices has not yet been determined, however, it is reasonable to speculate that the beings may require a regeneration period (sleep?) between time spent outside the devices.  The energy beings are clearly sentient.  They are capable of joining at least some humanoid species and exerting influence over their thoughts and actions.  In regeneration cycle, the energy beings appear on scanners as very weak lifesigns or indeterminate species.  Outside of regeneration cycle, they appear as stronger lifesigns.  The available data that identifies their unique signature has be added to the Starfleet databases.

 

Before we encountered these beings, it was hypothesized that the Vogarts were bipedal, because their ship seemed to be constructed with implements that are most useful to bipeds, such as ladders and crawlways.  These bipeds are likely the 1.5m tall albino humanoids that we encountered in our second time aboard a Vogart ship.  The Albinos appear to be sentient, but mute, unless joined by an energy being.  The Albinos' physiology was unable to be determined by medical scans.  The Albinos are only sometimes detectable as humanoid lifesigns on scanners.  It is not known what causes the differences in our abilities to detect them.

 

Vogart Technology:

We have encountered two Vogart ships, so far.  Both were larger than Arcadia; one contained approximately 11,000 lifesigns - 1,000 likely divided between albinos and bolts, and 10,000 likely regenerating bolts.  The second Vogart ship was the "mystery ship" at Miren VI and Starbase 36.  It was larger, at least 3-4 times the volume of Arcadia.  Because of interference on sensors, we were unable to determine the lifesign composition of that ship.

 

The Vogarts have the disturbing ability to mimic other ships' sensor readouts on Starfleet sensor displays.  This ability manifested itself as the "mystery ship" appearing on Arcadia's tactical console as a Nebula class Federation vessel, USS Manticore.  The ship also registered on the freighter SS Revere's sensor console as a complete and accurate rendition of a Romulan warbird.  They also sabotaged Arcadia's systems using what appeared to be Romulan devices.  Whether this is simply mimicry or a hint that the Romulans and Vogarts have had previous relations is unknown.

 

The Vogarts possess two more notable technologies.  The first is a long range transporter of the type used to kidnap Captain Moose and the others during our first encounter.  It is likely that the technology was also used to retrieve the Albino refugees and replace them with dead bodies during the Miren VI encounter.  The transporter technology can be stymied, to some extent, by shields, but there is no known perfect defense.  The use of the technology is accompanied by a carrier wave in the H-band of frequencies subspace, a seldom used portion of the spectrum not usually included in scans.  The encounter with the Vogarts suggests that all scanning equipment should be modified to scan these frequencies routinely.

 

Their second notable technology is a faster-than-warp stardrive system.  The system is based on the emission of hypertachyon particles, discovered and characterized in theoretical work in Arcadia's science labs.  While we are still unable to create or control these particles, we are now closer to a theoretical understanding, thanks to a hint given by the Vogarts during our last encounter.  The asymmetric 26-dimensional equation arrived at by the scientists on this ship is a limiting case of a 52 dimensional symmetric equation.  Use of hypertachyon technology may be associated with anomalies in the space-time continuum in nearby space.  This technology also seems to require dilithium crystals that are orders of magnitude purer than anything produced with today's technology.  

 

All theory and data obtained about these systems have been forwarded to Starfleet Research and Development section, as well as the Cochrane Center and the Daystrom Institute.

 

The Miren VI Slave Operation:

The Vogarts may have been victims of the Miren VI slave operation.  At least four, maybe six, of their humanoids were among the refugees rescued from Miren VI.  They were identified by us as the dead refugees, transported and replaced after their rescue.  It is unclear why, with their advanced technology, they could not have retreived them themselves, or even broken apart the operation.

 

The Miren VI slavers may have been involved in opening a transdimensional rift.  Arcadia has not yet pursued this lead, nor have we identified the location of the rift or the technology for its opening.  It may also be another reason for Vogart involvement and/or reticence to get involved themselves.