Captains Log, Stardate 77701.1,

 

Sarek Squadron has encountered the Dyson Sphere.

 

The USS Sarek was launched as one of Starfleet’s great experiments to find a pathway to peace with the Romulan Free State.  Our goal is to learn how to work together, in little ways and big ways, by committing to a joint mission of scientific research.  When I took command of the USS Sarek, I was also assigned command of a formation called Sarek Squadron.  The USS Olympic has been repurposed as a dedicated science ship in Sarek Squadron, serving as a mobile academic conference space to be shared by Starfleet and the civilian scientists from the RFS.  Doctor Flavia and I share mission oversight of the USS Olympic.  Given the limited defences aboard an Olympic-class starship, we have agreed the Olympic will largely remain within Federation space between our borders with the Romulan Free State and the Typhon Expanse.

 

Except for today.

 

To test the boundaries of these new partnerships –between starships and between galactic powers– Sarek Squadron has been assigned to explore the interior of the Dyson Sphere discovered by the USS Enterprise-D in 2369.  While other starship crews have explored the Dyson Sphere before us, and others will likely explore it after us, the sphere has been measured at a diameter of two hundred million kilometres.  That means the internal surface area of the sphere has been estimated to be the equivalent of 250 million M-class planets.  On this mission, we may only survey the equivalent of half of one planet.

 

Earlier starships have solved the technical difficulties involved in accessing the sphere’s portal that so plagued the initial discovery of the Dyson Sphere.  The resonance frequency of the sphere’s tractor beam will have no effect on our modern power systems.  Given the relative safety of this mission, I have encouraged Doctor Flavia to set the mission parameters for the USS Olympic.  We’ll never make progress in our diplomatic mission if I don’t offer her trust.

 

I expect this will be a time both for imagining our future with the Romulan Free State and for reflecting on how we all got here.

Despite all of the life support systems at work, Captain Taes felt like her own body heat was radiating away, drawn into the transparent window pane.  

Beyond the tall viewport, the vast emptiness of space felt hungry for her.  It wasn’t often Taes stepped into a cold spot aboard a starship.  The technical marvel of the Sutherland-class possessed, on average, two redundant atmospheric processing units for every fifty cubic metres of livable space.  That capability always proved more than enough to manage the temperature and humidity for the crew, even when standing so close to the skin of the ship.  Peering out this viewport, located at the aft of deck one’s observation lounge, was about as close as one could stand on the edge.  Taes moved even closer to the viewport until all she could see was void and stars.

The chill that permeated Taes’ uniform was existential in nature.

At the impulse speeds the USS Sarek was travelling, the relative movement of the stars was a gentle crawl.  The patch of space they were moving through was thick with the stench of corruption.  

The stars looked too far apart.

Taes’ combadge chirped and Kellin asked her to join the senior staff on the bridge.  The sense of awe in his voice was palpable, even through the tinny communication device on her chest.  They had come within visual range, Kellin had reported, of the Dyson Sphere.  He could see it through the viewscreen.  That tenor in his voice was familiar to Taes.  She had heard it from all of her crew during the briefing.  Yuulik was hopeful for a new discovery: something impossibly old she could conquer and claim for herself as a brilliant new finding.  Elbon had shared his curiosity about what purpose the Dyson Sphere had been intended by his Prophets.  Nune was surprised by his own welling up in tears at what he described as the sheer perfection of the sphere’s design.

The bridge crew clearly wanted Taes to join them as the Sarek and the Olympic approached the entry portal, and yet all Taes wanted was to look back at the path they’d travelled to reach the sphere.  She raised her index finger to the level of her eyes and she began to count the stars, pointing at each of them in turn.  Starfleet’s records had told her that the internal surface area of the Dyson Sphere had been constructed at a size that could essentially contain hundreds of millions of M-class planets.  Taes continued to count the brightest stars, the ones she knew to be nearest.

How much ore and minerals had it taken, Taes pondered, to build the Dyson Sphere?  How many worlds had to be dismantled to build the technological wonder of the sphere?  A lot?  Only few?  How many worlds were too many?

Space looked too empty.

Taes decided she wouldn’t let it steal her warmth.  She stepped back from the viewport.

Taes touched her combadge and said, “On my way.”