Star Trek Message Forum

{ The First Paragraphs Of FORGOTTEN SONS }


ECHO...



The Nostradamus Intergalactic Telemetry Platform, situated just outside the
stabilized gravity well of the Ozurra binary star cluster, was a solitary outpost light years from the nearest colonized system. Part of a galaxy-wide, privatized network of similar ITPs, its primary function was the constant broadcast of real-time, free-access astrogational telemetry, acting as a fixed navigational point for interstellar traffic. Like most other ITPs it was also a way station, an open port for that selfsame interstellar traffic. Nostradamus afforded vessels a place to obtain repairs, limited resupply, and where the crews of those vessels could take some time and stretch their legs. An entire third of the Nostradamus' habitable area had been partitioned off for just that type of civilian use, meaning unregulated services of almost every variety could be obtained from a diverse cross-section of vendors and merchants. Because of the inability to utilize anything but sublight engines near a gravity well the size and intensity of the one generated by the interaction of Ozurra-Major and Ozurra-Minor, Nostradamus, while isolated, was always filled to capacity with all manner of visitors. After all, if you had to slow down anyway, why not stop...?

The Nostradamus and her other networked platforms were politically neutral, differing from the Federation's DS space stations because they were neither fortresses nor territorial dividing lines. This fact, above all others, is what made the screech of the red alert warning klaxon such an unnatural sound, Why, unlike aboard a Federation installation, nobody responded, believing it a malfunction or some sort of practice drill. Shoppers continued shopping, vendors continued dealing, and the day continued just as it had been.

Until the impact, that is.