2389/11
During the refit and recuperation period of the USS Traveller, Canopus Station is visited by an unknown vessel. Appearing as first to be a sensor echo on the very edge of the Carpathia Star System, the echo begins to randomly jump from one side of the system to the other. Station sensors read the anomaly like the subspace displacement of a ship entering and exiting the Quantum Slipstream. Which each new contact the anomaly seems to close in on the station until it suddenly materialises one hundred meters shy of the Engineering Modules hull well inside the station's perimeter shielding.
The vessel loses power almost instantly, but sensors show life signs aboard though the hull does make more detailed readings impossible to determine. What can be seen on the ships grey hull plating is its name, RCS Dauntless, a name written in Federation Standard. An away team is sent across to assess the damage, and render aid to the crew. Beaming into a cargo bay, they find neatly stacked crates, again labelled in Federation Standard. One warning sign is written in three languages: Federation Standard, Vulcan and Trill.
The rescue team is soon discovered by a security team from the RCS Dauntless, and it is soon discovered that not only do they speak without need of a Universal Translator but that the faces under their EV helmet visors are human face. They state they are members of the Reciprocity of Carcosia Navy, and whilst entering this star system their power plant suffered a catastrophic malfunction causing them to stutter out of the Slipstream.
Agreeing to aid these Carcosian sailors in repairing their craft, more is learned about them. Their ancestors were part of an exodus fleet who fled the Earth/Romulan War inthe 22nd Century. How they arrived in Messier 4, and attained a much higher level of technology than their Milky Way counterparts, is unknown at this time. What is known is that Prior Censor Fields, the guiding intelligence that protects the ancient machines from harm, is countering their ability to power their ship. An Away Team is sent down to Carpathia to disable the Prior artefact discovered in August (2389/08.1). The Carcosians have some knowledge of Prior machinery and have a way of deactivating it. In doing so they awaken a defence mechanism called an Emulation, which is stopped just shy of killing the away team when the Carcosian logic bomb deactivates the White Tower.
In reaction to this, a beam of energy erupts from the now deactivated tower, and reaches out across the Carpathia Star System tp touch three other points in the system: the world of Cinder, an asteroid in the Unicorn-B belt, and down into the heart of the gas giant Tangerine Dream. Further investigation is required.
