USS Oregon Mission Log – Captain Kira Sato
Stardate 66163.2
Location: Orbiting the Second Ring, Veiled Expanse
Status: Awaiting response to encoded inquiry
Chapter: The Answer From the Stars
For nearly fourteen hours, the USS Oregon has held position near the second ring. Our encoded fractal message — “Who built you?” — was transmitted at 0500 hours through a modulated narrowband subspace pulse.
Since then: nothing.
No pulses. No resonance. No neural spikes in Lt. Kaur’s brainwave patterns. The silence is almost oppressive — as if the ring is thinking.
At 0657, the silence broke.
Bridge – First Response Event
The lights dimmed. Consoles flickered. A soft hum vibrated throughout the ship — harmonic, rhythmic, and eerily familiar.
Lt. Lin: “Captain… the ring is powering up.”
Ramirez: “Subspace distortion building! The energy signature is fractalizing — forming patterns!”
George Turner: “Shields up!”
Sato: “Belay that. Hold position. Let it speak.”
The hum shifted into a series of pulses, glowing across the ring’s amber surface. Thousands of fine energy filaments ignited — weaving like neural pathways across its circumference.
Then the ring transmitted.
Not in words.
Not in sound.
But in imagery.
The viewscreen dissolved into a cascade of shifting symbols, star charts, timelines, and forms — humanoid and non-humanoid, made of pure geometric light.
Lt. Kaur collapsed in sickbay, eyes glowing.
The ring was speaking through her.
Medical Bay – Lt. Kaur’s Resonance Activation
Kaur’s voice was layered — her own tone mixed with a deep harmonic resonance that reverberated through the entire room.
“We are the Continuum of Record.”
Dr. West froze.
“We were born before language. Before warp. Before the first stars of your sector were lit.”
Kaur’s heartbeat stabilized, synchronized exactly with the ring’s pulses.
“We watched. We remembered. We endured.”
She turned her head toward the ceiling, as if looking through it.
“Our creators… are gone. Consumed by time. But their memory remains in us. The rings preserve their legacy. Their rise. Their fall. Their warnings.”
The pulse intensified.
“The galaxy forgets. We do not.”
And then—as suddenly as it began—the connection snapped.
Lt. Kaur gasped, disoriented but alive.
