CROSSFIRE - Atlantis DSV - New Cape Quest

There was no objection, and Parish made a quick key stroke on his data slate that
soon resolved on the display. The slowly spinning roundel of the Commonwealth dissolved,
and was promptly replaced with an uplink to Parish‟s CIC station, and the associated sensor
log, which appeared initially as little more than an audio wave form.
“It took me a little while to isolate the distinct frequencies in your logs, Commander
Roberts,” he explained briefly. “But to spare you the details, I eventually cross referenced the
individual tracks to fleet records that displayed similar anomalies.”
Parish made another adjustment to his slate, and the wave form split in to three
different patterns before isolating the top-most track. Parish zoomed in on the required time
code, and highlighted a section that was nearly completely devoid of data – a sensor hole,
filled with nothing more than ambient noise. Making another stroke on his instrument, the
sonar track was super-imposed on what appeared to be a three dimensional representation
of a UEO Raptor subfighter, mapped to its sonar arrays and associated data bearings.
Parish then tapped his pad, and let the data play through. The wave form jumped, spiked
and changed slightly as the timeline progressed, but all four pilots noticed the „hole‟ that was
missing on the fighter‟s 180-degree bearing. Parish rotated the display, and overlayed the
second and then third sensor tracks which resolved above and below the first, completing
what had effectively become a spherical map of the fighter‟s sensor recordings, on every
bearing. In some places, Roberts could clearly make out what appeared to be the shadows
of adjacent subfighters, or the rolling topography of the trench around it – but once again –
the hole just below the fighter‟s tail remained.
The title slug at the bottom of the screen identified the Raptor as belonging to Rapier
Eight – Lieutenant Cunningham. As best Roberts could see, the data that Parish was
showing them was the original log that had been sent to the CIC.
“This is a full map of the fighter‟s hypersonar logs,” Parish explained. “In real time.”
“So?” Roberts asked, so far unimpressed. “This is the same thing the Lieutenant
found when she was working with the Chief.”
The ensign regarded the Rapier commander apologetically, and then looked at
Richards and Coyle respectively. “Yes, ma‟am, it is... I thought I would display it in a more
understandable manner for the sake of Commanders Coyle and Richards,”
“Please continue, ensign,” Roderick suggested gently, giving Roberts a warning
glance.
Parish nodded curtly, and then swiped his hand across the slate again, the display
wiping a new overlay, highlighted in blue, across that which was already playing. “To
compare, sirs, this is the same time code on the parallel acoustic array.”
They all noted that the hole had now been filled. The missing data had returned, and
Coyle‟s eyebrow started to rise slowly. Parish went on. “...The problem with this data is that I
have cross checked the alignments of both the primary, and the slaved sonar arrays, and
there is no question they are matched to an extremely accurate degree. There are, as best I
can tell, only two possibilities that remain that explain the absence of data on the laser
bands. The first, is that the hypersonars on three, independently maintained subfighters
have suffered the exact same electronics failure on their aft detection grids, on the same,
matched bearing...”
“...Which is impossible,” Richards noted.
“Well, nothing is impossible, Commander... but a better explanation is that the
acoustic data, too, has to contain a measurable, matched anomaly along the same axis.”
Parish again wiped his hand across the slate, and the hypersonar data – along with
its „hole‟ disappeared, leaving only the acoustics. Parish highlighted the corresponding
equivalent and isolated it from the rest of the track. “This portion of the acoustic sonar log
shows everything you would expect from a functioning array. If you were to break down the
different tracks, you‟d be able to identify engine, enrivonment, contact and ambient logs
without a problem. By all rights, the data is „complete‟.”
Parish paused for a moment, and then expanded his selection to include the adjacent
data. “That data is a reflection,” he concluded.
“A reflection?” Roberts frowned. “As in... an active return, right?”
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