Technical Details of Station Nightblade

Station Nightblade is a top secret military intelligence facility in orbit around a black hole deep within Inperial space. Utilizing the collapsestar's extreme gravitational forces as a lens, the observatory gathers subspace electronic and communication intelligence on the enemies of the Klingon Empire.

Black Star X-138

Black holes are born whan a massive star, aged and dying, can no longer sustain the nuclear fires within. In a great supernova, the outer layers of the atmosphere are thrown off. The core, no longer supported by the nuclear furnace, collapses under it's own weight until the gravitational forces at its surface are so great that even light cannot escape.

Most stars have companion stars, and black holes are no exception. These stars often survive the supernova explosion, only to be slowly eaten by the zombie corpse of a black hole.

Black Star X-138 is unusual in that it is somehow unassociated with any companion star or even the gaseous remenants of its own death. It is this lack of surrounding gasses that makes Black Star X-138 ideally suited for its purpose as a gravitational lens observatory.

Gravitational Lensing

The physicist that built Qo'noS's first atomic bomb, his name kept secret to this day, also theorized that gravitational fields curve space-time in the way that a bowling ball would deform a bed cushion on which it was resting. It wasn't until the Klingons achieved space travel that this was not only proven to be true but also was put to practical use beyond orbital mechanics.

A station was placed far out from the Homeworld's star amongst the cometary fragments of the system's borders. Here, the light from distant systems bent around the home star's gravity well and came to a focus. It was, in effect, a telescope as large as the solar system, able to resolve details as small as continents from lightyears away. It was with this observatory that Klingons first discovered their interstellar neighbors and, with the development of warp drive shortly thereafter, set about conquering and enslaving them.

With the discovery of Black Star X-138, the Empire set about construction of the most sophisticated and invasive intelligence gathering platform in known space.

Station Nightblade

The observatory at Black Star X-138 uses over one hundred remotely operated "objective receivers." These platforms are positioned along the focal line opposite a target to gather subspace signals as they bend around the black hole. These signals are transmitted to Station Nightblade where the Empire's most powerful array of computers filter and enhanse the signals, allowing clear resolution of subspace transmissions across as much as one quarter of the galaxy. A team of intelligence specialists decode, decypher and interprate the data into military intelligence reports.

Station Nightblade also does visible light observations for interstellar exploration. However, since this is limited by the speed of light, the military utility of these observations are severely limited. For example, a visible light oservation of Terra would show the planet as it was near the end of its last ice age when humanity was still using weapons no more sophisticated than fire-hardened sticks. A subspace observation would gather ELINT and COMINT information from several weeks past.

The facility of Station Nightblade and the area around Black Star X-138 is so secret and secure that a squadron of warships have orders to attack any unauthorized vessel, even other Klingon vessels, without warning. The station's technical staff are mostly of servator races who, once assigned to the station, are never permitted to leave again. (Their families are, however, rewarded with special compensations.) Imperial staff operate at extreme security levels. They are surgically implanted with tracking devices which remain with them for the rest of their lives. When they are permitted to leave the station, they are constantly followed and observed. If it is determined that they pose a threat to the security of the operation, the tracking device is also an explosive, powerful enough to kill even nearby people. Some staff combat the isolation by bringing their family to live with them and at least one family has served exclusively aboard the station for four generations.

Answer: It's fiction.


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