Lt. Robin Hopper: No Big Deal
Robin Hopper
((OOC – Apologies for delays on my end and/or if this sim is less polished than usual. I’m working on this as a way to unwind during some draining family health stuff. Also, just want to clarify that – as always – any irritation expressed by my character is 100% IC and not OOC.))
((USS Independence-B, Terminal 1A – Amity Outpost))
Robin had thought – or at least, had hoped – that she’d seen the last of troubling alternate realities (outside of science fiction stories) when she and Rivi had been solely protected from a deliberate attack on the timeline earlier that year. That experience had been harrowing enough… The notion that any of them might be ‘blinked out of existence’ by tampering from the future and, were it not but for happy circumstance, nobody would have been any the wiser, had weighed on her mind heavily in the days following that ordeal. She’d just been starting to feel as though she could let it out of her mind… and then this had happened.
It was all she could do to focus on the practicalities instead of the possibilities. What did they know for sure? What did they need to do? How could they prepare? Locking down the SRC had been, fortunately, mostly a matter of protocol. It was, after all, an area of the station that was prepared for risky inevitabilities. Everything was compartmentalized, each sealed behind secure access points, and lockdown procedures had already been put in place and rehearsed.
With that process complete, Robin had made her way to the Terminal to rendezvous with John and Scotty, using the time on the train to keep her mind occupied with research into stable quantum singularities and how they might traverse such a phenomenon safely. Now she stood before them both, PADD in hand, feeling like she knew next to nothing and that all they really had to go on were hypotheses and anecdotes.
But that’s what they had – and they would have to do.
Hopper: Commander… I think you should know – there’s a decent chance one of the spatial fissures in the benamite fields has created a corridor from our universe to theirs. That is likely how they passed into our reality…
Carter: That is a very good possibility. We go in the same door they came out of.
Reade: That could be a good possibility.
She nodded tensely, clutching her PADD tightly.
Hopper: If that’s happened, it’s just as possible that the Targhee passed through as well and ended up in this alternate reality. If the Daintree doesn’t locate them… I think that’s the next most logical place to look.
Carter: Right now, that's our best option.
Reade: I agree. We can follow through and go to the Alternate universe.
Carter: We could...and we have to make sure that we can get back out again…
A small anxious chuckle, tinged with sarcasm, escaped her lips.
Hopper: Hahaha… Alright. Well, I’m glad you’re both so confident.
She bit her tongue, not sure that either of them really understood just how wildly cavalier their statements seemed to her. As if sailing headfirst into a quantum singularity and expecting to pop out the other side exactly where, when, or how you intended was just as simple as willing it so. The truth was, while such things may have been accomplished, those isolated incidents were hardly substantiated with solid scientific data – and, if they had even happened at all, were likely the result of an unlikely combination of factors coming together at the right moment.
Then again, a small hopeful part of her had to admit that the thought of just throwing caution to the wind and diving in, expecting the best possible outcome, wasn’t necessarily off the table either. Starfleet crews had done crazier things and survived them in the past, based on mere hunches. She closed her eyes as an obnoxiously-encouraging thought crossed her mind.
oO Diving in head first is probably what Nathan would do if he were in my place… Oo
Hopper: Look… Right now, I think the best thing we can do is ensure the Indy is prepared to investigate the anomaly in the fields. ::Tilting head:: If we determine, somehow, that this fissure is acting as a corridor between our dimension and another… ::Blowing a raspberry of desperation:: I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.
She looked from the Second Officer to Scotty and shrugged, then gestured towards the Defiant-Class.
Reade: Shall we head on board?
Carter::nodding:: Absolutely. Let's get crackin'
Hopper: Yeah. oO #$%& it. Oo
She followed the other two into the ship, pulling her PADD out once more, and preparing a set of simulations to run on the Indy’s central computer…
((Bridge – USS Independence-B))
As they reached the Bridge, Robin found her way to the Science terminal naturally. It took her a moment to realize she’d never actually set foot aboard the Independence-B, except in a holodeck testing simulation, with Annamae Barberra in the Captain’s Seat. Glancing around at it now, she appreciated the faithfulness of the simulated recreation, before turning back to her work.
The group puttered about for a little while, doing system readiness checks, while Robin continued to pour over the data she’d received from Stellar Cartography. Ensign Premkumar’s hunch seemed to have been right – the fissure had stabilized, and it was producing measurable chronometic disturbances that aligned with those expected of a stable quantum singularity. Needless to say, it was a compelling scientific ‘smoking gun.’
Reade: Engines look good. Ready to depart?
Carter: Robin?
Hopper: Hmm?
The Science Officer looked up from her work, slightly bleary-eyed. She’d been staring and thinking so intently, she might have been forgetting to blink . Closing her eyes for a second, and shaking her head, she refocused on the conversation at hand.
Hopper: At this point, I’m working on fine-tuning sensors to help us pinpoint the quantum tunneling effect produced by the singularity so we can reduce the spread of our sensor sweep, get a more accurate result.
Carter: We have a course plotted to where the Targhee disappeared?
Reade: Yes, sir. That is correct.
Carter: Allright. I'll notify Commander Ukinix
Robin tapped another button on her screen and sat back in her chair for a moment to listen.
Hopper: Go for it. I’ll just keep the computer chipping away at this…
John tapped his combadge.
Carter: =/\= Carter to Commander Ukinix.=/\=
Ukinix: =/\= Wil here, go ahead. =/\=
Carter: =/\= Indy is ready for departure. Standing by.=/\=
Ukinix: =/\= We haven’t caught the assailants yet, so you’ve got time to prep the ship for - and I can’t believe I’m about to say this - jumping to another universe. Start making system adjustments, try to work out where we can cross, and how, and instruct Lieutenant Reade any changes to the Indy you see fit. Work out what impacts it will have on the ship once we cross – if we can cross. Lieutenant Hopper, this is a science led initiative for the time being. =/\=
Robin raised her eyebrows. A professor in one of her first year Academy courses – she couldn’t remember which one anymore – had made a joke about how the role of “Science Officer” was so remarkably broad that it often led commanding officers to the skewed expectation that the nerds in the blue shirts could bend reality to their wills. Robin was beginning to wonder how much of a ‘joke’ it had actually been, despite the general chuckle it had elicited.
All the same, she nodded. What else was there to do?
Hopper: =/\= Right. I’m about to have some more precise results to synthesize recommendations from… ::With a gesture of her hand:: You know, how to go from point A, to point B, and back to A without winding up a cloud of dispersed atoms in the void between universes. =/\=
oO Assuming the prevailing theories and my models are correct… Oo
She caught glances from both of them and tried smiling as a way of convincing them – and herself – that they weren’t doomed. It seemed to work well enough.
Carter: =/\= Understood. Carter out.=/\=
John turned his attention to Scotty for a moment, and Robin let out a sigh of relief before turning back to her own work – trying to determine what, if any, shield modulations and nacelle configurations she could suggest to the Engineer that might help them maintain atomic coherence.
Carter: Kill our ID. We don't need anyone trying to follow us where we're going or anyone finding out who we are on the other side before we have a game plan.
While Scotty offered John a silent confirmation, Robin added:
Hopper: And I have some preliminary recommendations I’ll slide over to your console, Scotty. Minor tweaks to start. The rest will come as my results complete…
Carter: All right...now, we wait…
As she stared at the various simulations playing out before her, many of which resulted in some sort of cascading system overload that would destroy the Indy, she began to absent-mindedly hum a song. It was a nervous habit that she was only partially aware of. T’sel, her roommate on board the Wall Street, had brought it up as a point of curiosity – and thus inadvertently alerted Robin to the habit. Not that it had stopped her from doing it unintentionally.
Reade: Sir, I have also masked our transponder. So most vessels will think we are still docked on Amity.
Carter: Good idea. The less anyone knows, the better.
Caught up in her own work, Robin only vaguely heard the conversation happening beside her. She continued to hum, trying to find some sort of solution to the cascading system failure issue. The issue was how integrated the on board computer systems were, and how reliant on quantum consistency they were to function correctly.
Reade: That is correct. I learned about this from my dad actually a few years back.
Carter: ::smiling:: Seems like your father taught you some very dubious...but also very necessary...tricks…
It suddenly occurred to her that she was humming – Honey, Honey by ABBA – and the reason for the song’s sticking in her mind made itself clear. She was thinking of the Targhee. Its systems were barely integrated at all. A failure in one module would have next to no way of cascading into the next – and she’d already spoofed them all to believe they were ‘synchronized’ even when they weren’t.
Hopper: ::Sudden realization:: Oh! ::Looking to Reade:: One more thing for your bucket, Scotty. We’ll want to implement system segregations and keep duplicate isolinear modules on hand in case any get ‘fried’ by the quantum displacement…
She smiled. That little franken-ship flew on wishes and dreams – but the thought that it might actually be better equipped than a standard Starfleet vessel to pass through an anomaly like this and survive the trip gave her a glimmer of hope.
Reade: I see. I will start looking at the possible issues that may arise if we make the ‘jump.’ I will inform you of any changes that I may need to make.
((20 Minutes Later))
oO It was a mistake giving Veers clearance to go off on that mission… Oo she thought to herself. Having the extra physicist on hand would have been invaluable. Someone to bounce ideas off of, brainstorm with, and also someone who would understand the monumentality of the task they were facing.
She turned over her shoulder at the sound of Scotty returning from Engineering. Hopefully, he’d succeeded in implementing her recommended safeguards.
Reade: Commander, if we jump, we must change the ship’s registry. We are not sure what that side of the universe has. If we keep the USS moniker, we could risk exposing ourselves.
Carter: We need to strip any and all identification from the hull once we get to the other side as quickly as possible.
Robin tutted. A small sound that likely failed to convey the mix of amusement, annoyance, and apprehension that she was feeling. It boggled her mind that Carter and Reade had both managed to remain so laser-focused on how the Indy would fare ‘on the other side – when she wasn’t even entirely convinced there was another side. Or that they could make it there in one piece… Though her confidence was growing. Slowly.
Carter: We're also going to have to make sure our engine signatures make sense over there. More than likely there will be some slight differences in engine signatures. Scotty, run the gamut of possibilities so we can plug in the one most appropriate.
Reade: On it, sir.
Carter: Robin..do the same with our sensors. Do what you can to make us as invisible as possible. Since we don't have a cloaking device, we'll just have to use guile and guts…
Robin spun in her seat to face them both and held up her index finger to make a point with.
Hopper: Look you two, while I think that talking about engine signatures and sensor spoofing is all well and good, I’m not sure the gravity of the problem we’re facing is quite clear to either of you.
Carter/Reade: Response
Hopper: No. I mean it literally. The gravitational forces within a quantum singularity that size are likely to be several orders of magnitude higher than what a Defiant Class is typically prepared to manage. We’ve got a lot of surface area to account for – our shield and structural integrity is going to put through its paces, even just getting near the thing…
Carter/Reade: Response
Hopper: Well, Commander Ukinix did say this was to be a Science-led initiative and… as the Science Officer… it’s my opinion that Engineering ::a glance to Reade:: needs to be focusing on finding ways to bolster the ship’s resilience to circumventing the laws of nature. ::Nodding to his terminal:: I’ve sent a few shield modifications your way, as a starting point.
Reade: Response
Hopper: ::A glance to Cater:: And I’m concerned we’re jumping the gun here. Have we got word back yet from the Daintree? If so, can they confirm whether or not they’ve detected the same sort of quantum-level disruption that Scotty and I found in this… other… Rivi and her noble friends? That confirmation might give us what we need to know in order to determine whether or not the Targhee, uh, ‘fell in’.
Carter: Response
Reade: Response
TBC
