Lt Imril -
Chris Taylor
((Tertiary Conference Room - Operations Center, Deck 5, USS Artemis-A ))
The Doctor and Chief both raised a valid point; evidence suggestive of a cloaking device was not hard proof of a cloaking device. No more than the traces of Klingon computer science within a single data rod put a Klingon on top of that hangar roof. Demonstrable facts needed to determine the outcome of this endeavor, and nothing else.
Jaran: Have you had a chance to look at the scans we took of the device we saw in Havun's office?
K’Wara: Right, that’s another avenue we can examine. ::accesses the console and drags up a holographic diagram of the device:: This was found with... The cleaning lady? Am I getting that right?
Bergmen: Yes, but she was more like a protegé, an untrained engineer. That was her concept, a prototype of some kind. I don’t think this is very relevant, as I doubt it got anywhere beyond that model.
Jaran: No no, I promise it's relevant. At least potentially. The one who claims she designed it said it was created with some very odd specifications in mind. Like it was supposed to interface with something she wasn't familiar with.
K'Wara: Which means likely not Da’al tech, but is there any way for us to ascertain what its function is?
Bergmen: Some type of connector between Da’al and whatever is involved in technology? Can be?
Ollie glanced at Imril for their opinion.
Imril recalled reading up on the device in their quarters.
Imril: ::To Ollie:: Seems likely.
Jaran: I imagine, if she was the engineer she imagined herself, she would have been at least roughly familiar with cloaking devices. I feel like we can rule out the idea the part was for that. Maybe an analysis of it and what it may have been designed for would give us some idea of what was in that section.
K'Wara: Remember, Doctor, the Da’al are isolationists and barely at a point where they’ve mastered warp travel. It is quite on purpose that they have limited interactions with outside powers, so it’s not unlikely that a civilian engineer has never considered cloaking devices as a concept. ::jovial wink:: Let’s not start at the conclusion, right?
All in all, what the collective teams had this far were various trials of breadcrumbs in search of a common origin. And an iron-clad chain of evidence.
K’Wara: Imril, is it possible to get more information about this device? Try and establish what its inclusion in the Afalqi’s system might be for?
Imril: The usual battery of forensic engineering tests, for a start. It won't be the first unidentified alien device that Starfleet has cracked. Or the last.
Jaran: Lieutenant Bergmen? I'm sorry to interrupt, but I may have just had an idea. Can I run it by you?
Bergmen: Yes, yes, of course, Doctor.
Ollie smiled and turned to Jaran. Focusing his attention on a semi-private conversation with the Doctor.
K’Wara: So if it's for compatibility’s sake, that must mean that Da’al technology isn’t actually very well-suited with the tech that Havun was going to install. What is your assessment of the singularity drive you found? As I understand it, it was a hodgepodge of Da’al and Romulan technology?
Imril: That’s true. The primary Da’al contribution was a fusion generator. Robust plasma injectors, too, a step up from known Da’al examples but adapted from their technology. The computer system that operated the device was of Da’al make, or was at least running Da’al software.
Jaran: So, you see, at the end we either confirm our guess or we rule someone out completely. And if we can get it narrowed down to a Romulan, well, I can work on putting those pieces together, and that gets way easier with a starting point.
Bergmen: Yeah, I agree. We can take the Romulans as our shatterpoint and proceed on that presumption. If we found other clues or evidence that will refute it later, so be it. But we should move forward, and this looks like very strong evidence.
K'Wara: What is your best assessment, as an Engineer? If a Starship is reliant on devices such as this to ensure the technology plays nice with each other, how does that affect the upper stress limit on engines and computer systems?
Imril: Given that we are talking about a device so small, I’d be just as concerned or more about the stresses the adaptor itself experiences. It’s the choke point between the two alien systems. The ship’s engines and computer systems would be more likely to start over-taxing themselves after the device failed. The computer working itself to a tizzy trying to continue existing operations in spite of mounting conflicts, and drinking the engines dry to do it.
K’Wara: We need to determine who this interloper is beyond reasonable doubt, and fast, before the Afalqi blows up midflight. Doctor, Ollie - where are we on the transporter signature?
Hearing his name, Ollie turned his head to face the commander. His relentlessly optimistic smile ever present. And what a charming smile it was.
Bergmen: We agree on Romulans, sir. ::turns head back to Jaran:: Doctor Jaran, would you like to present the details?
Jaran: Response
K’Wara: Start by presuming Romulan. As much as I understand wanting to think you’re more clever than you are, let’s operate under the assumption that they had Romulan assistance with that singularity drive. ::to Imril:: While they get on that, we’re going to play a little mindgame. Presuming that our unwelcome advisor is a Romulan, what kind of problematic Romulan tech could potentially be housed in that hidden area on the schematics? Cloaking device is one option; anything else?
Imril’s mind went first to the Borg ship that had been in the Free State’s custody for some time.
Imril: Transwarp drive, spatial trajector, or anything else they might have reverse engineered from the Artifact. Anti-cloak detection technology, forwarding the arms race with the Klingons. Specialized communication-and-surveillance packages for setting up listening posts in the Borderlands. Anything that they might want researched and constructed out here in neutral space, out of view of any spies embedded in their own. Including Romulan spies, if our hypothetical Romulan is acting on their own agenda.
Bergmen: Plasma and thalaron weaponry?
Imril nodded, both very reasonable suggestions.
Jaran: Response
Bergmen’s station beeped for attention, which pulled him away from the wider discussion.
Imril: On the topic of weapons, if one were to refine what we’ve already discovered -- a cataclysmically powerful combination of singularity drive and fusion device -- you’d have a warhead for a planet-killer.
In which case, leaving one such hybrid device ticking on Meranuge IV wouldn't just have been an over-the-top (and genocidal) bid to destroy any remaining evidence of the Afalqi’s payload. It would have been a proof of concept.
Jaran/K’Wara: Response
Bergmen: Sir? Mister Filistrien sent his analysis. We were able to actually identify more precise place where the messages were sent. Not a sector or system. A planet.
Jaran/K’Wara: Response
Ollie transferred the system in question to a hologram on the table and zoomed in.
Bergmen: Class P, Glaciated. A frozen world. As you can see, it’s in a binary star system, and its orbit is unstable between the stars. Given the data, for now, we are 89% sure that’s the place to where the messages were sent. The specific location on the planet remains unknown due to that unstable orbit. (beat) But as we get closer, we will be able to analyze the actual conditions and orbit and, from that, calculate the location.
Imril: Adding to the list of things that might be on the ship, a power modulator to help the ship’s weapons burn through the ice. This could all be about digging something up out of the glaciers.
It was a long shot of an idea, but so far the team was short on ways to narrow the list of possibilities. Except… Imril turned their attention back to the hologram of Ta’Mora’s device.
Jaran/K’Wara: Response
Imril pointed at Ta’Mora’s adaptor.
Imril: One of the few things we know for sure is that whatever’s on the Afalqi, it needs that to make it operable on a Da’al ship. I suggest we start running simulations, here on the tactical computer or in a holodeck. See for ourselves what kind of power load it can handle. What sort of inputs it was intended to deal with. Projected outputs. Once we have a better handle on what it’s supposed to be adapting, and how well it can actually do its job, we can start looking for any potential flaws that we can exploit.
It would be a relatively simple task to insert a virtual version of the device to a copy of the ship's schematics (such as they were), turn them both 'on' and start working with variables. Fine tuning said variables to get valid and consistent results, that was where the art and science of engineering came in.
Jaran/K’Wara/Bergmen: Response
Imril turned to K'Wara.
Imril: With your permission, Commander, I’d also like to build a physical copy of the device. If and when that’s feasible. Might just come in handy when we intercept the Afalqi.
One of the many unknowns here was what shape the Afalqi’s adaptor(s) would be in when the Artemis reached it.
Jaran/K’Wara/Bergmen: Response
TAG/TBC
----------------------------------------------------
Lieutenant Imril
Engineering Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240110I12