Ensign Jaran Jira - One Step Removed From Cranial Bumps
Jira Jaran
((Tertiary Conference Room - Operations Center, Deck 5, USS Artemis-A ))
Bergmen: We agree on Romulans, sir. ::turns head back to Jaran:: Doctor Jaran, would you like to present the details?
Jaran: The short version is that we're going to assume that the transporter data contains a Romulan pattern. We can work backward from that and try to flesh out more details, if possible. Or rule it out, if it doesn't work. Either way, we learn a lot.
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?
Jira bristled internally at this sort of prejudice at play. But, unfortunately, logic did seem to bear it out.
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, and Jira was willing to trust them. But this conversation was making them uncomfortable. A reasonable assumption backed up by at least some data was one thing. Conjecture about the worst stereotypes of an entire culture was something else.
Jira sat and stewed a little at the injustice, and at the disappointment in themself. Bergmen's station was beeping, and he went to deal with that while Imril continued.
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.
Jaran: I know it's our job to consider all the possibilities here, but is it possible we're catastrophising over a minimal amount of information here?
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: Finally. Something concrete. Too many wraiths to be chasing right now.
K’Wara: Response
Bergmen 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.
Jaran: For a culture that's barely mastered warp travel, they seem to have churned out one of the most advanced ships this sector has ever seen, based on everything we've imagined they might have!
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.
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.
Jaran: I hope the scans are detailed enough. It had been my hope that they would be used for this, however.
K’Wara/Bergmen: Response
Jira thought back to Ta'Mora and wondered. Had she truly been the pitiful soul she portrayed, or had she been yet another conspirator, attempting to recover a critical component that had been left behind? They couldn't know. But what they could know is that the erred on the side of caring for someone, and that was what mattered.
Jaran: I suppose it's worth mentioning that, if the person who had this component when we found it was not who she claimed to be, she could have been recovering it to send to the Afalqi.
K'Wara/Imril/Bergmen: Response
Jaran: There is a silver lining, I suppose. If she had been lying, and they were taking a risk to get this part, that means it's valuable to them. Something they would face a challenge without.
K'Wara/Imril/Bergmen: Response
Jira shook their head and sat back.
Jaran: Listen, you've gotten too far into the engineering weeds for me there. I'm no help with that. But if you want to help me... phrenologise this transporter pattern, I'd take the help.
K'Wara/Imril/Bergmen: Response
TAG/TBC