Lt Imril - SMOKING GUN? Y [_] / N [_]
Chris Taylor
((Tertiary Conference Room - Operations Center, Deck 5, USS Artemis-A ))
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.
K’Wara: I think that’s a good idea, but I need you focused on the task at hand, Lieutenant. ::smiles:: Time for you to start delegating a bit, Assistant Chief. Forward the schematics to the Engineering Department and have some of the junior officers work on it. We’ll do what we can with the scans that Doctor Jaran took in the meanwhile.
Jaran: I hope the scans are detailed enough. It had been my hope that they would be used for this, however.
Tamio moved over to Doctor Jaran’s side, looking at the computer where they were working on the transporter signal.
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: That’s a possibility.
Ollie was looking at the small holographic image of the device.
Before Imril could help him, they had to isolate a data packet and transmit it to Main Engineering as per K’Wara’s order. Fun as it would have been to build themselves, this was indeed time for delegation.
Imril: Schematics forwarded to Main Engineering.
Bergmen: Doctor… ::fell silent for a second:: What if this is something else than she told us?
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: Well, I for one would like to know how much of a challenge. The Da’al government wants the Afalqi back in one piece, and if its going to blow up from going past its stress threshold, then we need to catch up to it quick. ::to Imril and Ollie:: You two, run what simulations you need to to try and figure out what this thing is and what it's used for.
Imril: Aye.
Imril copied the Afalqi’s schematic to a new folder and began inputting simulation parameters. Mindful to keep a watch as well on the dilithuim chamber. The ‘novel, self-regulating core’ as it was named in one of the away team reports. To see what could be gleaned of the Da’al’s stated efforts to reduce dilution decay.
The hologram space which Imril had claimed for the schematic analysis was given over to the simulation. The two-dimensional blueprints fusing into a three-dimensional layout of the Alafqi’s main engineering section. Above it, the device rendered in large scale. Various parts of it lit up as the computer experimented with where it might connect into the system and how.
Ollie nodded.
Bergmen: Aye, sir. ::looks from Imril to Tamio::
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: Don’t know how useful I’ll be on the phrenologizing, but I can definitely rule out targs... I think.
Ollie enhanced the part on hologram and checked against the details on the screen of his station, before he glanced up back to the hologram and pointed to one of its extensions.
Bergmen: Look, here. Could it be a converter connector?
Imril: Yeah. And this other part here, it connects to something as well. This might not be the whole adapter. But a ‘valve’ of some sort. A patch to a larger item on the ship.
That could explain why it had been left behind in what had been an otherwise nearly-flawless heist. A last-minute fix to something already installed aboard the vessel.
Jaran: Response
K’Wara: Let’s try and minimize the scope of the transporter pattern. ::color-codes the data:: These areas are too garbled to make sense of, so let’s ignore those for now and focus on the bits that seem more likely to clear up well enough.
Jaran: Response
Ollie ran the comparing analysis against known system parts trying to find the match. His hopes seemed dashed by the endless cycling of the computer trying to find one.
Bergmen: Anything found so far that could be helpful?
Imril: Mechanically, physically, the device has very robust magnetic resistances. Able to stand up to heavy stresses caused by a magnetic direction field. The inner lining has components similar to those in a particle accelerator. But it requires connection to an outside power source to perform that function. ::Typing:: Activating the model Afalqi… Several of those supplemental systems I found in the walls went active in response to the device.
K’Wara: I agree, that’s what I’m seeing too. ::considers:: The scrambling methodology isn’t random. Someone - on either side of the transporter - used a deliberate system to ruin the pattern, likely to prevent anyone from doing what we’re trying to do. Let's try and cycle through some reparative algorithms we have on file, see if one matches.
Jaran: Response
Ollie frowned at the results. Imril could guess why; rather than balancing out energy differences, as one would expect of an adaptor, the output seemed to produce a continuous yield-energy profile. Once consistent with plasma acceleration, and lots of it.
Bergmen: Are those data confirmed? Because they do not make sense until they would weaponize that input, right?
Imril: I see where you’re headed. ::Typing:: EPS grid analysis confirms standard plasma flow across the other parts of the ship, yet I’m reading an uptick in the levels being produced by the engines. It’s got to be passing through the device. You might want to re-do the calculations to be sure.
Ollie glanced at the commander, but declined to share. He returned back to his screen to double check his math.
Measure twice, cut once as the saying goes.
Bergmen: No, the numbers check. That input calculation is correct. Comparison analysis too.
Imril: ::Typing:: Power output from the warp engine is staying within parameters expected by the schematics. The dilithium chamber’s maintaining steady plasma generation. The device is keeping up with the load. Could keep going for some time.
Where all the plasma was going was still a matter of estimation. What needed so much plasma running through it so quickly other than a weapons system?
Jaran/K’Wara: Response
Ollie looked like he really, really didn’t want to pronounce his conclusion to the Commander.
Imril gave them a half smile and a subtle nod in K’Wara’s direction.
If this turned out to be another rabbit-trail to nowhere, so be it. The sooner the hypothesis was brought to the table, the sooner it could be dismissed if it turned out to be wrong. Or fretted over if this conclusion turned out to be correct.
He glanced at K'Wara once more.
Bergmen: Sir? …Commander? Do we… Do we know the weaponry standard and typology Da’al possesses?
K’Wara: Response
Imril: I certainly don’t remember seeing anything like this the last time I encountered Da’al.
Jaran: Response
Imril: Simulated responses are consistent with the device being involved in regulating plasma acceleration. Tactical-grade plasma acceleration.
K’Wara/Jaran/Bergmen: Response
Drawing a plasma weapon into one of the gaps in the schematic might still be getting ahead of the data at this point, though. A mistake that Imril didn’t want to make again.
Imril: It could be a novel, if reckless, means of boosting power to some other system. Or just powering the unidentified tech.
But it could also be a weapon.
K’Wara/Jaran/Bergmen: Response
Imril: Whatever it’s powering, it’s definitely hungry and possibly very big. Based on the differential between plasma output from the engines and the amount being circulated around the rest of the ship, there should be more than one of these ‘accelerators’ sharing the load. I’d say at least four.
K’Wara/Jaran/Bergmen: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant Imril
Engineering Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240110I12