LtCmdr Tamio K'Wara - Prepare for the Worst, Hope for Peace

[LtCmdr Tamio K'Wara]

((Tertiary Conference Room - Operations Center, Deck 5, USS Artemis-A ))

Examining the Afalqi’s schematics was all well and good, but getting them nowhere fast. Fact of the matter was that the Afalqi Engineering Crew had been extremely secretive and careful with putting anything down in writing that could be intercepted by uninitiated eyes, and while they had many half-leads, they had nothing concrete.

There was a very good reason Tamio had never gotten into Intelligence in the Academy. They didn’t like guessing games, and while they considered themself a very creative individual, they also preferred to get answers to-go with their riddles.

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?

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.

Tamio nodded in agreement.

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?

Experimental weapons would be the most problematic from a ship safety standpoint, obviously, but Romulan technology was sophisticated and thorough, and when the secretive politicians knows of the existence of a singularity drive that could potentially blow up an entire planet due to shoddy reverse engineering, what in the world would Havun consider damning enough to hide?

It had to be some serious technology. What was the worst possible scenario? If you expect and prepare for the worst, you can - at most - be validated in your concerns, at best be pleasantly surprised and overly prepared for non-existent trouble.

At the end of the day, both of those options would equal a safer chase for the Artemis.

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.

IE, too many to count. The fact of the matter was that, after the Hobus Supernova, Starfleet understood Romulan politics even worse than before, and the current political landscape didn’t offer a lot of chances for discussion to rectify that.

Bergmen: Plasma and thalaron weaponry?

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?

Tamio nodded at the redheaded Bajoran.

K’Wara: Oh, we definitely are, Doctor. And I would much rather we’re wrong about all of this, and the Afalqi is just hiding an extra storage compartment of illegal trading goods, but we wouldn’t be doing our job if we were willing to risk going in blind by not entertaining the notion that the opposite is true. Once our analyses complete, we should hopefully have more concrete evidence to go on to discredit our worst hypotheses.

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.

That was one of two analyses down. Once the Doctor completed detangling that transporter signal, they would hopefully start seeing a more cohesive picture.

K’Wara: Show us.

Ollie did as ordered and transferred the system in question to a hologram on the table.

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: ::shakes head:: Thankfully there’s only room for one of the things, Doctor.

That being said, the fact that the messages were originating from outside of the Meranuge Sector was concerning. If someone was sending Havun correspondence from Barol VI, then that can’t have been the same person that infiltrated Afalqi Project Control on Meranuge IV...

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.

Bergmen: Response

Tamio nodded. That did seem the next logical step.

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.

Bergmen: Response

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.

Havun definitely knew how to surround himself with the right people, if he managed to get both a cleaning lady and a receptionist in on this conspiracy of his. 

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: 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/Bergmen: Response

Tamio could relate to wanting to take charge of every step of a task yourself, and Imril was still new to their new position in their department. Delegation was a horrible skill to master, but they had no doubt the Bactrican Engineer would excel at it, given practice.

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.

Tamio accessed the same data that Ensign Jaran was parsing through on a separate screen, as the ever changing lighting from the holographic schematics bathed the conference room in a dim blue hue.

Imril/Bergmen: Response

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

Imril/Bergmen: Response

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

Imril/Bergmen: Response

TAG/TBC

LtCmdr Tamio K’Wara

Chief of Ops

USS Artemis-A
A240006GS1