Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen - The discussion I was (un)involved in
CPT Arianus
(( Tertiary Conference Room - Operations Center, Deck 5, USS Artemis-A ))
Bergmen: If you need help with anything, just let me know.
Ollie smiled at Ensign and leaned slightly over their shoulder to get a better look at their PADD.
Jaran: ::without looking up from the PADD:: Thank you. I'll probably need another set of eyes on these markers at some point.
K’Wara: That’s what we’re here for.
JG Bergmen was clearly satisfied with what he saw and continued to his station. They had work to do as well, in the end.
Imril: I think I have something.
Ollie glanced up at the holoprojection on the table as he heard Imril speaking.
Imril: As a general rule, starships are built with empty spaces to fill for sake of mission adaptability. Non-dedicated rooms that can be occupied by whatever stations and technology are required to meet needs as they arise. ::Zooms in on part of the Alafqi’s Engineering deck:: But here, and here, these ‘empty’ sections have additions to their walls and power grid that, on a Starfleet ship anyway, look a little too over-built for what’s supposed to be non-decdicated areas. Too specialized. It suggests that Havun’s team already knew what they were going to put there.
Jaran: Am I correct in assuming, then, that this could point at there being a plan for whatever is in these spaces being there from the earliest stages of construction or even planning?
K’Wara: So whoever our infiltrator is, they must’ve had a hand in the Afalqi’s planning process - or at least had dealings with Havun - for a while. According to the data, Havun has been the Chief Engineer of the project from the beginning, but the original pitch wasn’t his.
The more he heard, the more he disliked what that meant. This did not sound like something impulsive, like a run for freedom or because they faced some shady moral issues they'd not want to participate in.
This sounded like something that was planned for a long time.
Something nefarious.
Bergmen: So, we can basically scratch out any option that this was just some interior dispute, right?
But Imril didn’t end there.
Imril: Based on what I know about cloaking devices and their operation, I’d say one was installed here in this cavity. ::scrolling:: And right here, the singularity drive used to power it.
Yeah, that basically answered the question. If a cloaking device was in play, they basically had Klingons and Romulans at large to think of as an intervening party. And they didn’t find any Klingon DNA…
Jaran: Just to cover our bases, I feel like I need to point out that we're starting at the conclusion and working backward here. We still don't know that there's a cloaking device.
Okay, that was quite a good and valid point. Maybe they got ahead of themselves with reductions regarding how, where, and mainly - what had actually happened.
K’Wara: Klingons and Romulans are known to use them, but going from that to them voluntarily sharing that knowledge with the Da’al is a leap, I agree. ::considers:: We need to work out a list of what potential equipment might suit the specifications we have on hand. If there’s even the slightest possibility that it’s some kind of advanced weapons system instead, the Bridge needs to be alerted.
Bergmen nodded in agreement with that argument. Sounded reasonable, just like all the other thoughts in this discussion about technical things he didn't know much about, in the discussion he was (un)involved in.
And Imril doesn't seem to give up so easily, at least according to another diagram they displayed on the holotable.
Imril: Over in this part of the ship, though, I have an anomaly. Based on the surrounding infrastructure, I can guess that something specific was or is intended to be installed here. But I can’t quite identify what from the information available. There are gaps in the data.
Jaran: What happened to the data? I was under the impression we'd gotten everything.
K’Wara: Jetripar surrendered everything that the project bureaucracy had on hand, but the Afalqi engineers were hardly forthcoming with all their plans. As for the hangar drive, ::looks at Imril:: I presume this is a side-effect of that ‘booby trap’ you wandered into?
Ollie felt the temperature in the room drop a few notches as the argument continued, and Commander K'War's frustration grew with each word.
Imril: When the hangar ‘intelligence’ started deleting the drive on me, this section of the schematics was one of the first things it went after.
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?
Finally, they started to talk about something he understood a little, or, more like, in this case, he was around, at least.
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: Response
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?
And that's the end of this line of discussion. The Commander made the recommendation, and they should take it to heart. Ollie was okay with that.
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: Response
He was about to say his thing into consideration when Jaran spoke up.
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. Helping Jaran sounded better than standing in the middle of whatever was happening between those two. As he looked at Jaran’s screen, he still heard K’Wara and Imril trenching in on their insights into the device.
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: Response
Bergmen tried not to hear them and to concentrate on what Jaran was presenting.
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.
The voices around them kept up their relentless chatter, but Ollie finally managed to push them out and focus himself to thoughts connected to the analysis Doctor Jaran was doing.
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: Response
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. It took him a second to refocus, but he hid it behind his relentlessly optimistic smile.
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: Response
Bergmen: Plasma and thalaron weaponry?
Jaran: Response
Bergmen station beeped for attention, which distracted him. He left the others to continue the mind game that the commander proposed and moved to his place. He was kind of expecting a negative message when he saw it came from Petty Officer Filistrien, but when he opened it and saw its length, he began reading with interest and let his thoughts flow with the text. And the more he read, the more he was captivated by what was written there.
Imril/Jaran/K’Wara: Response
Filistrien has actually distinguished himself. Ollie made a mental note to recommend him for mention in dispatches as he scrolled through the message back and forth, not to miss the smallest details that maybe were hidden between the lines. And then, sure to understand everything proper, he glanced up and turned his head towards Commander K'Wara.
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.
Imril/Jaran/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/Jaran/K’Wara: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen
Operations Officer
U.S.S. Artemis-A
A240009JC1