Capt. Lia Rouiancet: Mapping Light

[Tony Colella]

(( Bridge, Deck 1, USS Octavia E. Butler )) 

Lia did not want to warp into the system, phasers blazing, and damn the consequences. That wasn't her way way -- but if they gave up stealth and instead dropped out of warp and immediately let loose a deflector-boosted polaron burst, well, that might give them away, but it also might nullify any cloaking tech the smugglers were using.

Rouiancet: I would prefer not to harm anyone if we can avoid it. But the faster, the better.

Forsyth: As long as we use low power, if the smugglers are cloaked or masking themselves. We just need the flares to expose them. Granted, I don’t know a lot about the energy output of magnetars…

Neither did Lia, not according to an immediate recall, at least. The computer would know, certainly, but maybe Peri had it at the tip of her tongue. Lia looked over, only for Peri to say:

Katsim: Echolocation.

What now? 

Forsyth: The ability that dolphins do?

And then Lia got it.

Rouiancet: Oh, yes, that's very clever. Stealthy, too.

Presumably, at least. Or, rather, Lia was at least as willing to trust Peri's knowledge and experience as she had been to loose a polaron burst as soon as the Butler dropped out of warp.

Katsim: We can use the electromagnetic pulse like sound waves, but in the magnetar’s environment. 

Forsyth: Oh, I think I understand where you're getting at.

Rouiancet: It ought not to be too difficult to modify your EMP, Lieutenant, according to Commander Katsim's specs.

Which, based at the pace at which Peri had been working at her console, and the related pace at which Lia knew the problem-solving part of her brain worked, she was pretty sure Peri would have in short order.

Katsim: When we get closer, we’ll be able to detect the magnetar’s field lines. If we tune the frequency and send out a patterned series of pulses, we’d be able to see a distortion wherever the ship is.

Forsyth: Yes, that could work.

Rouiancet: Excellent. See to it. How long will the modifications take?

Forsyth: I won’t need long to change it into using a series of pulses, but I might need Commander Katsim's knowledge of the star itself to make sure it doesn’t get lost.

Very reasonable. Peri's specialty was astrophysics and astronomical phenomena, after all, even if she had her fingers in every pie as the OEB's chief of science. There was no one better to consult on Forsyth's work.

Rouiancet: Commander? 

Katsim: Response

Forsyth: Aye, I’ll send you the data from my EMP.

Forsyth shared her work so far to the science console, and though Lia saw the transfer on her summary displays, she didn't open it up. She didn't need to have eyes on every little detail, and she trusted that the two officers could work closely on the project. Her remaining and overriding concern was, however, the timing.

Rouiancet: Can it be ready by the time we arrive? We may only get one shot at surprising the smugglers.

If they even got that one -- but, again, better to try for the best even as they planned for the worst.

Katsim/Forsyth: Responses

Rouiancet: (decisive nod) Very good. See to it, and we'll see what we may see of these smugglers, as soon as we arrive.

Katsim/Forsyth: Responses

Tags! and END SCENE for Rouiancet!

OOC I'm assuming we'll pick up the scene in Act 2 with the ship's arrival in-system.

--

Captain Lia Rouiancet

Commanding Officer 

USS Octavia E. Butler

V238208LV0
she/her/hers (this character)