LtJg Lera Michaels - No Promises, No Lies

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((Cargo Bay 2, Deck 15, USS Khitomer, in orbit of Alpha Trionus II))

Lera had allowed Morda and herself a total of fifteen seconds of rest before reporting their status. It required non-trivial effort to steady her nerves and maintain her Vulcan demeanor. She tapped her communicator.

Michaels: =/\= LtJg Lera Michaels to Commander Hobart. The transporters and buffers are ready. Remember that we can only store fifty-six profiles before the transporters will be functionally disabled. We can make those all prisoners if we transport all the ship personnel and equipment first. =/\=

Hobart: =/\= That’s why we’re wiring into the core partition. Going to have to get creative, Lieutenant. =/\=

oO Get creative? Get creative?!? What in the name of all that exists does he think we have been doing? We have co-opted every spare bit of computer memory to store on a semi-permanent basis as many individuals as possible. And that number is fifty six. Full stop. Oo

Michaels: =/\= What you are asking is essentially impossible, sir. There simply is no additional computer memory available... unless you wish to disable the ship. =/\=

Morda: Response?

Hobart: =/\= We’re beginning our descent, now, and we’re not leaving anyone behind to be blown up. =/\=

Michaels: =/\= So I have ... what? ... fifteen minutes to create and install twice the computer memory. We will do what we can, sir. But I will not promise you anything. =/\=

Morda: Response?

Hobart: =/\= Use PADDs if you have to, Michaels. Hobart out. =/\=

Lera put the palms of her hands together with the index fingers touching her upper lip. What she felt approached despair. 

oO Vulcans would say that despair and resignation are worthless emotions. Remain calm. Consider the problem carefully. But quickly. Is there a solution to this? How much memory storage is there in the individual PADDs? Even if it could be done in the time allowed how many additional individuals could be stored? One? Perhaps as many as three? No. That will not work. Certainly not in the time allowed. I have to look at this from another angle. Oo

Lera shook her head. oO We could set up a compression algorithm but that would not be completely lossless. It would be literally impossible to reassemble anyone to their former status in that case. What other possibilities are there? Not memory but storage. What storage is there available? Oo

Morda: Response.

Lera looked up at Morda. She snapped her fingers and pointed at him. Morda's solution was it.

Michaels: We are going to do the impossible. We are going to do a variant of what you suggested.

Morda: Response

Michaels: :: tapping her communicator :: =/\= Michaels to Lacy and Sparks. Ladies. New top priority. We need the most powerful containment field we can generate around an area... as large a completely clear area as you can in Cargo Bay 4. Preferably the entirety of the cargo bay. And we need it set up in the next ten minutes. Use the portable forcefield generators if you need to. Once that is done, send me the complete coordinates for the area.=/\=

Lacy/Sparks: =/\= Response =/\=

Morda: Response

Michaels: It does not need to be very large though larger is better. :: She paused. Morda deserved an explanation and there was a limit to what she could do on the transporter controls prior to getting those coordinates. :: The issue is in the word "permanent." There simply is not enough computer memory to store all the individual profiles on a permanent basis. The transporter profiles are extremely large if the individual is to be restored with their personal memories intact. On a short term basis is another story because we are only storing those profiles temporarily. So we are going to set up is called a "quick cycle." We beam the prisoners into Cargo Bay 4 and then almost immediately beam them back out again. No more than fifty six will be in computer memory at any given moment. We do it so quickly, every few seconds, that they have no time to react. No time to analyze what is happening to them or formulate an escape plan. The containment field should prevent them from being able to do anything even if they did manage to do something. If necessary, we will have Security on standby.

Morda: Response.

((Present, Bridge, Deck 1, USS Khitomer, low orbit of Alpha Trionus II))

Shayne: Get anyone still in the facility back on board. Red alert! Mr. Stros, signal battle stations. Stow breakables and secure the radish officers. Helmsman, take us to the defense perimeter.

Stros / Bridge: Response

Hobart: =/\= Hobart to Michaels. Party guests are on their way. How many more to go? =/\=

Michaels: =/\= We are nearly finished with our work, sir. I could do a more accurate estimate if I knew how many more "guests" are coming. A minimum of ten minutes though I would prefer an hour.=/\=

Morda: =/\= Response =/\=

Hobart: =/\= Acknowledged. If you can speed it up, do so. =/\=

Michaels: =/\= We will do what we can, sir. No promises. No Lies. =/\=

Morda: =/\= Response =/\=

Shayne / Stros / Kendrick / Bridge: Response

Tags/TBC

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LtJg Lera Michaels

Engineering Officer
USS Khitomer
K240106LM2