Ensign Jino Esot - Quantum Flux

[Quentin Beck]

((Stellar Cartography, Deck 10, USS Ronin))

T'Fearne's reaction was not entirely unexpected to Jino's questioning of her idea, though the Cardassian found it rather revealing of the Vulcazoid's general disposition; like many of the hybrids she'd met over the years, T'Fearne seemed to favor emotion a bit more than other Vulcans might, despite the way she presented herself. 

She had, admittedly, allowed herself to assume the others in the room might be prone to emotional compromise because of their long-standing connections to both Niac and Raga. She wasn't convinced that still wasn't the case, but she was gracious enough to give them the benefit of the doubt following T'Fearne's explanation. 

Esot: I would suggest we should at least discuss it with Captain Kel before any hasty action. I don't believe any of us would be able to direct the Ronin's location, in any case.

The Orion had pulled out a tricorder to scan the black box herself.

Solana: Correct. Acting Captain Kel would be the one to make the call. Or Acting XO Tucker. 

T’Fearne nodded once. Then turned back to her console.

T'Fearne: ::dry tone:: Do what you want, crewmen. I’ve forwarded my recommendation and the associated risk analysis to Commander Tucker, along with your voiced concerns. Command will decide. Until then, we proceed with gathering the evidence we have in front of us.

Jino wondered if, perhaps, she had overstepped her bounds. It was tricky, navigating such an environment while still being the 'new kid', so to speak, even if she was seemingly the eldest in the room. Prior to joining Starfleet, she'd been accustomed to the Cardassian rule of law - no matter what information you discovered, no matter what you might have found, the chain of command was to be followed at all times. It was, admittedly, rather inflexible, and perhaps that had been one of the reasons the Cardassians had had so much trouble following the end of the Dominion War.

Perhaps she needed to work on her flexibility.

Esot: In the meantime, I am transmitting our findings to the Bridge, as well as access to the simulation we have been building. That may allow them to find the Shinano more quickly - I believe we have pinpointed the exact spot where it disappeared.

Solana: These readings are…odd. They’re not matching up the way they should. 

Arching a brow, Jino turned to her console so she could also look at the readings from Solana's monitor, but before she could finish, a comm line opened.

Evinrude: =/\= Evinrude to...science. ::His voice grew a little impatient, but not angrily so.::  To...anyone in Stellar Cartography!

Solana: =/\= Go ahead, LT. We’re listening, so take a breath. =/\=

T'Fearne's head suddenly snapped up. Esot had only noticed it out of the corner of her eye, but it drew a curious look from her.

Evinrude: =/\= ::At their response, he slowed his breathing, and smoothed his tone.:: Not to rush you, but have you cracked into the flight recorder yet? We may have good news.

Other voices could be heard in the background.

Tucker: Is it me, or is that a coaxial warp drive? I’ve read about them but never seen one before. This could explain a few things.

Singh:  I am not familiar with that style of engine Commander but I agree.  Whatever that is...::she gestured towards the core fragments::...was not aboard our Kurosawa when it left the ship a few weeks ago. 

That was a particularly interesting note. And while Jino had some interest in Engineering, her skills were much better suited to quantum mechanics than prototypical power sources. She was not at all familiar with the term, but she was absolutely certain that Singh was correct - none of the craft on the Ronin were equipped with anything resembling that device. 

Nemes: Response 

Solana: =/\= Not yet, we’ve been preoccupied with other observations and these scans aren’t matching up. What’s the good news? =/\=

T'Fearne: =/\= We have readings that suggest the computer core and the black box originate from some time in the future, so our Niac and Raga might be currently alive. Go ahead, Lieutenant, what is your good news? =/\= 

Was she mistaken, or did she hear a slight… tremor in T'Fearne's pitch when she spoke across the comm to the Lieutenant? She shook her head slightly - probably her ears playing tricks on her, another assumption based on what little observation she'd been able to make of the Vulcazoid.

Dekas: response

Evinrude: =/\= Right, so even though some version of the Ronin has lost their commanding officers, ours could still be out there. Let us know when you unravel the version of the recorder that found us...I hope it helps us find our missing crew. Evinrude out. =/\=

That little tidbit certainly made things a lot more interesting to consider. That was exactly the kind of evidence that Jino had been thinking of when disputing T'Fearne's initial hypothesis - they had simply lacked the evidence.

Cold eyes were drawn to the birdman who stood a little off on his own. He did not seem quite as synced up to the conversation as everyone else, very distracted, likely because he was close to one or both of the missing men. She looked over to Solana as the Orion looked to them and indicated the data cable nearby. 

Solana: Some version of the Ronin? The version of the recorder that found us? This isn’t from our Kurosawa. ::she nodded to herself:: That explains why the variance is off so much on this thing. So, we just watched another versions of all of us’s Captain and XO die horribly. Yar, I hope that there’s not another Ronin somewhere that saw ours go out the same way.

The more information she heard, the more comfortable Esot became with T'Fearne's initial hypothesis; quantum mechanics were, generally speaking, pretty much only theoretical as quantum state was always lost on actual observation, but logistically speaking, it made sense. There were at least a few hundred papers on alternate universes alone that had influenced much of her work - and while it was still certainly possible the Kurosawa they had encountered still belonged to this universe, the evidence was mounting to suggest otherwise.

Dekas: I can’t imagine how that universe will feel without those people. Because if nothing else, they at least don’t seem like they were from the, ah, mirror universe? They seemed normal.

She was relieved the bird had finally spoken again, as she was afraid he had frozen up entirely.

T'Fearne: ::softly in response:: Just like us, Commander.

Esot: ::thoughtfully:: Without more data, there are no assurances… but all of the readings we've discovered so far suggest that their universe is perhaps only a few degrees apart from our own. In all probability, they are more like the versions you are familiar with than not.

That was… mostly a lie, as the calculations necessary to determine that were impossible for her to do in her head. But her voice shifted to soften when she said it, deciding in the moment he seemed to need the reassurance.

Meanwhile, Solana set aside her tricorder so she could use a knife to pry apart the black box. Which worked remarkably well, considering the case teetered and fell to the floor, cracking in half not unlike an egg. Her first instinct was to remark that she could have opened the casing herself if she was going to simply toss it to the floor, but the blades were somehow more intimidating when they were blazing white.

Solana: I really hope the data cores aren’t as geriatric as the rest of this thing is. ::she plugged in the data cable to the data port:: Alright, at least it connected. See if you can download the recorder data. 

Dekas: Will do.

Jino turned back to her console to monitor the connection.

Esot: I can see it. The file structure does not appear to be compromised, though there has been some data loss. It may be possible to reconstruct it, assuming the data stores aren't physically damaged.

Each returned to their own station, but it didn't take long for the data retrieval to turn sour. Jino had understated the problem - there was more corrupted data than not, at least the further back you went in the storage history.

Solana: Some of the files in the black box match the ones the Captain…well, a Captain Niac transmitted. Should let us fill in some of the blacks from what we were able to get from that burst transmission of his. 

Dekas: Let’s hope so.

T’Fearne leaned closer to the data stream.

T'Fearne: Even partial confirmation helps us anchor the sequence of events. The most recent stardate here is 240502.03. That’s nearly two standard years in the future. ::frowning slightly:: Large portions are corrupted. There could be more buried in there. If we run an extrapolation and reconstruction program, we might recover additional data.

Esot: I have already instructed the computer to begin doing just that, starting with those that are suffering from the least degradation. Unsurprisingly, that tends to be the more recent files.

While the newly restored files were not particularly helpful, they did at least shed some light on the shuttle's origins. 

Solana: Hmm, I found a fragment of a historical file. Don’t think it’s related to anything but it adds to the evidence that this wasn’t our Kurosawa. Something about a Delta Alliance between the Federation, Klingons, Romulans and the Dominion to face some threat from the Delta quadrant. The file’s too damaged to get more. So we know that wasn’t our people….so how does that help us find our people and stop whatever calamity they were warning about?

If Jino had eyebrows, they would have disappeared into her hairline in disbelief. The Dominion, forming an alliance with the Federation? Things must have truly been dire in that universe, as all she could remember was the inflammatory propaganda.

Dekas: My realm of science isn’t based in quantum mechanics, though that would be very convenient right now if it was…

T'Fearne: Mine either, unfortunately, I went for Piloting as my minor. But this worries me. If one timeline can fall into a Federation-ending event, others may be at risk too. Which means this anomaly may not be random. And if this version of Niac and Raga came through… whatever destroyed their Federation may be coming through that storm next.

Solana: Then we had better figure out what it is before it comes for our Federation.

She could not help the shiver that crept up all three of her spines as she considered the implications.

Esot: Lucky for us, my former science expertise is based in quantum mechanics. ::to T'Fearne:: I retract my earlier skepticism, Lieutenant. Every new piece of information appears to confirm your supposition - and while I think there is still concern of bringing down the wrath of Temporal Investigations, I believe we are in a much better position now to argue against it. 

Dekas: I think that makes sense.

She glanced over to see T'Fearne focused intently on her console.

T'Fearne: I’m placing a level five containment field over these components, we can still pull information, just continue to follow containment protocoles as you have been. 

A small forcefield shimmered to life over the console and connected data module. 

Solana: Good idea, LT. From now on, just as a precaution we should compartmentalize any and all data into partitioned memory of the main computer so we have everything in one place for when DTI shows up later. We should restrict the data to level four. Since those already working on this need to know we’ll have clearance temporarily. 

The Cardassian nodded, pursing her lips and flicking her fingers rapidly over her console.

Esot: I have created a new partition and adjusted the data flow accordingly. We will need to manually transfer the other data, but that shouldn't take long, once we have finished downloading everything we can. In the meantime, we should be able to use the data as it extrapolates to continue our research.

The Aurelian nodded

Dekas: Alright, so what do we do about that, then?

T'Fearne: I see two primary tasks. First, we identify which timeline they came from—use that “Delta Alliance” detail Jenta found as a search key. Then we reconstruct their chain of events from whatever we can recover from the core. Backwards and forwards. We find the point where their path diverged from ours. See if that helps us identify the threat. 

T'Fearne triggered the console and the holoimage of their quarry returned and replayed, over and over again.

T'Fearne: Secondly, this anomaly poses an active security risk, not just to Ronin but to incursions into our timeline. We need to either close it or barricade it. 

Solana: That may be easier said than done but I imagine it’s going to be number one priority for Commander Kel. I would also add, we should do all we can to recover the Shinano and her crew before they’re lost to us or worse. 

Esot: ::frowning:: It is entirely possible the Kurosawa's explosion was related to their travel through the anomaly - which could very well mean the Shinano might have done something similar on the other side, assuming it was drawn into it. And if it did, it has likely drawn the attention of someone on the other side.

Dekas: Response

T'Fearne: And we should prepare the bridge for the possibility that this warning has… company. I recommend we be ready to go to red alert at a moment’s notice.

Solana: Agreed. 

Dekas: Response

T'Fearne: I’d prefer to be prepared—rather than surprised. 

Jino nodded, eyes drifting back to the data transfer. It was moving remarkably quickly… though that was admittedly because it was only successfully transferring files that did not need repair. The others would take time.

The Orion drew her attention with a groan… a rather lovely sound.

Solana: We just got an update from the flight deck. The debris is being secured and quarantined. They’ve sent us all the data they collected from it and the coaxial warp drive they found is being sent to Commander Tucker’s lab on Deck Twelve. ::she exhaled slowly:: The same lab we currently have a spiderbot in stasis. I really hope they rendered that thing completely inert. Last thing we need is that thing turning on right next to a coaxial drive. 

She grimaced. While she had not personally dealt with any of the patients at the Farm who had encountered said spiderbots, she had certainly seen what they could do.

Esot: Let us hope we can trust Commander Tucker's expertise, in that case.

Dekas: Response

The computer chirped as the black box finished transferring what data it could; there was still a significant chunk it needed to extrapolate and rebuild, but progress was progress. Solana dispersed the data to them all.

Solana: Well, we have a lot of data to sift through. I recommend we split it up. Half of us work on the black box and half on the flight deck data.

Esot: I would volunteer to continue looking at the black box data - I may be better able to help isolate which quantum reality we're looking for, though there is likely evidence present in the debris.

Dekas: Response

[End of Act 1 for Jino Esot!]

Ensign Jino Esot (PNPC)

Assistant Operations Manager

USS Ronin NCC-34523

A238810SA0 

As written by Quentin Beck