What Do We Know And What Do We Do?

Posted on Fri Nov 9th, 2018 @ 11:11pm by Captain Cynthia Jackson & Lieutenant Commander Charlotte Hudson & Lieutenant Grayson Hawk & Lieutenant Cole Dering M.D. & Lieutenant JG Alastair Hallewell II

1,337 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Klingons on Starboard Bow
Location: Briefing Room
Timeline: 2261.189 2105

Cindy sat in the Briefing Room, anxiously awaiting findings from her crew. On the room's screen, she placed a star map for everyone to see. She had her opinions about what it showed and she had disturbing thoughts about what it meant.

Lieutenant Avonavi appeared in the briefing room first and the Chief Engineer nodded as she took her seat.

Bec entered next, mulling over everything. She nodded to Cindy and Avonavi before taking the seat to Cindy's left.

As Alastair strode into the room, gingerly carrying a grayish colored piece of material, he quickly found his seat and sat back. His mood was unusually happy, something on the crew had probably never seen before nor expected to see. It was a rare thing, and only flashed itself in the occasions where something had caught his attention or made him use his mental muscle.

A smile? He knows how to do that? Cheery? Did someone slip something into his coffee? Where is Mister Dower and Taciturn? She continued to look at Alistair in wonder but smiled back at him, hoping he had seen the light with regard to his attitude. In the meantime, she tapped the table and asked rhetorically and aloud, "Where do you think the others are...?"

Hallewell looked behind the eyes of his superior officer while maintaining his smile.

Yes, I'm happy and I'm smiling. Don't get used to it, it'll pass when we get down to work.

"Hopefully they get here quickly, I've got something interesting to share.

Cole walked in and surprised he wasn't the last one there, and showing it, pulled out a chair and sat down.

Cindy looked around and was concerned that her Chief Security Officer had not appeared yet. She hoped that either she or Hawk would appear soon so that this briefing could get underway. Did they find something? she wondered.

With the Chief being busy, Hawk had had to wait until his relief appeared. Looking a bit flustered and apologetic, she had relieved him so that he could make his way to the Conference room, PADD in hand. He entered quietly and found a seat.

"Good!" Cindy exclaimed in her typical perky voice. "Now that we're all here, we can sort out this problem." She put the map of where the stations K-4, K-5, and K-6 used to be. K-4 and K-5 were placed near the Borderlands and Klingon Neutral Zone and K-6 was in a direct line on the Klingon Neutral Zone. K-7 was the closest to Klingon Neutral Zone and had Sherman's Planet nearby.

"First, why don't you all tell me what you have learned?" She looked over the table, wondering who would speak first and what information there was to share.

"After analyzing the particle rate of decay," Grayson offered, "that suggests that the ship was heading toward K-7 but the trail goes cold rather quickly, I'm afraid. For all we know, they could just as easily have changed direction. There'd be no way of knowing for sure while they are hidden from the sensors."

About a split-second after Grayson's words, Alastair's smile disappeared as quickly as it came, his happiness dissipating into the same serious face and his personality reverting to its infamous lack of anything but utter professionalism.

"I'm assuming you were all taught what Rodinium is and that it's the hardest material known to us, so I'll skip the lecture in the interest of time."

He cleared his throat as he picked up what he had brought into the room and unceremoniously smashed it against the table, the piece of material breaking into an untold number of pieces that scattered all over the room.

"Right there sits some rodinium that was recovered for our installations. Tests are being conducted in order to determine what has happened to the material that caused it to become so brittle, but results have been inconclusive thus far."

Cindy's eyes grew wide. "The ship's weapon did THAT?" she asked incredulously. Turning back to Grayson, "Cold trail? No way to pick it up? Or is the trail only available shortly after the ship fires?"

Bec picked up one of the shards of rodinium and examined it. She wasn't gifted with a scientific brain, so she couldn't even begin to fathom what could be so destructive. But the fact that it only took two hits to destroy the station made her worry. How many would it take to destroy the ship? She shook her head and turned her attention back to the conversation, still turning the shard over in her fingers.

Frowning, Grayson picked at the pieces of rodinium that had landed on him as a result of the somewhat theatrical display, as he considered the possibilities. "As I said, we find the tetryon particles as a result of an action; presumably, whatever device the ship uses to hide itself from our sensors. It could be that the two devices, the weapon strong enough to take down a station and the shield that prevents detection, are both sufficiently draining that they can't occur simultaneously. Its a theory ... what I do know is, we find these particles when the ship moves from one state to the other and the trail indicates direction of travel."

"So, it is either out of range or sitting still?" Cindy asked, looking at Bec and then at Grayson. "If it is sitting still, why would it do that? What would it be waiting for?"

"It's weapon to recharge? Repairs to systems damaged by overloading?" Bec threw out. "A weapon that can take down a station in two hits? It probably takes a lot of energy to use it. And whatever that device that keeps them invisible probably uses more energy when they're moving. So, either they've gone in a direction we didn't anticipate, or they're sitting still recharging their batteries, so to speak. At least, that's my opinion."

"Sitting still renders them invisible to us," Grayson said. "We could go right past them and not know they are there ... or we could wander in range of their weapon and then they'd take us out. It could be tactical."

"What would firing a random phaser salvo do? We would see an effect of that? Maybe flush them out? I know we can't lock on, but still, sitting and guessing does not seem like a very good solution. Bec? Grayson?" Cindy asked looking for confirmation or assistance.

"Hmmm...." Bec mused about this idea for a moment, still fiddling with the piece of brittle metal in her hand. "It couldn't hurt," she thought, "unless it angers them. But, firing a random sequence of shots across a wide range could, in theory, tell us where that ship is. We'd have to be careful not to hit anything or anyone else, however. Hawk, your thoughts?"

Hawk frowned, for the moment lost in the technical aspects, and then nodded. "Okay, it might be possible to modify a torpedo to ... uh ... seek out the tetryon particles and detonate with a reduced charge that's intended to disable to cloak and possibly the engines."

"I'm not sure that angering the mystery ship is a problem, Bec. After all, it destroyed at least one space station that we saw. Is there something else out here that we risk hurting by firing a torpedo?" Cindy wondered at Hawk and Bec. "I think you both should get to working on that to keep our options open."

Cindy looked at Cole who had been unusually quiet. "Doctor, is there a psychological aspect here? Their goal? Why whomever this is would attack like this?"

Although he had needed to duck out of the way of one the remnant pieces, Cole had been listening intently. "Wish I knew. Without knowing who they are, I have no idea." he said, disappointed that it was that way.

"Too many questions, not enough answers," Cindy complained frustrated. A more positive outlook quickly appeared. "I think we can all agree, though, that K-7 is the apparent next target...."

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