" Thirty Seven Seconds To Save The Universe? No Problem! Thirty Six May Not Be So Easy "
(Previous Post: " Eternal Warrior ")
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Stardate: 60298.1457
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
There is nothing like pressure to bring out the best in people, or so that had been the way the Shillian scientist had reasoned how she would manage to do all that had been needed in just over half a minute. There had been many examples of such instances in nature where an excessive amount of pressure resulted in the creation of something truly beyond description. On SIGMA IDIX, unique crystalline structures could be found which were the result of gazes trapped deep inside of the planetary crust being submitted to intense increases and shifts in the gravitational field when the planet passed through the trail of a quantum filament that regularly passed through that star system.
These crystals were said to be truly amazing since they had been created through the deposition of a gas into a extremely dense solid, but the problem was that because of the forces at play to create such unique creations the surface of SIGMA IDIX had been transformed into completely desolate and lifeless wasteland. The deeply buried crystals which could be found on that world were something of a marvel and coveted prize for anyone who could retrieve them from the planet without being crushed by the constantly changing gravity of that planet.
A more common and safer crystal to obtain, yet one that was equally enjoyed by most races in the Federation could be found on EARTH where basic carbon was made to turn into diamonds when exposed to the intense weight and pressures found within the crust of the planet. Basic excavation could procure this crystal making it much easier to obtain
After having realised that her mind had been wondering from her work, the Chief Science Officer of the USS ANUBIS had been pleased to see that although her thoughts had not been on the matter at hand, her fingers had been, requesting from the computer and those sensors which were still functioning information about the polarity of the energy field employed by the Breen. Finding out the exact magnetic resonance of this field would alas not be the only problem the Shillian scientist would have to deal with in the thirty five seconds remaining before the two ships collided, getting the external plates that made up the ablative armour to perfectly match this magnetic resonance would be the tougher task.
Not sufficiently changing the polarity of the ablative armour would result in nothing noticeable happening other than the ANUBIS continuing to be attracted to the centre of the energy field, and modifying the magnetic resonance of the ablative armour by too much would result in the polarities to become opposites causing the two ships to be pushed away from one another making their plan of creating a feedback impossible to accomplish. The task faced by the Shillian scientist had been clearly set before her, she needed to find the exact modulation and have their armour match this perfectly, all in the span thirty four seconds.
Depending on the way you looked at the universe, or lived in it, thirty four seconds could be an eternity onto itself or nothing more than a moment lost somewhere amongst the endless ocean that was space/time. To the amoeba found on SKALOS IX, thirty four seconds would be a period of time equal to no less than seventeen lifetimes while for any stars which could light up the cosmos for millions of years, those few seconds would mean nothing of consequence. To the ANUBIS and the members of crew though, those thirty four seconds were all that stood between them and a very unpleasant event.
As the computer continued to analyse the specific magnetic frequency of the energy field, the Shillian scientist took a fraction of a moment to contemplate a possible outcome should her research and work not be completed in the time frame required. The Breen Dragon-Class Battleship had been discovered to be a much smaller frigate that measured a little less than the ANUBIS in both size and mass. This meant that in the event of a collision the Scarab-class ship would in theory hold the upper hand even before the ablative armour had been taken into account. Granted such an impact would make it impossible for the ANUBIS to remain undetected but the odds that the crash would result in severe damage for the ship had been minimum at best. Of course when taking into account that the greater majority of the available power had been diverted to the armour leaving many of the damage control systems vulnerable if not entirely offline meant that the ANUBIS would not fair as well as it should in the same conditions. As much as the Chief Science Officer believed that the ship would be able to survive such an impact, the Shillian woman knew that avoiding it would be a preferable option for the Captain as well as everyone else onboard the ship.
"Thirty two seconds," the Chief of Security said, unintentionally bringing the mind of the Shillian scientist back on the task at hand. Her wondering mind and the exploration of a single of the countless possibilities had cost the Chief Science Officer two very valuable seconds, time that she would not be able to recuperate and would not have to work even hard to compensate for.
As the Shillian woman looked down at her instruments, the scientist noticed that the analysis of the magnetic frequency of the energy used by the Breen ship which the computer had been doing was complete, given the Chief Science Officer and the Chief Engineer standing right next to her a grant total of thirty one seconds to make the required modifications to the ablative armour.
"The Breen are using an energy field with a modulated magnetic frequency of eleven thousand six hundred and eighty three terawatts,' the Shillian scientist said without taking her eyes off the screen on which the information had been made to appear. "This likely means that the main power source for the Breen Frigate is a quantum singularity similar to those used by Romulan ships, it also means that we will have to sustain contact with the field for longer than we had expected since such power sources are less prone to energy feedbacks."
"Let's just make sure that we don't run into them," the Captain said, noticing that Lieutenant Dawson had already moved back to his station to begin working on the required modifications as per the specifications provided by the Shillian scientist.
"I am going to need time to do this," David said, visibly not happy with the timeframe that he had been forced to work with.
"I'll be generous," Captain Simmons said in a tone of deadpan humour, "I'll give you twenty eight seconds.'
Had the situation not been so dire the Chief Engineer might have found some ingenious retort for what the Commanding Officer had said, but given that time was against him David decided to hold out. If he would be able to pull this newest miracle from his hat, the engineer would have more than enough time on his hands to come up with the perfect response, but right now he simply did not have the time or the mental freedom to even think about it.
"Our speed as increased again," the Flight Control Officer said, understanding that with this announcement he had become the least popular member of the staff present on the bridge.
"Recalculated time to impact is nineteen seconds," Lieutenant Rawyvin said almost immediately following the report from Major Tam, the Flight Control Officer.
An unnatural silence spread through the bridge as all eyes turned onto the Chief Engineer who had been too busy to even notice that he and his work had become the centre of attention. The seconds were slipping by at an alarming rate and only time would tell if the ANUBIS would emerge from this intact and in one piece.
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Jessica Solarik { maya_992003@yahoo.com }
Lieutenant Maya
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
"To see the world in a grain of sand,
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)
