" Countless Possibilities In Endless Variations, Or IDIC If You Have Pointed Ears "
(Previous Post: " A Cage By Any Other Name ")
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Stardate: 60298.1618
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
The news that the interference field generator had been of Dominion origin had not come as a complete surprise to the Shillian woman, but it did serve to reduce the number of possibilities the scientist had been thinking about. From her station at the back of the bridge, the Chief Science Officer had kept an eye on the progress of the man who usually worked at the station next to hers. The head of the science department only knew that the Chief Engineer had made his way under the frigate to gain access to the computer and power systems of the ship, but other than that the Shillian knew nothing about the success or frustrations the engineer had encountered.
Occupied with her own task of trying to penetrate the interference field, as per the orders of their Commanding Officer, the Shillian woman had not spent too much time trying to figure out what Lieutenant Dawson had been doing. There were simply too many possibilities for the scientist to consider at the moment so the best course of action had been for her to concentrate on what she could directly affect.
Because the internal sensors had been unable to get any specific readings on the interference field itself, the Shillian scientist had found it extremely difficult to come up with a single idea that she could suggest to the Captain. The dozen or so possibilities that the Chief Science Officer had come up with all had disadvantages as well as obvious advantages making none of them better than any of the others, but now that she had been given one extra piece of information, the scientist could review her ideas and re-evaluate each of them with more accuracy as to the possibility of their effectiveness.
Before knowing that the interference field had been generated by a Dominion-made source, the Shillian scientist had considered the possibility that the field generator had been of Iconian design. This meant that usual methods using tachions to penetrate the field would have proven completely ineffective and might actually cause an instability in the field which could cause the frigate to explode, something that everyone had been trying to avoid. On the other hand, if the field generator had been of Aldean design, Tachions would have proven to be the perfect way of breaching the sensor barrier that stood in their way. Without the specifics of the origin of the generator, the Shillian woman had been faced with a 'lose if you do, lose if you don't' scenario, something that she did not like in the least. Luckily for her and the rest of the crew, the information relayed by the Chief of Operations had changed this, giving the Chief Science Officer more than enough for her to push her research in the right direction.
"Lieutenant Seth is standing ready with a full team of Security Officers and Marines to board the frigate and move in on the bridge," the Executive Officer said, coordinating all of the efforts from the station located directly behind the seat of the Commanding Officer of the USS ANUBIS.
"Bridge to Lieutenant Dawson. Progress report?" The Captain asked, not ready to send in the troops unless he had been given some assurances that the frigate would not explode the second after he gave the go ahead to the Chief of Security and his team.
=/\= Almost got primary power offline, but there are no guarantees that there are no secondary systems that will kick in the moment I make the cut, =/\= the Chief Engineer said, his voice sounding very laboured as he continued to work while he spoke.
=/\= Enaii here. Computer link-up has been made. Standing by to shut down all systems as soon as primary power is offline. =/\= The Intelligence Operative said from her domain in the array section of the ship.
=/\= Might have been nice if you had told me that earlier. Would have made me a little less nervous about what might happen the moment I finish down here, =/\= the Chief Engineering Officer said immediately afterwards, his voice carrying a certain amount of frustration and displeasure.
=/\= You work better under pressure, =/\= Enaii said, her words and tone of voice not offering any excuses or apologies of any sort.
"Lieutenant Maya," the Captain said, ending the discussion between the Chief Engineer and Intelligence Agent before it shifted their focus away from their respective tasks. "Can we penetrate that interference field with a transporter beam?"
The Shillian scientist scanned her instruments and adding in the new information provided by the Chief of Operations came up with an answer. "Targetting sensors will be functioning at 80 percent efficiency if we limit ourselves to a single target. That percentage will drop to below 50 percent if we try to beam two people and down to less than 20 percent if we try to beam all three individuals off the bridge."
"In other words there would be no telling if we are beaming a Romulan or a chair off the bridge if we try for all three," the First Officer said, clarifying the situation for everyone else on the bridge.
"Actually," the Shillian scientist said, "with a percentage as low as 20 percent accuracy, the odds would be more that we would lock on a part of the target instead of the whole, beaming only an arm or a leg. That is of course not taking into account the possible effect that a temporal interference field might have on the transporter beam itself, I mean we don't have the time to properly modulate the polarity matrix of the transporter system and that could result in problems in the reintegration of the matter pattern once the initial phase of transport is completed."
"In *short*," the Captain said, ending the longwinded list of possibilities given by the Shillian woman before it got longer, "we have only one option that has the odds in our favour. Bridge to Dawson, cut the power as soon as you can. Enaii, shut down whatever system you can and give Lieutenant Seth the go ahead to move in on the frigate the moment you do so. Lieutenant Maya, be ready to establish a transport lock on Lieutenant Pravat and give Lieutenant Serenna all required coordinates and assistance to have him beamed directly into Sickbay."
The Shillian scientist nodded her head in response to the orders she had received, watching the Chief of Operations rush back to her station at that very moment. Timing would be of the essence, and all that remained to be done had been to see if the countless numbers of possibilities that they faced would result in the one final conclusion that they had all been hoping for.
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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)
2005 post #004
