"Deciphering Cardassian Encryptions Can Prove To Be A Challenging Task"
(Previous Post: "Sleep and Sleeplessness")
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Stardate: 60325.0100
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
Time no longer held any meaning for the Shillian scientist who had spent the last several hours buried in the task of deciphering the encryption that protected the information retrieved from the computer core of the Cardassian Destroyer that had been part of the USS ANUBIS for a short period of time. When Lieutenant Commander Enaii had received the request for assistance from the Chief Science Officer, the Intelligence Operative had seemed a little disappointed, probably having expected that the task should not have required the use of the ICG or its staff. An hour later, during which the encryption had not been broken, Enaii had appeared less upset when she had called the bridge to request an update on the progress of the Shillian woman.
It rapidly became evident that the Cardassians had not used their standard encryption systems, and the more the Shillian scientist and the rest of the IGC staff continued to labour at figuring it out, the more it seemed that there had been nothing *Cardassian* about the encoding protocol used to secure the data inside of the computer.
The Shillian had never expected her to easily penetrate the code, but neither had the scientist anticipated that the task would prove to be such an insurmountable obstacle. Despite all of her efforts, the Chief Science Officer had been unable to make in sort of sense of the data that she had been looking at for the last several hours. At first the encoded information had appeared as a chaotic mixture of odd symbols that seemed to have originated from a world yet to be discovered by the Federation. After having applied several algorithmic routines to the unreadable mess, the Chief Science Officer had been able to transform the inexplicable icons into a series of numbers. Although the Shillian could now read the data in its new form, it still did not provide the scientist with any additional clue as to what those numbers represented.
=/\= Enaii to Maya, =/\= The voice of the Intelligence Liaison Officer came over the communication channel snapping the Shillian out of the self induced trans that she had been in the midst of. =/\= Have you made any progress? =/\= The question had been strange enough coming from the Lieutenant Commander in charge of the IGC, but the hint of genuine concern that had been present in her voice had made the question that much more intriguing.
"I do not understand it," the Chief Science Officer replied. "I have run the numbers through every imaginable decryption algorithm that I could think of and that I found in our databanks, and none of them were able to make more sense of the numbers than the next. It is as if these the Cardassians used a multi-layers encryption matrix that we just cannot figure out, I mean I realised almost from the very start that we were dealing with a multi-layered encoding method, but usually there are clues that point you in the right direction. So far I have been unable to come up with the slightest indication on how to proceed for the next step. Whatever encryption system was used it is highly sophisticated and may prove to be beyond our immediate ability to decode." The Chief Science Officer said, not at all sounding happy about her inability to offer any sort of concrete help to the Intelligence Operative or her staff on this matter.
=/\= Keep at it, =/\= the Lieutenant Commander said, the chill in her voice having returned to its icy normal level. =/\= The lives of the crew of the MERCURY depend on us breaking this encryption. =/\=
The Shillian knew of the importance of their task, and having Enaii state this had in no way made the task any easier, instead reminding the Chief Science Officer that every moment that passed by without any addition progress only meant that the crew of the MERCURY would be in deeper, reducing the odds of their being successfully rescued by the ANUBIS. Since focussing on the endless sequence of numbers had not provided the Shillian woman with any sort of insight into the problem, the scientist decided to take a moment to clear her mind and left her station.
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Stardate: 60325.0115
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Observation Lounge
Located at the back of the deck on which the bridge was located, the Observation Lounge provided a tranquil location for the Shillian to clear her mind from the problem that had haunted her for so very long. Without any active computer console, and with the lights off, the room seemed to embrace the scientist inviting her to gaze out of the large windows into the nebula where the ANUBIS had sought refuge.
The more the Shillian watched the slowly swirling clouds, the more the Chief Science Officer began to forget about the problem that she had been unable to conquer. The Cardassian had either developed a new encoding system that had been decades ahead of anything they had used in the past or someone had given them access to a new system that the Federation had no previous knowledge of. Either way the result remained the same and the information that the Marines had secured had continued to be out of their reach despite being in their possession.
The Shillian woman smiled as she leaned in closer to the window, realising that although she had left her station and come here to be away from it all, the problem that the Chief Science Officer had been faced with had not left her thoughts. Finding the solution to this code had taken on the role of most important task in the head of the scientist and the Shillian had every intention of breaking through whatever it took.
Just as she had been ready to leave the Observation Lounge, a particularly unique blend of swirling colours caught the eyes of the Shillian making her stop for a moment and look through the windows for a little while longer. Enchanted by the sight, the Chief Science Officer suddenly thought of something that had not previously crossed her mind, a possible new way of looking at the encoded data and maybe even a way of deciphering it.
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Stardate: 60325.0120
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
At it had been physically possible, the Shililan scientist would have gone from the Observation Lounge directly to her work station without going through the doorway and short corridor that linked the two. Although the quickness of the move had surprised those present on the bridge, none dared to ask as to the reason for it not wanting to interrupt whatever train of thought had triggered the Chief Science Officer to act in this manner. After a few moments of working at breakneck speeds at her station, the Shillian woman reached for her comm badge and contacted the officer in charge of the IGC.
"Lieutenant Maya to Lieutenant Commander Enaii," the Shillian said at a rate of speed that matched that of the work she had just done. "I think I have it, I mean I hope that I do but the preliminary indications are looking good. We were trying to make sense of the encrypted data thinking that the numbers were only a intermediate level to the actual raw information, but what if the numbers *are* the actual data? I know that the computer already looked for this possibility, but it tried to make direct sense of the numbers, searching for a predictable pattern, but what if the pattern used is not based on order but chaos instead. We all know that there is order in chaos, but in order to find this order you need to have figured out the reoccurring increase or decrease of the chaotic formula used. The computer was never designed to search for something like this as it has never been used, I mean never until now, at least that is what I think. Such an encryption would make it nearly impossible to decipher the information unless you knew exactly what to look for, which actually may still be a problem since we have no idea of the chaotic order pattern used for this encoding system."
=/\= Are you finished? =/\= The Intelligence Operative said with a deep sigh, wondering if the Shillian would be continuing on this verbal treadmill for much longer.
"Yes," the Chief Science Officer replied. "Sorry."
=/\= Good, now leave it to us. If what you have suggested is what those Cardassians used, we will figure it out. ICG out. =/\=
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Jessica Solarik { maya_992003@yahoo.com }
Lieutenant Commander Maya
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
"To see the world in a grain of sand, 2005 post #320
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)
