"Oltharian Dilemma, Engineering Solution"
[ Previous post Mark's "Scent of Blood" ]
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"To fight against evil is a display of benevolence. To fight with evil
is a display of immorality. To know the difference between the two is a
display of great wisdom."
- Oltharian Saying
--==(/\)==--
"Elan, we need to talk," Lieutenant Pravat said the moment the doors
had parted to grant him access into the ANUBIS' Engineering section. The
Chief Engineering Officer had been expecting the visit of the Chief of
Security following the course change taking them away from SURIAL III to instead regroup with the HATHOR. It had not taken much for the Oltharian to
fill in the missing pieces and understand that the Imperians had been somehow
involved in this change of plan.
The Oltharian welcomed the Enaran with a deep bow. Although the gentle
giant had been as far as possible from sharing the Marine's lust for
combat, Fairborn knew that men like Pravat were an essential part of
maintaining peace in an otherwise chaotic and savage universe. After the greeting the Chief Engineering Officer beckoned the Chief of Security to follow him to the central island where the schematics of something the engineer had been working on had been waiting.
"As you are aware," Elan began suspecting that Lieutenant Pravat had
neither the time nor desire to have this be any longer than it needed it to be, "the energy pulse sent out by the HATHOR weakened the molecular structure of the Imperian's external shell. Although it had no effect on the probe's
physical structure, likely because of the reflective shielding, the
pulse did manage to affect the robot's power systems enough to makeit less
powerful."
"That's a matter of opinion," the Enaran commented, easily recalling the iron grip the robotic menace had on his neck not so long ago. 'I guess I should be thankful that it was not operating at full power, or my head would have been used as a replacement ball for the gym."
"We are all most fortunate of this," the Oltharian said, again offering a bow of respect to the Enaran who simply grinned and motioned the giant to proceed.
"Even in this weakened state," Elan continued, "their armour proved to be impervious to our standard weapons which led me to perform a more in-depth analysis of the structure of the Imperian's armour. Because of the unique properties of the molecular structure of the material used, the more concentrated an energy bean directed at them is, the less effective it becomes as the majority of the energy if dispersed. This means that, in theory, the Imperians are more vulnerable to indirect wide scale attacks."
"In theory," Pravat carefully repeated. "That means that you have not the chance to test this theory."
"Unfortunately I have not," the Chief Engineering Officer freely admitted. "Up until a few minutes ago, the focus of my time had been to restore the ANUBIS' sensors to their full range and accuracy in preparation for the task that awaits us in orbit of SURIAL III. Working on the development of an effective handheld weapon to be used against the Imperians had unfortunately been set aside for the time being."
Pravat kept his comments unspoken and tried his best to hid his disappointment, not in the Oltharian who had done nothing more than to follow the directives that he had been given, but in the ANUBIS' CO who had failed to properly recognize the danger the Imperians represented. "What is done is done," the Enaran said dismissing that part of their ongoing conversation. "What can you tell me about that weapon you have been developing?"
"Using what we know about the molecular structure of the Imperian armour and their source of power as the basis for the creation of a weapon, I believe that I have come up with a solid premise," the Chief Engineering Officer replied as the giant summoned the internal schematics of the weapon in
question onto the screen. "Most energy weapon work on the idea of increasing the amount of energy released while at the same time narrowing the beam's width thus concentrating the destructive power and also increasing its range. To have a weapon which would be effective against the Imperians, I had to think in the opposite direction and disperse the energy discharge to as wide as possible without causing it to possibly injure innocent bystanders who would either be near or behind the target."
"Sounds easy enough," the Marine nodded, already picturing in his mind how a standard pulse riffle could be adapted in the way described by the Oltharian.
"The problem is that due to the dispersion properties of the Imperian armour, a wide bean energy discharge may be reflected in multiple directions instead of only one, thus greatly increasing the possibilities of nearby people, including the person holding the weapon, from being hit by the reflected energy," Elan explained glad to see that Pravat had already understood the point that the Engineer had been trying to make.
"So instead of having to dodge one bolt that was deflected off their armour, we would have to dodge several," the Enaran sighed having truly hoped that the Oltharian had found the weakness in the seemingly impenetrable Imperian armour.
"The key is to discover the setting that is right in between," the Oltharian added, not giving up hope that they were on the right track. "With a wide enough beam the energy discharge could have an effect on the Imperians while keeping to a minimum the chances of a deadly deflection. Of course this would have the unfortunate side effect of reducing the weapon's effectiveness thus likely requiring several direct hits before the Imperian is disabled."
"What about photonic grenades?" the Marine asked, trying to find another way to deal with these unstoppable creatures.
"Indirect blasts, such as those caused by grenades should prove effective," the giant said with great caution, "but only to a certain level. Although such an explosion might be effective in slowing them down, the damage to the HATHOR could prove to be more dangerous than the Imperians themselves."
"I hear you," Pravat grinned. "Save the ship, don't destroy it. Can you have enough of those pulse riffles modified by the time we are within transporter range of the HATHOR?"
"I shall do my best," the Oltharian replied with a deep bow.
"Your best is all that any of us can ask," the Marine replied before leaving the Chief Engineering Officer to his work, the Enaran having several things to accomplish before then.
Elan watched as the Chief of Security for the ANUBIS left, feeling both pride and sadness in what he had so far accomplished. Working to find a suitable weapon to use against the Imperians had been a noble quest, but one that had gone directly against the ideals of doing no harm which the Oltharian held so dear. To Fairborn the Imperians were as alive as any other creature in the universe, deserving to explore their existence as they saw fit. To work at creating a weapon that would in effect *kill* them had been as heart wrenching to Elan as his contemplating deactivating the ANUBIS' Avatar, a mechanical being whom he had help create and whom he cherished, likeal those onboard the ANUBIS and HATHOR above his own life.
--==(/\)==--
Lieutenant Junior Grade Elan Talak Fairborn
Robotics Engineering Officer 2006 post #075
Stardate: 60341.1540
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Main Engineering
Francois Charette {f_charette@hotmail.com}
Chief Engineering Officer
USS ANUBIS
NEW ALEXANDRIA
