Beg, Steal or Borrow – Time Reveals All
by Lieutenant Commander Greo Tovon & Commander Karen Villiers & Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Lieutenant Commander Bruce Freeman
Post Details
ON:
Greo paced around the science lab, staring at the romulan core. He still couldn't believe what he had found. He hadn't believed it so strongly that he had rerun all his checks. Aside from stepping out for a bite to eat for lunch he had barely left the room all day. He was starting to feel a touch of fatigue and walked to the replicator.
"Raktajino." He ordered for the eighth time that day. He picked up the cup and took a long swig. He had arranged four chairs around the main computer station of inspection pit three so his guests could view his results easily. Now all he had to do was wait. He barely knew the officers he'd invited to this meeting and hadn't even met Lieutenant Wallace. He was not sure what to expect.
"They're gonna think I'm crazy."
Jarred walked down to the science lab, wondering what the mystery was about. He had gotten new orders and was eager to get organized so hopefully this wouldn't take too long. "Lieutenant Tovon?"
"Ah, you must be Lieutenant Wallace. A pleasure to meet you." He shook the man's hand and gestured him towards one of the chairs. "That's me, I'm standing in for the Chief Science Officer until he gets back. I must admit I was hoping to have little to do with the Intelligence department, but needs must. You understand." He indicated the twenty foot tall romulan computer core behind him. "I think we should wait for the others before we start."
"Thats understandable, my predecessor tended to be abit abrasive in his methods, I tend to be more hands on than most, is that the Romulan computer core?"
"Yes indeed." Greo moved closer to the large machine and looked down into the inspection pit, several of his tools were still lying around. "We found it in the ruined shell of one of the D'deridex ships that attacked the ship recently. Though personally I have only been on the station for the last day or so I've been trying to read up on after action reports." He pointed to a clutter of PADDs at a side station.
Karen entered quietly. She was intrigued to know what the enthusiastic Cardassian officer had dug out of the unexpected recovery of this technology. As the men talked she took as seat and crossed one long leg over the other, giving a silent nod for Tovon to continue with his conversation as she sat back and listened in.
Tovon returned the commander's nod, realising that he was starting to like the woman. She had a good relaxed attitude to command and seemed to be up for giving him plenty of leeway. Just how he liked it. He continued talking as both Wallace and Villiers sat in the chairs provided.
"As I was saying, we found it bolted to a section of grav-plating near one of those strange bombs. Once we'd retrieved it I started by notifying the commander." He gestured at Commander Villiers briefly. "It was then clear that I should keep things under wraps." He paused, looking toward the doorway. "Maybe we should wait for Lieutenant Freeman before I go any further, his input will be very useful."
Freeman appeared in a shimmer of blue light. Normally he wouldn't use the site to site transporter like that but with repairs needing to be done he needed to. Not to mention getting things replicated for a test that was going to be conducted. "I am sorry for being late and using the transporter. Don't have time to waste walking from place to place." He then took his seat.
"Hey Bruce, when we're done here I need to ask you about something." he paused and turned too the science officer "Okay, so what is so special about this computer core?"
"Well thank you all for coming." Greo was starting to feel a few nerves creeping in again, but he reigned in his feelings. "I understand we all have busy schedules, but I think you'll see that this is important." He walked over to the computer station and picked up three PADDs, he passed them out to the other officers.
"This is a log of all the data we have gathered from the core. As you can see it is quite extensive. It appears that the core is that of the Rhiandhaell captained by Taibek ir-Elahu. There are technical readouts and ancillary data packets. There also seems to be data concerning the Vrelnec and the Ayhler, the other two ships involved in the battle." He watched as they flicked through the huge list of data.
"But I believe it is all, or at least in some part, artificially created. Please switch to the final file. What you are seeing here is a Federation programming protocol hidden within the data algorithms. It was extremely hard to find."
Karen pursed her lips; she could draw a number of conclusions from that, none of which were particularly appealing ... was it placed without their knowledge, or was it in some way 'loaned' to the Romulans - either from an external source to fulfil a specific purpose, or because they had the assistance, willing or otherwise of someone who was familiar with the protocol?
"Tovon, are you saying that we were supposed to recover this core, or at least some of the data from it?"
Jarred broke in, "During the Dominion War finding intact or nearly intact computer cores from Romulan warships was a common thing, alot of the data was heavily encrypted, and what wasn't was mostly replicator information food clothing that type of thing."
"That's just the thing. This data was encrypted but it was not very well protected." He walked to the inspection pit and pointed at the base of the core. "There was no mechanical or technical protection of the main data port. There were no anti-intrusion sub-routines in the system." He paced back to his chair, scratching his ear.
"There is no doubt this is an actual romulan core, but it's almost as if someone had been in and cleared out all the possibly harmful programs and left only the good stuff." He moved over to the side table, where a few pieces of tritanium rested on a diagnostic plate. "And it looks like whoever did that was using Federation technology. So in answer to your question Commander. Yes, it looks like we were supposed to recover the core and I will deal with the data at your instruction, but that is not what I am primarily concerned about."
He drew a deep breath and picked up a tritanium plate, he looked at each of the three officers gathered. He could tell they were a little bemused by his theatrics, but he had needed to lay out the data issue before moving on the crazy part. They're gonna think I'm crazy, he thought to himself.
"This core was not present at the time of the warbird's destruction. It was placed there afterwards."
By them? By us? By someone else? Karen wondered, it did not really make sense ... "Just what does it tell us about the ships?" she asked, they might as well start by looking where someone wanted them to look.
Tovon looked down at the metal in his hands. "It tells us a lot Commander. It has a crew listing, armaments inventory and much more. I think importantly it has plans detailing a series of attacks that I believe are yet to happen. It seems the faction that these ships were a part of was about to make a few aggressive take over bids."
He paused and stepped closer to the officers. He had to tell them, to say the words and get it out. "More importantly this piece of metal I have in my hands tells us something more." He handed the tritanium to Commander Villiers, smiling warmly at her confused look.
"This plate, like those others covering the core," he gestured back to the computer core in the inspection pit,"was not damaged by the explosion of the Rhiandhaell. It appears to have been damaged by localised gravimetric distortions that have warped the metal on a micro scale as well as battering the exterior. I examined the striations on the plating in greater depth and after checking my findings three times I came to the conclusion that this plate, and the others, have all recently interacted with an anomaly or event that left residual Chroniton radiation in the micro-distortions within the metal."
"A chronometric explosion would cause that, but the last time I encountered a device that could cause that was at the end of the dominion war, it is entirely possible that something the dominion was working on has wound up in the hands of these romulans who attacked, if I get you you all access to project Princeton can you determine if this is a variation on one of the devices recovered?"
"I am unaware of project Princeton, but if you think it might help then I would appreciate any data. The only problem with that scenario is that it would take a chronometric explosion, of current technologies, equal to a thousand photon torpedoes to distort tritanium at purely a sub-atomic level." He paused and looked around the room. "As far fetched as it may seem," he gulped, his professional credibility might be on the line here, "I believe that this chroniton radiation was caused by the cores passage through a temporal anomaly."
"Is is possible these effects are also caused by proximity to high concentraitions to chroniton radiation?" Jarred asked trying to be vague.
"One could theorise along that line, but all evidence shows that no other possible source of chroniton radiation was present in the area. Even the collapse of an artificial singularity distorts subspace heavily and then completely consumes itself long before any relativistic consequences might come into play." They were heading into uncharted territory here, but Wallace seemed to be countering Greo's analysis at every step. I suppose that's only natural he is the chief intelligence officer, he thought. He peered at the man and then turned to Commander Villiers.
"Trust me I have been over this several times. I have eliminated all probable sources that I can imagine. The only lasting concept is that it arrived here through a temporal anomaly. The micro-scale distortions in the tritanium are random and of varying degrees. If this were the result of an explosion there would be an exponential regression of distortion along the z axis. This simply isn't the case." He paused and stepped toward the computer console. He steeled himself and turned back to the officers.
"I think we're talking time travel."
Karen nodded, her private thoughts extending the silence. "Continue your research, Lieutenant," she said eventually, "I'll discuss your findings so far with Commander Davies and revert with the results of that discussion to those present here now. Is there anything else I should know before I have that discussion?" she asked as she rose.
Greo was amazed and slightly concerned at the easy way the commander took the news of time travel going on in and around the station. However he had already come to believe she was a level headed woman, maybe she was the type to assimilate information in a careful and measured way. On the other hand, maybe she just didn't believe him yet and would need further persuading.
"Nothing more than that Commander." He smiled as she walked away from the meeting. She was willing to hear his theories and not dismiss them out of hand. He turned back to the other two officers. "Were there any other questions or suggestions?"
"For the moment no, Lieutenant Freeman and I are due to leave on the Bunker Hill shortly." Jarred commented as he stood.
"I don't have any. I probably will get some later on but not now." Bruce said standing. "If you will excuse me." He added tapping his comm badge and exiting the way he entered.
Greo watched as they all left the science lab. I guess I was expecting more shock on their faces, he thought to himself. At least he had given them the data and the revelation of the chroniton radiation. Lieutenant Wallace had made an interesting point about chronometric weapons. He felt that avenue was worth exploring, but knew that the distortions in the metal were not due to an explosion.
He turned back to the romulan core, now short of a few plates and scratched at his ear. The enigma was not solved, he had only just started to draw back the veil. Still, Greo could feel he was on the threshold of some great happening or realisation. It would just be a little longer and his brain was starting to ache. Maybe I should get some sleep!
OFF:
Lt Greo Tovon
Science Officer
Commander Karen Villiers
Executive Officer
Lt. Bruce Freeman
CEO
Lt. Jarred Wallace
CIO DS5
by Lieutenant Commander Greo Tovon & Commander Karen Villiers & Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Lieutenant Commander Bruce Freeman
Post Details
| Title | Time Reveals All | |
| Mission | Beg, Steal or Borrow | |
| Author(s) | Lieutenant Commander Greo Tovon & Commander Karen Villiers & Lieutenant Commander Jarred Wallace & Lieutenant Commander Bruce Freeman | |
| Posted | Fri Aug 21, 2009 @ 2:37pm | |
| Location | Science Lab 1 | |
| Timeline | SD10 17:00 |
Greo paced around the science lab, staring at the romulan core. He still couldn't believe what he had found. He hadn't believed it so strongly that he had rerun all his checks. Aside from stepping out for a bite to eat for lunch he had barely left the room all day. He was starting to feel a touch of fatigue and walked to the replicator.
"Raktajino." He ordered for the eighth time that day. He picked up the cup and took a long swig. He had arranged four chairs around the main computer station of inspection pit three so his guests could view his results easily. Now all he had to do was wait. He barely knew the officers he'd invited to this meeting and hadn't even met Lieutenant Wallace. He was not sure what to expect.
"They're gonna think I'm crazy."
Jarred walked down to the science lab, wondering what the mystery was about. He had gotten new orders and was eager to get organized so hopefully this wouldn't take too long. "Lieutenant Tovon?"
"Ah, you must be Lieutenant Wallace. A pleasure to meet you." He shook the man's hand and gestured him towards one of the chairs. "That's me, I'm standing in for the Chief Science Officer until he gets back. I must admit I was hoping to have little to do with the Intelligence department, but needs must. You understand." He indicated the twenty foot tall romulan computer core behind him. "I think we should wait for the others before we start."
"Thats understandable, my predecessor tended to be abit abrasive in his methods, I tend to be more hands on than most, is that the Romulan computer core?"
"Yes indeed." Greo moved closer to the large machine and looked down into the inspection pit, several of his tools were still lying around. "We found it in the ruined shell of one of the D'deridex ships that attacked the ship recently. Though personally I have only been on the station for the last day or so I've been trying to read up on after action reports." He pointed to a clutter of PADDs at a side station.
Karen entered quietly. She was intrigued to know what the enthusiastic Cardassian officer had dug out of the unexpected recovery of this technology. As the men talked she took as seat and crossed one long leg over the other, giving a silent nod for Tovon to continue with his conversation as she sat back and listened in.
Tovon returned the commander's nod, realising that he was starting to like the woman. She had a good relaxed attitude to command and seemed to be up for giving him plenty of leeway. Just how he liked it. He continued talking as both Wallace and Villiers sat in the chairs provided.
"As I was saying, we found it bolted to a section of grav-plating near one of those strange bombs. Once we'd retrieved it I started by notifying the commander." He gestured at Commander Villiers briefly. "It was then clear that I should keep things under wraps." He paused, looking toward the doorway. "Maybe we should wait for Lieutenant Freeman before I go any further, his input will be very useful."
Freeman appeared in a shimmer of blue light. Normally he wouldn't use the site to site transporter like that but with repairs needing to be done he needed to. Not to mention getting things replicated for a test that was going to be conducted. "I am sorry for being late and using the transporter. Don't have time to waste walking from place to place." He then took his seat.
"Hey Bruce, when we're done here I need to ask you about something." he paused and turned too the science officer "Okay, so what is so special about this computer core?"
"Well thank you all for coming." Greo was starting to feel a few nerves creeping in again, but he reigned in his feelings. "I understand we all have busy schedules, but I think you'll see that this is important." He walked over to the computer station and picked up three PADDs, he passed them out to the other officers.
"This is a log of all the data we have gathered from the core. As you can see it is quite extensive. It appears that the core is that of the Rhiandhaell captained by Taibek ir-Elahu. There are technical readouts and ancillary data packets. There also seems to be data concerning the Vrelnec and the Ayhler, the other two ships involved in the battle." He watched as they flicked through the huge list of data.
"But I believe it is all, or at least in some part, artificially created. Please switch to the final file. What you are seeing here is a Federation programming protocol hidden within the data algorithms. It was extremely hard to find."
Karen pursed her lips; she could draw a number of conclusions from that, none of which were particularly appealing ... was it placed without their knowledge, or was it in some way 'loaned' to the Romulans - either from an external source to fulfil a specific purpose, or because they had the assistance, willing or otherwise of someone who was familiar with the protocol?
"Tovon, are you saying that we were supposed to recover this core, or at least some of the data from it?"
Jarred broke in, "During the Dominion War finding intact or nearly intact computer cores from Romulan warships was a common thing, alot of the data was heavily encrypted, and what wasn't was mostly replicator information food clothing that type of thing."
"That's just the thing. This data was encrypted but it was not very well protected." He walked to the inspection pit and pointed at the base of the core. "There was no mechanical or technical protection of the main data port. There were no anti-intrusion sub-routines in the system." He paced back to his chair, scratching his ear.
"There is no doubt this is an actual romulan core, but it's almost as if someone had been in and cleared out all the possibly harmful programs and left only the good stuff." He moved over to the side table, where a few pieces of tritanium rested on a diagnostic plate. "And it looks like whoever did that was using Federation technology. So in answer to your question Commander. Yes, it looks like we were supposed to recover the core and I will deal with the data at your instruction, but that is not what I am primarily concerned about."
He drew a deep breath and picked up a tritanium plate, he looked at each of the three officers gathered. He could tell they were a little bemused by his theatrics, but he had needed to lay out the data issue before moving on the crazy part. They're gonna think I'm crazy, he thought to himself.
"This core was not present at the time of the warbird's destruction. It was placed there afterwards."
By them? By us? By someone else? Karen wondered, it did not really make sense ... "Just what does it tell us about the ships?" she asked, they might as well start by looking where someone wanted them to look.
Tovon looked down at the metal in his hands. "It tells us a lot Commander. It has a crew listing, armaments inventory and much more. I think importantly it has plans detailing a series of attacks that I believe are yet to happen. It seems the faction that these ships were a part of was about to make a few aggressive take over bids."
He paused and stepped closer to the officers. He had to tell them, to say the words and get it out. "More importantly this piece of metal I have in my hands tells us something more." He handed the tritanium to Commander Villiers, smiling warmly at her confused look.
"This plate, like those others covering the core," he gestured back to the computer core in the inspection pit,"was not damaged by the explosion of the Rhiandhaell. It appears to have been damaged by localised gravimetric distortions that have warped the metal on a micro scale as well as battering the exterior. I examined the striations on the plating in greater depth and after checking my findings three times I came to the conclusion that this plate, and the others, have all recently interacted with an anomaly or event that left residual Chroniton radiation in the micro-distortions within the metal."
"A chronometric explosion would cause that, but the last time I encountered a device that could cause that was at the end of the dominion war, it is entirely possible that something the dominion was working on has wound up in the hands of these romulans who attacked, if I get you you all access to project Princeton can you determine if this is a variation on one of the devices recovered?"
"I am unaware of project Princeton, but if you think it might help then I would appreciate any data. The only problem with that scenario is that it would take a chronometric explosion, of current technologies, equal to a thousand photon torpedoes to distort tritanium at purely a sub-atomic level." He paused and looked around the room. "As far fetched as it may seem," he gulped, his professional credibility might be on the line here, "I believe that this chroniton radiation was caused by the cores passage through a temporal anomaly."
"Is is possible these effects are also caused by proximity to high concentraitions to chroniton radiation?" Jarred asked trying to be vague.
"One could theorise along that line, but all evidence shows that no other possible source of chroniton radiation was present in the area. Even the collapse of an artificial singularity distorts subspace heavily and then completely consumes itself long before any relativistic consequences might come into play." They were heading into uncharted territory here, but Wallace seemed to be countering Greo's analysis at every step. I suppose that's only natural he is the chief intelligence officer, he thought. He peered at the man and then turned to Commander Villiers.
"Trust me I have been over this several times. I have eliminated all probable sources that I can imagine. The only lasting concept is that it arrived here through a temporal anomaly. The micro-scale distortions in the tritanium are random and of varying degrees. If this were the result of an explosion there would be an exponential regression of distortion along the z axis. This simply isn't the case." He paused and stepped toward the computer console. He steeled himself and turned back to the officers.
"I think we're talking time travel."
Karen nodded, her private thoughts extending the silence. "Continue your research, Lieutenant," she said eventually, "I'll discuss your findings so far with Commander Davies and revert with the results of that discussion to those present here now. Is there anything else I should know before I have that discussion?" she asked as she rose.
Greo was amazed and slightly concerned at the easy way the commander took the news of time travel going on in and around the station. However he had already come to believe she was a level headed woman, maybe she was the type to assimilate information in a careful and measured way. On the other hand, maybe she just didn't believe him yet and would need further persuading.
"Nothing more than that Commander." He smiled as she walked away from the meeting. She was willing to hear his theories and not dismiss them out of hand. He turned back to the other two officers. "Were there any other questions or suggestions?"
"For the moment no, Lieutenant Freeman and I are due to leave on the Bunker Hill shortly." Jarred commented as he stood.
"I don't have any. I probably will get some later on but not now." Bruce said standing. "If you will excuse me." He added tapping his comm badge and exiting the way he entered.
Greo watched as they all left the science lab. I guess I was expecting more shock on their faces, he thought to himself. At least he had given them the data and the revelation of the chroniton radiation. Lieutenant Wallace had made an interesting point about chronometric weapons. He felt that avenue was worth exploring, but knew that the distortions in the metal were not due to an explosion.
He turned back to the romulan core, now short of a few plates and scratched at his ear. The enigma was not solved, he had only just started to draw back the veil. Still, Greo could feel he was on the threshold of some great happening or realisation. It would just be a little longer and his brain was starting to ache. Maybe I should get some sleep!
OFF:
Lt Greo Tovon
Science Officer
Commander Karen Villiers
Executive Officer
Lt. Bruce Freeman
CEO
Lt. Jarred Wallace
CIO DS5