Testing... One...Two...

Posted on Fri Jul 1st, 2011 @ 6:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Zim Drex & Captain Vorn Krace

Mission: The Fate of the Swiftsure
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD2 0023hrs

Drex tapped his fingers on the PADD as he exited the turbolift onto the Main Bridge. A brief look around and some smiles went around between the bridge night watch while he crossed down onto the main deck and approached Captain Krace's door. He assumed, this being the first night in the Delta Quadrant, the Captain would be burning the midnight oil.

He pressed the doorchime.

"Come in," Vorn called almost absent-mindedly as he studied yet more star charts on his monitor. Every day it seemed a starship in the region discovered something new - currently Vorn was reading up on an ongoing study of the Ariel Nebula, which was partially enclosed by the much larger Solaria Nebula. "Ah, Lieutenant. What can I do for you?" he asked, as he noticed the Bolian engineer in the doorway.

Drex stepped in through the doorway and approached his desk. "Sorry to bother you so late, Captain, but since we're now in the Delta Quadrant I can discuss something I wasn't able to before." He stepped forward, offering the PADD forward for his review. On the topmost border were the words 'Engineering Refit #47'. And a cross section of the Iapetus' hull with oblong strips attached to the exterior.

Vorn frowned at the schematic, studying the new proposed sections of technology on the ship's hull. "You'll have to forgive me, I don't have my Engineering brain cap on this evening..."

"Last year I attended a conference on the advancement of holo-technology on Tellar Prime. Between seminars, I was approached by a member of Starfleet Intelligence. He expressed interest in my technical abilities, as well as my knowledge in the use of holographic matrices."

He pauses a beat to see if the Captain follows.

"And I would assume that these protrusions on the hull have something to do with holo-technology, then?" the Captain asked, indicating the PADD he had been given.

"Well, once the conference was over, the operative handed me a portfolio, containing technology used by U.S.S. Voyager while stranded in the Delta Quadrant on stardate 50029.1." He straightens his uniform and then leans a little forward, to indicate he was getting to the good stuff. "In a battle with a species known as the Kazon, Voyager retrofitted holo-emitters to the hull of the ship, in order to project the images of other vessels flying in formation, as a means to gain a tactical advantage during inter-starship combat."

"That sounds like an immense task to undertake," Vorn said, frowning and wondering why he didn't recall reading about that specific tactic during his study of the reports on the Delta Quadrant. "Aside from the time it would take to design, manufacture and test these emitters - on the ship itself none-the-less - this system would use up a huge amount of power, would it not?"

"Unfortunately, the Intrepid Class' warp energy matrix wasn't powerful enough to use the tactic extensively, so Admiral Janeway tabled the project." He tapped the PADD, excitement spread across his blue face. A cross section of the ship's warp energy distribution matrix was shown, glowing purple in the various plasma conduits that could be retrofitted. "The Iapetus is powerful enough to support such a configuration. Starfleet believes not only will we be able to use this holographic Iapetus as a distraction, but they will actually be able to fire photonic phasers as well, with 65% range and strength as our own phaser arrays."

"OK," Vorn said, slowly. "Why did they come to you about this then?" he asked. "Why not to myself directly, or Commander Walex? Or more importantly, why isn't an SCE ship carrying out these tests?"

"Starfleet wants to quietly test out this configuration on the Iapetus in the Delta Quadrant, away from the prying eyes of the Romulans, and the Klingons. All of the details are on this PADD and the equipment needed for the modifications is being stored in Cargo Bay 2. They said that keeping this experimental project hush-hush is a top priority. I was told, only because I assessed the design specifications and confirmed it was possible, personally. They didn't want to risk the information to anyone unnecessarily."

"Well, that's perfectly understandable," Vorn said, his mind finally catching up and going into analytical mode. He knew that if Starfleet did have the technology to create a holographic duplicate of a ship - especially one that could fire as well - then they wouldn't want the Klingons or the Romulans getting wind of it, regardless of their allied status at the present time. Though he did resent the fact that the materials had already been loaded into the cargo bay before he even knew of the project.

"They also told me that testing this configuration would be up to you, to determine if the safety risks are worth the possible benefit of obtaining data on this new technology."

"Well, that's a rare blessing from Starfleet Intelligence," Vorn said, his tone clearly indicating he didn't always think too highly of the organisation, regardless of the fact that two of his closest friends onboard the ship either were or are members of the group. "Just how much power will these things use up? We're out here as an explorer primarily, and I want to be able to keep the capacitors in the sensors fully charged for as long as we can - we have the most advanced sensor suite in the whole quadrant, after all."

Drex nodded, mirroring the Captain's sentiment."The numbers go like this, sir. It would mean a 50% drop in Emergency power at the beginning of the battle. Once the duplicate Iapetus program is activated, that power will theoretically be restored during the battle. In a normal starship battle, power to shields is the most important thing, as you know, but for every shot that doesn't hit us, we'll conserve more power on the shields and our power reserves should increase steadily. Also, since they won't be firing as much at us, it should mean drastically reduced casualties."

"I've already drawn up an energy reserve plan, which shouldn't compromise sensor efficiency at all until you give the order to run the program. The program drains minimal power after it's activated. We could continue to run it with main power offline and emergency power at 7%, since all the energy for the projection will be diverted initially. I would have to convert Holodeck 3 into a power transfer station and holo-imaging control centre. But that's pretty much it, sir."

Feeling the Captain's resentment, he added. "I was initially against taking on the cargo before you were informed, but the operative made a good point: After we crossed to the Delta Quadrant, it would be too late to beam the equipment onboard."

Vorn sat silent for a few minutes, contemplating the choice he had been given. Considering it was something from Starfleet Intelligence, and it was an arguably delicate matter to be dealt with, he wanted to take his time to weigh the options before making his decision.

"Leave me the specifications and technical diagrams," he told the Engineer. "I'll have my decision for you by the end of the week."

Drex looked between the PADD and the Captain's thoughtful visage. Hearing the CO's reply was the cut and dry of it. Drex felt miserable that he'd have to walk around not being able to talk to anyone about it for another week, but that was life when you were a pawn in a much more elaborate game of chess. "Understood, Captain." He motioned his hand toward the PADD. "It's all yours, sir." He backed from the desk, but waited to be dismissed.

"Thank you, Lieutenant. Dismissed."

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Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer

&

Lieutenant Zim Drex
Chief Engineer
USS Iapetus