STF

Engineering - Post Warp

Posted Sept. 10, 2022, 10:46 p.m. by Lieutenant Junior Grade Katherine (Katie) Hobbes (Chief Engineering Officer) (S. Kimmel)

Posted by Ensign Kaden Buchanan (Engineering Officer) in Engineering - Post Warp

Katie suppressed what would have obviously been a wicked smile. “One option would be to start the way I did on one of my earlier assignments.”

Anang’s eyebrows raised abruptly with that. “I would suggest, Mr. Buchanan, that you pass on that option… though the assorted life support systems are essential to the operation of the ship.”

Katie sighed. “You are right, of course, Chief,” she said. “So let’s just throw him into the deep end, shall we?”

She paused a moment and then continued. “We’re going to investigate a system where the indigenous species has recently made a spectacular technological advance. If this technological advance was given to them by some outside group then there will be gaps in their technology. Consider, for example, the technologies that a species would have to make before developing a semiconductor chip. They would have to have developed a full range of electrical technologies and optics and the ability to produce materials of a high enough quality first. No species could possibly create a computer with stone knives regardless. If such a species did have computers then we would know that they hadn’t developed it on their own. I want you to begin to analyze what technologies are necessary precursors to developing a warp drive.”

LtJg Katherine Hobbes - Chief Engineering Officer

Kaden looked at Kaite and Anang and laughed. “It seems there was some sort of inside joke there which I might have not been privy too.” Kaden responded. “I remember learning information about what technologies lead up to warp drive during my grade school learning, my own reading and what else was taught in the academy. I would like to do some research to gather some additional data for questions which could be potentially discussed or inferred to understand how they became knowledgeable to warp drive in a very short amount of time. Do we have any sort of time frame of how quickly this came about?” Kaden then questioned. He then turned walked over to his station in Main Engineering and begun pulling up the data with a timeline of technologies leading up to warp drive. The list is very long and would be over many centuries on Earth with all the items needed from warp technology. He remember the first flight in the United States was December 17, 1903 by the Wright brothers and the first ship traveling from Earth to space was April 1961 and the first warp flight in Star fleet history was April 2063. So just the time between the first flight and the first warp flright was well over 150 years. This did not include any other of the technology required leading up to the ability to fly. Understanding the full timezone and the process from earth and other warp capable species in the federation would be needed. He then waited for a response from either Lt Hobbes or Cheif Anang.

Ensign Buchanan
Eng Officer

Katie smiled. “On the contrary, the first warp flight from Earth required a huge assortment of technologies to be developed ranging from metallurgy that were used in the construction of that first warp engine that the Wright brothers couldn’t conceive to the computers that controlled that first warp flight. Remember that the Wright brothers had nothing more advanced than simple mechanical calculators and America’s first moon flight was calculated by hand with only minimal computers.”

“Getting more specific, ten years ago surveys of J17 didn’t detect intelligent life much less any signs of a civilization. Six months ago another survey team found not only a civilization of nation states but one that was entering an industrial era. Shortly after that surveys found no evidence of radio or high energy transmissions of the sort that Earth went through in the mid 21st century. A week ago, the Volgograd found the society was on the verge of space age development.”

Anang shook his head. “That is extremely rapid by any standard and almost qualifies as prima facie evidence of external interference.”

Katie nodded. “Indeed it does. Still there remains the possibility that it developed by the inhabitants themselves. Ark Angel is heading there to assess the situation and make first contact if necessary.”

Anang frowned. “What other possibilities are there?”

“Suppose the locals possess exceptional psychic abilities. Is it possible they learned the technology by psychically ease dropping on space faring species? Suppose their metabolisms and mental processes operate much faster than ours. So fast that we might seem to be frozen in time compared to them,” Katie said. “There’s not much we could do about either of those or a host of theoretical possibilities. Our immediate task is to prove whether they developed their own technology or got it from somewhere else.”

LtJg Katherine (Katie) Hobbes - Chief Engineering Officer


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