Posted by Ensign Kaden Buchanan (Engineering Officer) in Main Sim: Studying the Volograd’s Data - Planetary Science Lab

Posted by Ensign Johnathan Baptiste (Medical Officer) in Main Sim: Studying the Volograd’s Data - Planetary Science Lab

Posted by Ensign Demil Lis (Science Officer) in Main Sim: Studying the Volograd’s Data - Planetary Science Lab
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
[snip]

They would need to dig further into the nebula organisms once they got closer, for now all that the Volgograd reported was they fed a lot on helium gases and did not seem to roam very far from such sources, nor did they seem intelligent. Looking then at known reptilian species none of them matched the Forseth. As for the echoing radio traffic there so far did not appear any connection.

Sifeda turned to Hobbs then said. “There was significant radio traffic in that part of the solar system. Is there anyway to determine the frequency and what was being transmitted over these waves? I feel like that could be part of the puzzle.”

Itri, XO

What little information they had from the Volgograd’s scans showed a barely 1.7 second sublight radio emission, but so brief was it that exact frequency or such could not be made. However, given it was of a high enough energy output to be detected by sensors a quarter of a light year from J17 at the time whatever emitted it had to have a large store of energy output to make it happen. One thought could be it was perhaps a fusion reaction, say a ship exploding? But then no debris or such residual energy was left that the Volgograd would have picked up. So again more information on site was needed.

Demil slipped into the room, carrying a PADD. “I remembered reading about Voyager encountering a similar situation, and pulled the ship’s logs. If nothing else, it could help set precedent for what to do if and when they achieve spaceflight.” He set the PADD on an empty console and took a seat next to it. “It might also be some sort of dimensional anomaly, or an effect of the unique binary system.”

Ens. Lis

“Great thinking Ensign Lis.” She said as she tried to recount that particular Voyager mission. “It is definitely worth exploring, since from what we are aware of they could be developing space flight capabilities at any moment now. I think we could be on another right track if we consider their binary star system. Combining your two theories together, do you think the binary system could cause a dimensional anomaly, Ensign?”

Itri, XO

“Maybe,” Demil said. “It’s quite likely the two are linked. What if ,” he stood up and started pacing, “what if the second star is a ‘refugee’, in a way, from a second dimension, a part of that reality that crossed over to ours. It could be maintaining an anomaly because it’s foreign to our universe. If that other dimension is chronally shifted, it might provide an explanation for rapid development. That might also explain the unusually high level of radio traffic, if we’re hearing echoes from that dimension.” He stopped at the edge of the room and spun back to face the group, eyes bright.

Ens. Lis

It was possible somehow that the rare binary system’s setup was producing an anomaly that the Volgograd’s crew had not considered, but to verify such they would need to wait till they got into the system.

“My apologies for being late,” Doctor Stacey said as he entered the Science Lab while reading a PaDD, assumingly catching up on the data packet, “I had an unexpected patient stop by.”

“No apologies needed Dr. Stacey, we are actually just getting started. There are a number of theories floating around.”

The Chief Medical Officer spotted Doctor Baptiste and made his way over. “Did you spot anything about their appearance?” Still hoping to be able to get a way for the crew to have a possible avenue of further study. Gavin did leave a mental note that he might have to table that idea if the species became space faring.

CMO

“Sir they appear to be in the category of Reptilian species. I have pulled all known space faring species and have the computer running any similar biological developments.” replied Ensign Baptiste. “I would also like to request a probe be sent to the nearby nebulas to investigate the space faring organisms there. I think we need to see if perhaps they are capable of making their way to this system, and possibly being symbiotic with this species.” he said. “Then there are the possibilities that this species is being effected by the uniqueness of this binary system and the way the stars radiation effects them, as well as these ‘echo’ radio frequencies.” Ensign Johnathan stated. “All, some or even none of these factors may be a contributing factor. The rest of the team have come up with some interesting theories.”

Ensign Johnathan Baptiste, medical

Gavin nodded in reply. “There are only a few reptilian species that we know of, Gorn, Voth, and one could say Cardassians.” The CMO exclaimed. “Though none seem to have a symbiotic relationship in any form.”

“You are correct sir, we know of the Gorn, Voth, and Cardassians; but you are forgetting several others: the Arkonians, the Denobulans whom have a complex and extremely complicated social/family relations, the Jem’Hadar, the Kasheeta, the Rigellians, the Saurians, the Selay, the U’tani, and the Xindi-Reptilian. Of course the computer has not brought up those species from the Delta, and Gamma quadrants that have been ‘discovered by Starfleet.” Replied Ensign Baptiste, trying to show he was doing a thorough job in his research.

Ensign Johnathan Baptiste, medical

Gavin nodded in approval, as it appeared Ensign Baptiste knew more of xenology than he was letting on. The CMO didn’t interject about the Jem’Hadar since technically they were cloned species, not necessarily being born the natural way.

V’alura typed away on her console’s haptic keyboard while listening to all the wonderful and creative theories being suggested around her. Today she seemed more passive than assertive as she catalogued everyone’s thoughts and ideas into useful notes. “We’ve gathered quite a few theories.” She said, “The question I would like to pose now is what will we do when we arrive? What should be our number one focus? It seems to me we have two avenues to explore. The Forseth, and the binary system they live upon.” How will they prove or disprove their theories? Given the extreme speed of the Foresth evolution, V’alura had the strangest feeling that a count down timer has been placed upon the Ark Angel and her mission.

Lt Belmont, CSO

These were all good questions. “I think the number one focus should be, studying the species so that we can determine an obvious answer to their evolution, if we can. The next thing I would focus on is ruling out the theories we have developed here. One I would definitely like to rule out or in is the effects of the binary star system and if it facilitated this anomaly. Obviously we can’t do any of this effectively until we reach the star system and have an opportunity to explore more closely.”

Katie covered her mouth with her right hand for a moment. “The loss of signal is probably a sign of technological evolution. They’ve evolved beyond conventional radio and perhaps beyond our communications technology. Assuming we have samples of their earlier transmissions, a linguistic analysis could eliminate the “hyper-fast thinkers” hypothesis. Unfortunately that sort of analysis is outside my personal skill set,” she said. She paused for a moment. “And Volgograd’s lack of detection of psychic or telepathy may just mean they have a form that we haven’t encountered before.”

“That makes sense.” Sifeda said to the CE regarding the lack of detection of the psychic/telepathic abilities, “So now you just have to prove it.”

Itri, XO

Ensign Baptiste asked “Will we be setting up a ‘blind’ planet side to observe them up close or remaining in an orbital blind? I only ask as it will change how much data we can effectively gather to solve some of these questions.”

Ensign Johnathan Baptiste, medical

GM CockRoach

V’alura looked to En Baptiste, “There is a precedent for such but I’m not sure if I would be comfortable trying it. Given how rapidly the Forseth have advanced and over such short time frames, I think it would be prudent to scan the system before we tip our toes into the waters. As we all know, scientific discoveries and progression develops faster with each new advancement. Just think of how quickly Earth went from horse drawn carriages to cars and from cars to our shuttlecraft. It very well could be that by the time we arrive in the system the Forseth will be our technological peers. I don’t want us to be caught attempting to spy on them, which is how they would perceive it.

“But I agree that studying the Forseth themselves would be ideal. And I want everyone to brush up on first contact protocols. I think it will be likely that the Ark Angel may be formally meeting these people.”

Lt Belmont, CSO

“If they’ve surpassed our own tech, then a probe just might be an early warning alert of our arrival.” LTJG Stacey added, “Though, I’m no engineer but isn’t there a way to mask our probe to look like a passing meteor?” The Doctor asked. Though, the CMO was hoping there weren’t any psychic/telepath abilities involved since there was zero chance that could be replicated with prosthetics.

CMO

Katie glanced over at the doctor.

“We have two basic types of probes; active and passive,” she said. “The essential difference is that the active probe sends out signals and monitors their return while the passive ones simply ‘listen’ or observe. Like a ship’s scan, the active signal can be detected by the appropriate tech no matter what the probe looks like while a passive probe could be indistinguishable from a rock.”

“Indistinguishable?”

“By our technology at least. The active probe would give better data than the passive probe so its a trade-off. Give the word and I’ll have my people start preparing a passive probe.”

LtJg Katherine (Katie) Hobbes Chief Engineer

Lookin over everything relative so far gathered, there did not seem too much more they could do to find any real solutions, they could try running simulations on ideas with the computer maybe that could reveal something but they would have to be creative.

OOC: Fixing another split!

“Well passive seems the way to go. I also agree with Lieutenant Belmont that we should brush up on first contact protocols because as Dr. Stacey stated they could be aware of our arrival and we may as we may be meeting them when we arrive. Either way we should be prepared. One question though,” she looked at Lieutenant Hobbes, “Would the data variance between the active and passive probes be significant?”

Itri, XO

Ensign Baptiste looked at his PaDD and the notes he had been taking while the crew discussed the Forseth, he began to formulate a line of inquiries he would like to pursue. Looking over at Lieutenant Stacey he asked “Sir I would like to pursue two avenues of inquiry on the Forseth. One, I would like to have a long distance active probe to gather some of the organisms around the nebula, I know they appear unintelligent and seem to only interested in the helium, but it would be best to eliminate them as the cause and have the bonus of studying a unique spaceborne organism. Second, I would like to have permission to study the data we have on the Jem’Hadar and the cloning process they undergo, as there may be some correlation to the Forseth development.” He knew the subject of the Jem’Hadar and cloning was an extremely taboo and touchy subject within the Federation and Starfleet, but they were a species that was known for ‘rapid’ development, albeit with assistance.

-Ensign Johnathan Baptiste, Medical

“If our science division doesn’t mind lending you a probe, I don’t see why not.” The CMO replied. Gavin was a tad intrigued about how the Ensign was going to test his cloning hypothesis regarding the Forseth.

“Ensign Baptiste make sure to connect with engineering on the probe. I am sure one probe will be able to gather the information we need. It should just be a matter of configuration. I will let Dr. Stacey weigh in on the Jem’Hadar part.”

Gavin nodded in agreement and turned to face Baptiste. “Are you looking to prove/disprove that this species is undergoing a cloning cycle?” LtJG Stacey asked, wanting to make heads or tails of his thinking. It could be a possibility, but it doesn’t necessarily answer their questions about their quick tech evolution.

Ensign Johnathan Baptiste nodded “The reason I would like to gather some of those organisms in the nebula is the possibility, ever so slight, that they may have drifted into this system and somehow infected the Forseth, setting into motion their rapid evolution. There is some precedence for this, the Trill come to mind as a mutualism form of symbiosis.” he took a breath then proceeded “There is the possibility of cloning process and that the entities doing the cloning may also be advancing their knowledge base.” replied Ensign Baptiste. “There would be a greater success rate with reptilian DNA/RNA structures, I believe. As for what species may be inclined to do such things, I lean to those of the non-corporeal lifeforms. There is precedence of higher-level beings interfering with lower lifeforms. Then there is the Jem’Hadar, cloned and educated into advanced societal settings. I therefore would like to compare their development process to the Forseth.” he stated, making his case as to why he wanted to study the Jem’Hadar cloning process and the space borne organisms.

-Ensign Johnathan Baptiste, Medical

Ensign Buchanan looked up from the station he was working from and responded, “I will volunteer from a engineering standpoint to work with you getting a probe set up and configured in order to study what we are looking for. Running some simulations would be ideal as well.” He then waited to see how Baptiste wanted to continue. Kaden was already working on a simulation so he hoped that was the correct direction to go along with the probe. He then waited for a response from Mr Baptiste.

Ensign Buchanan
Engineering Officer

Kaden looked over to Ensign Baptiste and asked, “Ensign Baptiste, how do you want to more forward with getting a probe ready to launch? I am happy to help you in any way possible.” He then waited for a response. He was looking forward with re-configuring the probe as needed. He was extremely curious to understand how this culture seems to have skyrocketed the technology growth in a very very short amount of time.

Ensign Buchanan
Engineering Officer

-Ensign Johnathan Baptiste, medical
“I agree,” Demil said, taking notes on all of the various theories and plans. “If we are able to interact directly with them, either diplomatically or through a reconnaissance away mission, a genetic sample would be useful in proving or eliminating that theory, and could lead to new ones. However, we would have to be extremely careful about obtaining that sample, in order to stay within diplomatic regulations.
Ens. Lis

“You know,” V’alura said with a casual smile, “We could always just ask? A casual, ‘Wow, you’ve progressed so much in quite a short time frame! We’re very curious about the success you’ve achieved. May we work with you to study your species and together learn more about one another?’. You know, all direct like.” She laughed, quiet-lik,e before looking towards the engineers, “I concur with a passive probe. Make sure it’s something we could easily pick up and wouldn’t cause any kind of alarm if discovered. I think a passive probe would be far more simple to explain than an active.

She couldn’t tell if V’alura was joking or not but she said, “At this point I don’t know if we know much about them to make contact. They could be hostile to outsiders as has been my experience with most reptilian species. I know it’s not an equitable judgement but I tend to rely on past experiences. So I would concur with Baptiste and attempt to do some more research so we can get a better assessment of the species. Only then will we know if attempting contact is a viable option.”

“And in the mean time I we could start simulations in the cybernetics lab. I’ll have the lab run projection models to hopefully get a better idea of what kind of technology or advancements we might expect to see.” Even just the two points of reference from the Volograd should be enough to create accurate estimations. “We could also run evolutionary simulations utilizing data from species similar to the Forseth. Perhaps that may tell us if the Forseth have developed any spectacular abilities. I’ll be sure to pass along any interesting results.”

Lt Belmont, CSO

“Sounds good Lieutenant Belmont. You are our cybernetics and simulations expert. I particularly like the evolutiontionary simulation. Do you think you can have something for review in a few hours?”

Itri, XO

CMO

“Great! So everyone is working an angle. Be sure to cross communicate because this is going to require collaboration. I am going to leave you all now, connect with Lieutenant Anders to see how our guests are setting in then go check-in on the bridge to get an ETA on our arrival in the J17 system. I am on comm if anyone needs anything.” Sifeda left the lab and headed for deck 6.

Itri, XO

“I could get started on that evolutionary simulation, ma’am,” Demil noted quietly to V’alura. “Genetics was one of my specializations at the academy.” As he spoke, he finalized his notes and sent copies to everyone present. His eyes had regained the sparkle that had characterized his early days on the Ark Angel, which had vanished during the events of the last mission, and the slightest of smiles began to pull the corners of his mouth upwards.
Ens. Lis

“Mr. Buchanan,” Katie said after tapping Kaden on the shoulder. “Let’s get started on the probe… We’ll start with one of the photon torpedoes, replace the warhead with a class 3 sensor package and cover the whole thing with an assortment of rocks, dust and general debris from the region. We’ll include a tight beam transmitter locked on the ship to report back the findings.”

She paused and took a deep breath. “We can’t have a guidance system on it so we’ll have to calculate the launch parameters carefully. I want to be sure it collects data on the nebula organisms. I have a feeling that they are the key to this whole thing and that there is more to them than simple ‘helium eaters’… which I’m not sure is even possible. Can you handle the launch programming?”

LtJg Katherine (Katie) Hobbes, Chief Engineer