Posted by Commodore Drudoc Andone (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim: Studying the Volograd’s Data - Planetary Science Lab
[snip]

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

Baptiste thought for a few minutes on the question “I am not an engineer so not sure where to begin. If possible we need a way to ‘scoop’ a couple of these organisms into the probe. This will require the probe to maintain a vacuum. Also it would be nice to slowly introduce helium to allow the organisms the ability to continue with whatever they do with the helium. As for the probe going to the planet, the passive sensors are going to need to be set for general scanning with a twist on reading both reptilian and psychic energy. I am also curious, and I am sure the Linguistic folks would love it, if we could gather some of their speech patterns. It may help us in the long run.”

-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

OOC: Sorry for the slow replies!

As the group threw out their ideas, configuring a probe for passive information gathering on the Forseth would be pretty easy, given the level of advancement it would probably be best to go with a Class 7 probe given its ability to mask itself and such. As for the study and/or recovery of samples of the nebula life forms they would probably want to go with a Class 8 modified to house the normal stellar encounter packages from a Class 4. This would allow it to gather and scan the nebula and obtain samples then return by warp to the Ark Angel near J17 soon after.

OOC: See here! https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/schematics/starfleet_probes.htm also for those wanting a simulation etc setup feel free to please START a new thread to handle that then tag me please, thanks!

GM CockRoach

Gavin looked around the lab after they concluded their preliminary planning. It appeared that there would be too many hands on the next step, and since he’d have to plan for possible prosthetics or even inoculations, the CMO felt it would be best for him to take a step aside. Doctor Stacey didn’t feel the need to remove John from the project since it would be an amazing learning opportunity for him.

Dr. Stacey
CMO