Mountains of Information

Posted on 02 Sep 2017 @ 9:59am by Ensign Quinn Mackie & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx & Lieutenant T'Pai & Lieutenant JG Felix Langston & Lieutenant JG Jace Crystan & Ensign Elizabeth Bordeaux & Ensign Aidan Crehan & Master Warrant Officer Karyna Fordyce

2,656 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: The Finnean Crisis
Location: USS Black Hawk || Multipurpose Lab 2
Timeline: MD 6 || 0800 hours

Alpha shift had begun, and the Science and Operations teams, along with Lieutenant Langston, had gathered in Mutlipurpose Lab Two on Deck Seventeen. Their goal was simple, to sift through more than a decade of data from the Vasco da Gama in hopes of learning as much as they could about the massive stellar phenomenon. This would be no simple task.

Arjin looked around him at the faces surrounding them. They were given the task to sift through the data found on the da Gama. The first thing he wanted to know was what was on he Padd they had found in the Science lab where the body was found. So he turned towards Ensign Crehan who had taken it with him when they left he ship.

"Lieutenant Crehan. What info did you fond on the padd you brought from the da Gama?", he asked him

"Uh, that's Ensign, Commander. But thank you for your vote of confidence, sir," said Aidan. He picked up the PADD and accessed it. "It...it looks like it's mostly a to do list. Something that one of the scientists put together for examining the probe." He looked up. "Nothing more."

Ensign Nasek was nearby her face intent as she listened to Ensign Crehan's report but ultimately quietly disappointed with the results. If there had been anything odd in the list Crehan would have mentioned it. It may have been too much to hope for a smoking gun, would have been nice though. At least we're not lacking for information. She thought as she considered the size of the haystack they were faced with.

Lt. Felix Langston sat at one end of the table, face buried in his right palm while his left cycled through star charts and flight telemetry data on four neatly spread PADDs in front of him. He rubbed the bridge of his nose trying to make sense of the Vasco de Gama's probes. Unfortunately, the flight data was fragmented, deeming any sort of plotted course into the Zone an exercise in failure. He reached for his nearby cup of coffee without even looking up from the data and took a big swig.

Jace, still standing, looked at the long list of data they'd need to go through. There was a batch that was of interest to him. "I'll take the sensor logs pertaining to the area around the zone. If we can analyze how space around the phenomenon is moving, we may be able to get an idea of what's going on inside."

At the rear of the table, Bordeaux piped up. "Some of the subspace distortion readings from the de Gama probes could help with that. Of course, it would require filtering out distortions originating from outside the Zone. That'll take time. And intermittent readings might return faulty data."

Nasek pipped up as well, noticing that this is not the style of meeting wherein everyone waited to be called upon. "I would like to study the equipment see if there's a change between early records of the Nebula's effects on hardware and currently that might aid as well in tracking possible changes..." She glanced around curious what others thought.

"With ten years of probe telemetry to sort through, it will be like putting together a puzzle," said Aidan. "The to-do list on the PADD may not provide any direct information that we're looking for, but it is a small piece of the puzzle. It was the list of someone who, perhaps, had been sifting through this sea of data for time longer than us. So it might provide some starting points for us." He scanned the list once again. "For example, one of the points was to delegate the compiling of lifeform and planetary evidence. I shall start there with the lifeforms."

"If we all focus on one aspect it could go faster.", Arjin agreed. "I will start on the planetary evidence."

"I can help with correlating sensor readings with deflector and warp bubble outputs," Quinn offered. "Or take a look at previous attempts to enter the zone by others. See what might have gone wrong."

"I could compile or assist in compiling all attempts to enter and leaving the zone, circumstances of each, what exactly happened and correlate a comparison chart if that would help speed analyses." Alora offered to Ensign Quinn, considering ways she might assist the mission.

Quinn nodded to the Ensign. "According to what I've read in the last few days, there have been far more attempts to leave the zone, rather than enter."

"Multiple attempts by same craft?" She asked, tapping away on a PADD in her hands. Quickly compiling a partial list. "It seems to have spiked in the last bit, I hope the sensor readings can tell us why and hopefully what was different at the time to cause the Aketi to have survived exit." She said, tapping away.

Quinn gave the engineer a quizzical look. There was a reason that there were only two living beings from the other side. "How could there be multiple attempts by the same craft when every attempt is a failure, and every person on board is killed in a fashion only Freddy Kruger could love?"

"Sorry I mean it could have been Autopilot, errors with the navigational systems, subspace itself shifting around them. It could be any of a number of factors." She replied, confused by his reference to some guy named Freddy Kruger but going with the context she thought he was going for. She understood his point it was an odd thing for her to have said, "I apologize I haven't had a chance yet to fully review the condition of all related data so its possible craft could have destroyed or something happened to the point where another attempt would not have been possible." She looked at Quinn earnestly, "Has anyone been able to narrow the data indicating why the difference in entry verses exit numbers?" She asked not exactly sure where everyone stood on their projects, a newbie Engineering Ensign was not in ones chain of command.

"Well, we don't know what's going on in there." Bordeaux looked around the table. "I mean, if there's some sort of natural disaster or some other phenomena making life in the Zone difficult, maybe that's what's causing the spike in exit attempts."

Quinn shrugged, looking at the woman in science blue. "Hard to say. I guess we won't know until we get in there." If we get in there.

"Not going is is not an option I want to present to the Captain.", Arjin replied. "As for multiple entries by the same ships. Did the da Gamma detect any Chronitron particles?"

At the mention of chroniton particles, Aidan raised his head. He'd been looking into the species side of the research, which wouldn't have had much to do with chroniton particles. Unless there were some that were advanced enough to attempt something like that. But then, why? Why would the Commander ask about chroniton particles?

"Chroniton particles?" Quinn asked, looking up at the Trill Science Chief. "What do Chronitons have to do with anything?"

"I do not know if they have anything to do with it. But I do have encountered some info in the da Gama's records about multiple Black and White holes inside the Convergence. Hence my question."

"Interesting," muttered Quinn. "Perhaps this outer material acts something like a membrane, which interferes with the normal laws of physics. No wonder nothing has really come in or out."

"I know we can get in," Felix said, "it's just a matter of plotting an exact course to make sure we stay in one piece." He put a hand to his chin. "Just a thought, but did any of those ships make any transmissions upon entering the Zone? Maybe they were able to plot a course by contacting another party already in the Zone, in order to navigate all the spatial disturbances."

Quinn shook his head. "There isn't much in the records about communications. In fact, most of the probes they sent in kept telemetry with the Vasco da Gama. Most transmissions lasted only a few minutes."

Nasek kept quiet listening, some of it was beyond her area but she listened hard and continued to make notes and cross referencing ideas to what data she could reach on the PADD.

"These black hole and white hole singularities almost seem like one-way wormholes," Bordeaux said. "Matter is entering through the black holes, and exiting through the white holes. Like normal wormholes, but without the negative energy density usually associated with them." Bordeaux squinted her face in concentration, and added, "If that's true, we might could cross into the Zone through some sort of artificial singularity. Enter through a black hole on our side, and exit from a white hole within the Zone." She paused. "The only trouble then is generating one to get back out again, and we're not quite sure what's on the other side when we get there."

"How would you propose creating a black hole or some sort of other singularity?" asked Ensign Mackie, looking over to the black-haired woman. "That sort of technology isn't just sitting around anywhere."

"We do possess the capability of creating a micro artificial quantum singularity," Lieutenant T'Pai interjected. "However, it is not feasible at this time to create one which the Black Hawk could utilize. This is allowing the presupposition that a forced quantum singularity would create a temporary wormhole that would allow entrance into the Finnean Convergence Zone." T'Pai paused, steepling her fingers before adding, "I would be curious to see the reaction of Ensign Mackie's postulated 'membrane' to a bombardment of verteron particles in the region in which the Aketi vessel emerged. Assuming that it has not already been attempted."

"Would that not give us a glimpse of the exit only? That would give no indication on how to enter the Convergence. In case of this black hole/white hole passage, we would need to find the black hole inside the Convergence that leads out of it trough the only known succesfully used exit.", Arjin replied. "And who better than the Aketi to tell us that."

"If we wanted to enter we should look for the black holes. Then exlude any used in failed attempts. Maybe there might even be one with an entrance outside the membrane Ensign Mackie talked about. Trouble is that it is like finding that needle."

Ensign Mackie cleared his throat. "Black holes are not wormholes. Nor has there been anything that I've heard of that has entered a black hole and survived. Given that there's been no history, not to mention the power consumption required to create a black hole would be far more than what this ship could produce, I doubt the Captain, much less Starfleet, would approve of the idea."

Looking at the others in the room, Quinn continued. "Besides, even if we could find the other end, let's look at both the Bajoran and Barzan wormholes. The entry and exit parts for both are tens of thousands of lightyears apart. There's probably no real chance that we will find one of those points in our lifetime."

"I am inclined to agree with Ensign Mackie's assessment." T'Pai added. "To date, no 'one way wormhole' that a starship could traverse has been encountered. This does not preclude their existence, though I would say there is a low probability of the Black Hawk encountering one. Ensign Mackie's anecdotal argument aside, there is still a remote possibility that perhaps such a phenomenon exists in this vicinity, with the ingress and egress points being relatively close. Or perhaps there might be something akin to the subspace corridors encountered by Voyager in the Delta Quadrant."

"With respect, Commander," T'Pai continued, "I could only speculate what a bombardment of verteron particles at the point where the Aketi vessel exited would reveal. Perhaps nothing. Perhaps a weak point in the hypothetical 'membrane', that would reveal a point where the Black Hawk could enter and exit the Zone. Perhaps it would reveal an egress only point. Until the experiment is conducted, anything I could say would be pure speculation. That being said, I do not believe that we are in an either/or situation, where we may only explore one possibility. It should be possible to explore various avenues of inquiries concurrently."

Although she'd been quiet so far, Karyna felt the need to speak up. "There's nothing to lose by trying," she said timidly. Her experiences on the Cochrane, including her capture and interrogation, had nearly pushed her to leave Starfleet. But the opportunity to join both Captain Geisler and Commander Teixeira, without whom she would have certainly died at the hands of the Selamat, was too attractive to pass up. So now, here she was. Astrometrics Officer on the new Century-class Black Hawk. And, again, in the middle of a volatile situation. She had joined Starfleet for scientific pursuits, but, recently, she had constantly found herself on the front lines of conflict.

"What I mean," the Master Warrant Officer continued, "is that Lieutenant T'Pai has a point. We don't 'know' until we know. And, as scientists, we all understand that experimentation and observation is how we establish what we know."

"These are good points" Ensign Nasek said, indicating the last two speakers. She had continued to listen quietly making her notes. In the brief lull, she chose her words with care, looking at the more experienced officers around her, "Is it felt we have enough to identify priorities and design project work groups?" That is usually how it worked in her past assignments with large efforts but she wasn't entirely sure how it worked here, this being her first big interdepartmental project. Her tone was questioning but not trying to rush things along.

Karyna wanted to offer her assistance to the Vulcan Chief Engineer. But until Commander Djinx gave the order, there was no plan to act on.

"Indeed. In addition to shifting this info, we should conduct experiences of our own. It is only by doing so that we will be able to eliminate what will not work. Let's see what a verteron bombardment will tell us. But I also want a sweep for chronitron particles."

Ensign Mackie nodded, standing and gathering his things. Without being near the Zone, there wasn't too much else to do. Hopefully, the situation at Finnea would be resolved soon, allowing them to go take a look for themselves. In the meantime, he had several other duties to perform.

Aidan had been listening to everything that was being said about the Zone and entering it. But when someone brought up those that had successfully traversed it, he made some notes. The PADD he was using had all of the available information about those beings and the Selubasari. They intrigued him and wished to know more about them. And however the team decided to enter the Zone, they would need to know more about what they all could possibly find inside. The El-Aurian took the PADD he was using and nodded towards the Commander.

"I am at your disposal then, Commander," T'Pai responded, rising to her feet. "I shall begin making preparations for those observational and experimental requirements that fall within Engineering's jurisdiction."

Still unsure of how she could be of the most use, Fordyce finally offered her help. "Let me know how I can help," she said, directing her words as much to the Vulcan engineer as the Trill science chief.

Arjin nodded at the Vulcan and then turned towards the Astrometrics officer. "You can help me with calculating the most efficient way to conduct our experiments," he said. "Making a grid roster of the area to minimize our efforts and optimize our outcome. The captain expects answers sooner than later."

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