Arsenal Augmentations

Posted on 24 Oct 2016 @ 4:30am by Lieutenant JG Catherine Cooper & Lieutenant Elizabeth Marion

1,875 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Operations Center, Deck 7
Timeline: MD 8 || 1400 hours

As soon as Cooper left Walsh she got notice on her PADD of her plan from Lt. Corwin and so contacted Lt. Marion to see if she'd be free to discuss ship defenses.

"Lt. Cooper to Lt. Marion, I've just gotten out of a briefing with Commander Walsh and we have a few points about tactical defensive we could use your help with, would you be able?"

Lieutenant Elizabeth Marion was working on the time tables for the core reload the ship was being forced to undertake, and had been for several hours by the time the comm chirped at her and a voice from somewhere in the ship called out to her. It took Liz several seconds to pry her attention from the four PaDDs she had scattered around her desk before answering the call.

"I can spare an hour or so... What did you need, Ms. Cooper?" Marion replied when she managed to piece together the question from the snippets that had actually registered with her.

Cooper, knowing everyone was busy tried to keep it short, "Looking at modifications to the ships defenses, primary questions: How much can we modify shields to protect the ship from Phased Polaron Beams as was done late in the Dominion War and do you want me to send the tactical data Commander Walsh and I have been working on as it relates to possible overlap." Her words were smoothly said but carefully spaced as though she were trying to not run them at warp speed. Her voice stopped there as she tried to avoid over informationing the engineer.

"I'd have to take a look at the logs," Lt. Marion confessed, "I haven't personally made any modifications like that for such a specific weapon type, but I'm fairly sure it wouldn't take a whole lot of effort if the principles have already been worked out."

Cooper was relieved, she did not look forward to having to try to learn advanced engineering concepts in a few hours, "That would be very helpful, how about I bring them by that way if you have any questions I can answer them on the spot?" She said as she walked, already heading to a turbolift.

"That would probably be best, yes," Liz said with a nod, "I'm in the Operations Control Center."

"Thank you Lieutenant. I'm on my way." She said genuinely thankful the officer had time. That's how the ship worked, each department relying on another to support and assist. It was how it functioned. She arrived in the Operations Control Center a few minutes later and looking for her target she caught sight of the person she wanted, "Lt. Marion?" She asked to confirm as she walked nearer.

Marion turned in her chair and smiled at the woman, "That's me. You must be Lieutenant Cooper. Now what is it exactly you needed help with?"

Cooper smiled back easily and handed over the PADD, "Nice to meet you I'm Catherine Cooper, I am Assistant Tac, sorry to pounce on you like this. Everyone's so busy I've found it's better to cut to the chase lately." Not that it wasn't her natural personality anyway but she did try to be a bit more friendly as time permitted. "The basic information is there. Summary is the main weapon of the current crop of bad guys is a Phased Polaron Beam similar to what the Dominion used the war but we weren't able to combat until toward the end. My first question is can we do that? The list of changes the Starfleet engineers went through are at the bottom of the PADD as reference," She said keeping her mind on target even as a part in the back was spinning tactical plans, it helped slow her down so she could interact with people more normally. Something she'd been working off and on for years.

Liz scanned through the information on the PaDD she have been provided, making audible 'hmm' noises in certain places before looking up, "The formulas are all there, it wouldn't take more than a little administrative re-scripting of shield attenuation algorithms to make it work. I can pass that on to a technician and have it done within the hour."

Cooper beamed, pleased. "That's what it looked like to me, well ok what I hope it looked like, I couldn't fully understand some of the formulas so wasn't entirely sure. That's great news. That with our Ablative armor we at least won't get blasted out of the sky immediately so good there..." She paused, "Question since you've set the bar high..." She joked a little, "How familiar are you with the idea of sensor ghosts?" She said figuring you lost nothing if you asked.

"Making them or rooting them out?" Lt. Marion asked, given that they were two entirely different topics when one got right down to it.

'Personnel Win...' Cooper thought as she said, "Glad you're on our side... both though the priority is making them since thus far far they've not shown the desire for that tactic but one never knows. We expect to be facing multiple enemies and any chance to level the playing field I am happy to use."

"Sensor ghosts aren't hard to create. I've seen them done using resonating pulses from the deflector dishes of vessels before, which makes it look as though a ship is actually two ships following a flight plan parallel with the originating vessel. They won't fool the eyes, though. If you're looking to confuse pilots who have clear lines of sight, I'd recommend using that technique in tangent with holo-projectors. As long as you're really only projecting an approximation and not trying to actually create a solid object with the projectors, they don't consume a great deal of power. In theory, you could double your fighting strength, at least in the eyes of the enemy, even if they won't register any hits from the holographic vessel. But I suppose if you tie the image into the tactical controls, the image can be made to fire at exactly the same time and at the same point on the target so it doesn't seem out of place..." Lt. Marion postulated.

"As far as defeating them, as long as you make sure you are paying attention to the particle displacement index of any supposed ships, you'll find the fakes pretty fast. Sensor ghosts don't displace any particles around them, so it's practically a dead give away... if you aren't in the middle of a battle and don't have the time to scan for moving dust that is," the woman added.

Cooper was listening intently and nodded her understanding, Lt. Marion's details was in keeping with her research, "I'll make sure my people are briefed on the possibility and what to look for, do we have the resources to follow your suggestion?"

Liz shrugged at the woman, "I don't think we have any spare holo-projectors just sitting around, but if we need them badly enough I can always authorize their production. With replicator resources being what they are right now, anything we don't absolutely need at the moment isn't being made. I'd need your department head's approval before anything else could happen."

Catherine nodded, "Fair enough, I'll write this up and send it on to Lt. Corwin. If approved any idea how long it would take to put into place?"

"Installing emitters to small craft is about a ten or fifteen minute process from mounting them to the field test. Not that horrible compared to some of the other jobs I've been asked about lately," came the Ops Officer's reply.

"I understand, thank you. Final question then I promise I will get out of your hair, torpedoes. Based on the data from the make up of the enemy ships I've been working on modification suggestions with my staff to improve efficacy, wanted to run the numbers by you. See if a tech professional could improve upon them before I sent them up the chain and began mucking about." Tactical Officers had a great deal of experience in torpedoes and could be very knowledgeable about their technical specs but it never hurt to get a second opinion before mucking about with something new.

Lt. Marion froze at the mention of weapon systems. There were two answers to the question she had just asked; the truth and what she had been ordered to say after being shipped off the Arizona. The truth of the matter was, she had seen and personally worked on a design for a torpedo that far superior to the ones most ship had stored on board. The issue was... they hadn't been invented yet...

"I'm afraid..." Liz finally said, "that I'm not going to be much help to you in that department. It's... it's complicated but I really can't get involved in tinkering with torpedoes. You could try grabbing one of the other technicians that work more closely with tactical."

It was obvious Marion felt dirty saying it, it was as plain as the nose on her face.

Cooper caught the look and was puzzled by it, "Did I step in something I should not have?" She asked her voice managing to be curious and mildly apologetic. As she wondered what could have caused the uncomfortable look on Marion's face, Cooper couldn't track anything in Marion's record to account for it, though her mind tried as she waited for a reply.

Again Liz struggled to answer the question right away, "Yes... and no... How about I just say that I detest time travel in all its forms and leave it there..."

Catherine nodded, something about time travel, likely as not restricted information on her record. "As long as it's not going to come back and bite us, I can respect that." She was of course very curious about how it related to torpedoes but did try to respect the privacy of others when possible. Besides she didn't know enough to push the other woman unless she suspected a ship threat which didn't seem the case here. "If you could recommend someone then?"

"Talk to Lieutenant Harris, he seems to be pretty sharp when it comes to that sort of thing," Lt. Marion said, "Sorry I can't be of more help..."

And since the feeling seemed to be genuine Cooper replied, "You've been a huge help. The shields and holo options alone will be of great assistance. I am sure Lt. Harris will be a solid lead, I'll go see if he's free before I write up my requests for Lt. Corwin." Then she paused and continued, "It was good to meet you, perhaps once the sword of Damocles is removed from above our heads, I'll see you around. So many new crew and at such a crazy time too." She shrugged as if to say it was a shame but what could you do, it was what it was.

"I'm sure you and I will bump into each other a time or two," Liz smiled politely.

Cooper nodded back, "Thank you again..." she said and with that she left, leaving the Lt. to her vital work, making a mental note to ask Lt. Harris about phasers as well.

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