Sneaking Up on Me?

Posted on Thu Feb 23rd, 2012 @ 7:27pm by Captain Benjamin Byrne & Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jones & Lieutenant JG Patok Malroon

Mission: Deep Space 19
Location: Deep Space 19 - Station Ops
Timeline: MD21 1647hrs

Benjamin had taken to, over the past few days, strolling through Ops, and simply observing the officers at work there. There wasn't much that he could do without getting in their way, and so he simply let them work, content to observe and offer guidance and encouragement where necessary. He had fallen into a bit of a rhythm of this lately, though he admitted freely to himself that he still missed the chair at the centre of the bridge on the Endeavour; he still felt slightly awkward to be walking around with nothing to really contribute, rather than sitting still, with no real attention drawn to himself.

Lt's Jones and Malroon had been successfully planted in what passed for the systems access tunnel directly off the operations centre for the past three hours.  As the station continued its power up sensors of the Endeavour were becoming less effective, so the priority for operations became the stations sensor array.  

So far they had returned the short range sensors to active status managing to calibrate them so residual particles no longer registered as borg cubs.  The medium range array was there current enemy having so far not cooperated with calibration "Malroon, lets try isolating the sensor band width of the native sensor array and then calibrate the starfleet equipment to match that band."

“Yes, sir,” Patok said as he moved toward one of the consoles. He carefully stepped over an obtrusive cable that hung from the side of the console and connected to a small box on the floor. It was a signal decoder, which was being used to determine patterns in the electrical currents generated by the console. Languages – especially ancient ones - were not always recognized by the universal translator. Fortunately, computer systems almost always spoke binary. With this setup, the pair had found a way to utilize the console with the assistance of the signal decoder to interact with the station’s systems.

This was a big enough hurdle in and of itself. Unfortunately, it was only part of the process. Calibrating the medium range sensors was proving to be the definition of frustration. But after much trial and error, and necessary teamwork, the two managed to make some sense out of it.

The last piece of the puzzle involved mapping the scanner frequencies to Starfleet equipment, so that they could view coherent results. It would be some time before they would be able to understand any of the strange charts or symbols that appeared on the alien console screen. As Liz performed a series of test scans, Patok used his tricorder to measure the frequency ranges. He was still surprised at how well the sensors were responding to the jury-rigged control system. With a good read from the tricorder, he began to calibrate the Starfleet equipment.

As the calibrations took effect the medium array starting feeding back actual data.  The sensors returned enough data that proved the system was operating correctly save one anomaly.  After running a diagnostic three times Jones turned to Malroon "I don't think we are dealing with a sensor glitch here, I think there is actually a ship out there."

Patok had reviewed the sensor output several times during calibration, and was certain that they were now providing accurate results.

“It would seem that the readings are accurate,” he said, with no apparent expression.

"Lets see if we can't get an identification on it, I will stay in here to patch in the vessel identification database from the ship,  Run it through the computer at the ops console."  Liz started running the correct conduits after giving the orders.  She only needed about 8 to 10 seconds to get the patch complete.  "Alright run it through the system" she yelled from inside the console not bothering with the combadge.

“Yes, sir,” Patok shouted back in response. As the database of the Endeavor downloaded to the station console, Liz climbed out to review the results from over his shoulder. They could see the output on the connected Starfleet equipment running through the possibilities. Then, it produced a match. “It is definitely a ship, heading towards the station. One would advise that we prepare for action.”

"Ok I agree, we need to show the captain "Jones to Captain Bryne we have detected something out here Captain." Liz was not eager to hear what the Captain had to say.

"Show me what you've got," the captain said, as he moved over towards the pair of lieutenants. The sensor grids had been one of the things that the Starfleet teams had had significant trouble getting operational; at least they thought they did. One could never tell with the alien graphical interface systems whether something was working or not; the universal translator still struggled a lot with the language.

"Sir, we have been able to get the medium and short range seniors operational and there are detecting a craft at the far edge of medium sensor range. We are running the Endeavour's vessel identification database through the sensor grid but its slow going." There always had to be something to keep this station from cooperating Liz though to herself.

"Really?" the captain said, raising an eyebrow. He looked over his shoulder at the large viewscreen that was suspended above the main entrance to the operations centre. "Can you display whatever it is on there?" he asked.

"I think so Sir, give me just a minute to access the right system and clear the image." Liz began working at the main operations console.

As the captain moved towards the centre of the operations centre again, his eyes were affixed to the screen as the two officers worked to divert the sensor data they were getting into the visual interface system. As the image finally materialised, Benjamin froze for a few moments, his eyes wide in surprise.

Tholians. And they looked like they were coming in hot; not in a mood to be friendly, as if a Tholian ever was. He slapped his combadge. "Yellow alert, all officers to duty stations!"

He was quietly aware that the station was albiet defenceless for the minute, and the Endeavour wouldn't be able to detach itself in a hurry, not with the system they'd had to rig up...

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Captain Benjamin J. Byrne
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Elizabeth Jones
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant Patok Malroon
Assistant Chief Operations Officer