Sensor Shadows

Posted on Sat Apr 22nd, 2023 @ 8:34am by Commander Amaya Lance & Lieutenant Alexis Ryan & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko & Ensign George Paxton

Mission: Wrath of the People
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: MD07
2258 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

The ship was on the edge of the Heeni Range but dared go no further due to its inability to use sensors or even begin to navigate the huge asteroid field. Xavier threw his PADD down in frustration. This was the fifth projection he had run and the results were the same; Insufficent Data! The electromagnetic field of the rocks just made navigation impossible, but impossible wasn't a word he liked, or accepted. There has to be a way!

"There has to be a way," Xavier finally said, echoing his inner thoughts. "The smugglers move through this field so there must be a way that we can too."

Normally a woman of action, Ryan had spent the last ten minutes or so staring at nothing. It might have seen her accused of being distracted had there not been the occasional deviation of her eyes to regard the simulation data Xavier had provided. Her index finger tapped against the display of her PADD. "Nobody's navigating a belt of this composition by improvising. That being said, there's no real way to map something so volatile. Whatever they did, it likely involved a lot of decisions that couldn't be made in advance." Her eyes finally lifted to meet the Chief's. "So the question becomes, how do people usually find their way in the dark?"

"Glowing stars," George mumbled, thinking to himself. He looked up to see eyes on him, probably wondering why he was thinking of glowing stars in the middle of a serious situation. "Uh," he gulped a breath of air. "See, when I was younger, I was kind of terrified of the dark. Which I'm not now, of course," he hastily added. "Anyway, one of my older brothers gave me these little glowing stars and he put them on all of my stuff in my room. It gave off a glow so that it wasn't so dark, but also kept me from running into things since I could see where they were." He stood there in awkward silence for a moment. "Uh, sorry, that probably isn't very helpful."

Xavier smiled and shook his head, more in amusement than anything else. George was sweet, cute even, but sometimes he really was a... genius! "George you may be on to something," he said as his smile turned from sympathetic to glee. He didn't say anymore as his hands flew over the controls, he needed to get his half-formed idea out of his head before it slipped away like a forgotten dream in the early hours of the morning.

"Okay," Xavier finally said as he looked up from his calculations. "Our sensors are having a nightmare time due to the electromagnetic radiation and without them, there's no way we can move safely through the belt, never mind finding the smugglers, correct?" He waited for the silent nods before he continued. "George's glow-in-the-dark stickers-" he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as he vocalised the human's childhood fear -"use phosphor which emits light when exposed to different types of radiant energy, a rather crude but effective technology. What if we scatter the asteroids with a similar type of radiation? So distinct, we can filter out all of the background noise we're seeing. Then use the main deflector dish as a passive focus inverter, boosting the sensors and navigational array?" He turned to Ryan, after all this was her area of expertise. "That would work right?"

Alex was still in the process of reverse engineering the idea. Her expression, whilst hesitant, didn't seem immediately dismissive. "The thing about stringing up fairy lights," she eventually replied, introducing an entirely new analogy, "is that they're not great if you stray too far from the source. Whatever boost we can manage may still not wind up giving us a lot of room for course correction under duress. The rate of communication between helm and sensor control is going to be tight." The Science Chief's furrowed brow seemed more thoughtful than wary, her gaze eventually settling on Xavier's to speculate. "What if we sent a shuttle ahead first?"

"A shuttle would run into the same electromagnetic navigational issues that the ship would. Triangulating relative position would be almost impossible." The voice entering the conversation was new. Amaya stepped forward from near the entrance to Engineering, a pleasantly unassuming smile on her face. Discussions about science, she could definitely throw herself into. "However, the Prometheus-class has a unique feature: the multiple-module separation system." She touched the display, indicating a three-dimensional overview. "Athena herself can be split into three reference points. Tightbeam triangulation between those three points would give a much more accurate relative position for anyone navigating a hazard."

There was a pause, the slightly awkward lull in conversation that left ample room to fester into full-blown discomfort. Most of it was likely speculation that Ryan would take offense to having the obvious stated to her, particularly when the entire conversation was focused around detecting the hazards in the first place. As it stood, the Science Chief merely seemed puzzled by the suggestion, her brow knitted in concentration as she tried to follow Lance's logic. "The challenge we face is boosting our sensors, with the help of Paxton's nightlights, enough to predict a pathway that won't send us smashing through asteroids. From the density scans we've been able to hazard at, we may face corridors that are barely wide enough to squeeze through as it is. Triangulation would improve," she conceded, "but we'll be faced with three intensely precise navigational challenges instead of one."

Xavier stood back and watched as the two women tried to figure this problem out. There was a running joke at the Academy, Operations: Jack of all trades, master of none! He had hated that. He prided himself on being the best operations officer he could be, playing with other departments well so that any ship he served on was the most efficient ship possible. But even he had to admit, the sciences were his weak spot, the area he struggled with the most. He knew enough to get by, but he knew better than to get in between two scientists during an intellectual debate. "We could merge the plans," he eventually said, knowing at any second Lance or Ryan might give him a look, telling him to be quiet. "Use a shuttle to plot the maze, then split the ship giving us a tactical advantage of whatever is waiting for us in there."

"Uh," George hesitantly spoke up. "We still haven't, uhm, solved the electromagnetic navigational issues with the shuttle. There's an old technology that was used on Earth for flight navigation, ADS-B." One of those side topics Finn had once gotten caught up in and rambled about. She had always been fascinated with ancient technologies. "It...uh...was a device that broadcasted information about an aircraft's GPS location, altitude...and speed, every second. I think. Each device was shielded against EMI and I think they applied a level of filtering, all to keep it reliable against electromagnetic interferences. Engineering could create new versions of those devices, if we could get them scattered onto some asteroids as we go, it would give us the information we need without worrying about interference. Though we'd still be faced with the challenge of scattering them out there in a way that made sense." George tugged at his collar and a bead of nervous sweat ran down his forehead. He could've sworn the environmental controls had the room set to 37 degrees.

Ryan took a breath and then released it again slowly without speaking. Like most scientists, she speculated out loud in a way that tossed around variables that required mitigating but it hadn't been her intention to override the Captain's suggestion. Lance's reasoning was sound, there was just a lot more precision that went into navigating and Alex wanted to make sure they had the pilots for it. Now, she was left to ponder Paxton's contribution and, though she would have gladly sat there all day discussing the intricacies of a perfectly executed plan, they simply didn't have the time for it. The Science Chief turned her attention towards Kane's replacement, amending the unintentional derailing of her input by defaulting to her now. "Captain, it sounds like you've already given this some thought. Perhaps if you bring us up to speed, we can find a way to bring all this together."

Amaya nodded gratefully at Ryan, who as a fellow scientist she suspected understood the need for a singular voice directing traffic. "Lieutenant Leiko's explanation is what I was aiming at. A shuttle plotting the maze while the ship, in three parts, sits outside of the danger area and provides oversight and navigational assistance." She glanced at Paxton. "With the relevant shielding of course." The poor Ensign looked overwhelmed. She understood the feeling. As a green commander she had had to overcome that social anxiety too. "If you agree," she looked back over at Ryan, who she suspected was the most likely to spot any flaws, "We can proceed."

The Science Chief nodded slowly. "It's worth an attempt in any case." She cast her eyes around the assembled group before settling again on Lance. "Suggestions for our teams? Flight Control will have to dig deep and find us four pilots who can adapt quickly under pressure and we're going to need a shuttle team and three command groups for Athena once she's separated." For a split second, she paused and held Amaya's gaze. "Right, Captain?" She'd barely had a chance to speak to the woman, certainly no time yet for a private audience, but Alexis had caught wind of the crew's concerns and had investigated their new Commanding Officer's prior experience enough to notice some familiar hallmarks. Trauma left its mark, and you sure didn't claw your way back from it without support.

"Right, just so I'm clear," Xavier cut in, making sure that he was following the science as best he could. "We need to upgrade four support crafts so they can tag the asteroids, refit the three different navigational deflector dishes on the ship, retune and refine the sensor grid, create Paxton's retro tech, split the ship, and find the pirates. Piece of cake," he said with a smile. He turned to Lance, "I'm a level four pilot and volunteer for shuttle duty but I understand if you need me on one of the command teams?"

A little overwhelmed herself, Amaya blushed and offered an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, I'm...not very familiar with all of your respective skills. Commander Zora should approve the assignments." She shrank back, at least mentally (although probably physically as well, she realised). It dawned on her that the XO was no longer on board at that moment. "Recommendations?" she suggested, looking at her senior officers for input.

Ryan considered the woman intently, cataloguing the mannerisms that were in danger of compromising professional integrity, and stepped in. "Science will be ready to take primary sensor control." It was a diplomatic way of announcing herself prepared, as Leiko was, to command one of the sections. "The shuttle will require experience at the helm and navigational support as a bare minimum. I'd like to send Kirral. She's only just arrived but her service record speaks for itself and her specialisation will give the shuttle crew an edge if they find themselves in need of independent course correction." Grey-blue eyes met Lance's with just enough encouragement to be supportive. Come on, they didn't put you here to default to Zora or they'd have just left her in charge.

"Lieutenant," Ryan addressed Leiko, taking a moment to switch her gaze to meet his. "You have several staff who could be allocated to temporary command teams for the separate sections, yes?"

Xavier nodded, "between my team in ops and the engineering staff," he nodded at George, "there's enough of us to get this done."

"T-that seems to make sense, yes. Kirral sounds qualified. Lt. Commander Shan will take one section of the ship. Lieutenant Ryan can coordinate from the third." Amaya nodded, appreciative of Alexis' willingness to step-up.

Xavier eyed Lance discreetly. The emotions he was picking up from her were not ones he was used to feeling from a Starfleet commander; uncertainty, insecurity, nervousness, fear? He understood that the situation was new to her but he really had to question Command's decision to put this woman in charge. Though, he had to admit he was a bit biased, considering the situation. He turned back to George, "we'll need to get all three deflectors ready. Washington and I will handle the main dish, and you and Fenn can sort the auxiliary ones. Conrad and Kirral can prep the shuttles and you," he turned to Ryan, "can do your science thing."

"Okay then. Let's get to it, shall we?" Amaya forced another smile, waving them off as quickly as she could. A short intake of breath later, she glanced at Alexis. "Lieutenant Ryan..." she was hesitant to say something, but figured she needed the moment. Being a fellow scientist but also someone who seemed from the outside to be slightly more welcoming than the others, made Amaya feel like she could trust her a little more. "Join me a moment?"

Alex, in the first stages of rising, paused and then slowly sank back into her chair with a nod, swapping a glance with Xavier as she did.