Of probes and cable

Posted on Tue Feb 18th, 2025 @ 4:18am by Lieutenant JG Astrja Kyan

Mission: Pandora's Box
Location: Ops central
Timeline: MD3 Shortly after Relaying Information
558 words - 1.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Astrja was working with the Operations department to get the probes and cables manufactured for the expedition into the planet killer. She was discussing with Afor the sensor modifications.

“The neutronium is so dense that in these quantities, it creates its own local gravity that needs to be accounted for,” said Astrja. “Even basic LIDAR gets distorted and needs to have its reading adjusted.”

“Tricky,” said Afor, “but Starfleet must have encountered such problems before.”

“Yes, but here there are further problems complicating it all,” said Astrja with a sigh. “Luckily, Athena’s computer is amazingly over-engineered to be able to handle the MVA mode, so it has processing power to spare when that mode is not engaged. But it is a lot of variables and a lot of processing power devoted to what would normally be a simple task.”

“And you do not want Ops to look bad in front of Science?” inquired Afor.
“Partly that, I admit,” said Astrja. “Also, I just want this to work smoothly. This is a once-in-a-lifetime, maybe several lifetimes, opportunity. Planet Killers are rare, thankfully, and for years there was thought to be only one. But now we have the chance to learn more about them.”

“It is intriguing,” agreed Afor. “What would drive a culture to build such a device whose only purpose is to destroy?”

“One theory is they were a doomsday weapon to counter a threat like the Borg if not the Borg themselves,” said Astrja, entering in more parameters for the sensor grid.

“I see, a scorched planet philosophy,” said Afor. “Rough on the planets getting scorched though.” She indicated a place where the gravitic constant needed to be adjusted.

“Thank you,” smiled Astrja.

“Ops is here to help and I am here to help Ops,” the QAI replied.

“I must thank Njalia again for you, Afor,” said Astrja. “You have made live immeasurably easier for me and more efficient for Ops. In fact, I look forward to telling her about the Planet Killer, once we are allowed to talk about it.”

“I imagine that doomsday weapons are not things that you want wandering around, even disabled ones like this,” said Afor.

“That is one of the questions we are trying to answer, how disabled is it? And what caused it to crash in the first place? Hopefully with all these sensors,” she waved to the probes, “we will be able to learn more about it. I am just hoping to get a sample of the neutronium, I am sure there are interesting uses it could be put to.”

“The densest material we know? I suspect so.”

“I am not hoping for more than a few molecules worth,” aid Astrja. “First there is the mass problem. But with such exotic materials, sometimes there are things you can only find out about them with an actual sample. Simulations only go so far. For example, we were not expecting such strange gravitational effects from the inert plating. So we are already learning things.

“Cables finished, Lieutenant,” said one of the Ensigns helping with the task.

Astrja stood. “Let’s get those hooked up to the probes and read to send down.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.”

“Afor, make sure all the dataflows are working at top efficiency.”

“Yes, Lieutenant,” the holographic image said with a salute.

Astrja grinned and set to work.