Communications failure

Posted on Thursday 13 April 2017 @ 23:04 by Lieutenant Commander David Tan & Major David Scarlet

Mission: The Perez Nebula
Location: TBD
Timeline: TBD
1610 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON]

David was sat opposite the Tactical Officer in the TIC ...

Scarlet looked over the PADD one more time. "I still think there has to be an alternative to using the phaser banks as a communications relay. We risk saying hello with a phaser blast across the nose of a fighter."

"I think you're exaggerating a little there Lieutenant." David replied, getting up and requesting a coffee, white from the replicator before returning to the desk, "The switch from direct Comms to active phasers could be done in under a second, either by manual or verbal command. We would only require one array. Using switching we could remain in contact with the lead fighter, or switch to any of the others in direct line of sight, the pulse from the phaser array would act like a string between two tin cans, enabling us to cut through hopefully any interference no matter how obscure."

Scarlet listened intently, but he still didn't like the idea of taking the phasers offline and there was very little that could even be said to convince him otherwise.

"The Comm traffic would simply piggyback on a much reduced phaser beam. Maybe two, three percent power. It might be difficult to achieve such a low percentage without risking the beam itself dispersing before it reaches the target fighter, it's something we would need to simulate, then perhaps try out before we arrive, unless of course there is another means you can think of ?" David fell silent. He knew he'd been a little abrupt, but he wasn't used to having his idea's dismissed out of hand. They needed to work together to figure out a means of stable secure communication ...

"And what happens if we do have to use the phasers?" Scarlet replied quickly, ignoring Tan's question. "We use the phasers and we risk losing communication with the fighters anyway. Then once the threat passes how will we lock on to the fighters again? This idea will leave us either defenseless or lose the fighters."

While he would never even consider pulling rank, especially as the Department head was likely right, there would be an issue but last time he checked, the Merlin had more than one phaser array, it had sixteen to be precise ... He sat for a moment composing what he wanted to say next so as not to offend the Tactical Officer:

"I can see you're point of view Lieutenant, I really can. No Tactical Officer would want to relinquish any of the offensive of defensive weaponry, but short of coming up with something more viable, then I think you need to give it some more thought, or at the very least try before you buy."

"I'm not an engineer, but there has to be a better system to piggy back off of instead of the phaser array. I'd rather you suggest we set up an old school grappler system to physically tether the fighters than that." He grumbled. Scarlet was liking this idea less and less.

David raised his hands in frustration, not solely with the man opposite, but with the seemingly impossible conundrum the Captain had dropped in their collective laps !

"What about extending the shields?" Scarlet asked suddenly. "The fighters would have to stay close, but if we extend our shields around one, and it in turn is set up to extend the shields around the next in line, that sets up a chain. We should be able to detect and protect the fighter within out shields, and the fighters in turn will be able to detect the previous fighter in the chain and the next fighter down. All the while protecting each other. We don't need verbal communication if they are all trained in a standard pattern, we can even run simulations on it to calculate the maximum distances."

"It's worth consideration obviously, though I'm glad I'm not the one who's going to tell the Air Group Commander that her fighters are limited to remaining within our shields, and to be honest, we'd still have communication problems then, because unless the fighter is parked up against the hull so we can shout through the bulkhead, we'll still get interference. Had the interfera .... Hold on, what about the point defence batteries ?" he said, an idea forming, "Could we dedicate one phaser array to the direct communication and program the point defence batteries to lock onto each fighter. They could be set to target anything without our transponder ID, that way they would make up for the loss of the emitter, at least at close quarters ?"

He knew that they would work through the problem clinically, would they totally agree in the end, he doubted it, but they were professionals so the problem came first, second, and last ...

Scarlet opened his mouth to respond and shoot down the idea of using the offensive systems once again. But stopped. He looked at the engineer and sighed. "You've had worse ideas. Before I agree to it, we'll have to begin running simulations. I don't think I need to tell you how I feel about using any offensive system in this manor, but this could work."

"All I'm asking is that you give it a chance, we have more than enough time to run simulations, both via the computer, and in one of the holo-suite if necessary." David replied, he was about to continue when Scarlet spoke again:

"I also want to know what we'll be doing for redundancies. If we go into this with a single method of communication, we're going to lose it. If we go in with two, we're more likely to come back with two." Scarlet said firmly. He knew he would never win in an argument like this with an engineer, but he was damned if he was going to let one run roughshod over his department without a fight.

"OK, well, in my opinion, and like yourself, I'm no Engineer, but I do have a general grasp of how thing can and can't work ... I think we need to establish that we have 'one' before we begin looking at adding to the list. Tethering, while I hope it was a joke on your part, might have had a chance but only if we could ensure our fighters stuck to their assigned vectors, get two passing each other and however strong that tether could be, they will cut through without flinching." he sat there, not quite brooding, but admittedly annoyed that the two of them couldn't come to some form of consensus, "I don't suppose we have a telepathic Officer aboard do we ?" he said with a shrug, the sarcasm obvious.

"We have the initial solution, we can work from there." Scarlet replied begrudgingly. He put his padd down and crossed his arms. "Let's get the simulations running, find out where the deficiencies are, and then we go from there."

"We have time, so yes, let's work through a few necessities ... We'll need to assign each fighter an identification, I know they already have designations, but I mean something the computer can latch onto and direct the array, then we'll need simulations."

"Do you want me to start setting up the simulation protocols or is that something you'd rather do?" Scarlet asked as he stood up and gathered his PADD. "I'm still working on getting the armoury loaded up before we leave for this mission."

"I'll use the computer to set up the basics, then as Tactical Officer you might be better at the finer points. If we can maintain a steady phaser beam at less than three percent output, and keep it locked onto numerous fast moving targets, then we can piggyback a comm carrier wave along it. You get the armoury sorted then we'll meet back here. I'll use one of the terminals in here if that's OK."

Scarlet left and David sat at one of the terminals.

He thought it would be better to do this verbally rather than trying to input a myriad of equations and protocols that he simply wasn't qualified to. He was Operations Officer, and as such had a working knowledge of every Department, and he'd agreed to begin the process until Lieutenant Scarlet could look over what he'd done and make any fine-tuning changes that will need to be made. He started off requesting a dedicated server to handle the modifications, that way they could do as much as necessary without actually making any modifications to ships' systems.

"Computer .. Set up a program file .. Tan Scarlet Zero One and begin .. Access phaser schematics and communications schematics .. Speculate .. Could a phaser beam of magnitude three percent be split into numerous individual beams each locking onto a moving target ?"

"Incorporating one or more prisms could achieve desired effect but array would be compromised."

"Calculate delay should phaser array be required for purpose."

"Zero point zero eight six seconds to regain phaser use. the computer informed him.

"Could a communication signal be sent along phaser beam at three percent power ?"

"Direct line of sight would need to be maintained with target otherwise loss of signal will occur."

He worked for another hour then saved the file, informing the computer to allow access to Lieutenant junior grade Scarlet. Rubbing his eyes he stood and left the Tactical Information Center .... He knew that even with the Chief Tactical Officers' expertise, it was going to be difficult to accomplish ........


OFF :

Lieutenant David Tan
Chief Operations Officer
USS Merlin

Lieutenant JG David Scarlet
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Merlin