Posted by Vice Admiral CockRoach (GM) in Main Sim - Science Lab 1
[snip]

Paging through the scan logs over the next 15 minutes, at first most of the causes for scan interference was probably it seemed due in part to the depth they had reached, and/or the natural dilthium and other such deposits. But as 15 minutes turned into 25, she could see there was a recognizable and unnatural pattern at work, in this case any time an unnatural energy source came close to a deposit, or a higher focused scan from the ship or land scanners was focused, there was a noticeable uptick along all scanning bands in interference. She also noted that once the survey drill probes had gotten deeper and close to the bigger deposits and most especially near those which were close to the tunnels/caves that the natives were in or had been in it seemed at some point a different signal became obvious that would play havoc with power sources like the survey drill and rig causing them to quickly burn out.

There was also the low and high end bands of what seemed a comm signal of some sort that the bridged had logged as well. Again the source was not clear but seemed quite spread out around the planetary areas they were in, and seemed to run along similar wavelengths parreling those that the power drain used. The signal thankfully was not too confusing that if they wanted to block it they probably could, or least cause their own interference to it. Maybe the comm signal was used as a communication relay for the power/scan interference?

GM CockRoach

Once Naomi had put away the samples, she glanced over to Grace and spotted her examining the signals. Casually, she walked over and looked over the CSO’s shoulder.

“So, what did you find?” Her eyes flicked over the work and paused.

“Well, that’s odd. Is it me, or does it seems like someone is messing with the power sources of the gear?” She pointed to the different signal discovered.

-Lt. Naomi D. Locke, Sci

It did indeed seem that was the case, but while it was likely an artificial reason, and they could probably run interference on whatever was causing it underground and on the planet. What was causing it yet had to be identified. They as such had a few options. They could try matching and opening a hailing channel to the comm signals either the high or low end bands. Conversely they could try to invert the frequency to try to interrupt the signals. Or they could try to triangulate a possible source by using a probe or two putting out a matching wavelength.

There was also the matter that the planet if nothing else had dilithium even if lower grade then ideal, would be useful for Earth to stake a claim on the planet, though choices would have to be made on how to deal with the natives. And obviously figure out how to deal with a power draining signal source.

GM CockRoach

“Okay, so let’s try to see if we can locate the possible source first by using probes. I’m rather curious about the cause.” Naomi moved over to the console and began to initiate two probes. After downloading the wavelength into their systems, she sent them off.

-Lt. Naomi D. Locke, Sci