Posted by Lieutenant Naomi Locke (Science Officer) in Main Sim - Science Lab 1

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

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

“Hmmm, that is strange,” Heather said paging back up the report and running her finger over logs as the probe intersected with the known tunnels and caves.

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

“Agreed. Perhaps if we can find out where the source is we can get a better idea of why it exists. The level of technology that we saw in the caves does not support this kind of low level field, so I wouldn’t expect it to be from the native population.

“Are the Sojourner’s sensors able to pick up the signal?”

Cmdr. Grace - XO/CSO

“That was my line of thought. I’m not a fan of being in the dark.” Naomi commented as she finished up her first task, then turned back to her superior officer.

“I know the land scanners did, but I can try the ship’s next. Worse that happens, we’ll be wasting time and I think we got lots of that.” She then tapped in to the ship’s sensors and began to scan the planet for the same signals.

-Lt. Naomi D. Locke, Sci

Tapping into the ship sensors they did indeed pick up the signals, though with a little more focused detail then the probes had. They information they gained was mostly as it had been before. But one thing that stood out was they picked up a much lower band signal overlaid to the larger one. This one was far more easy to figure out though it showed high amounts of adjustments and tinkering. It was a high band comm traffic line used by most United Earth Cargo vessels! It seems this second signal was overlaid to match the harmonics of the alien signal it was adjusted in such a way as that likely it was controlling it in a fashion perhaps altering the alien comm signal in such a way to cause the interference and power losses they were finding. This second overlaid signal would be childs play if they so wished to use the Sojourner’s own comm systems to run interference, thereby allowing them to fully analyze the alien signal hopefully for its unknown intended purpose.

GM CockRoach

“Most the information is nothing new,” Naomi stated as her eyes narrowed on the console’s screen.

“Hey, this is different. Just picked up this lower band signal that’s overlaid to the larger one. It’s got a high amount of adjustments and tinkering.” Her lips pursed more, her gaze scrutinizing it farther.

“Uh, looks like a band width similar to what the the United Earth Cargo vessels use. This might be what is controlling it and causing the problems.” After a moment of typing, Naomi’s head lowered and her hand curled under her chin.

“You know, it would be child’s play if we used the Sojourner’s comm system to run interference. We could fully analyze the signal and figure out its purpose. Maybe.” Her head turned to her superior, taking note of any feedback on her idea.

-Lt. Naomi D. Locke, Sci

Heather blinked. “What is that signal doing there? Go ahead and negate the UEC signal. I’m going to see if I can pinpoint where it is originating from.”

Turning back to her own console Heather tried to pinpoint where the UEC signal was coming from. Maybe it would also give them some clues as to what was going on.

Cmdr. Grace - XO/CSO