RP Log: Less Armor More Shields
| Roleplay Log | |
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| Participants: | |
Location(s):
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Stardate:
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| 2024-08-01 02:34 | |
- Conference Room <Antares Ship Yards>
- This slightly curving room is used primarily by the station commander and the department heads to stage meetings. The central feature is a large, glossy black table that curves along with the perimeter of the room. Set in the center of the room, this eight-seater table contains advanced holographic technology as well as a small control panel at each seat. The head of the table is indicated by a larger panel, a small personal monitor built into the desk and the high backed chair positioned behind it. A large LCARS panel and viewscreen is built into the far bulkhead.
- Artifical lighting comes from a recessed line along the perimeter of the room, but there is also a large viewport that stretches along one side of the room opposite the entry door that can let in natural light when available.
LePage and Ki'Vek are making themselves at home in the conference room as the others begin entering, as they've only just arrived themselves. LePage taps at his PADD to synchronize it with the displays in the room, preparing it for use. Instead of taking the head of the table, as many CO's would do, Ki'Vek coils herself up in the corner of the room near one end of the table and waits as the others file in.
Worthington enters and moves to the table, taking a seat near to LePage.
Anewan also enters just after Worthington he takes a seat around the middle of the table, "Gordon, Ki'Vek, nice to see you guys again."
LePage nods. "Likewise" he replies.
Crass follows Captain Anewan in, unsure if she should be here. She takes a seat out of the way.
Worthington nods back. "I wish the circumstances were better though," he says. "I feel like we are about to be stripped naked out there."
Ki'Vek takes a look around at all of the faces, then nods to herself. "Thank you all for coming," she begins. "As I believe we have all worked together in the past, we need not make introductions." She settles in her coils, but straightens a little as if to be somewhat more formal. "Orders they have come through to remove the armor systems from USS Kestrel. This meeting it is to discuss precisely what that will entail and to begin making plans to carry out those orders." The Selay looks to Anewan and Worthington. "We will also discuss options for augmenting Kestrel's systems to ameliorate the loss in defensive capabilities."
Anewan nods and says, "I will the answer to the question of how to increase our defenses to the Commander here," he gestures to Worthington. "I guess we would have to put in to drydock. We also have a shuttle with an armor system that needs to be removed."
LePage nods. "It will require some extensive work. As you all know, Commander Worthington certainly, an armor subsystem is integral to any ship we've made in recent years. It's not simply an additional module anymore"
Worthington nods to LePage. "Indeed," he says. "Aside from the Pathfinder and Equinox classes, you'd be hard pressed to find a new ship, at least that I'm aware of, that doesn't have an armor system aboard. Tactically speaking, they are superior in most situations. Combine it with a solid shielding system as backup, and it makes for a pretty defensible ship."
"The infection is in the nanotechnology, it will not be easy to stop." Crass grunts, "I would also argue, removal of all the nanites will require a significant effort."
Ki'Vek nods to Crass. "Quite so, Lieutenant," she agrees. "A significant effort indeed. Yet those they are our orders due to the needs of the mission." She then turns her attention to Anewan. "When the time comes we will have to move Kestrel to one of our drydocks. We will, with your permission, accomplish that with our tractor beams."
Anewan nods clearly not happy, "That's fine," he looks at the two engineers. "I am guessin that you haven't done this sort of removal before and that we won't have this nanite problem solved before we leave?"
"It would be correct to say that a proceedure of stripping out a ship's armor subsystem has not yet be performed" LePage nods. "It's yet to come up"
"I've not come up with a solution to the virus." Crass grunts, "I need to speak with Doctor Sawyer on it as well. It will take time."
Worthington nods. "Ensign M'ir in life sciences, I'd advise consulting with her while we're here. If we get this crap figured out, we'll want our armor back. Kestrel is already a poor platform offensively, and without her chief defensive system, our mission is just that much more dangerous."
"The time it is likely to take in order to solve the armor issue it is more than you have, unfortunately," Ki'Vek says. "This it is why removing the system entirely it has been suggested. Or rather, ordered. It seems Starfleet Command she is unwilling to put your mission on hold while a cure it is found."
Anewan nods, "Well, James," he turns. "Is there anything you think Antares can do to increase our defensive options?"
Crass grunts, "It might be possible to halt all electrical activity in the nanotechnology. But it is untested what affect that would have on the virus. But, I would argue it could make removal of the nanotechnology easier."
LePage nods. "I would say so. My plan of action looking at this is to... well remove the nanites and then lock-out tag-out the supporting systems. Removing the entire sub-system would take too long for what y'all are looking for"
Ki'Vek nods to Crass. "An excellent suggestion, Lieutenant."
Worthington nods. "Certainly, though what I think they can do and their actual capabilities may be two different things entirely," he says, tapping a padd of his own. An image of the Kestrel appears, tactical systems highlighted, phasers in orange, torpedo tubes in red. As he taps on the display, different bezels indicating arcs of fire for torpedo tubes flash to denote their position. "Here," he says, "is the Kestrel. Raptor-class destroyer. Note the arcs of fire on the torpedo tubes, 4 fore, 3 aft, 2 starboard, and 2 port mounted launchers. The chief tactical design flaw of this class of ship isn't the number of launchers present, but the poor to non-existent overlapping fields of fire." He rotates the image, insuring that everyone present gets a good view of each section as he discusses it. "The fore launchers are what we have come to expect of Federation designs over the years. They cover port and starboard firing arcs, increasing their versatilitiy. That's all fine and good, and it's an example of the kind of launchers we see on virtually every other ship docked to or abeam of this station, but especially, the Hornet, the Shillo, and the Coffey. This enables all or nearly all launchers to be used at once. Obviously, that just isn't feasible here." He taps at his display again. Now, text outlining the port, starboard, and aft launchers changes. "However, it may be more reasonable to expand the firing arcs of the aft, port, and starboard launchers, granting them some overlapping fields of fire. This would mean, that instead of fore tubes that could fire forward, we'd have 8. Instead of 3 firing aft, we'd have 7. Instead of 6 firing port or starboard, we'd have 9. That would increase our fore arc torpedo effectiveness by a factor of 2, port and starboard by a factor of 1.5, and aft, by a little more than 2. We would have the salvo effectiveness of a Sutherland class heavy cruiser, and our chances of taking out a dominion battleship's weapons in one shot, which we'd need to do to survive and end an engagement quickly, go up dramatically with this configuration. It doesn't properly fix the design logic of the craft, but it does mitigate those tactical design flaws. I just don't know if this is a possible alteration or not." He taps at his padd again, and the projection vanishes.
Crass grunts at Worthington, "You are arguing for offensive weapon changes. I understood the request was for defensive options."
Anewan blinks at Worth then turns to LePage, "To be honest Commander, we don't want to do this. The main issue is that if we take these nanites into the Gamma Quadrant and infect someone out there.." he lets that last part go. "So, unless we are absolutely certain that we can not transmit it. It has to go. Whichever can be done the quickest."
Ki'Vek watches the screen during the demonstration. "In order for that to be accomplished," she says. "The physical locations of some of the tubes they would have to be altered. For instance, the lateral tubes set further back on the hull they can't be trained further forward due to the fact that the outer edges of the saucer it is in the way."
LePage blinks and then glances at Crass. His lip turns up for a moment before returning to a more neutral expression. "I understand that Captain" he addresses Anewan. "I'm happy to execute whatever is feasable and within the perview of Starfleet, and it seems like unfortunately this is it for the moment" LePage sighs. "But those offensive modifications, that's going to need additional crews" LePage turns to Ki'Vek. "We'll need to halt some other projects and reallocate their crews"
Worthington shakes his head at Crass. "As we are losing our chief defensive asset, our two remaining strategies are evasion, which we are already attempting, but if it is not possible to evade a confrontation, then we would need overwhelming force to end it quickly, or to at least extricate ourselves from it," he says, turning to Ki'Vek. "I can understand that with the lateral tubes. What about the aft mounted ones? Is there any way of expanding those firing arcs to cover port and starboard? It wouldn't be as good of a solution as enhancing all coverage arcs, but I will settle for that if we can get it. Those extra 3 torpedoes could make all the difference in an engagement, especially one against a powerful ship, which is likely to be short, whoever comes out on top." He pauses. "To be honest, I never liked the Raptor's design from a tactical standpoint. Just going by the numbers it looks pretty tough, but in terms of actual potential, it is unfortunately not designed in a way to make use of said potential."
Crass grunts again at Worthington, "Sir. I would argue in a combat situation requiring to have your nose pointed at your target is not always ideal. A capable gunner could make use of multiple arcs in a battle situation. You could for example, fire while turning or repositioning."
Ki'Vek tips her leathery head forward toward LePage. "We will indeed," she says. "Kestrel she has priority at the moment, at least equal to that of the armor virus problem in general." To Worthington she adds, "If we can arrange it so that your nacelles they don't get in the way, then perhaps the aft tubes they could be adjusted. Your nacelles they ride rather high, so the likelihood there is better." She pauses and eyes LePage and Crass for a moment before returning her attention to the Kestrels. "As for... other defensive capabilities, we may have another option for you." She seems somewhat hesitant.
Anewan nods at LePage then looks back at Worthington -then- to Ki'Vek. "The reason we have this ship is precisely because it is non threatening -however- getting another torpedo facing doesn't seem like that would spoil the deal. If you can do it or perhaps draw up a schematic for it for when we return. We however will not return to drydock until this armor thing is figured out," he pauses. "Another option Captain?"
LePage looks to Ki'Vek and raises an eyebrow, but keeps quiet to let her take the lead.
Crass also listens. Confident she won her argument.
Worthington smiles to Crass. "Exactly," he says. "The arc of fire is not nearly as important as what you can fire. Realistically, by the time we fired on the port side, turned, fired our aft launchers, turned again, then fired the last two on the starboard, those first 6 we fired would have reloaded. This effectively reduces our overall efficiency by 2 tubes. Then, you factor in an enemy chance to rotate and disperse the fragmented fire on multiple shield arc, and you get what is arguably a worst case scenarior for us without armor, a prolonged conflict," he pauses. "If we were fired upon, depending on the ship, it could come down to who shoots first and with what, as that could decide a conflict right then and there. From that perspective, the more weapons you can bring to bear, the better your survivability. That is ultimately, what I am arguing for." He turns back to Ki'Vek and nods. "Thank you. I guess, the other thing to potentially consider, if firing the port and starboard tubes forward is a problem, what about aft? If it came to a tactical choice though, and I could have only one of those, I would like the 3 aft tubes to have more utility than just covering the rear quarter."
Ki'Vek shifts in her coils as she considers. She lets out a long, hissing sigh and then says, "We have been working on a new shielding system. We've been calling it the secondary shield project, which makes it sound more like a backup system. That, however, it would be an incorrect assumption." She links her remote device to display a diagram on the viewscreen. It shows the general outline of a starship which, after a moment, is surrounded by a hazy yellow color. "This you will recognize as a standard active shield diagram," she explains. She sweeps her gaze around the room at the other officers, nods, then taps in another command. The diagram on the screen develops an orange haze surrounding the yellow haze that is already surrounding the ship. "The secondary shield system it projects an additional layer of shielding around the primary shields. This secondary layer it operates at a different frequency, creating a harmonic shell around the vessel which is far, far more difficult to breach than conventional shield deployment."
"It's the answer to every Engineering Cadet's first stupid question. Why not another shield?" LePage chuckles. "Our simulations have shown it to be highly effective. The techincal trials have been promising so far"
Worthington smiles at LePage, then nods to Ki'Vek. "What sort of effectiveness are we talking about here?" he asks. "I would be interested to see tactical simulations or data you may have."
Anewan stares at the diagram with his mouth open and says, "How....how did I not know about this? How long will it take?"
"I have not read the specifications, but I would surmise the defensive capabilities would be double normal shielding, if not more?" Crass grunts.
Ki'Vek waves one leathery hand. "It is still experimental, somewhat still in the development stage. It took months of laboratory models just to make it work at the tabletop scale. We've installed a full size working version aboard Azetbur, our research vessel, and those tests they have so far been successful. It is important to note that no live fire tests have been carried out at all. The amount of protection the new shielding system it would provide is unknown. We have only theories."
"As far as an install time, it's an extremely custom system at the moment" LePage says. "Meaning that it's an adaptation. But being an adaptation, it's something that's not going to go as deep as the armor sub-system is now. It's actually in a bit more of an agile state now than a final production model if you're willing to trade off some troubleshooting along the way. We've got a lot of big hurdles out of the way but we'd just have to see when it comes to your ship"
Worthington nods, considering. "Not that I necessarily want to be shot at, but is there any way we could live fire test this system out before heading to the gamma quadrant with it? To insure it holds up, or find any buggs in it before they become mission critical?" he asks.
Anewan nods, "Yes We can. We can test it on the way," he turns to the engineers. "It runs on a shield system? Power draw about the same?"
Ki'Vek turns to Crass. "Would you like to venture a guess at the answer to that question, Lieutenant?"
Crass says, "Two systems, I would argue it would be twice the power requirement."
Worthington nods. "That makes sense," he says. "I would argue, the only true way to test a system is to well, stress test it. Great if it powers on correctly, but it needs to have some stress put on it to see if it will hold up or fail under pressure."
LePage nods. "Especially considering that part of the method by which this is accomplished is by sending a carrier harmonic over the primary shield to support supply to the secondary shield. We'll have to see if that holds water" LePage sighs. "Not that we're eager to make y'all a test case, but things do seem to line up a little here"
Crass asks, "Would it be quicker to move the test system from Azetbur to Kestrel?"
Anewan nods, "Then we will be the stress test."
Ki'Vek nods to Crass. "Very nearly," she replies. To the others she says, "Consider, if you will, the energy required to power twice the shields you have now, as well as propulsion, weapons, etc. Your warp reactor she will require some upgrades as well."
Worthington nods. "Just powering twice the shields and nothing else would about do it for our reactor's safe operational limit," he says. "Not to mention our slipstream drive, which is power intensive. I hope you have an extra warp core from a lexington class lying around somewhere," he says with a smile.
"For the purposes of testing, we could take Azetbur and Hornet to the weapons testing range and run the tests," Ki'Vek suggests. "I can leave teams here to begin the removal of Kestrel's armor while we do that."
Anewan taps something on the padd in front of him, "Then the plan is to get a reactor upgrade. The experimental shield system and gut the armor system on the Kestrel. And pull the armor system out of the Irrawaddy. I am fine with you taking the Azetbur out for testing first."
Worthington nods to Ki'Vek. "I for one, would like to see what this new system is capable of," he says.
Ki'Vek tips her head thoughtfully to one side. "Instead of removing your shuttle's armor, it may be quicker and easier to simply provide you with a new, armorless, shuttle temporarily."
LePage nods. "Could work"
Anewan nods, "That would be great," he turns to Worthington, "You want to go with the Azetbur?"
Worthington nods to Anewan. "I would, if the captain will have me," he says. "I'd like to get a good look at this new tech in person if possible." He turns to the afore mentioned selay. "Do you have a spare type 28 lying around anywhere? That would effectively give us the same range of motion, without the armor issue."
Ki'Vek nods to Worthington. "You are most welcome aboard Azetbur, Commander," she says. Then to Anewan, "Captain, if you would be so kind as to take command, as a guest, of Hornet for the test, I would be quite grateful. Any of your crew, in fact, they are welcome to join us aboard either vessel."
"So to be clear, they'd be taking Azetbur while we work on their vessel here?" LePage summarizes
Crass rises, "If you will excuse me. I will continue my efforts on the armor virus."
Ki'Vek nods to Crass. "Thank you for attending, Lieutenant."
Anewan nods, "Of course. I'll bring along tactical for sure."
Worthington nods. "Thank you captain," he says. "I look forward to seeing this new shielding in action."
Ki'Vek clarifies, "We will take Azetbur and Hornet both. Hornet to fire on Azetbur for the tests. During that time, Kestrel she will remain here while engineering teams begin removing the armor systems."
Anewan nods, "Sounds Great. Thank You for getting this done quickly."
Worthington bows. "Thank you indeed. If this works out captain, you could very well save our lives out there. I'd owe you mine if that new shielding lives up to the promise. The whole crew will."
LePage leans back in his seat with a sigh. "This will prove to be interesting"
"It will still take some time," Ki'Vek says. "The reactor upgrades, the armor removal, the research into your firing arcs, these they will all take time. And that it doesn't even take into consideration the installation and testing of the secondary shield system, should it be feasible."
Anewan takes a deep breath and says, "The firing arcs," he glances at Worth, "That can wait until we get back." Then to the engineers, "And if the reactor upgrades and the shields can not be installed by the time the armor system is removed. We will have to come back for them as well."
Worthington looks to anewan. "In that scenario sir, we would be almost naked out there. We need absolutely every single advantage we can get." He shakes his head. "I'd settle for a cloaking device right about now. Treaty of Algeron." He sighs.
"Captain," says the snake. "Commander Worthington he is correct. Additionally, I can tell you for certain that the new shield system, if we install it at all, it can't be done by the time the armor system it is removed. I find it very likely that the secondary shield generator it would have to be installed in the space that the armor generator it is currently occupying."
"It's gonna take time. We're willing to reallocate crews to try and parellelize as much as we can" LePage says
Anewan nods slowly, "I understand. We will just have to avoid contact."
Worthington considers, looking to Anewan. "Sir, are you prepared to turn tale and run at the first sign of something bigger than the Irrawaddy coming at us?" he asks. "To be honest sir, the only way to truly avoid contact is to never put yourself in a situation where contact is likely. Our mission sir, is definitionally to put ourselves in a situation where contact is likely. All it takes is one vorta deciding to teach us a lesson at the wrong moment, or these burrowers deciding to show us why the Dominion fears them once, and that's it. Avoiding contact is nice sir, but it is not enough. If we aren't prepared for contact, that is a surefire way for us to get killed out there. I am serious when I say a cloaking device would really be nice right now. That at least, could give us an out if we noticed a ship arming weapons."
Ki'Vek holds up a hand. "That decision it is yours to make, of course, Captain," she says to Anewan. "There may yet be time for you to change your mind, should you choose to do so. In the mean time, if you will determine which members of your crew you wish to assign to either Azetbur or Hornet for the shield testing, I will do the same with my crew. Then we will set a time for departure."
LePage looks a little perplexed but sits quietly.
Anewan nods and looks at James, "Not now Commander," then to the engineers. "Thank You."
Worthington nods to Ki'Vek then LePage in order. "Thank you both," he says.
Ki'Vek uncoils and rises to her usual height. She offers a bow to her guests. "Thank you for your time, Sirs," she replies.
LePage stands and nods quietly.
Anewan stands as well considering his options and heads back towards the Turbolift.
Worthington follows anewan closely.
LePage falls back into his chair as soon as the door closes.
Ki'Vek eyes LePage after the others leave.
"I'm... I'm not mad. I'm just disapointed?" He voices, looking up at Ki'Vek. "Seems fool hardy. What are they doing that they've got to get out there right the hell now?"
Ki'Vek shrugs her narrow shoulders. "I've not been informed of the details of their mission. Only that the quicker we can do whatever we have to do to their ship, the better."
LePage shakes his head. "I don't know. Just feels off, doesn't it?"
"It is a... different decision than I would have made," the snake says carefully. "I can only assume that his reasons, unknown though they are to me, they provide an understandable explanation."
LePage looks like he wants to say something but thinks better of it, a rare occurance when he does speak.
"You have more on your mind," Ki'Vek notes. "Come see me later when you have time and tell me. For now though... I'd like to have you aboard Azetbur during the shield tests. Objections?"
LePage chuckles. "Putting me on the ship getting shot at? Just basic survival instinct" He chuckles. "No, no objections. And... I'd like to take you up on that. Over a meal when we both have time? I can make some Spiced Apple Cider" he offers
"Also, no objections," Ki'Vek says. She begins moving toward the door. "I have to organize the salvage teams. I'll see you later."
"Happy trails" LePage says, slumping into his chair with a sigh. He looks like he'll take a nap before moving