RP Log: Static Warp Bubbles
| Roleplay Log | |
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| Participants: | |
Location(s):
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Stardate:
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| 2022-10-29 19:26 | |
- Weapons Engineering Lab <USS Phoenix NCC-170100-A>
- The engineering labs aboard the vessel have similar design queues to one another, but each is configured for a slightly different purpose. This particular lab is for weapons design, both handheld and the ship-borne variety.
- There is both a 3D holographic display and older-style 2D drawing apparatus to aid in the design phase. A black, glossy panelling runs along the bulkheads at shoulder height near the entry door, allowing access to the LCARS interface, and tracers set into the bulkheads close to the ceiling indicate the current alert status.
Shulon is in the lab, alone at first. He is looking over some of the equipment available in the lab. His antennae curl towards the door as it opens.
Worthington enters the lab, looks around, and spots the andorian in the o-6 uniform. He walks over and offers a salute. "You wanted to see me captain?" he queries, looking around for the other asked for individual, but not spotting the joined trill from the science department.
"First a question, James." Chill says, still looking over the equipment, "Which of the Ursa Major and the Hadfield is more capable in a combat situation?"
Worthington doesn't even hesitate. "Ursa major, without question sir," he replies. "It was designed to be."
Nodding Chill says, "Starfleet may be looking for someone to pilot the Ursa, for a one-off mission. We're a little out of pocket to assist though."
Worthington nodds, thinking. "I've heard rather little news about anything going on, which doesn't surprise me much given our role and our mission, plus our location. Our last talk with commander Coil over viewscreen, I figured he was running relief supplies to the cardassians, as that's something he has done before and he tends to excel at those fly by night style of operations. I've yet to hear anything regarding the aftermath of what we did in Cardassian space, save for some crackdowns and things I heard from Lya Station."
Shulon asks, "What have you heard from Lya?"
Worthington responds. "Only that they received messages from planets in Cardassian space asking for relief, and then we all heard the military response, basically cracking down. This was weeks ago sir, so out of date as far as typical intel goes. I have no idea what the present conditions are, though I doubt they've improved much."
"I suspect they want some stealth recons. And there are only two cloakable ships in Starfleet, that I am aware of, and we have one." Chill says, "So we might get the call."
Worthington nodds. "We do have one sir. She remains untested at present. In terms of stealth, she'll have about the same power profile as Ursa Major, so both ships can be expected to perform similarly under stealth conditions. I'm personally interested in whether or not the vessel can utilize its slipstream drive while under cloak, and how that effects the cloak overall."
Shulon asks, "What tactical reason would there be to do both?"
Worthington considers. "If you were traversing a border region, needed to do so quickly, but didn't want to be seen from 5 to 7 light years away, that to me would be a solid reason sir. In fact, if you needed to traverse a region of space with hostile factions, being able to do it quickly and reduce overall visibility would be a plus."
Shulon's antennae curl over, "Fair enough. I was hoping Ryu would join us, but it would seem no." He asks, "I heard mention of a new grenade available as one of the weapon replicator items. Is that true?"
Worthington nodds. "Looks like we have a stun grenade available, yes sir," he replies.
"Oh a stun variety." Chill says, "That makes sense. Nothing incendiary then?"
Worthington shakes his head. "Not that I saw sir," he replies. "Just a stun grenade. I'd not imagine many circumstances outside of open warfare where a Starfleet security team would use an incendiary grenade."
Shulon smiles, "Security maybe not, but small devices did come in handy from time to time."
Worthington nodds. "They can indeed," he replies. "Ursa Major was outfitted with Cardassian replication patterns for their grenades for their undercover missions. Likely retains those patterns. Small devices definitely come in handy though."
"I heard those tended to blow up prematurely." Chill says with a grin, "But that could have been merely a way to downplay Cardassian engineering."
Worthington nodds. "I haven't heard that, but I have seen them in action," he replies. "Stun grenades at least."
Shulon asks, "What of yourself. You have a tactical background, ever done any weapons engineering?"
Worthington considers for a moment, then shakes his head. "I've never designed a weapon from the ground up sir, though I have considered what might be useful for some situations," he replies.
Shulon asks, "Such as?"
Worthington thinks for a moment. "Lower yield area of effect munitions, for when dealing with cloaked ships or when there's only a vague fix on a position, also timed. This was one of commander Anewan's ideas. I also considered the micro munitions that are Starfleet standard. Their yields are smaller of course, but they are also rather slow, and their range is not effective. For example, when equipped with standard type 2s or similar warheads, a ship like this one can often utilize distance in combat situations, staying out of range of an enemy's heavier weapons or most of their weapons, using torpedos to strike from a distance. This is good if the target is stationary or limited in mobility. Shorter range torpedos do not allow for this, meaning if Hadfield for example were ever in a fight, she'd have to get to close range in any situation to engage, and that vessel is best if it can be kept out of engagements and limited in contact with hostiles. Having a longer range torpedo would help that cause."
Shulon asks, "Didn't Jiemba want remote triggerable mines? That was the impression I got from the requests, but never fully understood it. As for the micro torps, that is simply a fuel issue, isn't it? You need a larger shell to go further."
Worthington considers, and shakes his head. "Yes, and no. It's also a speed issue. If you can run an engine at warp 2 or warp 2.5 versus warp 1.5, you'll get a greater distance covered from that munition. That then comes down to engine efficiency and how well the engine can handle fuel consumption. In fact sir, our type 2 quantums and type 2 micros run for about the same duration. The type 2s run at warp 2, the type 2 micros at warp 1.5. That is a differential in speed of over 7."
"So power then, or as you said, efficiency." Chill replies, his antennae quivering, "There is a considerable power jump from warp 1.5 to 2. Even for something so small."
Worthington nodds. "Indeed," he replies, thinking. "I wonder, would it be possible to encase a munition in a static warp bubble and propell it at a higher speed from initial launch? Then it could coast as it were until the bubble lost integrity, and engage its own engine. If something of the sort could be improvised, it could greatly increase the range of all of our munitions, not just the micros."
Shulon shakes his head, "That level of engineering is beyond me. But would the projectile still be able to change course, if it has no control of the warp bubble?"
Worthington considers and shakes his head. "Likely a sacrifice," he replies. "It probably wouldn't be able to easily, or if it did, that would likely hasten the decay of said bubble. I do believe it is possible. It has been done with ships actually sir, though I'm not sure if utilizing warp drive. It would be worth experimenting, to see if a static warp bubble could be created that maintains velocity and if its heading could be adjusted with maneuvering thrusters. In fact, if such a thing were possible, it would then be possible to create higher yield micro munitions if the propultion system were signifficantly reduced."
Ryu walks into the lab and looks around.
Shulon's antennae curl towards Ryu as she enters, "Ryu, we were just discussing static warp bubbles. Know anything about them?"
Ryu nods and says "I am acutely aware of them sir, A warp bubble, also known as a static warp bubble or static warp field, is a type of subspace deformation, a warp in the fabric of space."
Worthington listens. "Do you know if it is possible to create a warp bubble that maintains its speed for a time without need of a warp drive on the object you're sending through space?"
Shulon adds, "James here has a thought about a longer range micro torpedo, one that doesn't need to power itself."
Ryu shakes her head and says "Unfortunately creating a warp bubble is one thing, keeping the warp bubble stable is another, the bubble tends to collapse over time, they are very unstable at times, the only people who could possible control a static warp bubble are the people of Tau Alpha C, I remember an old enterprise log entry concerning a being referred to as 'The Traveller' who was able to Manipulate warp bubbles with his mind"
Worthington nodds. "If it collapses over time, that's fine. The only goal is to get a torpedo from one place to another quickly to enable it to traverse a greater distance than it otherwise would be able to, where it will simply explode when its done, so a collapsing warp bubble is not an issue there."
Ryu nods and says "Controlling the rate of Collapse is the thing though Commander, you could send the torpedo off in a warp bubble only for the warp bubble to collapse half way to you target"
Worthington nodds. "How long would you expect such a bubble to last if stable upon initial creation and launch?" he asks.
Ryu walks over to a console and starts inputting calculations and says "If stable at first I could possibly estimate a warp bubble would collapse within 16 to 24 hours of creation"
Worthington nodds, pleased with that response. "Considering it wouldn't need to last more than say, 2 to 3 minutes, do you think it would be possible to do something like this for a torpedo?" he asks.
Ryu ponders and says "Possibly but you would need the warp bubble to be really stable otherwise you'll like detonate the Torpedo on insertion into the bubble"
Worthington nodds. "Was thinking of forming the bubble around the torpedo, not inserting the torpedo into it, then propelling that bubble out of the ship at say warp 2, maybe higher if possible, and having the bubble basically coast in to a target."
Ryu nods and says "In theory its possible practically any procedure of using a warp bubble on a torpedo would possible detonate the torpedo hence the bubble would need to be stable"
Worthington nodds. "Yes it would," he replies. "Do you think it's possible to do such a thing?" he asks.
Ryu nods and says "In theory yes its possible, you'll need an Engineer who is up to the task considering it involves the warp engines"
Worthington nodds. "Well then. In that case, I think we should talk to Gordon. I'm really interested in this for the micros, because our auxiliaries, hadfield in particular, should be kept out of close range fighting and only engage when necessary. Having torps that could be used at longer range would be a great benefit, and also, if those torps don't require their own warp engines, the yields could be increased as well."
Ryu nods
Worthington smiles. "Excellent," he replies.