ST:MAC101 | "White Noise"

With the MacAlpines return from patrol, they are requesting assistance in identifying a signal they detected on patrol that they can't make heads or tails of....

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[9:04] Fiona@falconecoose | Luna nods to those assembled around the central console of the lab before she starts speaking "Thank you all for coming, we needed a fresh set of eyes on this. For those that need the latest >

[9:05] Fiona@falconecoose: > update I am pushing the readings to your PADDs and they are available on the central console here."

[9:05] Terrellia@Kureigu reads from their PADD.

[9:05] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp reads from their PADD.

[9:05] Rianni@crystyll reads from their PADD.

[9:06] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher reads from their PADD.

[9:06] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan folds his arms and watches the console.

[9:06] Fiona@falconecoose FX | The readings would show two sets of sensor readings, the two of them look similar but not at the same time, upon closer inspection of the signal it would show abnormally high levels of >

[9:07] Fiona@falconecoose > interference with the sensor readings. "The first log we have was taken during the battle with the Borg arcs and the newest one was taken two days ago while we were still on patrol. We have >

[9:08] Fiona@falconecoose: > ruled out system faults as we checked with the Endeavour who had the same sensor readings of the first one."

[9:08] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: Where were you when you got these?

[9:10] Fiona@falconecoose: "The newest ones we were out towards the Doza sector, a few light years away from the border with it."

[9:11] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "Did we confirm tha' all members of the Borg fleet were destroyed?"

[9:11] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "The Akagi made sure of that."

[9:12] Fiona@falconecoose nods to Nimitz "We did at the time aye."

[9:12] Rianni@crystyll: "Though with the heavy boarding tactics they used, a lingering presence is not out of the question" turns to not-Fiona, "I assume you have ruled this out already?"

[9:13] Terrellia@Kureigu: Sounds like this sector is certainly going to be more exciting than my last assignment...

[9:13] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "I'm afraid I'm still catching up on intelligence reports on this sector. Was this battle in the same region as your recent sensor readings?"

[9:13] Fiona@falconecoose nods again "Aye we have, from what we have been able to get from the signals despite the white noise flooding it out, they do not match known Borg signals."

[9:13] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "A month is a long time for a group of Borg drones to stay hidden..."

[9:14] Rianni@crystyll: "Agreed Sir" she nods across to Nimitz, "I was more considering the possibility of planted technology triggered by proximity. But as long as that's ruled out, nothing to worry about" she smiles

[9:14] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "This collective was usin' some advanced cloakin' technology, It wouldnae be tha' surprisin'

[9:15] Fiona@falconecoose: "The Borg attacked DS13 directly during the battle but we were light years away at the edge of the sector with these readings."

[9:15] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp nods. "I see."

[9:16] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "The Borg have had access to cloaking technology for quite some time... for some reason they've rarely seen fit to apply it widespread.."

[9:17] Fiona@falconecoose nods slightly "Aye they have not, which is a blessing for us to be fair."

[9:17] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "Aye, bu' this group wasnae even pickin' up on sensors until we did a deep tachyon sweep at a specific frequency.

[9:18] Fiona@falconecoose: "Which was one of the first things we did this time and still resulted in the same result with minor differences in the signal."

[9:18] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher nods "well tha's good at least"

[9:19] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "I take it the minor differences are still too large to be sensor artefacts?"

[9:19] Fiona@falconecoose: "Aye, the results before you have been cleaned up as much as we have been able to so far."

[9:19] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher begins comparing the two signals, isolating the differences

[9:23] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "So: two signals, identical despite several light-years and one month's separation. A tachyon sweep yielding minor differences in the second signal."

[9:23] Terrellia@Kureigu frowns and sets down the PADD "So, a temporal disturbance perhaps?"

[9:23] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "I'm not the smartest person in this room, but even I can tell that's not natural."

[9:24] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp looks again at the signal profiles.

[9:24] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "When you look at jus' the differences, i' almos' looks like a warp signature"

[9:25] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "I'll see if I can Isolate the white noise, and clear i' up a bit"

[9:25] Fiona@falconecoose looks over at Duncan with a raised eyebrow before she pulls up the readings on the console in front of her "Does it? Let's see..."

[9:26] Rianni@crystyll peers over curiously, "Can you isolate that signature? Captain Bishop told me when I was studying that battle, that they stole a ship from the starbase. Perhaps it's signature is a match that can +

[9:26] Rianni@crystyll: + refine the white noise cancellation if that's the case?"

[9:27] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "If i' is a warp signature, i's no' one I recognize, an' I dinnae think its from a federation ship, I's no' quite righ'"

[9:28] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "The Borg have been known to heavily modify any ship they capture, and with terrifying speed."

[9:28] Rianni@crystyll shrugs lightly, "Aah well, was worth a try! I don't even know what the ship was anyway. Just that we had it and they took it!" she chuckles

[9:29] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "I' looks like whatever made tha' signature was travellin' at near warp speeds,

[9:30] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp frowns. "Can you get a vector? Where was it going, and where was it coming from?"

[9:30] Fiona@falconecoose nods slightly "Do anything you can think of, we are out of ideas here."

[9:31] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Although... approximately fifteen light years in a month? Whatever it is, it isn't travelling very fast."

[9:31] Terrellia@Kureigu frowns and begins looking through records to find anything about missing ships in the area.

[9:31] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "I dunno yet, bu' I think we can confirm tha' this signal is the same signal as the one from the battle, jus' with the added distortion of near warp travel"

[9:32] Rianni@crystyll checks to see if she can find out anything about the previously taken ship

[9:33] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "The signal appears to be on a vector deeper intae the Doza sector, do we have any Starfleet bases ou' tha' way?

[9:33] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "DS13 is the only starbase in the region, aside from K-7 and Talos."

[9:35] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher nods "Well I would recommend tha' any ships on patrol near Doza be given a heads up tha' an assimilated vessel may be in the area"

[9:35] Terrellia@Kureigu sighs "I can't find any records of missing ships which match these signals..."

[9:35] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "Although Talos is in Doza.."

[9:36] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "What about other ships reporting sensor interference in the past month? Starfleet, Klingon, Civilian, whatever."

[9:37] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Anything that might have come close to this... thing's vector."

[9:37] Rianni@crystyll continues her checks against previous reports on the main console

[9:37] Fiona@falconecoose: "I can have Ops prepare a message to be sent out alerting ships in the area."

[9:38] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "It might be worth a check, especially if some of those ships dismissed the signal as sensor malfunctions."

[9:39] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "Why are they movin' so slow I wonder,"

[9:40] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "Too fast to be at near warp speed right?"

[9:40] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan glances to Duncan

[9:41] Rianni@crystyll: "So the stolen ship was an already Borg-modified reconstruction of an old Constitution! And seems the team investigating that ship before it got stolen found indicators of a latent signal too..."

[9:41] Fiona@falconecoose: "If the spikes look like it was moving at near warp speed when we scanned them, is it possible they can only move in bursts of high speed?"

[9:41] Terrellia@Kureigu tilts her head to one side at the mention of a malfunction: "Have you ruled out a sensor malfunction on the MacAlpine?"

[9:41] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "With relation to how far they travelled, Aye, they have to be able to hit at leas' warp 1 or 2

[9:41] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp checks the console for ship sensor reports in the sector.

[9:41] Rianni@crystyll mumbles to herself, running a cursory comparison between that signal and those under investigation here

[9:42] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "Hmm... perhaps we should try and intercept it."

[9:42] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "Bu' even tha's strange, I was on the team tha' examined tha' vessel, It should have been perfec'ly fine to go to warp 9"

[9:42] Fiona@falconecoose: "We have, we checked with the Endeavour the first time we detected it while going over logs from the battle and they had the same. They thought it was just noise thrown up from a torpedo hitting a pod."

[9:43] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Hm. We have a few reports of sensor interference. Not many on that particular vector."

[9:43] Terrellia@Kureigu: But there's no corroboration with the second scan?

[9:44] Fiona@falconecoose: "None bar the signals are almost identical and this was after we had run full sensor resets and tests following the damage we sustained."

[9:44] Terrellia@Kureigu nods

[9:44] Rianni@crystyll frowns at the console - but it is totally it's fault for the dead end, "The signal found on NCC-1895 originally does not match either of these..." sighs

[9:46] Fiona@falconecoose glances over at Derenzis "There is other reports of white noise not on this vector then? Where about?"

[9:47] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Three reports match the vector between DS13 and your recent detection. All civilian reports, too."

[9:47] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "There are others in the Kelterre sector, but not on that vector."

[9:48] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Hm. Computer: Plot sensor interference reports on indicated vector and display report times."

[9:49] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Maybe this might shed a light on how fast this thing was really travelling."

[9:50] Fiona@falconecoose FX | The computer would plot the reports of the signal and the date and time of when they were spotted. They would be at varying times at distances between them, some of the reports would have the>

[9:51] Fiona@falconecoose > signal travelling at low warp 1 while others would have at high impulse speeds going by the average speed and due to the distance between reports.

[9:52] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "Did the ship sustain any damage when it was seized?"

[9:52] Fiona@falconecoose: "The MacAlpine? We were only boarded never seized by the Borg."

[9:53] Rianni@crystyll tries to extrapolate possible courses from the displayed information and look for any intersecting systems or anomalies

[9:53] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "No the ship tha' was taken by the borg, the museum ship

[9:54] Fiona@falconecoose glances at the cadet as they were the one with the reports of the old Endeavour "Cadet, anything in the reports?"

[9:55] Rianni@crystyll shakes her head, "Nothing definitive. It was only defended by the Endeavour's auxiliary craft which was otherwise engaged in defensive action at the time, so sensor readings on the museum ship prior+

[9:56] Rianni@crystyll: + to it's departure are minimal. Though what little there is doesn't suggest any major damage at least from it's last surveyed condition"

[9:57] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher frowns "Then i' should be able to travel much faster than i' is, wha' benefi' is there to goin a' warp 1?

[9:57] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Agreed. At that speed, it should still be in this system, not in Doza sector."

[9:58] Fiona@falconecoose: "Are we sure it is the same ship? As there are multiple reports of the white noise in another sector as well. Plus the signals do not match."

[9:58] Rianni@crystyll: "That's assuming it is the museum ship we are detecting here. A lot of these reports make mention of something only referred to as 'the Project'? There is one vague visual which suggest it is +

[9:58] Rianni@crystyll: + spacefaring, though the same report states it was destroyed..."

[9:59] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "Aye, your righ' I' migh' be another ship altogether"

[10:00] Rianni@crystyll taps away, highlight a few star systems on the map display with the encounters, "I have extrapolated a number of systems that may fall within this objects route"

[10:00] Rianni@crystyll: "Probably not helpful unless you go hunting..." she shrugs

[10:01] Terrellia@Kureigu: Which sounds like it might not be a bad idea...

[10:02] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "I just had a thought. We've been assuming this ship has been travelling at the best speed it could all along. What if it's not?"

[10:02] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher looks at the signal again, looking for a pattern, or a way to figure out what it means or why it's being broadcast

[10:03] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "Aye tha's wha' I've been sayin' if it is the borg, and the evidence is pointin' tha' way, there's no way tha's their top speed"

[10:04] Rianni@crystyll: "Variable speed is likely, particularly if it is following a more baseline course at a cruise, then adjusting in reaction to other presence's. Like maybe to closely scan the ship's that detected it"

[10:04] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Or to hide from the ship detecting it."

[10:05] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "True, bu' the locations tha' i's been detected would suggest it

[10:05] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Present less of a threat. A warp 9 signal would probably sound alarm bells all over the sector. But a warp 1 signal?"

[10:05] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: i's keepin; a relatively low average speed as well"

[10:05] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Who'd pay attention to that?"

[10:05] Fiona@falconecoose nods slightly "That is probably the most likely as well if they are unable to maintain the high speed..."

[10:08] Fiona@falconecoose: "Also, are we sure that it is a borg ship? If so then we have a bigger problem than unknown signals."

[10:08] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "If it was Borg, they would have fixed the ship weeks ago."

[10:08] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "Well it's producing the same signal, I don' know wha' else i' could be"

[10:09] Rianni@crystyll: "Is it though, Sir? All we know is that the first instance of the signal was detected during the battle. No clarity on the source even there..."

[10:09] Rianni@crystyll looks to not-Fi again, "For all we know, it may not even be a ship"

[10:10] Fiona@falconecoose nods slightly "Aye that is a possibility as well, far to many unknowns about this."

[10:10] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan looks to Rianni "You think it could be a space whale?"

[10:10] Terrellia@Kureigu receives a hail through her combadge: "<C> Harmony to Captain Natashin, you're receiving a priority message"

[10:11] Terrellia@Kureigu frowns and taps her badge "Understood, Harmony, I'm on my way"

[10:11] Terrellia@Kureigu smiles apologetically "Excuse me."

[10:11] Rianni@crystyll shrugs looking across to Al, "I'm not aware of any species who emit any such signal. All I know is; we actually know very little and have no reason to discount any source at the moment"

[10:11] Fiona@falconecoose nods slightly "Not a problem Captain, thanks for your help."

[10:11] Rianni@crystyll: "I can check the library though to see if there are any recorded cases!" taps away eagerly. Because studying is something she /is/ good at

[10:12] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "I think we should route a ship tae try to get a visual on wha'evers producin' the signal, sir"

[10:15] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Are there any other ships in that region of space we can contact?"

[10:15] Rianni@crystyll glances up briefly, quietly hoping there isn't so this turns into an extended hunting mission

[10:16] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp leans on the console, looking over the display. "Also, and this might be a long shot, but has anyone thought of running this signal through the UT?"

[10:16] Fiona@falconecoose shakes her head slightly "Last time I checked there wasn't any Federation ship in that area at the moment, the MacAlpine was doing the long-range patrols in that area."

[10:17] Rianni@crystyll hrms, "Ok, the library files do indicate some Cosmozoan lifeforms known to interfere with systems and emit signals. Though all instances are accurately recorded and too far removed from what we have +

[10:17] Rianni@crystyll: + here to be considered"

[10:19] Fiona@falconecoose: "And we have not tried running it through the UT."

[10:22] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp looks to not-Fiona, mindful she's a guest on this ship. "Do you mind if I give it a try?"

[10:22] Fiona@falconecoose shakes her head "Go right ahead, you are the ones with the ideas here."

[10:23] Rianni@crystyll watches, curious of the results

[10:23] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Thanks. Computer. Analyze the indicated signal through the Universal Translator. Show Output along with a Zipf Plot and Shannon Entropy readings."

[10:28] Fiona@falconecoose FX | The computer would run the signals through the UT and present the completed results of 51 on the Zipf thingy, and entropy of 11

[10:28] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp blinks at the results. "Huh."

[10:29] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan looks to the others "What exactly are we looking at?"

[10:29] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher shrugs

[10:29] Fiona@falconecoose raises her eyebrow slightly "Aye, what are we looking like here?"

[10:29] Rianni@crystyll is glad someone else asked that

[10:30] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Something puzzling. If the Zipf Plot had shown a 45-degree slope, it would at least prove this was an actual information-bearing signal: a message."

[10:30] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: I's no' tha' far off

[10:31] Rianni@crystyll reads from their PADD.

[10:31] Rianni@crystyll takes notes

[10:31] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "So perhaps distortion. But the Shannon Entropy is... Captain, this signal is more complex than any language on record."

[10:32] Fiona@falconecoose raises her eyebrow slightly "So it doesn't look like a message but it is also highly complex."

[10:33] Rianni@crystyll: "What about AI communication, does that reflect the same as biological lifeforms language on this scale?"

[10:34] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "It could. Depends on the intelligence of an AI... or the biological, for that matter."

[10:35] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "All I can say is: language complexity is usually a sign of the level of intelligence. If we do go hunting after this thing, I recommend extreme caution; even if it's not the Borg."

[10:36] Rianni@crystyll: "Or perhaps... multiple intelligences overlapping. This could be indicative of something like the Borg hive mind, only a different signal between these different Borg"

[10:36] Rianni@crystyll: *?

[10:39] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "That could account for the distortion. A group consciousness not quite in sync."

[10:39] Rianni@crystyll: "That would bring us back to these unique Borg as the most likely origin of the signal then..." she hrms, going back over her notes

[10:41] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher tries to correlate different strengths of the signal with a numeric sequence, see if a binary or ternary pattern emerges

[10:42] Fiona@falconecoose: "Hmm...unless we have any other ideas I think that might be all we can work with without more info."

[10:44] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp shakes her head. "I've got nothing more."

[10:44] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "There appears tae be a binary componen' to this transmission, which would suppor' the idea tha' i's inorganic in nature

[10:45] Rianni@crystyll: "Maybe we can use these findings to adjust a ship's comm relay to effectively filter the signal so that a further encounter could be more effectively interpreted by the computer?"

[10:46] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher tries to translate the binary component

[10:46] Rianni@crystyll totally isn't fishing for a field trip still

[10:47] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "I tend to agree with the Cadet, If nothin' else we need to ge' eyes on this thin

[10:47] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: “An' keep em there."

[10:47] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan looks around "The Pegasus can intercept it, and has the firepower in case it turns out to be Borg."

[10:48] Rianni@crystyll nods, "We will only ever get so much from historical data. Ultimately, tracking the source live would be almost inevitable in order to resolve it I think"

[10:48] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "I can' get any useful information wi' jus' the binary"

[10:50] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "I concur. The Shackleton is fitted with a sensor pod, but we've still some teething problems, especially with our phasers and warp drive."

[10:50] Fiona@falconecoose nods slightly "Aye I will have my teams update our computer and I was planning to take the MacAlpine back out to see if I can intercept it."

[10:50] Fiona@falconecoose: "But the more ships, the wider the sensor net."

[10:51] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "We can lend the 127th as well, 24 fighters should also expand our range enough."

[10:53] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp nods. "I'll talk to my chief engineer, see if we can stomp out as many bugs before we go on this jaunt."

[10:54] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp looks to Nimitz. "Though we could use a couple of spare engineering teams to get the work done faster."

[10:54] Rianni@crystyll: "I might be able to help with your weapons calibration, Captain. If you like of course"

[10:55] Fiona@falconecoose nods slightly "It sounds like a plan then, I will have the latest info passed out to my department heads and prepare for departure. Any additional teams you need let me know as well."

[10:55] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: I can help if ye need, though I need to stay on top of my R&D duties"

[10:56] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "I can see what I can shake loose."

[10:56] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp looks to the Cadet and the Lieutenant. "Any hands will help. Ah... I'm afraid we haven't been introduced?..."

[10:57] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp nods to Nimitz. "I'd be grateful for anyone you can spare."

[10:57] Rianni@crystyll: "Cadet Rianni Tierno. I'll be happy to help, Captain!" she chirps

[10:57] Duncan McLean@carebearcrusher: "Lieutenant Duncan McLean, sir, I'm assigned to Research and Development on Deep Space 13

[10:58] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan: "Just don't be surprised when twenty Andorians come knocking on your door."

[10:58] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp: "Glad to meet you both. Alyx Derenzis, Captain of the Shackleton."

[10:59] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp turns to Nimitz. "I think they'll get along with my chief tactical officer just fine."

[11:00] Derenzis@andrewbcrisp looks to not-Fiona. "Okay, count my ship in."

[11:00] Alistair Nimitz@natthaan smirks "I have plenty more on the Pegasus, she has a 95% Andorian crew and population."

[11:03] Fiona@falconecoose nods to them all "If that is agreed then, I will get my people to work on updating the sensor systems and best of speed with your repairs then Captain."