It depends... it feels rushed too, like the author just wanted to get it out of the way. But maybe it's just me. *shrugs*
The Voyage Without
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
It depends... it feels rushed too, like the author just wanted to get it out of the way. But maybe it's just me. *shrugs*
- Location
- Pale Blue Dot
Mind you, this whole situation also reeks of 'someone assisting Seska'. Too many moving parts and too many things to coordinate for someone to do this discreetely from the brig. Which makes me wonder if whoever it is is still on board... or not. Would be kind of insane to not even try to look for it, at least.
Also, bombs have been, on occasion, known to defeat physical barriers.
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
This smells to me of Seska having some sort of sensor-masked drone or drones... Maybe she stole Zephyr's tech for those?
Other possibility, someone (I'm guessing not Q) had an agenda that required Seska to be 'free range'. Third possibility, I'm wondering if there's something in the Kazon computers that no one's spotted, yet... Maybe a residue of their previous 'owners'...
- Location
- Pale Blue Dot
Yes. But only if placed specifically to do so. Having that 'barrier erected after Seska was put into the cell' blown up would be a red flag to put it mildly. Bomb on power generation or power conduits to cells put in beforehand? Sure. Bomb on 'not yet erected physical barrier' put in beforehand? No.
ScreamyBirb
Here is Screaming
Pride comes before the fall, she's played his ego by leaving signs of incompetence to make his expectations too low to look closely enough for the real work. An apparantly incompetent cardassian spy should throw up ALL the red flags. For them it's either be very damn good at the job, or dead (usually with a little 'help' from a fellow agent).
A red flag of what, exactly? In the absence of a specified scope I would consider having bombs planted in your brig infrastructure to be a "red flag".
- Location
- Australia
Physical barriers like bars stop a fellow conspirator with a phaser for only as long as it takes to point and shoot.
Would have worked perfectly as a solo, but with two it mostly just forces them to come in person to allow the escape. I absolutely concede that's still valuable though.
Would have worked perfectly as a solo, but with two it mostly just forces them to come in person to allow the escape. I absolutely concede that's still valuable though.
Yeah as it is, we can't say for sure if there's a second traitor
You think Seska somehow planted a bomb in an access tunnel on Voyager on her own?
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
It does seem like the kind of thing she would have done as a precaution at some point if she was left unsupervised for long enough
As has been said, she has had over half a year to infiltrate and make preparations. Hiver could go either way about this.
77
"How's he doing?"
Dinah sighed and dropped down to sit next to me before crossing her arms, leaning her back against my side, "Doc says Jim will make a full recovery. But it will take a bit, internal injuries, broken bones. He took some shrapnel when the bulkhead blew. Ugh, so good to get off my feet for a bit."
"I see," I said and put my head down next to her, "I'm glad he'll make it."
I was laying in a corridor close to the hull, facing the closed hatch to what used to be an escape pod, now an open hole to space.
"Got anything?"
"Other than a growing urge to drop Seska into a star?" I asked, "Not especially, but I managed to figure out the sequence of events. Turns out, she had a little more access than previously thought. Not the same way, I tracked it down to a couple of user accounts. We're doing a full survey of all systems. The escape pod had been jury rigged to take it out of the central system and the computer inventory adjusted to match. It's not a high security system, she was able to access it and it didn't show up on my scans because I wasn't looking there. Same as the not bomb, it was a simple plasma relay that had been rigged to fail at a signal, the resulting EPS breach burned through the bulkhead and breached the one supplying the forcefields. It wasn't to anything critical, it supplies power to the lights on that deck. Literally a five minute job to rig up."
It was just inside a unlocked access hatch too.
Dinah shifted a hand to scratch on the bridge of my nose between your eyes, "Don't blame yourself, nobody can catch everything. I missed all of it, I should have had the Maqui under heavier guard anytime they visited the ship.."
I snorted, "I don't blame myself, I blame Seska. What I am with myself is annoyed. Annoyed I let her slip something past me, I'm better than that!"
"Nobody can catch everything, especially like that EPS relay. Without it showing on sensors…"
"I don't care about the EPS burst," I growled, "Or the escape pod. And I already have a solution to make sure neither happens again. What I'm annoyed about is the signal."
Dinah's eyebrows went up, "Signal?"
"Yes. Signal. A semi randomized bit of subspace background radiation," I explained, "Same frequency as our engines. But it didn't come from our engines, I couldn't find the source. That's how she did it."
Dinah's eyebrows went down again into a frown, "Explain, pretend my brain is half the size of yours."
I raised my head to look at her at the same level, "It's a one time pad situation. She sends out a signal matching the subspace frequency of the ship she was on. Just a seemingly random pattern. And it is truly random... except it's not. It's matched to a different device that can decode it."
She slowly nodded, "She sends out a signal and it's matched in the device that receives it, but it's different every time. So no way to analyze it for meaning. Just random engine noise unless you know what to listen for."
"And in this case, almost impossible to detect," I agreed, "I don't know how she did it from her cell, maybe she has a device implanted or something. But she sent the message, telling the Kazon the plan. And then made her escape at the right time. Likely a listening subroutine on the Val Jean that was listening for another specific code. Same with the EPS relay, a contingency in case she was caught."
Dinah let her head fall back against my scales, "Shit."
I snorted in annoyance, "Indeed. Sounds like something the Obsidian Order would make, wouldn't it?"
No more mister nice dragon.
I'm reloading every piece of software on the ship from archives from PADDs and up. And have a full physical inspection of every bolt ongoing.
"How did she get it to the Kazon in the first place? The decoder, I mean?"
I shook my head, "No clue. How's the Maquis doing?"
"Some injuries, but most are bundled off in free quarters," Dinah said and sighed, "It's a security nightmare. We can't keep them locked in quarters for seventy years, but I don't like having them walk around either. We might be allies, but... they're still literally terrorists."
"Against Cardassians," I said, "Which I don't think counts. It's like animal testing. Everyone is all up in arms if you test your products on dogs, but if you do it on Nazis, who cares."
Dinah raised an eyebrow, "I...I'm not sure it works like that."
"My point is, they never hit Federation targets," I clarified, "And while they might not exactly have been happy with the Federation for trading them to the Cardassians, we're now in the same boat. Literally."
"I know. And I'm not worried about most of them, what I'm worried about is one of them working with Seska."
I snorted, "Did anyone on the Val Jean actually work with Chakotay? Federation spy, Cardassian spy... are we going to find a Romulan and a Borg? Tholian?"
Dinah shook her head and went back to petting the bridge of my snout, "We're sure as hell checking if anyone else of them is a Cardassian, that's for sure. Maybe we'll find a Romulan spy, who knows."
"Good," I said before a thought struck me, "Torres is pissed?"
Dinah smiled slightly, "Apocalyptically so. I thought she'd try to deck me when we got her out of the escape pod."
"Don't blame her."
Dinah smirked a bit, "...She's kinda cute when she's angry."
I raised my head, "You didn't tell her that, did you?" I asked in slight alarm.
That got a small laugh, "Do I look like Charles?" she asked with a smile and then shook her head, "Then she really would have decked me. This situation sucks."
"Sure does," I said and then chuckled, "And what else is new?"
Dinah nodded, "Join Starfleet they said. It'll be exciting they said," she sighed and crossed her arms, "Well, the second part was true at least."
"Except when you spend two weeks reading sensor logs about hydrogen clouds," I agreed before I sighed, "I should get my report to the Captain. Let them know I figured out how she was signaling the Kazon."
"Mmm," Dinah agreed, "So why are you laying in a hallway, staring at that hatch?"
"Thinking."
Dinah nodded, "About?"
"Trying to figure out a way to track Seska down. Other than hunting down random Kazon ships until we find a clue, I got nothing," I admitted, "You?"
"I've been awake for twenty six hours," Dinah said and put a hand on my closest horn, "Only thing I can think about right now is my pillow. Up?"
I carefully got to my paws, pulling her along up onto her feet, "Go get some rest. I'll go report to Janeway and then go crash myself."
"Night Zeph," she said and answered off towards the turbolift.
"Good night, Dinah," I said in turn and headed in the opposite direction towards the closest cargo lift. It would get me most of the way and I wanted to keep squeezing myself into a human sized turbolift at a minimum. I was very much not in the mood for that.
I felt like I should have a headache, but it never materialized.
Thanks, alien supercomputer.
No reaction, not that I expected one.
Dinah sighed and dropped down to sit next to me before crossing her arms, leaning her back against my side, "Doc says Jim will make a full recovery. But it will take a bit, internal injuries, broken bones. He took some shrapnel when the bulkhead blew. Ugh, so good to get off my feet for a bit."
"I see," I said and put my head down next to her, "I'm glad he'll make it."
I was laying in a corridor close to the hull, facing the closed hatch to what used to be an escape pod, now an open hole to space.
"Got anything?"
"Other than a growing urge to drop Seska into a star?" I asked, "Not especially, but I managed to figure out the sequence of events. Turns out, she had a little more access than previously thought. Not the same way, I tracked it down to a couple of user accounts. We're doing a full survey of all systems. The escape pod had been jury rigged to take it out of the central system and the computer inventory adjusted to match. It's not a high security system, she was able to access it and it didn't show up on my scans because I wasn't looking there. Same as the not bomb, it was a simple plasma relay that had been rigged to fail at a signal, the resulting EPS breach burned through the bulkhead and breached the one supplying the forcefields. It wasn't to anything critical, it supplies power to the lights on that deck. Literally a five minute job to rig up."
It was just inside a unlocked access hatch too.
Dinah shifted a hand to scratch on the bridge of my nose between your eyes, "Don't blame yourself, nobody can catch everything. I missed all of it, I should have had the Maqui under heavier guard anytime they visited the ship.."
I snorted, "I don't blame myself, I blame Seska. What I am with myself is annoyed. Annoyed I let her slip something past me, I'm better than that!"
"Nobody can catch everything, especially like that EPS relay. Without it showing on sensors…"
"I don't care about the EPS burst," I growled, "Or the escape pod. And I already have a solution to make sure neither happens again. What I'm annoyed about is the signal."
Dinah's eyebrows went up, "Signal?"
"Yes. Signal. A semi randomized bit of subspace background radiation," I explained, "Same frequency as our engines. But it didn't come from our engines, I couldn't find the source. That's how she did it."
Dinah's eyebrows went down again into a frown, "Explain, pretend my brain is half the size of yours."
I raised my head to look at her at the same level, "It's a one time pad situation. She sends out a signal matching the subspace frequency of the ship she was on. Just a seemingly random pattern. And it is truly random... except it's not. It's matched to a different device that can decode it."
She slowly nodded, "She sends out a signal and it's matched in the device that receives it, but it's different every time. So no way to analyze it for meaning. Just random engine noise unless you know what to listen for."
"And in this case, almost impossible to detect," I agreed, "I don't know how she did it from her cell, maybe she has a device implanted or something. But she sent the message, telling the Kazon the plan. And then made her escape at the right time. Likely a listening subroutine on the Val Jean that was listening for another specific code. Same with the EPS relay, a contingency in case she was caught."
Dinah let her head fall back against my scales, "Shit."
I snorted in annoyance, "Indeed. Sounds like something the Obsidian Order would make, wouldn't it?"
No more mister nice dragon.
I'm reloading every piece of software on the ship from archives from PADDs and up. And have a full physical inspection of every bolt ongoing.
"How did she get it to the Kazon in the first place? The decoder, I mean?"
I shook my head, "No clue. How's the Maquis doing?"
"Some injuries, but most are bundled off in free quarters," Dinah said and sighed, "It's a security nightmare. We can't keep them locked in quarters for seventy years, but I don't like having them walk around either. We might be allies, but... they're still literally terrorists."
"Against Cardassians," I said, "Which I don't think counts. It's like animal testing. Everyone is all up in arms if you test your products on dogs, but if you do it on Nazis, who cares."
Dinah raised an eyebrow, "I...I'm not sure it works like that."
"My point is, they never hit Federation targets," I clarified, "And while they might not exactly have been happy with the Federation for trading them to the Cardassians, we're now in the same boat. Literally."
"I know. And I'm not worried about most of them, what I'm worried about is one of them working with Seska."
I snorted, "Did anyone on the Val Jean actually work with Chakotay? Federation spy, Cardassian spy... are we going to find a Romulan and a Borg? Tholian?"
Dinah shook her head and went back to petting the bridge of my snout, "We're sure as hell checking if anyone else of them is a Cardassian, that's for sure. Maybe we'll find a Romulan spy, who knows."
"Good," I said before a thought struck me, "Torres is pissed?"
Dinah smiled slightly, "Apocalyptically so. I thought she'd try to deck me when we got her out of the escape pod."
"Don't blame her."
Dinah smirked a bit, "...She's kinda cute when she's angry."
I raised my head, "You didn't tell her that, did you?" I asked in slight alarm.
That got a small laugh, "Do I look like Charles?" she asked with a smile and then shook her head, "Then she really would have decked me. This situation sucks."
"Sure does," I said and then chuckled, "And what else is new?"
Dinah nodded, "Join Starfleet they said. It'll be exciting they said," she sighed and crossed her arms, "Well, the second part was true at least."
"Except when you spend two weeks reading sensor logs about hydrogen clouds," I agreed before I sighed, "I should get my report to the Captain. Let them know I figured out how she was signaling the Kazon."
"Mmm," Dinah agreed, "So why are you laying in a hallway, staring at that hatch?"
"Thinking."
Dinah nodded, "About?"
"Trying to figure out a way to track Seska down. Other than hunting down random Kazon ships until we find a clue, I got nothing," I admitted, "You?"
"I've been awake for twenty six hours," Dinah said and put a hand on my closest horn, "Only thing I can think about right now is my pillow. Up?"
I carefully got to my paws, pulling her along up onto her feet, "Go get some rest. I'll go report to Janeway and then go crash myself."
"Night Zeph," she said and answered off towards the turbolift.
"Good night, Dinah," I said in turn and headed in the opposite direction towards the closest cargo lift. It would get me most of the way and I wanted to keep squeezing myself into a human sized turbolift at a minimum. I was very much not in the mood for that.
I felt like I should have a headache, but it never materialized.
Thanks, alien supercomputer.
No reaction, not that I expected one.
- Location
- USA
I feel like, "Thanks, alien supercomputer" is going to be the "Thanks, Obama" meme for this story.
And looks like Zephyr's Sherlock has found his Moriarty!
And looks like Zephyr's Sherlock has found his Moriarty!
- Location
- Pacific Rim
Sounds like Seska just reinvented the rolling code keyfob.
I wonder if subspace is too fast moving a transmission to be able to triangulate from multiple sensors on a single ship where various signals are coming from. We know there are really tiny transmitters and receivers, so placing basic recorders with high precision timers on them should be viable, but if the difference is inside the standard deviation then your not going to get anything accurate for on the ship...but you might be able to start mapping background levels...my guess is Kazon are just puking transmissions left right and center so might be a way to notice approaching ships. I guess this is probably what astrometrics was, just a subspace radio telescope.
I wonder if subspace is too fast moving a transmission to be able to triangulate from multiple sensors on a single ship where various signals are coming from. We know there are really tiny transmitters and receivers, so placing basic recorders with high precision timers on them should be viable, but if the difference is inside the standard deviation then your not going to get anything accurate for on the ship...but you might be able to start mapping background levels...my guess is Kazon are just puking transmissions left right and center so might be a way to notice approaching ships. I guess this is probably what astrometrics was, just a subspace radio telescope.
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
The two photon torpedoes presumably did the tidy-up.
Really a pity, as scouring the Val Jean for Seska-meddling would've been educational...
OK, crew-merge to sorta match canon, but, the level of suspicion...
Can you do resonance checks for subspace receivers, so they (briefly) become really low-power transmitters, in a way similar to EM ones, to find the things, I wonder?
Getting the Val Jean crew to wrack their memories for all interaction with Seska, to find if there's any clues there, any anomalies about their now-lost ship, would that be more trouble than it was worth?
It was still weird to me that the kazon tracking them had nothing to do with that giant boarding pod thing that lodged in their hull. You would think tracking their own thingamajig would be a standard function of the traab technology that they could have unlocked much easier than whatever super spy nonsense seska had them doing instead.
It would have been way more inept to fail to locate and disable tracking hardware in the boarding pod.
Also wasn't this a problem before the pod?
Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
I was a bit surprised about how long that pod was allowed to hang around. And, you may think you've found everything, but, with alien tech can you be sure?
- Location
- Pale Blue Dot
They are absolutely overlooking something.
For this to work, the Kazoon has to have someone or something watching the Voyagers engine noise 24/7, with clear enough signal that one time pads are actually recognized, not just 'there was some noise'.
Ergo, the Kazoon always knows exactly where the Enterprise it, at all times. This is quite a bit more important to do something about than Seska. Simply because if the Kazoon loose contact with the Voyager... well... so does Seska.
But removing all the other sabotage and contingencies and possible time bombs is absolutely something that can be worked at at the same time.
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Ace Dreamer
Verified Reality User
- Location
- Between The Unknown & The Known
Is the implication, seeing as the Kazon have apparently lost track of Voyager, a number of times, is that there must be a second comms channel, of some sort, that just sends the key??? One that is not directional enough to be used for tracking?
Or, am I missing some bit of logic, here, as otherwise, how do the Kazon get the key? By finding and analysing Voyager's warp (ion?) trail? But, that would give them what it used to be, not what it is now?
Color me confused...