By the same token, it's also very possible that the location we think is their capital and their central heavily guarded intelligence facility is actually a massive decoy that even 99.9% of the Lecarre public has been fooled by, and that the real capital facility is in a very different place, buried far underground, maybe even on a different planet or something.
This I doubt. Physical security is in a real way the enemy of information security. The Lecarre know well their own penchant for spying; rather than rely on obscurity to protect themselves from a hostile takeover of their government and then not knowing if happens, I fully expect them to go the opposite route and create as ironclad a physical security system as possible. Fences, attack animals, a dozen kinds of surveillance, everyone has to take a field genetic test when they show up for work, and you need at least five people present to do any of these things. (It used to be four, but somebody managed to turn all four of them once.)
Oneiros was running the combat engine and the program crashed before it finished but the enterprise was losing. When he ran it again the enterprise won
Oneiros was running the combat engine and the program crashed before it finished but the enterprise was losing. When he ran it again the enterprise won
Oneiros was running the combat engine and the program crashed before it finished but the enterprise was losing. When he ran it again the enterprise won
The yellow alert signals flash steadily around the bridge of the USS Enterprise as it comes out of warp in the 33 Fujit System, a barren empty nothingness, a star with no planets, asteroids, or anything else to note. Only one Cardassian ship, dead ahead.
"Report."
Beeps and clicks come from the sensor console and Diego Zaardmani looks up at his captain. "I'm only picking up the Karnack, it ... looks like the Trager never came this way."
"Damn, a false trail!" Nash's features twist into a snarl as she regards the Jaldun sitting in the viewscreen. "Hm, I notice the Karnack is sticking around?"
"Yes, sir, it's moving away to maintain relative velocity, weapons unpowered but shields up."
"Maintaining distance?" repeats Nash. "What could they be doing?"
Zaardmani's eyes go wide as saucers as something pops up on his display. "Captain! New ship! Cardassian signature, but half-again as large, it's right on top of us, weapons powered!"
The ship rocks around them as weapons strike the ship.
====
Bridge Transcript, USS Enterprise, Stardate Unknown
[Cdr Zaardmani] I'm only picking up the Karnack, it ... looks like the Trager never came this way.
[Capt ka'Sharren] We're back ... you all remember too?
[Cdr Mrr'Shan] Captain? Are you okay?
[Capt ka'Sharren] Yes! there was a temporal wave as the warp core was breaching...
[Cdr Mrr'Shan] Warp core!? Engineering, this is-
[Capt ka'Sharren] No! I'm-
[Cdr Zaardmani] Sensor contact, another Cardassian!
-
Bridge Transcript, USS Enterprise, Stardate Unknown
[Cdr Zaardmani] I'm only picking up the Karnack, it ...
[Capt ka'Sharren] -looks like the Trager never came this way, yes, I know. Tactical, power to weapons!
[Cdr Mrr'Shan] Captain, the Karnack's weapons are unpowered.
[Capt ka'Sharren] It's a ruse. Helm, ahead full impulse, attack pattern-
[Cdr Mrr'Shan] Medical and Security to the bridge. Captain, I'm rel-
[Cdr Zaardmani] New sensor contact!
-
Bridge Transcript, USS Enterprise, Stardate Unknown
[Cdr Zaardmani] I'm only picking up the Karnack, it ... looks like the Trager never came this way.
[Capt ka'Sharren] *muttered* Okay, have it your way.
[Cdr Mrr'Shan] Captain?
[Capt ka'Sharren] Mr Zaardmani, status of the Karnack?
[Cdr Zaardmani] Shields up, weapons unpowered, I believe they're just observing us for the moment.
[Capt ka'Sharren] Scan the conduits leading to their phaser banks, they may be pulling the same trick we did at Amarkia.
[Cdr Zaardmani] They ... huh, yes, Captain, that's exactly what they're doing.
[Capt ka'Sharren] This is an ambush! Full power to weapons! Helm, full impulse!
[Cdr Zaardmani] Big Cardassian ship on sensors!
-
Bridge Transcript, USS Enterprise, Stardate Unknown
[Cdr Zaardmani] I'm only picking up the Karnack, it ... looks like the Trager never came this way.
[Capt ka'Sharren] *muttered* I'd say that we're going to try this until it kills us, but... ahem.
-
Bridge Transcript, USS Enterprise, Stardate Unknown
[Capt ka'Sharren] This is an ambush! Helm, hard over towards the star, full impulse! Zaardmani, prepare to fire an EM Pulse towards these points on the star! We're going to trigger a solar flare and fly through the loop of the stellar ejecta to buy time to deal with the Karnack and keep the trailing ship off us.
[Cdr Zaardmani] Captain, there is no trai-... whoa! New contact, big Cardassian!
[Capt ka'Sharren] Twenty-seventh times the charm, let's go, Enterprise!
[Cdr Mrr'Shan] Twenty... seventh? What?
-
Bridge Transcript, USS Enterprise, Stardate Unknown
[Gul Parad] I will not surrender this ship. Destroy us if you will, but I will never bend the knee.
[Capt ka'Sharren] I have no intention of asking for your surrender. Your ship will survive until rescue. This is just a message.
[Gul Parad] Then speak.
[Capt ka'Sharren] You attempted treachery today. But from now until the end of time, you, and Cardassia, will remember the name, Enterprise.
-
Captain's Log, USS Enterprise, Stardate Unknown
That was the most exhausting ten minutes of my life. But victory.
Oh boy, this is going to be one hell of a report to write up.
-
Side 1: Federation Fleet, Ships 1, Combat 9, Hull 7
Side 2: Cardassian Fleet, Ships 2, Combat 11, Hull 7
In real life the program crashed once, we all started joking about time loops and plot shields and Oneiros decided to include that in the event log and settled on 27 loops for Nash to figure out how to win.
In real life the program crashed once, we all started joking about time loops and plot shields and Oneiros decided to include that in the event log and settled on 27 loops for Nash to figure out how to win.
Here's a question, could we realistically counter Lecarren and/or Changeling infiltrators, or at least keep them away from critical personnel, by posting Betazeds everywhere?
After all, the Rixx have done wonders for us in Space Iraq so why not keep using them?
we could institute mandatory blood tests for all high ranking officials. that would probably pick out imposters. Just make it part of whatever regular physical is given.
we could institute mandatory blood tests for all high ranking officials. that would probably pick out imposters. Just make it part of whatever regular physical is given.
Well, by the TNG era no one seems to have a problem with Lwaxana Troi wandering around casually reading everyones' minds and tittering over their surface thoughts...
I think we might well be able to get some benefit just by having Betazoid security agents whose job is simply to wander around and note anyone whose mind appears to be a significant anomaly, for any of a variety of reasons, without necessarily prying into exactly why.
On the other hand, it's entirely possible that Lecarre mimicry is psychological, not just physical, and that even a telepath may struggle to distinguish an 'in character' Lecarre from the real individual without a strong baseline for comparison or a detailed mental scan that reveals more than just surface thoughts. The fact that virtually all intelligent beings can have their minds read by Betazoids suggests that different species' minds have comparable 'file formats.' It may be that it takes an uncommon Betazoid to easily tell the difference between various species of alien.
EDIT:
I mean, our ambassador was secretly a Lecarre for three years. During that time it is nearly inevitable that he would have done a lot of talking and corresponding and made a lot of decisions. That Lecarre spy must have been very, very good at staying 'in character,' literally inhumanly so, in order to convincingly impersonate an alien for so long without raising suspicion until T'Rinta happened along.
Even if you could directly perceive the Lecarre's mind, they might well hardly even be aware on a conscious level that they were anything other than who they claimed to be, because such a being must by nature be a really, really good method actor.
Well, by the TNG era no one seems to have a problem with Lwaxana Troi wandering around casually reading everyones' minds and tittering over their surface thoughts...
It (the blood test, that is) probably did work on Changlings. The one time we saw it fail, a Changling was holding the syringe and could have faked the whole thing.
Well, @AKuz 's story is a fairly serious one about identity issues and "am I even a Romulan anymore" and so on.
Wacky light comedy would be an interesting change of pace, and your decision to pick 'Hugh Mann' as a name suggests that this is the direction you're thinking of taking it. Also, your avatar would appear to be an octahedral laserabomination in a (presumably) outsized schoolgirl uniform, which is promising.
Yes, but it still creates precedent, and Lwaxana Troi isn't the only full Betazoid we've seen in canon either, just the highest-profile one I can think of. Individual Federation citizens may or may not be comfortable with having their minds read. But the Federation as a whole shows no sign of making any institutional efforts to discourage Betazoids from taking casual glances at the minds of those around them.
The question, really, isn't whether the Federation is willing to authorize the use of Betazoid security agents to help detect Lecarre infiltrators. It's whether the Betazoids in question can detect the Lecarre infiltrators in the first place. And if so, how much effort does it take to accomplish that? How deep a scan? How labor-intensive is it to scan all the minds that need to be checked, in the time available?
Well, @AKuz 's story is a fairly serious one about identity issues and "am I even a Romulan anymore" and so on.
Wacky light comedy would be an interesting change of pace, and your decision to pick 'Hugh Mann' as a name suggests that this is the direction you're thinking of taking it. Also, your avatar would appear to be an octahedral laserabomination in a (presumably) outsized schoolgirl uniform, which is promising.
Eh, I don't really have any ideas for it beyond poking fun at the obvious infiltrator. I've got an idea for a Yan-Ros cadet that's more promising. Imagine suddenly going to live on a world where you can pet the animals without losing a hand and people go camping for fun without bringing a main battle tank with them.
A passing thought: The Lecarre infiltrator went looking for the equivalent of the Tal-Shiar and the Obsidian Order, and they found it in the Diplomatic Service.
Not the infighting and ability to have your opposition assassinated, because we're the Federation, but the FDS are the people responsible for maintaining internal lines of communication, making sure that everyone knows what they're supposed to do and managing internal dissent.
Instead of holding police functions on top of that, we hand them a number of external diplomatic powers, but that's because the Federation splits powers differently than a number of our neighbors.
Thinking about FDS, I think most of the fault for Lecarre infiltration should be on them, I'm mean FDS embassy staff should have realized the change since they are the ones who worked with the false Ambassador on a daily basis plus Diplomatic Service do have issues with Starfleet intel spooks which could easily explain distance between the two service.
I hope this is a kick up the ass for both service.
