Just another day on the Enterprise 1701-D
Posted: Tue Apr 14, 2020 11:08 am
“Lt. Obvious log, the Soliton wave worked great at first but now it’s accelerating and damaged the ship in a unusual energy shift and change, the test craft it was pushing has been destroyed and the captain has called a meeting in the briefing room.....”
Later on, in the main conference room....
PICARD: Report.
LAFORGE: The soliton wave has continued to increase in .. (he pauses as Worf and Lt. Obvious enter the room)
WORF: Excuse me.
LT. OBVIOUS: me too
LAFORGE: The soliton wave has continued to increase in power. Its energy level has risen by a factor of ninety six. At its current rate of acceleration, the wave should hit the planet in a couple of hours.
LT. OBVIOUS: soooo this thing is creating its own energy.. out of nothing and no one here finds that amazing and impossible?
PICARD: How do we stop it?
LAFORGE: Well, there are two possibilities. We could attempt to use our own warp engines to generate an inverse-resonance wave. If we could match the exact frequency and amplitude of the soliton, we should be able to neutralise it.
LT. OBVIOUS: oooooor... how about the receiving station creates the cancellation wave as planned early to see if it can expand and terminate this wave?
RIKER: You don't sound very confident.
LT. OBVIOUS: (sarcastically copies Riker) “confident”? no, commander, he doesn’t sound very smart... there’s a HUGE difference.
DATA: Because the soliton is constantly changing in both frequency and amplitude, it will be extremely difficult to achieve an exact match.
PICARD: Let's hear the second option.
LAFORGE: It's a little more dangerous, but I think there's a better chance for success. We could create a backfire, an explosive force set off just in front of the soliton wave. A large enough explosion, say five photon torpedoes, should be enough to disrupt the wave and allow it to dissipate.
PICARD: How fast is the wave travelling now?
DATA: Warp six point three seven.
LAFORGE: The good news is we can catch it. The bad news is that in order to set up this backfire we have to be in front of it.
DATA: Which would require the Enterprise to go through the wave.
LT. OBVIOUS: wait... what??
RIKER: Why can't we go around it?
LT. OBVIOUS: exactly!? What he said.
DATA: The wave has been growing in size as well as power. There is insufficient time remaining for us to circumvent it before it reaches Lemma Two.
LT. OBVIOUS: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? How big is this thing now, the three dimensional size of a solar system!? And I think you meant “Circumnavigate” Commander Data? Go run a diagnostics on your positronic subroutines
PICARD: How much protection will the shields provide if we attempt to penetrate the wave?
LT. OBVIOUS: OR how about we fire torpedoes through the wave AND explode the torpedoes after they’ve gotten in front of the wave.... just a thought.
WORF: The shields have not been fully restored. Shield strength is down to thirty three percent.
LT. OBVIOUS: yeah! See! Low shields, let’s NOT go through the Astronomical Unit-sized, dangerous energy wave! Any better suggestions????
RIKER: It's going to be quite a ride.
LT. OBVIOUS:?!... but it doesn’t have to be!
PICARD: It's a better choice.
LT. OBVIOUS: no, no it’s not...
PICARD: Lay in a course for the soliton wave.
LT. OBVIOUS: None of you are even listening to me are you?...
Later on, in the main conference room....
PICARD: Report.
LAFORGE: The soliton wave has continued to increase in .. (he pauses as Worf and Lt. Obvious enter the room)
WORF: Excuse me.
LT. OBVIOUS: me too
LAFORGE: The soliton wave has continued to increase in power. Its energy level has risen by a factor of ninety six. At its current rate of acceleration, the wave should hit the planet in a couple of hours.
LT. OBVIOUS: soooo this thing is creating its own energy.. out of nothing and no one here finds that amazing and impossible?
PICARD: How do we stop it?
LAFORGE: Well, there are two possibilities. We could attempt to use our own warp engines to generate an inverse-resonance wave. If we could match the exact frequency and amplitude of the soliton, we should be able to neutralise it.
LT. OBVIOUS: oooooor... how about the receiving station creates the cancellation wave as planned early to see if it can expand and terminate this wave?
RIKER: You don't sound very confident.
LT. OBVIOUS: (sarcastically copies Riker) “confident”? no, commander, he doesn’t sound very smart... there’s a HUGE difference.
DATA: Because the soliton is constantly changing in both frequency and amplitude, it will be extremely difficult to achieve an exact match.
PICARD: Let's hear the second option.
LAFORGE: It's a little more dangerous, but I think there's a better chance for success. We could create a backfire, an explosive force set off just in front of the soliton wave. A large enough explosion, say five photon torpedoes, should be enough to disrupt the wave and allow it to dissipate.
PICARD: How fast is the wave travelling now?
DATA: Warp six point three seven.
LAFORGE: The good news is we can catch it. The bad news is that in order to set up this backfire we have to be in front of it.
DATA: Which would require the Enterprise to go through the wave.
LT. OBVIOUS: wait... what??
RIKER: Why can't we go around it?
LT. OBVIOUS: exactly!? What he said.
DATA: The wave has been growing in size as well as power. There is insufficient time remaining for us to circumvent it before it reaches Lemma Two.
LT. OBVIOUS: ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? How big is this thing now, the three dimensional size of a solar system!? And I think you meant “Circumnavigate” Commander Data? Go run a diagnostics on your positronic subroutines
PICARD: How much protection will the shields provide if we attempt to penetrate the wave?
LT. OBVIOUS: OR how about we fire torpedoes through the wave AND explode the torpedoes after they’ve gotten in front of the wave.... just a thought.
WORF: The shields have not been fully restored. Shield strength is down to thirty three percent.
LT. OBVIOUS: yeah! See! Low shields, let’s NOT go through the Astronomical Unit-sized, dangerous energy wave! Any better suggestions????
RIKER: It's going to be quite a ride.
LT. OBVIOUS:?!... but it doesn’t have to be!
PICARD: It's a better choice.
LT. OBVIOUS: no, no it’s not...
PICARD: Lay in a course for the soliton wave.
LT. OBVIOUS: None of you are even listening to me are you?...