From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Jul 31 2007 - 10:43:09 PDT
=Transwarp=
(cont'd from "Fractured Faith")
LOCATION: Borg Cube
SCENE: Engineering Section
STARDATE: [2.7]0731.1042
Sisyphus was the most augmented Borg they’d seen yet- a necessary part of his position as engineer. One eye was covered in the Borg eye-piece of old, and there were other implants on the back of his head. One of his hands was gone, and in its place was a Borg mechanical arm, with several devices at the end. Sisyphus explained that it was far more efficient to have all the engineering tools ready at once, rather than having to fumble for a tool during a time of crisis.
Crichton didn’t like to admit that he saw the logic in that, but he still wasn’t in a hurry to “upgrade” himself.
“The Borg transwarp drive is very sophisticated,” Sisyphus said. Crichton noted a hint of pride in the Borg’s voice as he discussed the device, and couldn’t decide if it was the simple pride an Engineer gets out of his equipment, or if it was yet another Borg twisting the knife about biological life being yesterday’s news. “Are you certain you are equipped enough to understand it? Leader Isis has communicated to the crew that you are to leave with a detailed report about this device, and I would hate to think…”
“We can handle it,” Crichton said, glancing at Lt. Yao. The J’naii hadn’t spoken much since they arrived on the cube, but nan’s face had the same look of excitement and apprehension that Crichton was feeling.
“Of course,” Sisyphus said. “Forgive me… we have a tendency to underestimate the organic brain. It has such a limited storage-capacity. It is an inspiration that your kind manages entirely without cerebral enhancements.”
“You know what my favorite part about this trip has been so far?” Crichton said, glancing at Yao. “The locals go out of their way to make you feel welcome.”
“With respect, Sisyphus,” Yao said, “Perhaps we could move things along. Surely your Leader does not want this exchange to take any longer than necessary.”
“Quite right,” Sisyphus nodded. “As you know, the transwarp drive uses transwarp conduits, which are tunnels built in-“
“Built in subspace, constructed by the Borg, and free of real-space limitations on speed,” Yao cut in suddenly, obviously having had enough of the Borg’s bravado. “In such conduits, vessels can reach speeds of 20 or more times faster than ships in real-space.”
“Er... yes,” Sisyphus frowned.
“Starfleet is not entirely without experience in transwarp technology,” Yao smiled politely. “Go on.”
“In the past, these conduits were activated by an encoded tachyon pulse,” Sisyphus continued, back on form almost immediately. “We found, however, that if other ships were given the opportunity to analyze the pulse, they could potentially re-create it, giving ships without a transwarp drive access to the conduits. This would certainly result in the destruction of the ship and the loss of all hands… naturally, we could not allow that. Now, the conduits are activated by a triple-encrypted subspace pulse, undetectable by all but the most concentrated of scans. Safety first, and all that.”
“What does the transwarp drive itself do?” Crichton asked.
“Even without the physical limitation of real-space, warp-drives are simply not designed to work at the speeds reached inside transwarp conduits,” Sisyphus explained. “Without a transwarp drive, warp engines will overload, or the ship itself will be torn apart. A transwarp drive relieves the majority of the stress on the warp engines by shunting energy through a series of converters and then shunting that energy into the navigational shields.”
“So basically, the excess power generated by the overloading engines is funneled, converted, and used to protect the ship,” Crichton said.
“Quite right,” Sisyphus said. “With the transwarp drive, it is possible to maintain transwarp for up to 36 hours… enough time to cross an impressive distance at such speed.”
“What happens after 36 hours?” Lt. Yao asked.
“The transwarp drive itself will begin to fail,” Sisyphus said, as though he were admitting an embarrassing personal flaw. “Such power cannot be channeled forever. However, once powered down, the transwarp drive quickly restores itself, and is ready for use again within 24 hours. With the distance covered in 36 hours, however, a second transwarp is almost never necessary.”
“And you want to install one of these on one of the ships docked at the GATEWAY?” Crichton asked.
“It is, perhaps, too premature to consider something like that,” Sisyphus said, smiling politely. “It is our understanding that your Ambassador Bonviva is here to negotiate some sort of… mutual exchange with the Federation. Of course, we recognize the dire situation the GATEWAY station finds itself in. Certainly, our transwarp technology could be used to get you all back to the Alpha Quadrant in a relatively short amount of time.”
“It could,” Crichton nodded. “What would the Borg be wanting in return?”
“Such things need not concern us,” Sisyphus said, changing the subject with practiced ease. “We are engineers. Let the ambassadors worry about negotiations. Perhaps there are other examples of our superior technology that I may demonstrate for you? Surely, additional information about the technology we could provide will only aid the Ambassador in her negotiations.”
As Sisyphus moved off, wanting them to follow, Crichton and Yao hung far enough back that they could speak in hushed tones.
“What do you think, lieutenant?” Crichton asked.
“I’m sure you’ll agree we would need to consult both the schematics for a transwarp drive as well as the ship in question before deciding if such an upgrade would even be compatible with Federation technology,” the J’naii said. “However, if it were possible, it would seem to be the perfect solution to our problems.”
“Yeah, but do you get the feeling that they’re really buttering us up?” Crichton asked.
“I had noticed that,” Yao nodded. “Perhaps they only want to make sure that the negotiations, whatever they are, are going smoothly.”
“Either way, I get the strong impression that we’re not going to see anything here that the Borg doesn’t want us to see,” Crichton said. “I have the strong impression they’re giving us just enough information to keep us interested.”
“Keep your eyes open, cadet,” Yao said. “I am inclined to agree with you.”
----------------------------
Sisyphus sighed. Un-implanted humanoids could be so vain.
Did they really think that falling back a few feet would mean he couldn’t hear them? Almost *every* Borg had hearing-augmentations. Sisyphus simply had to recalibrate them and he could hear them as well as if they were shouting.
**Oh well,** Sisyphus thought. **They will learn.**
NRPG: I based the transwarp information on info I found at http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/library/technology/index.html, with a little stuff I made up on my own (we are farther along than any of the Star Trek series, after all). Dunno’ how accurate any of it is.
JASMINA: Hope I did okay with Yao.
Shawn
a.k.a.
Jacob Crichton, Cadet
Assistant Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
"Strange things are afoot at the Circle K." - Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure
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