Data Mining

Posted on Mon Jul 17th, 2023 @ 1:49pm by Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Lieutenant Phoebe Baxter & Lieutenant JG Hopkins Cobb & Ensign Helle Leed & Ensign Winston Hubblestone

1,011 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: A Long Hard Road Ahead
Location: USS Firebird, Deck 2, Science Labs
Timeline: 23 August, 2396, 1200 Hours

[ON]

"... and with the USS Constitution away, we are the nearest ship. So, we are currently underway to DS18 to, well, figure out what's going on."

Phoebe surveyed her team as she concluded her summary of the mission briefing. It was a lot to take in and was certainly a vast departure from what had become the routine. She had gotten to see them work under those controlled circumstances; now she'd get a chance to see how they did under pressure. Getting to observe this in real-time helped soothe some of her own anxiety.

"This is where we come in," the Science Chief continued, returning her focus to the work they needed to do. "For all intents and purposes, we're flying blind. However, there's a chance we can help bring this picture into focus before we arrive." She tapped a button on the display next to her, and every workstation in the lab flashed to life. "This is all of the information we received from the station before it went dark.... and, there is a lot of it. Honestly, we only get a data dump like this when there's been... um, well, cataclysmic systems failure."

Winston was nodding as Lieutenant Baxter was talking. "Right, right, cataclysmic failure," he said and then realized he had said it out loud. He grimaced. "Not good, not good. Um. So you want us to start combing through the data?" He asked. "It looks like a lot."

"It seems an impossible task but at the Academy--" Helle paused and then coughed to cover it. She silently berated herself. 'At the Academy' was so cliché. And cadets used it all the time. "One instructor hammered on the idea you should always start with the problem you want to solve in mind. Then transform the data, compare it to your models, and... Sorry. My mouth is running. How do you want to start, Lieutenant Baxter?"

Phoebe nodded in approval. "Sounds like a good approach to me. So, what do we think? What sort of things should we be looking for?" She had some ideas of her own, but she much preferred to work on problems as a group. It helped to give everyone a chance to speak, to take ownership.

Cobb thought for a moment before pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Hmm, seems like we'd want to know if the data dump captured any sort of mass energy signature. That might give us some initial clues as to what took the station offline in the first place. After that, I think it's only prudent to consider what supplies it might have had on hand at the time so we can prep replacements. I'll keep thinking though. What about you, Winston?"

"Well, looking at the preliminary summary of the data, it looks like there was a spike in sensor data right before the system went offline. Right before that, there was a smaller spike from internal sources. There's a lot of residual data from regular systems, which are probably backups of logs and that kind of thing. I guess the sensor data is where I would start as it is the most likely to give us some kind of idea what caused everything," Winston said, looking up from his terminal. "But even narrowing it down that much, there's a ton of different aspects. Astrological data. Wormhole data. Commercial traffic to and from the station. Possibly weapons fire." Winston said

"Maybe we could focus on the easiest: identify the ships. We know what Bajoran energy signatures look like. Anything with an energy reading that isn't theirs or one of ours would probably be an enemy, right?" Helle loved this kind of work. This wasn't so different from sifting for biological signs amid piles of astrometric data. "'Cause I looked at energy readings heading into the wormhole for the last two weeks, and that's all there is. It kind of has to be Gamma quadrant vessels."

Phoebe nodded. "Cool. Warp signatures are one line of investigation. What about general station telemetry? Ships aren't the only objects moving about the area. Anyone want to look into that?"

Cobb jumped back in. "I can certainly add that to my queue on top of other things we've just mentioned. That is unless there's someone in navigation who has the expertise in such data?"

"I'm happy to look into the station telemetry. I worked on a similar project as my graduating thesis at the academy. I've got some old algorithms that I can repurpose to speed up the data analysis. Ensign Leed why don't you focus on the warp signatures and Lieutenant Cobb I think you're very good at taking large data and categorizing it. I think, maybe, that is the way we should go?" Winston said and hoped he wasn't overstepping.

Helle nodded quickly, her mind already re-purposing some aggregation tools she was developing in the Academy. With help. "Lieutenant Baxter, can I ask if Petty Officer Fhiri can join me? I've heard she's great with computers and I'll have some complicated modeling to work with."

"As long as she clears it with her DH, I think it's a great idea," Phoebe smiled, turning towards Winston, "And I agree with the division of labor, Mr. Hubblestone. I'll turn my attention to sorting through the station's internal readings, and see if anything unusual stands out." Her heart swelled with pride at the easy collaboration with her team. "All right, folks, let's get to work!"

[OFF]

Lieutenant Phoebe Baxter
Chief Science Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Lieutenant JG Hopkins Cobb (NPC by Harlan)
Science Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Ensign Winston Hubblestone (NPC by Llwyedd)
Science Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Ensign Helle Leed (NPC by Leed)
Biologist
USS Firebird NCC-88298

 

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