Cracking The Code
Posted on Tue Jul 1st, 2025 @ 2:55am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Commander Chisato Nishikigi
1,405 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Preserving The Past
Location: USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)- Intelligence Center, Deck 3
Timeline: April 20, 2397- approximately an hour after "Teaming Up"
Taiga made her way down to a part of the ship she didn't often frequent; the Intelligence center. She had to speak to her Chief of Intelligence about a few things.
Upon her arrival at the Ingtelligence Center, however, she was greeted for her troubles with an error message saying that the facility was locked and only officers of a certain security clearance were allowed inside.
"You keep this locked? Seriously?" Taiga's voice could be heard from the otherside of the door.
"Yes!" Commander Nishikigi called back. "We deal with very sensitive information in here!"
The door opened to reveal the Chief Of Intelligence, sporting the "skirted" variant of the new uniform and looking awfully uncomfortable in it.
"What can I get for you, Captain?" Chisato asked, tugging absentmindedly at her collar in a futile effort to loosen it up.
Taiga stepped into the room. "You've been slowly translating and decoding the Iconian data correct?" She asked going straight to business.
"Oh, boy, have we," Chisato sighed. "Our team's been working around the clock running the files through a wide variety of decryption software that we have on hand, and so far we've managed to recover about... twenty, thirty percent of the data?"
She shook her head. "Pardon me, Captain, we haven't been getting much sleep because of this."
"I understand." Taiga stated. "The one thing that wasn't encrypted was in regards to a race known as The Preservers, of I'm correct?" She asked.
"You'd be correct on that front, Captain," Chisato nodded. "Strangely, it was the one file you sent us that didn't even have a firewall, so to speak; we just pulled it up, ran it through the universal translator, and hey presto."
"I've just come out of a meeting with Admiral Tempest. Tomorrow we'll be heading out to Amerind. The only known location of these 'Preservers'." Taiga told her. "I need to know what or who these Preservers are. Why the Iconians are interested in then and what we might be up against out there."
Chisato grinned. "Fortunately for you, we've already got something of a head's up on that front."
She pulled out her PADD. "I forwarded a request to Memory Alpha asking for any information regarding the Preservers that they had on file, and they sent me this:"
She pulled up a file and handed the PADD over to Taiga.
"A comprehensive mission log from the USS Enterprise, filed on Stardate 4843.6, if the metadata's to be believed," Chisato went on to elaborate. "It contains just about everything the crew managed to document during their visit to Amerind in early 2268, including the exact geophysical coordinates of the Preserver Obelisk, metallurgical samples taken from said Obelisk, ancient scriptures provided by the local inhabitants, and a 97.95% complete translation of the Preserver dialect. Unfortunately, this log is all we have to go off of regarding the preservers, but it's nonetheless very comprehensive."
Taiga took the PADD and briefly skimmed it over. She then looked up at Chisato. "As you're well aware Commander, Starfleet is predicting that the Iconians will attack. However we don't know when or where. They seem interested in these 'Preservers' for some reason." She told her simply. "That is why we're going to find out why."
She held the PADD close to her chest. "There is a good possibility that if the Iconians board this ship, they'll want us not to have that information that we believe M'Tara put into our computers. Also that information can not be taken by any other power. Therefore you are to work with Lieutenant Nezuko to write a 'kill switch' that will erase all of the Iconian information in case we are put in a situation where we may lose thar advantage." Taiga told her firmly. "You are also forbidden to share any of the information with anyone out of who I assign. Your team, Commander Johnson and Lieutenant Nezuko. We will not risk a security breach."
"Aye, Captain," Chisato nodded in the affirmative.
Taiga let out a deep breath. "I'll be frank with you Commander. When the Iconians do invade. The chance we'll survive their onslaught is slim, near impossible. But if there's anything that you can find in that data that can help us, you'll save us all. Or at least... some of us."
"You know, they once said that our odds of survival were just as slim back when we were fighting the Dominion," Chisato lamented. "Rumor even has it that 9 out of every 10 households knew a friend or loved one that lost their life in that conflict; the odds of defeating a civilization whose entire ideology pivoted around victory seemed insurmountable at the time. And yet, we just kept our heads down and kept on fighting, because it was the only thing we could do; if it gave us just one more day, it was still better than losing our lives entirely."
"The Dominion was one thing." Taiga replied. "Butbthis is a whole new level. The Iconians have had hundreds of thousands of years to perfect their technology, to perfect their plans." Taiga explained grimly. "But we're going to fight them. There must be a reason that M'Tara put that information into our computers. You must find it. That takes priority Commander. Anything that can give is an advantage. Anything at all."
Chisato's face immediately brightened.
"Ah, now we're getting to the good stuff!" she proclaimed, grabbing Taiga by the hand. "If you'll come with me, please..."
She proceeded to lead Taiga over to an isolated alcove with a large, stainless steel table in the center. Resting on its surface was the carefully-disassembled remains of what Taiga instantly recognized as one of the staffs utilized by the Iconian constructs during their initial assault on the Tokyo.
"A Herald staff weapon." Taiga observed. "What have you learnt about it so far?"
"Quite a lot, it would turn out," Chisato explained as she moved over to the table. "After carefully dissecting one of the better examples that we had on hand- no easy task in and of itself, mind you, as they use a kind of fastener that we've never even seen before, and had to craft a new tool in the replicator just to remove them- we found this baby here:"
She proceeded to hold up what looked to be an insignificant component.
"This," Chisato went on to explain with excitement, "Is an antiproton beam projector. Antiprotons, as you may recall, are the antimatter equivalent of protons, and when you concentrate their energy into a beam like you do with this here, it can be used as an incredibly destructive weapon. The fabled planet killer that the Enterprise once encountered? That used an antiproton beam, albeit on a considerably larger scale than this. But even still, I've never seen an Antiproton beam projector in a format as compact as this..."
"So their weapons are anti-proton based..." Taiga said. "That's a start. Our shields can be modified to absorb and resist anti-protons."
"Additionally, I found this one source dating back to the Dominion War that claims the Jem'Hadar had apparently used antiproton beams to detect cloaked ships," Chisato continued. "Granted, there wasn't much information that I could seem to find in support of that claim, but I found another article that explains how Antiprotons behave in a certain manner when they come into contact with a surface, so that in theory might explain how the Iconians were able to detect and destroy a cloaked Romulan Warbird as quickly as they did."
Taiga pondered for a little bit. "I want you to work with Commander Daxer on a more detailed and thorough analysis of their weapons technology. If we can modify our shields it will help us in the event of a Herald attack." She said simply. "You're going to be a very busy woman Commander."
"Uuuu, I'm gonna need more Ramune at this rate..." Chisato pouted.
"Whatever you need. A staff briefing will be held tomorrow after we launch." Taiga said to her. "I have other stuff to do now. Carry on." With that said she turned to leave.
Posting By (In Order Of Appearance):
Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer, USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)
Commander Chisato Nishikigi
Chief Intelligence Officer, USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)
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