"Suggesting a course of action" Doctor Seth Medical Officer USS Sulu http://come.to/dr.seth Lieutenant Marcus Treymond Chief Operations Officer USS Sulu Seth stepped onto the bridge and cleared her throat. She could tell the command crew was busy with running the ship and keeping it in one piece. The `planet killer' was indeed a massive foe. Seth took a few steps onto the command deck and noted that Captain Salinger didn't appear to be on the bridge. The half Vulcan, half Betazoid raised her eyebrow curiously at this, but proceeded to the command well in any event. There was a dark skinned officer sitting in the Captain's chair. He was wearing a gold tunic and his pips indicated his rank was that of Lieutenant. "Is there a problem I can help you with doctor? We're not used to seeing medical personnel up here on the bridge." Lieutenant Treymond stated curiously. Seth shook her head from side to side just as the ship rocked again. She steadied herself by grabbing the back of the Captain's chair. "No,. . . no sir." Seth stated, regaining her balance. "I was hoping to speak with Captain Salinger about that, . . . machine out there." "The Captain and Commander Sul went down to the transporter room to meet with the crew from the Teth Garrol. Is there anything I can assist you with?" Marcus questioned. Seth looked at the athletic African Operations officer and then back at the view screen and the elongated cone of the beast. "I understand we tried destroying that thing with quantum torpedoes." Seth stated. "That is correct." Trey replied hesitantly. "Why do you ask Doctor?" The Doctor shook her head slightly. "The quantum distortion created by that blast should have destroyed any mechanical mechanisms inside the hull of that thing, but it didn't. Given that failure, I do not believe there is any weaponry in our possession that will be capable of destroying that machine in a direct confrontation." Marcus wrinkled his brow and stared directly at the Vulcan doctor. "You came all the way up here from sickbay to tell us that Doc? We're kinda surveying our options at the moment." Lieutenant Treymond said with a hint of sarcasm. Seth smiled slightly, noting the Lieutenant's tone. "Yes actually. But also to provide a suggestion on how to defeat that machine without directly confronting it." Now it was Treymond's eyebrows that peaked. "I'm listening. Sorry, forgot my manners Doctor?. . ." "Seth. Doctor Seth. So far this machine has behaved in a very simple fashion, reminiscent of the machine encountered by Commodore Decker and Captain Kirk a century earlier. It's armored construction, shape, maul like forward opening, it's anti-proton beam, it's frontal cone of sensory perception, basically everything about it." "Go on Doctor." Marcus encouraged. "Well, it's behavior is very basic. It searches the immediate space around it for power sources or matter like a Starship or planetoid. When it detects a source of potential fuel, it plots a course towards it, fires it's anti-proton beam to destroy the object, breaking it up into smaller, digestible pieces, and then consumes it with that great maul. That generates more energy to allow it to continue it's quest for more objects to consume." Seth explained. "That sounds correct Doctor. So how is that going to help up to defeat that thing?" Treymond asked. "Well, it should be possible to gain that machine's attention and get it to follow the Sulu. If you recall, Commodore Decker and Captain Kirk were able to divert the earlier machine with their starships and phaser blasts." Seth explained. Marcus shook his head back and forth. "Um, hate to break this to you doctor, but I don't recall any of that. I just learned about in in the science briefing earlier. But tell me, where are you going with this theory?" "Well, if we can get it to follow our ship, and pilot close enough to a star of sufficient size, maybe like Sigma Rogallis, the gravitational forces should lock that thing in permanent orbit. With no sources of matter to feed off of that close to the sun, the thing will eventually deplete it's power supply and come spiraling down when the star's tremendous gravitational pull draws it into the star. That will destroy the machine in a fiery collision." Seth explained. "Interesting idea Doc. But there are a couple of problems as I see it. First, we couldn't fly close enough to a star to do that without being destroyed ourselves." Treymond pointed out. "Actually Lieutenant, when I was in Starfleet Academy, I remember reading about a incident that happened to Commander Beverly Crusher., She's a Doctor on the USS Enterprise. Doctor Crusher used metaphasic shielding on the Enterprise to help lure and destroy a Borg cube. So it's definitely possible. The metaphasic shielding should also assist it protecting the Sulu from that thing's anti-proton beam." Seth explained. Marcus touched a hand to the end of his clean shaven chin. "That is an interesting idea. Guess I need to catch up on some reading... because you sure do know a lot more than I do about what's going on." Trey paused a second, a question formulating in his head. "How do we know it won't be able to break orbit even if we do manage to get it close enough to a star?" "It's hull is constructed out of solid neutronium. It's density is tremendous and will be multiplied by the gravitational forces of the star it orbits. The Sulu will also be subjected to these same stress levels, but her construction being lighter and more compact than solid neutronium, we will be able to break orbit while that machine will be trapped." Seth explained. "I can't argue with your logic Doctor. When Captain Salinger returns you should fire it his way and see what he thinks. Oh, and don't tell him how much I DIDN'T know... can't have you med types making me look bad." Marcus grinned. "Thank you Lieutenant." Seth nodded with a gentle smile.