09-24-2026, 11:19 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-24-2026, 11:22 PM by Sebastian Cortez.)
Sebastian steadied himself against his console as the Zephyr rocked again. His eyes remained fixed on the sensor data rather than the tactical display.
Eighty percent shields.
The number concerned him, but something else caught his attention.
He pulled up the readings from the brief weapons exchange with the Dreadnought and began comparing them with the sensor data collected before and after the micro-jump.
"Lieutenant Ra'an, I think we're looking at the wrong problem."
Sebastian enlarged the Dreadnought's shield readings.
"The secondary shields activated almost immediately after our weapons fire reached the primary layer. That suggests they're not simply a second set of shields operating continuously. They may be responding to the type of energy they're detecting."
He quickly ran the numbers through the science console.
"If that's correct, then repeatedly firing at them is just giving the system more information about us."
Sebastian looked toward the Captain.
"We could test that without committing another torpedo. A controlled phaser pulse at a different frequency, followed by a sensor sweep, might tell us whether the secondary layer is adapting its modulation or simply switching between predetermined frequencies."
He paused, studying the readings.
"And if it is adapting..."
A small realization crossed his face.
"...then we may be able to give it the wrong information."
Sebastian brought up the decoy telemetry.
"The decoys failed because the Cardassians saw them launch. But their purpose doesn't necessarily have to be fooling the Cardassians themselves."
He looked back at the Dreadnought's shield readings.
"If we can make one of the decoys generate a controlled energy signature that resembles a weapon impact, we could use it to provoke the secondary shields without actually firing another torpedo."
Sebastian glanced around the bridge.
"Basically, we teach their shield system to expect the wrong thing. And if their defenses are adaptive, we may only need to make them adapt to the wrong answer once."
== Tag Ra'an and Ameen ==
== GM Input Does Sebastian's suggestion work, will it confuse or otherwise beat the Cardassians, or give the Zephyr a clue as what to do next?==
Eighty percent shields.
The number concerned him, but something else caught his attention.
He pulled up the readings from the brief weapons exchange with the Dreadnought and began comparing them with the sensor data collected before and after the micro-jump.
"Lieutenant Ra'an, I think we're looking at the wrong problem."
Sebastian enlarged the Dreadnought's shield readings.
"The secondary shields activated almost immediately after our weapons fire reached the primary layer. That suggests they're not simply a second set of shields operating continuously. They may be responding to the type of energy they're detecting."
He quickly ran the numbers through the science console.
"If that's correct, then repeatedly firing at them is just giving the system more information about us."
Sebastian looked toward the Captain.
"We could test that without committing another torpedo. A controlled phaser pulse at a different frequency, followed by a sensor sweep, might tell us whether the secondary layer is adapting its modulation or simply switching between predetermined frequencies."
He paused, studying the readings.
"And if it is adapting..."
A small realization crossed his face.
"...then we may be able to give it the wrong information."
Sebastian brought up the decoy telemetry.
"The decoys failed because the Cardassians saw them launch. But their purpose doesn't necessarily have to be fooling the Cardassians themselves."
He looked back at the Dreadnought's shield readings.
"If we can make one of the decoys generate a controlled energy signature that resembles a weapon impact, we could use it to provoke the secondary shields without actually firing another torpedo."
Sebastian glanced around the bridge.
"Basically, we teach their shield system to expect the wrong thing. And if their defenses are adaptive, we may only need to make them adapt to the wrong answer once."
== Tag Ra'an and Ameen ==
== GM Input Does Sebastian's suggestion work, will it confuse or otherwise beat the Cardassians, or give the Zephyr a clue as what to do next?==