03-30-2025, 06:19 PM
Talion reported, "I've confirmed it is indeed the ambassador."
Shortly after that, they were able to make communication with him through the interference. The fact that the ambassador implied that the people of this planet would know if he came to their ship insinuated that they are tracking him. Alex speculated that it might have something to do with his modifications. He had no idea who the Captain wanted to send down to the surface.
This appeared to be a diplomatic mission. Alex had grown up around diplomats and knew enough to be effective, but he got the impression that the FO and others might have their own ideas about how they wanted to proceed. Alex anticipated that he would most likely be remaining on the ship. If the team needed his input, he could offer it from where he sat. Thus far, there didn't seem to be an issue with the augmented population, so his assessment of that aspect of them might be unnecessary.
Since he had come to the ship, he had noticed that Cindy had been used a few times. In this case, she could be a good or bad choice in equal measure. He wasn't worried about the locals being able to hack her systems. Even Star Fleet was very unlikely to be able to manage that trick. Her shielded systems and his coding were such that at best, they might be able to disable a limb or even take crude control of it, but the safety protocols in her prevented such remote actions of her processors or memory modules. The only shielding that was able to be penetrated were simple connection nodes. If compromised, Cindy was able to overload her components and render herself a harmless and useless pile of slag. On the other hand, she was a walking advertisement for the prosthetic developments offered by the Federation. Depending on what the Captain wanted, Cindy could either employ ECM that overtly made her register as human, or allow scans to show what she really was. Normally, only military grade scans could overcome her ECM, but they didn't really know what these people were capable of. There could be underground groups that were not eager to share their highest level developments with the masses. The motivations of such people were his biggest point of concern. Alex strove to help people blend in and be human again, in spite of their injuries. These people seemed to use any deficiency they found in themselves as an excuse to augment themselves, feeling that made them even better as a result. He knew all too well that such self-induced psychological traps never ended well. For now, he would just have to see what the CO wanted.
While he waited, he began mapping the magnetosphere of the planet. Given how much noise he was picking up from the planet, it would be good to know more about their satellite placements and radiation belts of their planet. Fortunately, the standard operating procedure for establishing orbits was often above the more dangerous areas. Not that their ship wasn't protected from such things, but it just made things so much easier when they could maintain a safer orbit higher than most cultures placed their equipment.
Shortly after that, they were able to make communication with him through the interference. The fact that the ambassador implied that the people of this planet would know if he came to their ship insinuated that they are tracking him. Alex speculated that it might have something to do with his modifications. He had no idea who the Captain wanted to send down to the surface.
This appeared to be a diplomatic mission. Alex had grown up around diplomats and knew enough to be effective, but he got the impression that the FO and others might have their own ideas about how they wanted to proceed. Alex anticipated that he would most likely be remaining on the ship. If the team needed his input, he could offer it from where he sat. Thus far, there didn't seem to be an issue with the augmented population, so his assessment of that aspect of them might be unnecessary.
Since he had come to the ship, he had noticed that Cindy had been used a few times. In this case, she could be a good or bad choice in equal measure. He wasn't worried about the locals being able to hack her systems. Even Star Fleet was very unlikely to be able to manage that trick. Her shielded systems and his coding were such that at best, they might be able to disable a limb or even take crude control of it, but the safety protocols in her prevented such remote actions of her processors or memory modules. The only shielding that was able to be penetrated were simple connection nodes. If compromised, Cindy was able to overload her components and render herself a harmless and useless pile of slag. On the other hand, she was a walking advertisement for the prosthetic developments offered by the Federation. Depending on what the Captain wanted, Cindy could either employ ECM that overtly made her register as human, or allow scans to show what she really was. Normally, only military grade scans could overcome her ECM, but they didn't really know what these people were capable of. There could be underground groups that were not eager to share their highest level developments with the masses. The motivations of such people were his biggest point of concern. Alex strove to help people blend in and be human again, in spite of their injuries. These people seemed to use any deficiency they found in themselves as an excuse to augment themselves, feeling that made them even better as a result. He knew all too well that such self-induced psychological traps never ended well. For now, he would just have to see what the CO wanted.
While he waited, he began mapping the magnetosphere of the planet. Given how much noise he was picking up from the planet, it would be good to know more about their satellite placements and radiation belts of their planet. Fortunately, the standard operating procedure for establishing orbits was often above the more dangerous areas. Not that their ship wasn't protected from such things, but it just made things so much easier when they could maintain a safer orbit higher than most cultures placed their equipment.