Analysis of the Klingon Bird of Prey

[Savros 0]

** Analysis of the attack and the destroyed Bird of Prey **

 

1. Analysis of the Klingon debris field yielded several important clues.

 

a. Klingon hull structures are made out of the same duranium/tritanium materials shared by most space faring species with one noted exception. Certain portions of their ship, notably their bridge, are coated with a 5 cm layer of high density armor.

 

b. There were no anomalous readings contained in this scan. This means there is no additional information to report on weapons, cloaking device or power signatures.

 

c. By comparing the records of the fluorine gas dispersal to the ship's displacement within the gas cloud, I have been able to identify trace amounts of fluorine radioisotope bonded to several sections of the hull. I have already informed Lt (j.g.) Kas of the results.

 

2. Lt (j.g.) Kas believes there may have been additional cloaked vessels in the area at the time of the attack. If so, they too may be painted with fluorine isotopes.

 

a. I instructed each ship in the fleet to scan for gamma energy signatures at 1.41 MeV, the decay energy of the fluorine isotope. The USS East St. Louis reported they had found the isotope on their port nacelle. No other ships were so marked.

 

b. The USS East St. Louis took a direct hit to the primary energy relay and suffered random power shortages throughout the ship. At the time of the gas cloud, it appears that the shields dropped for 2 seconds.

 

3. The USS Columbia reported a couple key pieces of information:

 

a. The attack started with reduced strength disruptors with no orange energy surge to give away their position. The reduced strength appears to come from the use of short duration, less energetic wavelengths.

 

b. The next round of attacks was conducted with torpedoes at longer range.

 

4. Based on the findings, I believe the following:

 

a. The attacking Bird of Prey was of the same general design as the one captured by Captain Kirk in 2285. It likely it has the same limitations of the current model, but is retrofitted to use the cloaking device.

 

i. The attack pattern shows experimentation with the disruptor settings to maintain a less visible energy signature. Based on Columbia's observation of less energetic wavelengths, they may be using microwave frequencies.

 

ii. Although they can fire under cloak, the energy requirements are too great to use shields.

 

b. Lt (j.g.) Kas' fluorine gas bonds readily to ships with no active shields.

 

i. It is unknown whether a ship under cloak would be detectable by scanning for its signature gamma decay energy.

 

ii. Whether the Klingons have yet to detect this isotope is still unknown.

 

c. There was more than one ship at the attack sites. The second or additional ships may or may not have participated. Instead, at least ship recorded the results for communication to their superiors.