The challenge of shooting a parked car

[Hanna-Beth Rieve 0]

1Lt. Hanna-Beth Rieve kept increasing the power on the phaser rifle and taking shots at the thing. She tried to think of it as if it were the small hull of a shuttle. If she were trying to break into it, how would she? But, even at settings that should, in all her experience, blast the whole room apart, the object stayed in place. The phaser energy absorbed or diffused, and the object remained undamaged. She called over the other Marines. If one phaser rifle couldn't break this thing apart, maybe a whole salvo could.

 

They carefully positioned themselves around the object. A scientist or engineer might have calculated the optimal firing angles. The Marines went on training and experience. They readied themselves, aimed and fired. The object's encasing didn't budge. It seemed as if the Romulans had constructed this particular object to withstand even the destruction of their own ship. At this point, Lt. Rieve was wishing she could oblige them herself.

 

Rieve then ordered the Marines to change the frequencies of their phasers. It was a technique that was used against the Borg's adaptation mechanism. The Marines randomized their frequencies and commenced fire, resulting in absolutely no change in their situation. But, they had only covered a small fraction of of available modes. The tedious job continued. Randomize, aim, fire, scan... Randomize, aim, fire, scan... After almost an hour of nonstop shooting at a target with the challenge level of shooting a parked vehicle, a hairline fracture finally appeared in the encasing. It was sensitive to a particular high-intensity green phaser beam. It was time to inform the engineers to see how they wanted to proceed..