Subject: ummm....
Author:
Posted on: 2009-12-06 22:18:00 UTC
If you could get to the reactor, couldn't you just blow it up and let the Borg on board the cube just sit there until they died? If that wasn't an option, you could just knock out the reactor and shoot the now-unshielded cube a lot.
Seems like that would take less effort.
…for an escaped canon character in HQ to shut down (but not destroy) a K-9?
What problems would Tadkeeta's new body have besides a lack of stamina and frequent aches?
"This statement is false", or some more complicated system of statements that lead to the same contradiction.
Might be bad for the circuitry, though. Also, if K-9s have military-grade hardening, it'd need to be a pretty big EMP.
EMP, if properly done, PERMANENTLY fries your circuitry. K-9 may or may not be shielded, but it has to be fairly specialized--and very strong--shielding. If you wanna go with EMP, having the character set up a fluctuating magnetic field might be your best choice. Or lightning, if he has that capability. However, I'd probably just go with a strong electromagnet, which would wipe his hard drive but not kill his circuits.
Yikes, why do I talk so much sometimes? >.
I actually found the long version very interesting, since all I knew going in was "EMP fries computers." It's cool to know how it actually works.
But then, I'm pretty omnivorous when it comes to information...
~Neshomeh
Lol, I had the project going last summer to come up with a comprehensive plan to take down the Borg. One part (and only one, mind you) of it was to take them down on a cube-by-cube basis by sabotaging their fusion reactors--and the EMFs containing them--to create a huge EMP that would hopefully fry all the mechanical tech in their entire ship. That's the only reason why I know so much about EMP at all. XD So I'm glad to have the info be useful!
If you could get to the reactor, couldn't you just blow it up and let the Borg on board the cube just sit there until they died? If that wasn't an option, you could just knock out the reactor and shoot the now-unshielded cube a lot.
Seems like that would take less effort.
Not necessarily. (Though maybe.) Remember their tech regenerates itself? That's why using lots of firepower didn't work for the Federation. The idea is that the EMP wouldn't damage the tech so much as incapacitate it, thus possibly knocking out its regeneration ability, or at least causing serious enough damage to delay it long enough to take it out with conventional guns and stuff, like you said. None of which would necessarily take it out anyway, but like I said, it was only one part of a bigger plan. The Borg were designed as this completely unstoppable Juggernaut, which is why it's fun to come up with ideas for killing them.
Yes I am a big big dork. XD
As far as I know, EMP works by inducing high voltage currents in electronics, permanently frying any integrated circuitry not shielded by a Faraday cage. Which the K-9 may or may not have. It's not so rare; Your cell phone has that kind of shielding, to keep out interference from--for example--your microwave. And Titan probably has a lot of ambient electromagnetic radiation, so K-9 may have been built with shielding. The shielding in your cell phone wouldn't be strong enough to help against an EMP, though, and it's a toss up as to whether K-9's would have any effect.
But anyway, the classic way to get an EMP is to get a big explosion (nuclear, usually) and let the Earth's electromagnetic field freak out and do the work for you. But (IIRC) the explosion has to take place very high in the atmosphere, so that the air particles have time to do their thing. So in close quarters like HQ, the canon character would have more success just setting up a fluctuating magnetic field, which he/she could probably jury rig a device to do from spare parts in the DSAT, if he/she knew how to do so. (Something possibly involving either a microwave/something that emits microwaves, or a fusion generator of some kind. I couldn't tell you the specifics.) Lightning strikes also generate EMPs; one fried my computer once. And that strong of an electromagnetic field can be really painful if it's very local or directed. It'd probably make anyone in the area throw up from vertigo, at least.
But this seems more promising to me: If you get a light one--not an electromagnetic pulse, but a strong electromagnetic field--probably all it'd do is make his circuits temporarily freak out and wipe his hard drive. See the Supernatural episode Ghostfacers for an example: Dean jury rigs a big electromagnet--I think from a car battery, but I don't remember--sticks it in a duffel bag and sets it on a timer so that a few minutes after they leave, it goes off and wipes all the hard drives in the area. :D If something like that was used against your K-9, it would probably wipe his programming, but not affect his circuits. (That's assuming he's not shielded, because if he is it may not have any effect, depending on the strength of the shielding.) If he's anything like normal computers, he might have limited function from the BIOS, which is programmed directly into the circuitry. Either way, he'd be quite thoroughly incapacitated, but easily recoverable so long as somebody had a backup of his programming. (If not, or if the backup was incomplete, you could have some fun with the followup of him acting really weird and buggy as they tried to fine-tune his programming.)
Does K-9 have an off switch? Maybe a reset button? Or they could take the batteries out, I suppose. Although that could be difficult, since I seem to recall K-9 firing lasers at Giles at one point. Hmm.