Ion Storms and Ion Pods

OTOH, it indeed being unlikely would be a great excuse for why Finney hadn't done this years ago already.

But yes, it's one of the things he would have arranged for. What would his "to do" list look like?

- Manipulate duty roster
- Manipulate CCTV and other internal sensors so that disappearance becomes possible
- Prepare hideout
- Manipulate records of Kirk's actions to discredit the man
- Somehow depart the ship unseen, live under assumed identity?

Most of those things Finney could do beforehand, or program to happen with a single keypress - even the manipulation of the bridge imagery. The hideout would be the biggest problem: Finney would need to steal the right amount of supplies and haul them to the location in secrecy, then act before his spam went stale. He would probably need to predict an ion storm, then! If they were monthly events, the plot wouldn't make much sense. If they were encountered once in a decade, somebody would spot his den if he did prepare it years too early. And how much supplies would he need exactly to make good his subsequent escape? He could bet on Kirk sailing to nearest port ASAP, of course, but apparently this is not when he planned to get off, because he didn't. And the next mission of the ship to a port not teeming with Starfleet personnel might not take place all that soon, what with Kirk having to be replaced and all.

Timo Saloniemi

 

Actually, our favourite Vulcan identifies the phenomenon as an ion storm just prior to beam-up

It's The Galileo Seven that is more curious - initially, it seems that the muraski "quasar-like phenomenon" has ionised the entire area, which spans an impressive 4 solar systems! There is various dialogue to support that following this initial statement, both from the Enterprise and shuttle personnel.
Then all of sudden, about half way through the episode, Kirk appears to be the one who names this strange space-weather effect:

Even more interestingly, the following episode is Court-Martial: This might suggest that Starfleet really got interested in the ability of their starships to investigate (and endure) ion storms, and sent Enterprise off to fire science pods at the very next one!

 

Yeah, that would make more sense if the Ion Pod was supposed to be ejected into the Ion Storm, rather then ejected to prevent harm to the occupant/ship. Instead of taking readings, which a computer could do; Ben Finney could be in there to manually "arm" the pod or something.

Reading through the transcript, the "Storm Chaser" hypothesis could fit. the only big problem is that it is explicitly states Finney's job in the pod is to take reading on the ion storm. It still makes more sense than having someone in the pod that could be automated, and then having to eject said pod because reasons.

 

Finney is to report to the pod "for readings", not "for taking readings". This can easily be read as Finney facilitating the obtaining of those readings by priming the necessary automation before the launch.

Or if need be, the obscure and outdated word "reading" which has essentially zero meaning even today can be assumed to have acquired a new and relevant meaning that fits the priming-the-automation scenario. It's abbreviated Starfleetspeak anyway, thus probably as impenetrably obscure as naval jargon today.

It does seem as if the adverse effect takes Kirk by surprise - supposedly because it appears quite suddenly, and not because Kirk would have failed to notice it originally. It subsequently dispersing sounds plausible as well, then; it would be unpredictable, a key characteristic of Murasaki and her ilk, but definitely not in contradiction with the descriptions we get.

The model also befits the need to go tornado hunting ASAP whenever one spots an ion storm. That Kirk doesn't do that here might be only because he suddenly has too much on his plate. One wonders why a shuttle was sent in the first place... "To avoid the known consequences a storm has on big starships" doesn't convince me with its rationality, so "because the shuttle had some limited objective close to the launching coordinates, with Kirk planning on taking the ship herself to another location for simultaneous ops to maximum efficiency" coupled with "shuttle catapulted to unknown coordinates far beyond intended range and lost from sensors, both because of a sudden unexpected storm" is my preference.

Timo Saloniemi

 

For some time I've wondered how Finney was planning to eventually get off the ship, it occurs to me that maybe he wasn't going to. He had a phaser, after he was sure that Kirk was professionally destroyed, he was planning to disintergrate himself.

 

Since I never flew on a Starship into an ion storm or otherwise, I can only guess, but I'm guessing that severe ions storms disrupt computer operations due to emf interference unless properly shielded, which blocks the ability to take the reading, therefore there is a minimally shielded "ion pod" that can take the readings but not without being manually run by an individual.

What is fun for me is thinking of these things.

I forgot who started the thread but we had a recent one about what Star Trek didn't say, didn't over explain things to take the mystery and fun out of it like some other shows feel obligated to do. An ion pod is probably as ubiquitous to 23rd century Starfleet personnel as any equipment on a Navy ship today is to Sailors. I remember one of Kirk's statements was specifically, "I don't have to tell you what that means" so no long babbling explanations. Even Spock finding the problem was basically as simple as a chess game, he didn't start yammering about using the thingamajig in the whatsis to detect the fragistat and don't forget reversing the polarity.

 

^^ Yep, that "technobabble" is something that has annoyed me to no end on later shows.

 

I think that was also one of mine: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/tos-showing-not-telling.280141/

 

I just reread much of that thread. It was interesting.

 

Question: Ben Finney is in the pod during the ion storm. Kirk waits until the last possible second and then jettisons the pod. Finney alters the record to make it look like Kirk jettisoned prematurely. But does this mean Ben wasn't actually in the pod at the critical moment? Did he get out? How? When? They talk about his ability to manipulate the record, but doesn't this mean he'd have to have faked the entire mission from the beginning?

 

There's another thread on the ion pod ongoing, but until this one gets merged to it, we might as well discuss the thing here from another angle.

The critical moment would not be all that critical. Remember the conversation between Kirk and Finney: Finney calls Kirk (at a moment of his choosing, well before there should be trouble) to create the impression that not only is he at the pod (perhas he is, perhaps he isn't) but intends to stay there to complete the job (he does not, and the very fact that he is speaking with Kirk tells us that Kirk has no independent way of knowing what sort of progress Finney is making). Right after this call, if not sooner, Finney can make good his escape and wait for the inevitable jettison.

This, btw, is yet another factor establishing that the jettison was inevitable - not a contingency option, but indeed the entire point of the whole exercise. The pod has to be jettisoned or forensic evidence would damn Finney immediately. And so clearly Finney can count on it being jettisoned.

Timo Saloniemi