Filtering Communications
- With 24th century computer technology, it's a simple matter to modify the sounds and images transmitted in communications. A Shipboard Systems (Communications) Skill Test allows a character to modify a communication, altering its visual and audio components to present whatever image the character wishes. The Difficult of the test is based on the complexity of the change desired. Making the captain look like a Klingon, standing on a Klingon bridge, for example, might be Moderate, while making the captain appear as a Tholian or a Sheliak, speaking in their native language, is Challenging at least.
- A communications filter changes the way the receiver sees and hears communications sent from the ship. For example, a filter might make the crew look like Cardassians, standing on the bridge of a Cardassian ship. This is a useful supplement to the other forms of deception. If a patrol ship's long range sensors tell them they are tracking a Cardassian freighter, and their communication with the ship shows a Cardassian crew on board, they're not likely to suspect that the vessel is really a Starfleet Nebula-class starship
Computer Systems
- The center of nearly every security system in the 24th century is a computer. Control the computer, and you control the security system. The computer is the "brain" of a starship or installation, making it one of the parts most vulnerable to subversion and attack. Since the computer controls many functions automatically, completely outside the control of its crew, damage or sabotage of a ship's computer can sometimes leave it helpless.
- Starship computers communicate with the outside world in a variety of different ways. They use the ship's external sensors to gather information for navigation, to avoid hazards to the ship and crew, and to provide the crew with useful information about their surroundings. They use internal sensors to monitor the locations of crewmembers, route communications, maintain environmental conditions, and dozens of other functions. Communications (both internal and external) are routed through the ship's computer, and the computer is in regular contact with outside sources of information like time-base beacons, surveillance satellites, probes, and similar objects. Computers on board stations, or planetside, function in much the same way.
Transponder Signals and Prefix Codes
Starfleet Security Codes & Data Access
Locks
- Locks keep things that open closed-from doors to boxes. A lock can be a simple mechanical affair (easy to overcome with the right tools) or a more sophisticated electronic lock. Electronic locks usually have additional security features built into them, such as identifying their owner by fingerprints, retinal print, voice, DNA scan, galvanic skin response, or similar criteria.
Sensors
- One of the prime security measures is the use of sensors, devices able to pick up and monitor certain types of information, sending out an alarm or activating other security measures when they detect intruders.
- Sensor technology in the 24th century is capable of picking up nearly every type of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum (and some exotic energies outside of it), along with biological matter, and even specific DNA sequences. Most sensor packages consist of multiple types of sensors, each detecting something different. For example, a sensor suite might scan for electromagnetic disturbances, ionization traces (indicative of a transporter beam), infrared signatures for body heat and working machinery, and so forth.
Visual Sensors
- Visual sensors transmit a visual image of the area they are set to scan, similar to old-fashioned security cameras. They can be crudely overcome by blacking them out with some opaque material (paint, for example). A more sophisticated option is to install a device that feeds the sensor's data back into it, creating a "loop" and effectively blinding the sensor.
Motion Sensors
- Motion sensors detect molecular displacement traces created by moving objects. The sensors generally have a "threshold" of movement they are designed to detect. If the threshold is set too low, the random movement of air molecules can be enough to set the sensors off. Low-grade motion sensors can be evaded by moving very slowly. Otherwise, its easiest to defeat motion sensors by overcoming the computer that controls them.
Infrared Sensors
- Infrared (or IR) sensors pick up infrared radiation or heat sources, including the body heat of warm-blooded lifeforms. Characters can overcome them by wearing special anti-IR clothing to masks their heat signature, or by programming a device like a tricorder to emit an IR scattering field.
Electromagnetic Sensors
- These sensors detect electromagnetic disturbances of various kinds, including the operation of certain devices, the use of energy weapons like phasers, and so forth. They can be avoided by not using any high-energy devices, although this can make overcoming other sensors more difficult. Characters can also use technology to shield electromagnetic impulses, preventing them from being picked up by the sensors.
Subspace Sensors
- These sensors are fairly rare, they detect disturbances in the subspace field, such as those caused by warp nacelles or a transporter beam. They can detect anyone beaming in or out of an area, and provide information to help track the transporter beam's source.
Starship Sensors
- Starships rely heavily on the data provided by their various sensors for tactical and navigational decisions. Without its sensors, a ship is effectively blind and deaf, unable to detect anything except by having someone go to a window and look out. Therefore, many tactics in starship combat are based on fooling or shutting down an opponent's sensor systems.
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