Re: HD 84121
ECM...
It's one of those "so advanced it's almost magic" things that most people, even among starship crews, knows very little about. It's always been like that- ECM began appearing in it's "real" form in the Cold War, and a half century later all but a tiny fraction of humanity had any inkling of how it worked. This was by design, as it was always a very classified subject area, and also because it involved an appreciation of sensor and computer operations that most people didn't have. And no one studies obsolete ECM, because its useless. The only time its actually taught is when it is cutting edge and top secret.
It's common enough, though, so that every military ship and every major commercial ship is equipped. But not the Albatross. It's systems were classified, and stripped out when the ship was converted over to civilian use. New equipment is expensive, and the crew hasn't acquired any.
Of course what the ship could really use now would be a Faraday Cage, a very simple box of conductive material that blocks electromagnetic energy. (A microwave oven is a Faraday Cage).Characters with the right skills could assemble one around the alien thing, using equipment on the Albatross. But it's not something they can just "activate" with the flip of a switch.
Hannah, though, reports that all of the ship's critical systems are secure. She's a computer scientist, this is right up her alley. She has set a "watchdog" program to look out for strange activity in the ship systems, and so far, absolutely none. Firewalls protect all of the ship's operating software from outside interference... that IS standard.
** *** ** ** ** ** **
Boris and Horace try to put some distance between themselves and the Carinian ship.
"I'm a little surprised that it hasn't destroyed itself," Boris says. "On the one hand I feel like we could go back for more. On the other I know that what we do have is extraordinary, and why tempt fate being greedy? As they say, better is the enemy of good enough."
The boat returns for them, and picks them up. Very shortly thereafter, they are back with the Albatross and the group is reunited.