[b]After Ariadne’s departure:[/b]
Delving into the systems for the Asgard beam weapons wasn’t easy. Even with over a year of studying non-human technology, Ingrid did not know nearly enough to fully understand it. It was so far beyond Earth technology that it was virtually a laughing matter to compare. Still, ever since being given access to one of the Asgard Cores, she had made significant progress. She had learned that she did not really need to know all the hows. The Core could fill in the blanks. Now, she shared all she had learned from the Core with Vanja, so that she too could help interpret and solve the problem. 

Though it wasn’t as effective as a typed access, Ingrid had always been fond of using verbal interface with the core. “Core. Identify all changes to Asgard beam weapon software.” The core was silent for but a moment before answering. “That system has not been altered.” Inwardly she cursed. “If only it had been that easy...”

She decided that either, the guilty party had cleaned up after themselves, which she doubted, or they had not messed with the software. “Core. Identify faulty components in Asgard Beam Weapon arrays.” Suddenly, the display lit up, revealing the schematics of the asgard beams. Most components were a pale blue, but several were lit up with a bright yellow. “Beam charge capacitors have malfunctioned. Mean functionality is at 2.11%.”

While Ingrid liked learning what was broken, she did not like the fact that someone had managed to sabotage something like that without anyone noticing. Those components were deep in the system and very hard to get to. “Core. Remove faulty capacitors.” The core bleeped “That function is not possible while weapons are online.” Ingrid grumbled a bit, having forgotten how obnoxious the Asgard interface could be. Some things, it did intuitively. Others it had to be spoonfed instructions for. “Core. Disable Beam weapons. Move faulty capacitors to the mechanics lab. Initialize manufacture of new capacitors.” The core started glowing in all sorts of places, clearly beginning the job it had been given. Ingrid did not quite know how large the capacitors were, so she figured it would be better to move them to one of the larger labs. Since the internal sensors were fully functional, she figured that the core would be able to beam just the right components. She doubted the Asgard would have started dismantling their weapons manually for repair. After a few minutes, the core grew silent and incomprehensible code stopped flashing across the screen. “Task one and two complete. Task three complete in four minutes and seventeen seconds.”

Vanja suddenly decided to seize control, just to see if something would work. Ingrid was a bit bothered by it, but Vanja did not listen to her complaint. [i]“Core. Identify the saboteur on the ship.”[/i] The Core answered immediately. “That function is not possible.” Inside their head, Ingrid thought ‘you didn’t really think that would work, did you?’ Vanja sent a feeling akin to a shrug. [i]‘It was worth a try.’[/i]

Once the manufacture was complete, Ingrid ordered the core to install them into the weapons. Then she wrote a program into the core to notify her and the captain in the case that someone attempted to physically access any asgard system without authorization and to lock down surrounding bulkheads. After a minute or so, she decided to add a section detailing that the core beam the subject to the center of the brig. “That should take care of future attempts at sabotage…” she muttered, hearing Vanja’s chuckling in her mind.