During the in-depth exploration of matter reorganization technology, Osiris revealed to Starfleet's core technical team, especially Spock and Scott, the existence and incredible efficacy of the 'self-repairing STC'.
He used rigorous technical descriptions, avoiding the religious terminology unique to the Warhammer Universe, and emphasized its core characteristic: 'restoring any specified object to its pristine baseline state in an extremely short time, without significant raw material input'.
This description caused a huge stir among Starfleet's top scientists and engineers.
Spock's Vulcan logic quickly assessed its physical implications. He commented, 'If the description is accurate, it implies a macroscopic reversal of the process of entropy increase in matter, and the ability to anchor and reproduce specific quantum states across time.
This touches upon, and possibly transcends, the boundaries of our current physics theories.'
Scott, meanwhile, expressed an engineer's astonishment more directly: 'My goodness! No need to replace parts, no need to wait for printing, just press a button and a starship can be repaired? This is every Chief Engineer's ultimate dream!'
Osiris caught the blend of shock and intense curiosity in their eyes, then proposed his vision: 'To fully replicate this ancient technology, given our current understanding and resources, might be impractical.
However, I believe that based on our existing knowledge of matter reorganization principles, combined with my limited data on the energy field characteristics of that system, we might be able to attempt to develop a similar, albeit less effective, alternative technology.
This is not about duplicating a miracle, but about building a bridge towards understanding it.'
This pragmatic yet challenging proposal immediately received a positive response from Starfleet's technical team.
Starfleet, especially its science department, is driven by the exploration of the unknown and the pursuit of knowledge.
The allure of participating in the analysis, or even partial recreation, of such a technology that transcends current understanding was irresistible.
After receiving special authorization and resource allocation from Starfleet High Command, a highly classified joint research project was officially launched.
Spock's theoretical team was responsible for constructing mathematical models, attempting to link the 'phenomena' exhibited by the STC with Starfleet's quantum physics and spacetime theories.
Scott's engineering team was responsible for supporting the implementation of technical pathways, including high-precision sensor arrays, ultra-large energy capacitors, and matter storage/regulation systems.
Osiris was at the core, providing data on the unique energy spectrum and micro-variations in spacetime curvature recorded when the STC was activated, as well as his long-standing hypothesis that the 'repair' process was not creation but 'reversion'.
He combined Starfleet's rigorous systematic research methods with the fragmented miraculous clues he brought from another technological peak of humanity.
The research work proceeded in a highly focused atmosphere.
They did not expect to achieve everything at once, but set phased goals: first, to attempt repeatable 'self-repair' of a simple alloy with known structure at the microscopic level, based on quantum information retrieval, even if it was only to repair a tiny crack.
This first step involved unprecedented deep information scanning and storage of an object's 'intact state', and how to guide energy to precisely 'reverse' localized damage without completely disassembling the object.
Osiris immersed himself in data, formulas, and experiments.
He knew it was a long road, but the technology and resources provided by Starfleet, and the wisdom of these top colleagues, made him feel for the first time that the ancient STC might represent not just a miracle of the past, but also a power that could be mastered in the future.
Every theoretical model adjustment, every experimental parameter optimization, made him feel that he was standing on the steps leading to that once unattainable miracle.
—
The joint research project quickly encountered a core dilemma.
The theory brought by Osiris clearly indicated that the operation mechanism of the ancient STC deeply involved a field almost entirely unknown to Starfleet scholars—the localized manipulation of temporal factors.
While Starfleet's technology tree had made breakthroughs in spatial jumps (warp speed) and macroscopic time travel (gravity slingshot), these were more about 'hitching a ride' using the universe's own physical phenomena (like gravitational fields).
The true meaning of precise manipulation of local time flow and reversing the entropy increase process of specific objects was a new, almost forbidden, area of knowledge for them.
Even Spock, with his vast knowledge, admitted that theoretical reserves in this area were almost nil.
The only close encounter with a related effect was when Kirk and others witnessed Osiris using a stasis grenade, but that was more like an encapsulated 'application' rather than an understandable, reproducible technological principle.
Therefore, when Osiris began to expound on core theories involving temporal anchoring and quantum state retrieval, Starfleet's scientists and engineers encountered huge comprehension barriers.
These knowledge systems differed too greatly from their familiar frameworks; assimilation would require a long time, and might even trigger a revolutionary reconstruction of fundamental physical concepts.
Project progress inevitably fell into a theoretical bottleneck.
Facing this predicament, Scott proposed a pragmatic and creative alternative: 'Perhaps we don't need to assault the hardest fortress—time manipulation—right from the start.
Magos Osiris mentioned that the STC needs to know the 'intact' state of an object.
Why don't we try a different approach? What if we first scan and store the complete three-dimensional structural blueprint of the object or system to be repaired, at a molecular level of precision, in the device's database?'
Spock immediately understood the logic, adding: 'This is a solution consistent with existing technical pathways. When repair is needed, the device performs a scan of the damaged area with equivalent precision, compares the data of the damaged state point-by-point with the 'intact blueprint' stored in the database, precisely locating missing, misaligned, or damaged molecular structures.
Subsequently, the repair process would not involve time reversal, but would be based on our already mastered replication technology principles: using a concentrated energy field to precisely decompose the molecular structure of the damaged part into elementary particles, while simultaneously drawing upon stored matter and energy to reconstruct at the molecular level in that location, strictly according to the 'intact blueprint'.'"
Osiris listened to this proposal and quickly evaluated it.
This was indeed a circuitous path, abandoning the direct, efficient, but also extremely difficult time manipulation, and instead utilizing Starfleet's expertise in the 'scan-compare-decompose-reconstruct' process to achieve a similar 'repair' effect.
It could not truly 'reverse time to make the wound disappear' like the original STC, but was more like an extremely precise, microscopic surgery of 'replacing what's broken'.
'A logical compromise,' Osiris' synthesized voice finally sounded, with a tone of approval, 'It circumvents the theoretical obstacles we currently cannot overcome and fully utilizes existing technological advantages.
Although its efficiency and application scope may not compare to the original STC, as an initial, achievable verification platform, it has high value. We can set this as the first phase objective of the project.'
This pragmatic shift received unanimous agreement from the team.
The research focus was adjusted accordingly.
Starfleet technical personnel began to fully tackle high-precision, high-efficiency molecular-level scanning and comparison algorithms, as well as how to achieve localized, non-destructive decomposition and in-situ reconstruction technology for complex structures.
Osiris, meanwhile, provided more insights into certain non-temporal parameters that the STC might involve in 'identifying' damage and 'defining' an intact state, serving as a reference for optimizing comparison algorithms.
The project returned to a trajectory more familiar to Starfleet technology; although the goal remained arduous, at least the path became clear.
Osiris was also pleased to see this progress. After all, a device capable of precise microscopic repair, even if its principle was different, would still be an invaluable breakthrough for his future flagship.