Cortez headed over to the tactical console and peered over the Lieutenant's shoulders at his sensor readings.
"No" he said, bringing up a scan analysis "See the signal degredation there? That wouldn't occur if these readings were being generated from that point."
He continued, bringing up a more detailed spectrographic analysis.
"My best guess is this signal has been relayed through a listening post or satelitte of some sort. If we go there, we'll only be walking into a trap. But it's a good start. Use a tricyclic scan and attempt to trace it back to it's origin. I'd bet five bars of latinum that it leads back to the station, Lieutenant."
Hajek was concerned about the lack of a science officer on the bridge but decided to take the XO's request for sensor updates from tactical as Mister Cortez thinking from a security perspective as opposed to dismissing any assistance Petr may or may not be able to offer.
Petr knew what needed doing and set about getting the information the bridge officers would require. He directed the lateral sensor arrays to conduct a full sweep in the hopes of identifying other vessels, whilst focussing the forward array to scan for much smaller objects that might be involved with the apparent redirection of the signal Cortez was currently suspicious of.
Within seconds his console was replete with data that he began to correlate and prioritise in order of importance. The spectrographic analysis had provided no evidence of a significant physical presence to explain the signal characteristics, but the lateral sensors had received many bounces that the computer was still analysing.
"Sir, I took the liberty of conducting the scans to assist Lieutenant Thompson." Petr called out to all concerned. "Long range three-sixty indicates various targets, none of immediate cause for concern...but I got the primary sensors to hit the apparent signal source, and it seems you're correct Sir." With his thumb on the transfer node Petr touched two other controls to put the signals he was talking of into the temporary buffer, and with an easy double-tap of his thumb the data was received at both Tactical and the XO's display screens. "If you look to your displays Sirs you'll see what appears to be the source of the signal...but if I bring the modified multiphase buffers online..." Again Petr's fingers danced almost effortlessly over his console to achieve the desired result. With a final deliberate tap of one control he span his chair around to look at Mike Cortez. "You'll see that instead of a vessel...we have a much smaller object; my guess is a signal booster and relay, relaying the signal along with other readings designed to make us think there is a vessel there."
He knew the next piece of information was pure speculation on his part but if it was right or wrong was irrelevant, it was upto the officers to take it under advisement and act accordingly.
"Sir, I think we are being fed a dummy, as you too suggested, but it seems too easy a trick to identify. The first logical thought would be to look to one or more of the various targets the long range sweep brought up...but don't fall into the same trap as I did before we made it back to spacedock. Maybe they just want us to look there, when in fact they could be hiding in plain sight under our noses. I'll scan for evidence of cloaked vessels too."