Now Is a Good a Time as Any

Posted on Wednesday September 30th, 2020 @ 8:43pm by Lieutenant J'Loni Mo'Bri Daughter House L'Keth & Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe

2,378 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: S1-A1-Ep. 1: Spectrophobia
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: Just after all Ceremonies

[ON]

Sharpe was in his quarters dropping off his stuff when his door buzzer sounded "ENTER!" he said loudly and in walked a Klingon, he looked at her and simply raised an eyebrow in mild amusement.

J'Loni figured the now was just a good time to meet with the new CEO. After being in the chiefs spot for a while, they had finally found another Chief to take the slot. Walking to her former office, "Um Chief Sharpe you busy?" she said.

He looks up and over at her "Nope, I take it you are the old CEO I am taking over from?" he asked, "well let us get intros out of the way first I am Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe and you are?" He asked.

"Lt. J'Loni Mo'Bri, former CEO, now your assistant CEO," she said extending her hand to the Commander.

He takes the offered hand and gives a firm shake "so run me through what this old girl has been through? I know you guys have a memorial service happening soon, so I will not keep you too long unless as a Klingon you have no inclination to attending this function?" he asked.

"I will be going as I lost some good engineers in that hell. She has indeed gone through the wringer and so far most of the repairs are proceeding well. We have the warp engines back online as well, as impulse and the thrusters are all back to 100%. Shield generators have been replaced with upgraded versions, and all damaged power taps have been replaced. As I understand, our CAG came into the fighter bay upside down as she talked a cadet into landing his damaged fighter. She continued through and finally flew her own fighter back into the flight deck and landed. Fortunately, the damage to the fighter deck was light and has since been repaired," J'Loni said solemnly.

Sharpe did a double-take on the upside-down landing "strange landing that, but I am pleased to hear there was minimal damage to the shuttle bay, now what about your ODN lines and Computer area, can I take a look-see at them?" Sharpe asked.

"Of course, it is your engine room now, I'm just your assistant now," J'Loni said chuckling.

He looked at her "the ODN and computer area, could I please see them?" he asked memorizing his new domain "I want to start assessing what the damage is" he added.

"Come on sir I will show them to you," J'Loni said as she started to head over to the computer area first. "Since the battle, most of the damage has been repaired but we still have to replace several isolinear chips in section 12A as they were damaged very badly. They should be totally replaced in the next 5 hours," she said. Walking to the ODN conduit console, "This is the main ODN network area. Two-thirds of the network has been effectively repaired but we are still working on the last part. In this area, there was heavy damage not only to the ODN lines but most of the power taps associated with them were completely fried. So before we fix the ODN power feeds we have to install the new power taps first. It should all be done in the next week or so. We are doing round the clock repairs with four teams so the work is progressing. Each team does 8 hours work and then the next comes in and so on, which gives each team time to rest thoroughly before returning to duty" she explained hoping it was good enough for her new boss.

"I see, good" Sharpe added then walked over to the nearest console pulled open the access hatch and shuffled inside "what the hell!!" He exclaimed as he re-routed some functions and pulled out melted isolinear chips. As she shuffled out he held out the burned chips to his ACEO "have these replaced will you Lieutenant, and have someone look at the inner workings of this console, I managed to re-route the functions that these chips connected to, but they will not hold out indefinitely" he said and walked over to the ODN area he was shown and was amazed the ship was not only in a one-piece but still flying, he returned to his escort "she is still flying a testament to the engineering crew, but how the hell did you keep the power going with all those damaged ODN lines?" he asked.

A broad smile crossed her face, "Well that would be my jury-rigging. By taking the secondary ODN lines, I used the power taps and changed the plasma from primary ODN lines and ran them through the power taps to the secondary ODN lines and recalibrate the power converters to allow for an even flow of plasma. It was a shot in the dark but the simulations said it had a 97% chance of working, so we did it and it worked," J'Loni said. Taking the damaged chips, she went into her tunic pocket and pulled out some replacement chips. "Here commander, these are replacement chips," she added handing him the isolinear chips.

He took them, looked at them then up at her and raised an eyebrow "indeed, excuse me a moment" he said as he returned to the console and climbed in again and put the replacement chips in and returned the connections he was mumbling to himself as he worked away and in time he shimmied out of the crawlspace and replaced the hatch and secured it, he then pulled things up on the small display screen and nodded in satisfaction as he returned to his deputy.

"I want the Starbase techs helping out with all repairs, I want this old girl to be ready by the time we get our next mission got it, Lieutenant?" Sharpe asked.

Surprised, "Yes sir chief," J'Loni said looking at her boss still in a state of shock. Apparently, she had done a good job.

Smiling "excellent, now I want to run something by you, I tried it once as ACEO and it lasted for all of five seconds before the damaged ship I was stationed on almost went boom, after that, I quickly transferred out of engineering, when you almost blow up the ship you are serving on doing engineering is something one would want to stay away from. But it is a valid idea and it would be good if an emergency came up, I would like to get that five seconds up to at least half an hour, will you help with this idea of mine Lieutenant? After we finish fixing up the old girl first?" he asked.

"Sounds like you were close to a core breach," J'Loni said chuckling. "However, I will help you with your idea as long as we don't do the same mistake," she added chuckling.

"Core breach is putting it mildly, the Captain of the ship was justifiably annoyed needless to say I did not remain as ACEO much longer, but the ship was badly damaged when I tried my idea," Sharpe said as they continued the tour of engineering, they paused as they came to the warp core Sharpe studied it and then suddenly spoke.

"My idea was to have an emergency holoprogram that could be connected to engineering in times of extreme emergency to handle the surplus of a damaged warp core, but while my holo programming is good, I could never seem to make a stable connection for 5 seconds, but I did try it during combat on a badly damaged ship, this one is anything but, so I hope it will eventually work, I would like to have a duplicate holo warp core system become active when we have us a damaged warp core to help take the strain, I know a holographic one could not take over, but if a duplicate could assist the real one, then perhaps things will last long, but we first have to be able to stabilize the connections, so what do you think?" he asked.

"Sounds like a plausible idea. I mean if the holographic doctor from Voyager could make a pair of working lungs in a human, I don't see why we can't duplicate that here. We would have to install holo projectors here in engineering first. Then make the program up in the holodeck to see if the matrix would actually work" J'Loni said thinking ahead already.

"Therein lies the problem, even doing that, there is the issue of connecting actual ODN lines to holographic ones and holographic lungs are not the same as actual power running through simulated ODN lines. Lungs are organic and only deal with oxygen holographic ODN lines are totally different and much more dangerous, this is why I have not repeated the experiment too dangerous, but I am hoping to make it a reality as I understand it will be a benefit to emergency powers" Sharpe said.

"Hm.......I see the problem here. Plasma, dangerous in any form! How to get actual plasma into a holo matrix is a bit of a sticky wicket. It would benefit emergency power, however, I am at a loss for theory", J'Loni said.

"Now we are on the same page if we can work that little problem out then we can advance, is there an engineer here that speciality in holo to actual ODN energy merging? My primary experience is computers and finding back doors into them and rewiring them" he asked.

"Not to my knowledge but maybe we might come up with something together," J'Loni said, scratching her head. "Maybe we could use pattern enhancers that could strengthen the holo grid enough for it to work. I remember reading somewhere that it was used to make a chair solid for a few seconds outside the holo matrix," she added.

"A solid idea, but we would need to get the permission of the Captain to install some in engineering, but something to look into I want to work out the finer points before we go to the Captain. Tell me, Lieutenant could this old girl take an advanced form of Pattern enhancer? It would have to be small and compact, but still, be able to do what a standard enhancer does because I do not want those posts in my engineering room, the size I am thinking of is similar to that of those old small dome fish-eye cameras they used to have in Malls back in the early 21st century, could the ability of a Pattern enhancer be confined to such a small size?" He asked.

"I don't see why not. We can replicate what we need from the 21st century. Then we can put it inside the dome, and it should work. Enhancing the pattern enhancer should be relatively easy and making it small enough but powerful enough to do what is needed. So far she has done everything I have asked of her and then some," J'Loni said, smiling and giving the bulkhead a loving pat.

Sharpe nodded in agreement and did not miss the tender pat on the ships hull "you are not the usual Klingon are you?" he asked her as they finished the tour and entered his office so he could have a look around "tell me, Lieutenant, is there a briefing room here in engineering where the CEO can speak to their engineers en-masse?" He asked.

"Sure, you can hold briefings in either of the two engineering workshops on either side if the intermix chamber. There should be enough room for all of us there," J'Loni said, looking at Sharpe. " As for being not your usual Klingon, I have been around fleeters long enough for their humour and human ways to rub off on me. Besides I am also half Betazoid as well, so not fully Klingon, but I take my Klingon heritage and traditions to heart" she added. "No Commander, I love my job just as much as I love my ladies. These starships are women of a special breed, you treat them with tender loving care, and they will give their all when you ask for it. She might be the captain's command but honestly, she is my lady and I treat her as such" she added.

He smiled and looked at her as he sat down and checked his side of the desk, he was mentally measuring up where he could put the small chiller unit he had, it was the same one he used to have in his Security office on a previous assignment, now it would fit in well here and he looked back up said "Lieutenant, when I am properly settled in this office, might not you share a mug of bloodwine with me! I have an appreciation for the drink and can manage one drink without needing anti-intoxicants running through my system" he said.

Startled, surprised, "Um....sure why not. I would consider it an honour to share a mug of bloodwine", J'Loni said chuckling. Obviously she must have made an impression on her boss.

Smiling at her, "excellent, now are there any immediate concerns that I need to be aware of?" he asked feeling that things were coming to a close with this little tour, the ship still needed repairs and he was eager to get to work.

"Other than what we discussed earlier, nope, that just about covered everything," J'Loni said smiling.

He smiles "excellent, well then Lieutenant I will let you return to your duties, while I mine, we need to get this ship back in working order, you with me?" Sharpe asked.

"Of course sir, always. She was and still is my lady just as much as it is yours," J'Loni said smiling.

"Excellent, I will see you at the next briefing" he added standing up to indicate things were completed...

"Yes sir, most definitely at the next briefing," J'Loni said standing and headed for the warp core.

With that, he watched his Deputy leave his office, he looked around "this office is barren, time to make it my second home" he said to himself as no one was currently in his office.

[OFF]

Lt Cmdr Paul Sharpe
Chief Engineer
USS Poseidon


Lt. J'Loni Mo'Bri
Asset. Chief Engineer
USS Poseidon

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