A Frustrating Fix - Part One

Posted on Saturday April 24th, 2021 @ 9:58am by Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe & Captain Franklin Johnson & Commander Kanaka Shakura & Lieutenant Lazarus Kord

1,577 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: S1-A1-Ep. 1: Spectrophobia
Location: USS Poseidon; Main Engineering
Timeline: Arrived at Betreka Nebula
Tags: Engineering, Betreka Nebula, Power Difficulties

[ON]

Lieutenant Kord had been putting out the metaphorical fires since they first arrived at the Betreka Nebula. Unbeknownst to most of the crew - partially due to how fast he caught and fixed the problem - Lazarus had been resequencing the Impulse Manifold each time it began to cascade. This normally was a minor issue, the particles not flowing correctly and being fixed automatically, but in the Nebula, the computer seemed to be having routine issues with this fix. So it fell to a senior engineer, Lazarus himself, to catch and fix the problem.

It started simply enough. He found the alert on his console in engineering and heading up to Deck 3, where the upper Impulse Manifold Compartment was. He fixed the issue, which turned out to be a burnt connection, and returned to Main Engineering after reporting it. The next instance was a deck down, and then the next was back on Deck 3. All were random issues that seemingly had no connection, but Lazarus knew better. The Gorn had studied and watched and knew that some unknown particle was affecting the ships capability to power the impulse engines effectively.

After his sixth successful fix, Lazarus finally had enough. Growling in frustration he headed for the Chief Engineers office, or to look for his Chief to explain the situation.

Paul was taking a break from general tasks, he had made a start on increasing the thermal threshold on the ODN lines that would link the holo emitters to the key areas on the ship, he had done engineering, he had to do Security, Medical, well updated the emitters in Medical anyway and the bridge and finally science area. The job would take some time and had to be put on hold while they were at the nebula, he was looking over the specs for his holographic core back up when a tall figure entered, Gorns he thought had a unique scent and without looking up, "have you a seat Mr Kord" he said and finally looked up and only wished Gorn expressions were as easy to read as their scent was way to identify "so what troubles you, my Gorn friend?" He asked politely.

Lazarus obeyed his superior and took a seat, getting as comfortable as he could on his legs without bending his tail too far. He gave a grumble for a reply at first.

"There's something odd about this Nebula, I think," Lazarus ventured. "There's a lot of systems going offline and I've been fixing them. Each time I do it within a few hours another related system goes offline. If this keeps up I don't know what I'll do!"

Smiling slightly "Looks like we have us some gremlin's lieutenant," Sharpe said not knowing if Kord would understand such a human term "do you have those readings?" He asked.

"Gremlin's, sir?" Kord asked, head tilting almost entirely to one side quickly as he tried to understand the saying. When he was given a request, however, he returned to normal as he grabbed his tricorder. He opened it with a claw and tapped a button, switching the tricorder to engineering diagnostic mode. There are displayed the readings he quickly measured. Handing it to his superior officers, he remarked, "Here you go, sir. I got readings on most of the disturbances."

Taking the Padd "When I refer to the term Gremlins Lieutenant, it is an old engineers superstition that when something went wrong to a fighter or other vehicle it was Gremlin's, basically something is happening and we do not yet know what" he said explaining what he meant when he said Gremlins. Now he looked at the Padd and he had to double-check through the readings and tapped his commbadge.

"Sharpe to Commander Shakura"

There was a few seconds of silence before Shakura, who was currently doing her own work in her office on Deck Six, answered the Chief Engineering Officer. Her voice was as confident as ever. =^= "Commander Shakura to Lieutenant Commander Sharpe. Is everything alright?" =^=

"Recommend that shields be put on a rotating frequency, should they be needed, we have some random power drains, which will be looked into," Sharpe said.

Another few moments pause as Kana was most likely considering the situations and the options her most senior and experienced Engineer had given her. Very quickly though the response came back loud and clear. =^= "Alright, do what you've got to do Sharpe. I'll inform the Captain and pass on your recommendations, and further suggest we have the ship brought to a steady pace, reducing all unnecessary energy usage while we complete our sweep of this sector of the Nebula. I expect regular updates, and if there is an immediate issue, raise it to the Captain. Keep up the good work. Shakura out." =^=

"Acknowledged, Sharpe out," he said and closed the link and looked up at Kord "well Mr Kord, it seems we will need to adjust the power distribution sequences, I need you to go to the secondaries and adjust them, to a rotation of a 3 point variation a second at least until we clear this nebula and keep in touch, I will go to the main power distribution and do the same there," he said standing up and handing the Padd back to Kord and tugging down his tunic "I hate nebula's that interfere with ships power" he griped.

"Aye, sir!" Kord replied, taking his PADD back and hurrying off to the first disturbance on the list. It would take fifteen minutes, but following another five minutes of positioning in a Jefferies tube on deck 4, he was in and already adjusting according to Lt. Commander Sharpe's instructions.

=/\= Kord to Lieutenant Commander Sharpe =/\= the Gorn said as he tapped his combadge, which was quite a feat considering the cramped spacing. =/\= I've adjusted modulator 505 as instructed, deck 4. The frequency is set to 3 points per second. How are you on yours, sir? =/\=

Also, crawling through the tubes he jumped and hit his head "OW" he griped and tapped his Commbadge =/\= hating the tubes, but just reaching the mains now, adjusting to point 3 variations or a rotating modulation, I am done here Lieutenant, if you are done your end, I will need you to monitor the adjustments from engineering *pause* what is this! =/\= he said to himself =/\= Get you back to engineering Lieutenant, I have come across a possible reason for your Gremlins, Sharpe out =/\= he closed the line and pulled out his spanner and loosened the bolts on the small diagnostics box and removed the cover, he tapped some things into the surface then looked at the console "interesting!" he exclaimed and pulled the panel off and scanned the iso chips with his engineering tricorder and found the culprit, he bypassed the area and made a note to return with a proper replacement and then pulled the foreign iso chip from its housing, suddenly the lights all turned green "there, you will hold until I return" he said to the thing and closed the area up and tapped his Commbadge.

=/\= Commander Sharpe to Lieutenant Kord =/\=

Lazarus was halfway out of the tubes by the time his combadge chirped for him again. He grunted as he oddly reached and managed to tap it with a claw. =/\= Kord here =/\=, he managed through strained breath.

=/\= I might have found your gremlin, but for the short-term, the power drain should be sorted, but keep an eye on it, just in case =/\= Sharpe said.

=/\= Aye sir will do. I'm just departing the tube to Deck 4's problem, I'll check Deck 6 quickly =/\= the Gorn replied, grunting in the effort as he continued his escape from the tube.

=/\= Acknowledged, Sharpe out =/\= Paul signed off and tapped his Commbadge again =/\= Commander Sharpe to Captain Johnson, requesting an immediate meeting in the CRR, the Security Chief will need to be there too, more information when I get there =/\= Sharpe said looking at the pulled iso chip and noted that while it looked like a standard Starfleet iso chip, there was something decidedly different about it.

Franklin was on the bridge already appraised of the situation thanks to an update from his XO. As expected, his combadge chirped. He tapped it quickly, adjusting his sitting position in the Captain's Chair as he pondered the colourful elements of the Betreka Nebula on the viewscreen.

=/\= Alright Mr Sharpe =/\= he replied, gazing to Lieutenant Hirsch at his station =/\= We'll be there in fifteen =/\=

With another quick motion, he tapped his commbadge for the XO. =/\= Commander, I'll be in my ready room. I need you at the conn =/\= he announced as Franklin began to stand from his chair.

=/\= "On my way, Captain." =/\= Kana responded almost instantly, not needing to ask any questions as she began to make her way with determined speed towards the turbolift in order to take command on the Bridge.

=/\= I will be there as soon as I extricate myself from this damn Jefferies tube Captain, Sharpe out =/\= he said signing off unable to help frustration in his voice, but he crawled out of the tube and finally standing in the corridor he straightened up "aww geeze I am getting too old for this" he moaned and with iso chip in hand made for the CRR.

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Captain Franklin Johnson
Commanding Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Commander Kanaka "Kana" Shakura
Executive Officer & Chief Counsellor
USS Poseidon

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Lt Commander Paul Sharpe
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Lieutenant Lazarus Kord
Engineering Officer
USS Poseidon

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