Maintenance

Posted on Saturday December 4th, 2021 @ 12:25pm by Lieutenant Commander Paul Sharpe & Captain Franklin Johnson & Commander Kanaka Shakura

2,510 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: S1-A1-Ep. 1: Spectrophobia
Location: Various
Timeline: Current

[ON]

While his team were working on other stuff and his deputy on the holo emitters Paul decided to go through every single system point checking for any remaining bad Isolinear Chips, he created a program to search for them using the code that was in the ones they had already found, as he ran the program none were found in the engine room, but a few were located in key areas. "Oh great, warp, impulse and tactical systems" he groaned and tapped his Commbadge.

=/\= Sharpe to Bridge =/\=

The Captain sat in his command chair, reviewing a report handed to him by his yeoman concerning some minor approvals below decks. He had been focused on a particular proposal and how it would impact the ship when his combadge went off. He quickly tapped it to reply after the report.

=/\= Captain speaking, whatcha need Chief? =/\=

A brief hesitation =/\= we need to drop from warp engines and use thrusters and not to use tactical for the moment, I have located the final three bad Isolinear chips that have been giving us so much trouble, the Warp systems, Impulse and Tactical have all been tampered with if we continue using warp and impulse we may go boom, I need to take said systems offline until I can replace them =/\= Sharpe said as he picked up a small case with stock Isolinear chips in and some tools and headed to the neared Jefferies tube and opened it.

=/\= Sounds like a plan, Chief. Keep us updated. Johnson, out. =/\=

Franklin gave the order on the bridge to have the Poseidon exit warp. They had been traversing a particularly long stretch of the nebula to get to a better vantage point, but as it stood they shouldn't have been in any danger. A quiet hum from the Captain as he gave a wary glance to his First Officer. Not for her sake, but for the sake of the operation in which the Chief Engineering Officer was undertaking presently.

"You think we're finally at the end of this?" He inquired softly.

"Whoever's responsible has been doggedly persisting in their efforts to sabotage the ship and our mission," Kana responded, twisting her body away from the rest of the bridge crew and bending slightly so she could respond discreetly into Franklin's ear. "While I would hope that these would be the last of our problems - and that may be true, as far as the Isolinear chips are concerned - I, unfortunately, doubt we can afford to lower our guard."

Her voice was calm and spoke with the same measured but frank judgement that she felt best served the Captain as Executive Officer. During their time together, Kana had come to understand Franklin as extremely empathetic. They both were, and that complemented them in any other setting. But in their partnership as Number One and Captain, Kana knew she would have to play it more straight and factual, to be as effective a counter-balance as she could be for him.

The Captain gave a slow nod. His XO was right, of course. This may have been the end of one of their problems, but not all. If someone was indeed sabotaging things, as both himself, his XO, and several others believed - then things were about to heat up. He gave a slow sigh, looking to Kana and smiling a bit with another nod.

"Thank you XO," he said, equally as quietly as she. "Always bothered me someone would target a ship full of cadets. Doesn't sit right."

"No sir, it doesn't sit right with me either. I continue to wonder what it is they desire about the Poseidon so specifically that another ship couldn't provide them. True enough they could be targeting us because of our cadets, but pirates and smugglers - as criminal as they are - aren't short of their own pride or a sense of fair play. Something much bigger is going on here, but as to what, I'm still unsure..." Kana confided, again doing her best not to be overheard by the very same cadets onboard the Bridge who she was referring to.

Franklin wanted to reply, however, when quick images of the Commodore played about his mind, he briefly wondered if Gregory Paladin had any connection or knowledge of this odd situation they found themselves in. His eyes looked briefly at the viewscreen as he pondered the unexpected thought before rubbing his chin gently and glancing back up to his XO. His response was nonverbal, though the look he gave her would confirm he was probably thinking along the same lines as she.

--- Main Jefferies Tube ---

As Sharpe climbed in he grumbled, the thought that someone would pervert his work made him angry, he used this to fuel his energy, he moved to the system that controlled warp and Impulse, he removed the cover and the outer layers and typed in his code and paused on pressing enter, he contacted the bridge first.

=/\= Sharpe to bridge, I Will start with Impulse and Warp first, switching warp core off now and switching to emergency batteries, I will be as quick as I can Captain with the engines =/\= Sharpe said.

Franklin looked to his XO as he listened to Sharpe's reply. They would share that stare as the Captain looked for any sign of protest in her eyes. He had none himself, though concerns were high.

"I'm going to approve it, so be ready," he advised.

"Very good, Captain." Kana gave the affirmative before moving back up the stairs from the Captain's chair to the seat directly to the right of the main viewer. This was usually a place utilised for auxiliary systems, which Kana or another bridge crewmember could work from the terminal, but most times it was often utilised as a seat for the First Officer while she was present on the bridge at the same time as the Captain.

Franklin tapped his commbadge. =/\= This is the Captain, Chief. We're all sorted here. Go ahead. =/\=

With that, he pressed the enter key and there was a moment as the lights flickered as power was being shifted to back up batteries he ruminated that his holo warp core would have been good about now, but it was not ready for full implementation. removing the inner panel he used his tricorder to locate the faulty chips in the section, and there they were one in Warp the other in Impulse "dammit, I hate it when I am right!" he said to himself as he diverted power from the Impulse panel and worked on pulling the bad chip out.

As he got into it he put all his concentration on his task, the initial system he had diverted was Impulse using specialized tools, he disconnected the chip and pulled it out, studied it "this work is so inferior" he said disgusted by the chip as he put it in a separate pouch and pulled out a new one and slotted it into the now empty slot, worked on connecting it to the system, this took a little time as it was a new chip and it had to be programmed to accept commands, for this he used a special tricorder and tapped some details into it and got back an all-clear. Sharpe smiled and moved out of the area and reconnected the system to the main power, which for the moment was off so there was no power running through it, and the only way to know for certain was to reconnect the warp core power back to it, which he did, but made sure not to connect the warp engines, he was all too aware that they were only moving on momentum with thrusters in dangerous space and he was not liking it.

As the power finally returned to the system he run diagnostics on the Impulse engines and systems and all proved to be in the green, smiling to himself he tapped his Commbadge =/\= Sharpe to bridge =/\=

Sensing from his immediate concentration on the rest of the Bridge that the Captain wanted Shakura to take this call, she responded. =/\= Commander Shakura speaking, Sharpe. I trust the fact that we haven't suffered a critical warp engine failure to be a sign of success? =/\= She decided to add a tinge of humour to her response, to lighten the mood of the Bridge. It certainly managed to summon a few smiles from the crew closest to her who overheard it.

=/\= That would be correct Commander =/\= Sharpe said not missing a beat, he was too concentrated on doing his task so his humour fell a bit short. =/\=Commander, you will be pleased to know that we now have impulse back online, so full Impulse is available to you =/\= Sharpe finished.

Kana used her interface at the auxiliary station to see that the Impulse engines were indeed back online. Seeing that the computer was not identifying any issues - verifying Sharpe's success - Kana tapped her commbadge again. =/\= Affirmative, Lieutenant Commander. Good work. =/\=

She then turned in her seat to face the Captain. "Impulse engines are fully operational."

With that, he got back to work and forgot that he left his Commline open so everyone could hear him talking to himself "okay you little to'ba time to pull your inferior rear out of my warp engines circuits" he said as he pulled out the offending control chip and still unaware his link was open "hmm, another inferior Isolinear chip, this work is so shoddy, I am almost embarrassed!" he said placing the bad chip into the pouch with others, before replacing it with a new one. During the next few moments, he was mumbling to himself as he was engrossed in his task.

"Hmm, okay, this goes here, that connects to there, so the thigh bone is connected to the leg bone and the leg bone is connected to the shin bone OW! %^$%&$%&" he exclaimed using an impressive Vulcan swear word following the cry of pain "so that is how it is going to be is it you miserable some of a goat!" he said cursing at the offending ODN relay that shocked him, for the duration he continued his grumbling at the injustices of ODN power line always seeming to shock him. He moved his upper body and his Commbadge finally deactivated as it was pushed against something. Sharpe was still unaware that his grumbling had been heard, reconnecting the Warp systems would take a lot more as ODN lines and other auxiliaries connections had to be reactivated before he could declare the warp systems active.

Franklin observed his XO briefly as his gaze fell upon her from his previous observations around the bridge. He had indeed wanted her to reply and was satisfied when she had. Now that the matter had been addressed, and they hadn't all blown up as Kanaka had so jested, he felt it was a return to some sense of normalcy. That was when he heard the grumblings and verbal curses from his Chief Engineering Officer. In fact, everyone on the bridge heard it.

There was a long, tense, few minutes as heads turned to and fro trying to initially ascertain where the audio originated. Franklin, for his part, maintained a comical stare at his XO as her combadge relayed the verbal circus to the bridge. When the audio finally died down after a few moments thereafter, Franklin hid his sudden bought of chuckles in the palm of his hand as his head slid down to hide his facial expression.

"We picked them good, didn't we?" he asked through clenched teeth, doing his best to prevent a bout of laughter.

Kana had, during the entire exchange, sat with one arm resting on the auxiliary panel while she rested her chin in the hand of the other, pulling at first a bemused, but then tickled, expression as she locked eyes with the Captain. When the tirade was finally cut off - she assumed it wasn't intentional, since he didn't seem to notice - she rolled her eyes emphatically, so the others on the bridge could clearly notice. Which they did, much to their humour.

"We certainly are blessed with a bright and capable selection of officers. I'll have to ask Lieutenant Commander Sharpe who his Vulcan tutor was..." She quipped back to the Captain as she turned to look back at the auxiliary systems interface, soliciting a few more laughs from the bridge crew.

With the knowledge that the ship had thrusters and Impulse back, all Sharpe had to do was now work on reconnecting the power to the warp core and then sorting out the SIF systems, he did all he could in this section, he would need to access another section to complete the warp and SIF, reconnecting everything thing he shimmied out of the tight space and sat up "I am getting to old for this crap!" he complained to himself and replaced the pinned circuit casing before returning the outer case, he tapped the small screen which gave him an all-clear reading, nodding in satisfaction he picked up his kit and crawled through the tubes to the section that housed the Warp power connections and SIF, eventually, he arrived at a dead-end section closest to the Main warp core, he tapped something into the small interface and the cover latches released, he then moved the casing to one side and began to disconnect the outer circuit casing which would allow him to shimmy into the tight space.

When he was in the right place he got to work as he reconnected the warp core to the systems that he had just fixed, as he was almost done he tapped his Commbadge =/\= Sharpe to Bridge =/\= he said as he finalized the connections while he waited for the bridge to respond he reactivated the power flow and then used a tricorder to scan to see if all was running smoothly.

=/\= This is the Captain. Go ahead, Mr Sharpe. Is everything going okay?"

=/\= Full warp is now available all targeted systems are now clear, power is connected up again and there is green across the board, the maximum warp is ready at your Command =/\= Sharpe reported as he began to make his out of the Jefferies tubes as he was conversing with his Captain and he logged maintenance completion with the ship's computer.

=/\= Excellent job Mr Sharpe. Keep me updated on any other issues. Johnson, out. =/\=

As the communications went silent Sharpe finally exited the tubes, stretched and groaned "old age comes not alone!" he said to himself and headed back to his office in main engineering.

[OFF]

Captain Franklin Johnson
Commanding Officer
USS Poseidon

&

Cmdr. Kanaka "Kana" Shakura
Executive Officer & Chief Counsellor
U.S.S. Poseidon

&

Lt Commander Paul Sharpe
Chief Engineer
USS Poseidon

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