Upgrades

Posted on Monday August 14th, 2023 @ 11:27am by Lieutenant Commander Rachel Williams

1,485 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: The Grand Tour: Part One
Location: Poseidon/Various
Timeline: Current
Tags: 2395, Operational, Duty Shift. Off Duty

[ON]

While the rest of the crew were on shore leave Rachel was in the belly of engineering doing the main connections for the SIF and Shield upgrades, for this she had old-style overalls on and her hair up in a scarf similar to how the 1940s women had when they worked in the factories and her sleeves were rolled up, she did not want to get her uniform as dirty as she would get and the ship was powered down anyway.

She was on a wheeled board that mechanics used to use when under cars, she was on her back as the circuits and areas she needed to get to were directly above her, as she was now under them working away and really glad there was no oil or other liquids to suddenly burst out, so she disconnected an area and using an assortment of engineering tools rewired an area, when that was done she slid back out and picked up a connector and slid back under and proceeded to attach it, it took some doing, while it was a compatible item, it was not Miranda specific so she had to fix a bit here and a bit there until it slotted in like a glove, she was so glad it was not a gel pack.

As she worked she noticed a section on the verge of failing "Ah crap! C'mon old Girl try not to fall apart before it is time" she said and slid back out again and got a diagnostic tool and some replacement parts and returned to her previous position where she could get to the failing section, she scanned it and sighed it was only some ODN cables and some isolinear chips, her box of replacement parts had those items in, so she disconnected the power from the section affected and then removed the casing and mentally cursed "a good gutting refurb and installation of modern systems is what you need old girl, but the Captain has his sights set on a new ship and intrepid if Paul's notes are correct" she said talking to the ship.

She pulled the damaged chips and cables out and closely looked at them "So glad you guys held out until we were in the dock" She said the section that was faulty was one that balanced and transferred power and commands when the SIF and Shields were activated, sighing heavily she cleaned the sockets up and then put in some new ones, making sure they were fully locked in then returned power to the systems and there was a steady and healthy hum, she smiled and replaced the cover, now she returned her attention to the final part of preparing the hardware for the upgrade, then it was doing a diagnostic to see if there were any failing areas that related to SIF and Shield systems.

As she was working on the current tasks, when she had a Eureka moment, so she shuffled to another section and took a covering panel off thankfully this system was healthy, but there was an empty section that something could be fitted in, curious about this she pulled out her Engineering Tricorder and scanned it and smiled "Perfect!" so she slid back out and stood up and walked over to the supply bins and pulled out the required items and returned back to the task with said items, it was such a simple idea, one that was not used when Shields and Ablative armour arrived, but this ship did not have such armour so this addition would be an ideal emergency defence especially since the holographic engine idea was not good for this ship.

It was hours before her job in this part was done, she slid out again, stood up and stretched and looked at the clock she had worked through food time again, now it was late afternoon, with the crew off the ship, she could take it easy, so clearing up her mess she headed off to her quarters to replicate a meal for herself and have a sonic shower.

- 0600 Next Day -

Rachel woke up at 6 am on the dot, she went through her usual morning routine and while her clothes under her overalls were clean the same could not be said for the overalls, she put her hair up in a ponytail and put on some hard toes shoes and left her quarters as she put her Commbadge on and headed for the section of the Jefferies tubes that held the SIF circuits of the ship. She could have joined the rest of the command crew down on the planet, but she had not long left Earth for this assignment and now she was back again so soon, she did, however, plan to visit a club or two before shore leave ended.

Arriving at the hatch she opened it up and climbed inside and was glad she was not claustrophobic it took her a bit of time, but eventually she arrived at the section and sat down and pulled off the cover, remembering to disengage the power to this section first. When the section was safe she disconnected the topmost circuit board then detached all ODN relays and other cables and put the item in front of her and scanned it, there were a few minor fractures, but they were easily fixed. Satisfied that was completed she repeated the same with the inner board but only after moving the first out of the way, this one was okay, but she did remove any static from them. Now with the inside open to her, she moved in closer and using her tricorder scanned the section, all green and there was the ability for the enhancement that she wanted to do, so using all the required tools she got to work.

It took her a few hours to complete and eventually the upgrade of the systems that regulated the power between shield and SIF transfers, she also inputted the surprise upgrade, she hoped the Captain would approve and this would be the last resort defence anyway. Her task here was done she reconnected what she disconnected, returned the first circuit board and reconnected it to the ODN lines and put in fresh iso chips scanned it to make sure all was working as it should, when she was satisfied with this she put in the last circuit board and reconnected that up, this one did not have Iso Chips only ODN lines and was easier to reconnect, after doing so she used her Engineering Tricorder to scan the part and all came up green, smiling to herself she put the casing back on and locked it "Computer run a level four scan of the SIF and Shield system and the new addition if you will, let me know when it is completed" Rachel said to the computer "Affirmative" the computer responded with that she gathered up her tools and old Iso Chips and crawled back out of the tubes, running through her checklist, her tasks were done, well almost she had to run a simulation after the scan was completed, she now wondered how far Miles had gotten with the upgrades for the weapons before shoreleave happened.

While she waited Rachel went about general maintenance tasks and planning some downtime before the ship started its next mission, so engrossed in her tasks, she jumped when the diagnostic bleeped its completion, walking over to the nearest console she called up the results of the scan and smiled, now to run a simulation on the upgrades, but this would only give her a rough baseline idea on how the upgrades perform, it would need some actual physical testing in the real world. As she started the simulation her personal Padd bleeped, she pulled it out of her pouch and read the alert and smiled, there was a mid-60s retro disco party coming up in two days' time, she wanted to find some way to relax and this would be it, now she would have to research what outfits would be needed as it was a disco where one had to dress in proper period attire.

But she decided that this research would be done from a proper bathtub and bubble bath on the holodeck, so picking easy-to-wear clothes a towel and putting her long hair up she headed to the holodeck to have her bath. A short time later she arrived at Holodeck one and entered, walked over to the arch and called up her bathing program, the Black and yellow grid was replaced by a Luxury Bathroom and all that came with it, including a tub already filled with water oO Heave Oo Rachel thought as she stripped and got into the bath with a contented sigh.

Continued in Party Time...

[OFF]

Lt Commander Rachel Williams
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Poseidon

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