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Day 04 [1755hrs.] Tesla Gunship: Part 1

CPO Victor vanVinter | Upper Shuttlebay | Deck 11 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @uytrereee @Griff @BipSpoon

Victor had come slightly early to the scheduled meeting with Lieutenant Arnold, and Victor was nervous. Ensign Herrold had accepted Victor's proposal to Modify the Tesla into a ground support craft. His proposal had been bare-bones and easy for even the most obstinate of CO's to swallow, which Ensign Herrold wasn't.  The outline he'd shown the Ensign had just outlined armor use, widening firing angles, and not much more. The reasonings were simply because the rescue of the Sabine had needed some air cover that hadn't been available. So here he was in the Main shuttle bay, hanging around the Shuttlecraft Tesla while waiting for the chief engineer to show up. Victor prided himself on being nice and punctual, but it gave him time to think this time.

Just how would the Tesla look after they made the modifications to it would be difficult to envision. The ablative armor wasn't a problem, but this chunky ship with bigger guns or rotating gun mounts? Maybe disruptors like Lillee had suggested. Hopefully, Lillee will show up to this initial meeting with Frank, the talk about just how to proceed. There were many options that they could take with this.

So for right now, Victor stood there looking over the shuttle, arms crossed as he contemplated everything. The towering half Bajoran in the golden jumpsuit staring at and through the shuttle lost in thought and fantasy about everything that could be done. "Come on, let's make this work somehow. Ablative armor, between a centimeter and three centimeters thick over vital areas, change the weapons to something better, make room for a full fifty-six round Micro torpedo magazine, or at least half that, twenty-three wouldn't be bad. Stabilize the reaction control system to allow for better hovering, reprogram the targeting systems along with the weapons we put on it." He didn't know if anyone was listening to him or not, and right now, he didn't care at all. Hell, Captain Ives could be behind him, and he wouldn't even notice with as lost in thought as he was.

"Maybe we can get some materials from the Klingons? Armor is armor, and they're usually better at armoring their ships than we are. That might be an option. Torpedo magazine can come from spare parts for the Wolves, which might piss Ravon off. However, He'll understand, especially if one of us is the designated pilot?" Yep, still talking to himself while waiting, Victor shouldn't have shown up anywhere quite so early as he had, but nothing for it now. he stood glaring at the hull of the shuttle. "Amor plating around the cockpit, engines, critical systems, and maybe along the ventral side of the hull? First three yes, hull maybe, see what Franka and Lillee say, the thing will handle like a brick, but who cares."

Victor started tapping his foot, trying to work out the math on how much weight they'd be adding, and it wasn't like he knew how heavy the Klingon version of Ablative armor was. All he knew was that it was damned heavy stuff, probably on the order of a hundred kilos per square meter? "Just how fucking heavy is Ablative plating anyway?"

Re: Day 04 [1755hrs.] Tesla Gunship: Part 1

Reply #1 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Upper Shuttlebay | Deck 11 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Tae
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Frank had spent the last 4 hours in a decontamination chamber with Gemini, who he'd later found out was 'Reggie'. It hadn't been overly unpleasant, after all he'd gotten to solve a challenging engineering puzzle, while sharing a tight space with a remarkably beautiful Betazoid. However it did mean that he wasn't able to be as early to the meeting as he'd preferred. Once he'd gotten back to his new quarters, which were remarkably spacious and included a bath, not that he'd had chance to use it yet, he'd gathered up all the notes he'd made so far, including 2 replicated poster size expansion prints of the outer and inner hull designs, as well as a lot of hand written notes on his PADD.

He'd not had time to finish the calculations on his armor configuration, but he did have some basic concepts. For ease of replication, it would be modular paneling, rather than a coating, each panel individually moored with a magnet-like affixing system, the particulars he hadn't quite put together yet. It would be a ceramic and metalloid composite, it would likely be square, and he'd be putting an energy ablative coating over the top. It'd be sacrificial, and serious shocks would cause it to shed, but they couldn't bind it too sharply, because that would increase the weight. While the Type 17 didn't suffer for lack of thrust, it was likely going to be laden with at least thirty percent more than its standard wet weight, and it still needed to be able to maneuver and carry at least a team of four, as well as a pilot, flight engineer or mission specialist and a weapons operator.

When he arrived, he left just enough time for the doors to slide apart to allow his entrance, and he burst into the room, expecting the team to be there. He'd remark, "Sorry I'm late, Valravns, so particular let me tell you. And the nurses down in sickbay, I swear chiding grown adults must get their jollies off..." He looked around, "Where is everyone? I thought I was late."

He realized that he'd come into a one man brain storming session, and then heard the question of how heavy ablative armor was, and lit up; Frank offered, "If we use my coating, the one I developed at the Lattice Institute, it'll add roughly half a gram per square centimeter of coverage." He nodded lowly, and then rolled one of his prints out on thefloor of the bay, as far as Frank was concerned they were starting, "If you look here..." He'd take out his PADD and transfer a projection of a square framed panel, with a material laid over the top, to the home modified inbuilt projector on his PADD, "...I've taken my first stab at what I think each armor piece should look like."

He continued, motioning to certain points on the drawing once he'd gotten Victor's attention, "I've forwent the direct on-lay system we used on the Jackrabbit, because I don't expect this craft will need to be particularly stealthy. Besides it needs to be shock resistant armor too, because torpedoes and shoulder mounted missiles exist. So a simple ablative overlay isn't going to cut it." He paused, "So what I've come up with is a thirty centimeter by thirty centimeter square panel, made of a ceramic and metal composite matrix. The shape is able to be modified in order to suit the required mounting points on the craft, but I'd like to make sure each one does not have a surface area of more than nine hundred centimeters squared, so we can maintain optimal coating adhesion, and can do a polarity based mounting. With the twenty five millimeter thickness, we'll always preserve a volume of 2250 cubic centimeters, which will allow us a constant and manageable weight of..." Frank paused to write a calculation on his palm with a majorly out of date ink pen, "...assuming a homogenous matrix composition, 1.31 kilograms per panel." He added after a moment, "We can reduce the thickness of the panels if needed, by roughly thirty percent, right now these base material panels will resist moderately powerful anti-air disruptor batteries. But if we do, we'll be vulnerable to the more moderately powerful ground batteries."

He then pressed something that triggered an animation of a decagonal honeycomb layering over the panel material, "Then we can add the ablative coating to the base material, that adds the weight of point six grams per square centimeter, and if we preserve the nine hundred square centimeter surface area, we're looking at a total panel weight of..." another quick palm calculation followed, "...1.81 kilograms. We can do a reverse polarity on them, so they'll mount themselves, and we'll have to use a polarity gun to release them." He rolled his shoulders, "A totally manageable weight per panel for an individual tech, and the simple shape will allow us to easily replicate replacements aboard."

Frank's tone indicated clearly, he was jazzed to be part of this project, they were in his wheelhouse with this discussion, and he had stopped for about four breaths since he got here. He cleared his throat, "Assuming the Tesla was a cube, we'd have to use something like eleven thousand panels to cover the entire cubic surface area. Luckily it's not, she has curves. If you wanted to cover the whole thing like a weird papier mache project, you'd need like 7400 panels, which would be fifteen metric tons, so that's also off the table, which is why we're not doing a whole coating. But assuming that we want to protect the most vital one fifth to quarter of the craft, what I estimate is the exposed vital surface so to speak, with these modular panels, we're talking about roughly thirty nine hundred kilograms, which, while not exactly light, should be absolutely doable for the standard propulsion system, with plenty of room to spare for weapons and shield upgrades, and that assumes we use the standard powerplant, and no weight reduction of unnecessary systems."

He cleared his throat, "I'm Frank Arnold by the way, Assis...Chief Engineer of the Theurgy." He smiled, extended a massive mitt to Victor if the man chose to approach, and finally took a long look around the room, "And I'm going to have to repeat all that when the team arrives, aren't I?"

Re: Day 04 [1755hrs.] Tesla Gunship: Part 1

Reply #2 –
[ Ensign Cameron Henshaw | Upper Shuttlebay | Deck 11 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Tae @uytrereee
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Cam had graduated from the academy with one of her majors in engineering. Until recently, it had gone largely unused but-really she’d been sitting around doing nothing, and the call to modify one of the ships aboard, had driven her to try and do some good with it. She was certainly not one of the most skilled engineers aboard, far from it. However, she knew that from time to time she could come up with something novel, and if not, she could at least serve well enough as free labor for the project. The last chance she’d really had to flex her engineering chops, had been when she’d been stranded on that planet with Logan. She’d gotten to know the man quite well, and still truthfully, felt some guilt over the events that unfolded in those final moments they’d shared, thinking their deaths imminent.

She’d dressed herself in a utility jumpsuit, not wanting to soil a good uniform during the project. Truthfully, she didn’t even know if she’d actually be putting hands on anything just yet, in any case, she came prepared. She stuffed a tricorder and a spanner in her deep pockets, the uniform was really a size or two too big on her. She’d only just gotten off duty, and only had a chance to grab one from the quartermaster, already replicated for another, but it’d do until she was able to get her own.

Her hair was pulled back into a messy bun, given this wasn’t exactly the most serious of meetings...at least, that’s what she assumed. She entered as Frank was explaining his armor, and she actually understood most of it. “Good thought.” She grinned as she approached the duo, “I’m not necessarily an engineer, but I did graduate in Engineering. How about a hexagonal shape? Might be able to make the armor a bit more form-fit that way, smaller pieces too.” She produced a small PADD, “And with hexagonal pieces we can fit her with regenerative site based shielding as well, covering the more critical components with stronger shields on a rotating frequency closer to the hull. They should be able to pull power from non-critical systems automatically should shit hit the fan, so to speak.” She offered it to him. She’d of course, met the engineer at staff meetings, but aside from that had no experience with the man.  “Ensign Cam Henshaw. Yeoman and mission ops.” She looked to Victor, “Nice to meet you. I imagine that you’ll be hearing plenty of my voice.” Given his transfer, she was constantly talking in the poor ears of pilots.

“I’ll defer to your judgement obviously, Lieutenant, but figured if nothing else I might be able to help with just general labor.” She shrugged and pulled up a sleeve on her rather loose-fitting uniform. “I’m hopeless with weapons though, never has been my thing. Really I function as mission ops most of the time, keeping an eye on the wolves and noting any tactical weaknesses in a fight.” She was really trying her best to not make a fool of herself, or step on anybody's toes while she was there.

Her PADD contained some schematics for a few shield systems she’d found in some cursory research that seemed to be useful and usable on the craft. Shields, though, were likely going to be further down the list than the hull plating. It never hurt to show up prepared though. Never in a million years had she figured she’d be helping with a task like that they were taking on. She was a counselor before her recent job had taken over, engineering had interested her, but she hadn't pursued it. It had certainly come in handy more than once though.

Re: Day 04 [1755hrs.] Tesla Gunship: Part 1

Reply #3 –
CPO Victor vanVinter | Upper Shuttlebay | Deck 11 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @uytrereee @BipSpoon

Victor lifted an eyebrow when Frank walked up and started talking. At least he was talking about the ablative armor. Victor smiled at how into this problem Frank was. It was always lovely to meet an engineer that was all about the actual work, which Frank seemed to be. Victor takes a position to the man's side so that he can see over his shoulder as he works out the math of it. Since Frank already had a full head of steam going, he didn't contribute save for paying attention and taking notes on his PADD. There wasn't much for him to do until Frank stopped talking for more than a few seconds. Thankfully, Victor knew how to hurry up and wait and listen, and Frank had good points here. So, all in all, his input was both invaluable and helpful here. When Frank finally introduces himself to Victor, he extends his cybernetic hand and gives a firm shake.

"Good to meet you Chief, I'm Chief vanVinter, Fighter Bay ops. And I'm the poor son of a bitch that proposed that we even do this thing. As far as the team, nope, there is no team. It's just you and me for now. I didn't request any additional hands for this. All I sent up to Ensign Herrold was the proposal for this little project. So for right now, It's just you and me and anyone else that might show up through the grapevine. And you don't need to repeat a single word of that. But I do have two questions..." Victor pauses when Cam walks up, and the towering Half-Bajoran cocks his head, looking at the woman asking the question. Cam had a good point about a hexagonal shape on broad flat surfaces, and it was an efficient shape to use.

"Good point about hexagons, though I imagine whatever shape we use will be based on where we source the materials. Since we're here on Qo'noS we could possibly get the Klingons to provide us with the materials. The proper buttering up and a few barrels of bloodwine should do the trick. Good to meet you, though, Ensign Henshaw."  Victor had a polite smile on his face then and honestly seemed to value her input, and he wouldn't have an issue with using hexagonal plates, especially if they could be manufactured on board. While the experienced mechanic spotted the shield schematics, those systems weren't his specialty, but his brow furrows anyway.

"What is that on your PADD? It looks like a shield system?" Looking over to Frank, Victor gestures for Cam to hand Frank the PADD with the schematics. and then he snaps his fingers, remembering what he wanted to ask Frank. "Right first question was on materials sourcing, and the shapes we could use, which I think the Yeoman here has a great idea. The second question is about weapon systems. Got any thoughts on making them wider angle and increasing the area of effect? Maybe we could change out the phasers for something closer to a disruptor? Also, we need to finagle a way to fit a full rack of fifty-six micro torpedoes onto this thing. I know the Tesla is equipped for two magazines of eight, but that's nothing." Victor tapped his foot, then looked at the craft. Having realized belatedly that he was maybe being a little rude. So with a smile, Victor extends his organic right hand to Cam and puts a twisted smile on his scarred features.

"Good to meet you, Ensign, and I'm not surprised that you've found your way here, though. For that proposal to get to Chief Arnold, I'd imagine that it at least skimmed across the Captain's desk briefly." Victor's tone of voice was friendly and affable, even if for the moment he was focused on the task at hand. While Victor wasn't yet sure when or if his transfer would go through, he was undoubtedly aware that Cam would know about that. Or likely would anyway.

Re: Day 04 [1755hrs.] Tesla Gunship: Part 1

Reply #4 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Upper Shuttle Bay | Deck 11 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Tae @BipSpoon 
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Frank was now even more excited. Not just did he get to source an armor system for the Tesla, but he also got to do it besides a stunningly beautiful brunette. That made it even better. And to carry it on, she had an interesting proposal, and the stomach to put it out there. He heard the concept of hexagons and nodded, "My intention had not necessarily been to use a square for the final shape for each panel, but as a proof of concept it allows us to find a surface area that is significant enough to be of use, while being easy enough for a technician to handle." He pointed to Cam and offered, "Hexagons is an interesting idea, it's a very efficient shape, very good optimal stacking factor."

He took his PADD and started swiping away again, murmuring to himself as he rapidly worked something out, "...preserve the surface area, five two five grams per cubic with the coating...It'll be very stackable." He snapped his fingers and offered, "The optimal stacking for the ablative is on a square, but the difference in weight is zero point zero three kilograms a panel, and the more efficient shape will allow us to utilize twelve percent fewer panels, or 258 for reference." He nodded slowly, "So you can either cover more area, or save yourself weight for the same area covered, roughly four hundred kilograms of it. Hexagons it is."

Once he snapped himself out of doing math, he looked Cam over again, the person who had proposed the improvement, and whistled a long monotone whistle then, and said lightly, as he extended a massive mitt of a hand, "Very nice to meet you Ensign, very nice. You came prepared for class, I like that." He chuckled gently, and said, "No need to defer, I've always enjoyed a spirited discussion about things like this. No one tackles a challenge like this alone...well except for the Jackrabbit, and Mr. Fisher did provide some support."

Eventually his regard turned to Victor, and he said lightly, "Frank's fine for this setting, at least as far as I'm concerned. Either way it is good to meet you." He offered the cybernetic as firm a shake as he would a real one, and then listened to what the man had to say. He offered his own contradiction however, and got wrapped up in it to the point where he took quite a moment to release the man's hand after, "I don't think that the material source should influence the shape. Assuming we go with my alloy proposal, we'll need an ample source of tritanium, molybdenide, neodide binder, and the components for the boro-zircon-nitrides. Nothing that shouldn't be able to be found in most shipyards, although we'll need to try our best to ensure purity of the materials, defects will weaken the construction. The trick of composites is in their structure, as well as material choice, but whichever shape you cut them to, we should be able to do that much aboard. After all we replicate all sorts of complex parts every day for routine maintenance. These are essentially..." He thought of a good descriptor, "Fancy dinner plates."

His attention turned to the PADD that the Ensign had, and he would take it if offered. He stroked his beard with his free hand as he read it, musing over the idea, "These are really good references for a shield system, as Ensign Henshaw has said, shielding could be holistic like on the Theurgy, but the Tesla has a shield system already. We could certainly employ some of these..." He rattled the PADD to indicate the ideas, "...to be used as our localized shielding. Get the benefit, save the weight."

He handed the PADD back after transferring the files to his own for later study as they worked on proposals, and then he looked to Victor's question on weapons, "Perhaps something like a phaser cannon? Remove the linear phase transducer for an equivalent capacitor bank. We could use the parts off some of our plasma cycling equipment for the warp reactor, and then we could backfeed it to....Okay if I do specifics all day this meeting is going to go on forever. Needless to elaborate, if we swap out some parts, we can fire large 'packets' of energy in the form of cones instead of a contained beam. This will deliver very intense burst explosions, at the expense of the continuous beam."

At the notion of getting over fifty torpedoes on board, he whistled softly, and offered, "Well outboard wing mount is out, so we have to decide what we want to cut out to have an internal magazine. You're not going to strap a cluster like that to the skin, you'll go up like a Tellurite firework." He stroked his chin again, "This one...I'll have to think about." He gave a nod, "Maybe you could make space for a feed loader to fire through a wing torpedo launcher...if you were willing to lose one of the transport pads, and your tractor beam?" It was a trade off, there simply wasn't enough space on the craft for everything they wanted.

Re: Day 04 [1755hrs.] Tesla Gunship: Part 1

Reply #5 –
[ Ensign Cameron Henshaw | Upper Shuttle Bay | Deck 11 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @uytrereee @Tae
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Cameron gave Victor a quick, appraising once-over in an attempt to get an idea of just who she was working with. He was taller than her for sure, it wasn’t often she actually found herself standing taller than her male counterparts. She gave him a warm smile, her brows momentarily furrowing as she spotted the cybernetic arm. Clearly, it was a rather common injury. In truth, it hadn’t been something she’d much thought about until recently, and her recent activities had forced her to come face to face with an amputation, up close and personal. Quickly though, she fixed her face, returning to a warm excited look.

“Most materials we’d be using I imagine could easily be hexagonal. It’s a small, cheap shape that can stack and layer wherever we need it to.” She shrugged once. “I’m afraid I won’t be too much help with the Klingons. The last close run-in I had with them was when they nearly kidnapped me. Oh and-“ She stopped and smirked for a moment, “Either way, I’m certainly no diplomatic expert when it comes to them.” Blood wine though, never hurt. Could at least start the talking. “I suppose if we get a lead on a good source, we could share a drink or ten with them. Klingons really are much more agreeable when they’re drunk.” That seemed to her, to be a massive understatement, and perhaps even partly a fallacy. While they might be more friendly when intoxicated, they could also be ten times as deadly and likely to rip her arms out of their sockets.

“Yes it is!” She chirped, offering the PADD to Frank. “Just something I came across while I was doing some digging, thought it might be able to be adapted at least.” She however, was no expert and she knew it. “I’m useless on weapons systems. I might be able to ask around though, see who’d be willing to lend a hand?” She looked between the two, flattening her lips in a questioning gaze before she crossed her arms over one another.

Cam reached out for the arm, fearlessly. While some might have been apprehensive about the cybernetic appendage, she certainly wasn’t. On the contrary, she gave it a once-over, rather shamelessly. “That’s a nice cybernetic. Clearly well designed. Was it made aboard?” She was trying not to be rude about the question, but she was curious for her own personal reasons.

Cam watched as Frank went to work, flying through calculation after calculation on his PADD. All she could do was blink. While she had done her fair share of mathematics in school, she hadn’t really utilized much of it since then. Her engineering ability had been relegated to jury rigging a device here or there to ensure her survival. “Always do.” She offered her hand out to him as well and gave it a firm shake, but nothing special in terms of grip strength. “Well, Mr. Fisher has a multitude of talents of his own, I’ve come to very quickly learn.” He’d saved her more than once on Aldea, and she had done her fair share of shooting as well, but nothing compared to him. Truly, it had been like watching one of her old earth films with the comic hero tearing through hordes of enemies. She had felt much like the useless dame beside him, though she knew she certainly was anything but.

“Oh I like that, some additional shielding on components. Could also utilize this system like...compartment bulkheads. When in action have the shielding at various frequencies in different compartments of the ship to protect them and make any science shenanigans a bit more difficult for the bad guys.” She wagged her brow and grinned.

“I can’t speak much to the...nitty gritty specifics of weaponry...but what about a rotary? I’ve seen something in the computer somewhere, some scans from the Voyager mission. I can’t much say I fully understood how it worked but it was a Tetryon rotary cannon, some...uncivilized hunting race used them. We could maybe shift the design to something a bit more...Starfleet?” She’d of course, have to dig up the specs first but she had confidence she could manage that. “First things first, it needs to be decided what is most important. If it’s a to the bone strike craft, you can lose quite a lot.”

Re: Day 04 [1755hrs.] Tesla Gunship: Part 1

Reply #6 –
CPO Victor vanVinter | Upper Shuttlebay | Deck 11 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @uytrereee @BipSpoon

Victor got to work writing down a list of action items they needed to do to make this happen. He tapped away at his own Padd while listening to Frank and Cam talking. Someone needed to write these ideas down, and then once the shortlist is completed, he sends a ping to the two others and grins. ((See list below))

"Hey, someone needs to write this stuff down, so we know what we need to do. But I've got a question here. We are using this as a ground support craft. We only need to replace the hull panels on the ventral side, around the cockpit, and around critical systems. Most of this thing is negative space when the Buggy isn't in it. So do we need to armor the dorsal and sides of it?" Victor's tone of voice was polite and calm as he puzzled all of this out and took notes. He was glad to have Frank on this, and Cam was a pleasant surprise. For someone that had just taken 'extension courses,' she seemed to have a good head on her shoulders.

"We could also modify the magazine so that it's inside the Tesla proper. You're right about us having to lose something. Between the transporters and the tractor beam, though? I'd go with the tractor beam. Yes, it had obvious utility in the field. But having a transporter pad helps pull people out if we can get close enough to them. We can't assume that the people on the Buggy will make it out. And we managed to lose three people when I used this shuttle a few days ago. That's why we're doing this. But, we couldn't use the transporters at all while on Qo'nos, so that's a case for keeping the tractor beam." Victor's voice had a bit of a harder edge then, and he sighs heavily, rubbing his temples for a moment. It had been a long day, and this project was going to be a long one. not like they'd even be lifting wrenches today. The question about his arm from Cam made him raise an eyebrow, though, and he waves his PADD in the direction of the doors back into the ship. He shakes his head and smiles at the pair.

"On that note, let's get some food and we can continue to talk about my arm and the Tesla over a good meal. I've got no problem talking about the arm, but that's a story that we could all use a beer or two for, and maybe a platter of Bar-b-que to share between us. Honestly, I'm in favor of adjourning to the closest mess hall or lounge." Victor wasn't offended by the question, but he did need to get some food, and the three of them sitting and talking might actually be productive. Besides, it was about dinner time anyway, and they could probably use some food. Again, Cam had brought up a point about shielding the compartments and systems. That was something he needed to think on more, but he'd skipped lunch, and so his brain felt a little on the foggy side.


To-Do list
1) Source new hull panels
2) Remove existing hull and refit for new panels
3) make space for Micro torpedo magazine
4) Modify phaser systems to a 'pulse' type if possible
5) test alternative weapon systems
6) Improve shield systems if possible

Re: Day 04 [1755hrs.] Tesla Gunship: Part 1

Reply #7 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Upper Shuttle Bay | Deck 11 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Tae @BipSpoon 
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Frank gave a slow nod to Cam then, and offered, "The material really won't dictate the shape. As I've said, on board we have the ability to convert raw materials of essentially any form, and generate pure lattices." He gave a slow nod, "It's how we built most complex components before replicators." He gave a slow chuckle then, "An idea as old as alchemy, they even had a rudimentary automatic fabricator in the twenty first century, a 'printer'." Frank likely meant a 3D printer, but he'd forgotten that nuance of detail with a bit of time.

He waved a hand then at the talk of the Klingons, "The Chief Diplomat of this vessel does owe me a favor." He gave a roll of the shoulder, "Got the diplomatic hub put in way ahead of schedule" he elaborated. He gave a slow nod, "Purity is going to be important. We can't afford to be taking up a bunch of space with fabrication ingots. So we need shipyard quality, ninety nine percent commercial pure." He moved his hands as he talked now, "Tritanium, and Duranium. Some Ceramite wouldn't hurt." He took out his PADD and scratched some stuff down, "I'll compile a list of the required materials."

On the topic of weapons, Frank offered, "Uh, there's usually a few Engineers that have opinions on blowing things up. I could ask one of them to join us." He couldn't think of particularly who at the moment, but with some time it'd come to him. As she said she'd find someone to lend a hand, and then immediately looked at Victor's arm, he couldn't help but burst into laughter. He knew, deep down, that she didn't mean it like that, but it was too humorous to not crack up. He said to Victor after a minute, "Do you get a lot of hand puns? I've got these two engineers down in the bay, they're all about puns. Cheese puns, time puns, now if I could just get them to clean up after themselves." He sighed and shook his head, and then returned to the conversation at hand. He waited for Victor to answer about the nature of his prosthetic, well if he was going to.

He heard the part about using it to compartmentalize and offered, "I'm afraid with it all being one big box, our compensators might not react fast enough to entirely prevent the exit of the latent atmosphere. I'd have to run the calculations, but it would require less time to re-oxygenate, which in of itself might be of use. And we could still go to vacuum if we had a big hole, which we might be escaping with. But, I especially like the part about multiple shield frequencies, essentially ensures that no two critical systems are taken out at once...in theory." They were cooking with gas now, no idea was a bad idea.

He turned to Victor who was dutifully writing down their notes as they went, and to his point he offered, "We only know about the deeds of great men because of the scribes." He nodded lowly, "I can't remember who said that, but they must have had a pretty good scribe." He chuckled, and then shook his head, "I wouldn't armor the dorsal, as long as the pilot knows where down is, there's very little need in my opinion. If we're being struck from above by a fighter craft, we're in trouble anyway." He listened to the story about Q'onos, the little tidbit, it sounded not unlike his own tone after Andor. These were the reasons Engineers did what they did, at least Engineers like Frank, to make something that mattered. He gave a slow roll of the shoulders and thought, "I'll have to think about the transporter or tractor beam, both have pros and cons, but as an insertion craft, my mind leans towards losing the tractor beam. It is situationally useful, but the transporter is nearly universal."

He looked at Victor and offered, "But you're more likely than me to have to use this thing. Away missions have never been Ol' Frank's specialty." He nodded, "So what's your wishlist big guy?" He stroked his chin, "Something I've thought about, is maybe we could fit the bay with modular rails, or latch points? So we could swap the buggy for say...a field hospital, or more seating, or a brig cell. The possibilities could theoretically be endless, but we would add another point of complexity in our system. So I think Cam's point is valid, is this thing going to be bare bones so it never breaks, or are we planning on features so it can do more things? Can't have both."

Frank would have been particularly proud of himself, but at the mention of food, almost on cue, Frank's belly rumbled, "Food...sounds like a really nice idea. All I've had since breakfast is two coffees, and a whole helping of shit sandwiches left in my lap." He grunted, "Don't go to the mess on this deck, the guy who does the calibrations isn't my sharpest. Deck 10 is a better option, one of my chubbier techs." Whether or not he was joking, he laughed softly, and looked to Cam, "Come on Ensign, let's hear this story over some Bulgogi." And as long as everyone was agreeable, Frank headed for the doors.

Re: Day 04 [1755hrs.] Tesla Gunship: Part 1

Reply #8 –
[ Ensign Cameron Henshaw | Upper Shuttle Bay | Deck 11 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Tae @RyeTanker
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"Some food sounds incredible." Cam agreed with Victor, her stomach giving the telltale rumble of hunger as she thought about sating the sensation. "As for what to lose, transporters are far more valuable than tractor beams, I agree. If we really need to use a tractor beam, we have other ships for that." It was just how it had to be in her eyes, not every single vessel could serve in every role. Just as a Defiant class would likely not excel as much as an Interpid would at surveying a nebula, this ship would not be used as a tug.

"We can't have it be good at a lot of things, but I don't think we need to go entirely barebones. Barebones to a degree will be handy in the field, leaving it so that repairs can be quick, simple, and dirty. The more complex the system, the more complex the repair so I'd say keep the critical systems as barebones as possible, but have some secondary things to fall back on so we aren't stuck with our pants down, lacking the ability to execute a simple solution simply because we don't have the equipment." She hoped she was making sense.

A modular interior though, solved that problem. "I like the idea of it being modular. We can adjust the interior as needed to fit the mission, within reason. Obviously we can't make it be excellent at everything."

"Food sounds like a good plan." She rose to her feet and followed after Frank, looking over her shoulder to check that Victor too was following, "But...explain to me what exactly bulgogi is?" She narrowed her eyes and began to walk.

-FIN

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