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Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

@rae @SummerDawn @Pierce

Chief Arnold was tired.  Normally a day in Main Engineering was a day well spent and something that he would look forward to.  Even the amount of repair work being done brought it's own form of joy. Sure, this ship wasn't the Endeavour, but it was still one hell of an upgrade.  Not the tried work horse of the Nebula Class, but the absolute cutting edge that Starfleet had produced.  There were still times he expected to suddenly wake up and find himself back on the older ship, but as he tapped his desk, it reinforced that yes, he was on Theurgy and since he could see more chairs and a couch on the other side, this was his desk.  The big kahuna of the whole thing.  Frank didn't mind admitting that his ego was tickled by the title, but there were still plenty of chances to step into dead man's shoes on the way upward, so it was important to get as many details as possible nailed down and see what else was going on.  There was only so much a status report could tell him, and when he'd had the chance, the Chief had gone to various parts of the ship to see how the repairs were going.  Still, it was a delicate balancing act.  Intrude too much on the work of his subordinates and it might undermine their confidence.  Don't keep tabs on them, and you risked someone missing something critical.

Thus, one week after the end of battle of the houses, and five days after the damage survey had been completed with repairs under way, Chief Arnold decided it was time to call in his senior engineers to see how their repairs were going, brain storm any new ideas, and re-assign priorities as necessary.   Lieutenant Commander Samantha Rutherford's success with Chancellor Martok in getting Theurgy's priority on the shipyard's industrial replicator had done wonders and the ship actually had more resources than it needed.  It was time to put that capacity to use as they came up with ideas on what else they could do to improve the ship's situation.   One task that was generally understood was that Operations to a lesser degree handled some of the lighter engineering duties.  They were not of the legendary turn rocks into replicators status that Starfleet Engineers had attained, but they still could hold their own in looking after most systems, so he'd asked for a representative from Operations to help offer any insights that would be in the Engineer's blind spots and bring forward the other requests that Frank was sure they were going to get.

As the door opened, the familiar site of a red headed Trill and a blue haired Bajorian entered his office followed by a sturdy human male, Chief Arnold could only assume was Lieutenant Chambers from Operations.  As everyone grabbed seats, Frank poured himself a cup of water and took a sip before kicking off the meeting.  "Okay, good evening everyone, let's get this show on the road.  We've had almost a week to get repairs under way, so let's see where we're at."  The big Chief looked at Chambers for a moment.  "Lieutenant Chambers, I'm going to summarize what's been going on so far, then we'll get Lieutenants Ryn and Kala to give their respective updates so you can fit what's going in on the Operations side into the whole picture." Big hands tapped some familiar buttons on the desk mounted console and the built in holo projector sprung to life as the room darkened.  The schematic of the ship presented in blue three-dimensions rotated slowly with sections colour coded green for repaired, yellow for under repair, red for not yet repaired.  Hull breaches and fractures marred the exterior in orange. 

"So, Chambers, at the moment, we have a focus on tactical and propulsive systems, and the integrity of the hull.  Before Ryn was thawed, I was overseeing repairs to the Vector 3 and a little under half the tactical systems on Vector 2, in addition to the fighter bay.  Lieutenant Kala had Vector 1 and the torpedo systems across vector 2.  After Lieutenant Ryn came back on duty, virtually all the propulsive systems; warp, impulse and thrusters were given to her in addition to the repairs for everything on Vector 3 while I focused on Vector 2."  Chief Arnold brought up a list of work priorities on the hologram and snatched it out of 'air' before tossing it at the PADD Chambers had brought with him.  "As things stand at the moment, the tactical systems weren't too badyl beat up, so in a lot cases, we're simply fixing the usual wear and tear.  A few of the torpedo launchers are proving a little sticky at the moment, but they should be fixed within the next few days. The power for the phaser and shield systems took the brunt of the beating and are looking at wide scale replacement.  Not as bad as when the ship arrived at Aldea, but bad enough.  Something like 15% of the EPS conduits are shot or close enough that they'll have to be overhauled.  Most of the Vector 2's damage is actually in the fighter bay of all places.  Seems like the Klingons enjoyed shooting the place up, so there were several sympathetic detonations from combustibles."  Frank took a breath before continuing.   "The main tactical ship wide tactical issue is the point defence system.  It's being completely replaced as the previous iteration has demonstrated unacceptably low efficiency under real world battle conditions.  Lieutenant Ryn, let us know how that's going in addition to your update." Frank finished as he proverbially passed the microphone to her.

Re: Day 8 [1700 hrs] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #1 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @RyeTanker @SummerDawn @Pierce

Azrin was mainlining caffeine. This was not overly unusual for engineers in the midst of a repair job. Her overdose of coffee would probably be considered perfectly acceptable - had her exhaustion been caused by a night spent repairing something. Go down to the planet for a few hours while off duty, she’d thought. See a show. Make friends. Have fun. Learn something mind blowing about navigation and warp theory from a medusan that she could implement while repairing the engines. What could possibly go wrong? Everything in engineering had been down pat when she’d left too. Damage reports surveyed, repair duties dolled out to that shift, absolutely no reason she couldn’t leave well enough alone for a few hours. Until that few hours had turned into an all night dash around Qo’noS looking for a missing crewmember. Technically, none of it was her fault. But Azrin wasn’t about to miss work for something as trivial as sleep. It was only her fourth day back.

As she entered Lieutenant Arnold’s office with the other two officers who’d been summoned, there was one bright side that Azrin was focusing on. She was so hyperactive normally that caffeine jitters didn’t look all that different than her normal exuberance. No one here knew her well enough to tell.

So here she was, loitering outside Arnold’s office with a thermos of coffee clutched in hand, popping it open for frequent sips as blue eyes skimmed the PADD resting in her other palm. Though her eyes were looking more gray than blue when compared to the bright locks of the other engineer attending this meeting. According to the rumor mill, Lieutenant Kala had been blonde a few days ago, but Azrin hadn’t been here to see it. She didn’t know the operations guy either. How she missed the days when she’d known everyone in engineering. Even after a few days back on the grind, the Theurgy still felt like a whole new ship, like all of last year had passed on another ship of the same name.

A soft chime from her PADD alerted her that the meeting was scheduled to start. Shoving that morose train of thought somewhere deep in her mind where it could no longer bother her, the trill flashed a bright smile to the other two before leading the way into the chief engineer’s office. “Evening Lieutenant,” she greeted cheerily as she took her seat, one more sip of coffee speeding her heart rate back up before the thermos was placed out of the way at the foot of the chair. Azrin sat straight, spine off the backrest, fingers tapping an old Trill song on her knee. Her demeanor looked professional, but that was a byproduct. If she got too comfortable she’d probably fall asleep. Thankfully, Arnold jumped right into it, giving her something to focus on. Poor Thea had taken a beating - more than one apparently - while Azrin had napped. She had to hold back a sigh as her defrosting was mentioned, still illogically guilty about not being here to help.

Normally, she would have at least attempted to gather her thoughts before speaking. Today, she started up the moment Frank gave the go ahead, trusting the notes on her PADD to keep her - mostly - on track. “Ok! Great! Hello!” The redhead perked up, gaze lifting from the notes to shift between the three of them while she gave her report. “Thankfully, all the damage is pretty minor. The Klingons directed most of their firepower towards the aft shields, which held, avoiding any massive damage to the propulsion systems. The EPS grid overloaded in multiple places and we lost nearly 20% of the power flow, but it was rerouted and stabilized before any major explosions. Progress on the EPS repairs is continuing at a steady pace,” Azrin leaned forward to tap a yellow section of Arnold’s hologram leading out to the starboard nacelle, a thin slice between green and red. “Once the power is back to full, all we need are some minor realignments to the warp coils and propulsion will be good as new.”

Her eyes flicked back to her PADD to remember what came next. “Vector 3 sustained a number of minor hull breaches. They’ve all been sealed and patched, but we’re still finishing up the pressure and structural checks to make sure they’ll hold. We're being extra careful on stress tests after the soliton wave. More pressure on already fragile sections. Damaged shield emitters have been repaired - when possible - or completely replaced. There’s also damage from repelling boarding parties.” The thought made her shiver slightly, and she made a quick joke to combat her unease, “Bulkheads and power conduits don’t appreciate shoot outs.”

Now on to her favorite topic, Azrin’s demeanor visibly brightened. “The slipstream drive is down pending new benamite crystals. An away team found them a few days ago, but Tek - Lieutenant Asra Tek, a warp theorist up in science - has them in her lab for some detailed scans. They’ll be installed in a few days.” Azrin was going to go up there and steal them if they weren’t returned soon. It seemed fair, since she’d met the other trill while Asra was taking the old crystals. “No damage there, crystal breakdown is expected. We really need to improve on that though. There is a recrystalization matrix, but it looks like something that was thrown together in five minutes and we have time to do better than that- anyway! I’m working on it.” She was filtering through all the old chief engineer’s logs on the installation and use of the QSD. Incredible engineering, an impossible drive system… and possibly more expletives than she’d ever heard in her life - or her symbiont’s life. Though she’d learned Federation Standard as a child, Azrin had never known that the word ‘fuck’ could be interjected into a sentence in so many variations while still being grammatically correct.

“And…” What was she forgetting? Arnold had just mentioned it… “The point defense cannons! A second life fire test was run two days ago. It’s not the best system, could definitely use improvements, but it works. Better than nothing. Most of the issues are to the aft. We don’t have the surface area for a decent spread of emplacements and the nacelles are getting in the way of the targeting. Petty Officer Nigel-Timmons suggested switching to a multibarrel format. I’d like to look into that option.” She was too much of a perfectionist to be happy with tech that only worked two thirds of the time. “It’s operational as is, but we can do better.”

Another quick glance at her notes left Azrin relaxing slightly. Checked everything off. “That’s all for me. Who wants to go next?” It wasn’t really a question, an anticipatory look turning to Kala as Azrin passed the spotlight along.

Re: Day 8 [1700 hrs] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #2 –
[ Lieutenant Nick Chambers | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker @rae @SummerDawn [Show/Hide]

Nick waltzed into the Chief Engineer's office with a stride as he made his way behind a redheaded trill woman, and the Bajoran woman whom he'd met on their mission to the brewery. He still had pangs from that trip but wasn't sure what had transpired after they got infected but he decided to let that go at present. He nodded at the chief engineer and took his moment to get inside. Upon finding the meeting table, he hefted one leg over the chair and sat down in near almost normalcy. Not to be one for a serious situation, he had to do something to break it up.

Chief Arnold convened the meeting shortly thereafter. Something Chambers was used to albeit not on this large of a vessel. Or as an assistant chief operations officer. His skillset aside, he was known for obtaining power in situations that otherwise would have looked like magic. He was however surrounded by three other individuals with greater capacity for repair work than he could even muster under normal situations.

He listened as the chief broke down the ship's current repairs and damage reports. Especially since he was still gaining his bearings on the Theurgy. The PADD Nick brought with him was downloaded to as he sat leaning in the chair he chose to sit in. The visuals he flicked with his finger as he watched the reports roll in on his screen.

A smug look on his face as he sat there scanning the materials and listening in. It was then that he realized there was a prompt for him to respond. Gathering his thoughts, he wasn't sure what they had just said as he began daydreaming slightly attempting to remember the Ale away mission that still fogged his memories. Must not have been that important he thought to himself.

Leaning forward, he grabbed his Cola and swalled a large swig, burped loudly and then proceeded to respond. "Yeah, so this ship, is a giant mess from these recent fights. We're going to need to add more backups to the EPS grid since a lot of the fight seemed to destroy the power flow and redundancies. I'll put a team on the repairs there. As for allocation for the QSD, that is going to need to be reconfigured as well to allow better flow of energy from the warp engines and the drive. With the alien mechanics in place, it really was a hack job and doesn't play especially well with Starfleet grade tech."

He looked at the hologram of the ship broken down into vectors. He pointed at the various hull breaches which seemed indicative of weaker shielded areas. "These areas here, here and here appear to have a weaker shield and deflector grid than the rest of the ship. I'd like to add more to the structural integrity field for these pot shots to not hinder us again. Thankfully the main areas such as the brig, the engine room and fighter bay held up remarkably well during the fire fight."

Chambers leaned back again before speaking. "Nobody asked me but I think we need some of those transport inhibitors added to the key areas of the ship in the event we get boarded again. While I missed that fun debacle here, I've read the reports of the beam ins in sickbay, the bridge, and various key areas of the ship. And I'm not sure of the implications on power consumption but think in theory that we can manage these with the reinforced EPS conduits." He noted noone writing this down and stated such. "Write that down."

"I think my team can handle any configuration and power redirects for the main areas being repaired while that's being conducted."

Taking another swig, he laid his PADD on the table.

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #3 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

@rae @Pierce

The Chief Engineer nodded as he took in the details the other three officers presented and it was still a nasty looking laundry list.  At least more of it seemed to be either retrofits, or upgrades at this point. Frank thought to himself as he took another sip of coffee and let the taste of the bitter brew occupy part of his mind sorted out what was next before setting down his mug.   "Okay.  The ship is in much better condition and it looks like the majority of the major repairs are complete or will be completed soon, and Chambers, I agree, the EPS systems definitely need an overhaul, so we'll need to commit the majority of the available Engineering crews to that.  Tedious but necessary work all around." The engineer turned to regard the ops man for a second before continuing.  "As to your idea of putting in additional shield systems to cover the weaker sections, you're in luck."   Frank smiled as he always like to deliver good news.  "Thanks to the efforts of Commander Rutherford and her diplomats, we've got priority on the shipyards industrial replicator capacity.  It'll be Klingon specs all in general, but thanks to our very long alliance, there is a lot of compatibility between our systems and theirs.  The colouring might be a little funny, but we can make it work."   Starfleet Engineers had a reputation to live up to and this just another walk in the park in his mind.

The Chief Engineer shifted his gaze to the blue haired Bajoran to start. "Kala, currently there are parts for a pair industrial replicators sitting in Cargo Bay Two in The Helmet.  Get those assembled soonest for use on Vectors One and Two.  Vector Two might be trickier since there's no cargo bays, so see if they'll fit in either Auxiliary Engineering, or in the FAB if need be."    The Chief Engineer's hands splayed out on the desk and began tapping to make his point.  "I don't know how many repair problems could have been avoided if the whole ship had access to the replicator on The Stallion, but each Vector will have the ability to operate truly independently when we leave Qo'nos."   Lieutenant Kala's eyes widened at the industrial scale surprise waiting for her, but head gave a choppy nod as she began to sort out how to accomplish the task when Frank threw his spanner into the plans.  "Given the scale of repairs and restocking we're going to be doing while in dock while we can get the resources, I want those replicators up and running in 5 days."   The Bajoran looked ready to faint at that order, and also started to protest before a meaty palm was held up to stop her.  "I know.  Tall order and it's a lot of work.  We have too many sensitive technologies on this ship that we unfortunately can's trust to our allies.  Wicked universe we live in, so we need to make them ourselves."   Kala stared at her PADD for a moment before acknowledging the monumental task in front of her. "Good.  I'm sure you'll get it done.  Make sure to let Mr. Chambers know when the systems are running.  I believe he's going to be calling on them quite a bit."

Frank nodded at her reluctant acceptance before next turning to his No. 2 Engineer.  "Azrin.  You're priority is going to be getting the QSD up an running.  Find PO1 Scruffy LeBlanc if you haven't done so yet.  I think he was also working on it and should have more information on what was done to setup the system in the first place.  Work with Chambers to get the power systems up to spec. As for point defence, that runs a close second in terms of priority.  It normally isn't an issue, but you'll have first call on the replicator we have at the moment till Marika gets the other two up and running."   Frank tapped on the table for a second before mentally nodding to himself.  "All the parts for the QSD are coming from the replicator on the ship.  It's our ace in the hole, and I only want it called on when we really need it, so the fewer people that find out we have the thing in the first place, the better.  Feel free to call upon the Klingons for the PDPC upgrade.  The technology there is pretty common, so we won't be releasing anything sensitive there."

Frank next turned to Chambers.  "Mr. Chambers.  If Lieutenant Ravenholm can spare you, then by all means go ahead and setup the additional projectors and generators.  I do want to know that the additional power draw will be for those systems though and if we need to increase output.  Lieutenant Ryn can help you with that since the primary anti-mattter reactor is her baby, Though I think she's also adopting the fusion generators for the impulse systems as well."   Frank grinned at his use of parental terms given the amount of mothering Azrin was doing to the engines at this point.  Word had got around that when the Trill started to talk near the reactors and engines, just leave her be, though try to leave food and drink (usually more coffee) for her every once in a while.  "As for the transport inhibitors, you'll probably have to run those across security as well.  Maybe even medical since we use them to move around troops and evac casualties.  The main issue is our inhibitor systems are a general blanket technology. Nobody in or out when their active.  How do you think we'd get around that?"   Although the question was directed at Lt. Chambers, it was left lingering for anyone with ideas.




As Summerdawn has stepped away, Lieutenant Kala is now an NPC, NPC her as needed.

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #4 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @RyeTanker @Pierce

The longer she sat, the more jittery Azrin felt. Weird. One would think, tired as she was, that sitting down would feel nice. All she wanted to do was get up and start working again. Having something to do with her hands always helped her focus, but it wasn’t like she could bring some odds and bobs in here and fiddle during the meeting. That was way too unprofessional, even among other engineers. Dammit, and here she’d wanted to make a good impression during her first official meeting as assistant chief engineer. It was all she could do to sit still. Which wasn’t even entirely still, since her fingers had moved on to tapping out some of Elza Ryn’s greatest hits. All the more annoying when Azrin’s unpracticed fingers got the rhythm’s wrong. Why couldn’t she ever channel Mathiz’s spirit? He’d been the king of sitting like a statue.

She listened to the rest of the reports, frequently picking up her thermos and taking another swig to jolt herself awake. Everytime the QSD was mentioned, the thought of the slipstream drive sent a rush of adrenaline through her system that no amount of coffee could ever replicate. Great bird of the galaxy, did she love that thing. The idea of reworking the power flow was one of the greatest things she’d ever heard, which officially made Chambers her new best friend. Her brain was whirling with thoughts of what they could accomplish with more power. Distracted as she was, Azrin missed the middle of the operations officer’s report, kicking her ears back into gear in time to hear something about transport inhibitors.

By the time Frank started talking again, Azrin was almost too still, her posture a bit forced and unnatural. Even people who barely knew her would see that her body longed to move. She was trying so hard to be good, all the while inwardly vowing that she’d never go to another performance of Klingon Shakespeare ever again. Anyone could have predicted that Azrin plus a theater performance would end in disaster.

Then the chief engineer finished, which she took to mean it was her turn in the circle again. Good, as the words had been bottling up in her throat ever since Chambers had mentioned the slipstream drive. “Do you really think you can get more power to it? That’s great! Most of the issues I’ve seen - through reading, never actually seen it in action, unfortunately,” So, so very unfortunate. But one day, soon, if she was lucky. “But anyway, where was I - oh, most of the issues are because the Theurgy can’t generate the same amount of power flow that the Savi ship can. We can’t travel as far, we’re wrecking the benamite crystals with every jump. Any more power we can squeeze out of the cores will make it a smoother ride.” And a longer ride. And future longer rides.

“I’ve got a LeBlanc on my list to talk to already. Based on the logs, he’s had his hands all over the QSD.” Was his name really Scruffy? Human names were wild. “As for anything we replicate, I’ll keep everything in house.” She’d already been planning on doing that, so it was an easy promise. Though it wasn’t like she could tell the Klingons anything juicy anyway, Azrin herself had barely scraped the surface on this new tech and her one chat with the Savi had created more questions than answers.

Pulling out her PADD again - it had fallen between her leg and the arm rest during one of her coffee breaks - Azrin made a note to track down Nigel-Timmons and get his PDPC specs. “I have to finalize the multibarrel cannon designs first, then we’ll get orders down to the replicators.”

“As for the transport inhibitors, install an on and off switch?” It probably sounded like a joke, simple as a solution as it was, but Azrin was serious. “No one is beaming in or out as long as the shields are up, so set up the inhibitors to go up automatically once we lose shields. Probably should tie in some safeties to the transporters too, to make sure that the inhibitors aren’t powered up while a transport is in progress. Override codes for medical and security, and… whoever’s in charge of the areas?” She trailed off a bit, losing track of the technical aspect as her tired mind finally grasped the implication that the ship had been boarded. Critical areas of the ship had been boarded. Had engineering been boarded? Main engineering, where she was going to be in… shit. There wasn’t enough coffee in the world for her to deal with that right now.

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #5 –
[ Lieutenant Nick Chambers | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker @rae @SummerDawn [Show/Hide]

He was relaxed and uncertain what direction to go next. He did like the direction that Lt. Ryn was going though. "Certainly think I can get more power to it. But it'd require us to have some more relays in place and siphons to unnecessary systems during these times to allow the warp core to take some of the brunt of the power loads. But it's still a gamble on whether it can blow those relays. That system is not native to Starfleet but you might be able to get details from when Voyager started to toy with that system."

Nick paused once more and thought about some of the other issues. "I hear LeBlanc is pretty good at what he does. A real miracle worker of sorts. I hear they call the poor man Scruffy. Not sure if it's a behavior or appearance thing but, I digress. He's from what I hear being new someone you'll want to talk to."

He took a swig of his drink as he pointed at a few of the suggestions and diagrams available of the systems. Adding notes as they discussed everything.

"I'll get to work on it all Lt. Arnold. Lt. Ryn, if you're needing the help, I am available to lend a hand. On the comment of the transport inhibitors, I agree it's a difficult choice. And I'll bring it up with security as time allows but for now, I'd like to see them put in place where it kicks back unwanted beam-ins not originating from the sickbay controls. Again will have to bring it up with them."

Chambers glanced around the room as the others were all noting things they were working on. "Anything else I should know about this big ship? Never served on one this large before. Bertha here is spectacular feat of engineering and I don't want to cause her to overload on too much energy consumption."

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #6 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

@rae @Pierce

Frank tapped a couple of buttons on the monitor and the picture of a fierce looking bald man with a mustard collar came up on the holo screen followed by a dark haired man with a pronounced cleft chin. A button tap brought the bald man's picture forward. "Lieutenants, the bald one here is Lieutenant Commander Kai Akoni.  A man not to be trifled with when it comes to the safety of the crew and an even bigger nightmare to our enemies. He is a fierce as his physique suggests, and that is saying something since he's bigger than I am, and I'm not exactly small.  We both were rescued from the Endeavour when it was destroyed in the Azure nebula against the Borg, and from all accounts so far, he's done well as the Security Top Dog.  Single handily caught the son of a bitch who blew up the Spearhead Lounge after he escaped and beat him senseless.  Kept the bastard down long enough till he could be handed over to Klingon authorities."  Frank smiled at the next bit. "Sources tell me the murderer is having a very bad time of it downstairs and is destined for Grethor in the near future." 

Frank allowed himself a second to indulge in vengeance before tapping another button and the dark haired man's picture came forward. "Doctor Elro Kobol, Lieutenant and Betazoid.  Everything you want in a doctor, competent, warm, caring, but on the quiet side.  Also came with me from the Endeavour.  So there you have it the head of Medical and the Security."

Frank turned to Chambers next "We're both still learning since I've been on the ship for a few months tops.  The only reason I have this chair instead of Azrin is that I have rank on her and was Blue Tiran's deputy when we came over.  The ship has nasty habit of chewing up it's Chief Engineer's, and I'm looking to change that particular foible of fate."  Frank leanded on the table and balled his hands together.  "To that end, one other thing I want looked at for the EPS system is how the breakers, vents, computer control, everything is working.  I get the feeling quality control somewhere in the past fell by the wayside considering the number of people on ships who get blown up by the relays.  This didn't happen anywhere near as often in the 23rd century when Captain Scott was around, and given our precarious sentient resource situation, we can't afford stupid shit like that to keep happening."

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #7 –
[ Lieutenant Nick Chambers | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker @rae [Show/Hide]

Nick looked at the console and saw the man known as Kai Akoni. His eyes went wide. "Dreamy... Trifle you say? The incredible hulk there looks like he could take an entire platoon, bend them over his knee and give them a good spanking. Remind me to never piss off Goliath there."

He turned in his chair as he saw the other officer, Doctor Kobol. Simply nodding, he turned back to his PADD and the detailed report. "With the way your EPS conduits blow on this ship, I'd almost argue that it's sabotage or faulty Starfleet gear. One of the ships I saw, think it was an Excelsior class had little in the way of blown EPS as it was so old it didn't have the power draw these new ships do."

He chuckled, "Well, Starfleet specializes in stupid shit happening. Why do you think they crank these new designs out so often without so much as a standard testing of the power load. It's quantity over quality these days. Not that I would know for sure. And if the ship is that hungry for crewman, I volunteer Akoni as tribute to the angry EPS gods. She might be satisfied then."

"But in all seriousness, I planned to give the EPS grid a once over and see if we can get the various systems to play nice as mice in a maze. Extra redundancy systems could be key in keeping them from blowing hot plasma in the faces of the crew."

Without batting a brow he took a drink and listened in to what Lt. Ryn had for the group. He couldn't help admire the young woman as she was about to burst in her chair wanting to get into the thick of things. He admired that in her and wondered how well she worked under pressure. Or with a sarcastic wise-ass operations officer paying close attention to her every move. Not a bad one to look at either he thought as he looked back to the group as a whole.

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #8 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @RyeTanker @Pierce

Admittedly, she was a bit - let’s say annoyed - when he called the Theurgy ‘Bertha.’ Thea was divine, a sleek and beautiful masterpiece of engineering, packed with fancy tech that Azrin awed and oohed over daily. The ship already had a nickname, but if they were going for a second, she deserved a better one than Bertha. She was meant to be soaring through the stars, not sitting in a bearth. The pronunciation alone had Azrin wrinkling her nose in distaste.

Preoccupied as she was with the matter of Thea’s honor, the trill rather missed whatever segway had led to Arnold showing the likenesses of other senior officers. Something to do with the transport inhibitors maybe, since he’d chosen the medical and security chiefs. As the talk switched to Akoni beating a man senseless and giving him away to be sent to the Klingon afterlife, Azrin shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Like Chambers, she’d also felt a hint of attraction at the sight of the human’s projection, but it was fading rapidly at the violent mental images. Ryn had been a fighter a century ago, when her host had a better stomach. Now she preferred the grease monkey life.

She was taking yet another sip of coffee when Arnold suggested that she might have been chief engineer instead. He couldn’t have picked a worse moment, because the idea was so preposterous to her that Azrin choked, damn near spitting it out and stopping herself at the last second, finally swallowing the hot liquid in a painful gulp. “No. Nope. I like this setup better, thanks.” More paperwork and less time to spend on the propulsion systems? Ewww. Not for the first time in the last few days, her mind brought up the list of the dead, far too many of whom had held the post of chief engineer. She was going to make sure Frank Arnold lived forever.

“There is a standard testing of the power load right at the end of the construction phase.” When she did finally speak, she chose something technical to focus on, rather than the tangents that had gone too far from engineering for her comfort. Besides, she’d been posted to Utopia Planitia before the Theurgy, so Azrin understood this topic quite well. “Problem is, soon as the design and construction crews cut a ship loose, the people on board start changing things. It’s not their fault either, wild stuff happens in space. Add a slipstream drive. ‘Go to warp right now before we’re eaten by a sentient glas cloud!’ Those sorts of things. We’re always rerouting power flows, drawing more power than the system is meant to support, and generally stressing it beyond capacity. This ship was really delicately balanced with the three warp cores. Then we started integrating all this cool new tech. We’re lucky we didn’t blow her up entirely.” At that somber note, Azrin realized it was time to change tact, flashing Chambers a smile, “Long story short, please please give the EPS grid a once over to smooth out all the chaos we created down here. And that will help us route more power to the QSD too.”

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #9 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

@rae @Pierce

Since Frank was essentially unflappable, Azrin almost spraying her coffee all over the desk didn't elicit more than a grin and a twinkle from his eyes.  He knew she didn't want the job, and he agreed, the current setup was much better.  He was better, not the greatest, just better at handling people, she was much better tech wise, so they had complimentary strengths.  Still, the Chief Engineer couldn't help but grin at Chamber's assessment of the rapid development that Starfleet had taken on and all the growing pains that it seemed to engender.

Azrin's comment though elicited a bit of a frown since it felt more like something that would come out of the Advanced Starship Design Bureau or the people who spent a long time working at the ship yards and no where else.  Though, it was understandable since she'd spent quite a bit of time at Utopia Planitia prior to joining the ship's company.  "Azrin.  No one is questioning their competence, but those sorts of changes should be expected.  I can't speak for the civilians, but any engineer should know they have the possibility of seeing fleet duty at some point, and as civilized as we make out to be, space is dangerous at the end of the day."  Frank smiled at his Right Hand. "Starfleet Engineer's have the reputation they do becuase of the jury rigging and modifications we keep making to everything in order to suit the situation at hand.  What was that term?"  The Chief paused for a moment to search his memory. "Replicators from rocks I think I read somewhere."  A big hand waved the inane point away.  "This ship could have been designated any number of things, like the 'Enhanced Deterrence Explorer' they gave to the Sovereign class, which is a battleship slash battlecruiser in it's own right. A matter of semantics really."  Big fingers had made the air quite sign around that really long designation. "Theurgy has officially been designated a Dreadnought, or Advanced Battleship, so this ship was designated to go into harm's way as the Sovereigns do."

Frank leaned back for a moment. "These ships can't have such fine tuning and lack of leeway that anything can go wrong for what amounts to just a battering, so we come to the philosophical design problem with ships today.  They will constantly go into harm's way and their power systems are proving more delicate than expected for the job because their margin of power error is too small or insufficiently compensated for."  Frank took a moment to suck in some air.  "At least the designers for the hull didn't make these ships too brittle."  Frank suddenly had a thought and smiled as he took on the tone of an Academy instructor.  "And to add to your work load Lieutenant Ryn, since power systems are part of your specialty, you can assist Mr.Chambers here in what needs to be done from getting my corporeal form blown up by an upset EPS manifold."

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #10 –
[ Lieutenant Nick Chambers | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @RyeTanker @rae [Show/Hide]

Nick sat up after listening to the other two engineers. He thought that Chief Arnold was more than happy to have the EPS grid streamlined. Something that drove him nuts with these modern starships. Especially having served on two Enterprises, the Oneida and now Theurgy. All large, and having to deviate heavily from what they were at their building yards.

"Aye aye!" He said somewhat sarcastically but with more of it being fun rather than insubordinate. "We be getting these bowels up and runnin' in na time. Can'ae be hav'n the ship spraying her load and incapacitating ya." Turning off the scottish accent he went back to normal speech after a drink.

"In all seriousness, I didn't mean to slight the Theurgy..." He said looking at Azrin. "She's a fine ship. Just that sometimes things in dry-dock don't work in space. I've dealt with that on multiple prototypes and two Enterprises now. It's a disconnect we cannot afford. But she is a beauty. Lots of potential too provided we don't get ourselves blown up."

He slapped his knee and stood up before grunting. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to head out and get started. After all, don't want this to be in vain." He straightened his uniform and nodded at Frank. "Permission to disembark sir? Or is there anything else we need to discuss?"

He waited momentarily before stepping towards the door. "Lt. Ryn, we can reconvene shortly or right now if it strikes your fancy. But I plan to start later and get this kitten purring like a...well, we can discuss that after she's purring. Anywho, it was a pleasure meeting you and looking forward to working with you on the ship." He pondered what he just said and then listened once more before leaving the room.

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #11 –
[ Lt. JG Azrin Ryn | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy] Attn: @RyeTanker @Pierce

“Just relaying what I saw. You try telling those clean handed designers about the practicality of actually serving on a starship. We used to make bets on which of them had actually been in space.” For Azrin, who tended to get quite dirty over the course of her day as she dove right into every physical problem she could find, calling an engineer ‘clean handed’ was the highest of insults. She’d always been a kinetic learner, always fidgeting through theoretical lectures yearning for hands-on experience. “They try their best to break boundaries in their pretty labs, but it’s nothing like what happens out here. You know what they say, necessity is the cause of creation. Is that the right wording? Sounds wrong. Anyway, that’s why I left Utopia Planitia to get back on a starship in the first place.” The redhead paused then. She hadn’t thought about the words until they were out of her mouth, a hint of regret finding its way into her mind at the sound. She’d left Mars to join the Theurgy’s crew, nearly dying a year later and ending up in stasis for months instead. Maybe it would have been better to have stayed where it was safe.

Azrin immediately hated herself for the thought. How could she even consider leaving a ship as beautiful as this? Not to mention one on such an important mission - and with a lack of engineers. A few years at a shipyard and she’d become as content and lazy as the designers. Rather than dwell on it for too long, Azrin decided to blame that bleak moment on her sleep deprivation. It was an ever growing list of problems that would be magically solved as soon as she slept. When did she start relying on magic anyway?

“I’m not saying we can’t get it done, Lieutenant,” she finally picked back up again, a hint of a smile returning to her lips as she voiced the engineers’ next challenge. “We’ll figure it out. Pretty lady as she is, the Theurgy is still the first of her class. This was supposed to be the test bed to iron out the kinks. Then we integrated tech that Starfleet is a century from making. It’s not anyone’s fault. As much as we’d like the designers to have the ship prepared from the get-go, we’re a bit outside Starfleet normal here. Besides- think of how boring our jobs would be if they could prepare a ship for a mission like this during the design phase.” Her grin widened at the thought. The engineering opportunities on the Theurgy were the only thing keeping her sane. A life raft keeping her from falling into the sea of despair she’d woken up in.

“I’ll meet with you in a bit,” she replied to Chambers with a wave, before dropping down for her coffee yet again. She was ignoring Arnold's joke about getting himself blown up, which she didn't find the least bit funny. This ship had lost enough chief engineers.
 

Re: Day 08 [1700 hrs.] The nuts and self sealing stembolts of the matter

Reply #12 –
[ Lieutenant Frank Arnold | Chief Engineer's Office | Main Engineering | Deck 25 | Vector 03 | USS Theurgy]

@rae @Pierce

Lieutenant Frank Arnold felt much better.  Nothing was done yet, but there was a plan in place and the ship, their home, was going to come out of dock in much better shape than when she went in. Azrin had made a good point about the design process.  The shipwrights and engineers who worked on designing each successive generation of starship were bright and imaginative, but it was up to the gold shirts who actually lived and breathed those ships to make them really work in the field.  Nothing every worked first try, and it was only by trying over and over again that all the kinks in each design were worked out, usually to the dismay of the shipyard bound personnel.  "Azrin, you're right. Our jobs would be immensely boring if they got all the rough patches smoothed out before we got out hands on the ship.  It would make life easier, but much more boring."

Frank smiled at the notion of a boring ship life, and to an extent, he'd had that on the Endeavour.  The smile disappeared and the bearded man shook his head to push aside the memories of a ship and friends lost in connection with his last ship.  Having fought, the Borg, Romulans, and the Klingons, it seemed that the universe as he knew it was coming apart.  Still, seeing everyone come together for a common goal and hope was something, and with all the new talent and old talent being brought together to mend, heal, and improve the finest that Starfleet had would always buoy the weary spirit.

"Okay.  This meeting's over.  Let's get to work. Dismissed." Frank waved the group out and watched them all leave before leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling bulkhead.  Blue, they're a good crew, and we'll take care of things over here.   Oh boy look at me woolgathering like some old foggy.  Back to work. Gotta make sure to have Azrin sit in on at least the final meeting with the Captain before we depart..  With that thought, Frank sat up straight and refreshed his coffee before checking the task list laid out before him on the screen.  Maybe if he got through it fast enough, he could go weld something back together.

FIN
 
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