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CH05: S [D04|0900] Contraption

Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Main Bridge | Deck 01 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @The Ostrich 
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A new morning, and a night had passed since the battle against the Versant. They had managed to elude the Savi fighter squadrons, and Dewitt was unsure if the Helmet would fare well against the kind of weaponry the alien crafts were fitted with. The new day, she reckoned, was all about preparation, should they be attacked before the next Rendevouz. Therefore, as she had stepped onto the large bridge on Deck 01 one hour ago, relieving the Gamma shift officer, Dewitt had begun to rally the Engineering and Ops personnel they had available.

Only it seemed they were more short-handed than she had anticipated.

After an hour of growing frustration, receiving word again and again that the tasks she dealt out would take twice the amount of time than they should, Dewitt began to wonder what they were doing. Why would it take such a long time to just...

"All right, this is ridiculous," she said in the end, frustrated. She leaned back in her chair. "Please send me the current shift roster and show me what tasks they are carrying out right now."

"Yes, Commander," said Morgan Song, seated in the Engineering section of the bridge. After a couple of moments, the list was sent to the armrest in the Commanding Officer's chair. She browsed it, and after a while, her brow furrowed in consternation.

"Computer," she said, having learned not to say Thea any more, since the A.I. was no longer with them. "Where is Vivian Martin?"

[Lieutenant Commander Vivian Martin is in the Upper Cargo Bay.]

Perfect, she thought and stood up, her frown lessening. Perhaps there was a good explanation to what she'd found, and if the Chief Science Officer was in the cargo bay already, then she'd even be able to show Dewitt what the hell she was working on. "I'll be in the cargo bay. You have the conn, but message me if you need me," she told the relief bridge officer and got out of her chair, straightening her jacket as she headed to the turbolift.

[ A Short Time Later | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 ]

When she stepped into the cargo bay, Jennifer paused, not quite sure what she was seeing. Then again, she was no scientist, and even if she had been the commanding officer on the Black Opal, which dealt with all kinds of cutting edge technology, the purpose of the.... contraption that sat in the cargo bay eluded her entirely.

She could see the seven crewmembers that were working on it, however, and the very reason why she had come.

"Martin?" she enquired, seeing the figure of the woman not too far away. She was not difficult to spot, of course, since the figure of the former Resolve crewmember did draw the eye. "Could I have a word with you please?"

Dewitt nodded towards a spot further away from the workers that the woman had pulled from two departments to build... whatever that was. Indeed, it was the first question that she posed once they were out of earshot. "Would you please tell me what... that is, and how it can help us in our mission?"

She had no doubt the woman did have a good explanation, but as far as Dewitt saw it, this project was hoarding too much of the resources that the Helmet needed.

Re: Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

Reply #1 –
[ LtCmdr Vivian Martin | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 1 |USS Theurgy ] Attn:

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Vivian took a moment to step aside and study the schematic given to her by Captain Ives. The chamber appeared to be coming along nicely. There had been a few minor hiccups here and there, on account of unclear and unusual specs, but the team Martin had control of were all clever people, and working together they were able to work through these blockages.

She heard the cargo bay doors open and close, and a moment later heard the voice of Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt calling for her time. Vivian nodded and quickly followed the other woman to a quieter corner of the bay.

"Would you please tell me what... that is, and how it can help us in our mission?"

A good question, and one that Vivian was unsure she could answer to a satisfactory end. Instead she simply held out her PADD containing the schematics of the chamber taking up the majority of the room. ”That is a harmonic resonance chamber...or so I’m told.” She smiled, hoping to put Dewitt at ease ”As for how it can help our mission … well … isn’t Starfleet’s mission still exploration and scientific understanding?”

Re: Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

Reply #2 –
[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @The Ostrich 
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The quizzical answer was far from satisfactory, and Dewitt glanced at the PADD, and then folded her arms underneath her chest, clearing her throat.

"I am not sure I understand," she said, not angry in the slightest, just baffled at the lack of explanation. "You are hoarding a lot of crew for this project, making other repair efforts and essential tasks delayed, but you can't tell me what it is for?"

Dewitt glanced towards the chamber. She was not unfamiliar with strange technology given her posting at the Black Opal, but she was certain she had not seen anything like it. Frowining she uncrossed her arms and looked at the PADD again, beginning to scroll through the schematics while listening to the Theurgy's CSO. They had been formally introduced, but no more than that, so she had no real understanding of the woman beyond what she'd heard.

Vivian Martin had managed to implement a repulse beam to stop the Knight-class interceptors that almost destroyed the Resolve completely. Then, she had deployed F'Rell successfully to stabilise the Theurgy's warp field enough to let them escape into the Azure Nebula. This told Dewitt that the woman in front of her ought to be credible in her priorities, but still...

...this didn't make any sense at all to her. Just because the woman was attractive enough was no reason to just let her continue with this meaningless endeavour to make a resource-depleting machine that didn't seem to serve any mission-critical purpose.

Dewitt hoped for more information, before passing any judgement on the project.

Re: Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

Reply #3 –
[ LtCmdr Vivian Martin | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 1 |USS Theurgy ] Attn:

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”No, I can’t tell you what its for. Both because I don’t actually know, and because I think its classified.” Vivian chewed her lip as she contemplated her next words. This was a long and complicated tale.

”If you bear with me, I will try to explain” She said, smiling slightly ”Lieutenant Hi’Jak had an artifact. We were performing a resonance scan to try and see what was inside. When the scan was finished the computer in the lab froze and activated something called Omega Directive.” Vivian paused to watch Dewitt’s reaction to the piece of information, hoping that she might glean some piece of the puzzle from her.

”That was when all the weirdness began. Captain Ives seemed to know something, but didn’t see fit to tell Hi’Jak or I anything more about this Omega Directive, which I now believe to be classified information. He gave Thea a bunch of cryptic instructions, then gave me this PADD and told me to build that.” Vivian waved her PADD in the air then used it to gesture to the contraption behind her. ”My only other instruction of note was to not discuss this with anyone, but seeing as Ives is not here, I think that one has a lower priority now.”

Vivian knew it seemed a fantastic tale, but every word of it was the truth. She just hoped that Commander Dewitt believed her and wouldn’t cause too much trouble.

Re: Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

Reply #4 –
[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @The Ostrich 
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Even if Vivian Martin was very forthcoming and revealed all that she knew, Dewitt was none the wiser.

"Okay," she said, lingering on the word while she continued to browse through the schematics and information on the PADD. It was an oddity of a device. The name for it, being a 'harmonic resonance chamber', made no great sense either, but if she were to venture a qualified guess, the chamber was meant for some object, and the only object in question was the artefact that had started it all. This thing that they had scanned when the Omega Directive had become activated.

"So, suppose you finish this... contraption, we don't know what it does, and how to use it, but it is - I suppose - meant for this object of Hi'Jak's?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and looking at the woman in query. "But..."

Closing her eyes a moment, she tried to recall what a report had said. "I might be wrong, but the way I read the information about when Captain Ives was abducted by the Savi, the Savi hologram said that they meant to take three objects, right? You might remember this better since you were there, so please help me out?"

Looking at the attractive officer - looking younger than she was, really - in askance, Dewitt tallied their losses with her fingers. "Aside from all the abductions of officers with mixed genes, didn't he - or it - say, that it would take the Reaver warp fighter, since it was from the future," she said, folding one finger down, "Thea, since she wa- is unique, her programming and processes having been completely reconfigured because of her experience as an actual organic woman during the Ishtar Incident." And then the third finger. "Lastly an 'Omega Device'. Isn't that what the Savi said? That they'd take something specifically called 'Omega'?"

Then, Dewitt spread her hands, holding the PADD in one of them. "Do you know where the Device is? Is it safe to assume the Savi were successful in claiming it? I ask, because if we no longer have this Omega Device, it looks to me like we're building something in vain? If we have no use of it, shouldn't we spend our efforts on repairing the Helmet instead?"

Re: Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

Reply #5 –
[ LtCmdr Vivian Martin | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 1 |USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan

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Vivian swore violently, they probably had taken the Omega device. ”It is highly likely that they did indeed take this Omega, however we have no way of knowing.” Vivian sighed and ran a weary hand through her hair, moving a few loose strands out of her face. ”When the Captain was dealing with this device it was moved to a secure location somewhere aboard the ship. But Ives entered the coordinates for transport manually, and never told me where it had gone.”

”I never thought to check that it was still aboard, and even if I had, I wouldn’t know where to look, Ives had Thea wipe the logs of the event.” Vivian cursed again and tapped her fingers on her leg as she thought quickly. Dewitt had a point. If there was no Omega device for this contraption to...do whatever this contraption did, then what was the point of continuing to construct it.

After several moments of silence Vivian eventually spoke again, carefully measuring her words before saying them. ”Ives called Omega ‘a dire threat to the entire galaxy’. I think, if Omega is truly this dangerous, and this contraption can somehow counteract it, then we should finish it. We may encounter Omega again, who knows, and if by some miracle we manage to get our missing crew members, Thea, the stolen fighter, and artifact back, then I think having this operational might prove to be in our favour.”

”I want to know more, and without Ives and the artifact then this...this” She gestured toward the chamber ”It could be the missing piece which allows all of the other pieces of the puzzle to fall into place, or at the very least gives up a massive clue.”

Re: Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

Reply #6 –
[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @The Ostrich 
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Hearing what Vivian Martin said, Dewitt could see her point well enough, She folded her arms below her chest and looked towards the deck in thought, hearing the CSO make her argument about the chamber and how they couldn't know just how important it was. Dewitt wanted to let Martin have her engineers, not just because of her appeal, certainly, but because she was making a solid case.

But Dewitt had to take more things into account than just the 'ifs' and 'mights' of the contraption's usage. She had to look after Vector 01 in its entirety, and take the mission into account. The potential opposition out there too, ranging from Asurians to Savi to even Task Force Archeron, if Sankolov had found the right warp trail leading away from Starbase 84. Could she afford to delay repairs on a mere rumour and a complete loss of solid facts?

"You know, I would love to let this continue, because I understand how you think here, and I wasn't even there when Ives said those things. I do believe you in all that you say, and to your great merit, you continued with your task despite how we lost the Captain." Dewitt took a deep breath, frowning, and handed the PADD back to her. She should cut the resources spent on the thing completely, but looking into those eyes of Martin's she found she couldn't quite bring herself to do it.

"You can only get a third of the present workforce," she said, having to be firm about it, as much as she didn't want to. "The rest have to report in to Ensign Abner, so that we can make some headway on the remaining repairs. I know this will cause delays, but without the repairs, we might face a situation where we have a perfectly working contraption without present purpose... but fractures in the hull and an EPS grid prone to blow at the slightest provocation. I hope you understand."

Re: Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

Reply #7 –
[ LtCmdr Vivian Martin | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 1 |USS Theurgy ] Attn:

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Vivian held her breath as Dewitt delivered her verdict. Sadly, as Vivian accepted her PADD back from Dewitt’s hands it sounded as though the other woman was going to tell her to abandon her work. It was a disappointment, Vivian had so many questions regarding the device and the nature of the Omega Threat. Questions it seemed would not be answered for some time. She mentally braced herself for the bad news.

”A third of the workforce” Vivian gave a sigh of relief and flashed Dewitt a smile. ”I was afraid that you were going to tell me to stop. Thank you commander.”

She looked over her PADD and used it to run a couple of quick calculations. She could have done them in her head, but there was always the chance she could get them wrong, while if the PADD was getting them wrong then that was a completely different problem.

”If everything runs to plan, with a decreased workforce, I should have this project finished in a few days. At which point you will have all of the engineering crew back working on the ship.”

She grinned and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. ”If I discover anything interesting with this project I will let you know.” She glanced at the contraption taking up the centre of the bay, then back to the red headed, red collared woman. ”Was there anything else you required of me at this time? Or were you just here to inquire as to the nature of my project?”

Re: Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

Reply #8 –
[ Lieutenant Commander Jennifer Dewitt | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 01 | USS Theurgy ] Attn: @The Ostrich 
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The Chief Science Officer took the news well enough, grateful that she got to keep any engineers at all, and it made Dewitt think that she might have been a bit too lenient. Yet Martin had a point in how they just couldn't know how dire the need for the harmonic resonance chamber might be, if they actually managed to retrieve it from the Savi. The fact that the aliens had actually managed to claim it was anyone's guess too, and it might be it remained in their possession nonetheless.

When asked if there was anything else, Dewitt couldn't help the idea idea that came to her, that it was a personal inquiry. She cleared her throat, very well aware how attractive the other woman was. Still, she hardly knew her, and it was not seemly to entertain any ideas of such fashion, especially not with the CSO. She'd already undermined her focus with the attraction she held towards another man.

"No, that was all," she said, perhaps a bit too quickly, but covered it up by giving Martin a set of new orders. "Please try to ascertain if we do have the Omega device aboard the ship, using internal sensors and whatever you can remember from the incident with Ives. It might be a lost cause, but if you do locate this device, I am prepared to let you have more engineers so that you can finish this machine of yours."

Realising she had to leave before she'd entertain the notion Martin had put in her head, she turned on her heel and walked away. "As you were, Lieutenant Commander."
 

Re: Chapter 05: Supplemental [ Day 04 | 0900 hrs. ] Contraption

Reply #9 –
[ LtCmdr Vivian Martin | Upper Cargo Bay | Deck 14 | Vector 1 |USS Theurgy ] Attn: @Auctor Lucan

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”I will do that commander, thank you. If I find it, I will let you know immediately, if I don’t find it … then I will let you know once my team has finished building the chamber.” Vivian watched as Commander Dewitt turned and began to walk away. Her eyes drifted to admire the Commander’s rear as she left. Her mind began to form a tantalizing fantasy, but was abruptly cut off as the cargo bay doors slid shut and hid Dewitt from her view. Quickly banishing the images forming in her head Vivian hurriedly turned back to the partially constructed chamber.

Glancing at her PADD she slowly began to move toward it. A reduced workforce was a minor irritation, one she could easily work around. But who to keep? And who to send back to engineering. She stood for several moments, observing the personnel in the room. She made several notations on her PADD then stood tall, clasping her hands behind her back she cleared her throat and called out to the people working around her. ”If I could have your attention for a few moments please, Lieutenant Commander Dewitt has ordered a few changes to the plan...”

~FIN
 
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