Day 20 [1300 hrs.] Mechanical Malady

Topic: Day 20 [1300 hrs.] Mechanical Malady (Read 5240 times) previous topic - next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Day 20 [1300 hrs.] Mechanical Malady

December 04, 2019, 04:50:03 AM

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Life and It's Lemons | I Thought We Fixed This? | Aliens Need to Leave my Deck Alone | Assistant Chief on Duty] @Top Hat @Fife

“You got grease running up your arm.”

Ji pulled her head out of the engine compartment of one of the worse off fighters. One of the ones that she and everyone else was trying to get flight worthy again. It was getting closer, every day, and she was currently rewiring some of the engine to add those connections that would allow the whole system to figure and respond to the controls in the cock pit. The Korean woman was slight and light, not weighing much even with that corded muscle that wrapped around her frame due to the sheer level of physicality that was her job. Being Assistant Chief, had it's perks, but it also came with far more long working hours, and a lot more time spent on duty than off. She hadn't seen much of Liam since he, too, got promoted and they had both been working to repair the damage that the Asaurians had done to the deck along with several other incidents. Not including the Endeavour's crew aboard the Niger. Right now, she was just glad that all the drama of those situations had, for the most part, calmed down and she didn't have to break up as many fights.

Tensions were still high at times, and though they were on a sort-of leave, there was no shortage of work to do, things that needed fixing, tweaking, or just plain trashing. The Klingon had been instrumental in getting them parts and things that they needed and couldn't replicate. But, she wondered sometimes, at what cost. Looking down at her arm that clasped the side chassis of the fighter engine compartment sure enough there was a long streak of grease running down her arm, likely, from rubbing against something while she was working. But, Ji had always come to think of the grease stains, bruises, cuts, scrapes, and general wounds were because of the job. They proved that she was working and working hard. Besides, grease always came out in the shower and it wasn't that much.

Ji currently wore her bright yellow jumper that she wore every day. It was not on her upper torso though, but isntead the sleeves were tied around her waist so that the black sports bra with her combadge was all she wore up top. A few beads of sweat from her hard efforts and endeavors to get the fighter fully functioning again, had begun to trickle down her back and the edges of her hair were damp with it as well. Ji hardly ever stopped moving, even though Liam was her boss she never gave an ounce of her own job up. She never lazed about, in fact she was probably one of the harder workers here. The men understood her and she had a great rapport with them that she had cultivated over the time spent here.

With Sten gone, she felt a weight off her shoulders. No longer did she have to worry about him coming at her, over her, or behind her. She didn't have to worry about his touches or his gaze, and she didn't have to worry about his harsh judgments where Liam was concerned. Of course, they had misued his desk when he wasn't around to use it himself, but it wasn't that bad of a thing. At least they hadn't done it on the flight deck... well... anyway, she figured that he had over reacted because it was a 'you can't have me but you can't have someone else' kind of complex. Which she was completely uninterested in. She wanted to find someone special in her life, and someone that she could grow up and old with over time. Someone she could fight for, love with, and enjoy life beside. That person had turned out to be Liam Herrold and she was all too glad that it was. Their brief flirting at the start of the relationship proved how shy he was at first, but now, he seemed to be just fine with grabbing her and kissing her here or there, though on deck they remained as professional as possible. Saving their private moments for in private.

Turning back to the job at hand, she reached down and tightened the hydrobolt one last time to make sure that it was perfect. The wrench didn't budge the bolt so she knew that it was good, but as she pulled the corded muscles in her arm stood out against her olive skin tone. Finally, she let go satisfied that it wasn't going anywhere and reached up to wipe the sweat from her brow for a moment. She glanced at the large chronometer on the wall and it proved that she had been here working on this engine installation for over four hours straight without a break. Come to think of it, she could hardly feel her legs and when she gave them a little move, they nearly buckled from the muscles having stood in one place for such a long time while she worked to install and connect all the lines, junctions, conduits, and relays. Now, it was ready to go, or at least, ready for an initial start up test, but that wasn't going to be what she needed to do right now.

I really need to pee.

She suddenly realized.

Tossing her wrench into the small loop on the work belt that she was wearing, it popped slightly against her leg as she turned and headed down the maintenance stairs to the deck plating below. “Fire her up, run a diagnostic. Do it three times, compare results and then send them to me. Report to me any anomalies.” she told mechanic that had spoken with her earlier, his name was Duke, and his bicep was larger than her waist, the man could probably haul one of these fighters across the bay by pulling it on a rope. And while that was something that she would actually like to see one day, maybe she should start a pool....

“All right boss, will do.”

“Do the three, five, seven.” method if all goes well.

“Got it.”

“Chief! Chief!” another voice called out as it rushed over to the young Korean woman. She waited, hands on her hips, to see what the heck was going on now. It seemed to be a never ending turn of issues. It was as if the deck could not get ahead of any one issue without six more springing up behind it having just waited for her to let her guard down. Brown eyes, were warm and happy, but sharp with curiosity as the tall Andorian male stopped in front of her.

“It's Nix's fighter. She's just come in, but the umbilical won't lock.”

“What?!” Ji said as she brushed a hand quickly, nervously, through her hair. “She's still in the fighter? Tell her to power that shit down, there's no reason to have it up and running right now. I'll put in a work order and head over.”

The Andorian nodded and took off at a loping run with his long legs. Ji pulled the PADD out of her side leg pocket and quickly began to fill in the information about the broken umbilical and what exactly was wrong with it. She didn't know exactly the problem until she went over there and began to check out the systems, but right now, at least it was on the docket to be fixed. This was a larger problem than just something that she could do later. Nix couldn't leave her plane unattached to the ship because that meant if something happened, it would roll and cause damage not only to the fighter but to the bay and possibly people.

That wasn't going to be allowed to happen.

“Jieger, Stanton, Colesca, th'Bri. I need you to use the pinpointed tractor beams to hold Nix's fighter in place. Four points of contact, I don't want that thing going anywhere until we figure out what is going on with the docking clamps.” she cried out as she began to run across the deck towards the issue and the fighter in question. She had never actually met Nix, but she knew which fighter was hers, which bay wasn't working, and she knew exactly where to go.

Ji arrived on scene just as the fighter powered down, and the four that she had called out to began to scramble into their positions to get the tractor beams settled, she had to make this as safe as possible while they figured out where the malfunction originated from. Blowing out a puff of air, her bangs shifted off to the side as she surveyed the fighter, and then walked bravely underneath it to begin to check the clamps.

Sure enough, wide open.

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #1 – December 04, 2019, 10:55:25 PM

Isel sighed as her fighter eased into the Fighter Assault Bay, eager to be done with yet another uneventful patrol. It seemed like all they’d done since arriving at Aldea was run boring routine patrols, and the monotony of it all was beginning to get to the Vulpinian. That boredom had prompted her to stay out a little longer, her fellow Wolves having already returned to the Theurgy. Isel had decided to use the extra time to put her fighter through it’s paces, perhaps pushing it a little harder than she should have. Those hairpin turns might be a bit hard on the fighter, but it was fun.

[Wolf-04, you are cleared to dock at your usual spot. Welcome home.]

”Roger that, Wolf-04 proceeding to docking space 04.” Isel replied over the comms, guiding her fighter to the designated space as her thoughts drifted to getting the fuck out of her flight suit and into a large mug of coffee, preferably spiked with something strong.

Such thoughts were interrupted when, as she guided her fighter into position, an alarm blared into life and her HUD showed a rather annoying blinking red alert just before her eyes. ”The fuck?” Isel growled, her eyes focusing on the alert as the voice of the fighter’s computer finally put voice to the problem.

[Warning: Umbilical failure. Unable to complete docking sequence.]

”Oh, for fuck’s sake, really?” Isel growled, her teeth bared behind the visor of her flight helmet. ”You’ve gotta be fucking ki-“

[Warning: Umbilical failure. Unable to-]

”Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP!!” Isel snarled, punching a command into her fighter’s console to silence the alerts. ”Fucking assbag piece of shit fucking…” Isel’s tirade trailed off as she keyed open a channel to report the issue. ”Wolf-04 to Mission Ops. I’ve got a bunch of obnoxious lights flashing in my fucking eyes, and am unable to dock. I think your shit’s broken.”

[Roger, Wolf-04. Sit tight. We’ll dispatch emergency crews to secure your fighter.]

”Sit tight? Where the fuck do you think I'm gonna go?” Isel grumbled as she keyed the comms channel closed, sighing as she watched the FAB deck crew scurrying about to deal with her little problem. One of the flight deck NCOs was signalling her to set the fighter down, waving his arms around like an idiot. The sight made Isel chuckle as she let her fighter come to rest on the deck and powered it down, feeling tractor beams engage against her fighter as she leaned her head back against her seat for a moment, closing her eyes. ”Why is it always my fighter that breaks?” Isel asked herself, wondering if it might be something she was doing that was destroying fighter after fighter. ”Maybe I’m just fucking cursed.” Isel muttered, opening her eyes and releasing the canopy. ”I should have stayed in the fucking Syndicate…”

After waiting for the canopy to rise, Isel clamoured up and out of the fighter, pausing to allow one of the deck crew to move a ladder in place for her to climb down. Once her feet touched the deck, Isel reached up and released her helmet, removing it from her head and running a hand through her long, pale white hair. She saw movement underneath the fighter, and turned to investigate. It turned out to be one of the deck crew. Isel had seen her before, she was sure, and after a moment she remembered that the woman was the Assistant Chief of the deck, though the Human’s name evaded her. ”Uh, hey.” Isel said, resting a hand on the fighter as she watched the Deck Chief inspect her fighter. ”So, your shit’s broken. Does anything on this fucking ship stay in one piece?”

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #2 – December 12, 2019, 10:31:59 PM

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @BZ @Fife

It always felt odd for Nator to visit the fighter decks. It was the part of the ship s/he had spent most of hir time at the shipyards designing - the support mechanisms for the small craft the class would be launching and the requisite architecture to make all that fit amongst the needs of the larger ship itself. But being in the space was different. It looked a lot smaller on paper, for one. The bay always felt cavernous to hir.

Given the amount of wear and tear the place had suffered on its relatively short voyage since leaving spacedock - designed for multiyear missions as it was, and all - NAtor was quietly proud of how well the various intriciate systems had all held up. Score one for Federation overengineering. Nothing was perfect, of course, but that was why s/he was down here. Plenty of the dedicated Ops crew here and the more generalised staff from the ship as a whole had been through fixing various things, and s/he wanted to be sure that everything was on spec.

One of the Wolves was coming in to land, its thrusters flaring as the little ship arrested its momentum before being grabbed by the bay tractors. The deck crew were scrambling to take care of the post-flight checks, but something seemed off. It took hir a moment to realise that the umbilicals had yet to extend from the deck and engage with the power and liquid ports. Nator frowned - that was either that the fighter had been scanned by the automatics and been deemed unsafe to connect, or there was a problem with the deck mechanisms themselves.

Nothing for it. S/he was normally loathe to interrupt someone working unless asked - let alone when s/he knew it was the duty Chief, who likely really didn't need hir input - but between one thing and another there was a lot of energy packed into this particular volume of the ship, and s/he'd rather be certain none of it was going to escape in unexpected directions.

"So, your shit's broken. Does anything on this fucking ship stay in one piece?"

"If half the fleet wasn't concerned with knocking us out of the sky, pilot, it might do," Nator put in, before looking to the NCO as s/he ducked under the wing to get at the deck machinery. "You find anything obvious there, Chief?"

Nator hirself pried an inspection plate off the deck and tapped a few diagnostic commands into the panel under it. The interrogations were all returned in good order - and confirmed with a sweep of hir tricorder. Fuel levels were all okay, no bubbles in the deuterium line, EPS tributary functional and charged... S/he turned hir attention to the fighter itself. What had the sensors seen? The ports themselves were undamaged. There was some carbon scoring around the engine exhausts, but what else was new around a TacCONN officer.

S/he set the tricorder to perform a general scan of the fighter, and the result was baffling. The frame was subtly out of alignment, just enough that the computer had decided it no longer fit in the berth. But it obviously did, and clearly within tolerances. But the structure had... flexed? Almost a millimetre through an oblique plane. On the one hand, that shouldn't be enough to affect much of anything deckside. But on the other, what could this flying bino have done to overcome a deliberately overpowered set of inertial dampers and structural integrity field?

"Grief. How even...?" Nator looked up, turning to find the Chief again and holding the tricorder out to show what s/he'd found. "Seen anything like this?"

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #3 – December 23, 2019, 04:07:04 PM

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | WTF Happened?! | How is this Possible | Why Can't Anything Go Right?]
@Fife @Top Hat

Ji didn't need this today. Today was the kind of day she just wanted to kick something or punch some unsuspecting mother fucker in the face for having not fixed this shit. And yet, when she ran the diagnostic of the actual clamping system that had been installed... it was fine. She stared at all the green lights like, surely, she had missed a red or yellow one somewhere. Something had happened that had made is so that the fighter could not actually do what it was supposed to when docking. She was thankful for the tractor beams they didn't have to worry about the fighter gliding across the deck and bashing into other things. But, it was a temporary solution to a problem they needed to fix. When they were on the move, they needed these clamps to work. When they were running from Acheron, they needed these clamps to do their damn jobs. Right now, she wouldn't trust them to go off. She could manually attach the docking clamps, but, that wasn't something that they could do when they needed to get the Theurgy into warp. No, that wasn't what the solution was, that or if it was, Isel wasn't going to be able to fly any her fighter anymore until it was solved.

The pilot was helped down with the assistance of one of her crew rolling up the large ladder to allow her access to the deck. Ji might have preferred to leave her complaining ass up in the fighter if she wasn't actually going to come at them with any assistance and only judgment. Ji looked up and found her standing over the Korean woman stating that her shit was broken, and asking if anything else stayed in one piece on this fucking ship. Ji rose her brow, because Ji didn't take shit from anyone. She was as nice as could be when you were respectful and did your job .. or at least helped and offered ideas. You stepped on her deck, on her baby, on the crew that was family to her, you could get fucked twice sideways through a new hole.

Either it was written all over her face, the shit show that was about to go down, or the Lieutenant had just come up at the right moment, but she was grateful for the diffusion of the situation. She recognized Nator from their time on the Theurgy, s/he too, a Theurgy native, they had worked on the same deck from time to time. Though Ji couldn't remember actually working beside hir like this before. But, she appreciated hir appearance at the moment. Ji looked over at hir a moment instead of at Isel who seemed to be confrontational at the moment.

“Everything is a green light, sir.” she stated.

Ji might be a Chief, but as a Lieutenant, s/he outranked her significantly. And Ji would always default to the rank unless she was told otherwise or she was off duty. Neither applied here at the moment. Standing up, from the deck plating now she stepped closer to the Hermat since s/he was already scanning the fighter. She didn't lean too close, that was an intimate zone, and Ji didn't need anyone asking questions or running to Liam with stories that were untrue. She stood at a professional distance, but in a position so that she could read the tricorder as it began to scan over the Fighter's hull and working against that and the blueprints for the fighter on file began to calculate the inconsistencies. As they began to pour onto the screen showing the original carriage of the fighter in it's white lines and the new ones from the current scan in red.

“What the fuck.” slipped out at the results and Nator showed her the results and asked if she had seen anything like it before. “Never.” she shook her head and brushed a frustrated hand through her hair for a moment before her dark eyes shifted over to Isel.

“Can you describe to me what you were doing on your flight tests today?” she asked, her voice wasn't confrontational or anything, but she was desperately curious if there was something out there that could have caused the flux. Some maneuver that she had done, something that had over ridden the inertial dampeners. “Did you encounter any anomalies, or any issues. You know the little flashing lights on your display, did you see any of those?”

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #4 – December 26, 2019, 10:47:51 PM

"Grief. How even...?" The Lieutenant looked up, turning to the Chief and holding the tricorder out to show what s/he'd found. "Seen anything like this?"

Shit… Isel thought, the Lieutenant’s question leaving Isel with the feeling that this whole shitshow was about to be pegged at her fault.

”What the fuck.” The Chief blurted the words, disbelief clear in her tone. ”Never.” The Chief shook her head, then her gaze fell on Isel.

And here it comes… Isel thought grimly as she waited for the Deck Chief to speak. Surprisingly, the words are simply a question, rather than a scathing reprimand or accusation. Maybe this one isn’t so bad after all…

”No anomalies, no. And no “little flashing lights on the HUD.” Isel replied in a flat tone, somewhat unimpressed that the Deck Chief was explaining that “those little flashing lights” would indicate issues with the fighter. Really? Thanks tips! Isel grumbled internally. So, if that’s what those mean, then maybe next you could tell me what the wings are for! Isel remained silent for a moment, then sighed, pushing the internal grumblings to the back of her mind.

”Honestly, I was just putting her through her paces and blowing off some steam.” Isel finally conceded, ”Admittedly, I might have been pushing her a bit hard, but if a few hairpin turns and some hard manoeuvres are enough to cause this sort of issue, then the fucking test pilots who rode these things in the prototype phase were fucking napping. I wasn’t doing anything out there that I haven’t done in a combat situation!” Isel glanced at the fighter, then looked from the Chief to the Lieutenant and back. ”My fighter was all fucked up during the Apertures. Inertial dampeners must have been knocked out, because I ended up unconscious and had to be towed back. Landed in sickbay with a nasty concussion. Is it possible it’s an issue stemming from that?”

The Vulpinian certain wasn’t trying to make excuses, simply trying to think of what might have caused… whatever it was that they had found. The LT and the Deck Chief had both been staring at a tricorder, so Isel figured that something had to be out of whack, though she had no idea what that might be.

”What did you find, anyway?” Isel asked, curious what sort of problems her fighter had. ”Look, if I caused… whatever it is… I’m happy to help fix it. Just let me ditch this flight suit before I get all pruney from stewing in my own juices, and I’ll come give you a hand, yeah?” Isel turned and started making for the doors to the changing area to stow her flight suit, turning her head and calling over her shoulder as she went. ”If it was me, and we make it through this without getting wasted by the fucking Task Force, Klingons, Borg or whoever else is trying to kill us, I should be a bloody test pilot. Apparently I’ve got a fucking talent for messing these little babies up!”

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #5 – January 06, 2020, 08:57:36 PM

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @BZ @Fife

Hairpin turns and hard manoeuvres... shouldn't be enough to do this. The pilot's point about the test team spoke to a deeper truth regarding what these things were designed for. Any sublight shenanigans should be trivial for any FTL-capable craft regardless of SIF strength and inertial damping. Which rather left a maintenance issue, as Wolf-04 intimated. Though errors were to be expected in a situation such as theirs through mere dint of their frequency of use more than anything.

But the deck systems hadn't picked up the problem either, beyond thinking the connections were out of alignment by more than their tolerance, when they weren't. Problems with all three, then - the fighter, its maintenance, and hir deck.

The pilot went to peel herself out of her flight suit, and Nator braced for the inevitable loss of recognition that would happen once she was out of sight. Though lately things had been improving in that department, it was still unreliable. Who knew; perhaps this would be one of the times s/he'd remember.

"Combination of things, I think," Nator supplied. "Frame, deck, error. We'll check while you change."

The Hermat tapped on hir tricorder for a moment before turning to the Chief. Only now, s/he realised why she smelled a little familiar - Liam Herrold held the same scent. It was an unwelcome window into his - their - life... s/he didn't need it at all. But it also helped explain the reason he hadn't made some fresh swipe at hir when they had reunited, beyond some hypothetical maturation. That might be unkind, s/he allowed, though now that there was the glimmer of improvement in hir mental capabilities hir old bitterness about hir demotion was returning in kind.

"I'm sending a work crew to the pit," s/he informed the Chief, referring to the workshops and crawlspaces under the main fighter deck. "There's something wrong with the diagnostic systems..." Nator glanced up at Ji. "Anything else we missed on the fighter?"

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #6 – January 11, 2020, 05:16:40 PM

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Some Shit is Broken | Why Can't this Shit Stay Fixed? | More Problems, Less Time | It's Cute Other Officers Get Vacay]
@Top Hat @Fife

Ji brushed a hand through her shortened hair as she thought about how fucked this situation was. Ji hadn't really meant to be catty, but honestly, she grew tired of people assuming that shit around here wasn't fixed just because they were lazy sacks of shits. Her boys, her crew, worked hard as shit. They hardly had any off time, and what they did they were sleeping it off so they could get back to it the next day. A few had requested a day or overnight passage on the planet, and she had granted as many as she could staggering them so the deck and the work could remain covered. The mechanics and engineers here still deserved some down time too, everyone else seemed to be enjoying forays down on the planet. Enjoying the scenery, going swimming, shopping, getting hotel rooms. She and Liam had gone down for a little while, but not even over night. It had been a quick trip but she had gotten to take a nap and there was a lot of one on one time with them. That was where she had received her promotion after he had told her of his own. She had been mad, because as hard as she worked for the Theurgy she always felt unrecognized. That was, until recently.

Nix mentioned that she had no idea what happened. Nothing out of the ordinary had come across her HUD or the screens in her fighter. Ji could tell that Isel was a bit pissed with the dumbed down question, but honestly, she was just over her crew being attacked. Sten might have been the Papa Bear of the whole deck but Ji was most definitely the Mama Bear. This was her family, her place, and her people. She didn't take kindly to anyone talking badly about them.

Isel mentioned that she had just put the fighter through its paces and blew off some steam. Which probably meant, she had treated her fighter like shit and pushed it past it's limits. Her face said so, as she shot a brown eyed glance over at the Hermat next to her for a moment. Isel admitted she might have pushed her harder than normal and began listing some of the things she had done with the fighter today. But Ji shook her head, none of that should have pulled the chassis out of alignment. The likelihood was, as much as Ji hated to admit it, the problem was likely something on the deck. Something was wrong with the sensors.

Nix mentioned that the fighter had been heavily damaged in the last fight, something that Ji knew, because she had been the one that gone over the ship before and after repairs were done. Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary there, at all, everything else had seemed good as far as she could tell. But, now, she was wondering if it was the deck or the ship that had caused the issue. Right now, she just wanted it to be fixed.

“I can't keep this fucking scrap heap together.” Ji murmured as Isel headed off to get changed. She brushed a frustrated hand through her hair again while thinking about what the hell could have gone wrong. “The scanning arrays are in alignment, everything is green light, maybe there is some sort of error in the programming but then- no, it would be effecting all of the umbilical units and not just the one. No other fighters have had this issue.” she said putting her hands on her hips.

Ji was unaware of any past history between Liam and Nator, but then, she didn't really ask Liam about his past as it was irrelevant for the most part. He was hers now, and the deck was not exactly without that knowledge. Many of them had cheered them on back in the day when Sten was still around. She hadn't really mourned the passing of the man, he had done too many wrongs, he didn't deserve to die but she did not want to give him any more of her emotions by mourning the loss of his sorry soul. “Maybe the sensor assembly is faulty. Even just a slight malfunction could be enough to throw the whole system off and yet not exactly ping diagnostics.” she thought as she knelt back down to the deck.

“We had a massive battle with the Assaurians down here, a lot was damaged and destroyed. We replaced things but .. who knows if everything was perfect. This ship has been through so much shit I don't know how we keep going forward. I'm glad for the time here to fix shit, but I'm not sure we'll ever make it to the end of the to-do list.” she said feeling a bit overwhelmed by yet another broken piece of shit on her shoulders.

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #7 – January 14, 2020, 03:00:56 AM

Isel sighed as she made her way into the Lone Wolves locker room, shoving her flight helmet into it’s designated place and beginning the process of stripper off her flight suit. Once the thing was doffed and deposited back where it would wait for another flight, Isel stretched and rolled her shoulders, taking several deep breaths to calm herself. She didn’t like that it had been assumed that she was at fault for throwing whatever was wrong with the fighter out of alignment or out of sync or whatever the hell was wrong with the thing. She’d gladly take responsibility for it if it did turn out to be her fault, but she’d prefer they were sure of the cause before she got saddled with it.

She had enough shit on her mind lately without worrying about that shit.

Padding over to the replicator, Isel shifted to her Natural form and began to punch in commands until a moment later the replicator spit out a yellow engineering jumpsuit modified with a small hole to accommodate her tail. Isel stepped into the jumpsuit and zipped the thing halfway up, then began rolling up the sleeves as she made her way back out towards the flight deck.

Emerging onto the deck, she padded her way back to where the others were inspecting the fighter, the claws on her feet tick-ticking on the deck plates as she walked. Having finished rolling her sleeves up past her furry white elbows, Isel approached the pair she had left there and regarded the two with her ears perked up and her tail swishing in anticipation.

”Ok, so where’re we at?” The Vulpinian asked, trying to infuse her voice with a cheerful tone. ”Do we know what’s going on with this thing? Or should I jump in the cockpit and start running system diagnostics?” She was calmer now, and wanting to help figure out what was wrong with the fighter. The sooner they got it put right, the sooner she could be sure this mishap wouldn’t be repeated. She was just happy it had happened after an uneventful patrol, rather than in a much more real situation where speed would make all the difference. ”I can help with the fighter systems and diagnostics, though I’m not going to be as much help with anything involving the deck systems.”

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #8 – January 24, 2020, 08:06:56 PM

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @BZ @Fife

"I meant no insult, Chief," Nator responded. "I've... I was in stasis until just after '84, and I know how little one pair of hands can affect things in the grand scheme, but I'm aware how much catching up I have to do." S/he continued scanning for a moment, letting the diagnostics run. "I don't need much sleep, so I've been spending most hours on deck. We'll get it done."

Nator glanced at Ji. "Just don't tell Stark," s/he smirked with some self-deprecation. S/he wasn't quite sure how seriously most people took the COO's instruction that no one overwork themselves while they had the opportunity to rest for once, and s/he certainly wasn't sure how many people might innocently add a detail of hir being present at things and inadvertently dob hir in for doing exactly that. At least by her own bino standards. Nator knew hirself quite well.

Clicking on the deck heralded someone coming towards them. Who was this, now? Another chef for the broth? They didn't even know what the problem was, yet, and woe betide them if they were one of the crew s/he'd sent to the next deck down. This was not where they were supposed to be.

"Okay, so where're we at?"

What.

The voice- this was the pilot, returned from the head. Now hold on a fucking minute. Grief. There was no way s/he'd forgotten the woman's face so completely. S/he'd have remembered fur. S/he assumed the tail was some hybrid hangover like half the others aboard... except there were almost no hybrids left now, after the Savi. Nator took a closer look at the features... definitely more canid than felinoid, at least, even if she was still a bino. A shapeshifter, then, like the Captain.

Well, not quite.

Anyway.

Anyway.

"... anything involving the deck systems."

"Ah, yes, thank you. Diagnostics will never hurt. We'll verify from down here," s/he attempted the save. "Chief?" s/he passed the buck.

Rank had its privileges.

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #9 – February 01, 2020, 06:20:23 PM

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Shit Broke | This Shit Will Never End | Feeling Underwater | I Need a Drink]
@Fife @Top Hat

Ji brushed a frustrated hand through her hair again. She knew that this boat was fucking fucked up, but she also had been working herself far more hours than was approved. She worked as much as she could and so did much of her deck staff not because they wanted to, but because it was necessary. The Fighter Assault bay had taken a full on brunt of many attacks, and not only was the deck still in need of repairs but there were many fighters that had suffered greatly from their recent antics. So yes, it seemed that no matter how many things she crossed off her to-do list there was always so much more to do. Her eyes flickered to the officer that stood beside her helping her figure out this mess.

“I did not take it as an insult, I assure you, if I had, a fist would have been my answer.” Ji admitted, she was not always cool, calm, and collected, she had a temper and a this little Korean woman had to to be able to stand up next to and above all these burly men and women that worked on her deck. He admitted to having worked a ton of over time as well because of the situation on the deck, and not to tell Stark. Ji chuckled. “Well it's a pretty well kept secret down here. I don't think I go home once in a twenty four hour period. And yet, we always have more to do.”

Isel returned all fixed up, in her normal clothing, and with her tail out. Ji had been enamored, a little, with the whole fuzzy person thing but she had never actually touched the woman. She as pretty sure petting her would be wrong and taken the wrong way. Some of the fluffier races saw it as an insult and Ji didn't want to piss off any of her fighters, she needed them to tell her when things were wrong and have trust in her. So, there was no way that she was going to just go up to someone and brush her fingers across their skin no matter how nice and soft that tail looked.

Ji's eyes shifted up as the woman asked if she should run some diagnostics. That it was what she could help with because deck systems, not so much. As if Ji would let her fuck with the deck systems anyway. You had to be trained on those and it wasn't something she would just toss to someone else merely because they knew how to fly a fighter. Ji gave a nod as Nator and she agreed, Isel could do diagnostics from the cockpit.

“Lets us know if you find anything off.” she stated to the young woman allowing her to do what she needed.

Ji turned to Nator and opened her mouth to say something, and then closed it. Turning, she scanned the deck. “Jack!” she called out, the big burly man easily three times the size of Ji and a head and shoulders taller, had been loping across the deck quickly averted his course to come in her direction. He had tanned skin, a wealth of black tattoos running down one arm as evident by his rolled up yellow uniform, and a full on but well groomed beard in addition to his regular hair. He stopped up short.

“Hey Chief, what's up?” he asked his deep baritone nearly reverberating in his chest.

“I need my calibration tools, my sensor adjustment rig, and my laser alignment contributor.”

“Uh, yeah, where?” he asked quickly.

“Auxilary office.” she stated simply and without being dismissed he took off for her office so that she didn't have to run to her own office and get her crap. She knelt down on the deck and began to remove the paneling. The muscles in her deceptively small arms seemed to have no issues utilizing the muscles she had toned and used over the years. They stood out against her tan skin as they came out to work as she began to remove the plating and pushing it to the side in a stack to be replaced later once they got everything fixed. The under deck assembly was now exposed along with a small maintenance alley way on either side for such work as they were about to be doing.

She jumped down into the alcove that she fit in rather well with her small size and looked over at the assembly. Pulling out her PADD she scanned the devices and sighed. “So this whole assembly was replaced just three days ago.” she sighed shaking her head. “Something went wrong, and if .. “she looked down at the reports. “Lt. Frederick Camouth didn't do his shit right, he'll be answering to me.” she sighed softly shoving her PADD into her pocket as she heard the heavy footfalls of Jack returning.

“Here Chief.” he tossed down a work belt to her with pockets and loops for all her things. She tied it on around her waist, clasping it into security before she began to pull out her laser alignment contributor and began to check if the whole assembly was in proper alignment. Just a hair off would fuck everything up.

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #10 – February 03, 2020, 11:39:49 PM

Isel glanced sideways at the Deck Chief, who seemed to be staring at her. Or rather, at certain parts of her. Isel assumed the woman’s gaze was fixated on her tail rather than her ass, though given the few weeks she’d had aboard the Theurgy she couldn’t be sure. She gave her tail an exploratory swish, and saw the Chief’s eyes flick to follow the movement.

Tail then. Isel felt somewhat relieved at the fact.

Isel turned her white furred head towards the Lieutenant as she agreed that Isel ought to run a full diagnostic of the fighter, the Chief joining in a moment later instructing her to let them know if she found anything off. ”You got it!” Isel replied cheerfully, side-stepping the Chief to make for the ladder. She gave her tail another flick as she moved past the Chief, brushing the woman’s hand with her tail, trying and failing to hide the sly grin which spread over her features as she approached the ladder. Climbing the ladder and sitting on the edge of the cockpit, Isel swung her feet over the edge and dropped down into her seat. After a moment of shifting herself and moving her tail to make her position more comfortable, Isel began tapping commands into the console, finding it strange to be doing so with her clawed fingertips rather than the gauntlet of her flight suit. Hearing the Chief calling out to someone named Jack, Isel turned her head to peer through the bulkhead next to her, then realized that she wasn’t wearing her helmet and therefore couldn’t activate the TVD’s virtual mode. Chuckling to herself, Isel craned her neck to look down at the deck below in time to see a hulking man running across the deck.

Settling back in her seat, Isel turned her attention back to her readouts, her mismatched eyes focusing on the screens in front of her. ”Ok darlin’, let’s see what you’ve got for me.” Isel murmured to her fighter as her eyes scanned the readouts which had begun to appear on the display in front of her. ”Flight controls… green… Power distribution… green…” Isel continued to murmur, ”Life support green. Warp systems green. Weapons systems green. Comms green. Green, green, green… green, green, green, green…” Isel’s eyes stopped scanning. ”Landing gear looks good, but the docking systems are not green… yeah we already knew that…” Isel was absolutely positive everything had checked out during her pre-flight systems checks, otherwise she would have reported the issue. Still, no point in dwelling on that right now. Isel selected the docking system and ran a more detailed diagnostic. ”The fuck? The frame is a millimeter out of alignment? How?” Isel’s white eyebrows furrowed and she exited the docking systems and pulled up the diagnostics display and ran a check on the Inertial Dampeners and Structural Integrity Field. ”If the inertial dampeners were out of alignment I probably would have yakked, so I doubt that’s the problem…” Isel reasoned with herself, tapping a clawed finger against the edge of the screen as she waited for the diagnostic to finish. Green.

Well… green-ish.

”Ok. Bit of flux there…” Isel said as she eyed the readout unhappily. ”At least I didn’t puke in my helmet! That would have been a fun trip back to the hangar…” Isel tried not to think about how unpleasant the potential outcome would have been. ”Alright then, on to Structural Integrity.”

Once that diagnostic run Isel climbed back out of the fighter and slid down the handrails of the cockpit ladder, landing with a soft thud on the pads of her feet. She made her way towards the hole in the deck into which the Chief and LT had disappeared and poked her head down. ”Boo1” Isel said with a chuckle, her werefox head seeming to hang upside down through the opening. ”So I ran the diagnostics. There’s a tiny bit of fluctuation in the Inertial Dampeners, though I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary during the flight, so I doubt it’s enough to account for the frame warping as much as it did.” Isel glanced from the Deck Chief to the Ops officer and back. ”There’s a bit of structural integrity wear as well, though the field emitters all checked out. Might have been caused when the docking malfunction happened. I don’t know if Thea was confused, trying to put her docking umbilical in the wrong hole or what, but…” The yellow-clad shoulders of the upside-down Isel shrugged. ”How are things looking down here? Anything I can help with?”

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #11 – February 10, 2020, 07:07:25 PM

[ LtJG Nator 159 | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @BZ @Fife

Frederick Camouth. No, not one s/he remembered. Teasing the name around hir brain, seeing if there was any detail about the person at all. Other than his presumably being in Ops, Nator was pulling a blank. S/he cursed hir enduring prosopamnesia. Nevertheless, s/he added the name to a mental file; it wouldn't merely be Chief Ji he answered to if he had been the source of their current problems. Stark couldn't even be mad about it - he wasn't an ensign.

Mostly Nator assisted Ji with her investigations, working on the systems from the other end while the NCO did her thing. S/he had to admit: for a bino, Eun Sae Ji wasn't bad. It was actually pretty nice, to work with people s/he didn't feel the need to babysit like some sort of pointy nanny.

The pilot's head appeared (upside down) over the lee of the fighter, reporting what she'd found. Nothing out of the ordinary, according to what they'd already scanned. Somehow, that just made the whole thing weirder. There was no way a ship of any kind with an active SI field would become so stressed in normal flight, even if one were being a little rough with it. Not without a dozen alarms screaming at you and a very dead crewman.

"... Anything I can help with?"

"Your fighter will have to be grounded while we correct it," Nator informed Isel. "No comment on-"

[Diagnostics are coming back clear, Lieutenant. Nothing wrong back here.]

The Hermat frowned, before lowering hir chin a little in the direction of hir badge. "I didn't send you down there to have a look. Service the systems there."

There seemed to be a pause, though that might have been hir imagination. [Aye, aye.]

S/he looked back at Nix. "Ah, no comment on your skills as a pilot - I'd just rather the machine didn't kill you on your next outing before Sankolov gets another go."

Internally, Nator braced. There was a certain stereotype about pilots and their attachment to their craft - and in which they would deign to fly. It would hardly do to start a brawl on the flight deck.

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #12 – February 15, 2020, 04:57:51 PM

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Fucking Idiots | We Need a Training Day | I Will Find this Fucker | We're All Overworked – No Excuses]
@Top Hat @Fife

The laser alignment showed that it was off, the sensory reading would never come back true if the alignment was anything less than perfect. Thus, Ji knew that was part of the problem. Yes, the fighter had somehow gotten bent out of shape but it should have never been enough to deter it from being docked properly. So, she began to realign the whole mechanism, using the laser alignment tool, to make sure that it was done properly. There was a port the umbilical would release from under the fighter and shoot out to connect onto the umbilical port in the deck plating. But, if they were off even just slightly the two wouldn't connect the way they were supposed to and then you had the problems they were having right now.

As Ji continued to adjust using a small tool to manipulate the position of the laser so that it would get fully on board where it was supposed to go. Once everything was properly in alignment the laser turned green. She sighed softly pulling the assembly back off of the umbilical connection port and pulled it back into her utility belt and once more checked the alignment. Again; green. So that was one situation that was fixed.

“Okay the umbilical port is back in alignment as it should have been a while ago. She was docked earlier today, she hasn't been gone long. The slight variation in her frame though, that's different, and it wasn't logged previously. I'm not sure what could have cau-”

In came Isel's head, upside down, and Ji rose her brow. Nator began to tell the woman she would be grounded for a bit, because of the issues, and she could only wait for the fall out of that particular conversation. She gave Nator a 'you couldn't wait to tell her until after I left?' kind of look. But then she grinned, showing that she was joking, because she mostly was. Looking up at the assembly now in proper working form, she still had to figure out what exactly had happened to the actual fighter to cause the frame to warp.

She didn't use the ladder to get out of the pit, instead she jumped up using her arms on the deck itself to pull herself up like she was getting out of the pool. Once up she would let Nator finished whatever it was s/he was going to do in the service hatch and Ji pulled out yet another device. This one she sat on the deck itself and it scanned the warped frame into her work pad so that she would be able to actually fix it.

“It's not a huge warp, but the whole external material has shifted.” she said as she left the scanning device on the deck sitting there securely magnetized to the floor so that it wouldn't get moved or kicked. She pulled a small hypo-driver out of her utility belt and began to remove the bent frame, she needed to know if it was only the paneling that was bent or if it was more than that. If the actual underlying chassis was warped, then they had a much larger problem. If it was just the external pieces those could be reworked or even, if necessary, replaced. Ji's muscles worked to hold up the material before looking over at Isel.

“If you want to help, hold this up while I remove.” she stated calmly to give the pilot something to do besides fume about her being grounded. Once she decided to help Ji made short work of removing the specialized screws and pocketing them so they wouldn't get lost. Once all of the screws were removed to her pocket she got Isel to help her remove the paneling and lay it to the side carefully. Only then, did she get the frame to begin to be scanned. Hopefully, it would come back green, and it was just an external warp.

If that was the case, she could think of a few reasons why it would have happened, but, she didn't want to jump down that road just yet.

Sure enough; the chassis came back normal.

“Okay so, good news, the chassis itself is not warped, its only the exterior panel. But, it was enough to throw everything off and we need to figure out exactly what happened to your panels because those are made to withstand space and the pressures of it. So, it shouldn't have warped no matter what happened to it.” she said brushing a hand through her short hair. Looking over at Nator.

“Any ideas?” she might as well pick his brain before she gave up her own thoughts on the matter.

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #13 – February 23, 2020, 01:37:56 AM

Rather than actually answering her question about whether there was anything she could help with, the Lieutenant instead informed her that her fighter would be grounded until the issues could be resolved. S/he made a point of adding that it was not a comment on Isel’s flying. Both the Lieutenant and the deck Chief looked up at her with wary expressions, as though waiting for her to explode. Isel looked down at them with wide eyes for a long moment, blinking several times.

”K.” Was all she said initially, though the slightly baffled expressions looking up at her prompted her to continue. ”What? I’m perfectly happy not to die a fiery death in space, especially not because of some mechanical issue that wasn’t dealt with properly. So by all means, take your fucking time!” She said with a grin, or as much of one as she could manage hanging upside-down in her Natural form. She meant the words, too. She’d been dragged on this insane mission against her better judgement as well as against her will, after all. It was amazing the shitty places a bit of blackmail could land you.

The wolfish withdrew as Isel pulled herself upright, then stood. A moment later Ji climbed up onto the deck and told Isel that, if she wanted to help, she could hold things while Ji worked. Shrugging, Isel moved to do as the Chief asked, supporting what she was asked to as the deck Chief worked.

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #14 – March 02, 2020, 08:01:01 PM

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Fighter Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @BZ @Fife

S/he needn't have worried. Of course s/he needn't have worried. Obviously, s/he had been spending too much time around the idiotic ensigns of hir department and had forgotten how to deal with the non-idiot ones. Although, the ratio of idiot-to-not was at least improving as the idiots weeded themselves out of active rotation and into sickbay. Nonetheless, it was a relief that Nix didn't press the issue of being grounded.

The news that the chassis wasn't warped but 'merely' its hull was less reassuring than it could have been. The chassis was mostly one component (post-welding), but the hull came in about a hundred different parts. Which all needed their own sensor hookups and so on for whatever other components mounted externally... Nator suppressed a sigh. It wouldn't be called a 'gripe sheet' if all it did was get shorter, after all.

"Any ideas?"

The Hermat straightened a little, casting an eye over the fighter as if its silent repose would offer some mystical insight to hir. It remained stubbornly quiet.

"None that will save us any time," s/he admitted. "Peel and re-seal, and realign along the way."

This time, s/he did sigh. Grief.

[Lieutenant, we're about half-done down here. Total swap. Nothing checks out as broken so far.] The tone was almost accusatory. Well, two can play at that game.

"Acknowledged. Update me when you're done. Out."

Nator ducked out from under the wing, reading hir tricorder as s/he went and snagging a decoupler along the way. "I'll start starboard side," s/he said. "Pretty bad by the engine fairings. How's it looking down there?"

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #15 – March 09, 2020, 03:01:43 PM

[CPO Eun Sae Ji | Sometimes Life Still Surprises | Understanding Pilots | Getting Shit Fixed | Still Not Sure How it Broke]
@Fife @Top Hat

The pilot seemed completely fine with being grounded. Ji just stared at the woman for a long moment, clearly, too long because she admitted that she didn't want to die in a fiery crash of death either. Ji wasn't exactly sure what to think about someone, especially a pilot, who seemed to understand and have everything together. Because, she had met so few of those in her life time so far and she dealt predominately with them. For a moment Ji just scratched the back of her head as the pilot seemed calm, cool, and collected.

“Right, well, hopefully if I have my way it'll be a short grounding.” she stated hoping that it would make everything better.

Nator had the same general ideas that she did, talking about how they just needed to peel and reseal. Then they would be able to adjust and fix anything out of alignment on the way. Ji gave a simple nod, it was just as she thought. Running a hand through her hair she knew it was just time to get to work. Nix seemed interested in helping out and she appreciated that. Most of the pilots she worked with fell into two categories.

1. The mother category, where their fighter was their baby and they didn't trust anyone to work on it without supervision. Their supervision. They were the kind that worried over every bolt, panel, coupling, and scratch. The kinds that were nervous wrecks as they watched their fighter being worked on.
2. Then there was the 'tell me when it's over' kind of fighter pilot. The one that was certain everything would be fine, they were going to drink, shower, chill, and wait for the clean bill of health so they could get back at it.

Isel was not of either of the categories but if she had to be in one it would be the latter. Only as rare as it was she was actually willing to help out and be a part of making the fighter whole again. She heard Nator's voice again asking how it was fairing where she was and it was then that Isel and Ji had just lowered the misaligned panel onto the deck plating so that they could replace it. It was the worst one, which was still barely anything but enough to throw the whole system off.

“Warped, not sure how though. I can't figure it out. Are we out of replication materials?” she wondered as she headed off for a moment and drug the large replicator over towards where they were working. The replicator was on wheels and could be moved around the deck when large things were necessary for replication. Like the panels and so forth. She began to program in the kind of fighter, the panel they needed to replicate, and looked at the specs. Making sure that they fight exactly what the blueprints called for. Brushing a hand through the back of her head she scratched it for a moment. Everything matched up, so she began to comb through the materials to make sure that everything necessary was being used in the proper quantities.

“Do you think we need an Engineer to check the replicator and make sure it's working right?” she asked Nator.

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #16 – March 20, 2020, 02:45:34 AM

Isel found her hands empty and the Deck Chief’s attention directed elsewhere as the Human consulted the Hermat about replicators, materials and calibrations. Stuffing her clawed hands into the pockets of the yellow jumpsuit she wore, the Vulpinian’s muzzle swung slowly to regard her fighter. She hadn’t even had this one for three weeks, it having been a replacement for the battered and damaged beyond repair fighter which she had piloted when she and Donna defected to the Theurgy. She hoped this would be the last major issue she would have for a while…

And yet somehow she doubted it.

Sighing, Isel turned her attention back to the Deck Chief, her tail swishing restlessly behind her. ”It looks like you guys are going to be busy here, and I certainly won’t be much use to you. If anything I’d be in the way, so I’ll leave you to it.” Isel gave the Korean woman a smile which, in her current form, consisted of the upper lip of her canine muzzle curling up to expose long, sharp teeth. ”Hopefully whatever’s wrong doesn’t give you too much trouble!” She added, giving a wave with her white-furred hand as she turned and padded across the deck towards the Tac Conn locker rooms. Maybe she’d go find that scruffy bastard she’d had a drink with the other day. With everything seeming to go wrong with her fighter, her position, and her relationships, she could certainly use a drink...

Or three...

Re: Day 20 [1300] Mechanical Malady

Reply #17 – March 21, 2020, 04:45:47 PM

[ Lt JG Nator 159 | Figher Assault Bay | Deck 16 | Vector 02 | USS Theurgy ] attn: @BZ @Fife

The officer and non-coms began to make their way around the grounded fighter, peeling off its armoured skin and realigning each panel in turn, then verifying the mountings were accurate and the underlying structural members still matched up. This was normally the sort of work s/he'd leave for the flight deck, but they were all Ops, and s/he was here now. Besides, if it wasn't the pilot's fault, it was the responsibility of the flight deck in the first place... though Nator kept that one to hirself.

"Do you think we need an engineer to check the replicator and make sure it's working right?"

"What's wrong with it?" s/he asked, before switching track to the start of the question. "We don't need an engineer, though," s/he said, interdepartmental rivalry spiking for a moment.

The pilot made her excuses and left, which did prompt the Hermat to spend a few seconds watching her go. An against-stereotype pilot, and an ensign out of the ordinary both in her ability not to be a fucking idiot and not piss hir off all at once. S/he'd have to catch up with her later, perhaps find a way to replicate whatever ephemeral trait she possessed in the other goldshirted ensigns.

Who knew - it might even avoid further conflicts with Stark the next time some moron set themselves aflame or used an inspection plate to separate their fingers from their hands or something.

S/he turned back to the stricken craft and reached back into its guts. They'd be here for a few hours, yet.

~FIN