Engineering Chaos

Posted on Tue Jan 16th, 2024 @ 4:27pm by Lieutenant Commander Peter Carter Jr & Lieutenant JG Kromal Ezazzan & Ensign Wendy Marvell

1,194 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Search
Location: Main Engineering

Engineering was busy, the attack by the Maquis had done considerable damage to most of the ships systems. One of the main systems hit by the Maquis, and the USS Bismarck had been the Ermiana's engines.

Ensign Wendy Marvell, one of the younger engineers made her way over to the chief, Lieutenant Commander Peter Carter Jr with her report in her hand. "Chief," she said on approach as she held out the PADD. "Here's the status report on the antimatter injectors you wanted..."

"Damn it." Pete swore half under his breath. "That's worse than I'd expected. "Quincannon!!" He balled.

Tina Quincannon came around the corner, her face smeared with grime, and the front of her uniform had hydraulic coolant smeared across it. "What's up Chief?" Pete handed her the PaDD.

"Get a team on that transfer conduit on deck 31. I want you to handle the injector on 28 yourself."
Pete said thinking out loud.

"Give me 10 minutes to reorganize, and I'll get right on it." Tina said handing the PaDD back. Pete nodded in reply.

The Chief Operations Officer arrived to Engineering with a grim look on his reptilian expression. He had three Operations Officers in tow, all three of which were Ensigns and in somewhat questionable shape with torn uniforms and bruises across their bodies that were exposed. Kromal looked around for the department head. There was chaos and no real way to see.

"I'm looking for the Department Head," he bellowed, signaling his Officers to follow him as the scuffle of engineering officers went around them.

Pete held up a hand. "Over here!" He called out. "Wendy I want you to get a team on the anti grav generator on deck 11. The last thing I need is to hear the Doc having to perform surgery on the ceiling in sickbay."

tag Wendy

"Lieutenant, I'm up to my ears in it right now. Unless you have orders from Earth it'll have to wait." Pete said to the Gorn who was almost a foot taller than himself.

Kromal understood the Chiefs attitude as he approached and despite a short snort, he turned to his three Operations Officers and began to relay orders.

"Ensign Pleka, Ensign V'Las," the Gorn said, pointing two claws at the Saurian and Vulcan Officers so as not not be directly offensive. "I want you to head directly to Deck 11 and assist in any and all repairs, then report back. Follow the Ensign ordered by the Chief here if necessary."

He then turned to the last Ensign he had in tow, a Human. "Ensign O'Lyne, you're with me. We're going to be assisting the Chief in repairs on this deck and staying out of his way. Split up, find a buddy, assist."

The three Operations Officers nodded at once, breaking up to assist as they meandered off and began their orders. Kromal, however, turned around to observe the Chief briefly. Not wanting to interrupt, he reached in his belt pouch and retrieved his micro-spanner and tricorder. Without a word he headed to the nearest console that sparked dangerously and began to work.

"Mr. Ezazzan ... wait, please." Carter said a little taken aback for a moment. "My apologies for being snappish just now. I appreciate the help. Can you spare me a moment to go over what needs doing?"

There was a moment the Gorn, now laying down on his side, stopped what he was doing. He turned the micro-spanner off, huffing as his tail thudded the deck - a quick sign of irritation. He rose quickly, making sure not to hit his head, and the motion was surprisingly fluid and oddly .... reptilian. He turned, then approached the Chief in a slow fashion so as to not to be intimidating.

"You have nothing to apologize for, sir," corrected the Gorn. "You are under extreme duress with the situation on this ship. I know this because the entire Operations division has been tasked in assisting yours, as well as their own duties. This is a very stressful time for us all. Let us ... let the water flow under the bridge, as you say."

Kromal attempted a smile. He accidently displayed his fangs in an attempt to be genuine, then drew back the gesture to show less of them, then returned to normal when he gave up.

"Please, inform me of what you need, I will ensure my department attends to it, and I am at your disposal," Kromal said.

"Good enough." Pete said with a firm nod. Carter and Kromal stepped over to the pool table and the large display. A few minutes passed and everything was laid out, and there was a lot to do. "Any suggestions as where to begin?"

Kromal was keenly focused on the display during the silence. He looked between it and the warp core constantly, eyes traversing back and forth as he took in the data. He wasn't an experienced engineer by any means, but what he noticed was a pattern he had experienced before. When he was prompted to speak, he looked at Pete.

"I've seen this before, or something similar," Kromal said. "We have multiple, probably dozens of power relay failures due to an overload. Due to the nature of our condition, I highly suspect the shields took in an overload and caused massive surges. From my understanding of the Galaxy-class systems and, similarly, the Ambassador-class, there are hundreds of redundancies that should of been tripped to prevent this. I suspect the computer core is damaged, sir, and I suspect we should start there to see if sections of it are offline."

Pete scratched the back of his neck. "Would you believe me if I said I came to the same conclusion as you were walking in? Feeling up to getting into it with me once we get the main power grid stabilized?" He crossed his arms looks at the display, thinking to himself it looked like the ship had a bad case of hives or chicken pox all the bright red spots all over the place.

"I think I can do that, sure," Kromal said as he turned back to the display. "I'll have my department check in on each of the power relays. Do you want me to head to the computer core or-"

=/\= All hands this is the Captain. I need you all to double your efforts, the stakes just got higher. All Senior staff report to the observation lounge, now. =/\=

Kromal was quiet for a second after being interrupted by the shipwide. He looked to the Chief again.

"I'll get my division focused on the Power Relays so yours can focus on the critical parts, perhaps the computer core?" Kromal suggested as he rose to full height. "I believe we're needed by the Captain or would you prefer I stay here and help you continue repairs?"

Pete shook his head slowly. "No we'll both go, a few minutes won't make that much of a difference in the long run. Come on." He tapped the big lizard on the arm.

Kromal nodded, following the Chief.

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Lt. Cmdr. Peter Carter
Chief Engineer

&

Lieutenant JG Kromal Ezazzan
Chief Operations Officer
USS Ermiana

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