06-26-2024, 03:24 AM
"I have a flashlight if you need one chief." Came the voice of the midshipman, a dim-lit Caitian figure stretching out of an access hatch. "What took out the lights and computers?"
"Don't know yet." The chief was quick to return his gaze to the PADD in his hands. New tricorder readings from his staff across the deck were coming in every few seconds. As quickly as he could read, file, and scroll, Altairi was falling far behind. "Power's cut to engineering, but everything looks okay across the rest of the ship. I'm going to have to send some folks into the Jefferies Tubes to check the junctions. If there's a leak somewhere down the line, the computers probably redirected power to minimize it."
Just before he could figure out where to send Turner, the midshipman's comm badge chirped. Jensen was summoning him for a customs inspection mission.
So there was another ship out there? Localized EMP? Surely that would have affected other subsystems. He didn't understand why anyone would target Engineering but leave the warp and impulse drives intact. Maybe a virus? Again, the readings he was picking up didn't seem consistent with any malicious intent. No, he'd have to assume his department had been hit by a coincidentally timed malfunction for the time being.
That was, of course, the logical part of his brain talking: the newly graduated Midshipman Altairi Hydish who'd been raised on textbooks and busted replicator units. The Chief Engineer of the Yeager, who'd almost battled Tholians and a Crystaline Entity over Jaterran, who'd nearly exploded on a shuttle in the middle of the Gamma Quadrant, had acquired a tendency to assume the worst. He already felt sick about the thought that they could be under attack.
"Chief looks like I need to go unless you need me more here?"
Shoot. Turner.
Altairi looked back up from his PADD, trying to gauge the midshipman's face in the darkness, hoping he hadn't been able to pick up on his anxiety. "I'll make do. Pick up an inspection kit and a phaser from the locker, quickly. Commander Jensen won't want you keeping him waiting."
With a few seconds of silent deliberation, the chief's attention shifted elsewhere in the room. "Ears up, folks!" He saw the flashlights' beams wave a little more then come to a halt as the department snapped to attention. "EPS grid's in good working order everywhere else but here. I want to know why." He scanned over the assembled faces, shuffling through personnel files in his mind. Johnson and Barkley were out checking on the engines, so he was down a general systems engineer and an impulse tech. "Miss Kedus, you're with me. We'll be searching the conduits feeding into Engineering. Mister Vlokar, patch us in with your combadge. And pull up some schematics. We'll be needing directions.
"Mister Elliot, you have the bay. Keep an eye out for anything else that happens and report to me. Divvie up the department as you feel necessary. Let's see if we can at least restore emergency power."
>>Jefferies Tubes>>
== Tag Tag. ==
"Don't know yet." The chief was quick to return his gaze to the PADD in his hands. New tricorder readings from his staff across the deck were coming in every few seconds. As quickly as he could read, file, and scroll, Altairi was falling far behind. "Power's cut to engineering, but everything looks okay across the rest of the ship. I'm going to have to send some folks into the Jefferies Tubes to check the junctions. If there's a leak somewhere down the line, the computers probably redirected power to minimize it."
Just before he could figure out where to send Turner, the midshipman's comm badge chirped. Jensen was summoning him for a customs inspection mission.
So there was another ship out there? Localized EMP? Surely that would have affected other subsystems. He didn't understand why anyone would target Engineering but leave the warp and impulse drives intact. Maybe a virus? Again, the readings he was picking up didn't seem consistent with any malicious intent. No, he'd have to assume his department had been hit by a coincidentally timed malfunction for the time being.
That was, of course, the logical part of his brain talking: the newly graduated Midshipman Altairi Hydish who'd been raised on textbooks and busted replicator units. The Chief Engineer of the Yeager, who'd almost battled Tholians and a Crystaline Entity over Jaterran, who'd nearly exploded on a shuttle in the middle of the Gamma Quadrant, had acquired a tendency to assume the worst. He already felt sick about the thought that they could be under attack.
"Chief looks like I need to go unless you need me more here?"
Shoot. Turner.
Altairi looked back up from his PADD, trying to gauge the midshipman's face in the darkness, hoping he hadn't been able to pick up on his anxiety. "I'll make do. Pick up an inspection kit and a phaser from the locker, quickly. Commander Jensen won't want you keeping him waiting."
With a few seconds of silent deliberation, the chief's attention shifted elsewhere in the room. "Ears up, folks!" He saw the flashlights' beams wave a little more then come to a halt as the department snapped to attention. "EPS grid's in good working order everywhere else but here. I want to know why." He scanned over the assembled faces, shuffling through personnel files in his mind. Johnson and Barkley were out checking on the engines, so he was down a general systems engineer and an impulse tech. "Miss Kedus, you're with me. We'll be searching the conduits feeding into Engineering. Mister Vlokar, patch us in with your combadge. And pull up some schematics. We'll be needing directions.
"Mister Elliot, you have the bay. Keep an eye out for anything else that happens and report to me. Divvie up the department as you feel necessary. Let's see if we can at least restore emergency power."
>>Jefferies Tubes>>
== Tag Tag. ==