Lt Oddas: That's Odd, Part I (Tag: NT)

[Nicholas St Gabriel]

((OCC: Flashback, Just Before the Last Mission))

(( Main Engineering Office, Embassy, Duronis II ))

:: Aria was reviewing the morning status reports.

Progress on the Bronwyn was continuing, slowly but surely getting the battle damage repaired as well as bringing the various subsystems up to her standards.  Its not that the work before had been done poorly, but she had ridden on the ship into battle twice and she had no intention of doing it again while there was a chance of bulkheads flying off or phaser capacitors exploding because there were Romulan parts trying to interface with Federation standards. 

The Thunder didn't need much more than what she considered 'standard repairs', so she was managing from afar, by now the Engineering crews knew they would have to tear things apart if they weren't done properly.

She sighed deeply before she looking at the stack of the Embassy repair reports.  They were more complicated because of the extensive damage.  She wanted to do something else before starting and her eye caught her list of communications, mostly routine, except one from an Ensign Jeanna Houston, of the Argus array.  

Aria had studied the Argus array at the academy, it had been largely surpassed by the new MIDAS array, but was still in use.  It was also not due for many upgrades.  One of the few arguments she had gotten into with a professor was when she had submitted a paper calling for the upgrade of the Argus array.  She had contended it would be a viable competitor for the MIDAS array, most likely able to suppress it, if given the opportunity.

She had only heard of Ensign Houston in passing though, as someone who was a passable engineer and not someone was interested in doing much beyond basic repair.  The Ensign was a year ahead of her in the academy and Aria was surprised to see the designation 'Ensign' still on the woman's rank. ::

Oddas:  Let's see what this is about.  Computer, play message.

:: The dark skinned Houston came on screen and began speaking. ::

Houston: Lieutenant Oddas, I am hoping you can help me with a problem. :: she paused for a moment, almost looking embarrassed Aria thought ::  I am stationed on the Argus Telescope Subspace array and as you have written on the subject of its upgrade-ability I thought you might have some insights.  :: the woman looked down at her notes :: Many weeks ago several of the transceivers used for long-range scans began failing due to their age.  I cannot expect replacement parts and the parts I do need I cannot replicate do to their precise molecular makeup. 

I began looking for a solution in the archives when I came across, by way of the Vulcan science ministry, a device that looked as if it would allow the transceivers to scan at higher layers of subspace and lower power usages. It was simply marked as being the work of a 'Dr Reyga', but I had never heard of him.  

To make a long story short, the device worked and got the transceivers online, but they require much more maintenance than I would typically expect, by an order of magnitude. I am hoping that by getting another set of eyes on the work some way of refining the work can be found to keep the modifications online without increasing my workload so much.  As you know the engineering staff on the array consists of, well, me and the science officers will not be happy if I have to pull them off to keep machinery running.

Thank you for your time.

:: The message ended and the computer indicated there was quite a bit of data connected to the transmission. Details on the 'Reyga' device, including detailed schematics, details on how Houston how interfaced it with the Argus array, several weeks worth of logs, and logs and logs of how Houston had tried, and failed, to keep the maintenance workload from overwhelming her.  On one hand her logs expressed concern that if she did not get the maintenance concerns under control, the array would be abandoned.  On the other, without the modifications Starfleet would be unlikely to keep the array operational under the theory that the MIDAS array was the better investment in terms of time and resources. ::

:: Aria did a quick glance of the logs over her coffee and it appeared the transceivers were generating much more information than the buffers attached to them were designed to handle.  She knew from her previous research on the Telescope each transceiver was designed, over designed many would say, to do much more work than they were ever tasked to do but the radios attached to them were a limiting factor.  This was one of her arguments in her paper in the academy for keeping the array operational, if upgraded.  ::

oO Its possible this .. Reyga Device .. is causing some subspace noise and causing the issue. Might as well start there.  Oo

Oddas: Computer, record a response to this message.  :: she waited for the confirmation tone :: Ensign Houston, I have received your message. oO Remember, pleasantries first. Oo  thank you for thinking of me on this problem and remembering my interest in the Argus array.  I appreciate the opportunity to help.

:: she paused a moment ::

I made a very cursory review of the logs and I believe a filter on the transceiver output would help the situation tremendously.  :: she tapped a few keys, making a note to begin working on the appropriate filter circuit later in the day :: I will begin reviewing the logs in more detail and verifying the results over the next day or so and hope to have a more definitive answer then. 

:: out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of the the wave forms the Argus array transceivers were recording and frowned ::

Thank you again.

Computer, send.

Oddas:  That's odd. 

:: She isolated a section of the waveform on the screen and transferred it to the largest display on her office wall.  She had a hunch, but she had to go.  The mission was about to start and she'd have to do the supporting math when she got back. ::

NT, TBC

Lieutenant Oddas Aria

Chief Engineering Officer

Duronis II Embassy - USS Thunder-A - 70605-A

ID number: E239305OA0

One man's 'magic' is another man's engineering.  -Robert Heinlein

Wiki: https://wiki.starbase118.net/wiki/index.php/Oddas_Aria