USS YORKTOWN: The Bridge Officers Exam, Part I
euan kilgour
Euan Kilgour]
SLD: 1.0658
Scene: Holodeck 3, Starbase Zinderneuf
The first day of shore leave was usually something
Star Fleet Officers
looked forward too. After weeks and even sometimes
months of involvement in
a taxing and intensive mission; the relief of being
home with nothing more
challenging to do then finish off a couple of reports
was eagerly
anticipated.
However, this time Toa Williams, Operations and Second
Officer for the USS
Yorktown had not been quite so enthusiastic in his
preparations for this
bout of shore leave and while he was certainly
relieved that the pirate
threat had been neutralized, he had hoped for a few
more weeks in order to
prepare for today.
Commodore Blouse had made it quite clear when
assigning Toa to the Second
Officer spot that she expected him to complete his
final two exams for his
senior Bridge Officer Qualification as soon as the
current mission was
concluded, which made it today.
Toa had arrived at Holodeck 3 at exactly the
prescribed two minutes prior.
Checking over his immaculately groomed uniform one
last time he used the
final few moments to go over a few things in his head.
Finally satisfied
that everything was in place and he was as ready as he
was ever going to be,
he entered through the archway.
Commodore Blouse and his XO, Commander O'Dailey were
already waiting for
him.
"Good morning Commander," Rose Blouse greeted him with
genuine warmth.
"Morning ma'am, Commander" Toa nodded in Eddie's
direction who rewarded him
with a curt smile.
"Are you ready to begin?" the Commodore asked.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Toa confirmed.
"Commander O'Dailey and myself have decided to begin
with the Warp Core
Section first as the Commander has a number of other
duties to attend too
else where later on today. Following that I will be
supervising your First
Contact examination - if that is o-kay with you?"
"Yes - fine," Toa confirmed, secretly relieved that
the Commodore had
decided to undertake the exams in that order. Toa was
far more comfortable
with the 'right and wrong' nature of the warp core
than the 'decidedly' gray
area of First Contact and by undertaking the warp
section first he could get
a grip on himself.
"O-kay then," Rose nodded in Eddie's direction; "If
you'd like to make a
start."
"Computer, begin O'Dailey Warp Core programme Alpha
1," the YORKTOWN's First
Officer complied.
The Holodeck audibly whirred for a moment before the
scene evolved and
changed into an exact replica of the YORKTOWN's
Engineering Department.
Eddie led Toa over to the still warp core. Around them
a number of
holographic Engineers had also materialized but Toa
barely registered them
as he took in the central panel and diagnostic
equipment around him.
"It's a reasonably simple exercise," Eddie began to
explain, "the warp core
has been shut down for a little over 24 hours for
standard maintenance and
now needs to be reinitialized and started. Any
queries"
Toa shook his head. "No."
"Good," Eddie smiled a quick reassuring smile at him.
"Good luck then."
Toa was hoping he wouldn't need any luck as watch the
two senior officers
depart for the Observation Booth.
"Right," he turned his attention back to the still
warp core. "You be nice
to me and I'll be nice to you," he muttered
The two fuel system pods that contained the Deuterium
and Antimatter were in
a dormant state, evidence that the system had indeed
been shut off for a
significant period of time.
Tapping in a few commands on the attached console, Toa
bought the Reaction
Injectors back on line and watched as the starting
sequence worked its way
through to the storage pods that would mix the two
substances together into
the fuel needed to operate the warp core.
While that was happening Toa he ran a Level 3
diagnostic on the crossfeed
injector and twin deuterium manifolds. It was an
unnecessary procedure
during a start-up sequence, but since his Star Fleet
career hinged on him
doing this correctly Toa wasn't taking any chances.
The deuterium was slowly beginning to reach the solid
transition point where
micropellets would form to be pre-burned by the
magnetic punch fusion.
Keeping one eye on the temperature gauge, Toa
nonetheless kept his main
attention focused squarely on the gas streams that
were being fed into the
constriction segments.
The anti-matter flowing through the warp drive was now
clearly visible as it
reached the antimatter injection at the lower end. Toa
ran a final check on
the magnetic constrictors before releasing the valve
and sending the highly
volatile substance, now called antihydrogen into the
ARI.
*So far so good,* Toa thought - even though the
difficult stage was just
beginning.
The antihydrogen had now reached the three separate
flow leads and the
computer core took over the minute calculations that
would balance the
reaction pressures, temperature and desired power
output. A wrong
calculation at this point and the ship would explode
so badly it would cause
a tear in subspace.
They say a watched Reaction Chamber never powers and
it certainly appeared
to be true in this case, as Toa finally tore his gaze
away from it and
turned his attention to the magnetic constrictors. By
the time he returned
the reaction chamber had finally began to mix the
matter and antimatter
streams.
Toa could feel the slight rumbling in the SID/IDF
generators from underneath
the floor as the engines began to come to life and he
allowed himself a
small smile of satisfication.
The dilithium crystals were moving freely throughout
the reaction chamber,
channeling the matter and antimatter flows into an
increasingly higher power
output. Toa watched anxiously as the temperature
inside the chamber
continued to rise at a steady rate. The warp core had
now begun to resonate
and an incredible inner blue light was beginning to be
projected through the
crystals, holding Toa and several other nearby
Engineers memorized by its
beauty.
"Warp containment field is stable and holding," an
unnamed Engineers'
assistant confirmed a few minutes later.
Toa still wrapped up in the hypnotic light could do
little but smile.
Several minutes later, firmly out of his reverie Toa
had begun to shake the
hands of the holographic Engineers around him. He had
reached the last
Officer when without warning the klaxons began whaling
around him and the
lighting dulled to a fiery red.
"Report," the Bridge Officer in him immediately
called.
"Sensors have picked up weapons fire in the vicinity."
"At us?" Toa asked, vaguely wondering why he had felt
nothing.
"No sir," the nameless Engineer reported. "It appears
to be a Miradorn
Fighter attacking a civilian craft."
"The Miradorn's - what on earth are they doing out
here?" Toa asked.
"Must be one of those life pacts," the nameless
Engineer offered.
"Yes, I gathered that much" Toa confirmed. The
Miradorn's were a reptilian
humanoid whom were born as telepathic twins. If one
twin died or was
killed, either accidentally or deliberately, the
remaining twin would seek
out vengeance with no regard for other life or respect
for possessions.
"I'd better get to the Bridge," Toa bean moving toward
the doors, having
completely forgotten that this was all a simulation.
[Bridge to Engineering] Toa's comm badge crackled into
life, stopping him
meters from the door.
"Williams here," he tapped his badge in response.
[Our sensors indicate that the Civilian craft's warp
core is about to breech
and the Miradorn have used some sort of energy
dampening beam on the craft -
we can't transport through their shields.]
A nod from the Engineer at the Sensors station
confirmed the diagnosis.
"Understood," Toa replied - searching through his mind
for a list of
possible solutions to their problem; he nearly
dismissed one out of hand
until he had a thought."
"Is the dampening field biogenetic or phase pulsed?"
he asked.
[It's a phase modulation] Toa could hear the Science
Officer report.
"Then we could create a stable warp field around the
entire ship by
re-modulating our shields and increasing the
anti-matter output," Toa was
thinking as much out loud as he was in providing
instruction. "We'll need
to move within 300 meters of the ship."
[Captain - I must advise you that at that distance our
shields would be
unable to protect us from a warp core explosion] Toa
smiled at the Tactical
Officer's response - knowing that he would have made
the same observation is
his place. [Commander?] the Captain queried.
"I can do it," Toa confirmed.
[O-kay - Helm take us in, thrusters only. Science -
begin re-modulating the
deflector dish to increase our shield radius.]
"We need to increase the temperature of the warp core
to increase the
anti-matter flow," Toa was instructing as he made his
way back to the warp
core.
"And then," Toa panted as he moved the manual release
lock free, "we'll need
to begin releasing the magnetic constrictors."
"At that temperature it could cause an overload in the
deuterium manifolds."
"We don't have a choice," Toa argued. "In a few
moments that shuttlecraft
is going to be toast and take us along with it."
"Understood," the Engineer confirmed. "Pressure at 450
kilopascals, 457,
500, 510... 540, 542, 547, 550."
"Now," Toa established, unlocking the constrictors
manually while the
Engineer on the other side repeated the process.
"Anti-matter build-up is increasing."
"Where's our deflector dish?" Toa muttered, anxiously
watching the build-up
of matter overwhelm the dilithium crystals."
[Bridge to Engineering - the Deflector Dish is ready
and were as close as we
can get.]
"Right on cue," Toa observed channeling the
anti-matter into the output
stream.
"Engineering to Bridge," Toa taped his comm badge. "We
have a link-up, tell
the shuttlecraft to begin venting all unnecessary
plasma."
[Understood.]
"If you're going to have a bang, make it a small
bang?" the Engineer asked.
"Something like that."
The room held their collective breaths as the
anti-matter was outputted
through the main Deflector Dish."
"It's working," the Engineer confirmed a few minutes
later. "The
anti-matter is bonding to the shuttlecraft's warp core
and increasing
containment. Warp core stability now up to 47%."
"Yes," Toa punched his fist in the air. "As soon as
the dampening field is
down, assemble a DART (Damage & Repair Team) team to
head over there and
lock down their warp core."
"Understood, sir."
"Of course you won't be joining them," the voice
behind Toa gave him a start
as he turned around to face Eddie.
"Sorry, sir" Toa calmed himself down. "I had forgotten
all about you."
"That's understandable," Eddie confirmed. "Would you
like to change your
uniform," Toa looked down at the smudges on his
uniform shirt "and join the
Commodore and myself in a the Briefing Room in a few
minutes."
SLD: 1.1114
Scene: Briefing Room, Starbase Zinderneuf
As Toa took his seat, Rose & Eddie settled in theirs.
Rose nodded to Eddie
signalling that the debriefing was his.
"Well, first of all, well done. You definitely
passed." Eddie grinned.
At Toa's relieved look, the smile broadened.
Eddie looked down at the padd he was carrying, "OK,
let's do this step by
step. First off, the level three diagnostic. In your
own engine core, you
wouldn't need to do that, you would be able to feel
it. If you were in
command and saw someone do that, you should be asking
questions. But it
wasn't your own core, so no harm done."
"I understand," Toa confirmed. "I guess in the middle
of it all, I began to
forget that it was a simulation."
"Your reaction to the core reaction was a good one.
The beauty of the
machine is often lost on some. But remember to keep
your eyes on your
instruments, minor fluctuations can be indicators of
problems down the
track. A good engineer needs to be able to admire and
monitor at the same
time." At a slight cough from Rose, Eddie gave her a
quick look and a smile.
Turning back to Toa, he continued, "And as I have just
been reminded, this
is a command test not an engineering one. Remember,
you need to know how
these things work so you can see if corners are being
cut. If an engineer
was watching as closely as that, he or she is probably
new, with all the
usual problems that causes."
"After today, I can assure you that I have no
intention of becoming an
Engineer - too stressful."
"Your reaction to get to the Bridge during the attack
is understandable, but
if you are in charge of an area, you never leave
without passing the command
on to someone else. Many times it will naturally flow,
but the formal words
are there for a reason. It cements command in people's
minds. In battle,
that can be essential. This is true of everything from
a briefing to the
Bridge, always pass on command before leaving."
"I'll remember that, sir."
"Remodulating the shields showed a good knowledge of
the possibilities and
more importantly, a willingness to make a decision and
stick to it. Someone
once said, when in command, you can be wrong or you
can be right, but never
be indecisive. It's true to a point. Make your
decisions and stick till them
until the situation changes enough to warrant a change
of track".
Eddie checked his padd again, "OK, last but not least,
venting the plasma,
and ordering the DART team. Good work. Making the
consequences of your
decisions to live with as easy as possible. Shows good
forward thinking.
Making sure of the next step." Eddie nodded, "Overall,
I would say, I would
have been very happy if I did that well on the
tactical section in my
command tests."
Toa's grin broadened. "You obviously never saw my
tactical exam."
Eddie's smile broadened to match Toa's for the first
time that day. "I
know, I nearly failed the Engineering exams because I
forgot to study for
them. Good luck with your final exam."
"On that note," the Commodore chipped in. "Commander
Williams, why don't
you grab yourself some lunch and have a break for a
couple of hours - I'll
see you back in Holodeck 3 at 1400 hours for your
First Contact Assessment.
Commander O'Dailey, thank you for your time here today
- you are excused for
the remainder of the day."
Respectfully and jointly submitted by,
Euan Kilgour
AKA
LCDR Te Rangitoa (Toa) Williams
OPS/20, USS Yorktown
Silver Fleet
and
Karen Fainges
AKA
CDR Eddie O'Dailey
XO, USS YORKTOWN
____________________________________________________________
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