Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen - The issue of finding a bucket seems to be somewhat unfortunate, right?
CPT Arianus
(( Cargo bay 2, Deck 11, USS Artemis ))
Just by looking at Commander Jovenan's reaction, JG Bergmen was beginning to get the impression that he should have taken on the job of maintaining the captain's favored airlock.
oO This will not be an easy shift, Ollie. Why now? Why me? Oo
Ollie tried to counter Jovenan's look of dismay with a reassuring smile of his own. But he suspected that despite all that smile, they both were screwed, for their own independent reasons.
Jovenan: MPMF gel is very rare. I’ve never dealt with it before. But I know that condensing it would be highly unusual, since the microfilaments are fragile and can’t be decontracted rapidly without them suffering damage… You said something about shipyards. What did you mean by that?
Bergmen raised his hand in a "so-so" gesture, his face clearly reflecting skepticism about the chief scientist's claim. He turned to the computer, and found the technical paper about the material they received to show her where they have the issue, hoping the pictures and technobabble would help her to understand.
Bergmen: Technically, commander… It’s not a microfilament-based gel… yet. ::points to the screen:: You see the chemical composition? You have your gel base, but it is not yet composed of microfilaments; it is full of free g-actin particles. That’s why it’s condensed. It’s similar to… Yeast? Do you know yeast? ::hopefully glance at Jovenan:: Yeah, so you don’t need to transport five tons of your gel. You need condensed g-actin yeast and an actin nucleus, aka your 500 kilograms, then you put them together scientifically, and it will make frruuuuu ::gestures grow of substance::, and the magic will transform your 500 kilograms of condensed yeast into 5 tons or so of your required gel with microfilaments. ::points to holoscreen:: It's written right there in the accompanying manual.
Bergmen nodded enthusiastically.
Bergmen: Shipyards need tons of this gel, so to ease logistics, smarter people than me conceived the idea of transporting condensable intermediates instead of the final product. This approach reduces the weight transported and requires less space on transport ships, allowing shipyards to easily produce gel on-site easily at an industrial scale. That is what I mean by shipyards.
Jovenan: Have you ever worked in such circumstances? Would you know what they’d do in a case like that?
oO Yes… hm, not really. Can you take it and leave? No? Please? Oo
Technically, he had worked with similar DIY semiproducts at Vancouver and later at SB10, and he could definitely read the work instructions in the manual, but he was pretty sure he wasn't certified or trained to attempt something like that. Did Commander Jovenan take that into account? No. Do this, do that, make it happen… Senior officers…
Ollie sighed and nodded.
Bergmen: Practically speaking, we will just need the reservoir capable of holding a volume of five tons of MPMF gel, possibly thermally conductive because most of these types of reactions generate quite a lot of heat. And possibly some additional chemicals, but they will be listed in the working instructions, and if they didn't come with it, I'm pretty sure they will be easy to replicate.
Commander glanced at the containers, then glanced back at Ollie. He didn't need to think twice about the look on her face; he already knew what she was going to ask.
Jovenan: That… That could work, actually. I think. But I’m going to be needing your help. ::pause, turns to him:: I don’t think I said this yet, but thank you for figuring it out. I guess the PADDwork lingo spooked me.
Bergmen shrugged his shoulders. What would Starfleet do without NCOs... Even if just former ones…
Bergmen: I will do my best to deliver those five tons to you, Commander.
Ollie turned to those containers, and it was his turn to glance at the result of someone's “greatest wisdom to substitute” he needed to solve. Him.
oO Koala, what did I do to deserve this? Oo
Bergmen: So, Commander, any idea where we get that reservoir? I don’t think we can evict our belugas from Cetacean Ops and use their swimming pool, right?
Jovenan: Response
oO It could never be the easiest solution, could it? Oo
Bergmen: Ok, Commander. Your idea would work too. oO I guess.. Oo So, I will organize the movement of those crates and see you there?
Jovenan: Response
TAG/TBC
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Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen
Operations Officer
U.S.S. Artemis-A
A240009JC1