LT Tamio K'Wara - The Lightbringers

[LT Tamio K'Wara]

(( Main Engineering - Deck 4, USS Karnack Crashsite ))

They were at a disadvantage. The air around them was literally trying to kill their every hope of escaping Callis I, the only Engineer who could be considered anything more than a dabbler was a Lieutenant JG - albeit a talented one - and they were on a strict timecrunch. Not only from the approaching night, which would bring the Dark Things down on their heads with a fury, but also on the matter of resources. The Karnack was the very definition of a Hail Mary - they would either get this girl in the air, or they would very likely die trying.

Tamio wasn’t ready to die yet.

K’Wara: Imril, do we have an estimate on how much of Main Engineering is functional beyond the warpcore?

Imril: There’s no way to be absolutely sure what’s working or how well until we get the Faraday effect around the whole room, but…

Imril gestured towards the Master Systems Display at the far end of the room.

Imril: … Telling by the carbon scoring around its edges, the MSD won’t be active. In fact, it will probably be an impediment to our efforts. I was dealing with power-grid blowouts at the front of the ship, near the deflector array, when the evac order came. I’m guessing that they worked their way back here as far as the MSD. We’ll have to lock the whole system down and bypass it to keep the grid failure from dominoing any further. That’s just a conservative estimate, mind. We’ll know more after we get full power back.

It wasn’t a good prognosis. In fact, it was close to the worst one barring that the warp core was actually just three Things in a trenchcoat, but they could respect Imril for not wanting to inspire false hope.

K’Wara: ... We’re going to have to be conservative for now. ::looks around:: The only working consoles that I can see are the ones on the nacelle access. ::considers:: Natasha, if we use your security codes to trigger the quarantine forcefield around Engineering, do you think we can alter that to be more Maelstrom-resistant?

Cole: ::thinking:: That could work, similar to layering shields. I like it, but my work around won’t be elegant.

K’Wara: It’ll have to do. We just need it to work long enough for us to make more permanent fixes. ::to Jaran:: I know you’re hurt, Doctor, but there’s quite a lot of work to do. You’re up for it, I hope?

Jaran: Response

They all had to do their part. Tamio had never been more pleased about the Academy’s insistence on ensuring that every officer got a basic understanding of every duty post and the duties they entailed. Even if they and Jaran wouldn’t be much use for more complicated work, they knew enough to support those better at this type of work than them.

K’Wara: ::grins:: All right then. ::to everyone:: We’re on a time crunch. The other teams’ efforts depend entirely on us being able to get proper power running through the Karnack, and this is where we start. Let’s get to it.

It was as though Tamio had spoken some kind of magic words, as the crew immediately got to work. Natasha headed straight for the nacelle access consoles, while Imril led Jaran to the dilithium chamber. Tamio, meanwhile, started heading around Main Engineering, checking on the emitters for the forcefield. All of Natasha’s efforts would be a waste, after all, if the emitters turned out broken beyond reckoning.

Cole: ::to herself:: get it together, Nat.

The emitter by the Main Engineering doors was a bust. Evidently, whatever had caused the total failure of the Karnack had completely burned out the door emitter, likely in the same cascade failure that fried the MSD. They had to fix that.

Imril: Before we activate the core, I’ll need to inspect the dilithium crystals. Make sure nothing got damaged in the crash, replace anything that was. There’s a manual release mechanism, so I can get started on that now. Care to help me, Doctor? Think of it like opening up a patient for exploratory surgery, but with convenient pull tabs.

Jaran: Response

Tamio headed straight for Imril, who they’d noticed was accessing some of the tool cubbies, retrieving the manual wrenches.

K’Wara: Could I get one of those too, Imril? The field emitter by the Main Doors need replacing.

Jaran: Response

Tamio accepted the wrench, just as Natasha leaned away from the console to deliver her report.

Cole: Good news ::beat:: and a bit of bad news. Good news, I can access the emergency quarantine protocols and it should work, but it’s going to take a minute to get working, and to do it we’re going to bleed just under seven percent of our already limited power.

The fact that the plan was even plausible in the first place was a damn near miracle, so Tamio would take the delay. It wasn’t like they had main power safely running yet anyways, so the delay was in fact rather welcome. The power bleed though... That was almost unacceptable, given the fact that getting the Karnack off of the ground already seemed as implausible as the Captain putting on a tutu and doing the hula.

Imril: ::Speaking to Cole:: If you need to juggle power allotments around to make it work, just be sure not to steal any of that power back from the structural integrity field emitters. We’re going to need them. In fact, if you could slide an extra percent or two into the emitters, it would be appreciated. 

K’Wara: Make it take ten minutes if you need to, just lower that power bleed as much as you possibly can, Natasha. We don’t know how many holes the Hull Team will have trouble fixing, and we need all the power we can get.

Jaran: Response

Tamio knew that it would be impossible to completely negate the power bleed - the Karnack’s system integrity looked more like a pincushion than a functional Starship at present - but they had to do whatever they could. Imril looked towards them, perhaps sensing their discomfort with the prognosis, as they offered a comforting comment.

Imril: ::Speaking to the K’Wara:: I’m familiar with the methods Professor O’Brien used to keep the original Defiant from tearing itself apart under similar concerns of power output versus hull stability. Enacting them is near the top of my list after we’ve got Main Engineering up and running.

oO Man, I must be out of it for them to read me that easily Oo

A brief flashback to, what, was it just two years ago?, when Imril first stepped into one of their classes passed before their eyes, and for a moment, a familiar sense of pride settled in their chest.

K’Wara: Good. ::gestures to the core:: I leave that to you two. ::looks towards Cole:: Give me a generous estimate, I don’t mind if you highball it. What’s the best case for the power bleed?

They needed her to be optimistic. They needed her to believe that she could pull off the impossible right now.

Jaran/Cole: Response

Tamio nodded, unspoken confidence in their expression, as they picked up a spare emitter from storage - the fact that the Karnack skeleton crew had been deliberately holding back on replicator use, and as such had brought plenty of spare parts when they set out from DS33, came in handy-  and set to their work dismantling the broken ones and installing the functional ones.

As they pulled a storage crate to the half-open door, stuck as it was without power to slide it closed, they climbed up and started removing the wall panel obscuring the attachment socket while they listened to the others work away behind them.

Imril: ::Speaking to Jaran:: First thing we’re going to do is rotate these handles 180 degrees around. They’ll click when they’re in position, and then we slide them out as far as they will go. The dilithium matrix will slide out with them.

Jaran/Cole: Response

One emitter down and reinstalled. Time to check the exit on Deck 3. The ladders were in an awful state, but they’d have to do, and Tamio climbed up a ladder that looked like it had been twisted by a particularly playful toddler, testing each movement for any sound that would precipitate a gnarly fall.

Thankfully, no such thing occurred, and soon, they walked around on the Deck 3 landing, checking on the various emitters on that deck.

Imril: ::Speaking to Jaran:: I need you to go over each of the crystals for any visual flaws. Cracks. Chips. Discoloration. Cloudiness. So on. I can scan for micro-fractures later, after the ship is powered for our immediate purposes. That will only be an issue when we go to warp. You get started on looking them over, and I’m going to make sure there’s no misalignments in the chamber itself.

Jaran/Cole: Response

Some minutes later, Tamio leaned slightly over the railing above their heads, nodding.

K’Wara: Good news - the emitters up here all seem intact, so once we’ve got power up and running, Deck 3 is good for the forcefield. How’s the state of the dilithium looking, Imril, Doctor Jaran?

Imril/Jaran/Cole: Response

As though answering their hesitancy with violence, they heard it echoing through the Ship - they couldn’t tell if it was coming from outside, or from somewhere within the bowels of the Ship - but it was there. The shrieking howl of a Dark Thing on the prowl. Tamio came back down to Deck 4 as fast as the rickety ladder could support them, though they did their best to keep their vocal cadence uniform.

oO Just like a simulation. Oo

K’Wara: It’ll have to do. Curtain call’s coming real fast. Natasha, finalize preparations for the forcefield. The rest of us will run interference if we notice any funny business in the power delivery.

Imril/Jaran/Cole: Response

Tamio wasn’t certain if that sound they could hear was the sound of heavy clawed footfalls echoing down the hallway, the creaking of the Karnack reacting to the crew’s actions or if it was just their imagination filling in the blanks with sound, but they knew that before anything could get started, they needed lights on in Engineering.

Tamio headed straight for the other nacelle access console, knowing that they were much more useful with an actually functioning computer than with manhandling wires and materials the way Imril was trained to, and they loaded up the general power efficiency screen for Main Engineering.

Dark and dull, like this godforsaken planet.

K’Wara: Ready? ::brief pause:: Let’s turn the lights on.

Imril/Jaran/Cole: Response

TAG/TBC

LT Tamio K’Wara

Chief of Operations

USS Artemis-A

A240006GS1