[sb118-artemis] Ensign Tho'Bi - Deep Space Disco Biscuits

[Tobi]

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(( Main Engineering - Deck 16, USS Artemis-A ))

One of the unspoken challenges of Starfleet was navigating the various areas of technical expertise required for space exploration; when knowing enough about one, inevitably meant not knowing enough about any of the others.  The ensign was a capable engineer for his rank and experience; but talking to other Starfleet personnel from outside the field of engineering, about engineering, was a skill learned over years; and one the young ensign had just begun to learn… after a Mizarian science officer had tripped over him.

The steady drone of the warp core set the tone of the engineering deck.  Everything else happened in or around it; every footfall, control input, and conversation, were all set to the its tone.  To one side of the main thoroughfare, a science officer and ensign were stumbling their way through their own awkward conversation. 

    

Tho’Bi: Data processing and hubs should be able to handle the feed.  Optimized synchronization of isolinear chips will help smooth out any potential kinks. 

    

Sadar: Optimized? Is, uhh... Is that something that I need to do? I don’t think that that’s a good idea.

The ensign wasn’t sure his answer had been helpful.  He decided to try again.

Tho’Bi: ::talking with his hands:: Sensors are in fact a palette of different types of sensor technology. :: gestures for each one :: From subspace, to electro-magnetic, virtual particle mapping to variable band optical imaging.  ::makes a big circle with his hands::  All of this data is feed into are systems all at once.  ::puts up his index finger::  But… we usually only look at it one sensor tech at a time. :: opens his palms :: So… if the data flow becomes too much, ::gestures on the beat of the syllables:: shut down the sensor tech you don’t want.

Sadar: But, shutting down the sensors would be detrimental to the fact that we’re out there to test them in the first place, wouldn’t it?

Tho’Bi: ::still talking with his hands:: Or… :: makes a rotation shape with his hand:: The computer can cycle through them automatically.  ::open palms:: the problem with approach is you only get one sensor at a time.  No good if you need constant data.

Andorians had a rich culture of argument.  It could lead them to be a little blunt.  The Lieutenant’s response was less than enthusiastic.  

Sadar: So ::counts on her fingers:: We either shut down some sensors, to prevent an overflow. Or we strategically examine the data from one sensor at a time, thus preventing ourselves from getting the full picture at any given moment.

He felt he’d given the textbook answer, but perhaps he was thinking too much like a cadet. 

Tho’Bi: Sorry. ::shifts on his feet:: Not very helpful of me. 

Sadar: I see. N-No, thank you, you’ve been very helpful. ::scratches her cheek:: Perhaps a tighter profile for the test specimen would make it easier for the sensors to filter out unnecessary data...

The young ensign began to see the problem in terms of what the science officer was trying to achieve, rather than a textbook diagnosis of the system resources.

Tho’Bi: I’d still double check the isolinear chip synchronization ::smiles::

He hoped the smile would ease the lieutenant’s concerns. His mother’s smile did so on many occasions.  His did not.

Sadar: That sounds like a computing issue. ::slight nod:: I, uhh, I guess that’s the next step for the development team: make a computer upgrade that allows more versatile usage of the new sensors’ capabilities.

The lieutenant appeared to be deep with her own thoughts, as though she had already left the conversation.  The young ensign was keen to impress and so tried an alternative tact.

Tho’Bi:  Isolinear chips are like musical notes played together to create harmony.  ::gestures like playing piano:: Even a small variation makes the harmony muddy.  ::points to the console where Sadar tripped over him:: Checking the synchronization is no problem.  It’s what I was doing when you stood on me.     

His fellow Academy Cadets had often laughed at his jokes.  Not because they were funny, but because they were not.  He thought they were funny.  The lieutenant clearly did not.  She changed the subject.

Sadar: W-Well, what was your specialty at the Academy?

While all his contemporaries had raced after the cutting edge fields of Trans-Warp, Temporal Shift, and Multiphasic shields, he had looked backwards and sideways.

Tho’Bi:  Fusion and alternative power sources ::becomes animated:: Oh!  Yes!  An alternative computer core.  You hook up a portable computer core to handle any data overflow.  ::nods::  Job done.

Sadar: Response

Tho’Bi:  Standard Away Mission Potable Core should do.  Buuuuut… hook up one of the spare shuttle computer cores from supplies ::nods and smiles:: and you’re disco biscuits.

Deep space freighter crews could be a clannish people;  some descended from the very first sub-light freighter crews, fusion-powered spacecraft that ventured between worlds in great protracted trajectories spanning years.  Their culture was one in suspended animation, separate from the wider galaxy, and so too was their slang.  He had first heard the phrase as a young boy, when his mother was stationed on Deep Space 3; ‘disco biscuits’ meant ‘excellent’.

Sadar: Response

Tho’Bi: I could hook it up for you ::scratches back of neck:: though, I’d need permission from a senior engineer. ::his head rocks from side to side::  And… their sign off before we turned it on.  ::nods and smiles::  Yeah.  Maybe better to just get a senior engineer.

Sadar: Response

TAGS/TBC

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Ensign Tho’Bi

Engineering

USS Artemis-A

A240203T11