Lieutenant Anton Richards: Engineer Land

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Sep 18, 2024, 2:04:17 PM9/18/24

to USS Octavia E. Butler – StarBase 118 Star Trek PBEM RPG

((Undisclosed Secret Lair Dome, I-Kiyo Dyson Ring))

Herrick: (deliberately) We’re only here to assist, not to take charge or change the plan. We have knowledge spanning thousands of races. Worst case scenario, all we do is reinforce the work you’re doing… best case scenario, we solve this problem. Low risk, high reward.

Anton briefly looked towards Herrick. He could think of about one hundred worst worst case scenarios and that was without adding a second dimension into the mix.

Lahl: My name’s Kimonzi Lahl, I’m an Engineer with Starfleet assigned to the U.S.S. Octavia E. Butler.

Mi’ch’ael 65: Mi’ch’ael 65.

Herrick: Nice to meet you Mi’ch’ael 65. oO Finally a name of someone here, I wonder what the number's for? Oo

The four other engineers seemed to defer to this individual, watching the conversation with unease.

Richards: Lt. Anton Richards, and this is Lt. Josh Herrick.

Anton gestured towards himself and then to Herrick and finished with a friendly smile.

Lahl: I fully understand your concerns about bringing us in. I’m never happy when someone else comes poking around my own workplace, but sometimes it’s what’s needed when we’re stuck.

Anton attempted to reinforce this idea by nodding along casually.

Mi’ch’ael 65: I understand that, but I have what I need here.

Richards: Right.

Lahl: It can’t hurt to get another pair of eyes on the problem, can it? Let me just have a look at it, maybe poke around and see if I can’t find a solution to your problem?

She knelt down, taking a look at a component of the generator, one of the engineers proceeded to step forward and Anton was preparing to have to intervene physically before Mi’ch’ael 65 greenlit the observation.

Richards: Plus, maybe we can’t help, and then we are out of your hair.

Anton wasn’t convinced that this was the way the situation would play out if that was the case, but he thought that he had to try something.

Lahl: So, tell me, what exactly is happening?

One of the older-looking engineers stepped forward, their eyes lighting up briefly.

Engineer 2: We do not have the original manuals or maintenance instructions for this equipment, lost to time. We’ve been able to document, through trial and error, enough to keep all this running. But over the last 43 years, we’ve been on a progressive decline towards a massive system failure.

Richards: 43 Years?!

Anton assumed by the conversation they had that they had been putting off the problem for a little longer than they should have, but he never expected it to be that long.

Engineer: Yes. It’s been our life's work.

Lahl: I see. So, I’m assuming that you’ve already tried to revariate the quantum entanglement that I see here?

They had now entered what Anton liked to call “Engineer Land”, a fantastical place with many revariations, quantum fluctuating dimensions, and other Engineering-like words. Anton presumed that this was engineeringlish for “giving it a whack”.

By the look on the Engineers face Anton could only conclude that they hadn’t thought of, or even considered what Lahl had suggested.

Mi’ch’ael 65: We are not familiar with that terminology.

Herrick: If I follow our engineer’s thought ::nodding to Kimonzi:: Your generator relies on a network of quantum-entangled particles to synchronize energy flow between its core systems and the Dyson structure. Over time, disturbances such as solar interference or subspace distortions can cause decoherence in the quantum links, leading to fluctuations in the generator's output. To rectify this, we would need to recalibrate the quantum entanglement field using a phase variance technique.

Mi’ch’ael 65: ::tapping a panel:: As you can see on this display, our Quantum Phase Variance shows no issues. We had already considered this.

Engineer 3: Waste of time!

Richards: I don’t think you are helping much.

To be fair Anton wasn’t really doing much either and he wasn’t really sure how he could help the engineers besides acting as a physical buffer between themselves and a potentially dangerous third engineer. Maybe they should try turning it on and off again, he thought.

Lahl: (standing up) So, we’ve got a failing system, that typical fixes from the past is not fixing. And obviously we can’t turn it off and turn it back on again.

Richards: Obviously.

The Engineer gave Anton a sharp look, before turning back towards Herrick and Lahl and raising his voice.

Engineer: Yes! Just like it was obvious that there was no issue with the quantum variance. Despite our terminology differences, ::pointing around:: this system keeps track of every little detail. Unless the whole system is wrong, we’ve accounted for everything.

Anton observed Herrick and Lahl.

Herrick: (nodding) That’s a good point; what if they are wrong?

Mi’ch’ael 65: But the readouts tell us the health of the system, that’s what we use for our diagnostics.

Herrick: Right, but do you do diagnostics of your diagnostics systems?

Anton glanced towards the Engineer that had been eyeing him.

Richards: Great point.

The Engineer scoffed.

(OOC: Leaving the Engineer open if someone needs him - otherwise the tags for him can be deleted)

Lahl/Engineer: Response

As Lahl, assisted by the Engineer, attempted to work through a diagnostics program, Anton was caught off guard by the abruptness of his companion.

Herrick: What’s up with your eyes flashing like that?

Mi’ch’ael 65: We are synthetic service droids; it’s our signal to the non-synths that we’re working on their request or processing large amounts of data. Do you not have synthetics in your worlds?

Richards: In a certain sense we do. So you guys access all that information remotely, even here?

Mi’ch’ael 65: Correct; we can access a common network of published knowledge, for example your language. Though sensitive information, like the issue we’re dealing with, are kept locally within us.

Anton nodded. It wasn’t shocking to see the Synth’s acting on behalf of their creators. The manner and fashion in which they chose to act through the Synth’s was what confused Anton the most.

Richards: Hm. I see.

Herrick: Interesting, thank you for sharing. oO Unlike your mysterious counterpart Oo.

Anton was going to inquire about the fascination with plants as he glanced down towards his new clothes but instead it seemed as though Lahl and the Engineers that accompanied her had finished their cursory checks and were now rejoining the group.

Richards: Well. Figure anything out?

Lahl/Engineer: Response

Anton took in the information as best he could, while attempting to decipher the technical bits and for just a brief second Anton wished that he could transfer information into his head like the synthetic had just explained.

He only had this thought for a second and then it was gone and he pushed it out of his head as far and fast as he could.

He refocused on the situation at hand.

Richards: Oh. Well that sounds like good news!