Lieutenant Josh Herrick: Ready, Set, Test
Mark P
OOC: We're making a big push to wrap up this arc by the end of the week ;).
((Undisclosed Secret Lair Dome, I-Kiyo Dyson
Ring))
The trio of officers had finally received some intelligence on the mysterious invite that had sparked their invitation; something was wrong with the ring itself, and as usual, it seemed Josh and the team were tasked with saving the lives of the residents — no pressure for someone at the tail end of their 20s.
As each of them filed out of the transport, the smell of burnt metal filled their nostrils and the chief made the mistake of trying to breathe through his mouth; the taste being worse than the smell. As they looked around, the layout was much more utilitarian and felt ancient. In the poor lighting, the only thing Herrick could discern was that they were at one end of a walkway.
Richards: I can’t tell if we are above ground or not.
Lahl: I mean, we’re in a Dyson Ring, does that kind of distinction meaningfully exist?
Before Josh could chime in, the transport doors slid shut and the vehicle rose a few centimetres and started to glide away.
Herrick: They are definitely a people of two sides; lots of pomp and circumstance and then just abandoning us here with a bunch of manuals — a map would’ve been nice...
Richards: ::looking at the provided PADD:: I’m not sure a map is necessary.
Josh took a look at the device and saw a map indicating to walk along the singular path in front of them. But as Anton finished speaking, the display changed modes, instead displaying '154.207'.
Their Trill colleague tried to unsuccessfully disguise her laugh as a cough.
Lahl: Well, guess we know how much time we have to fix this.
Herrick: I couldn’t imagine seeing that number constantly.
Richards: Well, I now sort of understand their obsession with time.
Lahl: Well, when you know when a portion of your civilization is going to end, makes it kinda hard to not be obsessed with time.
Herrick: Well, we have 154 days and I don’t think the Commander was intending to stay here for several months, nor leave us here. Let’s press onward.
The area around them was silent aside from their boots thudding on the metal. Josh could feel the suspense building as they continued until they arrived under large arches and arrived at a massive generator. Beside it stood 5 new individuals, and their purple liaison.
Josh stepped over some equipment laying over the floor as they walked up to join the group. As they got in earshot, it was clear that their arrival was not welcome news to some of the locals.
Mi’ch’ael 65: If you just give us some more time!
Tr’ac’i 42: You know better than anyone that we are running out of time!
Mi’ch’ael 65: So you’d rather hand it off to some outsiders?
The conversation was starting to get heated, Lahl and Richards stepping in to help de-escalate the situation.
Lahl: We’re not here to take over, just maybe give some other ideas?
Richards: We just want to help.
Lahl: Indeed, we’re not trying to take over.
Mi’ch’ael 65: And what do you call showing up to solve a crisis that we’ve been working on for the better part of our career… we’re close to a breakthrough and we don’t need you all coming in and distracting us with brand new theories. ::looking to Tr’ac’i 42:: We need to stay the course.
Tr’ac’I 42: (sternly) You will take their help.
Then, now not so unexpectedly, she vanished. The air started to get thick again with tension.
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.
In all honesty, the worst case scenario was that they did something that destroyed the ring even earlier, but he bit his tongue. Lahl extended her hand out and grabbed the engineer’s in a gentle hand shake, which he returned.
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: Response
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.
Kimonzi seemed to have a natural flair for first contact and diplomacy, something he’d mention to Rouiancet when they returned.
Mi’ch’ael 65: I understand that, but I have what I need here.
Josh rubbed his temple as the conversation continued, it was frustrating to help people who needed it but didn’t want it. Participating in the conversation could make it feel like they were ganging up, so he kept his thoughts to himself.
Richards: Response
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, which looked to be more patch work than original design. One of the engineers stepped forward, perhaps to stop her, but Mi’ch’ael 65 motioned for them to stop.
Richards: Response
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/Engineer: Response
Lahl: I see. So, I’m assuming that you’ve already tried to revariate the quantum entanglement that I see here?
Mi’ch’ael 65’s eyes lit up rapidly for a few moments, before returning to normal.
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: Response
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/Engineer: Response
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?
There was some confusion on the synth’s face, it was obvious that in all their time maintaining their systems they’d never thought to maintain this component. This is where Starfleet shone amongst all other inter-spacefaring organizations — sure they had a ton of procedures and processes, but that’s what protected them. It was lucky they had brought Anton along, leave it to the non-engineer to propose the most likely system problem.
Lahl/Richards/Engineer: Response
Lahl and one of the engineers started to work on setting up a make-shift diagnostic program. Josh reflected on his experience with Corelli, his former chief, that gave him the room to maneuver and grow, and he was doing the same with Kimonzi. She seemed to have their situation well in hand, and he was only a few steps away if he was needed.
(OOC: Feel free to build this out if you like)
This left Josh, Anton, and a few engineers on the side; before diving into another idea, Josh’s curiosity got the better of him.
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?
Synths were still quite controversial in the Federation; his own dad had a paralyzing fear of them from one of the most destructive incidents in recent history. Josh had no feelings one way or another as he didn't have that same lived experience, but he wasn’t sure this was the right venue for a history lesson.
Richards/Engineer: Response
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.
Richards/Engineer: Response
Herrick: Interesting, thank you for sharing. oO Unlike your mysterious counterpart Oo.
Richards/Engineer: Response
Lahl returned back to the group, and it seemed like they were ready to try a early proof-of-concept test to see if this was an avenue worth exploring.
Lahl/Richards/Engineer: Response
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Lieutenant Josh Herrick
Chief Engineer
USS Octavia E. Butler
O240005JH3
he/him/his (player/character)