Lt. Kim Stapledon - The Culprit?
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John Smith
May 31, 2026, 11:58:22 PM (4 days ago) May 31
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((Power Chamber 2, Deck 742-Beta, Voth Generation Ship Igirni))
Adea: In which case, let’s run some scans, searching for a fine metallic dust. Should be fairly easy to find, no?
Their host sighed, and Kettick gave him a questioning head-tilt.
Xarrin: I’d be stunned if you didn’t find any given three sets of rods have failed, especially since the two replacements failed in the last three days. They only lasted 30 or so hours each!
Kim nodded.
Stapledon : So would I, but whatever materials we do find would be of interest in determining the nature of the failure.
Their host sighed, and Kettick gave him a questioning head-tilt.
Xarrin: I’d be stunned if you didn’t find any given three sets of rods have failed, especially since the two replacements failed in the last three days. They only lasted 30 or so hours each!
Kim nodded.
Stapledon : So would I, but whatever materials we do find would be of interest in determining the nature of the failure.
She kept it at that for now, deciding not to mention things like looking for evidence of melting, soot, etc, which she knew the tricorder was more than capable of detecting on its own.
ch’Clex: Beginning scan now.
The scan in itself took no time at all. The walk to where the dust was, considerably more so.
Adea: I guess we can clear the dust, but we would need to find its origin as well, no? To prevent it from happening again.
Xarrin: Without stating the obvious, that would require us to find the cause of the failures and we are yet to do that. :: gesturing towards Stapledon:: I also thing we have a long way to go to prove your hypothesis. If the servos controlling the rods are being sent incorrect signals, I’d have expected them to fail long before the rods given the size of them.
ch’Clex: Beginning scan now.
The scan in itself took no time at all. The walk to where the dust was, considerably more so.
Adea: I guess we can clear the dust, but we would need to find its origin as well, no? To prevent it from happening again.
Xarrin: Without stating the obvious, that would require us to find the cause of the failures and we are yet to do that. :: gesturing towards Stapledon:: I also thing we have a long way to go to prove your hypothesis. If the servos controlling the rods are being sent incorrect signals, I’d have expected them to fail long before the rods given the size of them.
This was true. Whatever was causing the slowed sensors would have to have been introduced fairly recently.
The Tactical officer kept his eyes on the tricorder but answered carefully.
ch’Clex: I agree that the dust alone does not prove cause. But it will give us a trail.
The Remmilian nodded as he walked, head and antennae on a swivel, cataloguing everything around him.
Kettick: If we can find the first element to fail, we can hope to reconstitute the chain. And break it.
Adea: Response
The Tactical officer kept his eyes on the tricorder but answered carefully.
ch’Clex: I agree that the dust alone does not prove cause. But it will give us a trail.
The Remmilian nodded as he walked, head and antennae on a swivel, cataloguing everything around him.
Kettick: If we can find the first element to fail, we can hope to reconstitute the chain. And break it.
Adea: Response
Kim nodded, waiting for more data to come in.
Xarrin: I’m not saying your hypothesis is wrong, but dust on its own does not prove anything and I’m unconvinced servo’s firing incorrectly would have caused the two replacement rods to have failed as quickly as they did. I think we should consider what else might have caused this.
Kettick: And we are, Chief Engineer. Simply making sure to check every possibility. This one is simply the first to have jumped up at us. If we notice anything else abnormal, it will go on the list as well.
Kim nodded.
Adea: Response
Xarrin: No, we shouldn't rule anything out, I just don’t believe this is an entirely mechanical problem. Are your scans sophisticated enough to long for any compounds that shouldn’t be in the reactor? Perhaps it’s become contaminated somehow in a way our diagnostic instruments are unable to detect?
Kettick: If you give us the baseline, most likely.
ch’Clex / Adea: Response
ch'Clex continued to scan.
Xarrin: I’m not saying your hypothesis is wrong, but dust on its own does not prove anything and I’m unconvinced servo’s firing incorrectly would have caused the two replacement rods to have failed as quickly as they did. I think we should consider what else might have caused this.
Kettick: And we are, Chief Engineer. Simply making sure to check every possibility. This one is simply the first to have jumped up at us. If we notice anything else abnormal, it will go on the list as well.
Kim nodded.
Adea: Response
Xarrin: No, we shouldn't rule anything out, I just don’t believe this is an entirely mechanical problem. Are your scans sophisticated enough to long for any compounds that shouldn’t be in the reactor? Perhaps it’s become contaminated somehow in a way our diagnostic instruments are unable to detect?
Kettick: If you give us the baseline, most likely.
ch’Clex / Adea: Response
ch'Clex continued to scan.
ch’Clex: I can run a parallel scan for compounds that do not match the local material profile.
Stapledon: That sounds like a good idea.
Xarrin / Adea: Response?
Kettick: By your command. Mister Stapledon, please carry on. Mister ch'Clex, perimeter sweep, if you would. I will focus on the core.
Kim nodded, running another scan of the wires now that they were closer.
ch’Clex: I have something.
The Remmilian turned his head towards his colleague.
ch’Clex: Trace amounts of an unknown compound near the affected housing. Very faint. It may be contaminated, but it is not part of the reactor assembly.
Kettick: Forward the spectral profile, please.
Kim looked over the spectral profile.
Stapledon: That's... interesting.
Xarrin / Adea: Response?
The Andorian took two steps back, following an invisible trail.
ch’Clex: The same trace is present beyond the reactor housing.
The Chief Engineer confirmed his findings, and piped in.
Kettick: Good job, Lieutenant. I have the same trace in minute amounts in the reactor core. Mister Stapledon, in your own expertise, would this kind of compound be likely to emit radiation pulses?
Say, at a couple kilohertz?
Stapledon: That's... interesting.
Xarrin / Adea: Response?
The Andorian took two steps back, following an invisible trail.
ch’Clex: The same trace is present beyond the reactor housing.
The Chief Engineer confirmed his findings, and piped in.
Kettick: Good job, Lieutenant. I have the same trace in minute amounts in the reactor core. Mister Stapledon, in your own expertise, would this kind of compound be likely to emit radiation pulses?
Say, at a couple kilohertz?
She cocked her head.
Stapledon: Radiation pulses? No, sir. I am detecting traces of nichrome in the substance, though. This is an electrical resistor and would explain the increase in thermal radiation. It's very good at resisting current and emitting heat. Also, its presence beyond the reactor housing suggests it might be acting as a resistor to slow down signals to the servos from the sensors.
Xarrin / Adea: Response?
Kettick: Not quite my expertise, I am afraid. But we could ask Eagle to run a quick simulation of the reaction profile with the extra compound mixed in, see where it leads us?
Kim nodded.
Xarrin / Adea / ch'Clex: Response?
Kettick nodded.
Kettick: Either the trail comes out of the reactor through this access hatch and moves towards the rest of the facility... :: He reversed the movement :: Or the contaminant has been brought in, by mistake or by malice. Mister Xarrin, if we show you the probable structure of our mystery substance, can you tell us if this has any use elsewhere ons-hip, or quickly get in touch with someone that does?
Stapledon: I think it would be a good idea to scan one of the sensors.
Xarrin / Adea / ch'Clex / Kettick: Response?
Kim nodded, moving herself closer to one of the sensors.
Stapledon: I am detecting traces of the substance in the nearest sensor here. It is not present in the sensor toward the east, that way.
Xarrin / Adea / ch'Clex / Kettick: Response?
Stapledon: What it means is that the sensors are not all sending their data as fast as they normally would. Some are slower. This results in cascade failures.
Xarrin / Adea / ch'Clex / Kettick: Response?
Lt. Kimberly Stapledon
Chief of Science
USS Eagle-A
I238601KB0
Pronouns:
Character: She/Her
Writer: He/Him
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