Ensign Jovenan – Scientific Engineering

11 views

Skip to first unread message

Jovenan

unread,

Jan 17, 2023, 8:08:24 AM1/17/23

to USS Excalibur-A – StarBase 118 Star Trek PBEM RPG

((Deck 10, Astrometrics Lab, USS Excalibur-A))

Jovenan: ::to herself:: In matter of fact, I’ll disconnect these subprocessors from the main core completely.

During the recent diplomatic mission, the Excalibur was hit by an unknown virus. Even after the virus was seemingly purged from the systems, they had faced malfunctions in certain parts of the ship. It seemed like the virus has re-emerged and knocking down their ship’s operations. At first, she had thought these latest problems were due to a damage to the computer core due to an explosion, but due to the spreading effect they had, it had to be a virus. What else it could be?

She moved to an access panel on the side of the lab and removed it. She worked hard to remember her Academy training. Graduate in Planetary Sciences before entering the Academy, she had quite good grasp in science and research, so she had to dedicate only a little of her effort to her main studies; she had made all the mistakes already in university. This allowed her to take a minor, ComOps, where she had learned how to use many of the ship’s systems. Those skills were useful, as she didn’t need to call the computer help desk at every minor issue. But now, facing a set of isolinear chips of a complex computer system, she wished she had taken more engineering.

After managing to isolate the subprocessors, she stood up and walked to a console. That might prevent the virus from infecting the subprocessors.

Kawarda: Ensign Jovenan, I believe I may have found a way to communicate with the bridge.

Jovenan: Oh? What is it?

Kawarda: Shuttlebay 2 on deck 13 currently houses a small contingent of shuttlecraft, which in addition to being inherently-isolated systems, could be piloted to within line-of-sight of the bridge crew. I believe we could then use a crude visual communication method to relay any information we glean from our efforts here.

That was a radical idea, but it would work. The shuttlebay was on deck 13, but the flight control was on this one. They could use stairs. The shuttlecrafts and runabouts would not be affected by the virus unless they were connected to the ship’s computer system. They could also gain the small vessels’ independent systems, which could be a valuable asset in case the subprocessor isolation failed or the sensor grip was damaged. But that plan also required them to leave the ship. They would lose contact to their equipment here, not to mention they had not been given permission take a craft and take it for a fly.

Jovenan: That could work, but, uh… I’d like to save that as the last resort. I think we could look for another senior officer before trying to leave the ship. Maybe they would know better what to do. ::pause:: We also need some results first.

Kawarda nodded and returned to the console. He was so calm, while Jovenan’s heart beat fast. She wasn’t ready to make decisions like these. If the life support failed or the Deuterium Injection Reactors just down the hall were to explode, taking a shuttle or lifepod would be necessary, and they’d better evacuate before the emergency was imminent. Without the main computer warning them, they might already be too late. Or maybe there wasn’t any emergency at all, and all the other officers were chilling at the Round Table. Maybe not.

Kawarda: Ensign, I have isolated and captured three bodies of data I believe may prove relevant. Two are transmissions that will be decipherable when entered into a working communications relay. The third is the trace ion signature the computer detected earlier. We may safely assume that will at a minimum, narrow our search for the missing vessel.

Jovenan moved to look at the data. It was difficult to say anything about the contents of the transmissions as the data was still in unreadable form, but those were clearly transmissions.

Jovenan: Transmissions? That could be important. And the ion trail…

It was the best they could do under these circumstances. But they needed a communications relay to read parts of it. The astrometrics lab was in theory capable of doing so, but it would take way too long to complete the modifications, and they might not have the sufficient expertise between them to do so. It was necessary to find a functioning equipment if they wanted to hear the messages. And they really had to do just that. But how? The acoustic lab might have the equipment, but it was too far and probably lacking any computing power due to the virus spreading. What else…

Jovenan: Kawarda, you’re a genius!

She was about to give the Vulcan officer a hug, but restrained herself the last moment, remembering that the Vulcans had quite different code to intimacy than the Edo. She didn’t know what had hit her. She hadn’t hugged a non-Edo since the awkward first meetings in the university.

Kawarda: Response

Jovenan: Shuttlecrafts! They have independent systems. It might be better not to use them for flying, but we can certainly use them for reading a few transmissions!

Kawarda: Response

Jovenan: I… I will do it. I’ll go to the shuttlebay, upload the data to a shuttle computer and depicter what’s inside. I need you to work on that ion trail. We need to find out where it’s leading to.

Kawarda: Response

She quickly found a PADD and began to download the relevant portion of data from the lab computer memory to the PADD memory. She hoped the virus hadn’t spread to these systems, because if it had, both the PADD and the shuttlecraft computer would be damaged. There was another thing…

Jovenan: ::turning to Kawarda:: Give me your combadge.

Kawarda: Response

Jovenan: I can modify our combadges so that we can communicate while I’m out.

Jovenan took Kawarda’s combadge and went on to look for the tools that were stored in the lab for quick repairs and modifications. There wasn’t much, but the trick she was about to pull didn’t require more than that. She gently pushed the case of Kawarda’s combadge off and went to modify its internal configuration. After completing her job, she placed the casing back, and did the same modifications to her combadge.

Jovenan: I learnt this trick in ComOps courses. The combadges usually contact to the ship’s internal communications because the ship is full of materials, fields and shields that can block the combadge signal. They keep sending the signal to the internal comms, but it won’t go through because they’re down. But I’ve by-passed that part. They work like we were on some random planet. The trip to the shuttlebay is so short that the signal shouldn’t be affected much. I think.

Kawarda: Response

She gave the combadge back to the other Ensign and took the PADD. She started heading to the exit but turned back just for a moment.

Jovenan: Kawarda. If it seems the life support might fail, I want you to evacuate, without separate order. Stay safe.

Kawarda: Response

Then she left the room and found herself in the corridor. She was alone now. She was afraid.