Lt Vylaa zh'Tisav: Maybe Give It A Heavy Meal?

[Andrew B]

((Power Plant, Gibaria Outpost))

The team moved down the corridor single file, unable to walk side by side in the narrow hallway.  The light hum of the active conduits was almost soothing to the zhen after her experience.  A change in air pressure, movement and temperature made Vylaa instinctively stretch her antennae forward, questing for more information.  At the same time she unholstered her phaser and checked the charge.

zh’Tisav: The air feels different, I think we’re getting close to the core.  Let’s tread carefully, we are in a bit of a bottleneck after all.

Sevo: Would hate to be caught by those vines in here.

Kairis: Response

Up ahead a lighter rectangle of darkness began to resolve itself from the darkness of the corridor and gradually grew lighter as they drew nearer.  It soon became apparent they were nearing the exit from the tunnel.  What lay beyond wasn’t what Vylaa had really been expecting, even though it had been her initial thought.

The room the conduits snaked into was cavernous.  And dark, although dim emergency lighting was ample for Vylaa’s sensitive Andorian vision.  The conduit trunk they had just exited was by no means the only one; other such tunnels, both high and low, spewed power conduits into the chamber, all converging on the structure in the center.

Sevo: Is that what I think it is?

It was spherical, like all such devices.  It hung aloft, suspended by a framework.  Dilithium housings on the top and bottom connected to and fed the various power conduits to the facility, while a toroidal fuel line fed the matter injectors connected to the central sphere.  The whole design seemed to Vylaa like a bastardized M/ARA engine.

zh’Tisav: Yeah.  Never thought I’d ever get this close to one of these.

Kairis: Response

Sevo: It’s a lot bigger than I expected it to be.

zh’Tisav: It is.  For the size of this facility, one half as big would have worked; just how much power does that gate need?

It was a rhetorical question, she neither expected now demanded an answer.  It was more of an internal monologue made aural as she worked the numbers in her head.

Kairis: Response

Sevo: So what’s the plan?

zh’Tisav: Well, if this were any other type of generator we would shut it down and shunt the facility to backups until we can make repairs.  But that won’t work here, we need to find a way to throttle it back safely.

Kairis: Response

The Andorian approached the generator, almost reverently.  It was a thing few Starfleet engineers ever got to see, let alone work on.  It was the type of story that would get her free drinks at any starbase for life.

zh’Tisav: Imagine this thing powering the Gorkon.  No more antimatter, you can fuel it with anything.  You just need a Bussard collector and a convenient nebula…

Sevo / Kairis: Response

zh’Tisav: I’m afraid I don’t know much about singularities, just the basics, but I recall a discussion from the Academy.  A cadet had the idea that feeding it heavier, less energetic elements could reduce the plasma stream output.  Bu it was just a thought experiment, “spit-balling” as some of the Human cadets would say.  Do you think it might have merit?

Sevo / Kairis: response

Lt Vylaa zh'Tisav

Engineering Specialist

USS Gorkon

C238601TB0