Lt Vylaa zh'Tisav: A Three Prong Plan? What The Fork...
0 views
Skip to first unread message
Andrew B
Mar 30, 2026, 6:51:23 PM (3 days ago) Mar 30
to Gorkon IC
((Power Plant, Gibaria Outpost))
A spherical singularity core took up the center of the room at the end of the tunnel. 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: Makes you wonder what's powering it from the other side now.
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.
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…
Kairis: It is impressive. ::A little of zh'Tisav's wonder echoed back into her own voice.:: I never thought I'd get to see one up close, either.
Sevo: ::Shrugging:: There’s probably a reason why Starfleet never adopted singularity reactors. Disposal comes to mind, for one.
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. But it was just a thought experiment, "spit-balling" as some of the Human cadets would say. Do you think it might have merit?
An intake of breath from over Vylaa’s shoulder. It sounded like someone was about to kill all Vylaa’s fun.
Kairis: It sounds like it could work, but I think we first need to figure out if the full output is what's causing the instability in the reactor and other power systems, sir. We had a theory it might be feedback from the gate; whatever is now powering it from the other side might be bleeding through and interfering with the systems here.
Sevo: Well, controlling the energy output and gravity from the singularity is extremely difficult at best of times. I’m honestly surprised they were able to keep it stable this long. I don’t think even Romulan cores are this big, right?
zh'Tisav: I don’t believe so. This is overkill. Either the gate needed a huge amount of power to open, or they were overly conservative on how much energy they would need.
Kairis: If we can't stabilise it, then we need to find the backups before we bring the singularity to minimal reactivity. We have to maintain power to the rest of the facility, else we'll leave our teams stuck in the dark with nothing working.
Sevo: There’s no way to completely shut down a singularity, unless you have a few million years to spare. The most we can do is stop feeding it mass, then dump any excess energy as waste.
zh'Tisav: If we stop feeding it, it would only be a stop-gap. It would likely start siphoning energy from the isolation fields that keep it suspended.
Someone had once described a singularity to a voracious toddler. Take away it’s food and it would still find something to chew on.
Sevo: I apologize ahead of time; I’m going to be asking a lot of dumb questions.
Kairis: Response
Sevo: If it's overly active right now, why is the system not drawing all that power from it?
Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: Because it can’t...
Sevo: Did the earlier explosion destroy key components? Is there a way to replace them?
Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: Any damaged parts should have replacements in stores. If not we’d need to repli… Wait! The vines! You said they broke open a door, right?
Sevo / Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: If they can break a door they can probably break other things, like the power transfer system. And being part metallic they’re probably conducting some energy to places it’s not supposed to go, kind of like a short circuit. If they’ve damaged the EPS system, and/or shorted it out, that could destabilize the generator.
A spherical singularity core took up the center of the room at the end of the tunnel. 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: Makes you wonder what's powering it from the other side now.
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.
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…
Kairis: It is impressive. ::A little of zh'Tisav's wonder echoed back into her own voice.:: I never thought I'd get to see one up close, either.
Sevo: ::Shrugging:: There’s probably a reason why Starfleet never adopted singularity reactors. Disposal comes to mind, for one.
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. But it was just a thought experiment, "spit-balling" as some of the Human cadets would say. Do you think it might have merit?
An intake of breath from over Vylaa’s shoulder. It sounded like someone was about to kill all Vylaa’s fun.
Kairis: It sounds like it could work, but I think we first need to figure out if the full output is what's causing the instability in the reactor and other power systems, sir. We had a theory it might be feedback from the gate; whatever is now powering it from the other side might be bleeding through and interfering with the systems here.
Sevo: Well, controlling the energy output and gravity from the singularity is extremely difficult at best of times. I’m honestly surprised they were able to keep it stable this long. I don’t think even Romulan cores are this big, right?
zh'Tisav: I don’t believe so. This is overkill. Either the gate needed a huge amount of power to open, or they were overly conservative on how much energy they would need.
Kairis: If we can't stabilise it, then we need to find the backups before we bring the singularity to minimal reactivity. We have to maintain power to the rest of the facility, else we'll leave our teams stuck in the dark with nothing working.
Sevo: There’s no way to completely shut down a singularity, unless you have a few million years to spare. The most we can do is stop feeding it mass, then dump any excess energy as waste.
zh'Tisav: If we stop feeding it, it would only be a stop-gap. It would likely start siphoning energy from the isolation fields that keep it suspended.
Someone had once described a singularity to a voracious toddler. Take away it’s food and it would still find something to chew on.
Sevo: I apologize ahead of time; I’m going to be asking a lot of dumb questions.
Kairis: Response
Sevo: If it's overly active right now, why is the system not drawing all that power from it?
Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: Because it can’t...
Sevo: Did the earlier explosion destroy key components? Is there a way to replace them?
Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: Any damaged parts should have replacements in stores. If not we’d need to repli… Wait! The vines! You said they broke open a door, right?
Sevo / Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: If they can break a door they can probably break other things, like the power transfer system. And being part metallic they’re probably conducting some energy to places it’s not supposed to go, kind of like a short circuit. If they’ve damaged the EPS system, and/or shorted it out, that could destabilize the generator.
Sevo / Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: Bypassing any damage should be straight-forward. That might help with the core instability but likely won’t solve the bigger problem. Thea, I think your feedback idea melts ice. If the gate’s being powered from the other side, then the gate is connecting the two systems. Anything done to it on the other side could affect our system here. I hate to keep comparing things to a short circuit, but that’s what it is. Blocking any feedback, or redirecting it, might solve a lot of our problems.
Sevo / Kairis: Response
zh’Tisav: There’s three of us; one can look at any feedback from the gate, another can look at power distribution, and the other can see to the backup power, just in case. Thoughts? Or am I just fighting a makra with a stick?
Sevo / Kairis: Response
Lt Vylaa zh'Tisav
Engineering Specialist
USS Gorkon
C238601TB0
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages