PNPC Ens. Jenna Prix - Ready for Takeoff
Tim
((Shuttlebay, Deck 2, USS Khitomer))
Prix: I’m here…
With a couple of touches on the small control panel next to the door, it opened and the Trill was able to get inside. The artificial gravity of the shuttle kicked in immediately as the sensors noted the absence of an external gravity source and pulled Jenna towards the ground. That felt better. Quickly, she moved towards the shuttle’s pilot console and sat down.
El’Heem’s and Cain’s voices were only a distant mumbling as the two men worked on the connection to the ship’s systems. Jenna activated the outside lighting and tried to focus on the startup sequence for the warp core and energy systems. After a while, Lieutenant El’Heems’s voice cut through her thoughts from somewhere simultaneously close and afar.
El’Heem: ::yelling: In position Prix!
Prix: ::yelling:: Unlocking the port…
Cain: Response
Jenna was concentrated on her console when the hangar emergency lights came to life. There was no power drain on the shuttle yet. She raised an eyebrow and looked outside the window to find either El’Heem or Cain.
El’Heem: Yelling. Uhh, is this thing wireless? I haven’t even plugged it in yet.
Prix: ::yelling:: Only when something goes really wrong…
She cringed at the bad joke that she was sure came from one of her previous hosts. She had not entirely figured out who was the culprit, but she would sooner or later.
Cain: Response
El’Heem: Engineering beat us to the punch. Emergency power is on which means… ::trailing off and scooting back from the plug, half inserted into the port:: gravity.
Jenna heard a loud slump as the Lieutenant’s body hit the ground. For the fraction of a second, the gravity inside the shuttle felt higher than usual before the systems started to adapt.
Prix: ::yelling:: You alright, Lieutenant?
Cain: Response
El’Heem: ::ducking under the ship and pointing to Cain:: Ensign, come assist me please. ::standing back up:: who knows how long until full power is restored, let’s give the ship some juice anyways.
This time, Jenna stayed quiet and tuned the warp core to optimal efficiency. Supplying a starship was a different drain on its energy than warp travel. That much she had learned during her academy engineering courses. And the warp and energy systems of a shuttle were much more fragile than the one’s of a giant starship like the Khitomer.
Cain: Response
As her colleagues slotted the cable into place, Jenna saw a small indicator on her screen switch to green. It was locked and ready to transfer energy.
El’Heem: Ready ensign.
Cain: Response
Prix: ::tapping console:: Initiating energy transf….
She stopped mid sentence. The warp core increased it’s output, but the expected load on the system’s never happened.
El’Heem: Is there are problem, Prix?
The Trill turned around and saw the Lieutenant’s face peeking inside.
Cain: Response
Prix: I’m not sure… The energy transfer does not engage.
Jenna felt the Kressari approach.
El’Heem: Raw power only? Why won’t it route to the cable?
Prix: I don’t know… I’ll run a quick diagnostic of the shuttle’s systems.
Cain: Response
As Jenna opened the diagnostic programs, Ras slipped into the seat next to her trying to figure out what was going on manually.
El’Heem: The computer isn’t accepting the transfer commands. It seems the shuttle is only running on idle and not syncing up full boot command parameters. It’s certainly a software issue, but could this be stemming from hardware malfunction?
Prix: Multiple computer subsystems report malfunctions - seems to affect the secondary computer core… ::looking at the console:: I have never seen a malfunction like this… ::looking at Ras:: Thoughts?
Cain: Response
El’Heem: Your guess is as good as mine. Let’s see what we’re working with.
The team leader stood up and walked over to the maintenance hatch that housed the secondary computer systems. On a newer type-11 like this one, those were not powered by a computer core, but a bioneural gel-pack that would handle low level logic locally.
El’Heem: Ummm…
Jenna turned around and looked at the hatch covered by the huge silhouette of the Kressari.
Prix: You found something?
Cain: Response
El’Heem: ::crouching down:: aren’t gel packs suppose to be one solid blue jello looking color?
Prix: You’re the doctor… Sir.
Cain: Response
El’Heem: This one…looks like it’s got some crystal chunks and is assuredly not blue.
Cain: Response
The Trill raised an eyebrow and left her console alone to accept the gel pack - or it’s remainders - from Ras.
El’Heem: Think it’s gone bad. ::pausing while she looked it over:: This is the likely culprit. Know how to route system functions directly? It’s not like we’ll need to fly this thing afterward and the Ouchita is still there if the crew ended up needing it.
The pack looked spooky. It was intact this morning when Jenna had worked the shuttles. And that meant whatever they saw here was the remnant of what had happened to the ship. She stayed quiet, still staring at the pack in her hands before shaking the spook off and returning the pack to the Lieutenant.
Cain: Response
El’Heem: Alright, well. I’ll give it a go. Just have that first aid kit on the ready, Cain. Prix go check the Ouchita to see if it has the same problem. It could be something to do with the whole power outage.
Prix: Yes, Sir.
Cain: Response
The Trill got up and moved towards the rear of the shuttle. The Ouchita was an older runabout - no essential gel packs in her systems. The existing one could easily be bypassed at the sacrifice of a slower computer core. Hopefully, the remaining systems would be fine.
((15 minutes later, Shuttlebay, Deck 2, USS Khitomer))
Jenna had left the Ouchita, her systems in standby. A quick diagnostic had reported all systems nominal, no errors being reported after bypassing the gel pack. With a smile she returned to the rest of her team through the dim emergency lighting of the hangar bay.
El’Heem: Report, ensign?
Prix: The gelpack in the Ouchita shows the same structure as this one ::nodding:: but I was able to bypass it. All systems green now.
Cain: Response
El’Heem: Unfortunate, but expected. Okay let’s see if I have a career in engineering.
Prix: I’m sure you have more of a hand for it than I do.
Again, for a second, the night-long learning sessions for her engineering exams crossed her mind. It had been a pain, but she had learned a lot. If nothing else, because of Nolen Hobart’s efforts.
Cain: Response
As the Lieutenant executed a few commands on the console, the warp core of the type-11 whirred to full power. Jenna peeked on the screen in fron of Ras. The power link had been established at nearly 100% efficiency. If she did not know better, she’d say that Ras had a triumphant expression on his face.
El’Heem: Alright. That should buy the crew a few more hours if full power isn’t restored by then. Think it’s high time to report in to Hobart. He’s going to want to know about this gel pack issue.
Prix: I’ll make sure to contact you the next time I run into troubles with a shuttle.
Cain: Response
Ras tapped his comms badge and Jenna was curious if he would get an answer.
El’Heem: =/\= El’Heem to bridge. Are comms restored or am I talking to myself here? =/\=
Hobart: =/\= This is the bridge. I read you, Doctor. What's your status? =/\=
Cain/Bridge: =/\= Response =/\=
Jenna remained quiet to give Ras the chance for an answer.
El’Heem: =/\= Cap. Good to hear you are hanging in there. We made it to shuttle bay after some mild gravitational hiccups but emergency power was restored before we connected the shuttle to the Khitomer. We’ve since spliced the Type 11’s warp drive into the Khitomer’s power supply but we ran into something ::pausing:: peculiar. It would seem the gel packs in both the Type 11 and the Ouchita are bad. Not sure in what way or why but I thought you should know. =/\=
Cain/Bridge: =/\= Response =/\=
El’Heem: =/\= Cap. Good to hear you are hanging in there. We made it to shuttle bay after some mild gravitational hiccups but emergency power was restored before we connected the shuttle to the Khitomer. We’ve since spliced the Type 11’s warp drive into the Khitomer’s power supply but we ran into something ::pausing:: peculiar. It would seem the gel packs in both the Type 11 and the Ouchita are bad. Not sure in what way or why but I thought you should know. =/\=
Hobart: =/\= Yes, it's that way for Khitomer, as well. Ensign Prix, what's your assessment? Can they fly? =/\=
Prix: The Ouchita’s systems can bypass the gel pack. She’ll fly.
Jenna kept her assessment short. She could have added all sorts of warnings, but that was not what Hobart needed to hear right now. The runabout would easily handle flying out of the nebula and calling for help.
Cain / Semara / Zerva: =/\= Response =/\=
Hobart: =/\= Prep the Ouchita. As soon as she's flightworthy, let me know. Standby for shipwide; Bridge out. =/\=
The commline closed for a couple of seconds before it opened again for a shipwide announcement.
Hobart: =/\= All hands, this is the Captain. As you can tell power and communications have been restored. Injuries should immediately report to Sickbay on deck six, or the aid station on deck thirteen. =/\=
No injuries but a few bruises in their team so far.
Hobart: =/\= We are currently without propulsion, and we are caught in a subspace anomaly. You may continue to feel shudders as the ship is pulled by currents around a small, newly formed singularity. Our first priority is to restore the ship. Our second is to free it. You should also be aware that the probe is still out there and we have reason to believe it risks a misfire. The inoculation we've received should protect us, but it won't protect the ship. For now, keep communications to a necessary minimum. Direct medical concerns to Commander Ohnari. Direct engineering matters to Commander Dewitt. And direct scientific concerns to Lieutenant Semara. We will get through and out of this together. Hobart out. =/\=
Again, silence for a couple of seconds. Jenna looked at her fellow officers.
Prix: He knows that the Ouchita won’t be able to tow the Khitomer out of this nebula, does he?
Cain/El’Heem: Response
Jenna shrugged as she turned towards the shuttle exit.
Prix: Let get her ready for departure. It should only take a couple of minutes.
Cain/El’Heem: Response
And as the small team left the type-11 to continue to power the Khitomer’s systems, the doors to the shuttle bay opened and a familiar Vulcan face appeared.
Cain/El’Heem/Michaels: Response
TAG/TBC
Ens. Jenna Prix
Helm Officer
as simmed by
LtCmdr Connor Dewitt
Chief Engineer & Second Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3