LtCmdr Connor Dewitt - No Engineer

[Tim]

((SDA Control Room, USS Khitomer))

Dewitt: ::nodding:: Yeah, that's why we are down here. We will try to get the bridge to our energy systems operational again and top off those capacitors to give the Captain more tactical options.

Connor could see Valeris nodding and was not sure if he agreed with that intention or just postponed his objections. He knew that it would not be a small job. But he had an SDA control board that still read most of what it was supposed to read and Thelan, who was a resourceful engineer as he had proven during this mission.

Valeris: What junctions does the SDA use for integration? Does it feed directly from the deflector?

Dewitt: ::pointing at the schematic:: The pulse uses the navigational deflector’s main emitter assembly, but its primary energy connection is a branch of the secondary distribution net. Three primary taps and a redundant fourth. I think the fourth was never connected though… That might be exactly the kind of thing we could use to put a hook back into the main bus without rewiring half the deck if 1-3 are damaged.

Connor watched Thelan look over the system displays. It was not the kind of design choice you expected from a system that was part of a ship’s design. Yet, this had never been.

Valeris: I'd like to meet the Engineer who designed and implemented this system. I'd have some questions.

Dewitt: I would put you in touch, Commander, but I doubt you would enjoy the conversation. ::beat:: The SDA is half the SCE and half a Vulcan named T’Dara. She was on the original design team. She does not have an inbox for shenanigans.

A small smile slipped through.

Valeris: I see a couple of different options for where we can reconnect the power. Some easier than others. Maybe we could get one of the damage control teams to assist?

Dewitt: ::nodding:: Agreed. ::beat:: Lieutenant Michaels has damage control team Alpha. We will call her and route two or three pairs of hands. If she cannot spare them, she will know who can.

Valeris: Response

Thelan seemed to already be tracing the two reconnection options across the master display. Connor let him work for the moment. The engineer in him wanted to put a hand on the diagnostic and start running the numbers himself. The first officer in him was learning, slowly, when to keep his hands in his pockets.

Dewitt: Walk me through both ideas, Commander. I want to know which one we are starting with before I leave the room.

Valeris: Response

Connor listened more than he looked at the schematics. Thelan was a careful presenter of his own work and underlined it with the occasional joke. Both paths went where they needed to go. Only one of them did so without asking the secondary distribution net to hold anything new it was not built for. He picked that one in his head before Thelan had finished.

Dewitt: ::nodding and pointing at the schematic:: That one. Cleaner on the rest of the secondary net.

Valeris: Response

Connor stepped half a pace back. He had not been doing that more often lately than he was comfortable with… Making the call and then getting out of the way of people who would do the work was nothing he was built for.

Dewitt: Stage it. The moment Lieutenant Michaels’s hands get here, you start the reconnection. Call the bridge the second we have a viable charge path, even before the tanks start filling.

Valeris: Response

He gave Thelan a small nod and turned toward the door. At the threshold he stopped, looked back and let one last thing find its way out of his mouoth.

Dewitt: You’re the ranking engineer on this ship, Commander. Don’t blow anything up.

Valeris: Response

((Corridor, USS Khitomer))

Connor stepped into the corridor and let the doors to the SDA Control Room close behind him. The corridor was quieter than he had expected. Maybe even quieter than he wanted. The ship had been loud for more hours than he had wished for. A steady ambient noise of damage control teams moving and the lullaby still playing through the speakers somewhere. On this corridor, he could not hear either.

He stood in the silence for one beat. Then he tapped his combadge and started walking.

Dewitt: =/\= Dewitt to Michaels. =/\=

The turbolift was three turns away. The bridge was no more than three minutes away. He was no engineer anymore.

TAG/End

LtCmdr Connor Dewitt
Executive Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3