LtCmdr Connor Dewitt - Threading the Needle

[Tim]

((OOC: I realize that things are a little adventurous on the timing scale, but I decided to move this forward. Do not take this as a hint to close the preceeding scenes if you want to continue with them.))

((Timeskip, Deflector Control, USS Khitomer))

Connor and Ensign Banks had split off halfway through the walk from Engineering. There was still too much to prepare and with the timeline shrinking by the minute, the Chief Engineer had taken a little detour to visit Commander T’Dara. She had been the designer of the Dispersion Array and was still recovering. Her mind, though, was sharp as ever. She had reviewed his reactivation proposal in silence, then offered a single and calm nod of agreement as she had handed back the PADD. Whether she would join them in deflector control later would depend on how she felt physically, but her input had helped reinforce Connor’s plan.

Now, back in the quiet hum of deflector control, Connor was ready to bring the system back online - on their terms. He stood beside Ensign Banks, his fingers gliding over the controls of the console in front of them bringing up the schematics of the Sencha Dispersion Array.

Dewitt: This is it. The array wasn’t part of the original deflector design. It was… is experimental, piggybacked onto the dish for controlled emission testing. In theory, it can disrupt the energy pattern of a Sencha pulse and scatter it before it hits the ship.

Banks: Response

Connor glanced at her to make sure she was closely examining the schematics.

Dewitt: Technically, it worked. Once. But not without a price.

He tapped the panel again and switched displays. This time it showed a timestamped log from their last encounter in the Lagoon Nebula.

Dewitt: Before you came aboard, we took a direct hit in the field. The array activated, but a subspace feedback loop overloaded the EPS grid. We lost a lot of gel packs and half of our isolinear routing had to be rebuilt from scratch.

Banks: Response

Dewitt: ::nodding:: The packs had been infected… I’m not a doctor, so the only thing we could do was replace the important ones and reroute command functions. ::pause:: But this time, we’re playing it smarter. Manual control only, no system-wide integration. We’re isolating its power feed and will install a local kill switch. If the system starts to spike, it automatically cuts off. It will knock out the deflector shields, but that’s better than burning half the EPS grid again.

Banks: Response

Connor nodded again, Ensign Banks was a fast learner.

Dewitt: Right… I need you to monitor the diagnostic pulses during calibration. I want any variance outside expected tolerance flagged immediately. We’re not just flipping a switch, we are trying to thread the needle.

Banks: Response.

TAG/TBC

LtCmdr Connor Dewitt
Chief Engineer & Second Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3