LtCmdr Connor Dewitt - Theories
Tim
((Deck 12, near Main Engineering, USS Khitomer))
C.Dewitt: Mrs Croix, I don’t know you, but we could surely use your help. The supply locker ::pointing in a direction:: has several emergency lighting devices. We can distribute them in Engineering to start our repairs.
V.Croix: It is clear you do not know me if you want to waste my talents passing out torches. I am here to consult on the probe and shields. Not to play nurse made to crewmen who are afraid of the dark.
For a moment, Connor raised an eyebrow. The emergency situation called for swift action. Her cocky answer made him unsure about what he had just send her to do. What where her her talents? The second thought made him angry. Her answer to the Chief Engineer in the crisis situation had been out of line. He took a deep breath and tried to leave the analysis of that social encounter for a quieter time.
Connor took a deep breath. His crew started to get to work. The non-commissioned officers were going through damage control checklists. Connor just stood there for a second and felt the situation crush him. Fear started to fill his stomach as he started to realize what had happened. He thought about Ayemet when the adrenaline hit him.
He looked at T’Dara like a deer stunned by headlights.
C.Dewitt: What about the probe?
T’Dara: It has been deactivated.
C.Dewitt: Can we verify that?
Connor had listened to the word of SCE Engineers more than once and wanted proof. He was aware that what he asked for was almost impossible under the circumstances.
T’Dara: It cannot function without a powered starship providing it energy and feedback. It is defunct in its totality. I designed it so. We may work on repairs without fearing another pulse.
Connor nodded. He was not completely satisfied, but it was everything he got at this time. He took a deep breath and tried to look over his crew trying to get to work in this environment when Ensign Michaels approached them.
Michaels: Sorry I am late, Commanders. ::beat :: Commander Dewitt. I have a thought or two on our situation.
Connor caught himself mingling the question where she had been hiding, but that also was something for another time. Connor tried to move over to the central sensor console. It was not a vital system for the moment, but an analysis of the console might give him better insight in the cause of the problem.
C. Dewitt: Don’t make me beg.
Michaels: There are two possibilities. Either we have suffered multiple simultaneous failures in several disparate systems, or we have a single common cause failure that, in turn, has caused what we have experienced. As I was coming here, I identified one failure that could have caused most, if not all, of this.
A common cause for failure was what Connor was looking for. The simultaneous shutdown of every system on the ship without a single cause was impossible. Of course, the Vulcan Science Directorate would deem nothing impossible, but only highly unlikely. Or would they not?
Connor felt annoyance, again he had to beg for her insights. Yet again, he was stressed by the delicacy of the situation the ship had found itself in. Again, they tried out an SCE system. Yet, again, it had failed and caused serious difficulties.
C. Dewitt: I don’t expect all systems to shut down at once without a common reason, Ensign. So what is it?
Michaels: The computer systems. Everything that is operated by or through the computer systems appears to be offline. The warp core, navigation, life support, artificial gravity, communications, and the control systems. Even the Emergency Power Back-up. While it is independent of most other systems, the computer system instructs it to turn on. Flash-lights, phasers, and such are not tied into the computer systems. The flash-lights, at least, are still functional. :: beat :: Correct me if I am wrong. As I recall, the bio-neural gel-paks are subject to various forms of radiation. Subnucleonic radiation in particular. If a burst of subnucleonic radiation managed to damage all our bio-neural gel-paks, would not the result be much like what we are seeing?
Connor entertained Ensign Michaels’ thoughts. Her theory explained why backup systems did not take over once the warpcore shut down. He bought that much of the theory. But how had the bio-neural gel-packs been affected? The ships shields had been activated the entire time. But before he could answer, Commander T’Dara supplied a theory of her own.
T’Dara: Commander, I believe her theory, though unrefined, may herald the truth.
While listening, Connor opened the bulkhead under the console - as difficult as it was under the zero-g circumstances. He briefly looked at T’Dara.
C. Dewitt: I think a singular computer failure makes sense. Give me your theory on how it happened, Commander.
T’Dara: The modifications we designed operate on a principle of counteracting movement; the shields buffer the wave, and the plating modifications disperse it. But… we may have failed to account for the continued existence of Sencha radiation, even after the wave has dispersed. If it lingered around our ship, it might have been drawn into the power system in much the same way as humanoids draw in iodine, and thus expose themselves to hypothetical radioactive fallout. And if this is the case, and if our gel packs are susceptible, then the resulting feedback loop would affect… anything connected to the main power grid.
Connor put down the tool he had used to unhook power cables below the sensor console only to realize that it might float away, grabbing it again. Only now, he realized main engineering to slowly light up by the portable lighting. Then he looked at T’Dara.
C.Dewitt: Hmm… ::thinking:: If you are correct, backup systems should still be operable, they just don’t get the necessary signals to power up. Backup computer systems might be operable, too, but their signal just does not get though?
Connor paused and looked at Michaels.
C.Dewitt: Ensign, you’ll leave for the backup generators and try a manual startup. As soon as we get those, energy should be distributed again. We can then think about what might have gone wrong wit the Computer. Take that Mrs Croix… She seems to have knowledge about engineering.
As Michaels left, Connor continued to work his way through the systems below the sensor console. He wanted to reach the gel-pack that was installed behind the first layer of cables and electronics, just to give it a scan. Maybe, it would give them an idea of what had happened.
While he worked, he heard his fellow engineers coordinating with each other. For a second, he wondered how far Lieutenant Croix and Ensign Matthews had come on their assignment before he heard Michaels in the distance, wondering what she was talking about.
Michaels: I will not forget you, my sister. I will not.
Connor looked at the gel-pack in front of him and decided to remove it. It took more force than the Chief Engineer was comfortable with, but after a minute or two, he had it in his hands.
C. Dewitt: Commander T’Dara. ::turning around, tossing the gel-pack to the Vulcan:: Take a tricorder and analyze the pack…
T’Dara: Response
C. Dewitt: If you and Ensign Michaels are right, we need to have a plan to restore ODN relays and Computer functions without changing every single gel-pack onboard. We have 50 or 60 in storage… That’s barely enough.
T’Dara: Response
Connor nodded and attached the tool to his belt before he moved over to the Vulcan again. Then he looked for the two other people he had given order to before. He could not see them immediately and raised his voice.
C. Dewitt: Ensign Matthews, Lieutenant Croix. What is your status?
Matthews/K. Croix/T’Dara: Response
TAG/TBC
LtCmdr Connor DewittChief Engineer & Second Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3