pNPC Lieutenant JG Zel Rohan - This Could Be a Problem
Jamie LeBlanc
((Engineering Labs – StarBase 118 Ops))
Zel Rohan knew his way around civilian marketplaces and black market stalls. Of course he used to frequent those places merely to survive and earn enough latinum to pay off his debts. Now he hung around them only on an as-needed basis when he was doing undercover missions for Starfleet.
Old skills put to productive new purposes.
In the normal course of work he would never have purchased parts from such a untested trader. The rule of thumb was to purchase from established dealers. People who had a reputation to stake. Generally Ferengi were good for that, there was certainly some rule of Acquisition or another that stated that a dead customer was one you would never get more latinum out of, so while Ferengi ship parts had a considerable mark up, they were also pretty trustworthy.
Zel: No, I got it from a Temurian trader. They had a whole stock of different types of power cores, undercutting everyone else. I wouldn’t usually buy from the guy undercutting the competition, but in this case I didn’t have much of a choice.
That said he might have inadvertently stumbled upon something that was worth uncovering. If these Temurian traders were selling ship parts and power cores that came with critical internal failures, this was something intel – and StarBase 118 - needed to know about.
T'liss: Curious... :: she picked up the core and moved it to a slightly more powerful scanner. She set it on the scanning pad and tapped a control. :: Computer... run a subspace harmonic resonance scan.
He leaned forward like a kid watching how candy was made.
Zel: What are you checking?
He would – internally – admit that he was tired after a harrowing trip back, and in his exhaustion the resonance scan was absolutely fascinating. Like watching a light show when you were on medications, it just drew his eyes to the flickering wavelengths.
T'liss: The core was undersized for the shield generator... but the damage to the core is far worse than a simple overload would suggest. Certainly the overload was the cause of the other systems damage to your shuttle... but it should not have been as destructive as you described.
So Lieutenant Hernandez was right, he had been lucky – he should have docked at Zephros Colony and he should have made a distress call. He had the good graces to color a tinge pink.
Zel: So what happened?
T'liss: If I am correct... :: And she was rarely incorrect. :: this power core drew vacuum energy from an artificial region of subspace-time. It would give it nearly limitless potential to power anything. It would last longer than a matter/anti-matter reactor would under similar power drain... on the order of something akin to a Romulan singularity core.... but more easily adapted to differing systems.
He gave an unpleasant harumph at that. Zel didn’t like Romulan technology one bit. All it took was trying to fly away from one exploding Romulan ship to cement his dislike.
After three he could fairly call it hatred.
Zel: I don’t love anything like a singularity core. And yet you almost make it sound like its useful tech… what’s the catch?
T'liss: You've lived through one of the major downsides... when they are overtaxed they can fail in a very destructive manner. This one merely caused some systems damage. Had it been larger, or had you taken more damage first... your shuttle could have been destroyed. Or worse.
His pale eyes widened until you could see a white rim completely around the iris, the color draining from his cheeks. One more brush with death. By this point he should be invited to Death’s holiday parties.
Zel: Well, I suppose the Prophets have to look after their favorite punching bag. ::he fiddled with his Bajoran earring for a moment::
T’liss: ?
Zel: As I said, the Temurians had power cores of all types. But I think they were all the same internal system. ::He started to pat himself down, realizing he had changed clothing:: Crap. I have a disruptor power cell from them, too, if you wanted to compare. Gimmie a moment.
T’liss: ?
Zel was very good at stashing things on his person. He always seemed to have a pocket, pouch, or holster that hid away some useful tool, or his trusty Cardassian hand pistol which had saved his life more times than he could count.
It took him a while as he was discombobulated after the trip, but eventually he was able to snatch something out of a pouch he had belted to his chest, under his duty fatigues – which had been under his civilian disguise.
Holding up the shiny silver cell, he offered it over.
Zel: That is new and unused – or at least unused by me.
T’liss: ?
Zel: That’s the thing, the parts fit perfectly. The shield generator was easy to install and powered up immediately. So they were selling fast.
But he was slowly realizing how dangerous these things could be if they were spreading across the Trinity Sector.
And what sorts of machines would they be installed in?
T’liss: ?
~*~
Tags/tbc
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pNPC Lieutenant Zel Rohan
Helm Officer
~Julian Beck
E239010ST0