Batteries Not Included

Posted on Sun Mar 28th, 2021 @ 12:25pm by Lieutenant Victor Barclay de Tolly & Commander Sthilg & Ensign Kara Hoffman

Mission: Below Decks Month
Location: Engineering
Timeline: Current
1538 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Sthilg was humming to himself as he entered the ship's engineering bay ducking slightly to avoid the door top. Giving a polite nod to the few engineers who looked over at him.

He looked around for the ship's chief of engineering. The old lizard's mess of cybernetics needed a checkup.

Victor who had been reviewing reports saw Sthlig come in. This will be the first time he would speak to the Doctor alone since coming on board. "Doctor Sthilg, how may I help you?"

" Ah there you are Lieutenant. My cybernetics are needing a check-up and I was wondering if you could help me with them." The gorn replied warmly.

"Of course Doctor," Victor says as he asks, "What kind of cybernetics are we talking about today?"

" My arm, leg and the bitsss they connect into. " The gorn explained ashe handed him the padd of the list of many different techs he had plugged into his old flesh.

Victor examined his cybernetics and cross reference with what was on file for the Doctor. "Do you want your cybernetics enhanced? Ensign Napoleon Bond is working on a way to upgrade the CPU of the communications badge to use holgraphic technology. Might come in handy you being the Chief Medical Officer?"

" Any enhancement'sss can come in handy though I want to make sssure there working correctly. The old Klingon one collect junk code like a Ferengi collects latinum. " the doctor replied highlighting the one in particular mostly around his arm and leg joints."

"I see," Victor says as examines what the Doctor had, "You have sort of like a semi exo skeleton. The sockets the butts connect in to can be improved. Do ou ever feel you need to be more versatile?"

" I'm fine asss asss i am, but anything that could aid. The jointsss are rather old and i worry my tissue may reject any new ones. " the gorn explained.

“They eventually will have to be replaced,” Victor thought, “You know like when you do surgery, sometimes you might work on the liver and a week later, you might work on the pancreas. I am not a doctor but I am sure have used a similar method where you let the body gradually become accustomed. Our approach should be both Engineering and Medical.”

" Indeed., but right now we ssshould be checking on the condition and health of the current onesss. " The old gorn replied.

Victor examined the old ones. He tested the durability and resistance. "Fascinating. These parts could possibly last fifty years. Just like an old car or motorcycle from the twentieth century, you keep it polished, it will last. Microchips could possibly be updated but like the old say, of it is not broken, do not fix it."

Napoleon walked in as he was one of the experts in cybernetics. Victor explained what he was working on at the moment. Napoleon responds with, "We can do this?"

" Mossst of them are Klingon tech. Designed to be long-lasssting and idiot-proof. " The gorn added. " Anyupdatesss would be appreciated."

"Your Klingon tech should last for a long time," Victor says as he was examining it. "We will replace parts we can. There is an old saying on Earth, if it is not broken, do not fix it. We will just see what needs to be done. Hopefully, what we have will last a long time."

"Lieutenant," Napoleon asks, "Since this is Klingon technology and Kara is part Klingon, she would be the ideal person to work with this technology. Plus she might have worked with this already."

"I was thinking the same thing," Victor replied as he presses his communication badge. "Lieutenant Hoffman. Please report to my office. I have Doctor Sthilg here and we are working with his cybernetics. Thank you."

"Doctor," Napoleon says as he showed him the Doctor the communication badge he was working on. "Since your communication badge is a little larger than other ones, we can give you a Communication Badge that will give Holographics in the field. If you want to be our Alpha Tester for it, it will be appreciated."

The gorn nodded and gave a polite smile. " Sssure i'm always up for testing sssome new technology."


Kara was in the mess hall. She had a bowl of japanese duck noodles in her hand, when she heard the message. Placing the bowl on the table, she tapped her comm-badge. =A= Of course, I'll be right there. Hoffman out =A= Kara smiled, she didn't mind missing lunch, to help out the good doctor. She exited the Mess hall, and entered the turbo lift. Within just a few moments, she was strolling into Main Engineering, and stood at the open Chief's office doorway. "Aye, It's aroun' abou' time fer y'er tech inspection doc, cheers for calling me."

" It'sss nice to sssee you again Kara and yesss my old jointsss need an inspection." he replied to the lieutenant.

"Right-o Doc. Sit yourself over there by the main engineering console and I'll get my tools. Have you experienced any issues or problems? Any malfunctions, short circuits, sensation issues or failures?" She asked, as she went over to collect all the tools she needed from the tool-chest under the console. "I will probably have to clear out the system directories, these particular Klingon implants are prone to racking up minor errors and coding deterioration, quite normal but annoying at the very least." She explained having gathered al lthe necessary tools.

" A ssslight clinking from the leg joints after I've run on it for a while. Conner is keeping me busssy." The old gorn said as he sat down. " Your right about the errorsss and code. The trade of for being klingon empire idiot-proofing." he added.

"Aye, thats true." She said, bending down to prod the knee implant delicately. As she worked, although a touchy subject, these implants although made to last for a long time, weren't really up to date anymore.

"Doc, Look, I really hate to be the bearer of bad news..." She said, standing up. "As a Doctor yourself, I'm sure you've had to tell patients much worse than this but, your knee implant won't last much longer. I will absolutely have to get a new one, I'm sorry but the code matrix is so badly deteriorated, it will have to be replaced. If not, you could suffer permanent damage to your leg. All the other implants however..." She looked over the specs at the main engineering console. "They all check out just fine thankfully." She placed down the toolset. "I will contact the Klingon Engineers first thing tomorrow and arrange a new up to date implant to be delivered to us as soon as possible."

Victor nodded with approval.

Napoleon takes the communication badge he had been working on as he displays a Holographic represenentation of the knee implant. "As you can zoom in, you will be able to see what Lt. Hoffman was referring to and if you so desire, a simulation of what will happen if this goes unchecked."

Kara was in two minds about the new advance in holographic imaging. On the one hand, it gave specific and very accurate detail that would be ordinarily tricky and difficult to obtain, on the other hand, she didn't want to cause undue worry to the doctor either and was trying to be sensitive to his feelings. "Well, there goes my gentle touch..." She muttered. "A little crude perhaps but yes, that simulation is accurate". She had slight disdain in her tone and rolled her eyes to the side. As much as she appreciated efficiency and accuracy this was a time for sensitivity and compassion.

The gorn's white eyes blinked a few times as he examined the hologram. " That bad isss it. I've had that one sssince before the cardassian border war. " He shook his head as a grin formed on his face. " Look at me getting sssentimental for a cybernetic part. I am getting hold. I'll ssstart replicating sssome ssskin and ssscalesss for the opration." He said camly.

"Doctor," Victor says in a reassuring voice, "You are in good hands with Kara. Do you recall any of the Klingon Engineers names?"

Kara smiled. "Actually Commander, that information would be rather helpful to know. Klingons don't sign their work, like federation engineers do. I would argue they should, since they understand the honour of their work but...Klingon society doesn't always work like that." She explained.

" Thadrergha Nagh, but he can't be contacted as he left thisss plane over twenty five yearsss ago." The gorn replied almost apologetically.

Napoleon went to a console as researched the name. "Doctor, the Engineer has several grandchildren. Two of them are Engineers. I hope he passed on his knowledge to them. With your permission, we can contact them Sir?"

" Off courssse contact away." The doctor replied.

Napoleon made the initial correspondence.


Victor says to all three. "We can do as much as we can but the Klingon Engineers will do the rest."

" That we will. Thank you for all the help everyone." The old gorn said standing up.

The Engineers stood up as well. They did what they could but the final part would be done by Klingon Engineers.