Industrial Vehicle Replicator Protocols

Posted on Sun Dec 5th, 2021 @ 8:36am by Lieutenant Victor Barclay de Tolly & Lieutenant Tonya King ( Barclay de Tolly ) & Lieutenant Alice Jordan ( Barclay de Tolly ) & Captain Garrett Lovejoy [ Taylor] & Captain Gary Taylor & Ensign Edward D'Gracefull & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Lieutenant JG Jason Danvers [Taylor] & Lieutenant JG Paulie O'Rourke ( Barclay de Tolly )

Mission: Season 5: Episode 3: CAPETOWN
Location: Captain’s Ready Room
Timeline: Before The Arrival at the Gorn Planet
3407 words - 6.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Victor requested a meeting for all personnel to discuss and sign off on the terms and conditions of the Industrial Vehicle Replicator which was now in the hangar but it was not assembled yet. After a few days after the request was made, they came up with a time to meet.

“Tonya,” Victor says as he placed a PADD for each member of the meeting explaining all about what the Industrial Vehicle Replicator could do. “So the bottom line is the Captain sets the rules on this or Starfleet.”

“Both Victor,” Tonya answers. “There are a few provisions that has to be agreed on and then the Captain will set who and the why to be added to the terms and conditions. It protects Starfleet, The Captain and everyone involved.”

Victor looked up as a few started coming into the meeting.

Miraj arrived in a bubble of sublimated outrage, not daring to show how upset she was. She had had no notice of anything being installed in the hangar bay, no one had spoken to her, and she could find no record of any attempt to speak to her. She knew she had problems getting people to take her seriously but this was taking the biscuit. Seeing the chief engineer in the room, she went to the replicator, started to order a chocolate milkshake, then changed her mind and ordered a raktajino. It felt slightly more grown up. Then she sat down, not trusting herself to look at anyone or start a conversation.

Tonya was a full blooded human but it did not have to take long to figure Miraj was irritated for some reason. One part of her said to herself she should give Miraj her space and the part of the brain that had nothing to do with logic said maybe she should show kindness. “Hello Miraj. We will wait for the others but if they are late, we can give you the run down on what we have unopened in that crate. It is a Vehicle Replicator that can make anything from a shuttle to an escape pod. Basically, you will be the main one to sign off on it for the pilots to use. This was very top secret it was coming, so thank you for coming on short notice.”

Jess entered the room and caught what Tonya was saying. "You know. This thing might come in handy." Jess leaned against a crate. "You wanna know what the most important part of a fighter is? The piloit." She mentioned. "Building a fighter takes about a few weeks, give or take. Training a pilot takes years. This thing might help us replace our shuttles and birds pretty quickly."

“I hope O’Rourke the Engineer who works on the shuttles and fighter jets appreciates it,” Victor added.

"But I also have a concern about this thing." Jess noted. "Did you know, during the ninteenth century on earth, someone developed a way to make aluminum cheaply. And thus the tin can was born." The pilot noted. "You may not think a tin can is significant. It is when a nation can deploy five hundred thousand troops for World War One on the western front, and feed them." Jess mentioned. "And we just got ourselves a cannery here with this thing. Instant fighter or whatever shuttle or vehicle we program into this thing. Fighters, shuttles, planes, trains, and even other things with just energy. We need to have some kind of command authorization on these things, or some bastard will start cranking out the cans." Jess said metaphorically.

“That is why we are having this meeting,” Victor answers Jess’s logical statement. “Only a few will have the authorization as set forth from the ones in this meeting. We can not let this technology have no authorizations because in doing so, it could cause a problem if it fell into enemy hands. In a battle, we could loose shuttles or maybe in a planetary evacuation due to a Genesis Wave, there might be a dire need to create a lot of shuttles. Right now I think the only thing anyone can create is an escape pod but even that can be changed.”

“The recommended authorizations as prescribe by Starfleet are Captain, XO and Chief Flight Officer,” Tonya added. “Victor, your man O’Rourke will still be viable. We can not scrap a vehicle because a dip gyro was damaged.” Tonya read what was given her one more time. “Also recommended only in times of repairing the replicator, a Chief or Assistant Chief Engineer can use it. How else would he set it up.”

"Still, this thing scares the hell out of me." Jess responded. "We're not solely going to have this technology for long, The Federation's neighbors will get it. So we have two choices, keep it secret or make sure we're good at replicating with this thing. I can guarantee you in twenty years.. You'll see a replicator the size of a shipyard just cranking out entire starships." Jess noted. "Then we might be at war, Thousands of Capital Ships and tens of thousands of shuttles and fighters duking it out in a hypothetical war that will keep all of us up at night wondering.. How could this get real. We also need to make sure no one can reverse-engineer this thing." Jess advised.

“I hear you Jess,” Victor replied. “I have seen my cases of Mad Admirals and one particular case, a mad Commodore. They act just because they have medals, they should be given the proper respect. To me, respect comes from how you treat another and some of those in power, they want total power. I suggest only ones recommended have access.”

Jess nodded softly. "Just because we can do a thing, does not mean we must. If you ask me, this thing should only be used the least as possible. There's more than just replicating a ship or fighter we have to consider, and even after the new shuttle, fighter, vehicle, whatever is made. Hours of preventative maintenance and testing before we can even fly it. I will not put my pilots up into a replicated vehicle until I can know beyond a guarantee that their fighter will not fail them." Jess noted. "About four hundred years ago, they said a brand new cruise liner was 'unsinkable.' But they didn't run the ship for shakedowns nor trials before pressing it into service. Whole thing was rushed pass the experimental phase, and now it's at the bottom of the Atlantic. There's more to building something than just a wink and a grin, Lieutenant."

“Agreed,” Victor says, “Paulie O’Rourke I know can build one better than any replicator can just like my mother can cook Mandarin Duck than any replicator. May I suggest if time is permitted that Paulie inspects anything replicated. If a replicator creates a bad duck dish, one might get a bad tummy ache. If this new replicator creates a bad shuttle, lives could be lost. This is what this meeting to discuss which are what kind of protocols we should put in place. Lt. JG. D’Graceful feel free to chime in.”


Ed had spent the time looking through the Padd. It was a good thing he could speed read at over a thousand words a minuet, there was a lot of stuff, the first three chapters were more advertisements than information. Chapter nine through 15 covered the specs, and twenty covered the programming.

Ed cleared his throat, then spoke, "Well its designed to have pre-programmed options, the approved models are already loaded, and the Chief Engineer, or CAG, or XO, CO, Admiral- in-charge of Fleet Tactics?" Ed looked up at that one,"Can add to or subtract from available list of approved Items to replicate. Just like it's cousin, the mess deck's replicator, the user just selects what you want and pushes the replicate button, but this will cause a strain on the ship's stored supplies, I recommend, we give it its own storage system, but with a call encase you need more in an emergency type thing.That way we are not going to run out of anodized titanium, when some on in engineering goes to replicate a critical repair part, only to find out that the hanger deck has used it all to make a new toy." Ed smiled and said, "There are miner craft, that we can make to spend a few hours mining asteroids, but that means we have to have a role of "Got to get the supplies, so we can push the button!" assigned to some one, so we can push the button?" Ed looked over to his boss and at everyone, then said, "Can I volunteer to trying mining some time, it sounds like fun!"

“Good points Edward,” Victor says as he was speed reading the list of vehicles which could be replicated. “There is going to have to be an authorization list of who can replicate what. We could not have a cook replicating a fighter jet for instance but he could replicate a cargo ship.”

“Request to be added to that list,” Tonya asks politely.

“Granted unless the Commanding Officer or Executive Officer objects,” Victor answers as he looked at them as they have been quiet thus far as he had been running the meeting.

Jess spoke. "I'm going to have to get your duck recipie, Lieutenant. I've been looking for something new to make for Man'darr."

“I will have my mother send you the recipe,” Victor replying to Jess.

"I have no objection to Tonya being added to the list of authorized users do you Gary?" Garrett asked his executive officer.

"No sir. No objections." Gary answered.

"Good. I will say this I want the number of people to be authorized to be small and easily managed. Can the Admiral in charge of tactics be removed from the list of users? " Garrett asked. "I prefer the users to be Elysium officers." He looked at the others. "In addition I agree with Jess in that this bothers me. I want safety checks on top of safety checks done on whatever we replicate. I will not risk anyone's life with this machine."

Alice who had been quiet in the background as she sat away from the others as had been taken the minutes of the whole meeting continued her task.

Victor said to all, “I agree with you sir only allowing Elysium officers from both a security standpoint and engineering as well. If there are no more conditions, I will have Alice draw up the terms and conditions and she will send a copy to the Captain, XO, Senior Flight Officers, myself and Ed to sign off on.”

Miraj had listened to the conversation. She wasn't suprised no-one had asked her opinion, especially not the person who dumped the thing in her shuttlebay without so much as a warning. But it looked like everyone was acting like she was okay with this and she really wasn't. She started to pull her knees up to her chin, and then stopped, forcing herself to sit still, and raised an uncertain hand. "Sir?"

Victor smiled to see Miraj finally spoke.

Garrett turned to look at Miraj, "Yes Ensign?"

"Can I veto this?" she asked.

Victor’s eyebrow went up lightly as was totally surprised.

"Of course you can veto it Ensign. May I ask why you would want to?" His tone was one of sincere interest.

"Lots of reasons." Where to start. "First off, there's no room. I've already got to find away to let a barkeeper stash his private attack ship on board, when said gunship is only ten percent smaller than the main shuttle bay. This thing takes up five percent whilst its still flatplacked. I don't have anywhere to put it."

She didn't dare look up to see their expressions. "Then there's the fact that we have a QSD. We're not on a deep space mission. As such, we're never more than an hour from Utopia Planetia. In the time it would take to faff through authorisations, we can be back at Mars, sucking tested shuttles or fighters or whatever straight from the production yard."

Now the words were flowing, it was getting easier. "There is nothing wrong with the jollyboat complement. It fits mission need without any issues. And we have runabouts - Highly customisable runabouts - to keep it that way. We don't need any more ships. We have all the small ships we need. And we absolutely don't loose them often enough to justify a replicator."

Miraj risked a glance at the captain. "Not to mention it would be no use in an emergency. We couldn't output fast enough, and as a non-emergency replicator, its the first thing that gets shut down in red-alert, The power draw of ship replication is too much to justify in an emergency when we need to make sure inertial dampening and SIF stays up as long as possible. I've got more, if you need me to go on."

"Please Ensign do go on. I want to hear everything you have to say. Don't hold anything back." Garrett replied. He was obviously impressed in both Miraj's objections and the amount of thought she had put into those objections in regards to the IVR.

“Yes please continue,” Victor says, “If need be we could always keep it in the crate and not to unpack it until an emergency happens like we are some place on the other side of the universe. Captain, she does bring up an interesting point. It does require a lot of power. One of the original IVRs was on a ship called the Protostar which used a Protostar for power. Ensign, the recommended process is for all sign offs and if you do not want it unpacked and up and ready, it stays in the crate.”

"Okay, where was I?" Miraj tried to get back to her train of thought after Victor had asked her to continue, and then just carried on talking himself. "If you can just replicate a ship, there's no cost to damaging it. It has no value. And what has no value is disposable, and what is disposable is never treated with respect. If its known you can just replace a ship, it reduced people's willingness to fly with due caution. In that environment its only a matter of time before someone miscalculates and boom. I give it six months before someone does something stupid becuase they don't care any more. Less for the fighter squadron.

"And finally..." This was at her heart, "If someone drops their baby on its head, we don't just clone them a new one. If someone decides their kids can't run fast enough we don't just throw them through a transporter buffer for a bit of dna stretching. IF just replacing things just becuase isn't good enough for people, it shouldn't be good enough for ships either. They're not just things. They're homes, and offices and friends, They shouldn't be treated like just another thing."

"An interesting point of view." Garrett admitted. "I confess I had never considered that."

Jess spoke. "Captain, the Ensign is out of line." She simply stated. In a few paragraphs. This woman had managed to completely piss Jessica off.

Garrett shot jess a look. "Hold on Commander. The Ensign is entitled to her opinion and to also express it." He looked back to Miraj, "Anything else you wish to add Ensign?"

"Captain, with all due respect." Jessica noted. "I train my pilots take the utmost care for their fighters and equipment. I resent the idea that my people are careless or ignorant. They are the finest pilots in the Federation, Sir." She folded her arms as she stared daggers at Miraj.

"I think you are overreacting Jess. I didn't hear the Ensign say your pilots were careless or ignorant. She was making a general statement and not a specific one aimed at your pilots." Garrett answered firmly.

Miraj couldn't look up now. The vitriol rolling of the CAG was palpable. "Its not about skill, its about attitude and opportunity. " she said, voice barely more than an unhappy whisper. "The fighter group spends twelve to fifteen times the hours at conn compared to the rest of the crew, except me. That's twelve to the fifteen times the opportunity for someone to screw up. Its not out of line, its just maths."

"Captain, I must protest. Ensign Derani's assumptions are unfounded and based solely on her bias." Jess countered. She was getting tired of this pissing contest.

"Your protest is noted Jess though the Ensign as a valid point. However lets move on and not get into a battle of semantics or wills." Garrett answered firmly.

Jess stared at them silently. Much was unsaid in these next few moments.

Gary turned and caught Jess's stare. He silently mouthed to her "Cool down."

“If I may,” Victor says as he brings his two palms together so he would not loose his cool, “If you replicate a Beef Wellington to give it to a person who has not eaten in five days, it has value. It satisfies a need. If you made it from scratch, you put your heart into it, it has more value. Both have value. If we get into a battle, we might need all the resources we can get. When a Genesis Wave was about to hit a planet in a few days, the ship I was on sure could have used more shuttles. Plus if an enemy might get ahold of it, they might create squadrons and we might be overwhelmed because we refused to use the technology which we created.”

Tonya raised her hand. “Maybe we can come up with a compromise.”

Ed n stood watching everyone, wondering , if some of them saw this as a Pandora's box problem, or if they were afraid of the responsibility that this decision would bring consequence's for there future selves. Starting an avalanche was easy, it just required,a snowball, a bit of planning, and a little effort. Just like great plans, a little nudge in the wrong direction, or picking the wrong spot; things could and would get disastrous. That old quote, the best made plans of mice and men sprang to mind, along with fortune... favors the bold. These were the decisions that made a person great, bold, or indecisive... How would future persons label them. History was a harsh judge, and told by the victor.

“Keep in mind everyone,” Tonya said as she could tell several were on the fence, “At least three other ships have them including one that is missing. “

“Good point,” Victor nodded at Tonya, “Sonwhat is the verdict? Do we sign off on it, do we compromise before we sign off or do we just say no?”

"No." Jessica turned and left the room. She was truly pissed. The next thing she was going to do was to document that incident and Derani's unprofessional behavior and send it to Starfleet Command.

Ed turned to whisper to his boss, " Is she always like that, and do I have to deal with her? And how pray tell does one deal with hear, and not get skinned alive?"

Gary watched jess storm out of the meeting. "I'll talk to her sir, when this meeting is through sir." He told Garrett.

"Be sure you do Commander." Garrett answered crisply.

“I move we table this,” Tonya made a motion.

“Any second to the motion?,” Victor asks.

"I second the motion." Garrett answered decisively.

Miraj wanted the ground to open up and swallow her. "Sorry sir." she mumbled to the captain.

Garrett turned to face Miraj, "Don't apologize Miraj. You have nothing to apologize for. You gave your opinion and that isn't a crime. You keep giving your opinion. The one who should be apologizing is Commander Vaii. Her actions were completely unprofessional and uncalled for."

“Then it is settled,” Victor sighed with his bottom lip going up lightly. “We will discuss this at a later time. The crate will remain unopened and we will keep it in a secured location. In the meantime, we as in my team will research matters which were brought up in the meeting like how much power this will take to run while it is being used.”

End Post