The Squeaky Wheel could really use some oil

Posted on Fri Apr 19th, 2019 @ 4:06am by Lieutenant Danica Kovitz & Ensign Kara Hoffman

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: Science Labs, USS Elysium
Timeline: Following the Mission
1432 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Danica groaned as she held a hand to the place where her head had connected with the console on the way up. She'd been so frustrated as she stood up, she hadn't bothered to actually clear the overhanging obstacle and had brought the back of her head into it with some speed. Just another little thorn from the issue of this power failure. "Ugh, I'm getting really tired of you," she grunted at the stubborn inanimate object.

After waiting for the throbbing to subside, she tapped the combadge on her chest. "Kovitz to Engineering. If you've got a few minutes, I have a really pesky power issue I could use a look at."

Engineering was a hive of activity. Kara was working hard, to implement her warp core upgrades, when she heard someone asking for help. =A= Lieutenant Hoffman here. I'll be there as soon as I can. =A= Stepping into her office, she quickly brought up the crew manifest. She read aloud. "Lieutenant Danica Kovitz, assistant chief science officer... Don't think I've met her yet..." Leaving her office, she gave some orders to engineering teams, as she passed, heading out and into the Turbolift.

Kara arrived, wandering slowly into the science labs. "Hello?" She called out, placing her toolkit at her feet. "Someone called for repairs?"

Danica poked her head up from under the panel and gave a slight wave. "Over here!" She stood up, brushing off her uniform. "I've been wrestling with a power relay over here for a few days. I can't seem to get past it. It runs fine for a bit, but if I have more than 2 tests running at a time, the whole panel shorts out." After a brief pause for breath, she turned to the woman and extended her hand. "By the way, I don't know if we've met. I'm Danica Kovitz."

Kara took Danica's hand and shook it. "Good to meet you. I've not had much reason to come here yet, so i apologise for that. However I'm here to help now." She smiled. "Now then, show me this relay and I'll get to fixing it for you. Can't have you struggling to do tests. Elysium has been misbehaving a lot recently, she's being stubborn i suppose..." Kara trailed off. ~Sheesh, I hope she doesn't think i'm nutty, for talking about the Elysium like she's a person...~

"Getting a bit cranky, is she?" Dani said, giving the wall a comedic tap as she leaned into Kara's personification. "But yeah, if you don't mind. Ensign Case from Operations was helping me out a little in his spare time, but we didn't identify what the issue was. I'm still not sure if its the relay that's causing the issue or one of the pieces of equipment."

"It could be, the other, both or something completely unrelated..." Kara took out her diagnostic scanner from her toolkit as they made their way over to the misbehaving relay. Scanning it, following the trace of power on the small screen. "Hmm... Seems it's an intermediary problem, as far as I can tell. The conduit in here isn't damaged, in fact it's in perfect working order. It has to be a problem, at the conduit junction line." She sighed. "Thats the fourth incident of a junction malfunction in the past 2 months..." She stood up slowly. "Normally, junction lines act as intermediaries, splitting power, and sending it in smaller amounts to where it is needed. however, sometimes, when they malfunction, they send too much, or too little. In this case, the conduit is receiving a higher amount of power than it should, causing short circuits. I'm surprised none of your equipment has been damaged. At least i hope none of it has been. There should be safety cutoffs, but if the junction is damaged or malfunctioning, then why hasn't the safety cut-off kicked in by now..."

Dani looked over her shoulder, nodding along as the Engineer explained the issue. "I don't think any of my equipment has been damaged, thankfully. But I have received more than one shock from them while in operation. The excessive power would explain that. Its odd though. Do you think there's an issue with the safety cut-off?"

"It would appear so. I made some slight modifications to the warp core not that long ago and improved it's power output." She looked into Danica's eyes. "I didn't realist it could have such an impact...seems this might all be my fault after-all. I must apologize for the inconvenience to you and your team." Kara smiled meekly, hanging her head a little. "I'll get a repair team to replace the Junction, with a new modified one that should stop any more problems. Plus, it also means...If you wanted to expand your facilities to accommodate more equipment, or perhaps requisition some higher powered equipment, that has now become possible."

Danica gave a reassuring smile. "I hardly think the occasional short is anything to feel bad about. But, I'll definitely take advantage of that additional power supply. I've been meaning to get an air particulate analyzer set up in here. So this is the perfect excuse!" She looked over the work space, finding the place that could be used, if some slight adjustments were made. "That's pretty impressive though. Modifying a warp core to be able to put out power like that can't be an easy feat."

Kara nodded, looking down to her hand. "It's been an going project for the past few months. truth is, I have a bigger goal in mind for doing what I and my engineering team have been doing. You see, five months ago i started working on an old theory, called the Sornis theory. From this, i have created A new prototype shield generator. It's been worked on by me and my team. It's finished but i need it vetted by starfleet research and develpment. However, it's power requirements are so ridiculous, that no ship can fit it but the Elysium." Kara bent down to her toolkit, taking out a few Padd's and handing them to Danica. "Take a look, these are the schematics. This newest technology, is simply incredible. However as I said...It's near impossible for any of our ships to take advantage of this, and it's not been tested. So i've been changing things. Upgrading the plasma delivery systems, making changes to the warp core configuration. Truth is the generator is already built and on DS9 awaiting to be fitted on board. However, I still need the Captain's approval..."

"This is incredible," Danica said, looking over the schematics. She wasn't exactly an engineer, but she knew how to read these breakdowns. The generator itself was truly impressive...and so were the requirements to keep it running. "That's a pretty steep power bill though. I wonder if the Captain will be alright with adding such a drain to the ship. Certainly wouldn't mind the security it'd bring though."

"I'll be calling them down into engineering in a few days to propose the idea. Commander Taylor, The captain, and my assistant of course. I'll propose my ideas, and see what they think." She smiled calmly. "It'll be a good chance to prove my department, to the commodore that's soon coming aboard."

Danica's brow furrowed a little. She admittedly wasn't incredibly in the loop. "The Commodore? I hadn't heard we had Commodore coming aboard."

"Sure do. I'm sure i'll have to present engineering well. I hope things don't become tense..."

"Do we know why?" Dani didn't want to be too nosy, but the appearance of such an officer seemed strange. She wondered what that might mean about Elysium's next mission.

Kara shook her head slowly. "No...I'm not really sure. Although I'm certain there's a reason, and it's not a good one. I have a feeling Starfleet might be trying to dig up something about the Elysium's past, or maybe it's to put pressure onto the Captain perhaps? Either way, it doesn't sound good."

"I'd have to agree," Danica said. "I guess we'll have to find out when the time comes though. On that note, I've monopolized plenty of your time. Thanks for helping me get the lab back in order!"

"Anytime, make sure to get those requisitions in quick. You won't be the only department that can add equipment. There's only so much power to go around after all." Kara mentioned, packing her tools back into her toolkit.

"Sounds like a plan. I'll catch you around!" Dani turned back to her work, eager to get some of the devices up and running again.