Science!

Posted on Mon Dec 16th, 2024 @ 4:27am by Captain Kett V'Laass & Lieutenant JG Daisheliss "Lissa" Kerr

Mission: Season 6: Episode 5: A church beyond heaven
Location: Deck 17-Science Lab 3
Timeline: MD3
963 words - 1.9 OF Standard Post Measure

::ON::

Ket was sitting in one of the secondary science labs. It was the third simulation he had run and each time the intermix chamber would reach critical, overheat and then probably explode. Ket could swear that each time he ran the simulation the tolerance levels for the intermix chamber were within thresholds. But with the new anti matter mix he was running through it seemed to destabilise the fuel induction feed and raised heat levels by over burning on the sub-particle fluid mix. Ket had thought with this new injection system he could at least up the fuel regulation on the Gryphon Fighter Bombers and get a bit more speed out of the mini warp core. Ket's shoulders slumped and he massaged his forehead with the balls of his fingers to relieve pressure.

Assistant Chief Science Officer Lissa Kerr walked into Science Lab 3 and was surprised to see what appeared to be a fighter pilot in her lab. One that didn't seem to be having a very good day. "Excuse me, can I help you?" She asked.

Ket was taken by surprise as he was shook from his reverie. He thought he was alone in the science laboratory. He knocked a PaDD to the floor by accident. It's LCARS display made a beep noise as it hit the ground. "My Apologies Lieutenant" said the Vulcan with his emotionless demeanour , once he had composed himself a little "You startled me."

"Clearly," she said with an amused grin. "So, can I help you? You seemed... well, usually it's just the junior officers I have staffed to work the lab who dose off around here," she said jovially.

"Apologies Lieutenant. It was not my intention to give off an air tiredness in your lab. I was merely both tired and perplexed at this mathematical simulation i am working on." Ket gestured toward the LCARS display and showed his working "It was my intention to increase the efficiency of our Gryphon Fighter Craft by updating the formula of the anti-matter mix. But the equation seems to destabilise the fuel induction feed, which in turn raises the temperature in the sub-particle fluid matrix."

"No need to apologize, I was just making a joke," Lissa responded. "I'm assuming you adjusted your dilithium regulation to compensate for your adjustments?"

Ket scratched his beard thoughtfully. "I apologise the complexity of the humour sometimes escapes me" he looked back a the touch screen LCARS display. He traced a finger over the part of the equation for the dilithium regulation. "I did. But now i think it might be wrong. Would you double check for me please?"

"I can," Lissa responded. "When you changed the formula did you make any changes to the propulsion system components? Your formula could be correct, but you said something about instability in the induction feed? There may need to be a redesign."

Ket stroked his beard thoughtfully. "That is logical" he said more to himself than the science officer, "Though the exercise Is to get more out of the fighter crafts speed without having to make any major re-adjustments to the engine. But I believe you are correct, I do not think these changes could work without any modifications to the actual systems."

"If it were that simple, someone probably would have already tried it by now. Not that it can't be done. The question is, do we need to cool it down, or just regulate the intake and output, or would a different material be able to handle the heat reaction?" Lissa asked.

Ket leant back in his chair and stroked his beard thoughtfully. In the usual feelingless Vulcan demeanour he said "yes some form of coolant into the matrix would efficiently meet the need without having to complete any major changes to the system......" he trailed off a little thoughtfully "But what to add?"

"Don't add anything to your antimatter mixture. That ratio can't really be toyed with. You already have coolant in the matrix, every matter/antimatter energy source does. Your coolant is plasma coming through another chamber to bring the temperature down around the reaction and throughout the process." Lissa pulled up the schematics. "That's what these do. The question is, would adding more plasma to the system in place compensate for the additional heat, or do you need more surface area to draw more heat away from the points where it's starting to destabilize."

Ket looked at the schematic thoughtfully his fingers gently pressing the the touch screen LCARS display, moving the model around the small screen. "Hmmmmm" said Ket more to himself deep in throughout. "Changes to the surface area may effect the housing unit as a whole but if we could change what we add to the plasma system we could see and effective change. A most astute observation Lieutenant."

"Engineering may not like it too much that we're doing this without them, but we wouldn't have engineering without science. Still, before putting anything to practice, I think I'd definitely run it by them, if not have them actually do the build," Lissa cautioned.

"Indeed" responded the Vulcan flatly. Though engineering of the fighter squadrons did fall into the purview of the deck engineers and operation teams of the flight team the Marine Pilot could picture the Elysium's Engineering team not being to satisfied with commandeering them for such a large project "An excellent suggestion. Perhaps I need to continue this with the chief engineering officer?"

"Whoever's in charge of fixing this thing if it breaks. I actually never really paid attention to the engineering chain of command to be honest. Your deck engineers would probably know if it needs to be run through them I would think," Lissa shrugged casually.

"Thank you Lieutenant. You have been most helpful."