QSD OCD QED

Posted on Sat Jun 13th, 2020 @ 4:20am by Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Ensign Kara Hoffman

Mission: Season 3: Episode 4: Cause and Effect
Location: Engineering
Timeline: MD 02
1658 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON]

Miraj scrolled through the data summary looking at the feed back from the QSD's first voyage. The numbers began to swim a bit, though she could see there was an obvious issues around lag in the Quantum tunnel's size and shape generated by the deflector dish and micro movements of the ship itself. The ship had to hold absolutely steady, as the tiny amount of lag could then lead to disastrous amounts.

"Holding steady isn't automatic," Miraj said at last. "Even with Her mass and inertia, she moved a lot more than I expected inside that field."

Kara was hard at work, she had already handed out the daily duty roster for her team and was preparing to set-up her own diagnostic and data recovery of their brand new QSD drive's first voyage. Alot can be learned from the start, more so than at any other time, she believed. She sat crossed legged down on the floor in Main engineering, checking, double checking and triple checking all of her tools were in order before she went anywhere. "I know Carter did what i asked, but I'm sure there's more to this drive than meets the eye..." She mumbled aloud as she worked. "Every time i examine the schematics, my brai nsays it shouldn't work, like at all. Yet it does... uggh" She let out a groan as she continued to fuss over her toolkit.

Miraj leant back in the chair in Kara's office and sipped on her chocolate milkshake, thinking. "Are we looking at this the wrong way? We're assuming the problem is that the wobbles are coming from us. Maybe the tunnels is...I don't know... pressing against something else and making us wobble?"

Kara stood and look through the open door of her office. "Well, perhaps. It's still difficult to know." She mentioned, walking into her office. She put both of her hands on the back of the chair and gently pulled the chair back, lifting Miraj and the chair slightly off the ground. "Don't lean back in my chair. You'll faill and hurt yourself." She giggled a little and put her chair back down.

"Anyway, it is entirely possible, that the Quantum Tunnel produces turbulence that just cannot be compensated for. It could also be entirely possible, that the opposite is true. I'm struggling to even understand how the hell the damn QSD works. It's almost as if Starfleet mish-mashed two separate devices together and somehow the damn thing works now." She sighed lightly, remembering how confusing the first few times reading through the QSD's blueprints and design notes were.

"I mean, I'm biased, but maybe we're doing it wrong by trying to fly it like we're in warp? You can go to sleep at the helm in warp. Not that I ever have." she added quickly.

Kara nodded. "Indeed. Stabilizing the Elysium will require an indepth recalibration of both the helm and navigational computer. I believe, if we can find the variances that cause the QSD to essentially skip; like a stone bouncing off the water of a lake we should have a smoother ride." Kara sighed. "However, It's going to have to wait a little bit. Perhaps you could examine all of the flight records from the helm and cross reference them with the navigational recording from the main computer first. That might make our job a little bit easier?" She asked.

"I can do that," Miraj said reaching for a padd. "Any ideas what I'm looking for?" She started up a stream of commands from helm and the actual movements in position from sensors. There were a number of times where response times looked longer than they should have been. Was the quantum corridor stretching space time inside it as well as outside it?

Kara watched from behind. "Well, first try a scan to extrapolate all movement during the QSD jump within a tolerance zone of" She paused. " I'd say maybe less than a meter in any direction? For now, then we can gradually streamline the process until eventually the ship doesn't move at all during slipstream." Kara shook her head. "Seems this little project might take longer than I thought."

"Oh?" Miraj filtered the list, and started looking at the larger shifts. There weren't any obvious links at first glance, "Why do you think that?"

Kara studied the data that streamed across her screen. "Well, can't be certain, but I think the guys who put together the QSD were rushed. So much so they didn't even have time to iron out these problems. I can guarantee you, the displacement of Elysium in the Quantum tunnel, won't be the only little quirk of our new Drive." She explained.

"Rushed," Miraj asked, surprised. "They've been working on QSD for twenty years?"

Kara sighed, and pulled herself over Miraj sitting on the chair, to tap on her console. screen's popped up showing various schematics. "They only tested the QSD ONCE. Only one time, before they agreed it was safe for Starfleet. ONCE. Miraj, one test isn't enough to detect issues like these, they cut corners for whatever reason, i don't know! Now we're paying the price." She explained, sighing. "I'm exhausted..." She trailed off.

"Only tested once?" Miraj was shocked. "Wouldn't they do more than that? I mean, you have to. Once is ludicrous. You wouldn't roll out a new propulsion system on a single test. That would be...suicide? Murder?"

Kara sighed. "The thing is, they were successful. So, they rolled the technology out, maybe out of excitement? It seems there haven't been too many problems with the technology, at least nothing so bad they'd put the drive back into testing phase. I assume Starfleet Engineering had full faith that any competent ship's engineering team could handle any minor problems that popped up, like this." She smiled. "Not suicide if it works as intended, even if the ride gets a little bumpy. No? Thats like saying old 21st century aircraft should have never been flown because of turbulence, isn't it?" She asked quizzically.

"But even the wright brother flew the kitty hawk multiple times before they got it right. And plenty of research had been done on the engine before planes were big enough for passengers..." Miraj trailed off, looking thoroughly dejected. "If they do that, what are the point of test pilots?"

Kara frowned. Had she made a mistake? From what she read, there was only one major test of the QSD which was twenty two days before Starfleet announced it's roll-out. "I hate making mistakes, so after my shift I'll do a little bit of digging in the Engineering archives. Maybe I missed something? You're right, it doesn't really seem feasable, but I'm almost certain there was only one public test of the drive. Just before it's launch. I will double check that though, I may be wrong."

Miraj flicked at the padd again. "Either way, we've got fly what we've got." She let the numbers stream past, "Hang on!" She turned the padd round to show Kara what she'd found. "Look at this. There's lag from the command going in on the helm to the action of the thrust engines. More than I'd expect. Almost a whole second."

Kara jumped over to take a look. "You're right, there is a one second delay. If uh... hmm." Kara thought for a moment. "We need a way to reduce that, you think perhaps bypassing thruster control priority in the flight computer and main computer might bring that number down a bit? Because that's what I'm thinking."

Miraj shook her head. "You'd know better than I would. It could be problems with the wrings, the computer routing, it could be the quantum tunnel causing interference. I just know the time it takes me to see/feel the issues is time that we lose correcting. I need to react faster."

"Well, i don't doubt your skill, so it's most definatly a tech problem. I'll assign a team to work with you to route the issues down and come up with a solution that will benefit us all. I have a testing area in the holodeck we can also use. Created it mysel'. How does 1600 hours tomorrow work for you?" Kara asked.

"Perfect!" Miraj enthused. She could come straight from shift handover. "I'll see you then?"

"Sounds grand. I'll head off for now and find a few helpers for our task. Unless there is anything else my services are required for. Doesn't hurt to ask, since I'm here." She smiled.

"Could you convert the helm to stick?" Miraj asked hopefully. "Stick is more fun."

Kara frowned and blustered a little with her lips. "Well, I theoretically could yes." She answered with honesty. "I mean, is that something you think would also help in improving performance? because if so you could petition the Captain and Commander Taylor about it. They might even say yes, if you have strong enough evidence and argument to back up switching the helm to a manual stick would provide a large enough boost to your own and the Elysiums' performance." She explained in a calm tone, smiling wide. "Personally." She paused. "I think it sounds crazy amounts of fun."

"Haptic feedback is massively useful. and its easier to tweak stick sensitivity, plus I don't get friction burns on the interface. I've seriously considered burning off my fingerprints to make things move faster." Miraj slurped the last of her milkshake. "I could run some simulations in the holodeck. If you set them up using data from the Slipstream flight, you can certify to the Captain they're legit."

Kara nodded. "Absolutely. Sounds like a plan we can work on together. I just love a change of pace. I'm excited! I'll have everything all set by tomorrow, so be ready!" Kara melodically sang, as she turned to head out.

[OFF]

Ensign Miraj Derani
Assistant CFCO
USS Elysium

Kara Hoffman
Chief Engineer
USS Elysium