Repairing the Freighter Part 1

Posted on 03 Jun 2024 @ 3:51pm by Lieutenant JG Christina Hartley & Captain Bane Plase

1,144 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Enigma Variations

The moment Christina boarded the freighter, she wanted to vomit from the smell. How did anyone live like this? There were multiple smells; charred relays, the scent of fire having been extinguished, yet the smell was still there, and the scent of blood. Thankfully, that wasn’t a large scent, but it was enough that Christina could smell it.

“How the hell is this even considered a ship?” Melissa, one of her engineers, asked.

“That’s a good question, but right now, we need to repair it,” Christina said.

“Without a space dock? Christina, we all know you’re a damned miracle worker, but do you think we can do this?” Marcus Andrews asked.

“I’m not the only miracle worker. Since the days of the Enterprise NCC 1701, engineers have always been considered miracle workers. I met the man once; he was damned old, but he was brought forward in time, and he told me that a good engineer is always a ‘wee bit conservative, at least on paper’ and to give Captain’s what they need, not what they want,” Christina said.

“Ah, is that how he managed it?” Lucas Michaels asked, chuckling.

“That would be my guess, Lucas. Alright, let’s start with getting a run down of this whole damned wreck,” Christina said, going over to a console, thankful for the fact that they were wearing their life support fields. “Remember, we haven’t tested our life support fields out properly in the field yet, so keep an eye out for even the smallest problem. You’ve all got the personal transporters that’ll take you back to the ship if they fail, so make sure you stay alert at all times,” she ordered, before sitting at the console.

Since there wasn’t power running to it, she opened her engineering kit, and removed a portable power cell, placing the device on the console. It was something barely a year old, in terms of the creation of it, from the minds of the Daystrom institute, but it worked. Christina had to admit, she’d love to work there one day, but being out in the field, on a Starship, that always felt so amazing.

As she watched the console power up, she began to access what systems she could, but found that nothing was working properly. Life support was barely holding up, the aft starboard section had a hull breach the size of a runabout, with the forcefield barely holding since the power distribution network was severely compromised.

“Okay, let’s do this one thing at a time. We need to focus on the power distribution network first, so let’s get started with the EPS manifolds and relays,” Christina said, turning and looking at the other engineers.

“How long do you think that’ll take?” Lucas asked

“Oh, you know the Captain, we’ve got six hours to get about a week’s worth of work done,” Christina smiled, chuckling.

“That’ll never happen,” Lucas replied, aghast.

“Sure it will,” Melissa replied.

“How?” Adam Kendridge asked.

“Looking at the relays, we just need to replace the connector webs and the inner casings, right? Maybe a few exterior ones?” Melissa asked.

“That’d be my assessment, for job one, yeah,” Christina agreed.

“Okay, so the replicator uses a transporter matter-synthesis system. Couldn’t we modify a cargo transporter to feed the replicator’s output directly through into a transporter beam, directed here?” Melissa asked.

Christina saw the solution, and she had to agree, it was elegant and simple. “We’d need to use pattern enhances to make sure that everything lines up within a micron,” Christina said.

“I can handle that,” Lucas grinned; it was clear the entire team had seen the beauty of Melissa’s idea. “But we’ll need to use a holodeck. Since the transporter will be running on a continuous cycle, beaming the old connector material out and the new material in. It’ll be easier to do with a scaled up schematic, using contact with the lines as the energizing control.”

“And you can have the pattern buffer divert the old material to replication storage, to recycle the old connector material as it goes along,” Amy pointed out.

“Alright, let’s see if I can have solo access of the holodeck for the next few hours,” Christina said. “Hartley to Captain Bane,” she began, tapping her comm. Badge.

=/\=Go ahead, Lieutenant,=/\= came the voice of the Commanding officer, and her Uncle.

“Sir, I need to hijack a replicator for the rest of the day, and I’ll be pissing off Commander Stovek,” Christina said. She swore she could literally hear his eyes rolling.

=/\=I’m not sure which one I want to address first, but I assume you have a good reason for this?=/\= Bane asked, his voice weary. Christina couldn’t blame him.

“I do. We’ve got an idea about how to get this ship going again in the next six hours instead of six months. We’re going to rewire cargo bay one’s transporter to use in sync with the replicator system, and use the holodeck to help us beam the broken parts out and replace them instantly with new parts, but we need the holodeck to help us guide the transporter beam to be within a single micron,” Christina explained.

There was a pause on the other end. Christina knew Bane was an engineer by heart, so he’d understand the plan easily enough. =/\=You realise that if you make even one miscalculation, the entire freighter could blow up,=/\= Bane pointed out.

“Yes sir, we do, but to be honest, the ship’s close to doing that anyway. It’s a kitbash, Klingon, Federation and Orion hull plating, a Constitution Class refit’s warp nacelles, Federation warp core, circa 2320’s, Ferengi style weapons… I suspect whoever built this ship raided battlegrounds and got whatever they could,” Christina said.

=/\=And they made it work?=/\= Bane didn’t bother hiding his incredulity.

“Somehow, yeah. We can fix this ship, but this is the best way,” Christina said. There was a pause again.

=/\=Permission granted, but when Stovek comes complaining, I’m sending him to you,=/\= Bane warned.

“I can deal with that. Hartley out,” Christina chuckled, before closing the channel. “Alright, Lucas, Melissa, you’re with me. Adam, Amy, Erin, Frank, get the systems ready for this on this ship. We’ll be back soon,” Christina ordered. “Hartley to Cygnus, three to beam back,” she said, as she, Lucas and Amy stepped clear of the others, the transporter beam taking them back. Christina only hoped that the rest of the operation would work as smoothly as their planning session.


Part One of a series of engineering posts (With a brief cameo from Captain Bane) by

Lieutenant JG Christina Hartley
Chief Engineer
USS Cygnus

 

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