Rebooting, Round Two

Posted on 22 Oct 2024 @ 8:17pm by Lieutenant Commander Stovek & Lieutenant JG Kaelyth Solmarr & Lieutenant JG Dylan McConnor

2,147 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Stranded
Location: Starboard Impulse Reactor
Timeline: Immediately Following Rebooting an Impulse Engine

He tapped the screen on his tricorder to relaunch the scan, to double-check. "The secondary pod is gone. There's a massive hull breach in that section, the pod reads as though half of it was torn away."

“That should be sufficient for a reboot,” said Stovek, flipping open his tricorder. The device hummed and made soft chirrups for a long moment. “The connecting valves are intact; however, they have deviated over five degrees and will need to be repositioned in order to function.” He flipped the scanner shut. “I am not certain the two of us can accomplish that.”

The Vulcan allowed the gravity of his last statement hang in the air for a moment. There was zero possibility of the two of them accomplishing this feat. Another set of hands would be required, and quickly.

-----

Kaelyth had been climbing through the ship for what seemed an eternity. It was only minutes, in reality, but the state of the ship's systems made it feel like longer. He had been forced to reroute several times around breached sections of the ship that had been cut off by safety bulkheads, but he finally reached Impulse Control and exited the Tubes.

Taking a moment to stretch his tall frame -- those crawlspaces were definitely not designed with people of his height and mass -- he gave a look around the area, gold-and-silver eyes taking in the other two present. Apparently, they had decided that it was taking Lieutenant Seitha too long to get to Engineering and had taken matters into their own hands. Perhaps that was good though.

Moving forward, he addressed the Second Officer. "I did not expect anyone else to be here, sir." He paused for only a second, assessing their stances and demeanors -- well, what he could see of them anyway. Then he added, "Would it be fair to assume that you have been here long enough to have taken a full scan?"

“Lieutenant Solmarr,” said Stovek in his customary even tone of voice. “It is most fortunate that you arrived when you did. We have verified that the reactor is intact; however, the connection valves to the deuterium supply are damaged.”

Stovek shined the emergency beacon into the maintenance panel on the floor. “The connector valve has deviated five point three degrees. Any suggestions as to how we can get things connected again?”

McConnor had started at the unexpected sound of someone exiting the Jeffries tube. All through their crawl from the Bridge to here, they had heard the agonizing throes of the ship's structural integrity, threatening to buckle in on itself. The unexpected sound had caught him off-guard, some corner of his mind worried that the sound was an omen forecasting the structural collapse of this entire section.

Kaelyth followed the light Stovek was pointing with his eyes. Those eyes narrowed as he considered the situation, still staring at the maintenance panel. If this was the Iytha Rhaen, he would have activated Repair Mini-Drones to affect repairs in the tight space. Of course, that assumed that her automatic Nano-Repair System could not fix the damage. In this case, that would not have been possible for the part Stovek had indicated. The valve was not damaged as far as he knew, only dislodged from its correct place.

This was not, however, the Iytha Rhaen, and he did not have any Mini-Drones. No, one of them would need to crawl down there and manually affect the repairs.

His gold-and-silver eyes came back up to meet Stovek's blue ones. "Someone will need to go down there and manually adjust the valve," he stated. He did not relish that idea given the size of the area. However, the Shaelyth did give him an advantage if something went wrong and power flowed through the conduits lining the crawlspace too soon. "I can make the adjustments, but I would need someone to keep a scanner on it and tell me when it is properly aligned." He could not, after all, perform the repair and scan it simultaneously.

"I volunteer myself for that task," said Stovek. "I have superior strength and will be able to bend the valves more easily than both of you. However, what I am proposing will take all three of us. Because I cannot bend the valves into place unless the metal alloy is softened by a plasma torch. McConnor, you will remove other floor panel and apply the plasma torch. Solmarr, you will monitor my progress. Time is of the essence."

Kaelyth hesitated only a fraction of a second. As was to be expected, the Vulcan's logic was unassailable. He nodded. "That makes sense," he agreed verbally, taking his Engineering Tricorder from fits holster on his belt. "I am ready when the two of you are." He flipped the device open and conducted his own scan just so that he could see everything with his own eyes for comparison as the work progressed. "Be aware, however, that the torch will superheat the air in that enclosed space," he cautioned, likely unnecessarily, though it was said more for McConnor's benefit than for Stovek's.

“My pain tolerance is much greater than both of yours,” stated Stovek. “Nonetheless, this will likely result in second and third degree burns to my hands. I require a moment so that I may meditate and marshal my strength.”

McConnor reached into the equipment locker and fetched a plasma torch. He opened the panel on the floor and examined the conduit leading to the valve. Instinctively, he knew he would have to hold the plasma torch very close to the conduit for at least three minutes to heat it up enough for Stovek to be able to bend it. The only problem was, the conduit was elbow-deep into the recess under the floorboards. Which meant he would practically be cooking the flesh right off his own forearm.

But it was necessary to restore auxiliary power.

He picked up the torch and looked at Stovek. "Ready, Sir," he said gravely.

“Wait,” said the Vulcan. “Mister Mc…Dylan. I can sense your apprehension. And your fear.” He raised his right hand, placing the fingers at specific points on the Engineer’s face. “I can make them bearable. But you will need to consent to a mind meld.”

Normally, Stovek's statement that his pain threshold was higher than both of theirs would be another unassailable fact. However, Kaelyth was unique... unfortunately for him. That statement in and of itself did not bother him, but it did tell him something. It told him that either Stovek had not had the time or chance to read his dossier or Stovek did not understand how agonizing having your DNA tear itself apart was and how many times Kaelyth had come close to death by that means. Either way, Kaelyth discarded the thought as irrelevant since Stovek was correct about his strength index being higher. He was, by that fact alone, the only one of the three who could do the job assigned to him.

However, McConnor did not have to be the one to wield the plasma torch. Hearing Stovek's words to the other man, Kaelyth decided to speak up. "Commander, I may have another solution."

Stovek turned his head slowly toward Solmarr, removing his fingers from the Engineer’s face in the process. “If you have a suggestion, Lieutenant, then let’s have it. Quickly. We are running out of time.”

Kaelyth held the Vulcan's gaze. He knew what his suggestion would take out of him, but he also knew that he was better suited to the task physically, no offense to McConnor. "I can trade tasks with Mr. McConnor," he began. "My unique physiology makes me better suited to the particular task." He meant no insult to McConnor; if anything, he was trying to make this easier for the man... or at least less painful or distressing.

“Do it,” said Stovek hurriedly. “No disrespect meant Dylan, but if Solmarr can tolerate this better, that increases our chances of success.” He watched as McConnor passed the plasma torch to Solmarr. The Vulcan positioned himself at the entrance to the maintenance access panel. “Begin at once, Mister Solmarr.”

A groan came from the ship's bowels, causing the hairs at the back of Dylan's neck to stand on end. He quickly reached out to Kaelyth, and exchanged the plasma torch for the tricorder.

"We should hurry," he said.

Kaelyth took the plasma torch from McConnor and moved to the deck panel that had been removed just for this purpose. Lying flat on the floor gave him maximum access to the area, and he extended his arm into the recess and positioned the torch correctly. "I am ready when you are, Commander," he informed Stovek.

Stovek looked at McConnor and gave him an almost imperceptible nod. The Vulcan could still feel the Engineer’s fear, coupled with his own. It was…fascinating.

“Let us begin. And work with dispatch. Hundreds of lives depend upon us.”

Stovek watched as the plasma torch was lit, casting a bright bluish white haze over the entire maintenance bay. The tool contained a minuscule amount of phased plasma, which the power cell heated to an astonishing 1500 degrees centigrade. It would take that temperature to soften the tripolymer alloy tubes.

As the torch lit, Kaelyth felt the heat radiate over him, even though he had lit it far from himself, in the hole near the piece they needed semi-melted, in fact. Holding the torch steady, he could feel the affect on his body. While he could absorb energy -- and heat was energy -- he could only do this as long as he had any Shaelyth in his body. Once it burned out, he would become just as vulnerable as anyone else to the heat. The difference would be that, at that point, the heat from the torch burning him would be the least of his problems.

Every second was crucial, therefore. And each one chewed away just a tiny bit at the Shaelyth. Great Mother Flame, please let this be done before it is completely depleted! he prayed silently as he waited and watched the metal he was heating.

McConnor kept his eyes on the tricorder, trying his damned best to ignore the scent of burning flesh that was starting to fill the room. Inwardly he was relieved that Solmarr had stepped up and volunteered for the job, since Dylan hadn't exactly been keen on the idea of burning his arm to ashes. Sure, such things could be replaced - he'd heard of cloned limbs being grown in a lab to replace a missing arm or leg. But still, the pain would have been nearly unbearable.

"We're at 1400 degrees," he called out. "Almost there..... Now!" he shouted into the opening where Stovek had lowered himself to move the valves into position.

With his right hand moving the connector housing into position, Stovek gripped the metal alloy tubing with his left. Immediately the maintenance bay filled with the acrid tang of searing flesh. With clenched teeth, the Vulcan gave a mighty groan and moved the valves into position, securing the housing in a fluid motion. He quickly removed his hands, which were charred with dark green dried blood. Smoke wafted from the Vulcan’s hands.

“McConnor, open the valves and start the fusion reaction,” said Stovek, barely holding on to consciousness.

"Aye, Sir," replied the young engineer. He turned to the maintenance panel built into the side of the reactor. This thing had an independent power source, meaning that the diagnostics panel was active. Most indicators were flashing red, meaning that something was wrong with the Impulse reactor.

He located the control to open the valves, and commanded them to open.

One by one, the indicators on the panel turned back to yellow, and finally to green. One more push of a button, and McConnor initiated the reaction that would return power to the Impulse reactor, allowing it to restore auxiliary power to at least part of the ship.

Higher priority systems came online almost instantaneously; artificial gravity became slightly heavier, emergency containment force fields sealed off hull breaches, structural integrity stabilized, and emergency lighting flashed on. And, most importantly, the life support system began pumping cool, fresh air back into the heart of the ship.

The ship was going to live on; the ship was going to survive.

This was the last thought that Stovek had as he loosened the iron grip on his pain receptors and felt the world crash down upon him. A tidal wave of green fury assaulted him, pushing him to the point that he felt as if he would break. And finally, the Vulcan succumbed to the pain and trauma and slipped out of consciousness.

 

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