Cooperation

Posted on 25 Apr 2013 @ 9:34pm by Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Amril

1,176 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 6, Operations Office
Timeline: MD05: 1100 hrs

[ON]

Lilou scrubbed a hand through her hair, wearily twisting it in her hand and collecting it into a messy bun at the base of her neck. Her uniform was rumpled from triple checking the shuttles on their return with Thanis in tow, but it didn't matter overmuch. In an hour, she'd be hurtling through space to the surface of a foreign moon and she doubted the plant life there would be able to see her wrinkled uniform through her away gear anyway.

She needed to get through this mission, do what they needed her to do, which... as far as she could tell was to be another hand on a phaser, since there didn't seem to be any evidence of any sort of machines on the planet she was going to. An odd choice for an assignment - not only for her, but for her and Watt... while they sent only the Operations chief to the moon with all of the ancient alien tech... but it wasn't her place to question these things. Command decisions were command decisions - not suggestions. So she'd get through it, take the pills Pola had prescribed, sleep, and get started on the upgrade testing.

She bit her lip as she stepped onto the turbolift and asked for deck six rather than deck seven. She could almost hear the computer hitch, wondering if she'd forgotten which deck level her office was on, but it took her to six as requested. She hadn't been to the Operations office since... well. That was past, and not part of why she was here. Worth thinking about, perhaps, but not right now. She knocked, two succinct raps on the frame of the open door, and stepped inside. "Lieutenant," she greeted the vorta. She still couldn't look at him without remembering his unconscious body slung in the ship, listening to the click click of the self-destruct sequence beginning seconds before she was teleported to safety away from the explosion... "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I know you have a busy day ahead of you."

"Of course, ensign," Amril declared, smiling at her in a curious fashion. "Most officers... chime. You are a fan of old-fashioned things?" Whether he was teasing her or not, his voice sounded so serious and yet unconcerned, the same voice he seemed to use when talking about most things, calm and reasoning. "What can I do for you. Oh, come in, sit down, do whatever you like."

Chime? When the door was open? Lilou took a seat on the edge of a chair before his desk and straightened the pile of PADDs and transparent sketches in her lap. "As you know, sir, I was authorized to seek out means of heightening the Galileo's short term speed capabilities. I have found an option that appears to work on facets of the ship's defense capabilities in addition to upgrading our highest Warp speed, mathematically, but implementation is necessary in order to test the algorithmic theories. The simplest explanation requires visual aids-" she lifted a small rigged cylinder and rested it ever so carefully on the edge of Amril's desk. "Flightless, still, you can scan it - there are no active components in the cylinder. But then-" she flicked the edge of the cylinder and it began to glow. She tapped it again and it shifted. Again and it emitted a soft 'ffffff' sound and popped up off the desk, hovering in a warm amber glow. "It's powered by internal kinetic shields. The more kinetic response it receives, the greater its power levels. I'd intended the device originally as a personal shield, but found through experimentation that one of my biggest problems with the personal shielf component was that it developed too much energy without a means of appropriate dissipation. On an arm or a back, finding a quick, simple solution to that excess energy is a design complication. But on a ship - with an impulse engine and a backup to recharge... there's a built in means of gathering and storing the energy created by the kinetic barriers. I have some notes on the system one of my engineers - Willis - designed to control and manipulate the flow of additional power through the EPS systems for storage and eventual bypass valve release-" she shuffled through the items in her lap and set the appropriate PADDs on his desk. "Feel free to take a look."

"Fascinating," he said, "I've been trying to study the method you use in the Federation for physics, perhaps I can understand your equations and help you implement them."

"It's not exactly... I mean - it's not Federation methodologies - it's a hybrid of those and Trill perspectives. My father and his friends got me started in the sciences-" Why was she telling him this? "Sorry." She cleared her throat. "My plan is to begin the first stage of field testing tomorrow once everyone has had some time to rest following the away missions. My team will begin implementation by installing the kinetic arrays into the shield grids on the hull and we'll begin testing. I would appreciate it if we could have cooperation from your department to make certain that the experiment is running smoothly and not interfering with other ship systems."

"Of course," Amril said, speaking to her as he considered her initial comments and sudden hesitation. Perhaps she was one of the officers who was late hateful of the Dominion. "What do you need me to do, Ensign?"

"My main concern is making certain that my team and the ship are safe while we go about the install and testing," she explained. "I'll leave my apprentice with you; I've got him studying what to look out for specifically from our perspective. Once the arrays are installed, we'll need Operations to continue to monitor the fluctuations of the power sequencing and EPS conduits from your console. If the arrays draw too much power, you may need to initiate a manual bypass so that the Impulse engine does not overcharge..." she trailed off. He was the Chief of Operations. A vorta made Lieutenant, outranking her by Captain Saalm's will. Surely- "Well. You'd know how to manage energy flux in the systems, wouldn't you? Sir?"

"I can work with you myself from the bridge," he assured her, "Don't worry, I've studied the operational systems of the Galileo extensively."

"Thank you, sir." She rose, collecting the transparencies and leaving the PADDs. "I should go - prepare for... you know. I appreciate the assistance."

Amril tilted his head curiously. "Prepare for...?" he asked.

"Dirtside. The away mission. Captain Saalm has assigned me to go along with the survey team-" she shook her head. "I'll leave you to your work. Thank you again for your assistance. And best of luck on your own mission today, sir."

"Ah, of course, Ensign. And you're quite welcome. Best of luck."

[OFF]

ENS Lilou Peers
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo
played by Psylus Anon

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