Efficiency is Key

Posted on 18 Mar 2012 @ 11:19pm by Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Remington III (KIA) & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn

1,573 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 00 - Pre-Deployment
Location: Deck 7 - Main Engineering
Timeline: MD05: 1300 hours

Will walked over to the master systems display and pulled up the power distribution display. "Alright then, Mr. Quinn," he said, "let's see if we can't get a little more out of this ship than Starfleet Corps of Engineer envisioned, hm? It's been my experience that ships work a little differently outside the holodeck. Every ship has its own sweet spots."

Quinn walked next to his Ops counterpart and smiled broadly, "Now you're talking my kind of language Commander, what do you have in mind?" Quinn looked over the MSD to see where the extra power could transfer from.

"Well," he said, "I've worked on the Nova class before in Stardock. With only one impulse drive it makes it easier to divert extra power from the impulse engines to boost long-range sensors when we are at warp. The problem with that is that if we drop to impulse we might experience a hiccup for sensors and impulse. If we don't solve that problem, we risk disrupting scans that might be vital to the science department's missions." He figured that had best focus on science first, seeing as they were aboard a science vessel.

"Hmm, I think I get your point. Could we reroute the needed power for sensors by tapping the dilithium Crystal matrix, and rerouting it to the sensors?" asked Quinn.

"We could," Will mused aloud, pulling up a schematic of the component in question, "but can we do that while maintaining warp or would we have to transition from diverting power between the two systems? We'd need a tertiary power supply to overlap the two or else we'd still have a hiccup."

Quinn looked again at the display, "Good point. Well, Electro-plasmic conduits have several secondary bypass conduits in case the primary conduits are ruptured. We could possibly replicate a small static Warp field and possibly use it as a back-up battery so to say for when we transition out of Warp to subspace and use the secondary EMP conduits to transfer the power. I'm not sure how we would get a small, stable static warp field in there."

"Too complicated," Will decided, "especially if we need to jump to warp quickly. Creating the secondary warp field would cause a delay, small but enough to possibly cause miscalculations. I'd rather avoid messing with warp theory. What about auxiliary power? Would using that be too much of a drain on other systems?"

Quinn scratched his beard for a brief moment. "No, not dreadfully anyway. What about the auxiliary impulse reactor? It is only used when the main drive is down, and it is always active anyway. Might as well put it to good use."

"Good, good," Will said with a nod, reaching for a PADD and placing it on the upload terminal, "The only time we would need it would be in emergencies and then secondary science objectives would be canceled either way. We just need to make sure high priority sensor scans are not relying on the power boost, I'll write the program so that they require manual activation."

Quinn nodded in agreement, then smirked. "This vessel is a big change for me from the two Defiant-Classes I've been on. It'll be nice to do some exploring and research, instead of always on the front line. At my age, a fussy impulse power generator is all the excitement I need in a day."

Will smiled to himself and started to examine some other systems on the ship. "Help me re-calibrate the primary sensor cluster, the stardock technicians haven't fine-tuned them past regulation but they'll need to be if they are to operate with the power boost."

Quinn looked over the console display and began to work. "Yeah, most of these guys have never set foot off of terra firma."

He transferred some of the sensor controls to Quinn's station and then started to work, speaking conversing as his hands darted across the LCARS. "This is a big change for me too, but in the opposite direction sort of. I started out on the USS Galaxy, then I was at Starbase 235, then an Akira class. This ship is small for me. Make sure you get those subspace phase sensors to within .03 variance otherwise you'll miss tachyon surges out past twelve kilometers."

Quinn was processing the subspace sensors while listening to the Ops Chief. "Ahh, the Galaxy. I served on her back in Sixty-one through Seventy. She was beautiful back then. New, and top of the line technology to work on, and break." Quinn finished his calibration. "At zero-point-zero-three variance. Let's run a phase primer on it, and see how she handles it."

"Really?" Will raised an eyebrow and glanced over at the older man, "Doing what? When I graduated from the Academy the Galaxy was my first assignment, but that was in seventy-four. Phase primer running. I was an operations officer and worked my way top to assistant chief of operations, a lieutenant."

"I transferred there from the old Constellation as a crewman first-class Structural / Environmental Systems Specialist. By the time I left I was a P.O. 2nd Class-Warp Systems Specialist." Quinn looked at a readout, "Slight inefficiency in the Warp Coil transfer station. Compensating. Yeah, she was a beautiful ship. Took a pounding, but keep on going."

"Where did you go after that?" He turned away from his console, "Running diagnostics and calibration protocols, should be almost done." He peered over at Quinn's station to get a look at the issue he noticed in the warp coil transfer.

Quinn smiled at how fast his commands were performed once entered into the system, "Ahh, I transferred off and joined the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. I was only with them for about three years, I think. We were flying around the demilitarized zone between the Cardassian Union, and the UFP. We would rebuild one colony that was razed by Cardassians, then have to fly off to another planet to do the same thing, or maybe a ship carrying medical supplies. I received my First-Class, then less than a year later, I transferred to a brand new Defiant-Class, the USS Thor."

Quinn laughed at his new discovery, "These morons never activated the neural gelpack replay in the Warp coil transfer station. Anyway, we ran the gambit in that ship during the Dominion War. I was a Cloaking Systems Specialist. I got my Chief, then after I finished my Masters Degree in Propulsion Dynamics I received my Warrant Commission. She was a good ship, the most fun you could have with your pants on Commander. I later moved on the Starfleet's Xenotechnology research Division. Then eventually to a Vesta-Class. Did six years deep space exploration. then back to a Defiant-Class, then to this little lady."

Quinn realized he probably sounded like an old man rambling. "So what's your story Commander?" then returning the Warp Coil back to operational status, but with a few tweaks.

"Not as interesting as yours," he replied with a wry expression but also a look of interest. "I certainly haven't been able to work with anything as... delicate politically as a cloaking device. I fought aboard the Galaxy during the Dominion war though. Battle of Cardassia, First Battle of Chin'toka, among the more well-known fleet actions."

"Yeah, the cloaking device was relatively new to Starfleet at that point. Talk about shooting from the hip." A chirp silenced Quinn as he looked over the console. "Looks like the auxiliary impulse reactor is powered up, and ready to run."

"I'll have to work out the program for the power boost and implement it on the fly. I'll include it in my regular operations report to the captain."

"Great." Quinn was impressed with the young man's efficiency. "You do pretty good work, for an officer that is...sir." said Quinn with a chuckle.

"Oh?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow and smiling, "And you're pretty well-trained yourself, for a non-com that is."

"It comes with age Commander." Quinn looked at the MSD smiling. "The new Neural Gel-packs are working with incredible efficiency. It's almost as if they can predict the information that will be needed, and sends it before we enter it. I've never seen anything like it in accepted Federation starships."

"Comes in handy," Will agreed. He quickly looked over what they had done, then back at Quinn. "I think we've got enough to do for today. I want to get started on this program so we're ready for launch."

Quinn nodded, "Indeed. Plasma conduit power levels are all operating within normal limits. How do the plasma conversion sensors look from your end Commander?"

"Oh, just fine," Will replied, giving them a cursory glance. "Commander Holliday mentioned something about EPS manifolds? Do you need help fixing them?"

"Well," Quinn eyed over the gauges a couple more times. "I think they are doing okay, but I'd like to put a little stress on them to see how they'll hold up when it really counts."

"We could test that now," Will said, turning and seeking out the necessary interface.

Quinn smiled, "Sounds good to me Commander. I believe that the interface for that is behind you, and to your right. Just don't press that big red button."

Will laughed at that. "I'll be careful," he assured Quinn, turning towards the console.



Chief Warrant Officer Markum Quinn
Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

Lt. Cmdr. Chauncey William Remington III
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

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