Shuttleport (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on 31 Jan 2017 @ 6:51am by Ensign Miraj Derani & Commander Aren Ban & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Senior Chief Petty Officer Martin Caine (KIA) & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius
Edited on on 13 Feb 2017 @ 5:18pm

3,242 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 13 - Rogue
Location: Kreanus Colony - Deck 1, Hangar Bay
Timeline: MD 06 - 1350 hrs

Previously, on Shuttleport (Part 2)...

Martin started the shore power again and it hummed nicely peacefully this time. The array numbers started coming up and he called them for each quarter starting at half until it got to full strength. "That's optimal Commander Ban." He said quickly for a stop with a gentle tap to his thigh for good measure.

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

Upper Bay Level

Tool kit in hand, Lamar led Derani and Warraquim over to one of the unique auxiliary craft he'd been playing with over the past several days. It was a large Romulan shuttlecraft, a long-range scout craft approximately the size of a Federation Danube-class. Its forest green hull displayed all of the traditional avian curves that were the hallmarks of Romulan ship design. The support pylons curved down from the dorsal section of the body and another pair curved up from the ventral section, each combining to support a large nacelle that was capable of sustaining a very slim and powerful warp field.

"So," Lamar began, "I've been working on this baby and taking her for a few spins in the hangar. I've got all the propulsion systems operating properly but the cloaking device keeps draining power from the secondary systems. I can't get it to stay active for more than about ten minutes before the computer system shuts it down to maintain the primary flight functions. And I don't even know where to begin with the disruptor arrays. They don't feed directly from the singularity core or impulse reactor like in Starfleet ships. They've got their own APU and I don't know enough about capacitor management to fix it," he explained.

It was love at first sight. Miraj went over to the bow and rubbed a hand up the dark green plating, they way a normal girl might stroke the nose of a horse, "Hello gorgeous." she said. "What's up with you , huh? Someone wired you wrong?" She walked around to the the deflector shield. "Her cloak shouldn't be pulling off secondary systems. you'll need to uncouple it and rewire it. I know you're supposed to start at the deflector interface and work back to the power unit, Just don't ask me how. I just fly." She carried on inspecting the ship's exterior, running her hands over the hull, feeling every little pit and chip in the plate.

Allyndra only smiled at the way Miraj touched the shuttle. She was no engineer either and though a decent pilot was not Miraj's skill. She shrugged, "Well that sounds as good a place to start as any. I think I can handle that part. As far as your disruptor sounds to me as if the capacitor recharge rate or perhaps the capacitor itself might be having charge problems and might not be up to specs. Try installing smaller booster capacitors maybe, if there is not a replacement. That should keep you two busy while I work on the other problem...besides," Allyndra spread her hands. "I don't like to be around high voltage stuff."

"Tool kits are in the lockers over there," Lamar said to Allyndra while motioning with a finger to the nearby equipment shack. "If you can't make heads or tails of something just give a shout. A bunch of them are all proprietary so you gotta use the right modules for the parts." He then looked toward Miraj. "I think I gotta go find a new APU unit from one of these other Romulan shuttles. I'll be back in about five. Think you can handle things while I'm gone?"

"Sure said Miraj, distracted by something not quite right with the deflector dish she couldn't put her finger on. "Sorry what?"

Already a few steps into his journey across the hangar bay, Lamar stopped to turn and answer Derani's question. "I said I'm gonna try and go find a new APU. Keep an eye on things in the meantime, I shouldn't be gone long," he repeated.

"Can you find something to get the dish of with too? I think there's something in the housing."

"Look in the locker," he called out over his shoulder. "Find the hyperspanner and the ODN recoupler."

Allyndra went over to the locker and got out a toolkit. She noted like everything else it was composed a hodge podge from twenty different types of ships. She headed on over and got to work. She got to work but went real slow so she could try to understand how it all interconnected and what did what.

Miraj rooted through the box, found the right bits and went back to the Dish. it wasn't that loose and she struggled to get it unbolted. she leaned on it, and nothing happened. She tugged at it. Still nothing. "Avast behind," she muttered, and jumped up to swing from the uncoupler handle, her whole body weight hanging for it. Still -

Something went snap, the uncoupler came away, and the disc popped out. Miraj ended up on her arse and the deflector dish bounced on the floor and rolled off towards the balcony. "Avast the dish!" she shouted as it spun swiftly to the edge.

Allyndra heard the call but she was deep into her own work and the shout she bumped her head which had just gotten to the point of not hurting anymore. "Ouch!"

Miraj scrambled up and barely got to a crouch before she lunged to try and catch the disc. She missed. "Avast below!" The disc hit the lip of upper deck, bounced up into the air and then dropped to wards the people in the bay below.

Martin heard the call from above with seconds to spare, he shoved Commander Ban in one direction then rolled the other. Just after he did there was a loud thud as the disc hit the ground. Martin knew the call had to have come from Miraj above. "Miraj were you trying to kill us or did you just drop something sport."

Her pink head appeared over the edge of the upper deck. "Is everyone alright? Did anyone get hurt?"

"No! Thanks to your warning. It gave me just enough time to give Commander Ban a shove out the way. "Was that disc going on or coming off cause if it was going on, you need a new one cause it cracked as it hit the deck!" Martin said with a smile on his back at the white faced blob a deck above. "Miraj can you send the doctor I may have boo booed and hit my head my vision a little blurry!"

"Sorry!" She turned back to Allyndra. "I think i've made you some work?"

Allyndra had heard part of the exchange as she extricated herself from the innards of the shuttle. "I am coming, better getting people repaired then shuttles anyway." She judged the deck and then leapt off the deck and used her wings to go back down to the other deck. It was a bit faster then the ladder.

"Alright, take it easy for a moment." She said getting to Martin. "Let me take a look," she said reaching to feel his head.

"I think it was just a bang to the back back of my noggin, as a rolled away from the falling disc Miraj dropped but better to get you to have a look in case I did something permanent." Martin said as he rested like the doctor suggested.

"Follow my finger please," she held up one digit and moved it side to side and up and down. "A good bump but I do not think anything too serious however if you start feeling worse let me know."

"Will do ma'am so your clearing me to return to fixing that shuttle so long as someone doesn't throw things at me from above?" He asked with a smile, knowing throw was only a tease, he like Miraj no matter how clumsy she was. "Might I suggest that Ensign Derani keeps the drivers seat warm before it is something that cold really be dangerous to drop!"

"Oh you would like her in the seat with her hand so close to the thrusters and weapons systems?" Allyndra asked trying to be serious but the tone indicated something else.

"More than I enjoyed bashing my skull with my own brain from the inside." Martin said with a smile as the tone of Allyndra's voice told him she was kidding.

She gave him a pat on the shoulder and stood. "Well seriously if you do have problems come to the infirmary, now let us see what our errant friends are up too."


Two Hours Later...

It took all five of them to wrestle the defector disc back up and into place, and another hour to clean out the debris in the housing and reconnect it. With the deflector back in place, the next task was to rewire the cloak. Not keen to 'help' any further, Miraj bounced nervously in the pilots chair waiting for the all clear to power up.

Allyndra helped do some of the wiring letting the guys do the heavy lifting. She was not built for that anyway but wiring and such was not much different then doing surgery, one just had to be careful and deft at it. She hoped the extra capacitors which she still eyed carefully would be sufficient to help recharge the bigger one. "Alright, I think I have this jury-rigged as you humans say." She moved away.

Martin was the first to let go. The dish stayed there with the other two holding it without creaking so he expected it would stay where it was put, with it fully wired and ready to be brought online. "Looks good to go now." He said with a smile.

With Miraj at the helm, Lamar paced outside the Romulan shuttle and did a final visual inspection of its outer hull. The hull plating looked good, sensor array panels were properly fixed into position, and most importantly, the primary deflector was secured in place. He tapped his commbadge to give her the proper power-up sequence. "Alright, looking good here. Secure the external inertial damper on the overhead panel then turn on the primary generator and start up the APU," he began. "Let it run for 45 seconds until the secondary power grid comes online, then cycle the bleed air knob to 'right engine.'" he instructed.

Miraj didn't speak Romulan, but she had studied the control systems of every ship the federation knew about, and that included Romulan ones, she didn't even have to think about which control was which, she knew. External dampener was disengaged and then activated primary generators. The thrum that came through was softer than on Federation vessels. They buzzed like lazy bees, happy to bumble but burst into speed when needed. This ship seemed to purr like a hunting cat, more of a rumble, a sense of stealthy, patient violence. The secondary power grid came up slightly early, with a sudden jolt. Miraj frowned. That hadn't felt right at all but she ran her finger around the ring dial to bleed the right engine.

"Okay," Lamar continued, hearing the whine of the APU powering up and the feeling the vibrations begin to send a shimmer through the hangar deck plating. "Cycle 'engine crank' to the right engine and bring the throttle to idle. Keep an eye on the deuterium flow into the impulse reactor and make sure it's within the normal parameters."

She did as told, frowning at the length of time it was taking. And the unbalance in the process. For steadyness both engines should be brought up together. The deuterium flow was within normal, though flickering around the mid point rather than steady. "So far so good!" she called through.

"Now cycle 'bleed air' to both engines, start the secondary generator, then put 'engine crank' to the left engine," Lamar instructed. "Once the second generator and engine is spooled up, cut the APU and you should be good to go! Then you can run a preflight check of the instruments and INS."

She turned dials, tapped buttons, and waited whilst the second generator came up, balancing out the power across the ship, There was a wobble in it she didn't like, feint and barely there, but there all the same.

She looked over her panel. "Pre-flights complete. all systems green." She reported. "toot toot, everyone out the way!" A tiny touch to the directional thrusters and the shuttle rose from its pad, and she pootled off for a slow circuit of the massive chamber. The first circuit went without any issues, and five minutes slow float brought her back to start. "Now you see me, now you don't," she murmured, and reached over to the tactical station to engage the cloak.

"Did it work?" she asked over the speakers.

Martin tapped his comm badge. =^=Perfectly Ensign Derani, just like it should you shimmered fir a second and disappeared, don't over use it, as I think I can hear a whinny sound coming from the engine.=^=

A 'whinny sound,' Lamar wondered while doing a double take at the unfamiliar man who'd chimed in. It didn't take more than a few seconds before the cloaking device suddenly disengaged and the vessel's hull re-materialized for all to see. "Unless you just deactivated it, I think we still have work to do," he said through the comm with a sigh.

Miraj thumbed the speakers "I think it's the secondary generator, not the cloak." she let them switched off. then a thought occured. "We don't have to fix it now though, do we?"

Lamar looked around before answering and sure enough, Jonas was observing the experimental flight and test of the cloak from the level below them. "Well it can't keep waiting 'till tomorrow!" the man yelled up at the group. "Get it done!"

Miraj kept trundling around the hangar. She was back at a helm and she wasn't ready to stop. "It can wait twenty minutes? This is fun."

"Set her back down," Lamar instructed with a shake of his head. He was happy to let the young officer enjoy the Romulan shuttle a bit longer, but he knew Jonas pretty well by now -- he wasn't a man who was used to having his orders disobeyed. "Don't worry," he continued over the comm to Miraj, "we'll get you back up in a few minutes. Just got to check out the generator relays," he promised.

"Make me." Miraj said happily, as the shuttle continued its pootle along the far wall. "I'm up here and you're down there." She knew it was childish, but she was just happy to be flying again, even if it was practically a training lap. She had been too long without flying. They'd have to beam up here and pry her off the conn.

Putting a hand over his face to hide his expression, Lamar sighed with a one-handed facepalm. He knew Jonas wouldn't be happy at the joyriding which in turn meant his own work duties for the next few days would be the most undesirable. He'd probably be mopping the floors because of his department head's enthusiasm.

Allyndra just shook her head and shouted, "Come on before something goes wrong and the stupid thing crashes. We pieced the thing together already with bits and pieces I do not relish more slop jobs and besides, I can come up there!"

The sigh that came across the comms was heartfelt and long. "Yes Ma'am." Miraj had forgotten about the small detail that the CMO could actually fly. She flipped and rolled the thing in one move, rotating around the centre axes so the nose was pointing back the way to come

Doing so let something catch her eye on the other side of the shuttle bay. She knew that silhouette. It was a small shuttle, a type nine. For a moment the good mood of being at a stick again was neutralized, with the harsh reminder of the fate of them all. The shuttle didn't have the hint of ages that the other shuttle here had, but it was scored with carbon burns, consistent with being on the outskirts of an explosion, the material baked as hard as ceramic to the outer skin.

She tweaked her course just a hair so she could see the name plate and sighed when she got what she wanted The end half on the nameplate had been destroyed, the hull panelling there removed - it looked like they were gutting it for parts - but it was enough to see the letters USS-VIR, and underneath the letters, NCC-80. It was Virginia She must have been knocked out of the shuttle bay, and salvaged by the Klingons. What an ignoble end.

With a sigh she brought the Romulan shuttle back in a slow graceful curve before settling it back on its launch pad. She came out looking a little sheepish, but not very. Even seeing Virginia hadn't dampened her joy at flying for long. She was bright eyes and happy looking. Even the brief flight had restored her a bit after so long away from the sky. "That was a cool. How long before I get to drive the big one?"

"Once Jonas cools off. So maybe ten years?" Lamar answered with a roll of his eyes. It certainly wouldn't be anytime soon again, but the test flight had done its job in helping to deduce the problem with the cloaking device. "Let's strip her down again. Start with the data recorder then we can inspect the generators and couplings next."

Martin lounged against one of the other shuttles in the upper bay and laughed at Miraj's 'who me?' attitude. Trust a flyboy to get themselves in trouble, well in this case a fly girl. "Ma'am in the last few days you have been found wandering the halls naked, then disheveled with an unconscious fleet officer now this?" His laughter got louder.

Miraj went red and stared at the floor. Those experiences had been humiliating and terrifying. This little flight had helped her forget and now the man who had helped her before was rubbing her face in it. "I'll go download the black box." She mumbled and scrambled back on to the ship.

"I will check the relays to the booster capacitors again," Allyndra said and headed off. She already had thoughts on how to make it look like all was well but later have the systems overload. A bit of sabotage that would take out a shuttle but considering how poor everything was, it would be hard to figure if just a bad job with someone not too familiar or deliberate. She felt bad for Lamar, he genuinely just enjoyed the tinkering and making something work. Her job though was to try to make this place fall apart even faster, well that is how she saw it.

[OFF]

--

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical and Second Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

CWO2 Lamar Darius
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC Ko'raH]

SCPO Martin Caine
Chief of the Boat (CoB)
USS Galileo

CMDR Aren Ban
First Officer
USS Galileo

Jonas
Shuttlebay Operator
Kreanus Colony
[PNPC Ko'rah]

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