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Main Sim [Engineering]: The Boridium Solution

Posted March 7, 2021, 4:40 p.m. by Ensign Caelian Weir (Engineering Officer) (Jason Wolfe)

Posted by Ensign Matthew Riley (Science Officer) in Main Sim [Engineering]: The Boridium Solution

Posted by Ensign Claude Seguin Genard (Science Officer) in Main Sim [Engineering]: The Boridium Solution

Posted by Ensign Caelian Weir (Engineering Officer) in Main Sim [Engineering]: The Boridium Solution
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
[snip]

The lieutenant keyed the display into stand-by mode and turned to him. Whatever engineering understanding had passed between them was quickly buried under the man’s usual guise. Turning, he retrieved Caelian’s data pad and handed it to him.

“Ensign, organize your team and get started on the projected power relays and auxiliary shunts.” Klaproth nodded suggestively toward the workstation. “I’ll add my recommendation to your proposal and pass it along to the chief for the captain’s consideration during the next staff meeting. If you think of anything else, you have until the end of your shift to let me know. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.” Caelian nearly vibrated with excitement. Progress! “Thank you, sir. I’ll get started right away.”

—Caelian Weir, Engineer—

Weir’s comm badge chirped indicating an incoming transmission. =/\= “Genard to Weir. Caelian, I got it!” Claude was obviously excited, almost giddy as he spoke. “I have run several simulations and I have a way to refine the natural boridium to a something similar to the synthetic element we have in the Alpha Quadrant. Then we can work with it in a way we are familiar with.” =/\=

=/\= “I’m going to check in with Lieutenant Fayth. Can I meet you down in Engineering?” =/\=

  • Lt. Claude Genard

Genard? There was a shudder from deep in his stomach. He was silently glad Klaproth had gone. Argh, I was supposed to keep him posted! Smemorato, Cael!

With a sheepish grin, he tapped his comm badge. =^=Weir here. I’m about to gather a team together to begin those modifications we talked about. I, uh.. got a little distracted with the proposal. Apologies. It should take me a few to organize everything, so I’ll see you when you get here. Weir out.=^=

If Genard had a better way to refine the boridium, that was one less hiccup he’d have to deal with later. Admittedly, Caelian had been more concerned with how to use the stuff than making sure it could be used. He’d known that he could, and that had been enough to get a fire under him. Someone else helping with another piece of the puzzle was an added bonus.

Setting to work, Caelian pulled up Engineering’s duty rosters. He knew he couldn’t necessarily cherry pick his team, but he had some names he hoped he could pull in to get the job done. Then there was the matter of acquiring the proper equipment, replicating the necessary parts, and a litany of other things. He chuckled at a thought, brushed it aside and pressed on while waiting for Genard to arrive.

Sorry, Mal, he thought wryly. The tinsel will have to wait.

His mind racing, Caelian conferred with the duty roster one last time before setting to work. L’Nel and Jackson were easy enough to get ahold of; they were part of his team, after all. He’d passed the containment field inversion work off to another team, delegated as much of the work as he’d been authorized to. With so much still going on aboard the Ark Angel he’d likely have to pull some longer shifts to get everything done on time. With any luck, his modifications would be approved before they were done with the groundwork was done.

Jackson was the first to arrive, elbows waggling excitedly as she secured her hair back. “Back in the saddle again, eh, boss?”

“Please dont’ call me that,” he sighed. “We’re the same rank.”

“Whatever you say, boss.” She gave a playful wink as she pulled down her toolkit. “What’s the plan?”

Caelian explained the modifications he’d proposed to Klaproth while they gathered what they’d need. L’Nel joined them before he’d gotten too far; thankfully, the Vulcan was quick enough that there was no unnecessary backtracking. Once they’d pulled together the parts and replicated a few extra components, his team set to work in Engineering with preliminary diagnostics. While the computer could likely have confirmed everything was as he’d expect it to be, Caelian allowed for visual inspections as part of his proposal. We’ll likely only get one chance to get it right, he’d reasoned. And if the captain wants it done sooner, well, that’s easy to trim.

After longer delay than he had hoped, Claude rounded the corner entering Engineering. He looked around the spacious area looking for Weir, PaDD in his hand. After looing like a lost tourist for a few moments he found him working a few others.

Crossing through the busy section he came up behind him. “Hello Weir. Sorry for the delay. Do you have place I can show you my refining process?”

  • LtJG Genard

It took a bit of wiggling and grunting for Caelian to extract himself from where he’d been tinkering. Wiping a sleeve across his brow, the engineer smiled and nodded. “We can borrow that station over there,” he nodded towards an available terminal.

The computer chimed overhead.

=^= Riley to engineering. I’m sending some data your way - energy pockets that are apparently common in this area of space. There are… issues with them interacting with the ship. I’ve calculated a frequency that should block them from entering the ship. Could you double check my numbers and get back to me on the feasibility of altering the shields to block them? =^=

  • Ensign Riley, Science

Caelian blinked. Energy pockets? What kind of energy pockets? He offered Genard an apologetic look before tapping his comm badge.

=^=Weir to Riley. I’ll see what I can do here shortly. Stand by.=^=

Motioning for Genard to follow him, Caelian stepped over to the workstation and keyed up the modifications. With a few extra strokes, his refinement projections began to cascade down the screen. He tapped on the screen to halt the information and highlight the section he wanted Genard to see.

“I did a really dirty projection on output from a variety of boridium purity levels,” he explained. “I think the system can hold as long as we can refine the boridium to ninty-eight percent purity. Why don’t you pull up your projections while I go over this additional data.”

Giving Genard what he’d hoped was an encouraging pat on the shoulder, Caelian stepped aside and queued up the files Riley had sent over concerning the rogue energy pockets. Within seconds, he could feel his face begin to fall. While he wasn’t quite certain exactly what he was seeing, the concern was clear—interaction. His mind jolted to life with a surge of possibilities. After a few moments of hard thought, he tapped his comm badge again to reestablish contact with Riley.

=^=I believe I can modulate the shield harmonics to match the energy pockets, see if I can’t filter out the smaller ones and maybe deflect some of the less-stable larger ones. Without knowing more, I can’t guarantee that we can proof the ship against denser incursions. I’m stretched pretty thin here, but I’ll do what I can. Weir out.=^=

With a heavy sigh, he gestured to Jackson. “Soph, it looks like you’re going to have to hold down the fort while I take care of something. You know what we’re doing, yeah?”

“Gotcha covered, boss,” she echoed from beneath a console, waving dismissively before groping around in her toolkit. “Go save the ship!”

Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, Caelian grumbled inwardly. Turning back to Genard, he nodded. “All right, let’s see what you have.”

As the two worked together, the engineer’s hands danced over the workstation’s auxiliary input entering equations while he listened to Genard’s explanation. Within a few seconds, he’d set secondary containment on both the impule and warp systems into stand-by mode. It was only a stop-gap measure until he could get more information about the energy fields Riley had found, but it was something.
—Caelian Weir, Engineer—


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