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MPT-LS - Year of Hell - Darkness descends, Engineering

Posted Dec. 2, 2021, 5:30 p.m. by Commander Ryder Raauhl (Executive Officer) (J Ridgley)

Posted by Warrant Officer Jonathan Durheim (Chief Engineering Officer) in MPT-LS - Year of Hell - Darkness descends, Engineering

Posted by Commander Ryder Raauhl (Executive Officer) in MPT-LS - Year of Hell - Darkness descends, Engineering

Posted by Warrant Officer Jonathan Durheim (Chief Engineering Officer) in MPT-LS - Year of Hell - Darkness descends, Engineering
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The bump seemed to be a precursor to a far greater sudden change as the ship’s power began to fluctuate across the ship lights dimmed and brightened so much that it hurt to look at them. Consoles turned off and some exploded as the ship seemingly was taken control of by some forces unknown, the whole scene shifted and changed as the Leviathan started to cross the threshold of the anomaly the ship and the people inside it began to contort and stretch, speech, light and noise seemed to elongate into a low pitch.

Until finally the Leviathan was engulfed into darkness.

As the crew would begin to recover emergency lighting would turn on, anyone near a a port window would see they were no longer where they were, or even there was nothing.


Ensign Miller moved quickly through the ship, helping people as she could by pointing them in the right direction or picking them up onto their feet but ultimately she’d been ordered by the XO to go and see what was happening in engineering. She had tried different consoles and her comm badge through her journey to see if she could make communication with the CIC or engineering but neither responded. Eventually she came to the doors of engineering, like the turbo lifts which were working but painfully slow the doors slowly opened enough for her to squeeze through into the dark room.

“Chief Durheim?” She called out not being able to make out the faces of the engineering officers who were working by torch light, some had even managed to get the portable spotlights out of storage and working, it really took her some time to get here she thought.

  • Ensign Miller

Men and women were working frantically; a colony of ants writ large. Shouts, grunts, and muffled curses met Ensign Miller’s question; though none were actually directed towards her. There was some movement in the darkness; a bobbing light headed with purpose for the hatch where Miller stood. It wasn’t long until NE Renshaw loomed over Miller. The burly engineer had removed her tunic jacket; and sweat was visibly dripping down the shaved sides of her head. Her voice boomed out; half-yelling as if to compensate for partial deafness. “Ensign Miller, right? I suppose you’re wondering about the power, same as the rest of us. Well, much as I hate to say it, we ain’t got a clue as to what happened.” Renshaw paused, taking a deep gulp of water.

“Emergency power kicked on like it was supposed to, so we got that going for us. Life support looks good for now. But something killed our engines; and we aren’t having any luck kicking them on again. Eggheads are running diagnostics; I think they got an answer, but they sure aren’t happy about it.” She gestured toward the chaos behind her. “Right now we’re tearing into the Impulse engine and relays; we’re seeing some flutters that are making us nervous…” As Renshaw was outlining their work, a small Vulcan man had approached, PaDD in hand and frown on face. “Ah-hem, pardon me for interrupting…”
“Oh, just get on with it, Hans - can’t get much worse!”
He winced slightly at the woman’s volume, before taking a deep breath and starting with his report. “Well…” Hans hesitated, clearly not eager to share the bad news. “We have run our diagnostics several times, and we still don’t know what happened to the Leviathan. But we do know what the results are - we have little to no power left. Like I said, we cannot tell what caused this, but it’s as if our engines ran at max for....” Hans paused, checking his notes on the PaDD. “Roughly, a full year. We are almost completely drained of deuterium; anti and otherwise, though the bit we have remaining is only sufficient to re-start the drives.”

The small man looked more than a bit overwhelmed; and he was clearly unhappy that he didn’t have more to contribute. “Unfortunately, I believe this is well beyond me - I would like to get Mr. Durheim or Lieutenant Hellsing in here, but I’m not sure where they are at the moment - the last we heard from the Chief, he was busy in the containment bay; and I’m not sure where Lt. Hellsing is.”

-Engineering

Miller was seemingly caught like a deer in headlights until she finally found herself again. “Urgh, I’ll head to the containment bay and see if I can get them to come assist you but it’s the same everywhere so don’t feel bad” she explained smiling at the Engineer who’d come forward. “See you about!” She smiled before leaving to find Chief Durheim.

  • Miller

It was some time later before NE Miller returned, Chief Engineer in tow. The crew were still working frantically, paying little mind to the new arrivals. Durheim paused upon entering the bay; eyes narrowing as he took in the sights. He was quietly delighted to see the crew working so hard; there was panic in the air, but it was focused, directed towards a solution instead of chaos.

He moved quietly towards a primary console, nodding politely at the busy crew that turned away from their work enough to see him. He had no desire to take them away from their work, and waived any that moved back to their position. Durheim moved next to the lead tech; scanning the diagnostic board next to him; taking it all in. “So; as best as you can figure Mr. Hans, what happened here?”

OOC: GM; feel free to take over Hans.

WO Durheim, CE

“A guess is all I can give you sir” Hans Started he like many of the other engineers clearly looked frustrated, “We’ve tried rebooting the system but we just don’t have the juice to get it going again its like we somehow stalled out and drained the batteries dead Honestly we hoped you may have an idea because were stoked.” It wasn’t Like han’s to admit defeat but even in his eyes a sense of ‘what was to come’ could be seen.

Miller by the door, “I’m going to return to the bridge. Is there anything you’d like me to report to the commander?” She didn’t think she needed to explain to the chief of engineering that ‘Oh by the way the Captians missing along with other personnel since we ‘stalled’. She waited expectantly.

  • Miller (SEC) & Hans (ENG)

Durheim was silent, contemplating the diagnostic display and Hans’ synopsis. He had some questions and some half formed ideas, but…
He half-heard NE Miller’s question and started to reply before her words sank in. “Mr Cobb is missing as well? That is certainly no good.... But I don’t think I can be distracted by that now. I do wish Mr Cobb the best; and we will remain in contact regarding the power situation.” The Chief’s tone was almost nonchalant - but for those familiar with the odd man, it was less nonchalance and more focus - Durheim knew his job; and it was not to find the Captain.

Putting the other issues that seemed to be arising out of his mind, Jonathan turned back to the console. “Emergency power running… Fuel reserves depleted… Some reactor flutter… Hmmm. We want to keep a close eye on the reactors; I think that flutter may be a side effect. Mr. Hans, please check the cycle wear indicators on the dilithium brushes - also, run a maintenance check on the main plasma conduits. Don’t rely on the diagnostic panel; break out the instruments and physically measure the wear. Get me an estimate of run time and compare notes.”

“Right away chief!” Hans said before taking off with two junior engineers with him and a security officer.

Durheim was fully into the swing of things; sending his minions scurrying off with fresh orders. “Ms Renshaw! Run an analysis on our fuel stores - what does our current consumption look like compared to our load. Is is abnormal, and how long do we have? Set someone to monitor that for any changes. With that, begin runtime optimization on life support, followed by gravity, and then propulsion. Coordinate with the bridge; we may have to balance shields or weapons as well.”

-WO Durheim, CE

“Yes chief!” Came to a chorus of replies as individuals including Ms Renshaw set about their task.

As reports slowly trickled in, it was clear that they had not in fact drained their power but something else was draining it for them, as if the very environment was sucking the life out of the ship. The reactor shutdown was due to a fail-safe which had activated upon entering the ‘dimension’ as people had started to refer to it. Ms Renshaw returned with some more news.

“Sir, our fuel storages are not depleted as we first thought we had to physically insert a probe but there’s fuel but it is being drained at a quicker rate than it should be, we’ve started to suspect that our power is being diverted elsewhere though so far we’ve been unable to determine where that is though all indications are off the ship and somewhere out into the dimension. Other than that we’ve mostly in good shape, whatever is causing it wants our power but at the same time doesn’t want us to perish straight away, like a leech.”

  • NE Renshaw

“Interesting, very interesting!” Durheim flashed Renshaw a manic grin, captivated by the mystery. “I fully expect that you are correct Ms Renshaw; I doubt the abnormal rate of fuel consumption lies within our ship; but let’s run it down anyways. Task some ensigns to clear it; I don’t want to put too many resources on that track. Now, is that drain steady, or does it fluctuate? And if so, can it be correlated to anything on our end; remaining levels or current consumption? And above all, lets try and play it safe. I’d like more information before we try anything… interesting. But if you or your fellows have ideas, share them! We may still be alive, but that only lasts so long…”

“Understood chief” Renshaw replied, before adding, “We’ll get a think tank going and see where it leads us but initial ideas is a cloaked ship or a hidden anomaly on a different light frequency” She blurted out with a smile, “We’ll have the findings back to you ASAP” She turned, “Oh we’ll be in Cargo bay 1 if you manage to get communications going!” She gave him a two-finger scout salute before hurrying out the door followed by some engineers.

Jonathan scratched at his chin absently, thinking aloud and muttering to himself. “Hmmm; we have other concerns as well.... communication. Let’s see.... Ship size is… approximate range… power needed…” Idea firmly in mind, he nodded to no-one. “Ms Maxwell! Let’s try and re-establish shipwide communication. I’m thinking a simple, hardwired speaker/microphone relay, centered on the bridge. It’s crude, but I think simplicity is key right now. Standard B-21 wire should more than suffice; and I believe we have plenty in storage. Get some ensigns and run it to the bridge - be sure to keep it out of the footpaths. Run two lines from place to place; first here, then medical, and so on. Enlist security to carry the spools, if any are free. We’ll start fabbing the speakers and pickups. In the meantime, get that wire ready to go.”

Maxwell had quickly popped around the corner, it was clear as the communications engineer she and her team had already been trying to get something working. She hadn’t considered hard-wired communications having traditionally relied on wireless means. That why Durheim was chief. “We’ll get right on it, we can probably use the Jefferies tubes to create a network.” She mused, “Right on it chief” She added and just like Renshaw she and her team was gone. Suddenly Engineering wasn’t a hive but a single moving entity striving towards one goal, survival.

Orders given once more, Durheim turned to a nearby workbench, and immediately began working on a prototype speaker. He knew what it needed, and added small touches as he worked. A crank and generator were added to the side; in case the battery was drained. Leeds were added; a dozen in total along with toggle switches to decide who to talk to. Provisions were made to link speakers; doubling their capacity. Some ideas were scrapped, as they made the device too bulky to be easily moved; and the final result had six leads instead of twelve for the same reason. Satisfied, he fed it into the Scan bay of the replicator, and began producing them in bulk.

-WO Durheim, CE

After some time had past it was Maxwell who first appeared alongside a security officer, “We have the B-21 Cable! We’ve got teams heading out towards CIC, Brig, Containment Cells and sickbay” She explained before lifting hers up, “And this end is for engineering, where should we put it?” She clearly looked exhausted having spent the past half hour running around what was a large ship.

  • Engineering NEs

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