Local Powerup

Posted on Fri May 27th, 2016 @ 3:18pm by Captain Tim Williams & Lieutenant Griffen Tanol

Episode: Lost Property
Location: De Salle, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD03 1700hrs

As the transporter beam released him, Tim couldn't help almost holding his breath, even though he knew that the room he was beaming into had been sealed and re-pressurised since the last time he was there. He also felt distinctly out of place wearing his regular uniform, whilst all of the engineers moving around the De Salle's main engineering were wearing all-yellow jumpsuits which allowed them more freedom and pockets to place their tools.

He spotted his senior engineer up on the raised platform immediately in front of the warp core, working on what he hoped were the final stages of powering it up and starting to give some life back to the old ship.

"Lieutenant!" he called as he navigated his way around the other engineers at work towards them. "How are things going?"

Griffen, who had been working in the engine room since the moment it had become available turned towards the new voice that she did not recognize as one of the other engineers. She had long ago ditched her duty jacket and coveralls now being clad in little more than her work pants and her undershirt both of which were covered in all manners of debris and fluids.

"Captain, things are looking up. We've installed the filter or.. better word would be jury rigged it, into the fuel pump system. It should add enough impurities into the dilithum that we've brought over from Highlander. As soon as we get the intermix ratio right I think we can give her a shot. I think we can safely try a restart without blowing the warp coils." Grif said as she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, only to leave a streak of grease that had been covering them.

"How far away are we from giving it a go?" Tim asked, secretly envious of not being involved in the jury rigging of the filter. He'd long ago learnt how to step back - albeit not as much as most other captains - from the jobs he assigned to his engineers, but this ship was such a rarity he felt like he was almost robbing himself of the opportunity to work on the project - even if he knew and understood that the job was one he should leave to those whose job it actually was.

Grif looked at the rather archaic console and the data it was giving out. In terms of accuracy of how detailed the scans were coming back, it felt like she was dealing with a child's toy. Accuracy in engineering scanners and technology had grown 100x in the past 2 centuries. "Uhh, maybe five minutes? We're still waiting on the final coolant line inspection too."

"Need any help with that?" the captain asked as he rolled up his sleeves, eager to get his hands dirty with something practical.

"If you could speed up the inspection on the coolant line, that'd help tons." Grif replied with a shrug, "Can't really have two people adjusting the intermix ratio, we'll just end up exploding."

"You got it," Tim replied, making his way down the side of the reactor to one of the computer stations that sat aside it. Nudging aside an engineer who had been struggling with the old system, he worked his way through the controls and pulled up the readouts for the reactor coolant, and compared them to what he remembered was the optimal flow rate for the ancient ship. "Coolant is flowing at fifteen litres per second, right on the sweet spot," he said, reading off the screen. Satisfied that the computer was happy with what it was being fed from the line, he beckoned the engineer to follow him as he climbed the ladder up to the top of the core and moved along it, opening inspection panels and checking the feeder lines directly for wear along the starboard side, indicating his new assistant take port. Most of them had been freshly replaced with replicated parts from the Highlander, but even the original components looked to be in good condition. "Coolant lines look good, Lieutenant," he called from the other end of the reactor once he had confirmed the state was the same on the other side. "You can go ahead and start her up."

"Alright... You heard the boss, lets see what we can do." Grif yelled out as she turned back to her console against the intermix chamber and tapped a few buttons. The console lit up and a ear piercing whine hit the air. Cringing at the noise, Grif hit the ignition button again and the ear piercing whine was replaced with a loud bone rattling noise that thrummed through the deck. The noise began to fade though as the core in front of her began to thrum with energy. The coils pulsed with energy as the core lit up with the same power. Grinning in satisfaction, Grif turned back towards the Captain, "Someone ordered some lights?" Turning to the warp core control panels, Grif checked the intermix ratios along with the coolant injection rate. "Everything looks green... she's running a bit hot but I figure that's probably from the solidified fuel burning up with the stuff we threw in."

"Who knew that they built these engines to last two hundred and fifty years, eh?" Tim asked, as he climbed down from the top of the reactor. The ship itself shook slightly, and the core made a strange noise, as if its power output had changed for a moment, before it returned back to normal. "A few wobbles aside," he added.

"Congratulations on a good job, Lieutenant - all of you. You deserve a good celebration tonight when you're done - drinks are on me!"

"I mean I thought they were free anyways?" Grif said with a short laugh, "We'll keep a good eye on her for the next few hours to make sure nothing bad happens, but I think we'll be able to bring people over by the start of next shift maybe earlier. Until then... I think I'm going to start a list of supplies we're going to have to replicate. Even if they seem in good order I'd rather of some parts available for replacement."

"Oh, they are free. But don't tell the rest of your gang that, or they'll be raiding the ship's stores," Tim retorted. He nodded at her plans for the rest of the engineering staff's day, before excusing himself to get back to the Highlander.