Tinkerers Anonymous

Posted on Mon Feb 10th, 2014 @ 10:12pm by Lieutenant Ethan Kessel & Captain Tim Williams

Episode: Orphans
Location: USS Highlander - Main Engineering
Timeline: MD02 (Night)

Tim had finally finished with a large batch of reports and returned to his quarters when he dropped into the couch below the curved windows spanning one wall of the main living area and kicked off his shoes - he had already tossed his jacket, combadge still attached, over the dining table when he had come in. His respite from working on the ship and her crew was short-lived however, as his computer console started chirping at the other end of the room.

Tim had set the computer up to alert him if any of the systems he had been reconfiguring since coming back aboard yesterday started reporting any problems out of their new norm, and he wondered what it was that could have gone wrong now. The ship wasn't actively engaged in anything taxing, so the modifications should be stable - untouched even, considering that the engines weren't even active right now.

The alert wasn't very specific either; just a generic message that a deviation had been detected in some of his power flow system configuration, and so Tim grabbed his shoes and left his quarters, putting them on as he walked down the corridor. His jacket was left lying on the dining table as he made his way to main engineering.

Kessel placed his tool down. Despite the vast array of technological devises and tools at his disposal, there were some things which could only be fixed with a hammer. Presently, he had the claw of his hammer embedded in the side of a section of panelling. With frustration, he placed a gloved hand inside the section, closed it around a section of cabling and pulled as hard as he could. It ripped away like tinsel. Kessel stared at it.

"What the..." He wondered.

"Computer. Identify this section of the power couplings."

"Please specify the section in question."

"The one in my hand." He said exasperated.

"The coupling is not registered on ships schematics." The computer droned. Kessel's brown furrowed.

"But this ship just came out of dry dock. Who's been messing with the systems in less than two days?" he asked.

"That would be me," Tim answered, stepping through the doors, which had opened moments before Kessel had uttered the question. "I've been restoring the modifications that Commander Stone's team removed during their inspection. And you are?"

Kessel turned around in surprise, then recognising the Captain, nodded.

"I was Chief Engineer on board the Endeavour, reassigned here as of two days ago. I am Lieutenant Kessel Sir." He glanced down at his cybernetics. "Well, bits of him." He said. He paused and glanced at the power coupling in his hand.

"Modifications?" he asked, hoping he would elaborate.

"That," Tim said, approaching and pointing to the piece of the power coupling in his hand. "Used to improve the efficiency of our power flow through the EPS reactors by twelve percent, when coupled with the changes I've made to the flow rate settings through the warp core." Tim stopped and folded his arms across his chest, trying to size up the man that Starfleet had decided would be his new engineer as he continued.

"Commander Stone and his team obviously decided that they were going to return the ship to her original specifications whilst they were on board. I hope you don't have the same aversion to modifications to improve the systems?" He knew that it was a loaded question, but he had always had difficulty separating his role as captain from what had been his dominion for so many years in engineering; especially on the ship that had been his for so many years. That had the side affect of him being especially choosy about his chief engineers.

"Aversion to modifications?" Kessel asked. "Not at all. If something isn't broken, improve it. But... its a little dated... A little like streamlining a bullet, without improving the firing mechanism."

"Dated?" Tim asked, failing to keep his feelings out of the tone in his voice, or his eyebrow rising in concert.

"I would have done it differently." Kessel admitted.

"Really?" Tim asked, wondering just what this engineer was getting at. Still, his confidence in his assertion suggested that he had some idea of what he would have done differently, and Tim knew as well as anyone that new ideas were always making their way through the engineering community, and things could become very outdated very quickly. Not that Tim had ever had one of his own modifications described in such a way. "How so?" he almost demanded.

"The EPS Reactors aren't your issue. You can produce as much power as you like, but the entire system's bottlenecked by the containment protocols on the Warp Core. You'd never get beyond 12%. 14% at best."

Tim shook his head as he approached the warp core, some of the hostility in his tone lost amidst the discussion of the technical aspects, which always lightened his mood. "That's what the modifications to the warp core are for, but that is as far as the power efficiency rating can be pushed without risking overloading the power grid. Only the class 8 warp core fitted to the larger ships can get a better efficiency ratio than that."

"I'd have used a Helix Coupling over the conventional systems. I know its bulky, and something of a rare part, so you'd have to move some junk around to find the space. But once it was in the circuit, then it would boost the power flow beyond the 40%."

Again, Tim was forced to shake his head. "A Helix Coupling would generate excessive heat well beyond the acceptable safety parameters, and would almost certainly overload most of the EPS grid that it was connected to. That's why Starfleet's design team never installed one in the first place, and why I haven't put one in myself."

"Safety parameters? Those are conservative estimates at best - but you could always induce a positron flow in the opposite direction. Oscillate it to the electrical frequency of the Core, and the two overloads would cancel each other out. 35-42% efficiency output." Kessel smiled.

"Used to make the Endeavour sing like songbird." He said.

"Perhaps," Tim said, conceding the point, if only slightly. "But a Sovereign-class warp core is a completely different beast to the systems on this ship. Its systems have a higher tolerance for overloads, and are better shielded to prevent such a critical component from cutting out." He jutted his head towards the warp core, indicating that he already knew the answer to the question he was about to ask. "What would happen if your positron flow failed, or the oscillation frequency changed due to damaged systems?"

Kessel hesitated.

"Hmm... You are right. The Highlander is a hell of ship, but its no Endeavour." He paused, trying to think of a solution of the spot.

"If the Positron flow failed, the EPS Grid would collapse, and the resulting overload would ionise the systems main power-grid, essentially giving the ship constipation." He admitted.

"And if the Oscillation wave broke down, then the positron emission would annihilate the surrounding matter, turning the EPS Grid into Swiss cheese. Okay - I'll admit its not foolproof."

Then he brightened considerably.

"But you could regulate the Oscillation with a Lepton Capacitor." he said triumphantly.

"Romulan frigates use them to reduce damage to their Core's under intense stress and in case of core collapse, give them enough time to evacuate the ship, but it can't be too hard to rig a similar device it to funnel its anti-matter counterparts, given enough magnetic polaroides... That should give the oscillation more than enough wriggle room." Kessel said.

"Even if we could rig up a system, that still doesn't solve the problem of if the positron flow were to cut out," Tim pointed out.

"Well, as for the Positron Flow, we generate more than enough antimatter from the Warp Core... We would reroute some of that through the EPS Grid. Or we could rig a sub-atomic replication unit to generate the same from the excess energy of the Core."

"It would take a constant energy flow to keep a replicator system like that going constantly," the Captain said. "Enough that the power drain from the core would negate the benefits anyway."

"Ah, but remember, if efficiency is increased to 40%, we would have more than enough power to maintain it, whilst still being within even the federation's safety parameters."

Kessel paused.

"Not as simple, compact nor as elegant as your EPS modifications, but packs a hell of punch. You'd need a reverse conduit though, to reset back to default setting in case damage does push it beyond the new threshold. Otherwise, the EPS Grid would devolve into a soup of disintegration, and dump a whole barrel of beta radiation. Even if the resultant overload was prevented, or the subsequent core collapse mitigated, the engineering deck would be blasted with enough radiation to fry a city." He did smile.

"Of course, none of that would be a problem if you did have a reverse conduit. So perhaps that would be the priority?"

Tim nodded. "Put my EPS grid back together," he said, pointing at the panel Ethan had pulled the conduit out from. "And then run some simulations. I'd want to see concrete, tested data before we even try to put a system like that on the ship. I'd hate to blow her up the week after I get her back."

Ethan smiled.

"They'll be by your chair by tuesday. I still have to figure out what the crews left intact and what they ripped out of the ship." He said.

Tim simply nodded, before turning and leaving his new engineer to putting Tim's modifications back in place. His mind turned back to what Counselor Taylor had said to him in his ready room earlier that day, but decided that she must have been over-reacting to reports, at least in some way. Tim had the feeling that so long as the lieutenant had something to keep himself occupied, he would get on just fine.

Kessel watched his new captain depart. He thought about his new commanding officer. How would he compare to Bryne? In truth he didn't know yet. Williams seemed a capable engineer - which was a good sign - and he wasn't against having his modifications questioned. He hadn't commented on his cybernetics either. Kessel missed the feel of the ships vibrations through his feet. It wasn't something he thought he'd notice, but it was something he felt keenly now. He shook his head. That was pointless and illogical.

He decided to get back to the task at hand.