Star Trek: Starbase 777 - etd-engineering

The thud-clack sounds of Rozamal walking through the engineering bay with his cane could be heard as he looked around. “All systems are looking fine. Good work everyone, we are doing some great work in here. Everything must be in tiptop shape when we arrive.”

"Warp core and power transfer lines are stable and running on optimal efficiency, Sir" Maya promptly said with a soft smile and a nod as she heard the thud and clacks of a cane approaching

Annarok had volunteered for the mission without hesitation. It wasn’t often they had reason to travel to Risa—especially not on official duty. Even with work ahead, the chance to see the planet firsthand was a welcome one. A quiet kind of excitement settled in their chest—rare, but genuine—as they took their place at a station in the engineering room. “I’ll keep an eye out for any abnormalities,” They offered, voice calm but alert.

He placed a kind hand on Maya’s shoulder. “Good work lieutenant.” He nodded towards Annarok. “Thank you.”

Khanwi wasn't on the Eventide often, working mostly on making sure different systems on the starbase communicated smoothly. But he was here today. A diplomatic mission was new for him, and he'd never been to Risa before either. It wasn't guaranteed he'd get to take a look, but a small chance was still a chance. So he was sitting by a console, keeping track of any energy fluctuations, and the different systems currently active. There were a lot less than on the station, he observed. At least that meant it was easier for him to keep track of.

Through the windows of the Eventide, the distortion could be viewed, a web of shape and color encasing the ship and threatening to swallow her whole.

Dezyim had laid hands on all the tools he could possibly need, made sure he was extra familiar with the Eventide’s systems the night before, and had even looked over the personnelle that would be joining him. He was ready. He was ready. But still, he ever creeping feeling that something bad would happen. It was probably because something bad happened on every mission, of course. That was why, when the distortion came into view, he was not exactly surprised. “Ah… guys… look at that.”

“Hmm. Everyone, get ready.” He said, instantly sitting down at the main station. “We need to maintain systems if that has any effect on us.” He said to the team.

"There's a thing outside... and things are happening!" Maya said to herself in response to the cadet as she looked out of the window and witnessed the distortion ahead of them. "I check on shields, they should give us at least some protection in case something from the distortion could affect us."

Systems were starting to fail— life support was still active, thankfully, but Eventide would be rendered motionless in space if anyone made an attempt to pull her through.

Damn it. “Someone call up the bridge!” He said as he stood. “See if we can keep anything other then the life support alive!” He said, trying to do just that from his console.

System failure. System failure. Backup system failure. Consoles flashed with error messages, flooding Engineering with red light.

Dezyim practically teleported to a console— what did it mean “backup system failure”? He began working on engines, seeing if he could figure out what was causing the failures. Radiation, physical damage, some sort of sonic interference? Surely there had to be an answer to what was going wrong, and if there was an answer to that he could begin to fix it.

“Damn it!” He said with a sigh. “We’re dead in the water. Can anyone else do anything?”

"I'll try contacting the bridge, but if things are bad down here, I feel things aren't going good up there either..." Maya stated with a shrug before tapping her commbadge

The problem was rooted in the distortion itself, but the scanner refused to cooperate beyond that, flickering on and off again with an error message.

“You damn machine.” He said under his breath. “We can’t do anything with that distortion out there.”

Khanwi wasn't on the Eventide often, working mostly on making sure different systems on the starbase communicated smoothly. But he was here today. A diplomatic mission was new for him, and he'd never been to Risa before either. It wasn't guaranteed he'd get to take a look, but a small chance was still a chance. So he was sitting by a console, keeping track of any energy fluctuations, and the different systems currently active. There were a lot less than on the station, he observed. At least that meant it was easier for him to keep track of.

The thud-clack sounds of Rozamal walking through the engineering bay with his cane could be heard as he looked around. “All systems are looking fine. Good work everyone, we are doing some great work in here. Everything must be in tiptop shape when we arrive.”

"...Warp core and power transfer lines are stable and running on optimal efficiency, Sir." Maya promptly said with a soft smile and a nod as she heard the thud and clacks of a cane approaching. 'Wait...' she thought, 'Did I already say this??'

Dezyim had laid hands on all the tools he could possibly need, made sure he was extra familiar with the Eventide’s systems the night before, and had even looked over the personnelle that would be joining him. He was ready. He was ready. But the clack of the cane as Rozamal seemed to knock him out of thought— he’d heard that before. He looked up in confusion before realizing of course he’d heard it before, he’d worked near the commander before. He shook the thought away as though forgetting a bad dream, and returned to his worrying.

"You doin good, Cadet?" Maya asked Dezyim as she walked over to check on the shield systems "You seem shooketh"

“Shooketh? No, no… more anticipatory. It seems like something bad always happens on these missions. I’m sure we can handle it though.” He gave her the calmest smile he could manage.

The system felt familiar as he watched over it, looking up sideways to Maya and Dezyim. "The mission is supposed to be fairly routine, and we have a capable crew. There should be nothing out of the ordinary." On a Klingon ship he might have taken the time to reemphasize that today was a good day to die, because it always was. But the soft hearts of the Federation never really enjoyed exclamations like that, for some reason.

“It’ll be fine. This is a simple mission. You should see KDF missions, simple trips would have at least 5 officers in sickbay by end of voyage.” He said, sitting at the main console.

"Just because we like fighting doesn't mean we like overburdening our sickbays," Khanwi commented in a petulant tone. Just because Klingons were less careful than these Federation types, didn't mean they'd willingly and knowingly compromise their missions.

“Oh I know. My old captain had a way of telling those who ended up in sickbay before missions.” He said with a laugh. “I learned many swears from him.”

"Man, if I were under him, he would probably think I would be ships doctor by now." Maya joked as she continued to monitor the ships systems.

"He would think you are an engineer, because you are one. It is a leader's duty to know his men," Khanwi said, whatever Maya had meant entirely lost on him. He knew her, they'd been on the evil AI mission together, and he knew she wasn't in a specialisation in any way close to the medical profession.

"Hm? No I mean because I got blown up a lot." Maya casually clarified to Khanwi. "You know, ship goes to space one day and while your working on a console and then after 15 minutes, you wake up in sick bay along with 5 other people because the entire console array exploded because you breathed at it wrong. And it's been 3 hours." Maya explained, still casual and blunt since she assumed this was a common experience "And then boop! You go in the next day like nothing happend and the loop starts over, but slightly different."

"If the things you are working on explode that frequently, you might need to consider returning to your Academy for additional training. I don't experience anything like that, ever." Khanwi sounded a little judgemental, but to his credit, he did also look worried. A little bit. Mostly judgemental, though.

3

"I mean things explode at least once a day because aside from the days where nothing does explode, there's usually something out there that screws stuff up, and suddenly its all 'System failure. System failure. Backup system failure.', with the consoles spamming error messages and Engineering in Red Alert while everyone's still at yellow." Maya was partially offended by that statement and will find ways to subtly annoy Khanwi throughout the rest of this trip now. "Most engineer work is not really 'Keep thing working' but 'quickly stop the thing from exploding and fix it if it already has' you know?"

"Most engineering work is literally maintaining and upkeeping important systems. Eleven out of the twelve months in a year, I do not see an explosion. And that is sad for me, because I love explosions." He'd worked in weapons development for years and years, after all. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I may have to recommend you for retraining to Commander Alizati. What you are telling me is deeply concerning."

6

"If I need retraining, fine by me, I won't contest it. But I will do it out of spite." Maya countered "What I'm saying is, is that for all the competent precautions I do take in ensuring nothing blows up, there are always external situational factors outside my control that would always lead up to that point anyway... and then I probably end up in sickbay or something." (edited)

Blue light spilled through the windows in colorful disorder, threading through the space around them.

"You are talking nonsense, and yet that doomthinking seems especially effective at making young people who are supposed to be here for training and nothing more, very nervous. Please stop. You are creating an uncomfortable learning and working environment." Khanwi was a Klingon, he could handle things. But the cadet was already looking a little green, there was no need to make things worse by spouting random nonsense. Hey, pretty blue light.

He looked to the light. “Wasn’t it just blue in here a little while ago?” He asked softly as he narrowed his eyebrows.

"No, this is the first blue light I've seen," Khanwi said matter-of-factly.

"Wasn't space always blue and purple?" Maya asked "but its very pretty though"\

“I feel like I remember seeing blue light?” He dropped his voice. “Maybe that was in a dream though? Huh…” At least it wasn’t just him feeling that way.

Dezyim winced at the alarm. Why did Starfleet always make them so impossibly loud? “Move… we’ve got to move! Get the engines running!” He started and headed for the engines to see if he could figure out what he had to do to get them moving.

Rozamal gasped as he followed the cadet. “Take a deep breath cadet. We have this.”

Marze was there! And had been the whole time, in case they ran into any sort of trouble and needed the shields, which got them to thinking, "Shouldn't we be trying to find some way to move ourselves out of the way? Right now we are the immovable object about to be hit with the unstoppable force and I don't really want to find out what happens with that. Do we know what is stopping us from moving?" They asked questions in quick succession, even if he was not a very high rank, he needed to do *something.

Suddenly Dezyim thought of something— they had tractor beams, and all tractor beams can be reversed. “Wait, we have a tractor beam that can be inverted, I saw it on the specs last night. If we invert that and the other ship has one they can also invert, we can push away from each other. At the very least it’ll slow a full-blown collision.”

"Yes! That sounds like something that just might work! Should we call it in, see if the Bridge can implement it in time? I am sure if we are quick we can do something." Marze said, quick to agree as he tried his hardest not to let his mind fall to catastrophizing.

“I know I suggested it but there’s certainly no time to loose.” He messed with his hair anxiously— it was falling loosely out of its place.

"I can call it in, unless you want to do the honors, since it was your idea," Marze said with seriousness, readying a comm call.

“No no, go for it. It doesn’t seem right for me to call it in.” Dezyim was suddenly very aware of his rank and how that made him fit into the ship.

Marze nodded, wishing he could give the cadet more praise for how well he was doing at all of this.

Khanwi wasn't on the Eventide often, working mostly on making sure different systems on the starbase communicated smoothly. But he was here today. A diplomatic mission was new for him, and he'd never been to Risa before either. It wasn't guaranteed he'd get to take a look, but a small chance was still a chance. So he was sitting by a console, keeping track of any energy fluctuations, and the different systems currently active. There were a lot less than on the station, he observed. At least that meant it was easier for him to keep track of.

The thud-clack sounds of Rozamal walking through the engineering bay with his cane could be heard as he looked around. “All systems are looking fine. Good work everyone, we are doing some great work in here. Everything must be in tiptop shape when we arrive.”

"...Warp core and power transfer lines are stable and running on optimal efficiency, Sir." Maya promptly said with a soft smile and a nod as she heard the thud and clacks of a cane approaching.

The sound of the yellow alert klaxson wailed in the distance— there and gone in an instant.

“What?” He said softly. “Who rang the klaxon?” He said quietly.

"Must have been an accident. It stopped immediately," he pointed out, ready to shrug it off.

"...the hell?" Maya asked herself as the yellow alert briefly blared when she finished up inspecting the power transfers to ships systems. "Someone probably pressed the wrong button in the bridge. Should we check in on them?"

Dezyim woke up in engineering again, the taste of dying fresh on his tongue. He reached out to the nearest bulkhead to steady himself— breathing like he had just run a marathon, although these people had been with him the entire time and nothing so intense had happened. His eyes were wide, and he gripped at his chest as though having a heart attack; a small trail of blood snaked its way down his face from his nose.

3

With the voices ringing through their head, telling them that 'they had done this before'... something... seemed to shift inside of them. Their eyes were unfocused, their breathing shallow. What could those words possibly mean? And then... they saw Dezyim, only a cadet, and definitely looking in bad shape. Marze went to comfort him... somehow... or at least ask if everything was alright. "Are... you ok...? Do you need to sit down? Ummmm... here! Have a tissue!" He pulled a tissue out of a small package and handed it over.

"Oh Prophets! Cadet, are you okay??" Maya quickly asked, very concerned for Dezyim as she reached over to hold him steady and lead him to somewhere he could sit down. "Do you want me to get medical? Or like, some water? You need a hug??"

“A… tissue?” He looked at Marze blankly, like he couldn’t figure out how that connected to the current situation. Eventually, though, he took the tissue and dabbed at his nose, turning it a deep purple. “No… I’m ok, thank you.” He still sounded out of it, but better than before. Using the bulkhead, he straightened up and looked around engineering. “We had to use a… reverse tractor beam to stop the other ship from crashing into us at warp. We lost engines, couldn’t move…”

He stood and walked over to Dezyim. Placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. “You are okay cadet, you are okay.” He said with a nod as he listened to the Vorta. “Hm, okay. Could we shield engines somehow?”

Shields? That was what he did! And if he knew what he was shielding against... he might be able to do something about it... if that was possible of course. "I can try to shield engines against whatever might have caused them to stop... maybe it's connected to this... loop". He could barely believe that there was a timeloop himself. It seemed... very much out there.

“We could try that. I’m not sure what exactly we’d have to shield against, but at least now we have more time to figure it out.” He looked around before finding somewhere to dispose of the tissue. There were still remnants of dried blood around his nose, but it was mostly gone.

Maya looked outside and noticed the blue and looked back to what was said during the ship-wide announcement from earlier "We're in a time anomaly right? So, wouldn't we be facing against tachyon particles? Those usually cause the timey-wimey stuff to happen with interference. Question is, how do we shield them?"

"Usually... in physics there are particles and anti particles... and when they meet... both get destroyed...? But I might be misremembering... and I don't know how to generate anti-tachyon particles..." Marze spoke quietly, trying to think of what might be best here, and what might keep tachyon particles away.

“Hmm, mine neither. I work in hard wires and metal, but there is a science lab we can ask” He said. “Someone get on the comms, the rest of you get ready.”

"We're neglecting to mention that the meeting of pro- and anti-matter usually create quite the lightshow. I'm not sure we should be encouraging explosions of any sort while we don't know precisely what's going on," Khanwi said, and he meant it. You could tell, because he loved explosions, but he was a little more concerned with their safety.

"Do we want something along the lines of positrons and electrons then? Oppositely charged...? That way when they meet they just neutralize, no explosion necessary...!" Marze tried to explain, thinking about maybe calling Science to ask about that.

"Possibly, possibly. An energy field could be charged to neutralise the tachyons, theoretically. If they all have the same charge, of course. Then again, antimatter..." Khanwi looked as if he had an ill-advised idea. He wasn't voicing it, though.

4

"We have a warp engine. When we warp, the warp drive creates a bubble that distorts space time, envaloping it around a starship as it travels faster than light. Maybe we can make a counteractive warp bubble that would shield us from the distortion the anomaly is putting out?" Maya proposed with a shrug. "dunno if it could work, I'm a mechanic, not an astrophysicist."

"I know energy fields best, since I am a shield specialist... if that makes sense. Neutralizing things and deflecting them is kind of... my bread and butter. But I am also not an astrophysicist... so maybe we should call science up and see what has the opposite charge of Tachyon particles... unless anyone lese has any ideas... wild or not..." They offered, putting his own expertise on the table.

"But a counteractive warp bubble might also work... though it seems like it might be dangerous..." Marze was more than a little torn.

"I mean, while on the topic of time. We could create a break that would throw us in Quantum Flux. However, if the issue here is on the concentration of Tachyons, we can use our warp bubble to at least shunt us in a different direction to not die from something, and at most, move the tachyons in a different direction and disperse them away across a greater area from here to minimize... well this." Maya suggested with a shrug

"Both of those sound like it might work... should we get on that?" Marze asked, much happier to defer to someone else's authority.

"I'mma shoot the idea up to sciences and see what they think. I think the science chief's in the bridge" Maya said as she tapped her commbadge to shoot up the idea

"Probably for the best," Marze said with a quiet smile, trying to figure out the best way to do what everyone had suggested so far.

"Permission to start work on the warp bubble tachyon dispersement system?" Marze asked nobody in particular, wanting some permission before just going at it. He was just an ensign, and he didn't want to mess up.

20:14

Marze immediately jumped into action. He might not have been a warp core technician (he almost was, but that's a different story), but he knew enough about warp fields to try and make the bubble that they wanted to happen happen. And so... pretend there is a bunch of technobabble here about doing that, and fast! So everyone would be safe!

1

The captain had wandered into engineering! Ever the sentimental type, she wanted to say hello, and thank them in person. "Is everyone alright in here?"

Marze was trying to come to terms with everything, sitting in a corner with his head in his hands, that was, until someone that he did not recognise came into the engineering area. Now was not the time to sulk, or grapple with the feelings of inadequacy, or even how dying (again) felt, he had someone to greet! And by the looks of it... she was... a captain? Oh! That meant that he had to be on his best behavior. "Hello...! I am Ensign Marze Bihn, it is a pleasure to meet you! And... I hope we are alright in here..."

She lingered near the door for a moment before resigning herself to something, coming in closer. "Are you.. alright, Ensign? What's your name?" she said quietly, taking a seat beside him. "I'm Captain K'Niaar, of the Enyalios. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Me...? I'm Marze" He kept the symbiont name out of this, but he was trying his hardest to seem like everything was fine. "I... it is just a little hard to remember everything... but I wouldn't want to burden anyone with that... especially not you. You have probably gone through so much..." He trailed off before he gave her a shaky smile.

Dezyim put a hand lightly on Marze’s shoulder. “Dying is really difficult to handle. For anyone.” He wanted to say more to comfort him, but didn’t exactly know what to say. He finally settled on a sad smile.

"I know I should be used to it... being joined and all... I am not the first host either... but... this time felt different..." He divulged, mostly to Dezyim, trying to reassure him that he would be alright.

Her tail swished back and forth behind her as she put her hand-paw-things in her lap. "It is not a burden if someone is offering to help. You deserve to rest, and hopefully a counselor will help once you're back home."

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