Star Trek: Starbase 777 - etd-engineering

Jayri had made her way to engineering almost immediately. In any situation, this was where she was best suited to help. Still there was a whisper within herself, and it sounded familiar.

Maya was also here, missions that involve Borg are always interesting, but knowing what could happen, she also found sticking to engineering would be more help in case anything were to happen to the Eventide. When she say Jayrehi, Maya have her a smile and a wave.

Engineering girl power? Engineering girl power. As much as she'd love to study the intricacies of Borg technology (REALLY love, the urge to break it for the away team was gnawing at her like a sharp-toothed beast), she'd resigned herself to stay.. here, for the time being. Just in case something happened.

"All systems steady so far." Maya remarked as she stood by power transfer systems. Heck yeah to Engie Girl Power! "Now time to just, sit and wait."

The very distinctly not a girl, but still engineering person, Marze, had finally made himself known. "I wonder if there is anything that we can do to help..." he mumbled, a little shy.

"Help figure out shield stuff apparently" Maya answered as COMMS patched in from the bridge

Marze heard the call, and perked up a little. They might not know how to do stuff to a borg shield, but they did know shields! And hopefully how to get through one! "I... am a shields specialist... even if I am just an ensign!"

6

Vanik had been there the whole time, just in the back at a console, following protocols. He was also only an Ensign, but a warp specialist. And he was very familiar with engines, so he had been monitoring the Eventide’s engine and things of that nature as they travelled. He also would have helped scan the Borg cube to assess its engine capability and was listening intently for any orders!

Maya smiled and placed a hand on the Ensigns shoulder. "Alright. Your time to shine, Ensign. Keep in mind, they said it's time-sensitive."

"Maybe... we could learn the shield's signature and then reverse it? Like... maybe it doesn't work like that... but maybe blasting the reverse of the shield would get rid of the shield?" Marze added quickly, just... talking about what is on their mind.

20:24

"I... can't remember if Borg shields circulate frequencies... or just Starfleet ones do... because if they don't that makes things a little easier..." Marze continued, starting to get unsure of themselves.

"From my experience, Borg frequencies only start changing when Starfleet starts shooting at them." Maya answered as best as she could. "Maybe we can do that, but it would only work for a few moments before the Cube fully turns on and starts doing things. That process must've already started if their shields are already on right after we sent the away team in. Depends on what the Bridge peeps want to do when we do break through their shields."

"Then it might... actually work? We aren't shooting at the shield, per se, but sending out a wave of radiation, kind of like we are making an anti-shield... if that makes sense..." Marze verbalised as they brought a finger to their chin.

“It could work. I remember from my studies that we can also modulate our frequencies to change, adapting to the Borg frequencies to confuse them. But it may not work for very long. Perhaps it will be enough to drop their shields and transport the away team?”

"That was what I was thinking. If it takes longer before the shields come up then that is more time for the transporters to work. But if someone has a better idea... we can do that too..." They scratched the back of their neck with a sheepish smile.

"Perhaps instead of trying to disrupt shields for the whole ship, we can just concentrate that on one specific area." Maya suggested. "that way, the effect lasts for longer and would be more potent around that general area. that could give us a better chance of communicating and setting up transport for them."

"Understood, Commander, I will report to the bridge with this information." They nodded, looking a little more confident in themselves.

"Make it so. Good work, Ensign." Maya said with a warm smile and a nod as she went on to getting the work started. So far, she was calm, collected, and professional in this. Internally however: "HOLY FUCKING SHIT HE CALLED ME COMMANDER! AAAAAAAAA ranking up fucking rules!! Command Leadership is awesome!" "Let's get started everyone, we're not sure how much time they have left in there."

1

Marze nodded and started to get to work as well, planning on giving it their all!

Vanik nodded, supporting in whatever way he could.

"Okiedokie." Maya nodded as she got off from COMMS before she faced the engineering crew. "Bridge peeps called. They want us to modify the shuttle's shields frequencies so that it can pass through the Borg's shields... Makes sense, they probably don't want the possibility of waking the cube up from us making a big hole in their shields. The shuttles would be less invasive." Maya explained casually with a shrug. "I know the shuttle thing's feasible. We could apply your idea of making an anti-shield, Ensign, but around the shuttles." Maya said with a thumbs up to Ensign Bihn. "It would also be easier to do as Ensign Vanik suggested and have the shuttle's shields frequencies adapt and confuse the Borg in case something bad happens, or even to bypass their defense entirely... if anyone has more ideas, I'm all ears!" She added. "The question is, with a away team of 19 officers out, we need to do this to around 3 shuttlecraft. They're asking how quickly we can get them ready to be sent out?"

“Reasonably quick.” Jayri muttered, seemingly half present and half in her own mind. “I think we can simply set the shields to sweep through the frequency range. That or randomly jumping between them in timed intervals, that way the Borg can’t adapt in time before it changes.” The Trill tapped away on the console as if to check on something, or rather, to find something. She held her breath in as she pondered for a moment, almost unsure of herself. “Oh, also, I think it’s possible to… cancel out any possible readings they may pick up? If we transmit a signal within the range of the shield’s frequency, and at the same intensity, it should effectively cancel out on their sensors. I’ve only really seen smaller scale versions of this in action, but maybe it’s worth a shot? Might not hold forever, but could give us an opening.”

"I do not see why not. It will give both us and the away team some time." Karavix tap-tap-tapped away at her console, already chipping away at what she could. "Is there any way we can use that to alter the drone itself? Something like a frequency scrambler. Even if it is truly alone, I imagine it will still be confused."

"Alright! I love this! This is great!" Maya said excitedly with a clap as she heard Jayri's ideas. "The cube would probably clock us very quickly if we leave any set pattern for them, so the more random we can shift between frequencies, the better it would be for us. Especially by the time the shuttles enter their shields." She said with a smile as she listened intently and nodded to the rest of what Jayri had suggested. "We can probably set up that signal to be transmitted through the shuttle's deflector dish so its easier to modify the frequency and potency of the signal. If it works small scale, its always worth trying on something big. I'll inform the bridge that we can probably get it done within the hour, but I know we can get 'er done in around half that." Maya added with a thumbs up before she turned over to Karavix. "It's possible, but I think we should leave that up for Medical to deal with when we get there. But I'll take note of it." (edited)

"Aye, sir." Karavix continued working on the whole shield - frequency - random - thing, hoping to get it done quickly with more hands on board. I am good engineer roleplayer. Promise.

Maya looked slightly annoyed from hearing Lt. Cdr. Lawson's reply. "Shit... Shane called me out... I won't tell him that though." She said to herself before turning to the rest of the crew. "If we get it done in half an hour, ACTO's giving us saurian brandy after this!"

The comm from Lt. Cmdr. Lawson came through! Preparing for another more problematic impact, Vanik tapped away at a console, drawing power to maintain main systems upkeep. He also briefly tapped his comm badge and responded to the message. (edited)

Maya's writer had been asleep while most of this was happening, so let's say during the two hits the Eventide took, Maya slammed her head against her console and got knocked out for a bit at the time. "Ugh...is everyone okay? Computer, status report. What's the damage?" Maya asked as she slowly came, still a bit out of it as she nursed a head injury and checked for bleeding.

"Commander—" Karavix rushed to help Maya, expression pinched. Damn it all. Taking on a borg cube alone, what were they thinking? They should have done a tactical retreat sooner. "I will call Medical. Give me a moment."

"A'rite, Crew!" Maya shouted out as she stood by a railing in the upper section of Eventide's engine room, where she could be best heard and seen by anyone here. The hum of the warp core turned her words into a challenge. "Ya heard dah Captain! I'm a few minutes, we're goin' to head out there on a dangerous mission... Not only saving the skins of our fellow crew stuck in that fuckin' Godforsaken Cube... but to show the Borg to their damn faces that RESISTANCE IS NOT FUTILE!" Maya dramatically paused to let the words hang in the air for a moment as she quietly checked off an item from her childhood bucket list. "The bridge crew might be the ones calling the shots, but down here? We’re the ones on the front line! We’re what stands between mission success… and the Quadrant gettin' a fireworks display." She said with a chuckle to the definitely sobering latter thought. She grinned as she raised her hand to count off. "As Eventide's Engineers, we have only two jobs here! One: Point out everything Captain Lawson does wrong, and yell at him until he stops doing it!" She was joking of course, because doing that's her job. Her Scotty impression subtly got better as she spoke, though very slowly "And two: Give 'er everything she's got!" Maya pressed a fist to her chest as she braced for her big finish, completely unaware she had activated her commbadge, broadcasting what she says from this point on. "We're going to make sure Eventide fights hard, AND STAYS HARD!" After that, Maya simply took in some deep breaths to calm herself down. She clasped her hands together with an audible clap, quite happy with this. "Right, let's get to work! Cap'n should be requesting OPS for departure at this point. Good luck all!" (edited)

Maya please never say anything about staying hard ever again what the fuck.

9

"...Very well, Commander," Karavix answered. She didn't need a pep talk, much less in a very poor Scottish accent, but she'd take it. Good for morale, if they showed up to find their team entirely lost to the hivemind.

Vanik simply nodded in affirmation and took his post. He was ready to support vital systems and to make sure the ship could, well, go fast.

Silver also nodded, not having much to say. As a maintenance and repairs- oriented engineer, she was here to fix whatever shit hit the fan when they got out there. She hadn’t been able to get on the ship for this mission when it had first happened (got her arm absolutely broken in a hatch and was being fixed when the ship took off, taking both her and Tavek out of the fight), but now she was ready to go. Silver wasn’t about to go -on- the cube, she knew she wasn’t cut out for that, but she wanted to be here on the Eventide to help however she could.

Tavek, however, thought he was in fact cut out for the true rescue mission. He had been a bit annoyed at first he wasn’t a part of the first team.. but seeing how that had gone, he supposed he was a bit thankful for Silver’s unwitting save on both of their parts. Not that it mattered now, since they were both on the ship now and he would still be going in the cube, something Silver had in fact called him a bit crazy for choosing to be a part of. Maybe he was.. but he also knew he could not stand by and watch his fellow Starfleet people be assimilated. So, here he was. All ready for.. whatever would happen next. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’d ran headfirst into certain danger for his comrades anyhow.

He was in all his armor.. it was time to go, he supposed. He just had one more thing he wanted to do before he got on that runabout. But, Silver already had him figured out before he even took a step. She hugged him- rather more gentle than he would’ve been, but he knew it was about impossible for her to use much force in anything. He returned the hug. “Do me a favor and don’t die. Please.” She said. He laughed, more a nervous kind of chuckle than anything. “You too.” He said, before breaking the hug and exiting the Engineering area to head to the runabout.

“I believe this is the part where we bid you good luck. May you return safely, with our crewmates.” Vanik offered Tavek a soft, but stoic look and a ta’al as he left Engineering to go on the away team.

Karavix followed Tavek silently. Logically, she could understand this was a bittersweet occasion. However. Borg cube cool. (edited)

"Good luck guys. Go boldly" Maya said with a smile as she watched the those elected to be part of the Away Team leave Engineering. She let out a sigh as she thought about how Paco and the others are doing.

Silver busied herself checking some of the consoles, getting a feel for the ship’s condition before everything would probably get messed up again if they had to fight. Mainly, Silver just wanted to think about anything but the suffering that was happening on that cube. Silver hated the idea of anyone in pain, and yet, she still subjected herself to these situations where things reached the depths of misery. Silver could not stand it, and yet she could not look away- it was written deep into her that she had to help. So.. that was why she was here. She just hoped that no one else would get hurt.

"Bridge has activated the cloaking device. Time for work" Maya announced to Engineering as she noticed the notif and warning light pop up in one of the main LCARS screens. This was the signal that they have finally arrived. The Scottish accent also hurt her throat, so she's speaking normally this time. "Ensign Vanik, I need you to monitor power levels. The cloak takes up a lot of power while active, so we need to make sure we have enough power to properly bring power to other systems quickly enough when something bad happens..." Maya instructed calmly, she needed to be calm for the sake of this. She took in deep breaths as she inspected the engine room. She didn't know what the Away Team will be seeing in that Cube "Hello Ensign." Maya greeted Silver with a smile "if you're free, I need help dealing with a minor power fluctuation. I think one of the EPS conduits became misaligned."

“Understood, Commander.” Vanik nodded and quickly began tapping away on a console, checking power levels and fluctuations, noting any shifts he might need to anticipate or make quickly in a jam. “We are holding steady…for now.” (edited)

Silver nodded to Maya, looking up from what she’d been doing. She smiled slightly, trying to stay at least somewhat positive in this situation. This was all so horrible, she hated knowing that her crewmates were suffering out there.. but she did still have to stay strong. She had no other choice. “Yes, I’m free, Commander. I can help you with the conduits.”

"Okidoke! It should be not too far from here... " Maya promptly said with a nod as she gestured Silver to follow her, walking next to Silver as the two engineers headed to the EPS conduits. "So, how're you holding up?" Maya asked. Her voice carried an easy curiosity, but there was a hint of sincerity and concern under it. "Missions like these tend to be... a lot for some people, me included, so I just want to check in."

“This is.. really the first one I’ve been on. I just am not someone who can stand by while others suffer. That’s why I chose to come. We all have to be strong together.” Silver had stood by as others suffered and died before. She could never, ever, do that again. She would rather die herself than see another person be hurt. Maybe Tavek was right, she was too empathetic. But… she didn’t care. She was how she was and there was no changing that.

"That's very brave." Maya said warmly. "Not everyone can keep that kind of resolve when things get messy, and in like Starfleet, you need a strong reason to make yourself stay and believe in it when it gets really messy." When she got the comms message from Lawson that the Borg cube have taken the bait, she took in a deep breath and let out a sigh of relief. "In my experience, you can't really save everyone... I've tried... But the ones you do spare from suffering? They matter. If you keep pushing on, one day fewer people will have to suffer at all. Don't let anyone tell you that's wrong."

“It’s all I can do, really. I.. I’ve stood by as people got hurt. As people died. I’m never, ever going to do that again. So.. I’m alright with pushing my own resolve, as long as it will help someone else.” She said, smiling at the encouragement. She needed it, in a time like this. But.. she had seen death. She had laid in the snow and pretended to be destroyed as her whole outpost collapsed and everyone inside it froze to death. Just to save her own skin, so Starfleet wouldn’t realize she was alive and destroy her. She would never be that much of a coward again.

"And you'll not be alone. We're together in this." Maya said warmly. Silver's words lingered in her thoughts for a moment as she looked back at her past, specifically on her assignment on the U.S.S Masipag during the war with the Klingon's. The lives of each of their colleagues lost lost and Maya helpless as she prioritized working to keep the ship afloat. And now she's brought back to a similar position once more here, on the helm of Eventide's engineering needs as the new away team departs to the rescue of their stranded friends in the Cube. She took a deep breath to center herself, but went to a bit of a coughing fit as they finally arrived to the source of the problem "Shit... one of the conduit's burnt out... it doesn't seem to be affecting the cloak for now, but we can't any chances." She pointed out as she inspected the damage with her tricorder, looking before she turned to Silver with a grin. "Let's get started here, shall we?"

Silver, an android who didn’t usually breathe, couldn’t cough from the smell or the bad quality air around the burnt-out condition. “It’s not good, I agree. I can get started with detaching this conduit from the rest of the EPS system while you get a replacement?” She offered- if the conduit was still a bit hot, it wouldn’t hurt her. After all, Silver’s skin was very tough, she was built to withstand quite extreme temperatures.

"Aye, good plan, Ensign. Should take us a couple minutes tops. You get started, I'll head over to get power rerouted from the conduit to be safe. Good luck!" Maya said to Silver with a thumbs up and a nod before he headed off to the stock room or the replicators to gather the spare parts needed to replace and realign the burnt conduit. Which is still quite hot for normal people to touch without proper PPE so good call on Silver for that. * *On the way there, Maya decided to stop by Vanik again "Hello Ensign Vanik, how're you feeling?" Maya asked with a smile, wanting to check in as always. "I think we'll be stationary for quite a while since the away team should've landed at this point, so feel free to take a break if you like. Before that though, can you kindly reroute power away from Conduit 6-9-Alpha for a couple minutes? It's been burnt out and we're replacing it at the moment. I'll update the bridge peeps upstairs. Thanks, Ensign!." Maya said with a thumbs up before she headed off to get the parts, but not before tapping her commbadge to give an update to the bridge.

“Good luck to you too! I anticipate we’ll be done with this in 5minutes, 49 seconds, if everything goes according to my calculations for optimized efficiency- but it may take longer than that.” She said, smiling before turning away towards the conduit- Silver sometimes did the android thing of making calculations way too specific. Yeah.. this thing was definitely burnt out. Once power was rerouted from the conduit- no need to touch a live wire, especially considering she was -made- of wires, Silver just casually reacher in, disconnected the very hot conduit, and lifting it out of the array, placing it on the ground and bringing a nearby industrial fan to it to cool it off faster. Now, to wait for the replacement, so she also stuck her hands in front of the fan to cool them off in case someone touched them.

"It's okay. Take your time." Maya said, after she told the bridge her time estimate. The Engineering Time Estimate that gives them buffer time for breaks and makes them look like absolute heros to Command when they finish earlier than expected. The Best Time Estimate! Anyways, Maya was in the process of logging and loading parts into an equipment cart "Ooo! Super strenght. That's cool!" Man, androids are cool. Like Maya's boss Alizati. He's an android, and also cool.

She nodded, though honestly she was built for efficiency so it was hard for her to slow down for any reason besides something that required extreme efficiency. She didn’t really understand the Engineering time Estimate much, since she didn’t really need breaks, but she went along with it since it seemed to be Engineering tradition, plus she knew her non-android coworkers did need breaks. She’d cooled off her hands enough, so she left the fan pointed at the hot conduit and stood up back to her full 6’5 height. “It’s definitely useful in times like these. Especially given this conduit’s still quite hot, it would be hard for two people to lift it.” She said, taking a bit of time to clean off the ends where the new conduit would connect, so the parts would make a better seal together.

First things first.. cauterize the coolant lines in his blasted left hand. Then he could do everything else. So, he grabbed a small blowtorch and went to a more isolated (and fireproof) spot in Engineering. There he sat down, and opened the valves stopping coolant from flowing into his left hand. He watched as the green substance leaked from several holes in the burnt plastic, and took the torch to it all, melting the plastic until no coolant flowed anymore. The plastic hardened, leaving an absolutely gnarly-looking result. It was only temporary. He’d properly assess the damage when he was back on 777, then either replace the fingers and skin.. or just replace the hand. There were plenty of other issues with that hand anyway. Might as well just get it over with and make a new one.

Silver was pacing around Engineering, waiting for her friend (and everyone else). Then, she spotted him- Tavek, and she pretty much ran over to him. Then.. she faltered. His hand.. the blowtorch.. Two of his fingers were gone. “What happened to you?” She asked, shocked. “Long story.” He replied.