Sympathetic Vibrations

Posted on Wed Jan 13th, 2021 @ 11:39pm by Lieutenant Commander Timo Schaefer & Lieutenant Yousef Syed & Lieutenant JG Tobias Jackson-Sanders & Ensign Sturnack

Mission: 28 Days
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 0800

[Engine Room]
[0800 Hours]

Timo thanked the yeoman for the coffee and settled into the chair behind his desk. He'd read the update on the ship's new orders while getting ready for his duty ship and now settled in to ensure all was well. A ship always felt slightly different after an extensive overhaul, but the Human didn't care for the tremble he was feeling from the deck plates. The Ulysses was undoubtedly capable of maintaining warp 7.5 for extended periods, but any sound engineer would be worried about holding such a high warp factor for weeks.

Spinning his chair, he faced the console on the back wall of his office. It presented several sets of diagnostic and performance readouts. "Hmm," Timo pursed his lips as he studied the engine efficiency and power consumption tables. Pulling himself out of his chair, the tall chief engineer headed back out into the cavernous engine room.

He found his defacto second engineer working with his newest near the intermix console, "Yousef, I see you two have noticed the same thing."

The Lieutenant looked up as his boss stepped over and shook his head, "Not me Commander, Ensign Sturnack picked up the vibration about twenty minutes ago. I would have called you, but I figured you'd be down soon enough."

Timo regarded the Vulcan with a slightly impressed look, "Well done, Mr. Sturnack. Have you been able to root out the cause?"

The Vulcan -- young by the native standards of his race but twice the Chief Engineer's age -- looked over to Commander Schaefer with an expression of passivity. In response to the praise heaped his way, Sturnack simply responded with, "It was a simple matter to detect. However, upon my initial identification of the problem," he continued, "I suspected a misaligned plasma injector. However," the man's right eyebrow rose into a pointed arch, "subsequent investigation reveals this not to be the case." Leaning forward, the Ensign manipulated the controls before him, bringing up a schematic of the Ulysses on screen.

Highlighted in red were the twin driver coils of the starboard nacelle. "It would appear that, during our recent refit, a slight misalignment of the driver assembly was introduced. We are experiencing the resultant vibration caused by sustained warp flight beyond warp seven." The Vulcan regarded both of his superiors with a placid glance that bespoke nothing beyond professional response. "The problem can be remedied within a few hours. However, the Ulysses will need to drop out of warp to begin the realignment."

Timo sighed and pulled his head to the side, smiling, "Oh no, I'm not calling Captain Bach and telling him we need to pop out of warp for a bit of repair. Look here," the Chief Engineer leaned forward, pointing at the console displaying the starboard warp coils, "If we were to place a power shunt bypassing this bank of six, the other coils would take up the slack while we work." Doing some quick math, Timo grinned, "That would give us, say, one point five hours, give or take." He shrugged with a slight chuckle, "No risk, no reward, right, Ensign? If we pull it off, we might even wind up on the cover of Daystrom Monthly."

The Human continued before Sturnack could respond, "You know, maybe Ops could assist with the power shunt." Tapping a few buttons on the console opened a channel to the ship's Ops station on the bridge, "Schaefer to Ops, would you mind assisting us with an operation down in Engineering?"

Toby had been covering the bridge ops station when the call from engineering had come through, although there had really been very little of consequence happening beyond keeping on top of the occasional fluctuation that would naturally be expected from maintaining such high speeds for such a long time. Keeping on top of them though had been a relatively mundane task so the chance to find something more interesting was one that Sanders jumped at, "This is Lieutenant Jackson-Sanders, Sir. I'm on my way."

Timo smiled at the Vulcan as he responded, "Thanks, we are on the lower level." Closing the channel, he focused again on Sturnack, "So, have you ever been inside a warp nacelle at high warp?" He ignored the snort from Yousef as best he could.

"I have not," came Sturnack's reply as the Vulcan clasped his hands behind his back, his posture as rigid as his position. "Proper safety protocols dictate that -- barring an emergency of some kind," he noted, "all precautions should be taken to preserve the lives of our technicians. While we could bypass the coils, working in such an environment would present extreme risk to those tasked to do so. I realize we are keen to resolve a mystery," Sturnack referenced the scientific endeavor awaiting their rendezvous with the Zheng He, "but is reducing repair time and potential inconvenience worth the risk to life, Commander?" An arched eyebrow signaled that the Vulcan very much thought it was not.

The Chief Engineer rolled his eyes, "And people say Vulcan's aren't overly dramatic. I find practical experience is invaluable in emergencies. Better to get familiar with a powered-up warp nacelle in a controlled situation rather than having to do so when the ship is coming apart."

The journey down to engineering was a brief one, but one that Toby always enjoyed regardless although that could be said of most of the ship. The truth was that the ops officer quite enjoyed simply wandering the decks when the opportunity presented its self although it really seldom did.

Finding those had had summoned him was simple and before much longer, he was approaching the small group, "Sirs." he spoke with a friendly smile, "How might I be of assistance?"

"Ah, Lieutenant, we have a misaligned driver coil," Timo said, smiling at the Chief Operations Manager. "Would you be able to help us route power around this bank of coils?" The engineer indicated the flashing coils on the monitor before them, "My plan would be for us to enter the nacelle control room together. You would coordinate the power re-route while Ensign Sturnack and I make the repair. It's going to put an additional strain on the other coils that have to shoulder the load, but I believe we should be fine for an hour and a half or so."

"Should being the operative term, Commander?" Sturnack asked, his right eyebrow askance once again. Logic dictated that it made little sense to argue Schaefer into changing his position -- clearly, the Commander was not open to doing so. And while Sturnack mused that, someday, he might be in a position to override what -- in his estimation -- amounted to the poor judgment of others, spending additional time in the here-and-now would accomplish little. Resigned to the Chief Engineer's plan, the Vulcan busied himself with collecting the gear he would need to effect the needed repairs. Repair kit in hand, Sturnack nodded to the others to signal his readiness.

Smiling at what he put down as typical Vulcan stubbornness, Toby nodded, "Sounds good to me. Shall we then?" The fix sounded simple enough, but he wasn't a huge fan of the Jefferies tubes and so was quite eager to get it all over with.

[Starboard Nacelle Jefferies Tube Access - Deck 6]

Timo settled the shoulder strap for his engineering kit around his torso and turned back to the other men with him, "Ok, there is only room for one person in the control room at a time, so Ensign Sturnack, you will follow me, and you will bring up the rear Toby. Any final questions?"

"None at this time," Sturnack replied, his own kit similarly strapped around his body. Long, lanky, and a bit thick as Vulcans went, the engineer knew he would experience some elements of discomfort within the Jeffries tube. However, such discomfort was an unavoidable wrinkle when it came to starship repair. "I am ready for our descent, Commander," he nodded stoically to Schaefer. "Lieutenant," he turned to Jackson-Sanders expectantly, "would you prefer the middle or the rear position?"

"Oh, I really don't mind," Sanders responded to the Vulcan, truly not having any particular preference, "The sooner we're in, the sooner we're out, and that's the bit I'm looking forward to, to be honest!"

The Chief Engineer nodded and turned to the ladder and began his descent. The ladder quickly changed angles as it descended into the angled nacelle strut. They passed the torpedo systems during their journey to the control room. Timo's boots landed on the deck plates, and he quickly moved into the catwalk between the warp coils, vacating the tight space.

Once they'd all extricated themselves from the tube, Sturnack walked along the catwalk, eyeing the warp coils as he considered the job to come. "The power regulation will need to be absolutely precise," the Vulcan noted, his tone -- purposeful or not -- signaling doubt in his companions' capabilities as to such. "If you would like, Lieutenant," he looked back at Jackson-Sanders, "I could assist you with your calculations. It would be no trouble to assist you prior to beginning my own work," he offered with confidence. Some might take affront to a Vulcan sticking his nose into their business but this particular Vulcan was simply concerned with the survival of the team.

Another flicker of a smile crossed Toby's lips as he looked up at the Vulcan engineer, "I appreciate the offer, Sturnack, but I'm confident I'll manage. There are plenty of places on the ship that will appreciate a brief power boost!" It was probably a poor attempt at a half-joke and one that would no doubt be lost entirely on a Vulcan, but it didn't stop that flicker forming into a full smile on the Operations officer's lips.

It was only a half-joke because Toby's words were half true. Ulysses had been at high warp for so much longer than normal that the power conservation to maintain it had affected almost every department aboard the Malachowski class starship and Sanders suspected that a sudden but brief energy boost through the science department for example, might save them weeks on whatever they might have been working, relative to how things had been over the last few weeks.

"Are we ready to get started?"

Timo retrieved a shunt from his kit and moved further down the catwalk. The dazzling energy flowing through the coils created a charge in the air around them as they set to work, "Ok, Ensign, let's place these and get to work. Stand-by Lieutenant." The Chief Engineer knelt and expertly slotted the device into place. Pulling out a scanner, he ran a quick diagnostic, and satisfied with the results, Timo called back to the Ops Manager, "Lieutenant, verify you have control of the power shunt at my location. Ensign Sturnack, how is yours checking out?"

The Vulcan had simply nodded to Jackson-Sanders before moving on to begin his own tasks. Having been busy at work, slotting and scanning similarly, he said, "I believe we are...'looking good,'" he borrowed a human aphorism, emphasizing the wording with the slightest hint of disdain -- a holdover, perhaps, from his bucking at the idea of working in a live nacelle outside of an unavoidable emergency situation.

Glancing at Sturnak with a mildly amused look, Toby turned his sight to Schaefer, "Yes sir. Stand by," He paused, double-checking that his first task had been complete and that he wasn't in fact about to fry anybody, "I have it, Commander."

Timo smiled and nodded at the Vulcan, "Outstanding, Ensign. If all if well with Sturnack's shunt, Lieutenant, engage them, please, and let me know when we can begin our recalibration.

"Engaging," Toby confirmed, his attention closely fixed on ensuring that no other systems suffered any kind of overload whilst they worked, "We're looking good on my end!"

"If, Commander?" Sturnack asked, both his chin and an eyebrow upraised at the notion that his work could be anything less than perfect. Nodding in response to Jackson-Sanders' report, the Vulcan gestured forward. "I believe that is our cue to proceed. I can only hope no unexpected factors manifest, initiating our vaporization," the engineer mused with a deadpan expression. Engineering kit once again in-hand, Sturnack took point, weaving his way through the crawlspace until reaching his assigned junction point. Flipping open his communicator, he reported, "Beginning repairs" to the group.

Timo grinned and began monitoring the Vulcan's progress, "Fret not Ensign, if we are vaporized, they'll just blame Toby." Casting a glance towards the Operations Manager, he shrugged, "How are those power readings, Lieutenant?"

Despite a brief and expected surge which Toby had quickly gotten back under control, all remained well, "I don't suppose that even if I could convince them it wasn't my fault, it would likely set me up for any kind of future promotion," Sanders offered a playful smile, "I don't suppose there are any admiralty that particularly dislike you, are there sir?"

[55 Minutes Later]

The Chief Engineer frowned at his engineering scanner and flipped open his communicator, "Mr. Sturnack, how are we looking? We have about 25 minutes before the active coils start becoming superheated." Timo's math showed they had around 35 minutes, but a little urgency for the Vulcan wasn't uncalled for. There wasn't a need to take it down to the wire if they didn't have to.

The first 45 minutes had been relatively smooth sailing but rapidly running out of appropriate routes to shunt the powerflow that wouldn't start overloading systems was beginning to prove more of a challenge for the Lieutenant, who had needed every ounce of attention he had to maintain the required level of safety, "The sooner the better," He piped up, his face beginning to every so slightly glow a shade of red as he fought to maintain his focus.

"My estimate is closer to 35 minutes," Sturnack corrected over the comm, unaware that Schaefer was adjusting his own numbers for safety. The Vulcan's tone was colored with a shade of condescension, though Sturnack would never concede to feeling such an emotion. "However, repairs are almost complete. Your work in securing the power flow is admirable, Commander," the engineer remotely conceded.

Timo grinned as the Vulcan returned to the catwalk a few moments later, "Thank you, Ensign. I Found your repairs to be most efficient." With a raised eyebrow, he looked over Sturnack's shoulder to the Operations Officer, "Go ahead and disengage the shunt." As the newly repaired coils powered up again, Timo nodded in approval when the vibration failed to return, "Good work, Mr. Sturnack. After you, let's go run a diagnostic. Thanks again for your help, Lieutenant." He called over to Tobias.