Curious Look, Curious Encounter

Posted on 08 Sep 2015 @ 8:14pm by Lieutenant Xanth & Lieutenant Commander Fanvo Adtanis

1,638 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: M13-C: Shattered Time
Location: Engineering, Deck 25, USS Achilles
Timeline: 1600 Hours

[ON]

Xanth had made his quiet way into Main Engineering, avoiding running into people on purpose. It wasn't that he was sneaking, per se, but he did want to take a few moments to himself when he got to where he wanted to be. No one glanced his way, and coming in from one of the other entrances that was not the primary entrance had helped. The slow vibrations of the warp core as it idled drew him ever closer. He might be a pilot, but Starfleet didn't just train them to fly a ship.

They had to understand things like warp theory, how to generate a subspace bubble around the ship or even other targets so that they could move faster than light. Pilots also had to know some of the engineering behind it, though certainly not as much as the specialists could boast, and it was for that reason that Xanth had come down here. The years he'd spent at Utopia Planitia, testing new designs or new engine configurations had given him even more insight than most pilots in the fleet. His skills extended now to not just piloting all sorts of vessels, but being able to help repair a warp core.

He finally stood before the cores, staring at the pulsating energies inside the containment and reaction chambers, a bit in awe of the size of it. It was far more massive than the core on the Akira Class he'd served upon, but it made sense. The Achilles was a big ship, and needed a core - or rather, a daring engineering feat of four cores linked - that could contain a matter-antimatter reaction powerful enough to create one of the biggest subspace effects to move a ship that Starfleet had ever attempted. While the giant vessel wouldn't maneuver with much agility or grace at sublight, the fact that it could push itself to warp 9.95 was beyond impressive.

Xanth glanced down at the core monitoring station, and tapped a few commands into the panel to draw up the latest diagnostic reports, curious to see just how much data there was.

"Lt Xanth... Lt/ Commander Adtanis, I see you've found your way to the Avionics and Navigational systems already. I can appreciate a helmsman who appreciates the engines they command." He spoke from behind the young man, aware the El-Aurian was likely already clued into his presence.

"Ah!" Xanth turned around, a little surprised to have been caught like that, as he'd been paying far more attention to the warp cores than he'd been to his surroundings. But he grinned happily enough, at ease, and nodded, "It's really impressive, Commander. I had read the specs, of course, but actually getting a chance to see it is so much better." The pilot patted the panel's casing a couple of times for emphasis. "And it's a pleasure to meet you as well."

Fanvo quickly re-read Xanth's profile in his mind, flawless recall at its most useful. Youngest known survivor of his family, several missing presumed lost or dead by now. A proud and capable man of many talents, botany, piloting, even an ear for Vulcan.

"Oh, the pleasure sir, is mine. Do you have much experience with Coaxial quad core warp drives?" Fanvo wasn't an expert, he spent his nights reading and learning so his ruse could be maintained. He had to make sure Xanth couldn't catch him in a lie.

Being called sir by someone who outranked him made Xanth puff up a bit with pleasure, though he knew it was meant in a non-military way. "This will be my first time, Commander," he said, his grey eyes glittering in the pulsating light as he looked at Adtanis directly. Whatever the Listener knew, he kept it to himself, and the smile on his face could have just been for his excitement over getting to fly this ship. "I've trained on just about everything else in the fleet I could, even if some of it was only in the holodeck. But nothing as big as Achilles. I'm really looking forward to it. And you? What do you think about our long mission and your chance to run Engineering?"

Fanvo tried not to think of the abandoned people, the lifeless Catherine Wilhelm who had been the true honoree for the position. Now he was in her place and ill qualified. He knew he had to be careful lest he over speak, this Xanth was a listener, less was more. "It was thrust upon me, with great sense of destiny and purpose. I look forward to the challenges of learning with you, I've never coordinated four warp fields in tandem fixed structures. I cannot tell you how it will affect your flight.

"Just another thing for us to explore," Xanth said, still with the same mysterious smile. What was left unsaid was just as telling as what was spoken, and that was half of what being a Listener was about. He couldn't divine the details of what pain caused Adtanis to not speak of the specifics just by that of course. But Xanth could feel that pain, as if it were his own, and that was enough for him to make a very educated guess. He could also guess that it was something that his superior didn't want to speak of, but he could make a gentle offer for later. "I would look forward to collaborating with you more, Commander. Maybe we can arrange a time?"

"For the ships helmsman and I to discover how this ship works... I say now is as good a time as any. Have you ever flown a single nacelles, like the Saladin class?" Fanvo had, and the unique layout of the twin coils in a single nacelle structure was a keen insight he could use on the current configuration. It took a pilot who understood pitch and yaw along a razors edge axis to a masterful degree.

"I have, yes. A lot less punch than I'd like in a ship. And the warp field geometry is nowhere near as stable. Why do you ask?" Xanth hoped that the Achilles wasn't going to respond like that! If so, the next decades were going to be trying his patience.

"A singles nacelle operate just like 1/4 of the engines we have, each corrects the other." This was literally in the beginning of the first book he had started about Quad nacelle field geometry.

"The four warp fields have a geometry with toroidal implications to the 4th degree. That translates into a "lift" action occurring I have found, but if you can see a way to eliminate that the ship will maintain pitch and yaw autonomously by virtue of three other fields maintaining lateral symmetry. Translates further into far fewer corrections and fuel expenditures for our journey."

What Elas left out, was that any engineer who had studied these systems knew how to correct this, Catherine would have likely made the fix before they left DS9, it wouldn't take long for someone to become wise to an incompetent Engineer. His learning curve was too far behind, he had so much learning to do if he was going to pull this off. This was the only obvious problem he could see, but there were too many things he did not know and was painfully aware of his ignorance.

Xanth nodded along at the explanation. It was going to be a little problem to find the 'zone', to avoid having the ship have to fight alternating and unequal stresses during warp flight. Quite often, once he'd worked out and charted the course they were to take with the computer's assistance, he needed to do very few corrections while at warp. This sort of warp geometry was going to slowly but sure throw them off course if left alone, made worse by the faster they went, and he'd be fighting the hell to keep them on the straight and narrow.

The technicalities wasn't the only thing he began to realise during this conversation. Not only was Adtanis not wishing to speak about certain issues in his past, Xanth might not be the only one who would have to do some learning on the fly. In his mind, that would just make things more of a challenge, more interesting. He was confident he'd learn the Achilles' quirks and preferences quickly enough, and also find ways to coax her into doing what was needed. She was such a big ship, but it was still going to require a delicate and deft touch. The same was likely to be said by the massive, overpowered engines down here, and in that moment the pilot did not envy the Commander's part.

"If you had time, sir, maybe we could get a drink, discuss whatever else is needed to make sure we give the others a smooth ride," and that was loaded with innuendo. Though it might seem a bit out of discipline depending on how strict people were about protocol, he had no problems with inviting a superior for a drink or some fun in the holodeck. He had however meant his statement to mean more than just the technicalities. Adtanis had some burdens, he could see, and maybe didn't need to carry them alone so much.

Xanth had worded this very carefully, a shrewd man would have kept his distance but reckless compulsion, perhaps a need for a genuine friendship prompted him to accept.

"This sounds like a wonderful idea. There are a few pending matters, but lets meet in an hour at the promenade, the... Starlite hoplite has a magnificent view."

[OFF]

Lieutenant Xanth
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Achilles

Fanvo Adtanis
Chief Engineer
USS Achilles

 

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