If it's not one thing it's another

Posted on 26 Apr 2011 @ 11:39am by Commodore Da`nal of the House of Varal & Captain Reva Madhava

1,427 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: M8: The Kzinti War!!!!
Location: Observation Lounge
Timeline: Following staff meeting

As Hyrum left he approached Da'nal again handing him the new collar devices, "I just received these. Though since it is a time of war and I am just a bit over due for the next commission. Been moving around so much that every commission misses me. This was the first one to catch up and it is one year old. Bureaucrats, I put in for my commission six months ago. Is their a way I could say Kobiyashi Maru into 1st LT?"

"Well the commissioning requirements for the Marine Corps are different than those for Starfleet. I'm sure there is a copy of that in the latest dispatches that are waiting for me. As soon as I finish here I will pull it up and see what we can do."

As the majority of the senior staff left the briefing room, Eva entered and sat across from Nate. She flashed him a look as she sat down, one that only the two of them understood. She was curious as to why she had been called there. "So what's going on?".

He looked at Captain and Hyrum chatting, then turned back to her. "We got a lot more work to do, two operations to to prep for. I'm going to need you more than I have the last few days. They want volunteers to go down to Mercer to support the Marines. I volunteered". She was immediately concerned, and angry. "You can't just go and fight , we need you here!" I need you here.

Realizing she had raised her voice, she hoped no one else had noticed. Nate leaned across the table and whipered to her "Eva, this isn't the time or place to argue this. They need people, and I've fought on plenty on planets. My experience would be invaluable. You and Reva can handle things here. I'll make sure everything is ready for the operations, all you have to do is execute the plans.I'll be fine". She gave him a sad look "I just don't want to take the chance of something happening to you..". Before he could respond, he noticed the Marine finishing up his conversation with the Captain. He sat back in his chair, ready to hash out the operations with Da'nal.

"If it would make you more comfortable," Hyrum suggested, "I could put him in my central detachment. That way I would have his back."

Da`nal shook his head. "Thank you Master Guns..but that won't be needed. Lieutenant your request is denied. I cannot allow my Chief Engineer to leave just as we are heading into occupied territory; as you said there is lots of work to be done."

He then turned back to the Marine. "if you'll excuse us I have to brief these engineers on the modification and you need to get things ready for the Marines that will be boarding."

Hiding his disappointment, he nodded at the Captain. "Sure thing Sir". Eva was elated, firing a smile across the table towards him. Getting what she wanted, her focus shifted. "I look forward to seeing how things go. I'm excited for some tough work". Nate raised an eyebrow "You haven't found all the work we put into the ship exciting enough? War is never a good thing....". Memories of others he had lost flashed in his mind. Friends gone, in more ways than one. He hoped that wasn't going to be the case here.

Hyrum went back to work. The time went quickly this battalion was looking better all the time. Just a few more things to do then he could go see the doctor. Shal walked in just then.

"What should we do when this is done?" She asked

"Doctor wants to see us in sickbay. Thought we'd go after this."

"Romantic."

Da`nal waved his hand, ending the current discussion. "Now for the matter at hand." He took a breath as he laid out the operation the Achilles had been tasked with.

"As mentioned earlier our mission is twofold; gather as much intel on the Kzinti and insert the Marines onto Mercer. It's the latter that will require some.....creative engineering.

We need to accommodate five Wyern Class transports, the Marines, their weapons, and supplies. As we can only fit two of the transports in our shuttle bay the remaining three are to be attached to the Achilles by opening the landing strut hatches and rigging a docking collar."

Standing up, he walked over to the screen on the wall, Nate brought up a schematic of the ship. "Well Sir, we shouldn't have much trouble fitting the craft over the locations you've chosen. Our structural integrity and warp field extend beyond the range of the craft, so I won't need to make any changes there. However my main concern is going to be finding a solid point structurally in each area to attach the transports to. The umbilicals themselves will be fairly easy to do as well, but if need be we can use the transporters safely. I'll have to come up with a temporary way to reinforce those locations".

Eva decided she would weigh in as well. "Captain even with the modifications, we're going to have to be careful with how much damage we take. If the area around them becomes damaged too much, it will compromise structural integrity, and we won't be able to enter warp with a transport docked near the location. No amount of power to the structural integrity fields are going to adjust for that. The work will have to be done in space dock and as such, any repairs. We don't have the equipment onboard a starship to repair any of the modified docking collars you're requesting, but it is something we can accomplish overall".

"No need to get fancy or create an umbilical. Transporter can load the supplies and Marines when we near Mercer. Once we get to Mercer they will detach, make their way to the surface, and we will leave."

"We'll have to have pieces replicated and assembled. I've got to work out how everything going to go together in the work order". Nate was already scrambling for ideas, but didn't show any signs of being lost as to what exactly to do at the moment. A new idea entered Nate's mind "Are we going to be needing the docking collars after we drop them off?"

"No the collars can be ejected, as we will need to close the strut hatches."

It was obvious that the engineer had a grasp on what needed to be done. "One more thing. You will also need to mount a Guardian platform to the ships fantail so that it can be detached from the ship once we reach Mercer...and all of this most be contained by our cloak."

"Rigging up the platform shouldn't be an issue at all. There are plenty of points there we can anchor it to. As far as the cloak.....if we boost power to it we can expand enough to cover everything. We'll probably be running the core with a load of about 95% though. Luckily we only have to worry about that until we drop everyone off. So I see no reason as to why we can't accommodate the setup".

Eva didn't feel quite the same way "With the constant power load, someone's have to going to monitor it continuously. What if something spikes? Are we going to have enough left in reserve so we don't short anything out?"

She had openly questioned him in front of the Captain, and he wouldn't stand for such. Having already figured out the calculations, Nate was annoyed. "We have plenty to spare for any issues, and with the warp core setup that we have, we can do a load balancing and be just fine. If you're that worried about it, I can have you monitor it yourself the entire time Ensign".

She was surprised at his response. "That won't be necessary Sir". The woman returned to a solemn state and decided to stay out of anything else.

Da`nal could have agreed more, but just in case he addressed the Ensigns...concerns. "Just make sure everything is as sound as you think it will be Mr. Stryker. Things hardly turn out to be as simple as you may think at first. You and your people have some work to do, I won't keep you any longer. Dismissed."

----------------------------------------------

Capt. Da`nal
CO

Lt. Nate Stryker
CEO

Ens. Reva Madhava
Engineer

MGSgt Hyrum Kenderson
Marine SNCO

 

RSS Feed