Stardate: 74981.4

Esquimalt Station

 

The latent thrum of Hou Yi’s warp core reverberated through Main Engineering. The vibrant blue streams of deuterium and anti-deuterium flowing into the reaction chamber bathed the room in an ethereal glow, casting everything and everyone in a surreal azure. Overhead conduits hummed, the occasional soft beep of a computer punctuating the ambiance.

Commander Akia worked alongside Lieutenant Saa at the main reaction chamber controls, making use of his manipulators so as not to interfere with the sonar beams of the larger bottlenose. As they worked, the two Cetaceans exchanged occasional streams of data, making full use of their neural interfaces.

“Resonance levels appear stable at this frequency,” Saa commented, her gaze locked to her display.

Akia nodded, watching. “Increase the harmonic amplitude incrementally. Let’s see if—”

Before she could react, the scintillating hum of the warp field shifted. A harsh, discordant whine began to intrude into the once smooth resonance. Warning indicators flashed across Saa’s display, and several crew members in the vicinity instinctively turned their attention to the nearest consoles.

The two dolphins looked at the warp core, then at each other.  Saa’s sonar beams flashed across the touchscreen, concern evident in her timbre. “That’s not right. There’s a dissonance frequency in the warp field. It’s creating a feedback loop!”

Akia processed the information quickly. “Isolate that frequency. Begin dampening procedures.”

The discordant whine grew in intensity, vibrations beginning to be felt through the deck. Another officer, a young Saurian engineer, called out from a nearby console. “Inertial dampers are at 120%. If we don’t stabilize it soon, we could face a cascade overload!”

Akia’s gaze held intensity but no panic. “Ril, work with Saa to compensate for the dissonance. I’ll reroute power through the secondary couplings to ease the strain on the dampers. Lieutenant, give me a hand.” As he spoke, he crossed to the EPS grid controls. The last command was issued to an officer who had entered behind them as the situation developed.

T’Shan put immediately aside the greeting she’d been rehearsing and reconsidering internally and focused herself on the nearest terminal. She acknowledged the order with a simple “Aye, sir.”  She input the commands to offload the first third of the powerflow to secondary, beginning the cumbersome but necessary manual command input for each.

In a smaller window within the terminal she brought up the isometric overview power flow schematic in an attempt to diagnose potential clues about any grid dissonance from an almost entirely undetailed image while she did the necessary but mindless busywork of the reroute. “First phase set.” She added after her frantic, perhaps firmer-than-necessary finger-tapping yielded results.

“Begin second phase,” Akia acknowledged from the EPS system controls, his sequence intertwining seamlessly with T’Shan’s input. The high-pitched whine that resonated through the room continued to escalate, now joined by an intense vibration that seemed to resonate within one’s very molecules.

T’Shan let the first phase EPS conduits shift into the direction she’d instructed on their own as the flow dictated, beginning the work on the second phase change. Something didn’t look right in the nacelles, but she didn’t have a free hand to look closer.

Saa, her usually fluid movements tightened, called out over the din, “I’ve isolated the frequency!”

“Adjusting dampers,” echoed Ril, beside her. “Stabilization in progress!”

“Rerouting,” acknowledged Akia.

The discordant whine began to diminish, the vibrations easing, the relentless assault on their senses receding. Soon there was only the familiar quiet pulse of the core. Expelling a deep breath, Saa confirmed, “Resonance stabilized, Captain. Warp field harmonics returning to normal parameters.”

A collective sigh of relief rippled around the room, the taut strings of tension loosening. Akia, despite his external poise, shared the sentiment. An overload followed by forced shutdown and damage control would have delayed their launch timetable more than they could afford.

“Good work, everyone,” he praised. “Let’s secure all systems and begin a diagnostic. I want a detailed analysis of what went wrong.” He glided over to the newcomer, an officer who needed no introduction; there weren’t many blue Vulcans in Starfleet. “Lieutenant T’Shanthosa, I presume. Welcome aboard.”

T’Shan tapped at the cornermost button on her display several times, returning everything she had handled to a default state for whoever came next. “Reporting for duty, sir.” She said, turning to face the captain with a nod, her hands clasped together at the small of her back. She realised as she awaited a response that the incident they’d just experienced answered two of the three questions she had for the commander.

Akia’s eyes sparkled with a hint of humor, though his poise and demeanor remained formal. “Looks as though you have a knack for being where the action is, Lieutenant — a useful trait in an Ops Chief.”

“Starship operations are seldom without some form of ‘action’ in my experience, Captain. I am here to serve.” T’Shan’s response was confident but emotively flat.

Akia nodded, appreciating the traditional greeting. “Your service honors us. This is Lieutenant Saa from 40 Eridani Yards, and our own Crewman Ril.”

“Greetings Lieutenant, Crewman.” T’Shan responded with a nod to each. She made a mental note to determine a mnemonic for each. She had a great deal of experience working with crew from incompatible atmospheres, but had not been on any ship modern enough to feature a casual anti-gravity rig. For a moment she envied them their physical freedom, but quickly dispelled the feeling.

“Ma’am,” nodded Ril, his Saurian coolness returning.

“Pleased to have you aboard!” piped Saa, swimming over.

“I am grateful for the opportunity.” T’Shan said in response to the two, but directed to the Captain. “I have long admired the subtle elegance and remarkable versatility of the Miranda-class designs, it is a privilege to be able to participate in this stage of pre-launch for a Reliant build. Have issues like the one we just encountered been common?”

Saa gave a vehement shake of her head, slightly wobbling her gravitics. “Warp field harmonics were thoroughly tested at the Yard, and this issue didn’t manifest. It has to be related to the power distribution modifications installed here at Esquimalt. If we had time,” she added, turning from T’Shan to the Captain, “I would suggest reverting those modifications until more thorough trials can be arranged.”

Akia gave the appearance of a sympathetic smile, though it was more of a feeling than a visual cue. “Time is a swift-moving current, for us, lately. You’re going to have to make this work.” He twisted to look up at T’Shan. “Lieutenant, you and Saa will supervise the level-two diagnostic. Call in all the extra help from the station you might need. This should be a good opportunity for you to get your feet wet — so to speak. If you feel ready, that is.”

“I am ready, sir.” T’Shan said with a nod.

“Very well,” Akia replied with appreciation. “Let me know when you have a preliminary report.” He turned his attention back to the bottlenose. “Make sure every stone is turned, Saa. I don’t want any surprises when we’re out there.”

Saa flashed an assent glyph. “Don’t worry, Captain. We’ll get her purring like a kitten.”

“I’d prefer the purr of a warp core. But if it works, I won’t complain.” He turned and sped away, leaving the engineers to their task.

“Lieutenant, I would appreciate any guidance you can provide to familiarise me with the modifications.” T’Shan said to Saa as she turned back towards the warp core, the tips of her antenna emerging from within her hair for a moment to experience the perceptible harmonics in the room. Although dampened to acceptable parameters, a faint dissonance was still minutely detectable.

“Absolutely,” agreed the Lieutenant, moving to a display. As the two officers got to work, the atmosphere of the room shifted back into the businesslike hum of an Engineering department working with determination and purpose.