Jump Start
Posted on Mon Dec 19th, 2022 @ 3:41am by Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Ensign Kitiuas Thenis & Lieutenant Thomas Haldeman & Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell
Mission:
Planet of the Dinosaurs
Location: USS Sunfire
Timeline: Day 2 - Late Evening
High energy plasma storms rolled across the sky giving off a purple and white glow. There was raw power there and a sense of beauty. For some there was a foreboding sense of fear involved. Within an hour they would be right on top of the ship, the thunder they created was already being felt and was sure to grow more intense.
Kit was moving towards the airlock, Tom in hot pursuit. Bonnie and Ronson were navigating through the J-tubes heading for the power shunts, while Thriss headed for Engineering or what was left of it. It was a race against the clock and a race to stay alive while jump starting their poor crashed hulk of a ship. Everyone had a part to play and each had their own obstacles to deal with, but the goal was something worse the effort.
Tom caught Kit just before she went out the airlock. "Kit! Wait a minute please." As he caught up to her, he began talking, "I'll help you with your traps, if you will assist me in changing the polarity of the sails." He paused and continued. "I'm also sorry if I offended you back in the lounge. I meant no offense." He finished sincerely. "I ask for your forgiveness."
Kit shook her head “No offense was taken Lieutenant Hadleman. I have Tonitrophobia, a fear of thunder, but the counsellors all say the best way to conquer my phobia is to face it head on; besides I am sick and tired of crawling through J-Tubes.” She said with a smile. She pulled a Hooligan tool out of one of the Fire Lockers, “Just in case the panels are stuck. So, let’s go, need to get this done, before the lightning starts striking.”
"Please call me Tom. If there is anything I can do to help you with your fear. Please let me know. He nodded at the tool. "Good thinking. Let's take care of your traps while we're out there as well." He suggested.
Kitiuas took a deep breath and replied "Well Tom, best thing to do is get out there and get this done. Stay close though please, as I may need a little hand holding." With that she smiled at him and moved through the airlock.
"Couldn't agree more. Get this done, collect your traps before the storm hits." Tom agreed. He gave her a open smile, "If hand holding is what you need, I gladly offer both hands to help you."
Kitiuas smiled "Not so much hand holding as being present to make sure I do not pass out. A rather bad side effect of my phobias is Reflex Syncope. Let's get this done, been a long time since I have been around thunder, one of the benefits of being a science officer on a starship."
"I shall do whatever is needed to help you with your phobia. However right now,let's stop loitering and get to work on reversing the polarity of the sails and collecting your traps before the rain and thunder come."
Kit nodded and proceeded to the first access panel, just as she had thought the panel cover was jammed up into the hull. She took the Hooligan tool and set it into one of the seams. She pried it open with a grunt.
"Good work Kit." Tom replied as he viewed the access panel. "Just need to reverse the polarity....."His voice drifting off as he worked his hand inside the cramped panel box to make the needed changes.
A bright flash of light from a lightning strike in the distance was followed by an extremely, almost deafening clap of thunder made Kit jump and fall over. "Times like these I think I should have followed my mother, and baby sister into being a chef." she muttered into the howling wind that started to pick up. She began to scan the hull for the next access panel as the lighting began to become darker from the approaching storm. "How's it going?" she inquired, as she felt her stomach churning. She knew she was not far out from vomiting.
Tom didn't turn around as he continued to work inside the access panel. "You would have been a good chef, based on the meals you have prepared for us. Kit. The culinary worlds loss is engineering's gain. "Maybe I should ask you that, how's it going?" he didn't wait for a reply as he continued his work and then a satisfied "Ahhhh!" Escaped his lips and only now did he turn around to face her. "Done. Let's get to the next panel and then you can get inside."
Kit was about to vomit when out of the corner of her left eye she caught movement. In a flash she flicked her left wrist and her Orion Dancerknife appeared in her hand. She instantly activated the energy blade and a pale, nearly invisible light blue energy field appeared. She twisted about and spun low, slashing out with her left arm, catching an alien like velociraptor in the neck. She rolled back away from the creature as another bound forward.
Tom had finished reversing the polarity and turned around in triumph just to see Kit catch what looked like a velociraptor in the neck, but another was bounding toward her. "His phaser was out and in his hand. He fired catching the dinosaur square in the chest and it went down in a heap, smoke billowing from its chest. He moved quickly to Kit. "Are you alright?" He asked as his eyes swept the area for anymore of the dinosaurs. "I think this classifies as a reason to hurry and finish our work."
Kit caught her breath and chuckled, the nausea still there but under control, "You think that classifies as a reason to 'hurry up', well hell then you're really going to have a breakdown." With that she turned and pointed to the east where two more velociraptor like creatures bounding toward them with more shadowy figures scrabbling up the hull. Kit then flicked her right wrist bringing another Dancerblade to life.
Tom's gaze followed in the direction Kit was pointing and he could see two of the velociraptor like dinos coming toward them and several others on the hull. "Don't have time for a breakdown, it isn't on today's list." Tom quipped. as he brought the phaser up. "Let's do this." He said grimly. "We have work to finish."
"How many more intersections" Ronson asked as he banged his head on yet another patch of low hanging J tube ceiling. His poor noggin was coping a pounding. "Who designed such an important area to only be accessible by J tubes" he grumbled.
Bonnie couldn't help but giggle. She too had hit her head a number of times over the last two days. It didn't help matters that they were crawling through almost pitch black darkness, with only the small hand lights to see by. "I don't know. I'm just glad I'm not 6 or 7 feet tall, could you imagine?"
Her brain was working miles ahead though, "Just a few more intersections until we reach the first shunt. You understand what we're doing on a basic level right?" She wasn't certain how much engineering knowledge Ronson had.
" I understand you know a crap load more about this than I do and I'm just gonna do what you tell me hopefully without breaking something" Ronson replied with a goofy grin. "Put it in coffee man's terms for me"
"Well, first, when the command crew orders a power diversion from a damaged system, someone presses a button, or rather a series of buttons. Then the computer takes the commands and creates a power shunt at certain locations, diverting the power around those damaged systems to better serve other systems. Any excess is routed back into the battery backup system. Follow?"
Ronson nodded, following her lead as they made their way through the tubes, having a better idea of the process by the time they got there.
"Yeah, but right now there are so many damaged systems they all need shut down and diverted into the battery storage and maybe reserved for engines and minor systems. And without the computer to control the shunts, it's up to us." She stopped at the intersection so they could catch their breath, and pulled out the tricorder. "Right now, these systems are a wreck from the fire, the smoke, the crash... We have to make certain we get everyone of the damaged systems out of the power loop or we'll just be making things worse."
She showed him the map on the tricorder, "Right now I'm just trying to get a picture of where we are in relation to the ship within a 3D space. See this overlay tells my where the power trail leads and there the best places to create stops are." She looked at the tricorder and then the tube junction, then pointed, "There is one 50 meters in that direction, and one 50 meters in that direction. If we split up, we'll cover more ground faster, then meet back here when you're done." Bonnie nodded as though she had given an order.
"On it" Ronson nodded and started crawling off in the opposite direction, preying he didn't press the wrong button at the wrong time and blow them all sky high. "Say when".
She crawled into position as well, roughly 100 yards away from Ronson. Still on audible range considering the echo the tubes created. She pulled the panel, "All right, swap chip A113 with A240." She said making certain to speak loud and clear for him to hear. "The swap, B1227 with E as in Edwardo 014. Then, activate the primer twice and flip the switch." She flipped her own switch and there was an audible change in the harmonics behind the panel as the power shifted to a new location. "You should hear the sound change suggesting the power has shifted."
Ronson looked at the labels on the chips, wondering how anyone could read them without a magnifying glass. Then again, when you worked with chips every day it would seem normal to. E able to identify them easily. He finally found the numbers and followed Bonnie's instructions, hearing the time change significantly when he was done. "Got it, I think" he said as he waited for whatever was to come next.
"Okay. Now we just have to do that ten more times. Aaaaand we have, thirty-eight minutes left to do it in, give or take." She was being optimistic at best. If the sail team reversed the polarities too early, the sails could be fried with no net results to show for it. If they were adjusting the shunts and there was a sudden influx of lightning, Bonnie and Ronson might take the brunt of the charge, which would be deadly. Timing was critical. "Alright, meet you back at the junction. We have to go down three decks and over for the next set." She proclaimed as she replaced the panel and then began crawling his direction.
"So, like no pressure or anything" Ronson retorted as the scurried down the J tubes to the next set, desperate to get the changes done in time. A dark band of clouds loomed overhead, muting the sun's rays and reducing the current being shunted. "So, same deal as before?" He asked as the got there.
She reached for her own panel and paused to answer, "yep, same as before." She scanned the power flow, "only this time the second set should be Delta009 and Edwardo 014." She finished. With multiple directions to shunt power there was going to be some slight differences. She swapped her chips and pressed her buttons and heard an audible shift. As she was replacing the panel she could feel the static discharge building in the metal. Her hair began to rise from her head, straightening her curls.
"Ahh Bon, I get a feeling that there's a significant charge going on there. Just...be careful okay?" Ronson called as he made the necessary changes. Every moment that last the building charge intensified in both energy and pitch.
Bonnie flattened down her hair to the best of her ability, checked the map and then crawled towards Ronson. "Just six more to go. There looks to be something blocking the next intersection so we're going to have to go around. On the bright side we're making good time. Twenty-five minutes left to go." They had enough time to find the panels and change the shunts, but would they be in time to help Thriss in Engineering?
Ronson laughed in good nature at Bonnie's wild hairdo. It resembled a picture he had seen of a puppy on a couch full of static electricity once. "We'll get it done, the alternative issnt worth considering" he said firmly. "Which way now?
Thriss was once again alone. While not ideal, let alone safe, in this situation, it didn't exactly bother him. He continued to climb down the Jefferies Tubes. At this point he was seven decks down and had eight to go until he got to Deck Fifteen. He reached a point where the continuous descent ended and he had to crawl until he found the next ladders going down. He sighed and stopped for a moment to catch his breath.
Deep down he felt a little bit guilty about the entire situation. What if he could have prevented the crash? What if- no. He wasn't going to go there. Dwelling and feeling guilty especially now would distract him and it could make things worse. He took a swig from his canteen that was on his utility belt and continued moving to the next set of ladders.
"Mitchell to Kla'ren, we're getting through it here, what's your progress?" The Chief paged the Sunfires' chief engineer.
Thriss reached the hatch that led him down the next set of ladders going down. He tapped his badge. "Kla'ren here. I'm still trying to get to Main Engineering. I'm approximately halfway down. I should be there in the next few minutes. Once I'm down there and I assess the condition of the core itself, ideally it shouldn't take too long to get ready for the jump start."
"Well if fortune favours the bold, we should meet you there in 20 minutes" Ronson replied as he and Bonnie continued their rapid journey through the bowels of the ship.
The Chief Engineer crouched down and turned the lever on the hatch and pulled the door upwards to open it. "Very well Chief. If all goes well I'll see you guys then."
TBC
