Lost Cause

Posted on Sat Feb 27th, 2016 @ 10:09pm by Lieutenant Mickey McClane & Captain Elijah Michaels & Commander Cor Cordale & Commander Bertrand Cuprum
Edited on on Sat Feb 27th, 2016 @ 10:09pm

Mission: Vipers and Scoundrels
Location: Cardassian ship, engineering

The younger Cardassian crewman led the four man team to Engineering. As soon as they stepped inside Cor could see it was a lost cause.

Three Cardassians wore working frantically to control the plasma flow regulators with manual dampeners but the calibration was no where near fine enough. Flow inductors were misfiring, inverter coils were reverting, and the flux capacitors wouldn't be able to regulate a shuttle's flow. It was amazing the ship had got as far as it had under Warp speed.

This ship had been retrofitted and repaired in a hurry. Someone had needed to get somewhere fast and without the luxury of a High Warp capable engine.

Mickey had got crack at first dibs of the engine right behind him was the main man. The Loveable Thux Cor. He may have been in operations but he also had some ideas.

"Cor, take all look at this. The engine is on extreme bypass. I don't know engines, like you do.... But, take a look" Mickey said as he got his first dibs view of the engine and scanned it with his tricorder

Cor didn't even have his Tricorder out. He just paused for a moment and listened. "Intermix is off." he stated after a moment's passing, and took a few steps towards the primary reactor. "Number four timing gate is off by a full second." and at that, he shook his head and looked at Mickey, "She's a mess. I'm almost sorry you had to see her like this."

Then he turned to Bertrand, "Commander, before I even see a diagnostic report I can tell you this engine is in sorry shape." and then he tapped a few options on a nearby engineering panel, and confirmed his suspicions. "And after having seen the start of one, I'm going to upgrade that from my personal opinion to my *professional* opinion. It's gonna take, I dunno... two, maybe three days just to get this to the point where I can start finding out what's wrong. Best guess, give me five guys from my Engineering Pit and I can have us at Warp 2 in five days."

Aladdin stood patiently not saying a word standing next to Bertrand. He didn't move or do anything to annoy the Commander he just sat and paid attention.

Bertrand was peering around him. His skin was itchy, and there was definitely something the crew wasn't telling them.

"Is that.. Is that a Carbite refocusing array? I though they were phased out because of the fracture stressing." Bertrand was not an engineer, but he had the basic training and a lifetime of experience. "Someone patched this ship together with anything they could find fast, cheap and dirty."

He turned to one of the Cardssian crew, "Don't you have safety protocols that stop you flying in a death trap like this."

The Cardassian hesitated but then mumbled something vague about Diplomatic sanction. Bertrand decided not to push it. Instead he tapped his comPin.

=A= Bertrand to Captain Michaels. Cor says we can have Warp two in five days. =A=

=A= Understood Commander, keep me informed. Michaels out. =A=

"Commander, we don't have five days.... I say we move the crew to the victory. I mean our ship would get us there faster. Plus, who knows how long this ship will hold. I also say we scuttle this ship as well but that's just me. But, my real vote is we transfer the crew of this ship to the victory" Mickey suggested his opinion as he spoke his mind.

Bertrand looked around but shook his head, "This is Not a Federation ship, Mickey. WE can't just kidnap the crew and blow it up. Nor can we guarantee we will be able to take the crew where they were headed. What if they have special permission to go to Romulus. We sure as hell don't."

"No, until we hear otherwise we take the time to do what repairs we can. You and Cor get to work. Aladdin, do a wander of the ship and check for leaks or anything else your nose can turn up."

Aladdin did just that began sniffing and smelling any unusual smells.

Cor cracked the knuckles of his living hand, a motion he perfected to a science giving his mechanical prosthetic could easily crush his fingers if he weren't careful. "Well Mickey, you heard the boss. Time to get your hands dirty." the Thux chuckled, then turned to the Engineering staff present. "Alright, as of right now we are moving to idle engine conditions. Set the intermix ratio to twenty eight to one, and prepare to reset all power flow systems in sequential order in one minute. Mickey, keep an eye on this diagnostic station. If anything goes into the red, and I mean anything... you find me, you stop what I'm doing, and you tell me what went into the red. Nothing on this terminal is a second priority." Cor wanted to make sure Mickey followed this.

"Well, let's hope we can get this repaired done in five days. If anything goes wrong........." Mickey said something to himself then cooled off "All right, cor. Let's do it." Then his mind was let loose but some of it was kept in but his opinion was spoken in his mind. "It is a dangerous idea, we would help this crew by getting them to their destination, but maybe i went about it the wrong way. But if it were up to me i would evacuate the crew and scuttle the ship" Mickey thought to himself as it wasn't heard by no one. "Sorry, Commander. Didn't need you to hear that" Mickey said outloud to Commander Bertrand, he can read his emotions as a betazed but it wasn't Mickey's choice it was the orders of Starfleet Command.

"Didn't need to hear what?" Cordale asked as he started his assessment. There was so much to do before the repairs could even begin. "And would you stop with the 'If Anything Goes Wrong'? Seriously, didn't humans INVENT the jinx?"

Mickey nodded and agreed. He started handing the tools to cor. "I'll cut it out with the BS."

"Probably for the best at the moment. Keep your head in the game, engineering is dangerous." Cor said. As if to punctuate, one of the power junctions shorted out. "Shut down that line, re-route through lines three through five."

"Line five is shorted out." one of the on-staff engineers called out. Cor's immediate response was a grumble.

"Re-route through whatever you've got under integer ten." then Cordale turned to Bertrand, "Think you can find a priest? We may need help from a higher power on this." there was a hint of humor to his tone. Sure, Cordale believed in a Source of all things, but in the engineering pit, there was no room for deities.

"Engineering hack number one, Mickey. Power relays below integer ten in number are the ones laid first. Nine times out of ten, they're slightly higher grade. They're also usually the first ones to pop, which means they're the first ones replaced so the odds of you getting a newer relay are actually pretty good."

"Oh, boy this will be as what you guys call it an engineering nightmare" Mickey said as they got to work