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III
T'Leyna preferred working gamma shift in engineering. It was the shift with the fewest crew members on duty, and she enjoyed the solitude this offered. Even the humans she worked with tended to keep to themselves and she preferred it that way. She could be quite productive when noone bothered her, and she had spent many a night at her post designing programs to increase the efficiency of Prometheus' various mechanical systems.
In fact, during the brief stop at Aurel III, she had completed the dilithium vector calibrations to the warp engines. Every last one. By herself. Her newest project was to increase warp drive efficiency from 98% to 98.5%. She accessed the deuterium control conduit , scanned its readings, and raised one delicate brow. Warp drive efficency had decreased to 97.3% despite her best efforts. She repeatedly ran level 2 diagnostics to pinpoint the difficiency but was unable to locate its source. Although the deviation was within allowable parameters as per Starfleet regulations, T'Leyna considered it a negative reflection on her programming ability. It was inefficienct for another subsystem to be draining power from something as critical as warp propulsion.
Her usually stoic demeanor was marred by a slight frown as she gazed thoughtfully at the diagnostic results. She would locate and repair whatever system deficiency existed--even it took her all night. This was unacceptable.
*********
"Now what?" growled Ensign K'firri, his eyes two yellow slits as he glared at Ensign Sachiko Takashi.
"Relax. We'll make it up as we go along." The young woman ignored the K'zin--she kenw him well enough not to bother being intimidated--and repositioned the phasper rifle to a more advantageous position from her perch.
They were compressed into a shallow alcove above a catwalk, easy targets, but thier reflexes were fast and so far they had been able to pick off two Ferengi, a Rigelian, and a Cardassian while avoiding being targeted themselves. Thier duty was simple-they were buying time.
Once they had learned that their outpost had been attacked by raiders, the rest of the team had gone to evacuate the civilians. Thier role was to hold the attackers at bay until help could arrive. Unfortunately, the raiding party had been quite large, and thier weapons included disruptors. The two security personnel and thier phaser rifles were no even match.
"Duck." Sachiko commanded, shouldering the K'zin to the side and a shower of sparks ricochetted off the spot where his head had been moments before.
K'firri growled again as he took aim and hit the offending Ferengi square in the chest. His attacker howled as he hit the catwalk and fell silent.
"One down, 12 more to go." Sachiko muttered sarcastically as she raised her rifle once more.
"I dont think so." A cold voice warned her from below. She glanced down at a figure in full battle armour, pointing two fully charged disruptors at them. Somehow, the Rigelian had gained access to a Jeffrey's tube and had managed to climb up directly beneath thier alcove.
"It's time for you both to be going." he smiled cruelly, and fired a thin beam of energy at K'firri.
Before the deadly yellow beam could reach him, the entire world seemed to waver and dissolve, leaving the familiar black and yellow grid of the holodeck in its place. Security teams from around the room seemed uncertain and slightly disoriented at the abrupt termination of thier simulations.
From thier vantage point near the holodeck entrance, Turek raised an eyebrow at his assistant, faint irritation in his expression. "The simulation was almost at an end. Did you terminate the program?" The question was almost an accusation.
"I did not."Seyla replied adamantly. "I do not wish to repeat today's tests either. Perhaps there was an error in the programming." she suggested.
"Unlikely. I constructed the simulation myself." Turek dismissed her comment promptly.
Seyla sighed. "Perhaps we can still complete this training mission. Computer, can you resume program?"
<< Negative. Unable to comply. >>
Seyla frowned. "Computer, can you restart program Outpost 1?"
<< Unable to comply. >> Turek pressed several keys on the access panel in the wall in front of him. "Curious. The holodeck memory allotment has been significantly decreased. All programs are disabled."
"Perhaps engineering is running tests."
"Perhaps." he conceded.
Tapping his commbadge, he said, "Turek to engineering."
**********
Naeve frowned at the replicator in the messhall and tried again. Her stomach growled as if in reminder that she was overdue for a meal. She could have sworn the replicator was being difficult on purpose. She had been so busy, she had skipped breakfast and was long past lunch hour when her stomach had rebelled. Noisily. So now, here she was, in the mess hall, and ironically she still wasn't able to eat.
"Spaghetti." she said aloud as she keyed in the proper sequence, glaring at the machine once for good measure. After a moment, a cup of Earl Grey tea appeared. A small wisp of steam rose from the surface of the liquid. Still, she refused to lose her temper.
"Ok. One more time. Angosian truffle stew."
Another cup of tea manifested itself.
At this point, she was fully prepared to run her fist through the offending replicator. She would have happily paid for its repair with her replicator rations for the satisfaction. Her stomach growled again, obviously out of sheer spite.
"Excuse me, sir." A voice said hesitantly from behind.
Naeve turned around, irritated, to make eye contact with athe Benzite with gold colored shoulders standing patiently behind her.
"Yes?" she asked tersely.
"you wont get anything but tea." he informed her. "We've all tried."
For the first time, Naeve took a good look around the messhall. Everywhere people sat in groups or alone, forlornly drinking cups of tea. Earl Grey tea to be precise.
"How long has this been going on?" she demanded.
The Benzite shrugged. "For at least an hour. Maybe more." He sighed unhappily.
This would not do. Definately not. She was hungry, and a cup of Earl Grey was NOT what she had in mind right now. The replicator situation needed to be addressed, if not for her sake, then for all the gloomy tea drinkers in the room.
She sighed and tapped her commbadge. "Sevril to engineering."
****************
Colin Becker scowled as he wrapped a towel around his waist, securing it loosely with a twist. He had been enjoying a sonic shower, indulging himself by remaining within for a few minutes longer than necessary. He found it helped him relax before his weekly meetings with his first officer, an awkward but necessary affair.
But the shower had abruptly cut off, without warning, and for some reason he was unable to resume it. The computer wasn't being very helpful, pleasantly informing him it was 'unable to comply' with a significant number of his requests.
Crossing the floor of his room in his bare feet, he reached across the bed for his uniform. He pulled on a pant leg, scowling again, as he impatiently adjusted the material. Irritated at the way his day was shaping up, he tapped his commbadge. He wanted his shower fixed by this evening and he didn't care whose schedule he ruined in order to accomplish this. Besides, it would be his chief engineer's problem, not his.
"Becker to engineering."
No response.
He hit the commbadge again, more forcefully but it did not acknowledge his signal.
"Computer, why isn't engineering recieving my comm signal?"
<< Internal communication systems are offline. >>
Colin sighed in frustration and surprise. He didn't like surprises.
****************
Rhianna sat at her desk, rubbing her temples and wishing she didn't have such a bad headache. Once again, she wished she could have been happy being a farmer like her grandparents. Farmers didn't have to worry about starships or computer systems or angry staff members. And crops didn't talk back. She sighed as she berated herself for her stupidity for insisting on becoming an engineer.
Rhianna glanced through her stack of work orders with growing dismay. The holodeck programs wouldn't run. The replicators would only make tea. Nothing else. Just tea. The recycling and sanitation system wouldn't respond to commands. Commbadges weren't working, and evidently neither were the sonic showers on all the odd numbered decks of the ship.
The list went on and on. It seemed that with each passing moment, more work orders were pouring in. To top things off, the last engineering status report was somewhat disturbing. Systems efficiency was slowly but surely decreasing. Something was draining their power. The damage thus far had been innocuous, inconvenient but not dangerous. She knew very well this could change at any time. And not one of her staff had been able to come up with a good explanation as of yet.
Unacceptable.
Ari Denyri was with the others now, laboriously running level 1 diagnostics and brainstorming with some of the junior engineers. Rhianna declined to join them, preferring the sollitary refuge that was her office. The silence was welcome as she displayed schematics of the affected system on her computer console, willing herself to see a pattern that might lead to an answer.
Although efficiency in unaffected systems was still well within safe operating levels, couped with the malfunctions and complaints flooding in, it underlined a more serious problem. One that hadn't been discovered yet. But Rhianna was determined to find the cause.
She didn't like surprises.
**************
IV
Lira Toket looked up briefly from her station, narrowing her eyes at the warp core. It hummed and pulsated in a rhythm of purple-blue light, casting an otherworldly glow on her face. She frowned, her critical gaze unmoving as she searched for an explanation for her her unease.
Something was wrong. As if in agreement, a warning light flashed across her screen. Lira stared at her console with growing alarm. The diagram of Prometheus' internal pwer grid showed marked fluctuations inthe EPS systems. Her monitor beeped insistently to warn her of an aberration in the master differential relay. A red light flashed, indicating the magnetic plasma guides were offline.
The ground beneath her feet trembled as, throughout main engineering, lights flashed, consoles buzzed and beeped, demanding immediate attention. She gripped the console in front of her for support, as engineering personnel rushed by, shouting excitedly.
"The subspace field is destabilizing! We've dropped out of warp!" someone called from across the room.
'We're losing power!"
Lira looked up to see a harried Rhianna Jorrell, working furiously over a console, barking orders to those unfortunate enough to be in close proximity. She raised her voice to be heard over the chaos that was engineering.
Lira's attention shifted once more to her own console, which emitted a high pitched whine, and the screen went black, cutting off the information flow. Throughout the room, monitor screens winked out, one by one thier lights extinguished, and urgent beeps abruptly silenced.
Lira caught her breath in astonishment as she realized what had just occurred. The master systems display was down.
*************
"......all propulsion is offline as are secondary systems. I have routed all available power to primary systems but it's only a matter of time before we will be forced to revert to emergency power."
Colin listened with growing alarm as Rhianna explained their current situation. Prometheus had dropped out of warp unexpectedly, and within an hour thaey had lost impulse capability as well. Shields and weapons were at 30% capacity and the main computer responded to console input commands only. Sensors were gone, as were subspace communications. They could only broadcast on insystem local frequencies---not very helpful as there were no colonies or outposts nearby to respond.
They were sitting ducks, adrift in space, the ship's mechanical and electronic systems on the verge of complete collapse. As Colin observed Rhianna, her shoulders stooped with fatigue, dark circles under eyes from lack of sleep, he knew the engineer was doing her best. That was all he could ask from any of his officers.
"Do you have any idea as to what the cause may be? Any at all?" Mark interjected.
"At this time, no." she answered reluctantly. It was evident by her expression that it cost her a great deal to admit.it. "All systems were at peak efficiency and then some two days ago. This shouldn't be happening. I have every qualified engineer running manual tests on every system on this ship. If there's something wrong, we'll find it."
"How long do we have before we are forced to switch to emergency backup?" Colin asked quietly.
"At the current rate of expenditure, my guess is twelve hours." Rhianna said wearily.
"Do you feel you can locate the source of the power drain by then?"
"I can't say, Sir." she answered honestly. "It would help if we had more hands."
Colin nodded and surveyed the group. " Please check with your staffs--anyone who has engineering skills should report immediately to Lieutenant Jorrell."
"Maybe I can help." Naeve offered. "I was CEO on my last post."
Rhianna eyed the other woman appraisingly, and slowly nodded. "Thank you, Commander."
"Very well. It is my hope this will all be solved before we need to switch to backup power. I expect each of you to keep your departments calm and running the best you can."Colin ordered. "Lieutenant Jorrell, keep me posted on your progress."
As the other members of the senior staff rose to depart, Colin placed a hand on Makr's shoulder to prevent him from following.
"Stay a moment." he commanded.
Mark nodded, wordlessly, as the others trailed out of the room, thier faces sober.
"Yes, Sir?" he asked, without expression.
"We need to be prepared to switch to emergency power, Exec. I would like it if you would prepare a contingency plan. I have a feeling we'll need it." he said grimly.
"Certainly, sir. I'll have it for you within the hour."
Colin hesitated, as if he were about to say something further, then reconsidered. Silence filled the awkward gap.
"Is there anything else?" Mark asked evenly.
Colin shook his head. "No Exec. Unless you have any thoughts you would like to share, you may go."
He waited for the doors to slide shut behind his executive officer before he allowed the anxiety he felt to replace the placid outward demeanor he had presented earlier. Crossing the floor to his observation window, he stared at his grim faced reflection, not really seeing the stars beyond.
*************
Naeve crawled along the Jeffries tube, toolkit in hand, ignoring the cramp in her legs as she kept pace with Ari Denyri. Somewhere ahead of them both, Rhianna Jorrell was leading the small group to the port warp engine. Once they reached it, they would attempt to divert enough power to it to get them to the next star system, which held several colonies and a repair dock.
At least that was the plan.
Naeve was so wrapped up in her thoughts she nearly collided with Ari who had apparently stopped moving.
"What's the problem?" she asked, craning her neck over his shoulder.
Ari pointed ahead. "We're here. Rhianna's going to try and get us in."
Rhianna was kneeling in front of the dilithium chamber hatch. She had pulled open a nearby console, i patiently inputing her access codes. Within moments, the hatch cycled green, and Rhianna began to tug.
"Help me." she called over her shoulder and Ari obediently crawled closer, lending his strength to hers.
With a reluctant groan, the hatch shuddered and grudgingly opened.
"Remind me to have this oiled." Rhianna said breathlessly and disappeared through the small opening into the matter-antimatter reaction chamber.
Ari and Naeve followed close behind, heading to the dilithium crystal chamber. Within moments, they had pried open several panels, opened their tool kits, and begun to work on rerouting power flow to the nacelles.
"You're pretty fast at this. How long were you a CEO before you were transferred here?" Ari asked amiably as he lay flat on his back using a tetronic probe on the wiring above him.
"Three years." Naeve answered, brushing elbows with him as she worked on an adjacent patch of wiring.
They had been chatting companionably to pass the time while they worked, nearly forgetting Rhianna was there at times. The other woman remained slightly apart fromthem, working in silence the while.
"How about you, Lieutenant Jorrell?" Naeve attempted yet again to include her in the conversation.
Rhianna frowned at the interruption as she reached for a carytic inducer. "I'm sorry, I wasn't listening." she lied.
"How long have you been a CEO?" Naeve repeated.
"About two months, give or take a week." she said stiffly, daring the other woman to comment on her inexperience.
Instead, Naeve surprised her by replying. " I commend you on your skills then, Lieutenant. You're an excellent engineer to have gotten such a coveted position on this ship."
"Thank you." Rhianna was suddenly unsure of herself, uncomfortable with the compliment.
Naeve continued. "Where was your last posting?"
"USS Armstrong."
Naeve brightened visibly. "With Kella'h Toth? Best poker player I've ever met. I still owe her 20 credits. How's she doing?"
Rhianna scowled, ashamed as she recalled her behavior at thier last meeting. "Fine, I suppose. We didn't speak often." she said shortly.
"Oh." Naeve was slightly taken aback by the rebuff. "I'm sure she taught you a lot."
"Lieutenant Commander, if you dont mind, I need to get back to my work." she said abruptly. "There's still a lot to be done." She turned away, her back slightly to Naeve as she knelt on the ground. The conversation was evidently over.
Naeve glanced at Ari questioningly, but he merely shrugged. Charm certainly wasn't a trait the engineer could claim to possess. She was a bit prickly, but she was damn good at her job. Naeve was careful not to disturb her again, turning her attention completely to Ari now as they worked.
Rhianna doggedly rewired panel after panel, working silently and efficiently over the next two hours. She didn't look in thier direction once, struggling to ignore their light hearted laughter but not quite succeeding.
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