Shorting Simulators

Posted on Thu Feb 15th, 2024 @ 11:24pm by Ensign Plumzezii & Lieutenant JG Austin Faust

1,259 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: USS Hecate - Shuttle Pilot Simulation Room
Timeline: MD13

::ON::

Tongue flicking out to clean an eye, Plumzezii threw his clawed hands across the console in front of him, flipping switches and dragging a palm across the helm controls. The shuttle he was piloting threw itself into a slalom around a series of rocky pillars, careening within a hairs' breadth of the canyon wall.

Pushing on the controls, the Saurian shot the shuttle out of the canyon, corkscrewing to avoid the shots of the pursuing Klingon Attack Shuttles attempting to run him to ground. Skidding around into a wide parabolic arc, Plumzezii felt the frill on the back of his neck rise as the shuttle banked towards the violet upper atmosphere of the planet.

The shuttle shields strained under the impact of multiple hits from Klingon disruptors. If I were a mammal, I'd be sweating right about now, he thought with grim humour.

Weaving left and right, jinking up and down Plumzezii avoided the worst of the fire, shunting power to the rear shields and red-lining the engines. Breaking from the atmosphere, the Saurian banked sharply, aiming to avoid the planet's rings. Pushing the shuttle through a complicated series of maneuvers, he started as he saw a Bird-of-Prey decloaking.

Fingers dancing over the controls, the pilot looked on confused as the system produced a series of warbles and raspberries as the viewer in front of him blurred, and winked out of existence.

The controls sparked for good measure.

Hands in the air, Plumzezii whistled and clicked in frustration before opening the comms. 'Operations, could you report to the Shuttle Simulation Bay? We have an ... issue?'

"On it Ensign," came the response of Lt. Faust from over the comm. Austin was on the bridge at his station reviewing daily reports, diagnostic results and the usual nonsense that accompanied a chief's responsibility. He called for relief and then stood from the chair, taking the rudamentary padd with him. As the doors of the turbolift closed behind him, he wondered what could be wrong with the shuttle simulator. Of all of the complicated pieces of equipment loaded and installed onto the Hecate, this was one of the few which installed out of the box easily.

The turbolift ride took a few minutes given the distance between the bridge and the shuttle bay, also the lift had to make multiple stops to collect and disembark passengers. Clearly he had caught the local. When the turbolift doors opened, Austin quickly stepped out into the hallway as the doors instantly closed behind him, nearly catching the skirt of his maroon service coat. The turbolifts were a little too efficient...

The young lieutenant approached the office area to check in with the deck officer, "Chief, I was called down by an ensign..." He looked down at his padd, "Plumzezii for a nondescript issue."

The chief nodded and pointed towards the bay.

Austin nodded in response and stepped out onto the flight deck.

Raising a hand languidly, the Ensign beckoned the Operations Officer over to the simulation suit. 'I was running a training simulation,' he rasped in his Saurian dialect, 'machine shorted out. He palmed the door control, opening up to the mock shuttle cabin. Most of the panels were popped open, a few wires falling out of each of them. 'I ... uh, tried to have a look at it myself while I was waiting,' he said sheepishly.

"Yes, I can see that," Austin responded with a sigh, "It's funny, this was one piece of equipment which seemed to be functioning right out of the box." He stepped inside and flipped down the fascia which covered the configuration panel for the simulator, "Fortunately these things are more robust than the old ones... What were you doing when it shorted out?" He added.

'Standard extraction simulation - stranded Away Team retrieval and evasion of pursuing Klingon fighters,' Plumzezii shrugged, 'looked to be some of my best scores yet.' He let his mouth fall open, and his tongue lol in a Saurian grin, 'maybe Jensen sabotaged my attempt. He's been jealous of my scores for a while.'

"There's something shorted out in here, definitely," Austin said examining the various deutronic panels, "There's one rather burnt." He pulled it out, "Definitely a burn out," he said as he set the burnt circuit board down onto the deck plate, "Either a subcomponent at the end of life stage, a defect or a power surge..." He commented.

Plum's eye swiveled in Faust's direction, 'Jensen wouldn't really be able to sabotage the system, would he?' the frill on either side of his neck umbrella'd slightly as he began to consider the implication of his joke. 'Has to be a defective part - there's plenty of them found during shakedown ...'

"It wasn't identified before, but it's definitely a possibility," Austin responded as he put the plate back onto the console. "I can bypass for the moment, but I'll need to fabricate a new part." He stood up and powered the simulator back on, "I doubt it was sabotage," he added.

Skin colouring shifting to tones that communicated amusement and a small amount of relief, the Saurian nodded. 'I thought as much.' The frills on his neck fanned slightly again. 'Let's hope there's not a short in a critical system. I'm rather partial to oxygen, you know?' he added as he extended a clawed hand and indicate the board. 'May I?'

The young man chuckled, "Yeah, it's always better to keep breathing," he responded, "Sure..." He handed the other office the burnt circuit board. "It's done, unfortunately," added, "It'll take some time to fabricate a new one. There are more pressing jobs for fabrication right now..."

'Understood.' Plum nodded as he turned the board over in his hands, 'I can't even tell what caused it, but I only dabble in electronics' he said. Unfolding to his full height, he extended his hand to the Lieutenant still crouching on the floor, 'and luckily my training hours are fully logged for now.'

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more," Austin responded as he took the helping hand and got to his feet, "There's too much going on and not enough hands to go around... But what else is new?"

'I hear you,' Plum chuckled, 'too many brass, not enough grunts to do the work, eh? That'll never change, money or not.' The Saurian swiveled his eyes about the room. 'Guess there's not much to do here til your guys get her cleaned up.' He motioned towards the door, 'might as well just spend some time in the briefing room going over the mission notes.'

"Have fun," Austin responded, "I better go down to fabrication and check on the back log... Almost every department needs something installed or reconfigured. You would think the Yard Engineers would coordinate with the personnel who are stuck using what they build... But nope..."

'Why, and make things difficult for themselves?' Plum laugh-wheezed. 'If you need a hand installing anything for the flight controls for the shuttles, or the ship, just give a call. I'll be happy to lend a testing hand.' Raising a hand in farewell, the Saurian stalked out of the simulator room without a backwards glance.

"I'll keep that in mind, thank you Mr. Plumzezii," Austin responded as he watched the young Saurian leave the simulator room.

::OFF::

Ensign Plumzezii
Flight Control Officer
USS Hecate

Lt. J.G. Austin Faust
Chief Operations Officer
USS Hecate

 

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