Installing Bars the Simple Way

Posted on 18 Feb 2014 @ 7:30pm by Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Amril & Ensign K'os Beaumont & Petty Officer 3rd Class Ellsworth Hudson & Lieutenant Min Zhao & Petty Officer 3rd Class Sakkhet & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Alfred Rayne
Edited on on 18 Feb 2014 @ 7:45pm

4,485 words; about a 22 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Starfleet HQ, Meeting Room #4, San Francisco, California
Timeline: MD 10 - 1002 Hrs

ON

Had Asahi known what was going to happen the moment he inquired about the bar installation, he probably would have clammed right up and not said a word. Of course, not having known what truly was going on with the former department head, all Asahi could do now was run around and play catch-up before shore leave was out.

So naturally, after gathering as many materials as he possibly could, he sent out a mass message to the engineering and operations staff. The request was simple enough; requesting for all available hands to help with the bar project, and Asahi had hoped to get at least some form of response. Many on both engineering and operations ends offered advice, but he was still uncertain.

Hopefully this meeting would clear things up.

Asahi sat himself down in a seat toward the head of the meeting room, fiddling about with his PADD nervously. He was so not cut out to be in charge of big projects like this, but he was holding out that no one would notice... not too much anyway.

Ellsworth suspected not many had arrived given the mental quietness about the room ahead of him, but when he finally arrived he still paused awkwardly at the door. Not many...none. Same thing. He looked down the length of the table at a young Terran male that he didn't recognize; given that he was at the head of the table, he must have been the lieutenant who called the meeting. The Betazoid's assessment of him was, of course, initially physical - cute, he thought, and little.

Recognizing he was probably the lowest ranking person attending, he quietly made his way to about the middle of the table and slipped into a chair. He assumed seating was generally by rank, so he just hoped he was far enough down the line. Ellsworth smiled nervously and made eye contact with Lieutenant Kita, realizing in the act that he'd forgotten his PADD. This was his first "official" meeting since graduation, and it was already off to a rocky start.

"Hi. I'm Ellsworth, the quartermaster. Uh... Petty Officer Hudson, sir, I mean."

K'os followed not too far behind. His attention was focused on a PADD displaying a schematic. He smiled acknowledgment at those present and sat quickly returning his focus to the task he was completing.

Sakket entered the room with his federation standard issued tool box. He had been suggested to take part in the activity of creating a new bar and despite his agitations he finally decided that it would be a prudent course of action to interact with his colleagues. Scanning the room he found himself an empty chair and sat down.

"It's alright Ellsworth." Asahi smiled. "You're technically here on your own time. We can worry about formalities when we're zooming about space."

"Oh, okay," Ellsworth said, brightening a bit and seeing the assistant chief engineer as a person rather than an officer for the first time. His smile became coy - Asahi was cute, and little, too. He tried not to look at him too suggestively, but it was hard as he had a thing for cute little blondes...and brunettes and redheads...and green hair and blue hair...and purple...basically, the entire visible spectrum.

Min slipped into the conference room through a side door and glanced at those assembled already. The only face she recognized in the room was Lt Kita's from their brief meeting at the command ceremony. Placing herself down near Kita, she waited for the meeting to begin.

Amril followed shortly after Min and made his way in silence to the table. He had a distracted look on his face, suggesting his unusual silence was the result of having his mind focused on something else.

Alfred walked into the room with a dataslate in onehand and a small non-issue toolbox in the other, without breaking step he coldly glanced across the assembled officers and crewmen and forced a quick half smile. As he took the nearest seat. Quickly seated he nodded towards the officer who had been about to speak as he had walked in.

"I'm glad you all could join me today." The tiny engineer beamed at the turnout of crew that had shown up. He almost hadn't expected anyone to show up at all, seeing as everyone was on shore leave. But there was luck on his side today. "As you're probably all aware at this point, the Callisto Bar is something that the crew as a whole have been planning for a few months. Schematics have been drawn up, very preliminary of course, and people have been contacted. The plans for the Callisto Bar are... extremely ambitious, but, I do think we can pull it off."

He brought up a hologram on the central projector; schematics of the ship with the addition of the bar. "If we're going to manage to rearrange the area, we'll have to rewire some of the ship's power-systems so that we don't blow up the whole vessel while we're trying to have a good time."

"The schematics in your PADDs will give you a comprehensive list of what the crew wants in this bar and distillery installment, and the components we'll have at our disposal to help us with this task. We have full use of a maintenance team if we need to haul about larger components and such, but our main task is to install everything this bar needs to power up safely."

He grinned. "Luckily, that whole side of Deck 7 has been refitted with new bulkheads, so we aren't all digging deep to find what we need. It shouldn't take nearly as long as it sounds like it's going to take, and, if we work fast, we can still enjoy most of our shore leave... So..." He cleared his throat. "Who wants to break the ice with the first idea?"

Ellsworth picked up the PADD and flipped through the information. Ninety-five percent of it looked like Klingon to him. What the hell was an EPS power modulation conditioner? He felt like he may have slept through the engineering courses that everyone else in the room had taken. In fact, he could barely recall having any engineering courses. He'd studied supply chains, raw materials, spatial arrangement...quartermaster stuff. Almost tuning the conversation out entirely, he continued flipping through the data to look for the supplies the bar would need to be stocked with; he could at least work with Supply Command to get the ball rolling there.

Since Asahi had already set the informal tone, K'os felt less self-conscious about snapping his hand up than he would have otherwise. When he was acknowledged he looked back down at the notes he had started to tap in on his device then looked back at Asahi when his thoughts were collected. "Integrating the bar with the EPS waveguides shouldn't be difficult, but my first thoughts would be to look at configuring a secondary power distribution system dedicated solely to the bar. Would that be helpful or is there ample system resources dedicated to this project?" K'os wasn't sure if it was needed, but it was his input from a system specialist side not from any practical ops management experience.

Min piped up. "I'd prefer we had some sort of secondary system in place. The ship's EPS capacity is good under normal circumstances but if we need the power in a hurry, I'd rather have as few taps to close as possible." She glanced over her padd. "Would also make it easier to wire in a battery backup in case we do have extended outages. Would hate for a good brew to go to waste because someone in Ops killed the lights."

Asahi gave it a good thought, glancing down at his own PADD for reference. "... You know what, that's not a bad thought. It'd be too much of a mess if we went red and needed some more power." They were already barely into the meeting, and he felt slightly more efficient. "It should be easy enough to hook up the secondary system, it's just where we're putting it." Logistics were never his strongpoint.

Min glanced around at the assembled crew, hoping for an answer before she piped up again. This bar was as much theirs as it was her's and in many ways, they deserved to have the input more so then her.

"There are two redundant power supplies that run along the LI utility conduits. They run through deck 7 to the reprocessing facilities on deck 8. Could we sacrifice one of those? The power supply would already be set up, but it would be a tedious reprogramming task." K'os referred again to some notes, then added. "Replicator headends as one example would need to be recoded."



Ellsworth became dimly aware that his mouth was hanging open as he looked from engineer to engineer to ops personnel. He looked back down at his PADD and tried to look for the 'LI utility conduits' or 'EPS waveguides' in the hopes of better following the conversation.

He finally found the EPS waveguides, which looked like little more than wiggly lines on a schematic, and he groaned quietly before giving up and sitting back in the chair to watch the others. Maybe someone would bring up what kinda booze they should stock the bar with and then he could debate the finer points of Maparian versus Romulan ale. In the meantime, he decided to just admire the pretty people: how did Asahi get his hair to lay like that, and how come that Vulcan had round eyebrows?

Alfred had been looking around the room in mediated glances up from the plans on his dataslate, as his eyes fell on Ellsworth's slack jawed visage he made a mental note to keep an eye on this crewman, before returning back to the plans for the bar and skimming to the end.

Alfred cleared his throat as he sat up fully and leaned forwards upon the table. "KIS and KIS" he said to make sure he had peoples attention before continuing.
" Keep It Simple and Keep It Smart are the two simple guidelines to follow in a project like this. We have a not-insignificant area of the ship to transform into something significant for its crew, but this must be done without any negative impact upon the efficiency and capability of the ship or its crew as a whole. If you are open to some possibly quite different suggestions on how to proceed, i have a few. " he said in his east London slightly cockney deep English accent and leaned back into his chair.

Ellsworth lifted an eyebrow at the acronym, and then decided to make a game out of coming up with alternatives to keep himself amused. Klingons In Space Killing Innocent Saurians. Knitting Iridescent Silken Kerchiefs Is Silly. Kidnapped Iridian Slaves Kill Idiotic Slavers. Knights In Shiny Knickers Imitate Saalm. The last one threatened to send him into a fit of giggles, which he managed to cut off with a snicker that sounded like an odd cough. He cleared his throat and sat up straight in his chair, trying his best to look serious.

K'os looked up from his PADD and regarded the Bos'n with interest. He hadn't had a chance to meet him yet, but knew who he was by word of mouth among the other enlisted. He didn't know about the rest of them, but if he had ideas, K'os definitely wanted to hear them.

Asahi rose his brow, eyes darting between people and PADD notes as he tried to keep up. This was so much easier when he wasn't leading a discussion, but everyone had their good points. "Uh... Rayne is it?" He grinned. "Haven't heard that one yet, it's usually Keep it Simple, Stupid." He chuckled. "But come on, don't keep us in suspense now. What do you have for us?"

*A new one...... of course it's new, the seeing double digits on your birthday is still new to this effeminate looking boy officer* Alfred thought to himself as he returned a hollow attempt at a polite smile to Asahi's well humoured response.

" If we create a sort of semi self sufficient shell or platform within the ships hull from which the bar operates we should be able to avoid several levels of complexity involved in this plan " he said as he placed the data slate with the plan still showing upon it down on the table.

" If we run all or most of the powered systems from a simple 3 part battery powered set up, with 1 part on a slow charge from the ship, another fully charged on standby and the final part actually running the system or systems it is attached to. Then we should reduce the issues of full integration with the ship.
Think of it as applying a sort of 'comfort camping' approach to technology to this bar set up. It will take a good number of these battery set ups to achieve this but it should not be complicated to implement. It will allow for partial shut down, repair or upgrade of any of the bar systems without too much if any effect on the rest of the bar systems, so the facility can keep operating even at reduced capacity.
Keeping the 'Comfort camping' idea in mind, if the fixtures and fittings are all set up to be at least semi-permanent therefore easily removable then any unforeseen reasons we might have to use this space for some new a critical function or requirement can be done in very little time. Due to the lesser level of direct integration and a sort of slot in slot out element to its fittings. I can go on into a little further detail if this concept is of interest? or if anyone has any questions?"

"As long as Operations can isolate or 'pull the plug' so to speak with minimal back feed into the control relay's and minimal number of taps, I'm okay with it. To be frank about, when Ops needs the power, we need the power. Disconnecting the EPS feed quickly and safely is life or death as far as I'm concerned."

Alfred nodded and tapped his data slate a few times before quickly sketching out some simple shapes and began to talk again.
" A simple 'tap' with a simple 'fuse' to turn the feed on or off " he said pointing at a small box he'd drawn on the side of a larger rectangle marked EPS. " Conducting material with a low burn out point as a secondary safety to guard against any surges the a more advanced 'fuse' to join up the battery's and manage the alternation between use, charge and standby." He continued following a thin line from the small box that led to circle with a trio of triangles within it and a diamond in the middle them as he spoke about the advanced fuse and battery's. He continued to trace the line as it left the circle and reached another small square that was on the side of another rectangle marked system.

" A repeat of the first 'tap' or 'fuse' as the conductor reached the system. This quick sketch a simplification. Also if in installing this the floor is raised from the deck itself by a small amount with the systems power supply plugging into the ship then being ran in the gap until it connects to the system it will save having to relay anything into the deck or bulkheads itself.
Essentially plug in securely, cover with appropriate durable easily removable lightweight work surface or 'Modular flooring' and carry on. " Alfred stopped his flow and looked around to see how it had been received.

Ellsworth squinted at the sketch, thinking it looked vaguely familiar. Maybe from an electrical engineering unit in his enlisted training. He didn't follow the technical aspect of it, but he understood the basic design that was being presented.

"I like the modular nature of the design," the young quartermaster chimed in, having remained completely silent for the rest of the meeting. "As the bo'sun says, in an emergency we can move it out quickly. Maybe even completely in one piece with the cargo transporter once the connections are severed; that will save time and labour, maybe even make it easy to replace if we'd like."

Alfred nodded as the Quartermaster spoke "my points precisely easy in easy out easy to replace and repair or maintain. All of it made from widely used and reliable technology that can be just as at home on a starship or being used in comfort camping or a music festival. " He said as he idly tapped the table with his stylus.

Asahi had kept fairly silent up until this point. There were variables he had been taking into consideration, quite a few numbers he had been running in order to make certain things happen. The only time he ever had to deal with power was when it dealt with anti-matter and the warp core, so he was grateful someone had a reasonable suggestion. "Sounds easy enough, but you mentioned we'd need a good number of them to keep everything going. It's definitely the easiest solution we've got on the table for everything, but where are we putting them?... Better yet, where are we getting them?"

K'os straightened, "I don't like the battery method." He said honestly, but without a hint of judgement. "I would prefer to have power drawn from a redundant supply already built, it's not keeping it simple, but it's keeping it tidy. We still have to connect to the utility systems of the ship, why not just connect a power supply with it? I agree fully with the modular design though, and if the battery method is still preferred, then the space under the platform would suffice for such a system."

Alfred looked over towards Asahi "There are probably a good dozen or more suitable battery designs that are commonly used and easily replicated or built from replicated parts. We just need to run the numbers on what systems require what power and then marry it up with the most reliable and easy to manufacture battery. Maybe we tie all of the same systems into one or two power supplies or maybe we go for more of a spread. There is one battery model that comes to mind, i cant remember its details precisely but i've used it on quite a few systems when i've taken my children camping in my Recreational Vehicle while i've been based back on earth for the past few years." He said as he fondly remembered his children and the camping trips.

Turning to K'os Alfred wondered if he should bother even answering this young petty officer. As he stared at him Alfred noted his slightly pointed ears, *perhaps its his mixed breeding that has left him confused* he thought before dismissing the thought and its unnecessary racism.
" I think you've partly answered your own question, it's because it is not keeping it simple. as for keeping things 'tidy' people have different ideas what that can mean. i prefer a less subjective measure. The wires, battery's and all would be securely out of the way of everyone using the bar under the raised floor or other such covering. They would of course be properly insulated and fixed to the decking or bulkhead. If that is 'tidy' to you then this would be very tidy."

K'os understood the concept that Alfred was suggesting but in his mind he thought the older man was keeping things too simple. His hybrid brain didn't think it was tidy at all, and since no one else had anything different to suggest yet perhaps he didn't understand it as clearly as the others had. The bos'n was an educated man and K'os was bound to be put in courses Alfred instructed. So after rethinking it he nodded his head towards Alfred. "Whether I think it's tidy isn't relevant, doesn't make your idea any less clever. Specialist's are just fussy about these things." He grinned like he was suppressing a smile. "I have most of those numbers on my device now if you like," he waved the PADD before putting it back on the table, "and I could work on compiling a list of all the utilities and systems the bar needs and their power requirements. You mentioned you can use that to select the appropriate batteries?"

Alfred nodded as K'os finished speaking " Well volunteered Petty officer, if you want to take the lead on this little issue by doing a little research and number crunching, perhaps with some help from your fellow petty officers here. It will be a good opportunity for the 4 of you to shine from within the Junior ranks. As soon as you've done your little report send it to me for review. I look forwards to reading it, nothing fancy just what we need to know, The systems power requirements and a list of suitable battery and perhaps anything else you might feel could be useful. " He smiled and looked around the room and nodded at the other petty officers around the table as he mentioned there part in his plan.

Ellsworth heard "your fellow petty officers" and snapped his attention back to the meeting. He'd been admiring the almond shape of Asahi's eyes while the half-Vulcan and boatswain argued out whatever the hell they were arguing out. Something about batteries. Stuff that didn't seem to involve him until he heard mention of his rank. He almost said "huh?" out loud, but managed to keep it to himself as he caught the last bit about the report.

The young Betazoid managed to plaster a bright, enthusiastic smile on his face by the time the warrant officer looked at him. He didn't know the first thing about batteries or power requirements, but he did know a thing or two about where to get batteries. At least he could offer that much.

Asahi had his nose in potential designs that had been brought up, when his eyes snapped up at the conversation again. He blinked a few times, taken aback, before he decided to speak up. Clearly the Boatswain had a chip on his shoulder of some sort. Asahi couldn't figure out what, but he really didn't have time for that. Instead, he smiled sweetly at the older man. "Warrant Officer... ah, Rayne, as much as I don't want to step on your toes on the subject, how about you leave the assigning of duties to me?" The engineer saw everyone as equals, ranks aside. While he didn't for a second doubt that Alfred worked extremely hard to get where he was, the fact that the man saw it fit to issue even suggested orders to the engineers grated on his nerves. Maybe Asahi was letting his rank get to him, despite his thoughts.

But that didn't mean he wouldn't throw the pips around if the situation called for it. "Though, you do bring up a good point. Research does need to be done to make sure we're using the right battery supply, and doing it alone just isn't fun at all. K'os, you're off to a great start, and don't be afraid to pipe up if you need any help. Hm..." He glanced around the room, raising a brow. "Ah... Ellsworth? I'm going to rely on you to communicate with K'os about what we'll need, and where we're getting it from."

Alfred looked coldly at Asahi for a half second, before his face returned to its previously almost happy calm as he sat back and smiled at the small stupidity off Asahi's need to assert himself *He has to be new to rank, i'll have a word with him and maybe the other officers briefly after*.

Ellsworth perked up under the attention of the young engineering officer. He gave his best smile - bright and beautiful - and nodded, looking somewhat doe-eyed. He had no idea who K'os was (or maybe that was some position he was unfamiliar with) but it seemed more important to just agree. "Okay, no problem."

"Yes, sir." Was all K'os managed to get out. He looked at each Petty Officer in turn, wanting their opinions but resigning to asking them in private. He wasn't sure about the rest of them, but he had personally volunteered to assist with the installation under the hopes that he could offer his expertise in energy systems and perhaps learn something new about installing new additions to Starships. He wasn't required to be there, and with the mounting course work already this shoreleave he could think of several different projects he could be working on at this moment. He wasn't sure but he felt like he was being condescended to and handed a project to placate him on an idea he didn't even agree with. The tension that the two senior officers created made him uncomfortable and his eyes cut to the door wishing the meeting would just move a long to other things. He swallowed the rising annoyance, fearing it would grow to anger in his hybrid brain. He reminded himself that this was the nature of an enlisted career and the words of his father rang in his hears, 'Just shut up, and don't say anything stupid.' It was his only advice when he told him he was joining Starfleet. Which was starting to feel like the right advice.

"Just glad to help, sir." He added before returning his attention to his notes.

Alfred glanced around the room bored with the meeting now and a little impatient to speak to that young officer privately. As his eyes passed over an individual whose existence he had been doing his best to ignore his eyes very briefly narrowed and his jaw clenched for the fraction of a second his eyes passed over the Vorta, LT Amril, his supposed superior.

"If there aren't any other concerns at the moment, I can divvy up the rest of the duties, and we can get this bar installed." Asahi smiled at the group. "I'm easy to contact if there are any concerns, and we can sort them out then."

OFF

---

LT. Asahi Kita
Asst. Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

LT j.g. Min Zhao
Asst. Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo

PO3 K'os Beaumont
Energy Systems specialist
USS Galileo

SWO Alfred Rayne
Bos'n
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Amril
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo
played by Psylus Anon

PO 3rd Class Sakkhet
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
played by Luke Wyatt

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