Engineers Vs. Tribbles.

Posted on 03 Aug 2014 @ 11:40pm by Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Lieutenant JG Grayson Jones & Petty Officer 2nd Class Eva Kovalev & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Arthur Willis & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Riley Cameron & Petty Officer 2nd Class Ardon Zuwtt & Petty Officer 3rd Class Vermeer Talbot
Edited on on 23 Aug 2014 @ 9:58pm

2,056 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 06 :: 1135 Hours

ON

The tribbles were going to be more of a problem than Asahi originally thought. Maybe if he had the numbers in front of him, he would have had a more immediate solution to the problem. Now, he wasn't too certain he had any solution to the problem. But that was what the team was for. Someone in Engineering had to have some idea of what to do during a tribble infestation, or at least had to know what to do with a bunch of oversized dust bunny/locust hybrids.

Leading the newly minted Assistant Chief into the room, he smiled at the few engineers already there, attempting to ignore the hideously-colored fluffs wandering closer and closer to the warp core. They hadn't made it there yet.

Grayson followed his new chief in step. Times like this he wished he had a mug of green tea to have in his hands again. Usually he didn't head to a meeting without one.

Cameron wandered in, grasping a couple of spent gel packs and a plasma cutter, throwing the collection on the table before he settled alongside his fellow engineers.

"Those damn tribbles! Managed to get into one of the ODN conduits - decided that the power convertors would be a tasty snack, friend themselves and half the gel packs in that section! I've been down there for hours!"

Eva nodded at Cameron. "Thank god they haven't gotten into any of the fusion reactors yet. They get into my babies they could take out half a deck."

"I'm glad you all could make it on such short notice. I probably would have waited for a better time, when I knew everyone was going to be awake and about, but we're sort of... pressed for time." Asahi held back a sigh at the tribbles he saw crawling all over one of the consoles. "Before we launch into things, I'm also going to take the opportunity to introduce our new Assistant Chief, Grayson Jones. Ensign? Is there anything you wanna add before we keep going?"

"Nothing yet, just that I am glad to be part of the ship, this team and look forward to getting to know and work with you all." Grayson liked to keep introductions short and sweet.

"Right. He'll be on Alpha shift, so we'll have a full chief compliment." Asahi gave it a small, momentary pause before switching the topics up again. "But, we should talk about these tribbles. Most of what's been happening so far is great, but from the calculations I've received from Science, we're probably going to have a much bigger, fuzzier problem very very soon. We'll need a more immediate solution that we can set-up and get moving in twenty four hours, something that requires as little power as possible, as I have no idea what the tribbles have done to muck up the works at this point. Anyone have any ideas?"

"Shovels and an airlock?" Grayson joked. He never would want to harm them, but knew of the ravenous pets they could be.

"Aye - and a few dogs to boot - just get them to eat the blighters." Riley replied, thinking of the terrier dogs of his native Scotland and their fondness for chasing small furry animals.

"Have we thought about forcefields? Go section by section and lock down the ship?"

"That is an idea, " Grayson chimed in, "though they seem to have a knack of getting through bulkheads. We would have to make sure the transition between each section is as clean as possible. Just one through the gap and we face being back at square one again."

"It's an idea we'll have to give a good thought." Asahi frowned, eyes now on the PADD in front of him. "It'll work with the level of infestation we're at now, and we'll have to work with Ops to make sure something like that would go off efficiently... Hm."

"Aye my only concern would be power consumption - do we have the capacity to run that many forcefields at once? Might have tae do without a few of the less vital systems eh?"

Riley piped up, thinking a little further on his idea. The Galileo wasn't exactly a powerhouse as far as her warp core output went, and sealing off the whole ship might be an issue - then again, everything engineers did was to fix an issue of one sort or another.

"Really we wouldn't need many forcefields if you think about it. We start at a central location and branch out from there. We only need to seal off current areas we are in so they don't spread. Say we lock of deck section 1, then move to deck 2 section 2. By that time we would only need to shield those areas, not every single section of the ship. We might need teams taking up the rear to ensure a clean sweep." He took a breath, this was what Grayson called his 'shine time', when ideas just kept coming, the thrill of batting them around with his fellow engineers. He continued, "As for between decks, we seal them off completely. Hatches, bulkheads and have a team sweeping the Jefferies Tubes. It looks to be pretty labour heavy potentially."

Grayson was certainly proving himself, and that was something Asahi felt a tiny swell of pride and relief about. And he was doubly glad that the ideas Cameron had weren't being downed or belittled. As qualified as Vasily was, the absent Russian Warrant Officer was less-than-ideal in a team setting. At least they were being constructive now.

Nonetheless, he furrowed his brow and gave a thoughtful 'hm' noise. "Even if we needed more energy than some of the less than vital systems can give, we can always commandeer the battery packs from the bar. I'm pretty sure they won't mind helping us get rid of the problem... but Ensign Grayson, that's a good point. Just one question; how do we make a clean sweep? We're three days into the infestation. There's no telling how many of these things there are."

Taking a few moments to think it through, he came up with his response. "Pattern enhancers?" he wasn't sure if that was meant to be a question or not, but continued. "Once we think we have locked an area down, as well as going an eyeball sweep, we set up some pattern enhancers. The close proximity of some additional targeting sensors should allow transporter control to identify any further tribbles and beam them to a specified location."

"It could work." Eva commented. "Is there some way to downsize the units tho? A standard enhancer is pretty bulky and they will only fit in junctions if we drag them between decks."

"We could make them modular." Grayson suggested. "Split them into two more manageable parts for people to carry between. One section the buffer, the other power supply and targeting sensors."

Nodding along, Asahi let a small smile sneak across his features. "You seem to have a good dialogue going about this. Grayson, how about you take Cameron and Kovalev after we're done here, and get in touch with the transporter chief, figure out exactly what you'll need to make force fields and pattern enhancers work with as little power as humanly possible. If you need more than the ship itself can handle, let me know and I'll wrangle some of those modules out of the Callisto."

On his first day, Grayson felt proud and a sense of accomplishment to be given the responsibility. "Thanks Chief." He nodded and smiled to the fellow engineers he would be working with.

Asahi nodded, furrowing his brow thoughtfully. "Does anyone else have any other ideas? Maybe we can combine a few, bounce 'em off of each other... I was thinking of a vacuum, but that might require more energy than it's worth... and I'd feel like we were littering..."

Willis entered into Main Engineering. "Sorry I'm late. I was on diaper detail with Tyra and she kicked while I changing her and, well...need less to say, I ended up taking a shower and getting a fresh uniform. Last time I do something nice for the Quinns. Also, I took a turbolift ride with a Tribble. That was..awkward."

Eva chuckled. "Beats waking up to the sound of a cooing furball only to find them snacking on your toothbrush."

"These buggers are everywhere. Can't we just decompress the ship and shoot them out? Or beam them into the caverns?" asked Willis, only half joking.

"Glad you could join us, Willis. That's what we're talking about; tribbles." Glancing up from his PADD, Asahi chuckled. "Beaming them into the caverns would go against our mission objective, unfortunately. Though, it would be humorous to see if whatever's down in there is scared of some fluff. I'm sure there are places we could easily send 'em, instead of tossing them out into space or something."

"We could quarantine them in a cargo bay or something," piped in the damage control officer Ardon Zuwtt. Normally he would be much more active in the meeting, but he had a lot on his mind and his brain was drifting in and out of the room. In only a couple hours, a woman from his past was to come aboard -- an ex that he hadn't seen in six years. She was a medical officer; that association was probably why he had a medical term like quarantine in his head. Before anyone replied, his thoughts had already wandered back to Tuula, wondering if she would be any different since he last saw her.

"If we could get them into one of our science labs, they can be completely sealed off from the rest of the ship." added Willis, "I'm not sure how we can get them all in there."

"Cargo bay... Science labs..." Asahi nodded, writing the notes down in his PADD. "Both are excellent ideas, so long as we get to containing these tribbles before they get out of hand. I'll have to confer with Ops and Science, to make sure we have the room for something like this."

"Maybe," Vermeer Tabot said from where he had managed to sit, looking up. "We could use the transporters to lock onto their signatures. I mean, their DNA is different, or we could calibrate by size...even if some pets might be at risk then. Anyway, we beam them all into the science labs, seal them up and all set? And then we can humanely kill them and make gloves out of them?"

"I could do with a new sporran." Riley replied jokingly as he continued working out the power utilization curves for the number of forcefields they would be needing in order for their plan to work.

Grayson giggled.

Willis chuckled, "Yeah, use one to put on Quinn's bald head."

Getting the conversation back, Grayson agreed with an idea, "The cargo bay is a good idea. Big open space, especially if it is empty. Contained and secure as well, nowhere for them to escape to."

Asahi glanced down at the time on his PADD, hissing angrily at it. "Alright, I don't mean to cut us short, but I have a meeting to get off to. Let me know if you have any other ideas... even if it is fashion choices." He nodded curtly. "Everyone dismissed."

Grayson nodded back, went to get his bag, grab a PADD and continue with the rest of his first day. He still had to check into sickbay, with the counsellor and find his new room and from what he heard, a room mate. He would check in with those he needed to later once he had settled in a little.

Zuwtt was so deep in thought that he didn't even realize that the meeting was over until people started standing up and leaving. Soon, Tuula would be his again.

OFF

Lt. Asahi Kita
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

PO2 Ardon Zuwtt
Damage Control Specialist
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 3rd Class Vermeer Talbot
Engineer
USS Galilo

Ensign Grayson Jones
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Warrant Officer Arthur Willis
Engineering Computer Specialist
PNPC-Quinn
USS Galileo

Warrant Officer Riley Cameron
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC Holliday]

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