Breaking the Ice and the Deflector

Posted on 06 Feb 2015 @ 5:14am by Commander Andreus Kohl & Commander Norvi Stace & Ensign Ibrahim Dragovic

3,704 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 5, Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD 40 - 0920 hours

[ON]

At a corridor intersection on deck five, the heavy double-doors to Holodeck 2 pulled themselves apart with a hydraulic groaning noise. From within, the uniformed form of Andreus Kohl twisted and turned to squeeze between the doors before they'd fully opened. He hopped on the pads of his booted feet, and came to a stop just short of colliding with a passing ensign. Said passing ensign was tall, deeply tanned, and sported a shaved head. Kohl stopped to look at him, looked right at him.

"Heeeeyyyyyy," Kohl called out with a casualness that was far too casual to be anything but artifice. He grinned and waited for the ensign's eyes to turn towards him. "You're Ensign Dragovic. ...Yeah?"

Dragovic stopped when he heard his name. He matched the older man's smile. "Sure am, broth-" he began to say, stopping when his eyes wandered down to the two and a half pips on the other man's collar. He straightened up his posture, assumed an at-ease stance and cleared his throat. "Ahem. Aye, sir. Ensign Ibrahim Dragovic." Most Novans had little patience for formality or "putting on airs," so to speak, and Ibrahim tolerated Starfleet's military rigidity only because it allowed him the means to explore the universe.

Behind Kohl, the doors finished opening and it became apparent that the holodeck was simulating the Galileo's main bridge. Keeping otherwise still where he stood, Kohl nodded quickly --as if he didn't want to outright ignore the pomp and pleasantries, but he didn't truly have the patience to participate in them-- and he waggled a finger at Dragovic. From his inflection, Kohl clearly already knew the answer to his question before he asked, "And you know a little bit about astrometrics, yeah?"

The ensign nodded. "Aye, sir," he began, wary of being lulled into a sense of familiarity with a superior officer. He'd already received plenty of demerits for just that in the Academy. "It was the focus of my studies at the Academy. I was a research assistant to Professor T'Paal during her work on long-range nebular sensor calibrations and my cadet cruise was aboard the USS Frontier during her survey of the Hromi Cluster."

"Beauty," Kohl said, and he brought his hands together with an enthusiastic clap. Then he hooked a thumb over his shoulder to point at the holodeck bridge behind him. With some sense of urgency, Kohl said, "I need you. Desperately. We need you." --And he turned to jog onto the holodeck-- "Come along!"

Dragovic hesitated. He always found holodecks slightly unnerving, to be able to see and touch things that weren't 'real' just seemed... unnatural. Which in turn meant made him wonder what could be so urgent inside of the holodeck. With a slight shrug he hoped his superior did not catch, he fell into step behind Kohl and found himself on what he recognized to be a precise replica of a Nova class starship's bridge.

Stace was already sat in the centre command chair and, remaining seated, she simply turned her head to regard both of them as they entered, a smile washing upon her features. "Ensign Dragovic," she said in a measured yet familiar tone, "welcome to the Gally. I'm Commander Stace, the Chief Science Officer. I don't think that we've had a chance to be introduced yet." She clasped the arm rests as they both walked towards her and lifted herself out of the chair. "Welcome." She extended her hand to greet him.

Relieved to be able to forgo the traditional salute, Dragovic shook her hand. "Thank you, Commander, it is truly a pleasure. The Galileo was my first choice of assignment." Well, tied for first, but he thought it unnecessary to be quite so honest. Glancing at a science console, it appeared to be 'functional,' running some sort of simulated diagnostic. This was clearly some kind of training exercise, but the suddenness with which he was brought into it was unorthodox, to say the least. Still, Dragovic decided the best thing to do was play along. "Your orders, Commander...s?" he asked, adding the 's' as an afterthought as he glanced at the other officer.

Kohl followed Dragovic to the primary science console. In response to the implicit question --rather than the explicit question-- Kohl said, "I'm Lieutenant Commander Kohl, but do call me Andreus. I'm the Galileo's Chief Research Officer." Sweeping a hand to indicate the results on the LCARS display, Kohl explained, "We're installing a secondary deflector array. The purpose of this simulation is failure analysis. We want to learn what it takes to push the deflector system's limits, and overload it, within the relatively safety of a holographic environment. Are you any good at busting things up?"

"Honestly I've never tired s-, ah, Andreus," he said distractedly without looking up from the science console's diagnostic ticker. He turned to Kohl with a smirk. "But I'm willing to give it my best shot. Although looks like we'll have our work cut out for us, by the looks of it this navigational deflector is one of Starfleet's most advanced models yet."

Stace eyed the new recruit and with a twinkle in her eye, flashed him a smile. "Science Console One, Mr. Dragovic, please." She waited for both him and Kohl to take their seats as she returned to her own chair and lowered herself into its support. She placed her hand on the central command console and tapped in a few commands. Suddenly, the lights of the bridge lowered as the first simulation began. "Let's see how the secondary deflector handles scanning short-range systems at Warp Six. Mr. Kohl? Perhaps we should start near the Sol system for originality."

"Aye, sir," replied Kohl, as he settled into the chair behind the rounded CONN console. He stared down at the LCARS interface blankly, and he blinked at it. "I can't say I've done much piloting outside my Academy days in the Sol system," Kohl admitted. He held his hands up and away from the controls as he orientated himself to their layout, and then all at once, he began tapping commands and coordinates on the console's touchscreen. Kohl confirmed, "Course laid in at warp six."

Dragovic tapped at the science console's screen and scanned the output readings. "Both navigational deflectors are online and primed at cruising frequencies."

Before Stace could give the order to engage, Kohl tilted his head to the left, speaking back over his shoulder, without entirely looking away from his console. "You say the Galileo was your first choice?" Kohl asked Dragovic. "What was it about our tough little ship that caught your interest?"

"Hmm?" Dragovic had expected to go to warp and was caught off-guard by the question. "Well, A few things guess. Nova-class ships have some of the Federation's most advanced sensors, which I've always wanted to work with. Discovering the unknown and all that," he mused distractedly, eyes locked on the console's scrolling display. "And the Galileo is in turn one of the few Nova ships assigned to the Planetary Sciences Division, so I figured she'd be on the forefront of discovering new worlds and such. It's the reason I joined Starfleet, the only real way I saw to become a real explorer."

"She is a beautiful ship. Never steered us wrong," Kohl said. This time, he looked back far enough to share a beaming grin with Dragovic. "She's charted new star systems and studied new mysteries on old worlds. Even kept us safe from rogue Klingons, hijacked Borg, and a fiery planetfall." Shaking his head, Kohl cleared his throat and returned his attention to the CONN. "Warp engines ready at your command, ma'am," he reported to Stace.

Stace viewed the interaction with a muted regard as a soft smile washed upon her features. She twisted her head to the left to look at the central command display before quickly punching in the calculations. "Steer us to coordinates one-zero-seven, mark two-four-nine, Commander. And engage."

For a moment, Stace smoothed the seat by her thigh with her hand affectionately. It had been quite a number of years since the Stace Symbiont had commanded a vessel, but despite its technological advancement, the little Nova seemed under-par to the Galaxy class her previous host, Janel, had commanded. But with her promotion to second officer and the tantilising promise of duty bridge shifts on the horizon, Stace was excited.

At the CONN, Kohl swiped his fingers across the necessary contact points. His commands caused a mild rumble and whine, as the Galileo was hurled into warp speed by its powerful engines. Kohl looked up at the forward viewscreen. The static starscape was transformed into a mass of black void interjected with shimmering streaks of white light. Speaking over his shoulder again, Kohl asked, "What do you think you'll miss most about the Academy?"

Dragovic hesitated slightly, wondering if it was a trick question. "Er, well when I went to the Academy, it was my first time to Earth," he said while trying to manage the console's rapid-fire readouts. "Or off-world at all, actually. There's a lot of history there, lots of tangible connection to our- ah, human heritage. Did a couple day trips to the Hagia Sofia, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Eiffel Tower. There are a lot of things about Earth to dislike but nobody can say their public transportation system isn't top notch."

"And what are you most excited about with regards to space duty?" Stace couldn't resist chiming in on the post-acceptance interview. This was a fun way to get to know ones crew, and Stace inwardly smiled at Kohl's original suggestion for this attempt at breaking the ice. She tapped in to her command console and selected a simple, yet destructive obstacle passing close to the subtle gravitational pull of Pluto.

He smiled even as a red warning light on the console's display flashed, prompting him to make several quick taps to the console's interface. "Approaching gravitational hazard bearing zero-zero-three mark three-five-five, four thousand kilometers out." he called out, per his limited understanding of bridge protocol from his time at the Academy. Secretly he wondered if the advanced deflector could emit antigravitons at a sufficient frequency to allow the ship to pass through the planetoid's relatively weak gravity well safely, without having to adjust course, but all things considered crashing a simulated starship might not be the best first impression. "And to answer your question, the opportunity for discovery, of course. My ancestors founded Earth's first interstellar colony and charted most of it the old-fashioned way, with maritime ships and star charts, prior to Terra Nova's reintegration with the Federation. And to hear my father talk you'd think they charted half of the coastlines in ancient Earth as well."

Chuckling aloud at that, Kohl said, "There's nothing wrong with a bit of nationalistic pride." He laughed again, but quieted down when Stace gave another order.

"Mister Kohl, once we've cleared it, kick us out about half a light year from Pluto's orbit."

Order given, Kohl's fingers danced and tripped across the CONN interface. Being a kinetic learner, muscle memory was starting to kick-in for Kohl. He was getting faster at inputting the coordinates and the engine adjustments. "Adjusting course, half a light year from Pluto's orbit," Kohl confirmed. And he added, "Ensign Dragovic, do you see any obstacles in our new heading?"

Dragovic took Kohl's tone as a cue. The Sol Sector was one of the most explored areas of the galaxy. Hell, he memorized its star map in high school. But in a simulated shakedown run, he was bound to run into some hypothetical situations. He cycled through the sensor readouts: subspace radar, wide band tachyon readings, long-range gamma ray detection... The console chirped enthusiastically. "Gravitational well and gamma ray emissions detected, origin bearing three-five-nine point six mark zero-zero-zero point four, seventeen point three light years out," called over his shoulder. "Probably an early stage protoplanetary disc. At this heading we'll pass though its outer rim but there is still a high risk of deflector field collapse with that density of irradiated dust."

"Oh, go on!" said Kohl, as if Dragovic were a frightened child and Kohl was daring him. Kohl turned his chair to face the younger man. "Take the primary deflector system offline until we pass through the gravity well, but keep the SDA-23 running. I think it's going to make it!" Kohl said with bright enthusiasm. He blinked, and then he cleared his throat, stiffened his posture, and turned back to his console, remembering his place in this simulation. "As... long... as the Commander approves, of course," Kohl added.

"Well," Stace smiled, looking at her console at what Dragovic was describing. She flared her eyebrow at Kohl but then settled her attention on the ensign. "I have full faith in the deflector's abilities," she added wryly. "And Commander Kohl's stellar piloting, naturally. But let's see if you can keep up, Ensign. Take the main deflector offline and start with a planetary sensor sweep."

Dragovic barely managed to a suppress a shrug as he began powering down the primary deflector. It occurred to him that he probably would have been a sight more reluctant to do so under the circumstances in a real life situation. "Main deflector offline, secondary deflector at 98.9% efficiency. Preliminary sensors scans show the disk's mass at 78% helium and hydrogen with the rest being iron and carbon dust. A textbook example," he remarked as he read off the display. Of course, it probably actually was a textbook example at one point.

Stace, looking at the trajectory of the Gally's flight path, suddenly leant over to her console again, her fingers dancing atop the lights as she worked. Within a beat, the lights of the bridge darkened as the red alert klaxon automatically sounded about them all.

"Warning, antimatter containment failure in thirty seconds. Warp core breach imminent."

The dreaded words seemed to ring in the Trill's ears as she looked up to the two officers about her with an underplayed smile. "No engineering crew and just a deflector dish to assist us. Options?"

Dragovic pinched the bridge of his nose. Did it seriously say thirty-seconds. They couldn't eject the core, if the deflector lost that power source the ship would get sand-blasted into shreds going through the dust cloud at this speed. Unless... "IF the new deflector's calibrations are sensitive enough," he called out as he frantically scanned the rapidly scrolling readouts, "we can co-resonate the deflector field's frequencies with our short-band planetary sensors to deflect each dust mote individually, requiring a fraction of the power cost to maintain the entire field. Then we could eject the core while maintaining a selective deflector net with just auxiliary power."

"Well," Stace said, now standing up from her chair and walking over to the Engineering station, "it's a good thing that we're in a simulation to try the theory out. Make the adjustments!"

Dragovic tapped at the console display. He thought of how thankful he was that this was just a simulation as his felt himself break out into a cold sweat. "Sensors and deflector have been synchronized. Preliminary calculations show a 21% chance of critical hull breach."

She now broke into a trot over to the console and began working quickly. In all of her command experience, she had never once ejected the core. Or even thought to give the order to. And, during her service with the Venture, the saucer section had separated and detached from the stardrive before their encounter with the Borg had even got off the starting block. Her hands flew across the display as though she was playing an instrument. "Mr. Kohl, keep us steady."

Where before, Kohl had been looking around the Bridge like a tourist, Kohl's unblinking gaze was locked onto the readouts on his console. His fingers had found a rhythm on the input contacts, and he didn't need to look where he was entering commands. "Compensating with maneuvering thrusters," Kohl reported. "Our trajectory remains constant."

Reading the Engineering displays herself, a twenty one percent chance of a hull breach still seemed like a high chance to perish, so she went to work immediately. Bringing an auxiliary Ops display up on the console, she worked both quickly and without much thought. "Mr. Dragovic, I'm rerouting all available power from the engines to main deflector control. Bring it back online!"

"Main deflector back online at 52% efficiency!" Hardly ideal but given the circumstances Dragovic thought it a triumph. Between the secondary deflector's selective field and a reinforcing half-strength main deflector, the chance of a breach should drop precipitously. Probably. It's not like he had any spare seconds to run some calculations to confirm.

"Kohl! Drop us out of warp on my mark!"

Still focused on his readouts, Kohl didn't look away. He didn't so much as nod. "Standing by," he confirmed, with his fingers at the ready.

Stace's hands flew across the display as a cacophony of sounds trilled around her. "Mark!" She worked quicker than she dreamed she could, the holodeck pressure now feeling deathly real to her as her heart leapt into her throat. "Rerouting main deflector through the secondary." A blaze of sparks erupted in her face and, gripping on to the side, she ducked down to get out of the way. Returning to the readout she shouted, "Deflector maglocks have fused but main deflector is stable!" She switched back to the Engineering display as she watched the pressure of the matter/antimatter reaction chamber decrease. "Levels dropping."

"Coming to a full stop," Kohl reported from the CONN. Only when he was certain the Galileo simulation had come to a halt, did he shake his hands through his hair, where he'd felt the heat of sparks hitting his scalp.

One final survey of the readouts and Stace relaxed back into the chair of the Engineering console. She sighed, and then wiped the smudged dirt on her forehead with an emphatic gesture. "Well, that settles that, then. With a bit of ingenious thinking from our new recruit, the secondary deflector dish can get us out of a scrape or two."

"Ha!" Dragovic barked with his eyes locked on the console. "Now that would have been really impressive if I came up with that trick all by myself, wouldn't it? I'm sorry to admit that it was actually originally Professor T'Paal's theory." He swiveled his chair around to look at Stace. "Part of her work in nebular sensor calibration that I helped with was to piggy back sensor signals through the deflector field to get accurate readings much quicker. After assisting her with the calculations I suspected that with a sufficiently advanced deflector system you could, y'know," he circled his index fingers around each other for effect, "flip the script, so to speak. Run the deflector through the sensor signal." He swiveled back around and with a few taps reviewed a diagnostic readout. "Honestly, the real-life uses of that technique are fairly limited. The types of hazards it protects against are almost always... easily avoidable," he said, smirking as he cast a sidelong glance at Kohl pointedly.

Kohl turned his chair 'round to face Dragovic, as he spoke. "You're not in the Academy anymore," Kohl said in an obviously-teasing timbre, "You don't have to cite your sources." --Kohl's manner evened out-- "That was brilliant thinking and solid execution of a mad idea. Take full credit."

"Indeed," Stace agreed. "But, for the moment, let's leave the 'mad ideas' in the holodeck for now. I can't imagine Captain Holliday would be very eager to attempt this for real. But," she interjected herself, "saying that, if Commander Kohl was at the helm, I imagine that we would have averted the fiasco entirely." She paused for dramatic effect. "Hopefully."

Ibrahim stood and stretched his arms, the tension of past few moments having already settled into knots in his back. "Indeed, Commander. Although I must say, this was quite a novel introduction to the ship. Is it a Galileo tradition to throw all new officer into a holographic shakedown run?"

"Uhhh..." Kohl's gaze drifted away from Ibrahim, as if the blinking LCARS panels and their feedback tones were infinitely fascinating. "No, to be honest, no, you were the very first one," Kohl said. He met Stace's eyes and he shared a mad grin with her, before he turned to consider Ibrahim directly. Kohl admitted, "I just read about the concept in a peer-reviewed psychology journal. Yesterday. It's meant to promote bonding. Are you feeling... bound?"

Dragovic pursed his lips a the curious word choice. "Er, I don't know if I would say I felt 'bound' per se... It was much more invigorating then an introductory lecture, however."

"'Invigorating?'" Stace quoted, raising an eyebrow to Kohl through a sideways glance. "Well, it's hardly a splash of cold water in the face, but - and if we're deciding to stick to the nautical analogies - it is akin to being 'thrown in the deep end'. And that, Ensign Dragovic, is one of the better ideas Commander Kohl has come up with with regards to introducing new crew to our department. In fact," she remembered fondly with a wry smile, "we both ourselves literally did just that. A sailing attempt, for lack of a better word to 'bond' our department." She stood from her command chair and walked causally over to the new transfer. "Welcome to the Gally, Ensign." She shook his hand, offered him a nod, and then walked unaccompanied towards the holodeck doors. As they parted, over her shoulder she added, "And - just for civil reference, Ensign - any future bonding activities should be kept to single occupancy crew quarters... away from prying eyes." Her tone was delivered with a warm smile as she disappeared around the corner and away from view.


[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Commander Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer & Second Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Ibrahim Dragovic
Astrometrics Officer
USS Galileo

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