Mister Butler, I Presume?

Posted on 15 Nov 2017 @ 2:50pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant JG Edward Butler

1,936 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Earth - San Francisco, Near Starfleet Academy
Timeline: MD 99, 1245

[ON]

Edward had returned from the cadet training cruise a day or so ago. His quarters were empty, bags packed and already stowed in a shuttle. He'd received his official assignment earlier in the morning, to the USS Galileo. He'd known for months that he'd serve aboard the ship he'd helped build. He also knew, though not for as long a time, that that ship would be named Galileo. He walked through the hall, PaDD in hand, moving quickly toward the staff transporters. He was excited to get into orbit and from there to his new assignment.

When he rounded the corner, he stopped abruptly before he collided with a green-skinned woman wearing a captain's pips. "Captain Saalm," he said, hopping to a more formal stance. "A pleasure to bump into you."

"Oh. Hello, mister...?" Saalm looked up at the tall Human who she'd almost run into and awaited his introduction. With a PADD clasped in her hand and a small bag of personal belongings slung around her shoulder, she eyed the middle-aged man who seemed to recognize her.

"Edward Butler. I've been assigned as your Assistant Chief Engineer, ma'am. I worked on Project Supernova during its development." He stepped to the side of the corridor. "I am certain you're busy, but I hope you don't mind talking with me on your way to wherever you're going. I'm eager to learn from someone of your Starfleet experience." He carefully did not mention her former rank, but he may have not mentioned it a bit too loudly.

"Not too busy. Come, walk with me," she motioned with a wave of her PADD as she slowly continued her stroll down the corridor. "I remember your name from the shortlist of assigned personnel," she continued, finally placing a face to the name of one of the few new Galileans who had their first pick of new assignments. It was good to have someone serving on the new Galileo who'd actually been involved in the starship's construction process. "You were assigned to the Advanced Starship Design Bureau?" she asked, wondering which elements of the project he might have been involved in.

"Only by courtesy," he replied, "I started my career with the EMH program. My job for Project Supernova was to test the new modular holo-emitter systems I designed and integrate them with all of the systems aboard. With the latest tests, even in emergency situations an EMH or similar program can run almost anywhere on the ship without seriously impacting the power supply for other systems." He paused looking for a sign of his commanding officer's feelings about having holotech throughout her ship.

A small hint of surprise caused her to look over and up at him while they walked. "...Almost anywhere..?" she repeated out-loud. Thoughts of the red-headed Shirley being able to manifest herself anywhere aboard the starship overwhelmed her curiosity, and she wasn't sure it was necessarily a good thing.

"Yes, almost. There are a few maintenance areas where holographic projection wasn't feasible. The outer hull of the ship, etcetera. For the most part, that enables holograms like the EMH and other emergency models to operate for freely. Most of the emitters aboard are not configured to handle the kind of complex reproductions that the holodeck does so well." Edward rambled on for a few moments, then stopped abruptly. "My apologies, Captain," he said, "I tend to get carried away when talking about one of my pet projects. Was your leave pleasant?"

Pleasant? She quickly recalled her court-martial trial and subsequent penal colony imprisonment before shaking away those vexatious memories. "It was good to have some time away from fleet duties," she answered with careful wording and a forced smile. "And no need to apologize, I'd like to hear more about your work. How did you overcome the subprocessor load limits with this sort of integration?"

This was right in Edward's wheelhouse. Though he was a coder at heart, he'd had to work to develop the hardware that would support his programs. "That was really a two-part problem. The first was the amount of data being passed through the emitters, and the second was the way the subprocessors themselves were expected to work. Once we shifted our thought processes away from holodecks, and onto the actual purpose of the ship-wide emitter problem, the solution was obvious. In the holodeck, we created an image from all sides plotting points from six directions." In modern holodecks it was actually twelve, but when he had started the project the six-direction array was common. "With our arrays, we only plot points on a single direction. It makes for less complex holograms, true, but they are also far more efficient. And outside of the holodeck complexity is much less important."

She pondered the stages of the problem and the solutions as he'd just explained to her. It sounded like a rather ingenious workaround, one that not only tackled the source of the problem but was also flexible enough to accommodate various circumstances. "Have you tested this integration in the field with this new ship class?" she then asked, wondering if the majority of his work had been in simulations or with more practical experience.

"Most of the way through development," Edward said, "we tested in a lab with prototypes. For full-scale deployment it would've been irresponsible if we didn't do field testing. What we didn't anticipate was the amount of testing and adaptation that would be needed around various ship-board systems." He "held" a door open for his superior officer, triggering the sensor. "I wasn't able to oversee the final testing personally, but the new team lead reports that the final field testing has achieved far beyond expectations."

"Interesting..." she mumbled to herself. She'd heard of the technology being rolled out on some of the newer, larger ships of the line, but she'd never considered that it was refined enough for a craft of her new ship's specialty. "What about the surge testing? What were the tolerance results?"

"That was always one of the biggest concerns with ship-wide holoemitters," Edward acknowledged, "especially when the first generation required so much power. Our tests have shown that the surge tolerance of our current model are about 1.2 megajoules and 42 mega-amperes. Those numbers are well in line with Starfleet regulatory requirements for all necessary ship systems, and far exceed the standard rating for consoles." He smiled. He was proud of the work he and his team had accomplished. "It also means that an Emergency Medical Hologram is actually able to function in the midst of an emergency. Power requirements and surge tolerance levels being what they are, the EMH will be able to function across the ship in the most extreme situations."

She frowned and stopped once inside the lift then turned to face him. In times of crisis and especially combat, she'd learned, a starship was often forced to function below its optimum rating. And despite the new engineer's claims, she simply wasn't confident enough about this new technology to risk any side-effects from a relatively-unproven system.

"The emergency shelter areas and command centers are most vital. In a time of emergency, that is where the EMH will be needed," she said. "I want those areas -- the bridge, engineering, the mess halls, cargo bays, and shuttlebay -- to have priority allocation. While I have faith in your accomplishments...I wish to see your improvements over time in a more operational setting."

Although he was disappointed, Edward understood the caution. Ever since the invention of true hologram technologies, they had been power and processing-hungry. That perception wasn't going to change overnight. "Of course, Captain. I have no doubt that they will stand up to scrutiny." He rounded a corner with her. "I would like to assure you that I know more about shipboard systems than that. While it's my specialty, I had to learn the power and operating requirements for almost every system aboard Project Supernova."

"Then I am assured." She gave him a sideways grin that betrayed her knowledge of his role aboard the ship. "What do you think of the new warp reactor assembly? Impressive, yes?"

"It is absolutely leaps and bounds ahead of the model on the Nova-class. Not that Galileo was a scow, mind, but Galileo-A will run circles around that class." Edward smiled. He enjoyed the fact that he was having an honest-to-God conversation with his commanding officer, not just a stiff report. "Have you seen the specifications for the new ventral and dorsal sensor platforms? From what I've heard we should get unprecedented resolution from our scans." He hated looking over scanner logs, but he was excited about the technology--if not the process of its application.

"Mm.." she mumbled to herself with a nod while they walked. "Yes, and we will carry enough stores to customize the forward suites for several different scanning parameters. I believe Starfleet's design teams have learned well over the past years."

"It's been a bit of a struggle," Edward said, "from what I've gathered, to implement the paradigm shift from ready-made one-size-fits-all starships to more modular units. Corridors and consoles are one thing. Sensor suites are another. It took time for the idea to filter through." Although he hadn't technically been a Starfleet engineer, he'd worked alongside the Starfleet Engineering Corps for most of his career. "Modularity does come at a cost, though. It's never going to be quite as efficient as a system designed from the ground up to do only one thing."

"And the more moving parts there are, the more things break," she thoughtfully agreed before changing the engineering subject to something she was more curious about.

"I'm no engineer but my knowledge of the Ops systems makes me believe the bio-neural gel pack integration will boost processing power while lessening the energy consumption."

"Bio-neural gel has been the standard in Starfleet for a decade now, and recent advances have enhanced the already significant advantages. I don't personally enjoy dealing with the stuff," Edward said, and added an aside, "It's too slimy. But it does make modern computing work. I'm not an operations officer, technically, but the cross training required for many of the projects I've worked lets me understand some of the nuances. What department did you come up through, if I may ask?"

It was easy for Saalm to recall her beginnings in Starfleet; less so to make sense of how she'd ended up where she was now. "I was a communications specialist when I graduated from the Academy," she answered. "I always had a gift for understanding language and culture, and I was quite the tinkerer when I was young. Operations was the natural pipeline for my skill set."

"Ah, a linguist. I always wanted to become a linguist, but it wasn't meant to be. Operations is an interesting department," he began, but the pair slowed as they neared the captain's destination. "Anyway, thank you for taking the time to talk with me. It's good to get to know my commanding officer."

It was good to talk to him as well, she acknowledged privately with a simple smile of appreciation. "Stop by my office at 0830 tomorrow and we can start a review of the utility system networking," she offered.

"Absolutely, Captain. It would be my pleasure." Edward smiled. He hadn't expected an invitation like that, despite the pleasant conversation. "I'll be certain to research the systems. Good afternoon."

[OFF]

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CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. JG Edward Butler
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

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