Through the Paces (Part 2 of 5)

Posted on 16 Nov 2023 @ 8:48pm by Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander (La) Kuran & Commander Scarlet Blake & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Zara Ghemora & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Ensign Mimi & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Ensign Amanda Turell & Chief Petty Officer Afthinam Naime & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Petty Officer 3rd Class John Hollenday & Petty Officer 3rd Class Helliun 'Hel' Inant & Yukime Frost & Marcus Mulder & Lia Quil & Master Chief Petty Officer Toren Vral
Edited on on 16 Nov 2023 @ 8:51pm

4,614 words; about a 23 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: USS Galileo-A - Various
Timeline: MD 19, 1219 hrs

Previously, on Through the Paces (Part 1)...

The ginger EMH folded her photonic arms across her chest then huffed at both the chief medical officer and the nurse. "I'm a doctor, not a laboratory specimen," she chided to the two with uncanny Human emotions. "Isn't this a starship function better suited for the Operations department? My talents far supersede theirs."

"Operations only certified that the holodecks are working. They do not have the expertise to determine if the emergency filed hospital programme is working to full specifications. You do. Now if you don't want to then you can stay here and I'll go."

Shirley sulked for a fraction of a second with pre-programmed facial expressions before her green eyes quickly brightened. A chance to explore more of the ship outside of the confines of sickbay? To achieve what she knew her programming could accomplish?. "Very well. Computer, transfer the EMH...me, to Holodeck 1." Her lithe figure shimmered away and dematerialized.

"Very good, everyone. One more run through with beds and think we're ready."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 1, Bridge

Galileo's large main viewscreen blinked and replaced its glamorous view of space with a split-screen visual comm link to both Regula I and IKS Praxis. On the one side was an enhanced view of the research station's civilian administrator, Yukime Frost - in all of her platinum-haired glory - and on the other side manifested the very-Klingon face of Commander Kuran, the Klingon battlecruiser's new commander. Kuran's prominent cranial ridges, traditional fu manchu goatee, and deeply set eyes always portrayed him as intimidating and severe. And for the most part, the truth wasn't too far removed from the projection.

Commander Tarin rose from her seat and pulled her hands back behind her waist. "Captain Kuran, I hope we've fulfilled our agreement with you. You're welcome back to our station in the future for further diplomacy, but now we must escort you out of the system. I assume you're anxious to get back to Qo'noS and receive your bounty for capturing Da'Mon Nok."

The interior of the Klingon battlecruiser's bridge was dimly lit and hazy, highlighted by its glowing orange and red consoles. "You have been a most gracious host, Commander Tarin!" Kuran proclaimed with forced-diplomacy. "It is...unfortunate your security officer, Rice, will not stay with us longer to embrace her destiny. Praxis is standing by for your orders."

One half of the viewscreen blinked closed when Kuran terminated his channel and Frost's face now shifted to occupy the full viewscreen. Tarin's hazel eyes looked into the distinctive blue ones of the station's commander through the screen. "Administrator Frost, permission to depart Regula I for our systems check? Estimated time of return is 1600."

“Permission granted. Best to you all.” Silk replied.

The visual comm channel terminated and the main viewscreen returned to its standard forward view of the stars along Galileo's bow. The captain returned to her seat where she crossed one of her long legs over the other then leaned back against the soft padding. "Number One, take us out."

Blake nodded lightly as she took her own seat, crossing her legs delicately as she brought up the display at the arm of her chair. "Lieutenant Caradec, manoeuvring thrusters until we're safely away from the station. Then keep it *slow* and steady through the asteroid belt," she glanced across to him at that, an eyebrow arched, the stress on the word slow an obvious reminder that they didn't want a repeat of how they had taken the station approach.

Rafe responded, "Aye, aye, mam. Thrusters engaged, one quarter impulse, moving away from Regula I." The ship moved smoothly under Caradec's hands, slow and steady as she said. The asteroid field grew larger in the view screen. The newly repaired ship glided towards the asteroids, Rafe guiding it's trajectory towards its exit vector.

Blake took a tight breath as they retreated from the station, looking briefly to the viewport in thought. As the ship continued its elegant ascent, the station receded against the star flecked backdrop. And the further Galileo drifted from the lonely outpost and the radiant celestial swirls of dust that watched over it, the more rueful Blake became that their respite on the station had been so brief.

In space, the small Nova-class' silver hull and glowing cerulean warp nacelles rapidly navigated through the Remidia system's asteroid belt at high impulse then streaked away from the rocky obstacles on a direct course for the outer solar system. The cosmos' surrounding nebulae and stellar nurseries cast colorful hues across Galileo's hull plating while its fusion reactor exhaust port glowed bright red.

Within the vessel's command center, Tarin looked up from her station's console display then began to issue orders. "Ullswater, find us the closest star system within half a light-year containing a stable asteroid field. M'Lyr...Sera, prepare to go to warp 8."

Sera's slender fingers skimmed over the screen of her console - checking the output readings from the core along with multiple other data points that signaled engine readiness.

She sent the directive down to Main Engineering - Prepare for Warp Factor 8, which was subsequently acknowledged, Sera replied, "Engines are ready, Captain."

The database of surveyed star systems in the vicinity was fairly comprehensive and it didn't take much for Ullswater to find something suitable. "We have a B-type main sequence star, naught point three six light years, it has a large gas giant with two fairly dense Trojan culsters. Relaying the information to flight control." She packaged up the data and threw it off to Cardec's console. So for so good.

"Excellent. Set a course and hold for my command," instructed the captain. "Mister Vala, can you identify a suitable asteroid from here within one of those clusters for target practice?" Tarin asked the new Romulan science officer. It would be a quick test confirming the capability of Galileo's long-range sensor arrays. "Preferably an M-type with a nickle-iron composite which won't create too much debris."

Vala's fingers lightly tapped his console, interrogating the charts of the system and the most recent data. The Galileo certainly had a fine set of sensors aboard. He made a mental note to see what they could really do when he next had the time. For now he ran a spectroscopic analysis of each asteroid cluster, highlighted potential targets then examined the relative positions, orbits and surrounding debris to locate one that would be suitable for the requested task. A few more taps and he'd found the perfect candidate. "I have flagged a suitable target asteroid and am maintaining a sensor lock."

A quick glance at the chronometer on her chair's armrest console prompted Tarin to summon the Trill yeoman with a quick hand gesture. "Petty officer, make a note in the log. Stardate 69372.98 - departing Regula I for scheduled systems' test; return estimated no later than 1700 local."

"Aye Sir." Jeysa replied and headed off to an unoccupied station to log the report. She hoped nothing major would go wrong in this systems test but this was exactly what this kind of test was for, to find any kinks that were still in the ship.

Tarin then tilted her head slightly over her shoulder toward the main operations station adjacent to the engineering displays. "Ops, send a transmission to Praxis. Let's invite them to join us for some joint weapons test. If they feel they can keep up." She looked back to the main viewscreen then glanced over to Blake with a small, private grin.

Mimi's digits danced over the ops console, typing out the message to the Klingon ship with one hand while continuing the more important work with the other. "Message sent Captain." She reported. After a brief pause the console beeped an alert as a reply came in. "They accept our invitation, the Praxis is changing position to our port aft side."

It was time, then, to get underway and begin putting Galileo through her paces. "Mister Caradec, engage," was the simple order.

Rafe's hands moved over the console and the bird immediately came to life.

Within the Pleiades Cluster's cosmos, USS Galileo's small and streamlined spaceframe was dwarfed by the much larger Klingon D-8 battlecruiser which cruised next to her in an echelon formation. The Federation starship re-aligned its bow to its new destination and was followed closely by Praxis' own warp alignment. The Nova-class' warp nacelles began to brightly glow until they flared with maximum luminescence. The vessel elongated with a blur then snapped into warp with a distant flare leaving nothing but a trail of space dust in its wake.

Mere seconds behind Galileo, IKS Praxis' own chartreuse nacelles brightened and ran up to establish its own warp field. The menacing Klingon warship was an even more intimidating sight when it powered its ventrally-allocated nacelles. The battlecruiser's hull stretched then snapped back together in the far distance as it disappeared from the Remidia system with another distant flash.

Lt. Caradec began the pace at warp 1, going through the standard testing protocols, his ears listening, his feet feeling for anything out of rhythm. He held at that pace for 3 minutes. "Ensign M'Lyr'Zor, moving to warp 2...now." His fingers called for the increased output from the warp drive and he felt that distinct initial acceleration"

"Understood." Sera replied easily; so far the rate of increase on velocity sat well within safe operating parameters. Her board continued to provide data, and thus far all was well. "Engine efficiency steady at 115%."

This part of the job felt as if she was just a monitor of sorts - which was exactly what it was once one got down to it; but oftentimes it was the data that told you something was amiss before the engines themselves did.

"Acknowledged.", Rafe responded. At each three minute mark he continued to increase the warp factor, getting up to warp 7. "Increasing to warp 7." The ship responded with ease. However, there was ever so slight a vibration that vanished as quickly as it had appeared, like a vapor. He waited to see if it would return. Nothing. So be it, he thought. "Increasing to warp 8." The ship responded, flying as designed.

The surrounding stars quickly streaked past Galileo through the main viewscreen while the most distant ones along the periphery moved ever-so-slowly. It was a mesmerizing view which never seemed to lose its appeal. More importantly, the freedom of being at warp and traveling through the vastness of the cosmos brought private content to Tarin's thoughts. Contently, she leaned back in her chair to savor the moment before soon issuing new instructions. "Helm, increase to warp 9." It was a velocity nearing the starship's operational maximum but also a requirement to certify the vessel for further operations.

Rafe moved his fingers once again, but this time the bird's motion felt almost sublime, like catching a current. "Aye, Captain, warp 9." Rafe spread out his feet, sensing something...some undertones.

Sera felt the shift in vibration running up her legs as Rafe increased speed to Warp 9. Her fingers flew over the screens of station, regarding the rising numbers with a slight modicum of concern. The engine should still be running smoothly; they were not outside safe operating parameters yet...She considered how her colleagues in Main were dealing with this. No doubt Hel was not happy with the song the core was making in this moment. However, the power readings were still reading green.

The deck plating started to tremble beneath the bridge crew's feet. The slow vibrations soon increased to a prominent shuddering as the Nova-class approached the required warp factor. From her command station, Tarin looked over her shoulder to the Nekomi ensign. "Mimi, smooth this out," she ordered.

Toren, from his observation spot, felt the vibrations through the soles of his boots, the hum and the rhythm reminding him of many other ships and many other systems tests. The dance between power and control, technology and the human (or alien) hand, was one he respected. He raised an eyebrow at the increasing intensity, intrigued by how the crew would handle the challenge. Adjusting his stance, he mentally noted the ship's reaction to its limits, always the observer, always learning.

"Already working on it Sir." Mimi replied, her fine senses had picked up the vibrations before they had become obvious to everyone else. She started diagnosing the cause; inertial dampeners and the structural integrity fields were functioning within normal parameters. Slowly she began to dial up the output levels of one generators then the other to see if that solved the rumbling.

Gradually the rumbling began to subside. "Just a little more." She murmured to herself, turning it up a tiny bit more till even she couldn't feel it.

Tarin let out a soft breath once the tremors subsided. The Mark II Nova-class wasn't a fast ship but it could get where it needed to in a reasonable time frame. Yet, she knew the vessel was capable of more. "Increase to warp nine-point-one," she ordered.

Rafe grinned to himself as he said, "Increasing to warp 9.1. Aye, Captain." Underneath it all, Rafe was one who would charge hell with a bucket of water. While his attitude was a happy-go-lucky one, he liked taking ships to the edge, where he could feel the ship talking to him, telling him of what they were made. It was pure and glorious and without filters.

Galileo accelerated again at high warp, this time into its critical band beyond both emergency and burst warp factor design specifications. A growing whine now reverberated through the vessel's superstructure and into the bridge while the previously-tuned SIF and IDF struggled to compensate, shaking the starship's interior once again.

Mimi's ears twitched. "Captain the ship is not rated for those speeds." She told her but doubted she'd take the advice, tapping at the ops console she bought the back up SIF and IDF generators to standby just in case Tarin tried even more.

Sera looked up from her console, her brows raised in mild alarm as the vibrations from the core set her teeth on edge. "Captain, may I remind you that regulations specify operating only within mandated ship specifications. Warp 9.1 lies outside that safety margin."

Both cautions from the Engineering and Ops officers caused Tarin's sharp eyes to tighten. "I'm well aware, ensigns," she firmly replied over several audible LCARS warnings now chirping throughout the rear alcove. "Helm, increase to warp 9.15."

Obeying the Captain's orders, his fingers quickly danced across his console once again. "Warp 9.15. Aye, Captain." The command was given and the bird responded accordingly.

At the aft of the bridge, the large multi-screened engineering station in front of the Vulcan lit up like a Jovian moon festival. Multiple cautions and warnings sounded and the primary Ops station soon became inundated with impending auxiliary systems failures.

Sera was not going to ask permission twice. She began the attempt to answer the ship's frantic call that ALL was not well in the moment. The boots on the ground in main engineering were now doubt beginning their frenetic dance to maintain functionality of the engines, but up here it was more along the lines of adjusting coolant flows and trying to get the damned alarms to stop alarming. Sera glanced over to Mimi, silently urging the woman to do her part in stopping the din of noise.

Sera kept eyes on the red lining that was occurring - there was time yet before the whole thing went sideways...but not much that much time.

Mimi silenced some of the alarms; their flashing presence on the ops screen enough to keep her paying attention to the warnings. She moved what powered could be spared to the engines and the structual integrity generators hoping to keep the ship intact for as long as possible. "Hull pressure is exceeding safe levels." She announced. "I can not keep the ship together much longer if you keep this speed up Sir." She said, her voice getting more panicky than she had expected.

The tone of voice the Ops officer used was...less than confident. Sera's console was all but smoking with as fast as she was moving from alert to alert. It was a frenetic pace in keeping the proverbial plates spinning by rerouting power, coolant, and the like across the numerous 'screaming' systems. After meeting some of the NCOs down in engineering, she could only imagine what they were thinking of this rather rough handling of the warp core.

"Captain, the power required from the core to maintain this speed is outstripping our ability to maintain a stable warp field. Attempting to compensate...our trip may become mildly...uncomfortable."


Deck 7, Main Engineering

"What did I tell you." Donald shouted from the other side of engineering when alarms sounded across the room. "Check the coolant system, she's going to melt the coils if she goes much further."

"I'll go check. Have one of the officers get on the horn and bitch at her." John headed off to see what he could do.

"Well seeing as it's just us here, I nominate Naime!" Hel shouted back, to be louder than the alarms. She moved to the console, shaking her head. "Okay my star, you need to keep cool. Don't let her burn you out..." she whispered, to the warp core.

"Sure, this is maybe a bit faster than I would have taken us on our first post-repair ride but we're ready for this." The information arrayed in front of Naime told her that so far everything was operating as expected. Maybe the warp field wasn't perfectly stable the injectors were nearing their capacities and the hull was getting a little shaken but thus was the cost of doing business with Tarin. "Trust in the work we put in. The ship will be fine."


Deck 3, Security Office/Brig

As she felt the vibration in her feet, Ghemora turned to glance at Aria, using her chief as an indicator if she should be concerned or not. Accustomed to small starships, this wasn't the first time she'd felt such a craft shudder from strain, but did find it odd given the Galileo's supposed mission. Looking over the two detainees a moment to gauge their response to the unmistakable tremors, the deputy turned to call out to ask, "Does this normally happen, Chief?"

Aria looked at her, taking a deeper breath. Her jaw was set with some cold determination and she was glad she had healed up in sickbay before the system's test. The way the ship seemed to vibrate had made her tense up and she could swear there was a groan in it. The last she knew was in her head, a reminder of when she had been a kid and gone to the older parts of Selene City and heard the metal cooling in the shade of the sun. "No," she said, her voice quiet. She looked at her team, watching them for a moment. "I'm not sure what they are doing, but we better prepare. Anything that isn't tied down, get it stowed away. We have all had training in this, but have a quick look at the escape pod locations."

"Feels like they're pushing the ship," Mulder said from where he sat, back against the wall. "Structural integrity might get compromised. Environmental assisted fractures are a fascinating side of material sciences..."

"Relax Lieutenant," Amanda said. "They're just putting the ship through it's paces, from the reports the Galileo took a pounding from the Tholians and kept running, she can take a little more than she's rated for." She hoped her words were actually true, dying in space from an engine overheat related explosion was far from her desired way to go.

Aria's eyes met Amanda's and she raised an eyebrow. "That wasn't a request," she said, but her voice was almost gentle. "I'm sure that the bridge knows what it is doing, but doesn't hurt taking the chance to go through the motions."

"Understood, chief." Thankfully there wasn't much to Security that would need to be stowed that already wasn't. With the team having already done a proper inventory prior to the Systems Test, it seemed all that was left to 'secure' was themselves.

Turning to Amanda, still holding the phaser rifle at the ready should the Bridge Team 'pushing' the Galileo and cause issues with the containment fields, "I'm not concerned, Ensign. The Defiant-class, due to its configuration, is prone to such shudders, especially at high warp. I just hadn't experienced it on a starship with a traditional architecture before."

Quil pushed herself up to stand while they chattered, taking a few steps forward in her cell. She came to a stop about a foot away from the barrier, her hand reaching out to the side, pressing against the wall between Mulder and herself. She tilted her head, her gaze fixed up to the right as she remained silent, just staring, as if she was listening.


Deck 1, Bridge

Commander Tarin had kept a keen eye on the flashing alerts and audible cautions emanating throughout the bridge alongside the concerned reports from the senior operations and engineering officers. Galileo was now approaching a full three minutes at warp 9.15; a respectable burst period above its shipyard rating despite the apparent perils involved. Perhaps - but hopefully not - confidence in the vessel's capabilities would promote similar crew confidence.

"Helm, slow to warp 8," she ordered, backing the starship off of its speed threshold. "Good work, Ensigns," she complimented Sera and Mimi.

Rafe moved his fingers downward on the warp factor to 8, slowly at first to bring the ship away from the red lines easy, then slightly faster once out of the woods. "Warp factor 8, Captain.", Rafe said with a sly smirk on his face.

"Pilyes fare nysasi fare taa vegada" Mimi said to herself as the alarms began to subside; that was not an experience she wanted to do again. She sent a message to the Ops staff to run a diagnostic on all of the IDF and SIF generators after their extremely high demand run. "Hull pressure returning to more normal levels." She reported the slight panic in her voice replaced with annoyance that Tarin had risked the ship to such a degree.

The engineering station had turned into a giant (silenced) screaming banshee. Tarin's order to slow could not have come at a better time. Sera was adept at multi-tasking, but she--and the ship--had reached their respective limits.

It would appear the repairs affected prior to her arrival had held. This little jaunt would, no doubt, only add to the ever growing list of things to repair.

Sera sent a message to main engineering, demanding a status report. She could not wait to see what kind of response she was going to get.

"Pressures are slowly dropping back within acceptable parameters in the core. It does appear that some of the matter/antimatter feed nozzles have fused open due to the excessive heat and pressure." How exactly would they repair that without a cold shut down of the core, Sera had not determined yet. Just gather the data for now...

As the alerts ceased and the bridge became quiet once again, Tarin privately let out a soft and satisfied breath through her nose. The Mark II Nova-class - despite its design limitations - had just proven itself to be more capable than its shipyard engineers had envisioned. Hopefully there would never be a future circumstance when Galileo needed to push its warp capabilities beyond the limits, but she, and hopefully the rest of the crew, now possessed the knowledge that the starship wouldn't let them down if ever needed. She glanced over to Zeror with a proud twinkle in her hazel eyes. "Make a note in the log: warp 9.15 achieved for three minutes during systems test; no critical failures or casualties."

'No critical failures but likely some major complaints coming up from the engineers' Jeysa remarked to herself as she made the log entry. Hopefully they'd never have to take the ship that fast again, judging by the myriad of warning klaxon's that had sounded it was a very dangerous thing to do.

The Captain glanced over to the first officer sitting next to her. "It's good to know our limits, I hope you agree?"

Blake let out a light breath, adjusting the cuffs of her uniform jacket. She declined to reply to that fully on the bridge. While she agreed with the principle, she wouldn't have advocated for such a risky form of test in practice. "It seems no harm was done," she replied instead, seeing the alarm icons disappearing from her screen.

"I concur." The captain looked down at the chronometer on her console then to the adjacent navigational chart plot. "We still have twenty minutes until we arrive at our destination. I need a quick word with you in private," she requested, standing from her chair then tugging at the bottom of her uniform vest to smooth the fabric. "Conference room."

Blake glanced her way with surprise for a moment, not sure what might be on Tarin's mind that would require a private conversation. But there was only one way to find out. "Of course."

After the first officer rose and headed to the port exit, Tarin glanced back across the bridge at the various personnel manning their stations including the observing COB. "We'll be back shortly. Mister Caradec," she informed the bridge crew and conn officer, "you have the bridge. Maintain present course and speed." She secured her PADD in its holster then quickly walked to the side exit behind Blake, the door swishing open then shut behind her.

"Aye, Captain.", Rafe responded. He then moved to the chair and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Darius took Caradec's place. "Maintain course and speed, Darius. Lt. Vala, scan ahead and alert me as to any unusual readings."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

Commander Kuran
Commanding Officer
IKS Praxis
[PNPC Tarin]

Lieutenant Aria Rice
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec
Senior Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Helliun Inant
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

Marcus Mulder
Civilian Scientist
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

CMDR Scarlet Blake
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lia Quil
Civilian Scientist
Cold Station 31
[PNPC Blake]

PO3 John Hollenday
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

Lieutenant (JG) Montgomery Vala
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

Master Chief Petty Officer Toren Vral
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]

LTJG Zara Ghemora
Deputy Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Sofie Ullswater
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

CPO Afthinam Naime
Engineer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Ullswater]

ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

ENS Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

ENS S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Deputy Engineer
USS Galileo-A

Yukime Frost
Station Administrator
Regula I
[PNPC Warraquim]

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