Refits and Headaches

Posted on Tue Jun 22nd, 2010 @ 9:28pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Lieutenant JG Lucas Jameson

Mission: Shadows Fall
Location: Captain's ready room
Timeline: MM2, MD6 1449hrs

Luc walked up to the door of the Captain's ready room. He had to get the captain to sign off on the refit completion paperwork before they could bring any of the new systems online. He pressed the control by the door to signal someone was there.

"Enter," came the call from within. Though they were in orbit of Earth and were technically on shoreleave, Vorn had actually had very little time to spend on the planet's surface enjoying it. It seemed that Starfleet had learned of his intention to visit Earth on the way through and had made the decision to pile all of the preparatory work onto him and the ship while they were there.

"Afternoon sir. How's it going?" Luc said as he walked in before handing the padd in his hand to Vorn "That's the report on the refit. I just need it signed off on."

"Run me through it," Vorn said, picking up the PADD to skim over its contents as he did so. One of the major features of their time at earth was the refit ordered by 4th Fleet Corps of Engineers. Thankfully, most of the work had allowed them to stay out of drydock, with the other jobs on the itinerary being completed during only one day in the skeletal structures.

"Okay then. the first thing that you'll probably notice later anyway is that we've had a second aft torpedo tube added, with extra torpedoes to go with it, and I mean a lot of extra torpedoes. Another weapon alteration is the type IX phasers have been replaced with type Xs." Luc said "We've also had the ablative armour patched up on critical areas of the hull, lost a couple of shuttles but gained a couple of runabouts and had the warp core replaced with a new model."

"Run me through again why we had to have the core replaced?" Vorn almost groaned, rubbing his temple with his index and middle fingers. That aspect of the refit had been the most problematic; it was an easy thing to eject a warp core, but in a busy orbital path, not so much when one took into account all the extra regulations and safety protocols. Installing the new one was infinitely more complicated; and that was only getting the thing in. He knew Engineering had been busy with getting it integrated to the ship's systems ever since it arrived.

"There was a fault with the intermix ratio readouts of the old model that led to it exceeding the safety limits a lot." Luc said "The new recommended cruising speed is warp 7 and the new top speed is warp 9.5. The only perk is we've got an extra couple of hours on the emergency speed. Guess the new design allows for that, I never was much for keeping track of the minute details of each re-design, it's the big ones I tend to focus on, unless I need the little ones."

"Make sure to direct the new figures to the helm manual," Vorn said, dropping the PADD onto his desk. "What about the phaser arrays? We've not only got an upgrade, but according to that refit manifest three new arrays installed. I take it they've taken the extra power requirements into consideration with the new core?"

"I'm pretty certain that it's all set." Luc said "I double checked the figures and my assistant triple checked them. I trust her judgement and my own. Though not always in conjunction."

Vorn nodded, turning towards his window to think. They'd had two decks completely reconfigured to account for the larger torpedo bays, and the extra torpedo launcher in the aft. The extra fire power was probably a good thing, considering the distance they would be from the Federation main, but he hated the thought of losing parts of his ships for torpedo casings. He reached up to rub his forehead again. "See to it that the extra torpedoes and our two new runabouts are stowed away securely." He decided then and there that he would take the remainder of the day and some of tomorrow to go to the surface and visit his mother.

"Aye sir." Luc said "So, any plans while we're in orbit around Earth?"

"I've spent the last six days trying to juggle all of this work that Starfleet has thrown at me," Vorn replied, remembering his resolution to keep himself somewhat distanced from the crew personally, and deciding not to delve into the topic too deeply. "I'm going to use the rest of my time to rest, before we depart."

"So what, fishing and pizza?" Luc said, grinning "Boring."

"Actually I'm visiting my mother," Vorn replied, turning away from the window. "I haven't been home since my father died, and I wanted to spend some time with her." He didn't know why he was being so blunt, but the Corps of Engineers at Earth had just annoyed him all week, even as he acknowledged in his mind that he shouldn't blame Luc.

"That's sweet." Luc said "Now that beats my plans."

After a moments pause, Vorn said, "Is there anything else, Lieutenant?"

"No sir." Luc said "Just making small talk."

"Very well. Dismissed." He knew that he shouldn't have been so discarding of the engineer, but his feelings surrounding the last time he visited his mother, as well as the memory of the feelings when he had told Abigail of his decision to distance himself from the crew personally seemed to have caused a rather sudden change in his attitude, annoyed as it was to begin with even if the annoyance was direct towards Starfleet Command.

"Right, see you later." Luc said before walking out.

-----------------------
Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer
USS Iapetus

&

Lieutenant JG Lucas Jameson
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Iapetus