Gemini

Posted on Sun Jan 29th, 2012 @ 6:51pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Lieutenant Commander Zim Drex

Mission: Heart of an Explorer
Location: Ready Room
Timeline: MD02 1012hrs

Drex waited a short while before heading over to the Captain's ready room. It was a busy time at the start of a new mission and all. People were in and out of there all morning. But when Drex finally saw a break in the bridge foot traffic, he reached for a PADD inconspicuously marked "Engineering Retrofit #21568" and carried it toward the door and pressed the doorchime.

"Yes! Come in." the captain called from within, reaching up to run his hand though the hair on the back of his head, already regretting having agreed with the Admiral the timeline that allowed them to be docked with the station for two weeks. He had forgotten just how much paperwork these facilities seemed to generate, and how much more of the carpet at his ready room doorway was worn away by the through traffic. "Commander. What can I do for you?" he asked, as the engineer appeared in the opening.

Drex stepped in, and forward in front of the Captain's desk. "Sir. I wanted to let you know. Now is the best time to go ahead with the ship retrofit we discussed earlier."

Krace nodded. "Agreed. We're going to have a significant amount of time along the way to test your system anyway. Have you made any progress with regards to the power consumption of the system since we last talked?" The Commander - then a Lieutenant - had come to the captain seeking permission to retrofit the starship with a technology brought to him by Starfleet Intelligence; a method of projecting a holographic object, nominally a ship - external to the Iapetus, to form a distraction or other tactical advantage as required.

"Using the main computer and holodecks, I've been able to simulate adding the new components, and write a report on power efficiency." He held out the PADD for the Captain to review.

The captain studied the PADD, making note of the changes to the current configuration of the ship's EPS grid. "This looks like the configuration of the ship's power grid will be changed significantly at certain junctures, Commander," he said.

"Since the power network is mostly torn up from the last attack, I could integrate the new systems easily, without having to tear open as many bulkheads to access the conduits."

Krace nodded. The engineer made sense of course; since they would be here for a few weeks and be in the receipt of repairs to various systems on the ship, it wouldn't draw too much attention if the chief engineer made a few reconfigurations along the way. "Alright," he nodded, handing the PADD back. "Get to work on the internal changes needed, but leave as many of the external fittings until after we're under way. You told me when you first brought this to my attention that reason we were being asked to do this out here was to keep it away from the gaze of the Klingons and Romulans; whilst the former may have been ejected from the Tripartite Treaty back in 83, the Romulans are still perfectly entitled to send ships through the gateway, regardless of the fact that they haven't so far."

"The external fittings...I've been thinking about how to get around that problem. But the emitters need to be far enough away from the hull in order to project shadows from the other object. Otherwise it would be a dead giveaway. I'm going to work with Lieutenant Hamson on coming up with a way to obscure the visual cues once they've been fitted. We should be able to work on that while on the move, though." Drex paced near the couch, but didn't sit in it. "Just as a precaution, I haven't told anyone about the plan yet. If there are no concerns, I can get started within the hour."

The captain nodded. "Get started. But," he held up a finger. "I want any correspondence between this ship and Starfleet Intelligence for this project to be brought to my attention. I still don't like how they brought this project to this ship, and I don't want to give them the opportunity to make use of this ship behind my back."

"Aye sir." The Bolian tried to contain his excitement, which was similar to butterflies fluttering in his stomach, but he also felt a wave of anxiety hit him as he headed for the door. The captain had been briefed and they were going forward, but there was still some ominous feeling deep in the pit of his stomach, something that refused to go away. He held his discomfort to one side, as he made his way back onto the bridge.

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Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer

&

Lt. Commander Zim Drex
Chief Engineer
USS Iapetus