Faulty Little Birds, Part V

Posted on Fri Sep 15th, 2023 @ 8:13pm by Captain Ryhl th'Zeles & Lieutenant Commander Johanna Lyngstad & Commander Jason Elliot & Lieutenant Sava
Edited on on Fri Sep 15th, 2023 @ 8:14pm

1,756 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Campor III - Resupply
Location: Campor III - Romulan Settlement, Duveek
Timeline: Following Part IV

=/\= On =/\=

"Do you guys want to turn everything on and explain what kind of issues you've been running into?" Shan asked.

"Certainly", said Laas. "I should be able to start power from the auxiliary control unit." As he walked towards the side of the vessel, he continued to speak. "Our problems have been power overloads relating to our warp cores. But these are different from any other power source any of you have seen."

Paisley followed the males. "How do your ships normally operate? Dilithium? Trevium?" She asked. Knowing this might help her to diagnose the problems. She fished her Tricorder out of the pocket of her coveralls, and prepared to start a through scan.

"The use of power singularities is our way", Laas said smugly. "We Romulans believe such systems are more efficient... Usually. The engines for this fighter are still revolutionary, pushing singularity tech to its limits."

"Artificial Singularity drives use the power of an artificially created black hole. Our engines harness and release energy from this process.. Needing no external fuel."

"Until...something happens," Paisley observed. "Alright. That is a good place to start. Thank you."

Ryhl spoke low to Johanna and Jason. "What are your thoughts on these fighters? I've never seen one up close. These are Snakeheads.. State-of-the-art ships." He tried to fathom why such advanced fighters would have issues. Perhaps the atmospheric climate was to blame. Yet the fighter was ruggedized for environments much harsher.

"It must have something to do with this dusty rock of a planet", a Romulan wearing a pilot's uniform said as he approached. Some of those who traveled with the group had mixed with other nearby pilots, leaving the crew and newcomer with Irith, Kekana, and Laas.

"If the atmosphere is to blame, hopefully whatever it is isn't affecting us. Nothing came up on preliminary scans of the planet." Johanna used her tricorder to scan the local atmosphere. Maybe there was something here that the ship's scanners couldn't read.

Lt. Sava was not far, keeping watch on the group as they spoke and monitored the shuttle. The Romulans who escorted them now moved about the ships, preparing them for testing.

Jason examined one of the ships, he made a pass with his tricorder, there wasn't any surprises, he paused and looked at some of the erosion of on the metals, there was at least with this specific ship, "Were some of these ships flown through any radiation belts?"

"They have been through some intense radiation yes", Laas said. "But these fighters are made to deal with much worse. The problem seems to deal with power cycling. Something is causing faults. Some believe the environment is a factor. I'm just not sure."

"What are they made of? I mean, what sort of metal is it?" Paisley piped up, though half of her body was invisible, as she was currently inspecting the underbelly of one of the fighters. "On visual inspection, everything seems fine, if not a bit old and rusty, which could be attributed to atmospheric issues, but also water. Did you hit any storms or anything on the way?" She slid out from under the plane, and to her feet.

"The hulls are made from a Duranium-Tritanium alloy, similar to most of our starships. We did have a brief ion storm last month", Laas recalled, silent for a moment in thought. "There are over two thousand of these fighters in service. I'm sure they have been put through tougher paces." Many Romulans like Centurion Laas were frustrated with the situation.

Paisley nodded. He was correct.

"I still think the problem lies with these updated drives", Kekana interjected. "Artificial Singularity engines are used across the fleet, usually with success. In essence, a ship's warp core creates a tear similar to a black hole. It is contained, of course. Lately, fighters have been having issues with power overloads. They've been going into emergency shutdowns."

Paisley considered for a minute. "Perhaps...the tears are too much for them. Rebuilding may be a good choice." The Engineer was aware that her hair was messy and she had a small grease stain on her face. She didn't care. She'd clean up later.

Laas responded. "These shutdowns throw all of our systems off afterwards. We need to recalibrate everything!"

Kas looked over the systems. "We'll need to work on the shield harmonics, might I suggest disconnecting the cloaking device? That's a lot of power that could be used elsewhere."

"Not a bad idea", Centurion Laas said as he quickly walked towards an open tool kit. He pulled out a Romulan ODN recoupler, a tool he could use to cut off pathways to the cloaking system. He began hovering the small, illuminated tool close to several connections.

Jason opened the canopy looking inside the cockpit of the one ship he'd been examining, "Everyone of these will need new I-F-F keys and transponder coding, or they may get them shot at by the wrong side."

"That is a problem for the Federation to manage", Kekana said snarkily.

"Our fighter pilots and tactical officers are trained with discretion", Ryhl said. "If a mission called for it, we would exercise the necessary restraints."

Jason slid inside the cockpit, flipping the power to what little internal there was, "This one with some metal work is in good shape, looks like this one had only been off the factory floor about a month when things went sideways, I wouldn't mind a joy ride with it." Jason joked.

Paisley was seated on the floor, sorting out tools for a moment, searching for a particular decoupler. Finally, she spotted it, standing quickly.

"Shan, use my heavy duty decoupler to disconnect that thing," she said, handing the special tool to the Ops man. He wouldn't have one, as it was a specific tool. "Perhaps our friend Laas here can assist."

Shan took the tool and went quietly to work in the background.

A Romulan pilot walked by, just in time to hear Jason's quip. "These ships aren't meant to be used by humans", he said with lowered eyes. His path carried him towards a fighter where the other Romulans had gathered.

Jason just looked over at the pilot and narrowed his eyes slightly, he also knew too the contrary about the that statement.

Paisley simply shrugged and sighed under her breath, something about "men" and "idiots". She returned to her task on the other plane, scanning the engines for any idea of what was happening. "Do you notice shut downs in extreme heat and cold as well?" She asked Kekana.

"The engines seem to handle heat pretty well", Kekana said. "Heavy ion storms cause problems though. Truth be told, we haven't tried taking them through the atmosphere since our problems began. We'll have to test their heat shield.."

The Romulan pilot climbed in the fighter as Kekana approached Jason. "Don't worry about him. You know pilots and their bravado. Perhaps at least one of you will be able to take a fighter up.. As long as his test flight goes well."

As the cockpit closed, the Romulan's fighter powered up with an audible whirr. It sounded different from the hum of Starfleet shuttles and fighters. The artificial singularity warp core was a unique piece of technology.

Ryhl stood alongside Johanna. "Wouldn't there be risks involved with trying to harness the power of black holes?" Ryhl asked Johanna and anyone else who could hear him.

"There is always danger in using any new technology." Johanna reminded herself in her head not be a Master of the Obvious. "They say they are having problems with power overloads. The drive itself is more difficult to regulate than a standard matter/anti-matter drive. Also with the bending of space-time due to the gravity of the situation," Johanna paused because she punned "it could affect the operation of the fighter if not properly protected. I would need to study the theory and the implementation of the theory to give a more precise answer."

It wasn't long until the Snakehead fighter slowly began its vertical ascent. Once it was a few dozen meters in the air, the sleek fighter zoomed forward with an audible crack.

Heads turned, following the metallic green-gray craft's flight.

Laas spoke to Kas. "Done. The cloaking system is completely disconnected. I'd like to see what you could do with the shield harmonics. That might bring efficiency closer in line."

Kekana spoke to Shan and Paisley, with Jason still in earshot. "Do you have any questions about the fighters? Or did I clarify things a little more? We don't have to figure everything out just now", she said as a nervous smile formed. "We just want to acquaint you with our situation."

"No, I think I understand the crux of the problem, Ma'am," she said. "Shan?" Paisley asked. "Hopefully, the four of us can have some answers soon, though it may take a few days for any permanent solutions to take hold. We'll need to get parts made and installed, and tested, you understand." She said, simply.

"Did you need something, Commander?" Shan asked the Chief Engineer, having heard his name framed in the form of a question.

"Just wanted to see if you had any specific questions. Now is the time to ask," she said.

Shan looked at Kekana, "If you would permit it, I'd like to run a diagnostic on the vessel's computer systems, maybe a couple of fighter's computer systems for comparison. I brought my own equipment. It made sense, since we don't know what's wrong, we may not be able to trust the fighter's own diagnostic scans."

"Very well", she said. "One of our officers can work with you to help decipher our code. I look forward to seeing what you uncover."

Kekana looked towards the young officer with a faint smile. A decade ago the though of having a Starfleet officer look over such a fighter would be outrageous. These were much different times. Some of the Romulan colonists had no affiliation with the Romulan Star Navy, though Kekana and the pilots did. Even those affiliated with the Navy and its government had become accepting of a new era.

Captain Ryhl th’Zeles
Commanding Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Commander Paisley F’Rar
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Commander Johanna Lyngstad
Chief Science Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Commander Razka Kas
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Jason Elliot
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Sava
Security Officer
USS Columbia

Ensign Shanir Th’kaasnik
Operations Officer
USS Columbia

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