+++
The alarms shut off and the pair of female cadets took a step back from the console. A male voice boomed into the room. "Cadets, the ship has been destroyed. Test will resume in five minutes." The Andorian wearing a red striped Cadet uniform pounded the table with both fists and growled in frustration. Looking up at the woman with a blue-striped uniform in front of her, she regretted the outburst. "I'm sorry, I'm not seeing a way out of this mess."
Kathryn grinned. "It's okay, that's a part of the test, remember? We are standing in Engineering because that's not our specialty."
Looking down at the
schematics on the table , the Andorian female sighed to relax.
"Fine. Let's review the situation again." She pulled
the tie out of her hair and wrapped it back into a ponytail.
"Anthi, did I ever tell you that you are a beautiful when you concentrate?"
The look on Anthi's face
told Kathryn that brevity was not allowed and she quickly looked to
concentrate on the diagram as well. "The schematics for the FWF-1
warp engines of the Miranda-class should be re-classified as ancient. I
hope my first deployment is not on one of these."
The Andorian smirked,
"Now you said it, so you can bet on it."
They were finishing their
analysis of the previous trial when the diagram reset to prearranged
parameters. Signals on the console started flashing and sliding
within various fields. Alarms started blaring and a hose expelled a white
vapor to simulate damage from somewhere else. The room shook
violently and both cadets gripped the table to prevent falling to the ground.
Kathryn reviewed a
panel. "Damage to the port nacelle. Inverted plasma coupling
destabilizing."
"Re-routing power to
aft auxiliary conduits." Anthi furiously tapped onto a side
panel.
"What about fore
conduits?"
"That would transfer
warp power through the ionic grid network. The stress would tear the
nacelle off the hull."
Kathryn nodded then
started tapping commands furiously on the shared keypad to her right.
"Shutting off plasma valve to port nacelle."
The warning claxon stopped
abruptly and expectantly. After a few seconds, Anthi furrowed her
eyebrows as she focused onto a part of the ship schematic. Pointing
to an image toward the rear of the ship, she asked, "what's
that magnetic interface disturbance?"
Looking at the signal on
the table, Kathryn tried to recall her training and instantly knew the test had
deviated from the three previous incarnations. "I don't ...
that's different from last time." The feeling of the
simulation faded as she became absorbed trying to solve the
problem. "Isn't that near the thermal protective
manifold?"
"Checking."
Anthi's fingers darted across the keypad to her left as she also became
absorbed into the simulation. "Yes, running internal
scan." After a few moments, information scrolled on the
screen. " The disturbance is magnetic in nature but it’s also
emitting tetryon radiation."
Kathryn smiled at the
revelation. "Let's see, ordering the manifold be removed would
expose the interior to deadly artificial tetyrons. Leaving the problem
would cause the magnetic field of the disturbance to effectively melt the
thermal shielding over time. Damned if you do."
"That's the sum of
it, so what can we do from here?" Anthi wrung her hands together.
Kathryn looked at the
blinking anomaly and bit her lower lip. "Open the access hatch,
here." She pointed at a nearby location. "That will
freeze the manifold, minimize the magnetic disturbance and vacuum out the
radiation. We can order an evacuation of any nearby crew."
Anthi stood straight and
placed a hand on her chin as she thought. "What if the
disturbance is immobile? Sucking the radiation particles is a quick
clean-up but doesn't remove the problem."
The science cadet looked
around the room as if the answer would appear from somewhere, then she looked
up at the tactical cadet. "What if it does remove the problem?
Otherwise - " she looked down at the schematic, "we activate hazard
shielding here, here, here ... and here below those decks to contain the source
until we get a crew in Hazard Suits to inspect from outside the ship."
"I'm not so
sure."
Kathryn's eyebrows came
together. "I am. I have half a mind to release the hull plates
exposing the location to the void of space for the rest of the
journey." She paused for effect. "Open the access
hatch."
Anthi's face became
serious. After a few seconds, she tapped a command on the console.
The signal faded.
Both released their breath
loudly and relaxed their shoulders.
---
"That was an
interesting move, Cadet." The instructor was scrutinizing Kathryn's
test results as he sat behind his desk. He smoothed his mustache with one
hand as was his habit. "Not particularly innovative, but
direct."
Kathryn stood at attention
and did not look away from the spot on the wall above the instructor.
"Thank you, sir."
The instructor placed the
PADD on the desk. "At ease. What was the motivation for the
choice you made?"
Cadet Beringer relaxed
visibly. Of the options available, it was the least invasive to the ship,
sir."
He nodded without looking
away. "Hindsight being 20/20, do you have any other solutions?"
Without pause, Kathryn
responded, "No, sir."
"That's good.
There were none. You made the right choice which ultimately lead to
your passing the course."
Kathryn beamed a very wide
smile. "Thank you, sir!"
"No need for thanks,
you did the work. Tangentially, how would you rate your partner in the
test?"
"She will have an
excellent career, sir. I would be honored to serve under her
command."
Anthi Ythysi - Katheryn Winnick
Training Coordinator - Bill Murray
No comments:
Post a Comment