Engineering Investigation

Posted on Sun Nov 14, 2021 @ 2:34pm by Lieutenant Rei Yamashi & Captain Larisna Koralova

Mission: Mission 1R - Vigilance Be Our Shield
Location: Alameda Engineering
Timeline: TBD

Rei followed the ensign through the hallways of the Alameda, through the hallways of his home, to the engineering section. From here she'd be able to access most of the systems she'd need to conduct her investigation, as well as actually... possibly... tour the nacelle itself to personally inspect the damage.

Though when she arrived, the Engineering section was in a state of panic. Concern and worry were on every face, the future of each of these souls was up in the air. Rei herself had a moment of revelation, remembering another time, another ship, another tragedy. It passed, and she simply explained it away as 'not being ready for this extent of damage'. A lie, but a convenient one that no one really questioned. She had gotten good at telling it.

"Let's start with the last diagnostics that were run for the propulsion system, and everything leading up to the event." she requested, moving to the comfortably familiar "Table" structure. Upon this rock, she mused, she would build her church.

"Uh..." The clearly frazzled Ensign wasn't sure what to say, but luckily, a Catian Lieutenant JG stepped in who looked like he had a better read on the situation.

"You must be from the Hornet. Lieutenant D'Saria, damage control and acting engineer. Unfortunately, with Lieutenant Watkins laid up in sick bay, among other senior personnel, it's a mess." He said, joining Rei at the table and letting the Ensign scamper off.

Rei introduced herself as well. Finally, someone she could actually talk to, rather than just converse with.

"So. Unfortunately, a big problem we have is that the initial and secondary explosions did some damage to the internal sensors. Cascading failures that followed are a bit of an issue." D'Saria explained, "But, prior to it, aside from some slight fluctuations that are well within operating bounds, we were running fine."

"Prior to the explosion, the computer did call out a possible issue and Lieutenant Watkins asked we drop out of warp for a few minutes to double check. We've been needing yard time, but the Captain, well...you know how some of them get. If they're not in motion, they're not doing their jobs..." He shrugged, "I don't know what to make of it. The worst of our trouble though came from the secondary feedback explosions. Normal, I know, but you never quite appreciate how bad those can get until you're adrift in a war zone, I guess."

"You have no idea how true that phrase is." Rei offered, and shook her head. Dark nights, stranded ships, active fire. Fissile beams melting the air, stink so thick you could see it. Memories that haunt you forever. She returned back to the here and now after a moment. She'd gotten good at disguising those moments as being lost in thought... which wasn't entirely untrue. "Hmmm, so, a simple timeline would be... at warp, an issue detected. Drop out of warp to assess, incident. Feedback, secondary incident." she recapped, "And then it brought everything down with it."

"And trust me, I know well about captains and the need to advance. And the lure of 'Well within tolerances'." she snickered gently. "What can we salvage from the computer records? If we can't get up to the moment of incident, can we get at least from initial report and drop out of warp?" the pieces were falling together.

D'Saria called up the display on the table, but parts of the data were missing, corrupted. "Sorry. One of the relays caused a surge to the main computer. Short term memory issues. There's a team trying to work on it." He explained.

"But the short answer is that it detected a power buildup of some kind in one of the power conduits. The question is where it started, and that's in the corrupted data. Or in Lieutenant Watkins' mind, whichever comes around first." D'Saria said, "I couldn't begin to speculate though...I mean, again, this ship has been in dire need of yard time. After this mission...after this one...Starfleet needs us here...the same excuses, over and over. Like we haven't scratched that post enough..."

"Some are saying someone tampered with it, some say we might've struck a subspace mine. Damage isn't consistent with anything else, but that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from saying we got hit with disruptors or torpedoes." The Catian shook his head.

"We've managed to decontaminate enough of the affected nacelle that it's safe to visually inspect. For safety, we're still requiring EVA suits and a constant transporter lock. But if you'd rather see it than kick the computer until it cooperates, we can get you suited up."

Rei gave a nod at the notion of the memory loss. "The answer is always where you're not looking." she mused, an adage from her service. "I think the best I'm going to get is to actually take a look, see what matches and what doesn't. Gonna need a bigger helmet though..." and she pointed up. "Though I imagine I'm talking to the mirror when it comes to complaining about Starfleet standard EVA designs not being quite so universal."

"Yeah. But that's what the replicator can fix at least." D'Saria chuckled.

"Though, don't stop kicking on my account. Humans call it a re-boot for a reason." She pushed herself away from the table, "I'm a guest in your house, Lieutenant D'Saria. Lead on." and the rabbitess would follow her new friend towards the damaged nacelle assembly. Watching her tuck her ears into the helmet looked uncomfortable, but it beats Death by Radiation or Death by Exposure. A quick check of all the seals, and then the verbal all clear.

"Ready for EVA. Tricorder at the ready." she confirmed, a checklist.

Once suited up, they continued further down into the damaged nacelle. The external damage didn't touch the internal damage, it looked like it had cascaded well over half way up the initial detonation point. The engineers were working hard to fix this problem but they had a handful and no small degree of pressure.

The two reached the spot it had all started, which afforded a nice view out into open space through a several meter wide blast hole. A forcefield was in place to prevent any foreign matter from floating in or out.

"So, here we are, the scene of the crime." D'Saria said.

"Indeed." Rei mentioned, looking over the scene. "If it makes you feel better, I've seen worse." she confided, before she crouched down to inspect the blast hole. She reached down, almost touching the gap in the hull, rather than using her tricorder. This was a cause that needed a physical inspection. "Hmmm, this seems a bit unusual. Take a look." she called for D'Saria to join her. "The hull gap, it's curved outward. A blast out."

"I think we can rule out weapon's fire. Actual cause is still unknown, but I think we can safely say you were not shot."

D'Saria paused, looking at the damage.

"You're right. Any external force would've blown the hull inward." D'Saria replied slowly, "This must've been what Watkins was trying to show the Captain. But you know the next thing they're going to say is that either this was one of those Houdinis from the war or something was beamed on. I can't imagine that a lot of people are going to try to say there was a Gorn spy on board...Starfleet ships are diverse but we're not that diverse."

"You call them Houdinis, we called them Skippers. No matter where you go, everyone's got the same idea. Except ours were anti-material. I doubt an anti-personnel mine could do this much." she pondered. "Everyone is so quick to go to war. Jump to the conclusion of conflict. Thank you for being so level headed." she turned to D'Saria. "I'll be making a note of this in my report." she paused, to give that notion the weight it deserved.

"So unless there's a spy on board, or someone rigged a Houdini with twice the yield.... The simplest option that requires the least cosmic gymnastics is a catastrophic system fault. Wrong place, wrong time, and the blast of the damaged nacelle caught the attention of both sides. Once we get back inside and away from the damage I'll contact my team and get an update on their side of things."

"My instructor at the Academy told me Damage Control is not about speculation. Don't guess, focus on cause and effect." D'Saria replied, with an appreciative nod, "But I appreciate it. Maybe we finally missed one refit too many and, well, as that same instructor said, there's a universal law that Humans call "Murphy's Law" - if something can go wrong, it will, and it'll happen at the worst time."

"A wise thinker, this Murphy. I wonder if they had the right ears for the era." she teased. All the great thinkers were Ts'usugi. Just ask the Ts'usugi. Once they were clear, Rei commed the rest of her team, "This is Yamashi to McTaggart and Antos. How are things on your end progressing? I've discovered something significant on this side."

"Jaro here, we are only just starting our analysis Lieutenant. We've collected some sensor information and we have the computer running a scan to help identify anomalous events. However, we do have some clues, there was an explosion in the starboard nacelle of indeterminate origin that cause cascading secondary explosions that disabled several subsystems and damaged others, including the internal sensors.

"Lieutenant McTaggart also found evidence that at least one Gorn and Klingon ship were tailing the Alameda prior to the explosion. Furthermore, the Alameda's security department appeared to have taken an enhanced security posture prior to the explosion, but we are not sure if this is related to events leading to the explosion or of this was a natural order related to evacuation proceedings."

“Sorry to cut in but we now have some data on the Gorn vessel. It’s a Ahgamas class used for multi-missions and surveillance. I once read an historical document about an incident involving the Gorn. When they attacked a colony on Cestus III. They used a feedback loop to blow up a tricorder. It makes you wonder…” Penny said

"Bring everything you both have collected." Rei commented over the comms. "I'll meet you both back in the Transporter room in three hundred ti..." she paused, "Five minutes. Yamashi out."

With that, the rabbitess turned to D'Saria, "I think we're about done here. Thank you graciously for your hospitality and time." a pause, "If you're looking for a transfer, the Hornet is welcoming and challenging." she offered, "Would you be so kind to direct me back to the transporter room?"

"Yeah. But uh, whoever said that bit about security measures must be guessing or thinking of somewhere else..." D'Saria commented with an annoyed growl, before shaking his head, "Sorry. Thank you for your help. Hopefully your Captain can talk some sense into our Captain about this situation once he comes to."

"People see what they want to see, find what they want to find." Rei commented once she was certain the comm was over, and it was just them. "I have every confidence in my Captain's capacity to handle a troublesome situation." she said, diplomatically, as she and D'Saria walked off.