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A Mirror Shattered #282-283 - "How the miracle was engineered"From 'last episode': =/\= Lieutenant Black, when I give you the sign you have two minutes to recharge the shields =/\= two minutes was about eight minutes to few but he was confident his CEO could work some miracles. Lt. Black didn't say any of the first few things that crossed her mind. What finally came out was a rather surprised =/\=Aye sir. We'll be ready. =/\= -=On=- Kathleen Black took a moment, the moment between the captain's order and her own reply, to think just as hard as she could. Swirling around her thoughts were exclamations of surprise and dismay. You just couldn't DO it in two minutes. Ten, yes. If you were willing to heat up the recharging conduits, you could make it six.. if you rode that fine line. But she knew Caelen wouldn't have asked for something that nutty unless he had a Very Good Reason. Then the proverbial light bulb went off and she started giving her orders. "Get a program together, set it up in machine language, a loop of all 1's. Don't you know how to..? What is the Academy teaching these days..? I'll do it." She tapped her badge again. =/\= Engineering to Ops, I know how I'm going to do this and I need your help. We're going to recharge through the normal conduits and the redundant wiring for the computer core. =/\= She couldn't help but smile as she started preparing her program. Her idea was about as insane as her captain's request. Evans responded with a =/\=Yes, ma'am...=/\= and closed the channel, but when the suggestion sunk a little deeper into his mind, he opened the channel again.=/\= What?!... have you completely lost your mind?=/\= he hissed through the com, at his girlfriend's suggestion. =/\=Those are low current signal lines... You can't just pump current through them like there's no tomorrow... At the very least you'll burn out every junction on the way to the shield generator...=/\= Kitty nodded slightly at the expected outburst and replied back. =/\= We need voltage, not current. And that's why I'm using the redundant wiring, because even then we're probably going to blow a few junctions. =/\= She gave this a little thought. =/\= The next time we limp into a regulation Spacedock, the engineering center is going to have a fit, you know, =/\= she mused with the mad cheerfulness of someone dancing in the light of her burning bridges. <Oooh, dear...> was all that went through Evans' mind, except for the mental image of wiring in every corner of the ship lighting up like a neon sign... =/\=Ok, I have a bad feeling about this, but it seems like the only way... I assume you want me to take the redundant pathways offline, so we can contain the damage as much as possible? You know that every connected node will blow up like a roman candle, right?=/\= Evans responded, as he already started to disengage the redundant pathways from primary systems. He wouldn't have time to save everything, as they were given a two minute deadline, for a job that would take at least a half an hour under normal circumstances... =/\= Yeah, I know, I've done this before, =/\= was Kitty's cheerful reply. She blinked at the way it sounded and backtracked, already picturing the look on Evans' face. =/\= Not on this big of a scale, mind. =/\= She took just a moment to remember that particular event. =/\= And not on purpose. But yeah, 'roman candle' about covers it. Let me know when you're ready. I've got a dozen safeguards to kill. =/\= And so she did. People just weren't supposed to DO this kind of thing on starships. Ronald Evans was typing away on consoles like a madman, tripping security challenges everywhere... "Override security... Ronald Evans, Echo Romeo Fiver Nine November... Override security... Ronald Evans, Echo Romeo Fiver Nine November... Override security... Ronald Evans, Echo Romeo Fiver Nine November... Override security... Oh gimme a break!" was his response to the computer's continuous "That action requires level 2 authentication... Please enter code... Code accepted...That action requires level 2 authentication... Please enter code... Code accepted...That action requires level 2 authentication... Please enter code... Code accepted...That action requires level 2 authentication... Please enter code... Access denied..." =/\=Kitty, I think I got most of the primary systems... You do your thing, while I go on with secondaries...=/\= =/\= We're almost ready over here. Hurry it up if you can. I think we're going to get that recharge order soon. =/\= Kitty sounded as if she were about to do nothing unusual or dangerous. The plan was so bizarre, but it was going so well, that the adrenaline simply kept her from feeling any fear. "Override security... Ronald Evans, Echo Romeo Fiver Nine November..." =/\=I'm working as fast as I can, but I have to enter my darn security code for every system I want to disengage... I'm going by order of importance, and the ship will fly from here on... Just a sec...=/\=Override security... Ronald Evans, Echo Romeo Fiver Nine November..." =/\=As I was saying, I'm on secondary systems now, whenever you're ready...=/\= No sooner had he said so that Caelen gave his order and Kitty put it into action. =/\= Hang on! =/\= she warned Evans, as she started pumping voltage through every spare conduit that led to the shield systems. =/\=Working... working... whew... getting warm in here...=/\= "...Fiver Niner November... Whoa! what the hell?! OH DAMN!" Evans shouted out, as he saw the lights on the bridge starting to glow, and suddenly one of the tubes popped, showering a corner of the bridge in a rain of sparks... =/\=Letek to Evans, I don't know what you're doing, but there are lights and replicators popping like... What's the word again, Pinnacles? Those candy dolls?" "Computer, disengage redundant command pathways from lighting! Security override, Ronald Evans, Echo Romeo Fiver Nine November!..." "Code accepted..." The computer replied cheerfully unemotional... =/\=It's Piņata, Letek... There will be some more things popping, but I think I have saved the yeast of it...=/\= he answered to his Romulan colleague, as the lights returned to normal again... "Computer, generate a damage report, and send to my PADD..." "Affirmative..." the computer chirped again... =/\=Are you alright there, in engineering?=/\ =/\= Ambient temperature rose a bit, but we're ok. Ack! Ow ow... =/\= Kitty had spoken a moment too soon, as a secondary console sparked and shorted as she started to type, temporarily rerouting itself across her hand. =/\= Ow.. I'm okay, I'm ok... Shields recharged. But we took twenty seconds longer than requested. You ok up there? =/\= =/\=We lost one tubelight here on the bridge, and a lot more around the ship, according to my Padd... It also says we'll have to make do with military rations, until we can repair a replicator... Sonic showers are offline too, as is pretty much every form of luxury or comfort... Luckily the holodeck wasn't connected to redundants... At least we're pretty much fully operational, military wise.=/\= =/\= That's good enough for now. Are YOU okay? =/\= Kitty asked, as the ship began to wheel about, new orders given for landing parties and weapons charging. =/\=We're just peachy here, on the bridge, but I won't be alright until I know you are... What happened just there?=/\= Evans almost demanded... =/\= Hm? Oh, it's minor. A few sparks, a couple of minor burns on my hand. I'll get it checked out once we're not being shot at for a while. I'll get my knee checked at the same time. It's a pain, but it's nothing serious. =/\= Kitty smiled, touched by the concern she heard in his voice. =/\= Radiation levels are nominal. =/\= A sigh of relief could be heard almost all around the bridge... =/\=That's good to hear... Don't you dare die on me until we are very old and have fifty grandchildren, you hear?=/\ Evans said... Kitty couldn't help but to chuckle softly at that. =/\= I'm a long way from dying here. How many children do you want, then? =/\= she teased as she started tagging specific repair requests to different members of her group. "... Five Niner What?..." Ronald mumbled, as he was caught offguard by a question he could have seen coming for miles, if he were paying attention... However, his attention was with disengaging redundant command pathways, to prevent damage... =/\=Eh, I dunno... Eh... A lot?... If they turn out nice...=/\= Kitty's sudden laughter was so hearty and heartfelt that other engineers paused to look at her in surprise. =/\= We'd better get back to work, both of us, before we get in trouble. I won't let you forget that answer. =/\= =/\=Yes ma'am...=/\= Evans responded, semi jokingly, partly relieved that she had given him a way out of this conversation... "Ronald Evans, Echo Romeo Five Niner November..." he continued mumbling, still disengaging systems, hoping he was in time, to save them from a sparking death... -=Off=- Running the ship into the ground: Lt. Jg. Ronald Evans Chief Operations Officer USS Pegasus "CORporate acounts payable, NIna speaking... JUST a moment..." Lt. Kathleen Black Chief Engineer USS Pegasus |
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