A Stationary Classic

Posted on Wed Mar 4th, 2020 @ 11:18pm by Fordyce Kirschler PhD & Chief Engineer Michael Burnstein

Mission: Mission 11 - Prospecting
Location: Deck 15, Engineering
Timeline: Following "Goodbye Temperance"
1156 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

"Well, that ain't it," announced Ford. "Magnetic constrictors look fine."

He stood, dusted off his pants for no good reason, and straightened his back with a groan. The new chief of ops had been halfway inside a maintenance hatch performing a manual diagnostic on some portions of the warp core. At the captain's suggestion (it was really more like a string of Russian curses with "Kirschler" and "Burnstein" thrown in there somewhere), he'd teamed up with ol' Burnie two and a half hours ago to try to track down "The Problem." And so far, The Problem was mysterious, persistent, stubborn, and elusive. It was also keeping them from engaging the warp engines. Fine timing - suspicious timing - given that the other crew had absconded with the Temperance, leaving them high and dry and unable to give chase.

"Frak, frak, frak..." Burnie cursed under his breath, and ran a hand over an unruly case of bedhead that had only gotten worse since rolling out to run to the bridge far too early. "There is absolutely nothing wrong - or at least any more wrong than normal - with any of the systems supposedly causing the automatic shutdown."

"Far as anybody can tell it's not a hardware issue," reiterated Ford. "Nothing's contaminated the matter or anti-natter supplies, and the dilithium matrix is in good shape. I didn't see anything wrong with the power flows. Damn thing's just cantankerous, don't wanna listen." He turned and shot a menacing look at the warp core. "What about a software issue? The diagnostic didn't show anything wrong with the commands running between the consoles and the hardware..."

"I've run three levels of virus scans. Always possible to miss something, but I doubt it. One good thing about old patchwork systems is that the normal targets for crafty high tech viruses aren't there." Burnie rubbed his chin, thinking, and leaving a grease mark that resembled half a short goatee. "If it's not mechanical or software, it must be something in the wiring, the connections. We're going to have to open the consoles up and trace by hand." He sighed. this was going to take time.

"I tell you what, I never thought I'd say this... But I sure wish this was a Starfleet ship. We'd have a whole mess of grunts to go crawling around looking for problems instead of doing it ourselves," grumbled Ford. He gestured to the conduits running from the warp core nearest to Burnie, then in turn to the ones nearest to himself. "You start there, I'll start here? I'll be damned if this ain't gonna turn out to be a problem all the way up on deck four or somethin'..."

God, I hope not... Burnie thought, looking up. "Okay, you take that side and I'll race you to find the problem."

As he set off, Ford established an open comm line so they could keep each other updated on progress. He started with the consoles and computer subjunctions that controlled the matter-antimatter reactions but that was predictably a bust. He eyed the Jefferies tube hatch before finally conceding that he'd need to crawl in there. They literally weren't paying him enough for this.

"You ever figure you'd be crawling around an old dusty ass ship like this?" asked Ford, sounding a little amused. "You're a little young for it, ain'tcha?"

"Hush," Burnie scolded. He stroked the tube's inner panel. "Don't listen him, baby. You're not old and dusty, you're a classic."

Ford let out a full-throated laugh. "A classic? I reckon that's one way of puttin' it. Say, you ever been on one of them new-... Well hold on now. You better get over here, Burnie."

His voice changed immediately, a shift from joviality to something far more serious. In the very first Jefferies tube junction, not far at all from the access hatch, was an open panel. And not just any panel, either. It housed a grouping of isolinear chips, subprocessors, and many other computer components that were vital to the interface between engineering systems and the ship's primary ODN network. As nervous systems went, this was the portion that controlled much of the hardware in engineering - mostly autonomous but absolutely vital.

Burnie had been about to defend the beauty of the classic Connie, but at the shift in tone, Burnie moved both feet to the outside of the ladder and slid down fire-pole style. "Be right there," he said as he hit the deck and ran over to climb to Ford's position.

When the chief engineer showed up, Ford gestured flippantly to the open panel. "Your classic in action there. Looks like the magnetic latch is a little worn out. Whoever was in here monkeyin' around didn't shut it tight enough, probably shook loose when those assholes ripped out of here."

"Sonuva..." Burnie growled, spotting the missing control chips. That was not something that could have happened by accident. It was also something that shouldn't have happened. "We have spares for those at least. I'll go grab them. Make sure no one else touches this," he said before heading back down. "We're going to want security to have a look. Those people shouldn't have been able to get in here with no one noticing."

Ford stood there by himself, staring at the open hatch. He suddenly wished he had the resources of the Bank of Bolias at his disposal. If he was anywhere other than the middle of nowhere, he could have called Lucie. And she would have sent out some crack forensic squad to scan every micron of this space. They'd probably have the culprit (or culprits?) in-hand within 12 hours.

But he was in the middle of nowhere, which meant the whole thing would fall to Armoury Ford. Who, he guessed, probably wasn't a leading forensic analyst. But competent nonetheless, he reckoned. Maybe they had a fighting chance of finding the offender. Unless Armoury Ford was the offender. He shook his head, chuckling at his own suspicions. But then...

"Say, Burnie. What if it ain't one of those people? What if it was one of us people?"

"Then we need to investigate this all the more carefully." Burnie didn't much like it, but the thought had in fact crossed his mind, which is why he'd told Ford to make sure no one touched it before he got back with security. Still, it did raise an issue. He didn't suspect the armory officer, but a second set of eyes might be a good idea. "I'll bring Liha back along with the other Ford. If anyone knows how to look for evidence of insider sabotage it's a paranoid Romulan."

Besides, he'd known her longer than anyone here, and paranoid Romulan or not, he trusted her.

Michael Burnstein
Chief Engineer
SS Mary Rose

Dr. Fordyce Kirschler
Chief of Operations
SS Mary Rose