Warp Core Wonder

Posted on Wed Mar 30th, 2022 @ 3:01am by Lieutenant Gil Walker & Captain Nimeeh Vixil

Mission: USS Tyche
Location: Main Engineering

Though her intention had been to talk to the Chief Engineer, Nim found herself distracted by the subtle tranquility of the warp core humming in the middle of the room. The way the blues swirled together was mesmerizing. It was a visual she had always found captivating. She leaned on the barricade around the warp core, absently reaching for a lock of dark hair, twisting it around her fingers as she stared.

Interrupting the peace as the access door to the main Jefferies Tube network came Walker and an Engineering Ensign.

"...and I'm tellin' you, the specs are older than either of us and the Tyche got the refit so stop with these conservative numbers and let her hum. The world isn't going to end over .008 microns out of sync. Now please, sync the couplers like I asked. Thank you." Gil said, handing off a PaDD to the Ensign before noticing Engineering had a new arrival.

"Sorry about that, Commander. I swear, I don't know what they're teaching at the Academy but it's not what I learned. All this by-the-book stuff, like the ship's made out of glass or something." He said, "So, admiring the beating heart of the Tyche? Never gets old, does it?"

Nim smiled as she turned toward the Chief Engineering Officer. "I was never tempted to go into Engineering, I never saw the appeal in it at all, but I admit, the warp core has a way of drawing you in and captivating you. It's not just the heart of the ship but the soul." She laughed. "Sorry, not meaning to wax all poetical on you. Are you all ready for kickoff?"

"When it comes to warp cores, everyone gets all kinds of poetical and philosophical. It's the effect they have." Gil said with a chuckle, "As for launch, yeah, we're ready. I want to still do some minor tweaks and stuff, but that's just more my personal thing. We're green across the board, so long as no one goes breaking the ship."

There was a nod from the Executive Officer. "The Captain asked me to have you make sure you check the aft thrusters again before we depart. She complained they felt sluggish?" Nim shrugged. "I guess a bout of insomnia found her at the helm, at least for a bit?"

"They're not. It's the control matrix software and some bad ODN lines. I got Gamma Shift scheduled for that already. Someone fell asleep at the board during a refit and half installed all the LCARS updates correctly. Thought no one wouldn't notice but that's my job. Kind of noticeable if an instant computer responds slightly slower." Gil chuckled.

"I assume that said someone has been reassigned to maintenance in waste reclaimation?" Nim asked with a laugh. "Because if they haven't been already, once the Captain finds out that they fell asleep on the job and that's why her ship was malfunctioning she'll be having them reassigned to the next garbage scow out of here."

"Oh, no, not one of ours. It was one of the yard's people. I stayed on board during that one, but I can't be everywhere at once. Didn't find out about it until after it was said and done." Gil let out an annoyed sigh before chuckling, "Still, gives the newer folks something to learn so I tend to treat it as on the job training. But in all fairness, it won't hinder the ship in a crisis situation. We're just tightening down the bolts, as it were."

"This should be a fairly standard milk run, we don't expect any issue," Nim replied easily. "But it never hurts to make sure we're ready for anything we encounter. I'm going to be blocking out holodeck two for the next couple of weeks for Tactical to run some training drills. It may be a little energy intensive, so it probably wouldn't hurt to have someone make sure the holodeck is up to the challenge?"

"Well, that's why I'm here - because issues we don't expect still just seem to happen." The Chief Engineer let out a chuckle as he leaned against the bulkhead, "So, need me to make sure that they don't go shooting out the emitters or something? Yeah, I can keep an eye on that. Got a couple newbies I'd like to show how this works. Y'know, before someone gets locked in there locking wits with Holo-Moriarity or whatever..."

"Fabulous!" Nim exclaimed. "Now, is there anything that you need from me before we launch, or are you and yours good to go?"

"We're as good as we're gonna get. In fact, I hope we're launching because some folks are liable to get real bored around here. Me. I'm liable to get real bored." He laughed a little at that, "Everything's gonna be fine. In and out, back home in time to catch the sunny season on Risa." Gil was fully aware that Risa always had a sunny season, thanks to its controlled weather.

"We'll be leaving first thing in the morning, our scheduled slot for the catapult is at zero nine hundred, and we'll likely need to be there well before that. Fingers crossed I'll be back in time to hop over to Trill for Papi's birthday," Nim replied easily. "We shouldn't be on layover for more than a day or two before we jump back."

"That sounds good to me. We'll be all set down here, Commander." Gil said confidently.

Nim exhaled, a sound that almost sounded like a sigh of relief. "At least that's one department I don't have to worry about," she said with a grin. "Right, I'll leave you to it, let me know if you need anything. Other than that, I'll see you tomorrow for departure."

"We aim to please. Have a good evening, ma'am." Gil said, pushing off the wall.