Problems Are Afoot.

Posted on 19 Oct 2017 @ 11:18pm by Lieutenant Commander Kit'rin'e

615 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Errand of Mercy
Location: Main Engineering

Ever since getting to Engineering Kit'rin'e was immediately bombarded with a problem. Systems were running normally until recently and while the details were still mostly unknown it was beginning to cause problems for ships systems including propulsion. The risks of jumping to warp with this problem at hand was dangerous to put it mildly, that said the Captain wanted answers and right now, Kit'rin'e had none.

Simulations yielded that the Warp Core was still generating power, but when the power was increased for what ever reason then the core would spike. A spike would cause damage to the core internals which depending on the severity of the spike could result in a breach, internal manifold damage, rebuild or ejection. All of which were not favourable options. Standing at a diagnostic terminal Kit'rin'e watched the feeds as they came in, numbers looked good but a phase variance was present, this was what was causing the issues. Sensors didnt detect any subspace disruptions or readings that could give any sort of indication just what was going on. Checks on the core itself indicated everything was in the norm, the core maintenance cycle was done on time and a check of the logs indicated details reports of every stage.

Kit'rin'e doubted it was the fuel, if it were then the other cores would have the same problems but diagnostics had already indicated this particular core was the issue. "Computer, transfer system information and holographic representation of the core to the Holodeck."

His idea involved removing the distractions of everything around him, leaving just himself and the problem ore and lastly, the problem to solve.

*** Holodeck ***

Kit'rin'e entered the Holodeck and stood waiting for him was a representation of the warp core. It hummed and functioned as normal. "Computer, remove matter and anti-matter conduits but continue functions as if present." Kit'rin'e had already concluded the problem was in the core, not the fuel delivery system. The conduits vanished.

"Computer, stream core information to the left, power generation vs demand, conversion ratios, reaction time and counts."

When the information appeared Kit'rin'e looked them over, everything seemed to be normal. "Computer, scan active warp core, detect phase variance." The computer told him one was present. "Is the varience part of the physical core?"

"Negative."

"Source of the variance?" Kit'rine asked trying to narrow down the field of options.

"Sensors indicate variance contained with the reaction chamber."

"Can you confirm that variance is not related to potential fuel contamination." Kit'rin'e followed with an additional question.

"Negative."

That left a few options for him to consider. The variance could be caused by something contaminating the fuel to the core, possibly one of the conduits but that mean scanning every meter of conduit to find out and there was a considerable amount to cover from the armoured storage tanks to the core. That sort of venture needed approval, that was a lot of man hours to allocate but if the Captain wanted answers then Kit'rin'e needed to investigate. He knew that the other cores would be able to power the ship at standard operation but if they were attacked there was no way to ensure that with one core down they could sustain a direct engagement for long.

With no clear indicator to give him a direction beyond knowing the location of the issue it still left in the air as to a cause. He added it to a list of things to ask the Captain but suspected the man would want more answer than question. Ultimately Kit'rin'e had a warp core with a variance within it, no apparent cause, potentially destructive consequences if mishandled and the gruelling task of option elimination before solution.

 

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