Problems we have, solutions?
Posted on Wed Jul 2nd, 2025 @ 7:20am by Lieutenant Commander Lylja Tigerlilly & Lieutenant Alan Harrison
612 words; about a 3 minute read
Mission:
Terrorpin
Location: Ops Central, Main Engineering
Timeline: Now
Lylja looked at the rapidly updating holographic map and sighed. "Put me through to engineering, priority."
"Affirmative," said the computer.
Alan was swamped with work, like he'd been since the start of the "turtle" crisis. Hearing the familiar chirp on his commbadge, he let out a small sigh before answering, "Harrison."
"Tigerlilly here," Lylja said. "How are you holding up, Harrison? You sound as tired as I feel."
"I could use another cup of coffee, maybe three," Alan replied with a defeated chuckle, "What's happening in Ops?"
"Looking at the current power situation, I think we are going to need to shut down the entire Southeast sector momentarily and reroute through the tertiary system," she said, sending the data to the engineer. Unless you have a better solution?"
"Nothing comes to mind," Alan replied after a few seconds in thought, "I'll need to send someone out to the substation there, but it shouldn't be too hard."
"It makes me glad that Starfleet builds with backups to our backups, otherwise our whole grid would have collapsed hours ago."
"At least we're only dealing with a power-hungry creature this time, and not also the ones that eat metal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from before," Alan replied.
"That would be a problem," agreed Lylja. "And we are sure those creatures will not be returning? That would compound our problems immensely."
"They managed to get them away from here before, so I'm sure we could figure out something if they showed up on our doorstep again," Alan replied, "Anything else of note?"
"I have found a stockpile of emergency replicators," said Lylja. "It seems they were misshiped to the colony at some point. They are older models. pre-Dominion War, but they are still sealed and read as ready to go. There are eighty units so we can deploy them as needed. I will hunt down how we ended up with them later."
"I think we could easily replicate some simple devices that draw a reasonably large amount of power to distract the creature," Alan suggested, "Perhaps something less efficient from a few centuries back?"
"The industrial replicators are best for that," replied Lylja. "What are you thinking? We could mount one on an autonomous vehicle of some sort and send it wherever you want. I would need to reroute power for the industrial replicators, though."
"Actually, that's an even better plan than I had," Alan replied, "We could redirect the creature easily if it gets too close to something and always have a moving target for it to chase after."
"That is what I was thinking," said Lylja. "Maybe something tracked for stability?" She flipped over some possible designs for Alan to look at. "I am thinking simple and rugged should be what we are looking for in a design. Mechanics is your department, so I will go with what you think best."
"We should have at a few things like that sitting around," Alan replied, "It shouldn't be too hard to swap out their wheels for treads, if we have the time. They don't get much use as it is."
"That should be perfect," said Lylja. "Send me the vehicle specs and I will make sure the generator will slot in. How much time will you need to prep it?"
"Give us a few hours," Alan replied, "Is there anything else? If not, I'd like to get started so we have something before the big meeting with the Captain."
"Keep me informed and I will do the same," said Lylja. "I will get the industrial replicator spinning up and ready to go when you have the designs. See you at the meeting."
RSS FeedCredits | Privacy Policy