Catching Up To Do

[Sam_SemaJ 0]

"Catching Up To Do"

Chief Engineer's Log (acting)

Lt. JG Samuel Sema'J

 

<<note: this log is very long and tedious. It contains much technobabble, as well as personal babble, and pretty much has to deal with Sam's thoughts and responses to everything that has happened since the beginning of the ambassador plot (i.e. his return to Arcadia). If you're up for the challenge, enjoy. If it's too long and boring, I wont' be offended.>>

 

Sam was waiting to hear back from the captain. For the moment the engineering staff had restored the ship to regular operating parameters and he had a bit of down time. He walked into his new office and sat down at a messy desk, he decided to enter a duty log and update the system on engineering status. After the report was prepared, Sam spoke to the computer:

 

"Computer, log engineering as of...Damn"

 

"Specify," came the response of a computer that only slightly knew how to respond to everything one said.

 

Sam realized that the chrono was blank...the cold start of the computer would have wiped recent data like that, and with no outside communication, there was nothing to synchronize with.

 

"Computer, begin mission time index, mark beginning time as Shipwide Full Op Status"

 

"Beepity beep," said the computer, as Sam watched the MTI appear on all screens. It also appeared ship wide, notifying the crew of the switch in time record.

 

"Computer, create personal log, begin recording at current Mission Time Index"

 

"Beep"

 

"Acting Chief Engineer's log, MTI 00.00.00.30:

Things have been non-stop since my arrival back on Arcadia. The long and arduous search for the abducted Federation ambassador to Paradisia has taken us across the Galaxy and ultimately lead to the Romulan NZ border. I have only recently been informed of my assignment as acting chief engineer. I have taken this change in stride and am trying to pull from every source possible: Lt. Brighton's notes, my own certifications from the academy, and whatever leadership abilities I'm able to pull together. My own medical condition was affected during flight, proving the seriousness of my grounded status. This was much to the dismay of Dr. Miranda Porter, the doctor assigned to my condition and one of my closest friends in my time on Arcadia. Her anger has smoothed over, which I am grateful for. Currently my balance is not very good and I am prone to dizzy spells, both of which are reduced greatly by the use of a walking cane.

 

U.S.S. Arcadia has entered what is theorized to be null space. This was a result of a spatial fissure of some kind swallowing the ship during negotiations with the Romulans. Romunlan whereabouts currently unknown.

 

Events pertaining to Engineering in this situation are as follows:

 

Upon entering this void, the ship experienced first a surge of power, then a complete absence of it. This surge caused only light, heat and sound energy and thankfully did not cause extensive system damage. Based upon readings of reports from other departments, we are in an area of space that absorbs energy of all sorts. My theory as to the mass power loss is that the energy of the ship being thrown through the rift was so great that it was all shunted and absorbed into the null space. Per design, when all circuits were stripped of power, the base emergency life support kicked in and began manually filtering the stale air still in the cabin and retaining limited moisture. This system has very limited time span.

I was on the bridge at the time we entered the rift and navigated the tubes back to engineering. Once there it was determined that the only way to restore power to the ship was the manual cascade system. This system that can pull any very limited amount of power from all ships system, and through a hierarchy of power crystals, can build that power upon itself. Fortunately, enough inert energy remained in the ship as a whole that only one blast from the cascade generator was needed. This system began to build up ships batteries, and then systems could be started one by one. When powering a ship in this manner, the energy of each started system can be piggybacked into the batteries so as to amplify the battery charge with each new system online.

 

The engineering staff, under my direction set about powering systems in the order of: Life Support, Gravity, Comm, Computer. As each system was brought online, repair teams were sent to care for the damages to that specific hardware. The computer had suffered data damage and the core had to be cold started, this caused the lack of chrono-sync, which is why we are currently operating on MTI. Once the computer was up, enough power had built in the batteries to ignite the backup fusion generator, which provided enough power to start the main series. During the power-up sequence, proper distribution of power was NOT used, causing a conduit overload right in main engineering. This blast caused heavy burns, and internal injury to LtJG Simmons. He is recovering in sickbay and I take full responsibility for this injury. The ship now has full power, however, I've been ordered by the captain to put all non-essential systems on standby. I've put the ship on PA (power allocation) 7, which is set for life support, grav, comm, comp, and no propultion. Additionally, allocation settings for each main department are given to the department head to decide and set. All that remains now is to formulate a plan to get out of the null space.

 

This concludes the Engineering portion of the log:

 

I feel as though the world is spinning around me. After spending 6 months on earth, in relatively slow paced situations, I have been thrown into the fire with great force. I don't know where to focus my attention, the dire situation at hand, the again great distance to my family, the leadership tasks thrown at me, the fact that there's already an officer down on my watch... Actually, make that two, a brand new ensign was killed in the line of duty when we first lost the Ambassador. And another thing weighing on my mind...the people right here that I've missed more than I knew. All of these things have been shoved in my face in the last week and a half or so. Is that all it's been? ::sigh:: So much can happen...I miss my family, and yet I'm close to those I've missed. I'm currently idle, awaiting the next step in getting Arcadia out of the strife it's in.

 

Computer, end log"

 

"Beep"

 

Sam leaned back in his chair, and sleep began to catch up with him...