A Glitch In The Mission

[John Randall 0]

OFFICIAL LOG

LIEUTENANT JOHN RANDALL

USS CHALLENGER

 

(Personal Log Stardate 11602.01)

 

John was awakened by the computer nearly 9 hours later; to the chief engineer, it seemed only five minutes ago. He stretched his arms above his head, then got out of bed. He went into the head and proceeded to take a 20 minute relatively hot shower. He stepped out, toweled himself dry, and went back into the bedroom to put on a fresh uniform. He came back out into the living area and went over to the computer terminal. He got an update on the mission, and seeing nothing much was happening, decided to eat some breakfast.

 

John exited his cabin and walked along the corridor to the officers' mess. He went up to the replicator and ordered breakfast. He then took his tray and sat down at a nearby table to eat. He finished his meal, dumped the remains of his tray into the recycler, and exited the mess. He walked along the corridor to the turbolift shaft and waited for a car.

 

It arrived moments later and he stepped in. "Deck 12," he said, and the lift sped off. It arrived moments later, and he exited, going along the corridor until he reached engineering. The doors swished open at his approach, and he made his way inside. As he entered, he was immediately hailed by Lieutenant Jeff Michaels, who greeted him with obvious relief.

 

"Boy, am I glad to see you, pal," he said. "Take a look at this," and he directed John to a monitor which showed the status of the warp field that the engines generated. It was slightly deformed, and after a few seconds of deliberation, John thought he knew why, having seen the same thing happen on the Altair. "What speed was the ship doing, Jeff?" he asked, and Michaels replied, "Warp 8." Randall nodded. "The same thing happened aboard the Altair," he replied. "We'll have to reconfigure the warp field to interact with the cloak generated by the device. Here's what we need to do," and he gave Michaels instructions on how to fix the problem.

 

John punched the comm as Michaels and the assembled team began work on the configurement of the warp field. He sent a hail to the bridge, but got no immediate answer. Shaking his head, he nudged his friend. "If the captain ever answers, tell him what we're doing. I'll be in the generator room." Michaels nodded, and John left the main console, heading for his office. He retrieved his toolkit and left the office, heading for the warp core.

 

He walked to the glass elevator that connected the two floors of engineering, and rode the lift to the top floor. He exited and went down the narrow corridor to the generator room. He entered and made for the starboard generator first. He began inputting equations that he had stored and saved on his PADD from the Altair into the panel. He finished and went over to the port generator, repeating the process.

 

He finished and pulled out his communicator. "Randall to Michaels," he said, and his friend answered immediately. "That should do it," he continued. "Contact the bridge and tell them they can try warp 8 again." "Acknowledged, boss," replied Michaels. "Michaels out." John stood watching the readouts on the panels, and after a few moments, satisfied himself that the adjustments had worked. He contacted Michaels again and informed his friend that he was returning to engineering. He holstered his communicator and left the generator room.

 

He walked down the corridor to the lift, and rode it to the ground floor of engineering. He then made his way to the office after nodding at Michaels, who gave him a thumbs-up at the main console. John went into the office and sat down at the desk. It was his desk now, apparently, and he wondered briefly what had caused the prior chief of engineering, Lieutenant Commander Ed Freeman, to leave Starfleet. That was the word he had been able to divine from overheard conversations aboard the ship. He had also heard that the navigator of the Challenger, Lieutenant H.G. Reed, had taken an extended leave of absence from duty, and he sent out a silent prayer that all was well with his friends.

 

He then sighed at the PADDs that had accumlated on his desk, and set to work logging the contents into the computer. He finished about an hour later, and sat back in the chair. The e-mail indicator was flashing as he returned the computer to the home screen, and he clicked on it, revealing a message from Amanda Richards, the security chief of the Avenger, whom John had met and befriended on his most recent covert mission. He accessed the e-mail and smiled as he read it, then typed out a response, and sent it over subspace to the Avenger.

 

The comm suddenly beeped, and the voice of Captain Ja'Lale came over the speaker. "Ja'Lale to Randall," it said, and John answered. "Lieutenant, be ready to re-engage the cloak as soon as the fighter squadron leaves the ship." A little puzzled, Randall replied, "Aye, Captain, we are standing by down here. All systems green across the board. Randall out."

 

He got up from behind the desk and went back out into engineering, walking over to the main console. Michaels saw him coming and beckoned to him. "Chief, I was just about to contact you," he said. "The captain wanted the cloak dropped so a fighter squadron could leave the ship." John nodded, a wry smile appearing on his face. "Yes, so I was just notified by the captain," he said, and chuckled as a slightly shocked expression appeared on Michaels' face.

 

John gave his friend a friendly swat on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, dude," he said. "It was virtually a dead heat between you and the captain. Show me what's going on." Michaels nodded and filled Randall in on the happenings of the past hour or so. John then said, "Let's double check everything so we don't get caught with our pants down." Michaels grinned and nodded, and the two men sat down at the console.

 

John directed the team at the console on the procedures, and they began work. The next 12 hours went by, and the alpha shift was showing signs of fatigue. John watched his crew carefully, waiting for the delta shift to report for duty. Then suddenly, the ship began to shake badly; personnel and loose objects hit the floor all over engineering. Randall was shaken out of his chair, along with others at the console. He grabbed the chair and struggled up from the floor, barking, "Report!"

 

Michaels' voice came to him. "Chief, we're receiving damage reports from all over the ship. Apparently, the cloaking device was reactivated, and something's gone wrong. The warp engines are offline, and the impulse drive has been damaged." John nodded, having regained his seat in the chair. He accessed the damage reports himself, and frowned heavily at the sheer volume of the reports. 'What the hell happened,' he thought, then, as the ship finally subsided, got to his feet, and began issuing orders, as well as assigning teams.

 

His friend Steve Davis, who now commanded the night shift, reported in, and John immediately assigned him and a team to repair the engines. He told Michaels to assemble a team and head for the more heavily damaged areas. He then assembled a team of his own, and they made their way to the generator room to check on the cloaking device.

 

END LOG

[Cmdr Rinax 0]

Ahh, and wasn't Mr Randall surprised to find himself ended up in Sickbay! I guess you'll have to read the 1/31 log to find out why.

 

Great update, Lieutenant!

[John Randall 0]

Thank you, Commander. I will be waiting for the 1/31 log to be posted.