A Desperate Maneuver

[John Randall 0]

OFFICIAL LOG

LIEUTENANT JOHN RANDALL

USS CHALLENGER

 

(Personal Log Stardate 11611.26)

 

John had downloaded several files from the Starfleet Archives library, and had gotten Russell's help on two or three files that Montgomery Scott had stated were in his personal logs that were stored at Memory Alpha. The chief engineer of the Challenger read the logs intently for several hours, only taking breaks when his body forced him to. Russell had to come get him twice to almost forcibly take him to the officers' mess to eat a meal.

 

After a six hour nap (which his body had demanded as well), John felt he had comprised enough information that he felt he knew a temporary solution to try to clear up the infected space surrounding the Challenger. He contacted the communications officer aboard the Challenger, ensign Dvokr chim Hok, and through the Tellarite outlined his plan to Ja'Lale. The captain questioned Randall about some of the specifics of the plan, which John admitted were kinda 'out there', as the vernacular went, but he assured Ja'Lale Scott had made it work in the Enterprise's situation, and the captain granted Randall permission to try his plan out.

 

John had Hok connect him with Jeff Michaels in engineering, and told Hok to listen in and also download to a wafer the schematics of a device Randall was going to have Michaels and his engineering team build aboard the Challenger. Michaels greeted Randall enthusiastically upon hearing his friend's voice, and assured him he and his team had just received a new treatment that the science and medical teams had just came up with aboard the Challenger, and they were ready to build the device.

 

John transmitted the schematics of the device to the Challenger, and work began on the device. On the bridge of the Challenger, ensign Hok took to what amounted to be a crash course in engineering with Randall's help so he could try to understand the basic principles of the device. The device took several hours to build, but the team finally accomplished the task, and Michaels told John they were ready to implement the device.

 

Randall told Michaels he and his team would have to go EVA for the first part of the plan; the device would have to be hooked up to the plasma manifold exhaust ports on the port nacelle of the Challenger. The manifolds would then need to be purged, and the exhaust particles from the manifolds would be absorbed by the ports in the device. The plasma particles would be changed into baryon particles inside the device, and the baryons would be used to (hopefully) neutralize the virus surrounding the space of the Challenger.

 

After the device had been fully charged with baryons, the next part of the plan was to take it to the auxiliary bridge of the Challenger, where Michaels and his team would hook it into the phaser relays. The phaser beams would be neutralized, and the relays would be reconfigured to blast out the baryon particles into the space surrounding the Challenger, hopefully neutralizing the virus within 48 to 72 hours.

 

Randall told Michaels he should enlist the help of the Challenger's science officer, Lieutenant Anastasia Poldara, and give her the formula for neutralizing the phaser beams, then reconfiguring the relays for the baryon particles. Michaels agreed, and after the team charged the device, Poldara was contacted by Michaels, and she agreed to meet the team in the auxiliary bridge.

 

Poldara, upon arriving, insisted on speaking with Randall herself. Hok set up the relay between them, and John told Ana the specifics of the plan. The science officer, after several seconds of intense thought, recommended an additional element be added to the particles; she theorized that the element should add some extra punch to the baryons, making them more effective, and hopefully reduce the amount of time it would take for the baryon particles to neutralize the virus. Randall agreed, and Poldara began programming the element into the equation for the baryon particles while Michaels and the engineering team hooked the device into the phaser relays.

 

After a couple of hours, Michaels informed Randall the device was ready to go. Poldara said she needed a little more time to get the equation right, and John told her to take her time, and be sure she was satisfied before they attempted the maneuver. Ana agreed, and John waited for the signal from the Challenger to begin the shots into space. He was hoping beyond hope that the plan would work, and he would soon be able to rejoin his friends aboard his home ship.

 

END LOG