Stay the Course

Posted on Wed Mar 24th, 2010 @ 2:59am by Vice Admiral Iluvar

Mission: Episode 1.2 - "A House Divided"
Location: Main Shuttlebay, USS Pandora
Timeline: MD03, 0920

ON: [[Main Shuttlebay, USS Pandora, MD03, 0920]]

"Alright...what seems to be the trouble here," Juan (NPC) muttered to himself as he pried the facing off of the access panel and set it aside. There was never really a dull moment as a shuttle pilot. If one wasn't shuttling people around, there was always plenty of day-to-day maintenance to help with. In this case, a slight imbalance in the impulse manifolds had triggered a warning during the last pre-flight check.

Juan reached for his tricorder and opened it with a practiced flip of the wrist. As the device chirped and hummed in his hand, he pointed it in the direction of the relay he had just uncovered. He watched the display, moving the tricorder up and down slowly to get a complete reading. A slight chirp caused him to pause in his motion. Juan tapped a button on the tricorder to narrow the scan and focused it on the area that had resulted in the chirp.

Tyreel walked into the shuttle bay. He scanned all the shuttles, checking them out when he saw a light coming from the other side of the Carnauba. He slowly made his way over, on his way loosening his jacket. By the time he made it all the way over, his jacket was completely undone. "Crewman, Something wrong with our runabout?" He asked projecting his voice to make sure he would hear him.

Recognizing the voice as that of Ensign Keloas, the assistant department head who had just transferred in with a number of crew from the Tethys, Juan figured he'd better answer. He turned his head so that his voice would project toward the open hatch and called back, "Just routine maintenance, sir."

"Oh?" Tyreel asked, "Whats the 'routine' maintenance today?" He moved over to the tools and picked up the systems display, it was telling him it was something with the engines.

"Our last pre-flight diagnostic picked up a slight imbalance in the impulse manifolds," Juan explained, motioning to the open panel before him, "It's nothing unusual, but I figured I'd try tracking it down today, since it isn't likely the Carnauba will be going anywhere." He looked down at the toolkit that was resting on the deck of the forward cabin, then back over toward the access panel he'd been scanning. It wasn't going to be that much work to correct a small imbalance like this, but the ensign probably hadn't even been aware of the maintenance, judging by the questions he was asking. More than likely, he was just checking up on everyone or just passing through.

"So, nothing to take to the Admiral then." Tyreel responded, grabbing a Hypospanner and flipping it in his hand. "Tell me Crewman, what do you think of the New ship?" He asked, wanting to know the perspective of one of his crewman. It was always good for Moral to ask them that, even if you weren't the Commanding officer, he had learned from experience. Well not his, one of his past hosts.

The sudden change to small talk threw Juan off a little and, for a moment, he really had to think about what the ensign was asking him. While he thought, he ran a few more scans absent-mindedly before setting the tricorder aside and lifting a small tool from the case. "There's more variety," he remarked, thinking not only of the shuttle compliment, but the ship's recreational facilities as well, "I guess it's really too early to say, but if I had to say one way or another...I guess it's not that bad."

"Variety is good." Tyreel said smiling. "Well, I guess I should go back to my job unless you need something." He asked as he moved back towards the door.

"Actually, now that you mention it, I could use an extra hand," Juan said, looking up from where he was working, "That is...if you have a moment." Strictly speaking, he could have worked out the problem on his own, but he also didn't want to be one of those personnel the department heads came, observed, and left without really getting to know. To him, the best way to be recognized was to make an effort to get to know his superiors better.

"Sure." Tyreel said, moving back to the Runabout. "I'm just making Department rounds, and the next stop can wait." He took off his jacket as to not get to get it dirty and jumped up into the Runabout. "What'cha need?"

Juan set aside the tool he had been using and reached for another from the kit. "If you wouldn't mind going to the helm and bringing up the latest diagnostic on the impulse manifolds," he suggested, pointing to the console at the front of the cabin. As the ensign went past, Juan leaned forward so that he would be out of the way. Then he turned his attention back to the open panel.

"Computer still says there is an Imbalance of .02." Tyreel said as he read the computer's latest diagnostic. "You tried purging the Manifolds?" He asked as he spun in his chair to face the back of the runabout, where the Crewman was focusing on the Panel.

"Yeah," Juan replied, hand buried inside the panel, "I've also checked the secondary relays to be sure they weren't out of alignment. I'm almost wondering if..." He paused, noticing something that seemed somewhat out of the ordinary. Leaning in a little closer, he squinted to be sure he was seeing it correctly. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he realized what he had overlooked. Setting aside both tools, he picked up the tricorder again and pointed it at the panel. "Try routing the power through the primary junction," he suggested, "We bypassed it during the last maintenance cycle and I think whoever was working on it forgot to restore the primary settings."

"Okay," Tyreel said, turning around facing the panel again. He pulled up the Primary power display and rerouted the power out of the secondary power relays back to the Primary. He then made sure the settings were saved and good, then turned back to the crewman. "Okay, give it a minute."

Nodding, Juan continued to watch the power flow through the junction before him. Nothing seemed to change for a moment, but he continued to wait. The seconds continued to tick by and his tricorder continued to show the same readings. Then, just as he was about to ask for confirmation, the readings jumped up to nominal levels as the power flow returned to normal. Juan smiled at the reassuring hum of the junction and flipped his tricorder closed. "Well, I guess that does it," he said, looking toward where Keloas was still at the helm console.

"I guess it does." Tyreel said, standing up, "Well Crewman, I guess Ill just wonder onto the next part of the department." He made his way out of the runabout and headed out of the door. "Oh, and department get together next week on the holodeck."

Juan heard the ensign's parting words and smiled a little. Even if it ended up being a simple briefing or maybe some flight training, getting together with the other members of the department would give them something different to do during their two week trip to the Neutral Zone. He packed up the toolkit and snapped the lid shut. Reaching over, he lifted the panel facing from the deck and slipped it back into place, hiding the components he had just been working on, before rising to his feet.

Taking the toolkit with him, Juan exited the Carnauba with the confidence that he had managed to complete one task from his to do list for the day. He had also had a chance to talk with the assistant chief, even if it was for only a few minutes. All in all, it had been a very productive morning.

OFF

A JP by

Ensign Tyreel Keloas
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Pandora

and

Crewman Juan Gomez (NPC)
Shuttle/Runabout Pilot
USS Pandora
Played by: RAdm Iluvar