Simulated Main Engineering – Holodeck 1, USS Rubidoux

Taran cursed as she studied the master status display tied into her work desk. She had no idea why she’d even volunteered for the fleet Core Breach challenge proposed in the Engineering journal. Typically, they just made her roll her eyes. But something about it just compelled her. And now? She hated that compulsion.

The computer had created a scenario around which the ship sustained damage through combat, and now the magnetic containment seals were failing. She had roughly five minutes, give or take one, to figure out a solution.

The ship rocked violently from an impact. Weapon’s fire, at a guess. Knowing her captain, he’d found a fight he couldn’t say no to, and it fell to her to hold the ship together for him. She cursed under her breath as a coolant line burst nearby and she ordered damage control teams to get it under control. She studied the status display coldly. Magnetic containment was failing. They either needed a solution or to eject the core.

She stormed over to the industrial replicator and ordered up a replacement. While the ship replicated the part Taran threw on her protection suit and sealed the helmet. Designed like a zero gee suit but less bulky, it was made with thick materials designed to keep out radiation and other chemical hazards, allowing the engineers to do their work in conditions less suitable for no protection. She keyed the suit’s mic.

“Get that over there, you! Help them out with that coolant leak. Let’s go people!”

The automated alert chimed. “Warp Core Breach in 5 minutes.”

“Five minutes folks, let’s go!”

Taran made her way to the damaged assembly and studied it for a moment. She knew it would take around two and a half minutes to remove and install the new component. That would eat up most of her time to resolve the issue, but she also knew that most engineers wouldn’t risk the time. Staying here to a hotswap a damaged component like this, you essentially agreed to put your name on your work. If you failed? You wouldn’t live long enough to see it go up into stardust.

She got to work, undoing the fastenings for the magnetic coupler. It was blackened with scouring from plasma burns. Likely a surge failure when the shields buckled under fire. She made a note to do some stress tests later to find the tolerance zones. Knowing when something like this would occur would be ideal. She could scroll back the simulation later to find precisely when they’d buckled so heavily.

As she worked, the computer blared out warnings, progressively counting down by the minute.

She unfastened the damaged coupler from the core, using a temporary SIF. It was a bandaid on an artery wound, and the temp field’s integrity was plummeting like the seconds ticking down on a stopwatch. She finally got the replacement fastened in place and reengaged the magnetic stabilization field.

The field stabilized, but the core breach was far from being dealt with. She’d only bought time. The matrix still needed aligned. And yanking it open while it was in such terrible shape was a bad idea. But she needed to do it. Who else would? Worse, who else could?

She looped around back to her main workstation and patched into the EPS flow monitor. The system was under a lot of strain and if she didn’t bleed off excess pressure, the entire network was going to backfire. She over rode the peak values for the structural integrity field for the ship and then used that as a bleed valve. Rather than risk popping a shunt here in the core, she’d use the entire ship to distribute the excess pressure. The ship could take it.

“You’ll hold.” She said encouragingly.

As if to protest, a panel burst from an alcove nearby. Glass, plastics, and shards of metal showered outwards. Taran wasn’t foolish enough to run with the safeties off. Her protection suit would have shielded her from the worst of that. She resumed her work and monitored the progress. As the plasma back feed levels evened out, she could see the strain build across the SIF network. But the pressure on the core stabilized, and the situation looked less and less bleak.

Finally, she did coolant dump to bring down the reactor temperatures. Last thing she needed was the crystal lattice to just melt to molten goo in the core case. She flagged down a pair of officers and a damage control team. “I need you two with a pair of handheld coolant dispensers. Follow me.” She moved to the core case and tugged open the chamber. The dilithium crystals glowed, and she took the first dispenser and sprayed them directly. She waited until it ran completely dry before bothering with the second.

Then she pushed them back in and used the auto alignment function to reseat them. The core was running hot. Her ramshackle patch job would need to be torn out at a starbase and replaced by a dedicated work crew and properly realigned. It would probably take at least a month of honest work in dry dock to undo a lot of what she’d just done. But, end of the day? The ship was safe. The crew? Still alive.

She leaned back on the main work desk in engineering and paused the simulation. She slipped off her helmet and set it down next to her, letting out a long sigh. Her assistant chief strode in from the Holodeck entrance. He glanced around, his brow arched.

“Blowing off some steam, huh, boss?”

Taran rolled her eyes. “No.”

“The place is a mess. You were up to something.”

“It was the engineer’s challenge.” She muttered.

“Thought you said that was for someone with something to prove?” He asked wryly.

Taran scowled, folding her arms.

“What of it?” she asked, but her glare said it was anything but a question that required an answer.

“Okay, okay. So. How did you do?”

She shrugged dismissively. “Broke about 20 safety regs and probably ruined half the EPS grid. The SIF network is mostly cooked out. The core chamber itself will need a full rebuild and this ship won’t go faster than warp 2 for over 20 au’s before it’d need a tow job back to dry dock.”

The AC chuckled. “But I don’t see a bright fiery ball of death and oblivion. You saved the ship by the look of it.”

Taran only grunted an ascent. She had done that much. But only barely just. “I should have done better.”

Her AC patted her shoulder before she glared at him, but there was no heat in her eyes. “Then we’ll try again. Together next time. I might know a thing or two you don’t. And I can probably talk you out of some of your hastier fix it now, worry about it later jobs.”

He pointed to her hasty repair job on the magnetic containment coupler and the chamber. Then he glanced down at the spent coolant containers.

“And probably pick up a little behind you.”

She grunted again. He was good for that much, at least.

“Are you going to send this back to the journal?”

“No.” she said, pushing off the desk. “Computer, end program and delete.”

Everything dematerialized from view, leaving the two of them in a black and red squared grid space. Her AC glanced around with a surprised whistle.

“Not sure I know many wrench monkies willing to throw results like that away so casually.”

She shrugged as she strode for the door. Her stomach was rumbling, and it was nearly chow time, anyway. She paused in the doorway.

“Only when the wrench monkey can do a better job.”

Her AC laughed again, and they left to grab a bite. When she was out of sight around the corner, her AC secretly restored the results from back up and sent them to the journal for her. She’d be angry for sure. But hey, someone had to look out for her.