From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Sep 09 2007 - 22:18:24 PDT
=Lab Test=
(cont'd from "Without A Voice")
LOCATION: GATEWAY Station, Operations Module
SCENE: Science Lab
STARDATE: 2.70909.2218
It was good to be out of Engineering.
Crichton had toughed it out in there for the last several days, doing his best to keep an eye on Salor while simultaneously working on the sensor-masking project. But it had been getting too hard to get any work done there. There was now a physical fight almost every other day, and shouting matches just about once every hour. Crichton had actually requested a security detail be posted in Engineering round the clock, but he was pretty sure Salor had intercepted the request, and goodness knows what the mad Vulcan had done with it.
Salor himself had seemed to improve, at least a little. He was making it to all his duty shifts now, and some of the power-troubles that had been plaguing the station had started to improve. But behind closed doors, Crichton knew the Vulcan was worse than ever. He was doing just about everything in his power to interfere with Crichton’s work on the sensor-masking project- giving Crichton “priority assignments” to take him away from his calculations, scheduling roster-changes to take away Crichton’s team at critical points in the research, and paying a suspiciously large number of “surprise visits” to check on Crichton’s progress.
Somehow, Crichton had muddled through and finished Phase One of the project. He was ready to begin Phase Two, the lab-testing phase. For that, he would need the assistance of Lt. Yao, the station’s Chief Science Officer, who was due to arrive any minute.
Crichton sat down and begin entering the information for the preliminary test of the sensor mask. After a few minutes, the door’s to the lab swished open, and the J’naii CSciO stepped in.
“Good morning, lieutenant,” Crichton said, smiling up at the J’naii from his console.
“Good morning, Ensign,” Yao replied. “I see you have gotten started already.”
“Just the initial calculations,” Crichton said. “In a minute, I’ll need you to set the test parameters. We have to make sure the sensor-mask is capable of maintaining itself in a variety of situations.”
“I must admit, I’m impressed you’ve come so far with this project in such a short amount of time,” Yao said. “Sensor-masking technology is very sophisticated. And, of course, people are starting to talk about the situation in Engineering…”
Crichton looked up from his console. “You’ve heard about that?”
“Power failures, engineers on edge, physical altercations,” Yao said, ticking off the list on nan’s fingers. “I have to ask… what kind of show are you running down there?”
“You don’t want to know,” Crichton sighed. “The work-load we’re under is enormous… Salor’s got everyone working round the clock trying to fix the power fluctuations, but we still can’t figure out what’s wrong. On top of that, everyone seems to be this close to snapping and killing each other.”
“This sounds quite serious,” Yao frowned. “Have you notified the captain?”
“He knows,” Crichton nodded. “Trouble is, there’s not a lot we can do. We can keep throwing the troublemakers in the brig, but then we have to cover all their shifts, we have less engineers to work with… it just puts everyone under more stress.”
“Then why does the captain have you working on this project?” Yao asked.
“Because, at the end of the day, *this* project is probably more important,” Crichton said. He tapped in a few more commands on the console, then sat back. “Alright, I’ve entered all the preliminary data into the computer. I need you to program a simulated section of the surrounding space for the mask to be tested with.”
“It will take me a few minutes,” Yao said, taking Crichton’s seat and beginning to input commands. “I have to allow for variables in the surrounding space- things like background radiation, sudden clouds of space-dust, and the like.”
“Good,” Crichton said. “The more realistic you can get it, the better. I want to be as sure as possible that the mask is working before we move on to Phase Three.”
“What’s Phase Three?” Yao asked.
“Field test,” Crichton said, with a slight shudder. “We’ll have to actually fly an Aurora-fighter through a Dominion sensor sweep. Sink or swim.”
“Then I hope you checked all your math thoroughly,” Yao said. “I won’t envy the person who has to make that flight.”
Yao continued to enter information into the computer, drawing on all nan’s experience to ensure that the simulations would be as realistic as possible. It was a long process, to allow for a series of highly complex variables, but it was also fairly straightforward work and did not take all of Yao’s attention.
“So, if you don’t mind my asking,” the J’naii said. “What sort of things do they fight about, in Engineering?”
“You name it,” Crichton shook his head. “Schedule errors. Misplaced tools. Station politics. It’s like they’re all just waiting for an excuse.”
“It’s a wonder the station still functions,” Yao said. “Lt. Salor must be working tirelessly to hold everything together.”
“Oh, don’t get me started on *him*,” Crichton frowned.
“You don’t like him?”
“What’s to like?” Crichton asked. “The guy’s arrogant, petty, childish… and probably the worst Vulcan I’ve ever seen. I mean, I always thought Vulcans were in control of their emotions, but Salor always seems ready to punch my lights out.”
“Surely you’re reading too far into it,” Yao smirked. “Salor is under as large a workload as you are. Perhaps the stress is starting to overcome is Vulcan resolve.”
“I doubt it,” Crichton said. But he didn’t want to talk about Salor right now. Kane had told him to keep an eye on the Vulcan CEO, not to complain about him to the rest of the senior staff, and besides- being away from Salor and the entire situation in Engineering was a nice break for him.
“All finished,” Yao reported, glancing up from the console at Crichton. “The simulation parameters are set, we’re ready to begin the tests.”
Crichton smiled. “Alright, let’s get started.”
NRPG: Not much, but I just wanted to get something out. It’s been so quiet lately on GATEWAY station…
Shawn
a.k.a.
Jacob Crichton, Ensign
Assistant Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
---------------------------------
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