Transporter Inspection

Posted on 01 Aug 2018 @ 4:25pm by Lieutenant JG Ian Beckett & Commodore Harvey Geisler
Edited on on 01 Aug 2018 @ 4:26pm

1,780 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: The Search Begins
Location: Transporter Room One
Timeline: MD2 || 1100 hours

Ian had been busy performing routine maintenance on the four primary transporters throughout the ship. It wasn't as time consuming as he thought it would be. The young man attributed that to the fact that this new incarnation of the Black Hawk was still up to speed. And a bit more advanced than those on the Chimera had been. These not only had upgraded targeting scanners for better accuracy, but you could beam through active shields with them. Well, the ship's shields. The operator could match the transporter beam frequency in conjunction with the ship's shield frequency. So no more having to lower shields in in a firefight to beam someone on or off.

The Transporter Chief paused a second as he reattached the panel at the base of the last transporter. That could make things really interesting. Finishing with the panel, Ian put the spanner back in the kit and opened his tricorder. The readout showed everything to be in working order. With that, he closed his standard maintenance kit and got up from the floor.

"Last one down," he said the transporter operator. "At least for today. Tomorrow are the four emergency transporters." With a nod, Ian headed out the door and towards the nearest turbolift for Engineering. "Let's see, put this kit back and check in with the Quartermaster to see if the pattern enhancers need checked."

As he neared the lift car, his combadge chirped.

"Geisler to Beckett," called the Captain's voice. He'd been performing his ship-wide inspection following the morning's drill, and had come across Transporter Room One empty.

"Beckett here, Sir." Ian felt his shoulders drop slightly. He'd managed to avoid meeting the Captain since he'd come aboard. But fate finally caught up with him.

"Can you meet me in your transporter room, please?"

"Understood, Sir. I'm on my way. Beckett out." Ian stepped inside the lift and announced, "Deck Five." When the Captain calls, you come. That's what he'd been told on the Chimera and that's how he continued to work. Ian still had his standard kit slung over his shoulder when he exited the lift and jogged down the corridor to his transporter room. He paused a second outside of the motion sensors and took a few breaths. Ready, he entered the room and came to attention. "Lieutenant Beckett reporting as ordered, Captain." It was then that Ian noticed the surrounding emptiness. Crap.

Captain Geisler had been standing near the transporter circuits when he'd arrived and discovered the system had been unmanned. The room had been placed into standby mode, as was usual procedure, but as most captains often knew every aspect of the ship down to details as minute as welds and the precise rotation of bolts, Harvey had noticed a few abnormalities, especially with the transporter circuits. One row of isolinear chips in particular appeared to be in an unusual sequence. "Ah, Lieutenant Beckett," Harvey greeted, gesturing to the circuits. "Did you do this?"

Ian looked down to where the Captain was pointing. "Well, yes Sir. That was me. But I could swear I put the panel back on after the maintenance check. I'll get it taken care of right away, Captain."

Harvey waved Lieutenant Beckett's eagerness off. "That's all right, Lieutenant. The cover was on when I got here." He indicated the translucent side and stated, "I spotted the difference in alignment thanks to this and wanted to see your handiwork."

"Oh, yeah," said Ian. "Translucent. I'm still getting used to the differences and advancements of this class compared to the Intrepid class I last served on." He looked down the circuits that he'd realigned and then back to the Captain. "What do you think, Sir?"

"It depends," Harvey remarked, waving a finger across the collection of chips. "What exactly does this do? Looks like some sort of adjustment to the targeting scanners."

"It is," Ian replied. "I'd been trying to figure out how to get a better and quicker lock on a target ever since the transporter incident. This," he said pointing to the chips, "should allow for the targeting scanners to acquire that lock despite the interference that possibly caused the malfunction."

"Should?" Harvey asked. When it came to efficiency and accuracy, he always preferred to deal in absolutes, not conjecture. "Have you run any tests with it yet?"

"No sir, I haven't yet. My plan is to test it after lunch," he answered. "Unless of course, you'd prefer it earlier, Captain." He carried his bag over the console and set it down beside. "I could have a test cylinder with a varietal molecular matrix brought up right away."

Normally, Harvey would let it slide and move along, but until the Away Teams returned, there was really little for him to do. And he'd rather know now in case those transporters would be needed if one of the runabouts ran into trouble. "If it's not too much trouble, Lieutenant."

Ian smiled. Not too much trouble...his last senior officers would have responded with well-what-are-you-waiting-on instead. This Commanding Officer was different. "It'll be no trouble at all, sir." He tapped away at the console and sent a requisition to Engineering to have a test cylinder with the correct matrix brought to them. "It should be here in a few minutes, Captain."

Harvey nodded his approval. "Very well, Lieutenant. I hope I have't caught you at a bad time."

"Oh no, not at all, Sir," responded Ian. "It's never a bad time for you." Awkward moments of conversation with a Captain that one hardly knows, however, that's a different story. "So, this is a much newer ship than the last one I was assigned to. How long has this class been operational?"

"From what I understand, just a couple years," Harvey said as he placed the cover back on the hatch and stood up. "Of course, this ship's brand new. I gave up trying to keep the helm from scratching the hull though."

"No wonder I haven't heard anything about it. That's right off the shelf when it comes to starships," said Ian. Then he grinned a little. "Scratching the hull, huh. They don't make helmsmen like they used to. I knew one that was on the rugged side of balanced when it came to piloting starships. About once a month, he tried to pull maneuvers like he was in a Defiant class. Never really worked well."

"I can imagine," Harvey remarked. "The Century's lines aren't as sleek as a Sovereign's, but she's got a good center. We really haven't had to be too graceful as of yet, and hopefully we won't have to see how graceful she can be."

"I can't imagine what kind of situation that would call for," the young man said. "I've never been on a Sovereign class, so I wouldn't know first hand. Intrepid though," he paused, "I don't know if I'd call it sleek. It reminds of a giant beaver's tail. Ugly ship and a beast to work on, too." Then he remembered who he was talking to. "Um, in my opinion, Sir."

Harvey chuckled. "I wouldn't know, Lieutenant. I've never served on one. Aside from the Black Hawk, and the War, most of my service has been on starbases. Labs were always my home until I traded science blue for command red."

"I haven't met too many officers in command that were scientists prior. Most of the ones I've met seem to have a background in Security or Engineering. Of course, I haven't really met that many," added Ian. "Other than reporting in and passing him in the corridors on occasion, I never really did meet the Captain of the Chimera. I especially didn't have casual conversations like this one, either."

"Probably for the best," the Captain observed. "Seeing how your former Captain played for the other team." Were Harvey frank, he would have admitted that he too was not one for small talk, but was doing his best just to pass the time until someone arrived with the canister.

Ian nodded. "Point taken." He was about to say something else when the swoosh of the doors drew his attention. In rolled a cart being pushed a Petty Officer. "Excuse me a moment, Sir." Ian stepped away and helped the young man move the canister to the transporter pad. He then walked back to the station. "Time for the test run, Captain."

"Wonderful," Harvey confirmed, moving to stand beside the transporter chief as a supervisor would do to keep an eye on a situation. "Impress me, Lieutenant Beckett."

Ian smiled and initiated the transport. The canister disappeared from it's spot on the pad and re-materialized on the other side of the pad. Ian brought up the specifics and compared them to the last transport from that room. "According to the computer, the targeting scanners acquired the lock eleven point eight seconds faster than the last recorded transport. Now to try it with the simulated interference from the incident." Ian input the commands for the simulation and initiated the transport. Once the canister re-materialized whole, he read off the results. "Seven point nine seconds to acquire a lock. A three point nine difference between standard transport and interfered transport." He turned to the Captain. "I can work on increasing those numbers and closing the gap as much as possible. But she's a brand new ship, I don't know how much improving I can do."

"I'm sure you can work a miracle, Lieutenant," Harvey said, resisting the urge to clap the transporter chief of the back. He wanted to be friendly, but not too friendly. "What you've done is a fantastic start. I know I can't ask for instant, but if we can shave at least another half a second off of that time frame, it could make the difference between life or death."

"Understood, Captain," said Ian. "But I don't know about being a miracle worker. I only know of Engineers falling into that category. But I can shave that half second off easily enough." He nodded back to the Captain, happy that he seemed to impress him.

Harvey nodded, and approached the pad simply to perform a cursory visual inspection on the cylinder. Satisfied, he turned and nodded again to Lieutenant Beckett. "Carry on, Lieutenant," he stated before leaving the Transporter Room, bound for yet another destination on his inspection tour.

Ian watched the Captain leave and pulled out a tricorder. He removed the panel and scanned the chips and surrounding area. Half a second...yeah, he could do that. All he had to do was channel his inner engineer.

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