Improvisation

Posted on 20 Mar 2021 @ 8:09am by Lieutenant Zayna Ryler & Ensign Denyse Alessandro

1,254 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Extinction
Location: Science/Engineering
Timeline: Mission Day 14 at 1300

Denyse had waited long and patiently to harvest enough of the spidermunk silk to be able to produce a uniform. However, that was only the first stage. She had ran calculation after calculation and multiple simulations and variations and to continue her work, she needed to go up the chain of command. Which meant her first stop was Lieutenant Ryler's office.

She gathered all of her work on a PADD as well as a sample of the cloth, then headed to the Assistant Chief's office. There, she tapped the chime and waited permission to enter.

Raising an eyebrow as she looked up from her PADD, Zayna sat back, having a feeling she knew exactly who this was. Having seen some of the simulations, she did have to admit she was a tiny bit impressed. At least, she figured that was who it was.

"Come in," she finally stated.

The young Xenoarachnologist entered the office with a smile. "Good afternoon, Lieutenant," she said.

Smiling, Ryler sat back. "Ah, good afternoon, Ensign. Please, do come in. Would you like something to eat or drink?"

"No, thank you Lieutenant," Denyse said. "I have a sample of the cloth from the Spidermunk silk and the latest round of simulations for it."

"I was curious what else you'd done with it. Let's see what it is that you have for me." Zay grinned, having never thought until recently that the silk from a Spidermunk could be used as anything other than just being there.

Denyse handed her the PADD. On it were the detailed information on how much impact stress the material could withstand and how much of it was needed to turn into a uniform. "The bad thing is, it takes a few days of silk production to produce just one uniform and the Spidermunks have been getting agitated. However, I believe we can synthesize proteins to increase production."

Taking the PADD, Zayne glanced over it then started to read it in more detail. She wanted to get a general understanding before she dug into the details. "Can't blame them though. They are likely catching on. Most animals can in one way or another. But this synthesizing the proteins might actually work...I wish that were my area of expertise in science. What would we need to pull that off?"

"These creatures are so unique that I barely know where to start," the Xenoarachnologist said. "I don't know how to really treat them other than through trial and error. Experiment fourteen has all the required details, Lieutenant and then I can begin the trials to speed up the production of the dragline silk. It would be nice if we had a bigger area like a cargo bay to put them in."

"We'd have to run that by the Captain and for any power transfers, engineering as well." Zay thought for a moment. "But we'd also have to make sure they couldn't get out of the cargo bay as well."

"I figured as much, but I'd still like to make that a request," Denyse said. "I also have an idea for an improvement on it, but I'd need an engineer to see if it's feasible. Molecular bonding of a material to resist energy could make these things phaser proof."

Nodding, the assistant chief tried to think on who to call. "Wonder if the chief engineer is busy...he might know more about both the cargo bay setup as well as the improvements you want to make." She tapped the comms on her desk, +Ryler to Parker+.

Dijaat had been in his office attempting to work out some improvements to the weapons systems in case of pirates or the Captain decided to put the ship in danger for the millionth time this week when his communicator went off. The pointy eared engineer activated his communicator in order to respond, "Go ahead Lieutenant."

"Lieutenant, could you by chance come down to my office? Ensign Alessandro and I have something we need an engineer's input on."

"Understood," Dijaat said before getting up from his desk and heading towards her office.

"I'm really hoping this works, but testing against ballistic style impacts shows amazing promise, not that anyone uses ballistic weapons anymore," Denyse said while waiting.

"True, but it at least gave you some results," Zayna said as she sat back, "Better than going into it completely blind."

Dijaat entered the office after activating the chime so that the Lieutenant knew he was there. He had his hands behind his back, "You wanted my input on something?" He asked both of the at the same time while not caring which answered him first.

"Yes, Sir," Denyse said. "I have a material which I've theorized can stop phasers with appropriate bonding of certain chemicals. I'd like your analysis of my research, Lieutenant." She offered him the PADD and the small section of spidermunk silk that had been woven together.

Dijaat rubbed the base of his chin as he scrolled through the information and the report itself. "This has some intriguing prospects," He admitted as he extended the PADD in order to return it. "How much spidermunk silk will it require?"

"A lot," Denyse signed. "It takes three days just to get enough silk to make one uniform. I took this as an example to see what could be done with it."

"Quite a bit of time, but could be worse." Djiaat stated, "This does look very promising, Ensign. I believe that what you've theorized also could be correct. Are you planning on testing it?"

"Er, yes," Denyse said. "What I need is a material to bond to it to help with protection against energy weapons, such as phasers and disruptors."

This time Zayna spoke up, "Do you know any materials it absolutely will not bond to, Ensign?"

Djiaat nodded, "That is a good question, would take a few things off the table."

"I've heard things about graphene when I was in the Academy," Denyse said. "It used to be used for a wide variety of things, but technology went past it and it stopped being as useful. Do you think we could research that and give it an attempt?"

Zayna looked over at Denyse, "Graphene? I've only heard of that in passing. I...suppose it is possible."

"Heard of and never used," Dijaat stated, "Should be able to at least test that in the holodeck before we try to get the computer and replicators to try to work nicely with us on it."

"How long do you think it'll take to set up a wide range of simulations to take to the Captain?" Denyse asked.

Dijaat thought for a moment, "Once we make sure we have all the correct information on the graphene and the spidermunk silk into the computer, it shouldn't take long at all to create the simulations."

"Get me the information and I can write the program. Sometimes I wish I wasn't great at writing holodeck programs," Zay stated with a smirk. "But shouldn't be an issue."

Denyse handed her a PADD and the cloth sample. "This should be all you need."

"Thanks, Ensign. I'll start in working on this and give you an update once I've got everything ready," Dijaat said, looking through what was on the PADD. "Anything else I need to know before I work on this?"

"No, Sir," Denyse said. "Thank you and let me know if you need any more samples."

"Looks like we've to an interesting experiment on our hands," Zayna said with a smile.

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