Repairs

Posted on 10 Jul 2025 @ 12:39am by Lieutenant Ranul Frex & Lieutenant JG Kemm

2,395 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Imposters Among Us
Location: Main Engineering
Timeline: June 30, 2390

Ranul finally had a chance to return to Main Engineering and start assessing everything that had happened to both ship and crew. The Black Hawk herself had taken quite a beating and it showed. There were flickering lights, exposed wiring, and a smell that Ranul could put down as burnt metal. It was finally time for him to take note of all the damages and assign those under him where were needed most.

Most of the Engineering staff were working on one thing or another. Those with multi specialties were bouncing around and helping out when and where they could. It just depended on what was in more dire need. Walking along the warp core, Ranul ran into Kemm, one of the Black Hawk's system engineers.

Ranul smiled as he watched Kemm's fingers running across the console. Kemm was working on rerouting power systems to make sure that the forcefields stayed in place and didn't go out while the repair crews did their magic. Ranul looked at Kemm and asked, "How's the forcefield systems coming along?"

Kemm sighed, balancing a padd with one hand while the other was adjusting controls at the console. "I still don't know how our visitors were able to blow a hole through the launch bay doors. And while it doesn't matter to us how they did it, what matters is that what's left is leaning directly against the forcefield so that resistance is causing stress on the damaged emitters."

The Kelpien engineer pointed a long digit at a diagram of the field emitters around the launch bay. "You can see it here,. Fractured projection lenses, frayed power conduits. There's only so much I can do with these until we can remove enough bulkheads and floor plating to access these. Until then, the best I can do with field integrity is eighty percent."

Frex rubbed his head as he listened to the tall Kelpien. He thought back to when he was on the Bridge and his console blew from a blown circuit behind it. "Yeah, I think that the damage was pretty severe. How extensive would the repairs be because you said you would have to remove enough bulkheads to get to the forcefield emitters?"

"I believe it would take no more than a day," replied the junior engineer. "The nature of these forcefields means that large generators are employed, so we have to replace large emitters. And, the damage isn't just on the corner units. They also extend to the next members, so it's more than just a localized fix."

Frex let out a soft sigh, as he knew that Kemm was right. He looked at Kemm and asked, "Well, how are the damage control teams doing down there in the hanger bay? How much have they cleared out of there? Cause, I don't want people stepping on each other's toes as the Humans onboard would say."

"We Kelpians have something similiar," Kemm admitted. "Though we say trip over another hooves. At last report, most everything has been moved around to the rear of the bay with the auxiliary fields functioning. Should give us plenty of room to affect repairs. We could use your guidance though. Do you know if the Commodore plans to take us to Gamma Command? It would be a lot easier to make the repairs if we had a drydock."

"I haven't had the chance to talk to him since the whole incident down in the Hanger Bay. I think him and Joey are both recovering from their incident, so I didn't want to rush in there with a damage reports. Plus, I wanted to see about getting my hands dirty and how I might be able to help out. Lets just go on the assumption that the ship is on its own at the moment. What are the repair time estimates with and without Gamma Command? If there's a big difference between them, I'll bring it up with the Commodore when I see him again," Frex asked, rolling the sleeve of his uniform up. Frex wasn't sure when they might get back to Gamma Command, so he wanted to see how much they could do without it for now.

Kemm ran some rough calculations in his head before answering, "If we were at Gamma Command, we could complete the repairs in less than three days. A few industrial-strength forcefield generators powered by the drydock can seal off the launch bay while repairs are effected with an army of workbees and replicators. Here, we'd have to dig into our stores from salvaging the Gaittithe, and use our six workbees to machine new doors since we don't have enough space with our replicators to push out full replacements. We'll have to work in sections and it could take as much as a week and a half."

"Well, with everything that has been going on over the last few days and with how far Gamma Command is, I'm thinking that we'll have to do some of the repairs on our own. At least, we'll have to start them on our own and hope that we can head back to command for some help with repairs. Since I'm still relatively new, how many industrial replicators does the ship have on hand?" Ranul asked, looking over some of the critical areas of the hanger bay. pointing towards some of the inner parts of the bay, Ranul said, "If we had to start anywhere, I'd say we should start on the inner most parts that are damaged and work our way towards the doors. Unless it would be better to start on something else first and work our way in another direction."

"We have workshops on Decks Four and Eleven, but they were designed for fighter machining and maintenance," Kemm answered, calling up the plans for both shops on his monitors for the Chief to see. "All in all, we've got four units, but most can't make anything larger than twenty square meters. Not a problem in most cases, but the door's articulation frame was damaged will need to be replaced. Not sure if you have any creative ideas on replacing something that's much larger than twenty square meters. As for where we start, you're the Chief. If you want us to start on the inner most parts, that's what we'll do."

Ranul thought about it for a moment as he looked over all that Kemm pulled up on the monitors. Looking at the Kelpian, he said, "What are the exact dimensions of the door? Cause, I've got a few ideas brewing in this old nogging of mine."

With a few taps, Kemm called up a schematic of the door. "It's not a solid piece, but the entire assembly is just over one hundred meters wide and five meters tall. Two sections were damaged, which were on the starboard side, right where two of the frames connect and interface. It also damaged the drive train, which completely disabled the starboard mechanisms." The Kelpien frowned, realizing that the more he thought about it, the more deliberate the destruction was. Anyone could have blown a hole through the door. It's like this was specifically targeted to slow the Black Hawk down.

"Okay, a thought of mine was that we split some of our teams into different groups. One working from the inner most part of the hanger towards the doors. The other teams working on the doors from the outside with some of the bees we have that aren't damaged. What we could do is salvage the parts of the door that aren't totally destroyed and use some of the industrial replicators to rebuild the door bit by bit. I know that we're working with only twenty square meters, so what part of the doors would be the hardest to work with and repair? Especially with the unique shape of the Akira-Class hanger bays?" Ranul asked, looking over the structural damage closest to the hanger doors on the screens.

"The hardest part is always the most complex assemblies," Kemm confirmed, pointing to the lower portion of the doors. "The drive train is easily replicated in parts and then assembled, but portions of it have to be specifically welded into the main frame. If the weld is too sloppy or too much material is used, the train gets stuck. If not enough is used, then it falls apart and the door gets stuck. Preciseness is required here, and I do not know if our team is up to the task. Especially if we feel the rush to get back out into the field."

Ranul sighed and said, "Well, we are here for miracles, Mr. Kemm. I'm just hoping that we can figure out a good plan of attack before we are attacked again. I don't want something like that to happen to the Black Hawk again."

Kemm nodded and added, "Perhaps it is time for some battlefield ingenuity. Vessels like these are often designed by yard engineers who have little to no field experience. What looks good on paper rarely executes well in real life. We're dealing with a targeted explosion that no one prepared for or counted on. And, while our vessel is an uprated design, benefiting from all of the other Akiras that came before, this is a new one. Perhaps we can engineer a new drive train that fits on the door's backside and is exposed internally while still keeping the same external door strength. That could optimize repair time in the future."

Ranul couldn't help but smirk and let out a small little chuckle when he heard Kemm talking about those desk jockeys back at Command that didn't do much more than build models.

Looking over everything that Kemm had said and the schematics of the ship, an idea popped into Ranul's head. Looking back towards Kemm, Ranul asked, "Well, I've got an idea to add onto yours. But, I've got a question about our design of the Akira-Class starship, since we've got one of the most updated versions. Does this Black Hawk have anything like the double doors for their shuttle bays? I can't remember if I've seen anything for it."

"Double doors?" Kemm repeated. "The original design did, but it was dropped after the trial runs since they didn't work properly. But then again, there were a lot of problems with the test designs, so I believe it would be worth revisiting. What exactly do you have in mind?"

Ranul reached over and input some commands to bring up some starship designs from both the Federation and Earth Starfleet designs. They included stuff like the NX-Class, the Defiant Class, Intrepid Class, and Galaxy Class starships. While they didn't have exactly what Ranul was thinking, they did have something that they could work off of and maybe add into their current design.

Pointing to the designs of their shuttlebays, Ranul said, "Something that I was thinking was that we could maybe do a double door system. Much like the Xaheans with their eyes? If we're going to work on the drive train of the doors anyways, why not add something else to it? Cause, like the Xaheans eyes, if one is damaged, the other one can take over and make sure there isn't anymore damage. We could do it where if one door is damaged or destroyed, the other takes its place and we wouldn't have to rely so heavily on forcefields."

"We'd have to do a slight redesign on the fly and lord only knows what type of time and materials would go into it. But, I'm sure that it would put some of those at Command to shame. Think that it's something we could do?" Ranul asked, looking to see what Kemm thought about the proposal.

Kemm looked over the different designs on the screen and considered the possibilities. "I do not know if I would call this a slight redesign, but it's also not something that any drydock would allow us to do. If there's one thing I've learned in my naval career... it's better to ask forgiveness than permission."

He looked over to the Trill engineer and nodded. "What you're proposing would take additional work, and the reward would be a significant timesaver. If I know the Commodore, and believe me, Lieutenant, I do... He will look for every advantage in our next encounter with G90B and continue to press onward until we are successful. This double door system is worth the effort."

"Lets go ahead and start the work on the double door idea. Have the teams start fabricating the materials for it and start work on it ASAP. Maybe once the Commodore gets out of Sickbay, we can let him know what we've come up with and what the progress is when he wakes up," Ranul replied, knowing it would take a while to get everything done for the overhaul. But, knew just as much as Kemm that it would be a good upgrade for whatever the G90B wanted to throw at them the next time.

The junior engineer nodded. "I'll run a few simulations on the drive trains to make sure the design is solid before we begin installation. In the meantime, the engineers can still begin work on fabrication. Even in asking forgiveness, it is best that the design works and doesn't jam on the first attempt."

Ranul couldn't help but chuckle before he responded with, "I think the Humans have a saying. It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. So, we've defiantly got my permission. We'll just have to ask for forgiveness from the Commodore later on, assuming we have to get any at all. Run those simulations by me later. I'd love to see how it all turns out and help with any further ideas on the doors. I haven't had this much fun in a while."

"Aye, sir," said Kemm with a confirming nod. "I'll have those simulations for you in a couple of hours. Anything else before we get started, Lieutenant?"

"Nothing at the moment, Kemm. Just let me know when we're ready to get underway. Dismissed," Ranul replied with a small smile before heading back to his office to complete some more paperwork.

[OFF:]

Lieutenant Ranul Frex
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Black Hawk

and

Lieutenant (JG) Kemm
Systems Engineer

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