Asking the Expert

Posted on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 @ 9:47pm by Lieutenant Aleksander Voroshilov

Mission: War and Peacekeeping
Location: Engineering
Timeline: Before the TLF Transfer

After much needed sleep, all three hours of it, and a shower Aleksi was up and out with Russian rye bread toast and jam in one hand. Normally he wasn't up this early, but it was technically the beginning of the duty day and he needed answers. After hours of going through his theories he needed someone to run them through, the most logical person would be the Chief Engineering.

Smiling at a pair of officers, one returning the smile with sympathy and the other with scorn, he crossed into the main engineering compartment. Chewing thoughtfully he looked around the room, approaching the warp core with some awe. Most of it was an act, but there was a beauty to the piece of machinery.

Hans had always been an early riser, he liked to get to engineering as the third shift left and the first shift began. It always gave him time to meet with both teams in case any issues had arisen. When the teams completed their turnover, Hans began walking through the engineering spaces and inspecting the containment field.

The amount of power that was generated and the sound always appealed to Han, at times he felt more at home alone with a machine or his engines than he did around people. As he turned the corner, he was surprised to see an officer that he hadn't met before standing there at the warp core.

"Hello sir, Can I help you?" Hans asked the man as he approached him.

The man in gray turned, raising his brows a bit as he swallowed his food. Offering his hand he smiled, "I certainly hope so Lieutenant Tudor, isn't it?" He had seen the man at a handful of meetings, though he had to admit his focus really hadn't been on his fellow crewmates as of late, "Aleksander Voroshilov."

"Please call me Hans, titles are for the captain's ready room or the bridge. I haven't done to well meeting crewmates either. I met the captain and then had some drinks with another officer, but my duties keep me down here most of the time. What brings you down to the belly of the beast?"

"Aleksi," The Intelligence Officer responded in kind, dropping the man's hand he turned back to the warp core, "Impressive machine, more aesthetic than the typical powerplant found in a Bird of Prey," He honestly knew very little about how the system worked, engineering wasn't generally in his wheelhouse, that's why he was talking to the expert. Turning to Hans he smiled, "I'm looking for someone to convince me beyond a reasonable doubt that the Zendaya suffered a catastrophic accident and not enemy action. So far what reports we do have are underwhelming to say the least."

“First off to create a failure that includes all of the ships systems except for life support is virtually impossible. The engineers that designed the Ambassador class did not believe in a spf, uh single point of failure. They tend to over engineer things by creating a backup for a backup so to speak. For exampl if a ship were to take a hit and destroy 5 to 10 decks with some power manipulation and rerouting the ship would still be operational,” Hans continued growing more animated as he spoke, “also the only way to disable everything like that would be to disable the backup relay systems so they don’t automatically take over. Typically the Chief Ops can reroute power from the bridge or an engineer can do it manually. I can’t help but think this may be an inside job. If I could get the captain to allow me some time on the holodeck and the list of damaged areas I might be able to reverse engineer the failure.”

Aleksi was baffled by the last statement, "Why don't you just do it? Why ask for the boss's permission? People go into the holodeck all the time to live their weird fantasies. I'm sure figuring out how a ship died so we don't suffer the same fate would take precedence over a guy trying to live his pirate fiction," Finishing his toast he chuckled, "Not that we'd be likely to encounter the same fate, Vicente is too fond of himself to get himself killed and we're his ride. But I'm curious too on how the problem manifested."

“It just doesn’t make sense that a single fire on deck 13 would bring down an entire starship, something else had to have happened before the fire was started to cause a cascading failure like this,” Hans replies. “I also think your right, I need to understand what happened to basically being an Ambassador to its knees like that.”

"I mean, there's also the possibility of the computer virus," That he felt was the most likely source of the problem, "From what we know there was a fire alarm that cleared out deck 13, the ship drops out of warp which makes sense considering it was the power conduit to the nav sensor that was supposedly the source of the fire. There also happens to be access to the main server on that deck."

"But really our focus should be on preventing us from potentially meeting a similar fate. What are you concerns? Weak points? What would you expect from a group hell bent on winning a civil war?" He has his own thoughts, but he wanted the Fleet answer first.

“A computer virus could have been part of the problem, it still strikes me as odd the way it all went down. My first concern will be keeping an eye on them the entire time they’re onboard. Secondly I may try to get a snapshot of their computer backups before the system failure. I am going to load it into a sandbox on the holodeck to keep it separate from our ship systems. My big concern is how to prevent this from happening again.”

Hans continued talking,”Starfleet will be trying to deconstruct everything that happened. Then it will be wrapped up in red tape, and be months or a year before any preventative measures are installed or put into place. So I’m going to try to figure it out myself. My job is to protect this ship and I see this as my responsibility.”

"And how would we prevent that?" Aleksi reasked the question in a less artistic form, "What do you think are the must vulnerable points on board the Astraea?"

“On the Astrae, we need to keep them away from the computer mainframes and engineering spaces. If I was the Security Chief I’d post guards outside engineering. I can segregate their computer connection in their guest quarters so it is standalone, like a separate sandbox. With the failsafes in place we should be ok,” Hans replied.

Aleksi stepped away, putting his mind into how he would take down the Astraea, "That all sounds good. What if I had some toxic gas? How is the air circulated through the vessel?" His eyes went to the replicator, body desperately craving caffeine, "How are the air filtration systems set up?"

Hans chuckled as he spoke,”If you had toxic gas, You’re a devious man,” not taking him seriously. “Hypothetically, the air vents are filtered on each Deck but they all connect to the same main ventilation shaft that runs throughout the ship. Again the main filters and access are restricted to authorized personnel only, mainly engineers. It would have to be a unique gas though because there are air sensors that detect chemicals in the air shaft.”

"Mustard and chlorine gas aren't all that hard to make," Aleksi chuckled, having seen it done on occasion, "Meaning that it's something you could use to incapacitate guards. At the very least provide some distraction while you crawl your way to the target. But seeing as the simple gases have been used for nearly four centuries they should be filtered out," He pointed to the camera pointing to the floor, "How confident are you in the reliability of the Astraea's surveillance?"

“I’ll be honest, I hope it’s it good. I arrived just before the ship left the Starbase to deploy. My focus has been mostly on the engines and keeping it running. The surveillance, though it is important, is considered a secondary system. I have an Ensign who is supposed to be in charge of the maintenance and upkeep and he has not reported any issues,” Hans replied to the Intelligence Officer.

"Excellent," He approached the replicator, ordering the strongest coffee he could, "That should preclude anything heinous happening in the open. A few strategic force fields in the tubes should help as well. Lastly," Taking the cup he approached the Engineering Officer, "What are your tastes in liquor?"

"I prefer a Glenlivet or Jack Daniels, I do enjoy a good whiskey, and I think the measures in place should be fine. As the Intel officer, do you have any information on a possible attack aboard? I know Starfleet tends to give you Intel guys and CO's more info than the rest of us."

"Beyond know who we're taking aboard, no," Aleksi gave the CEO a serious look, "We aren't dealing with a national level force but if you want my educated assessment they'll only break your ship if it gets in their way. Chances of them shutting the power down to propulsion are likely minimal, after all we are their taxi home. I'd expect them to damage a few doors, hack into a few computers, light a small fire or two but nothing that would be a show stopper from a mechanical point of view."

Aleksi took a sip of coffee, wanting to reach out to the warp core, "Unless we give them a reason to harm us, such as locking them up or giving them indications that we'll be anything but cordial to them. Those aren't your concerns though, something to take with upper management," Turning to the man once more he grinned, "After this is all over we should crack open a bottle, I may have something you'll like."

"We will keep an eye on our stuff here in Engineering and leave the rest to the upper management as you say. As far as a drink, I'd like one of those eventually, unfortunately there's a lot going on as we knock the dust of these engines from the refit. Is there anything else I can do for you Sir?" Hans asked.

"Nothing else," Aleksi smiled, sticking out his hand, "You've been an immense help. I'll keep you posted on anything else I find out."

"Thanks," Hans said as he shook Aleksi's hand, "I'll see ya around. If you need anything this is where I'll be."