På väg

Posted on Mar 21, 2017 @ 1:54pm by Lieutenant Cantor Von
Edited on on Mar 21, 2017 @ 1:55pm

Mission: In Place of God

"På väg"
(cont'd from "Jasmine Meets Captain Smooshy" written by my old friend Ranjani)

- Translation from Swedish: "On Our Way"

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LOCATION: USS PHOENIX at Warp speed
SD: [2.17]0321.0730
SCENE: Upper Gangway, Starboard Nacelle Control Room

The thrum of the PHOENIX's warp engines and hiss of the plasma stream surrounded Cantor Von as he worked on the controls on the upper gangway of the small nacelle control room of the starship's starboard nacelle. Glancing over his shoulder, he cast a quick glance at the filtered light of the plasma stream as it funneled through the immense warp coils, generating the space-altering field that allowed faster-than-light travel. Though you weren't supposed to feel it, Von always thought he could sense the active warp field this close to its generation point, whether that was a slight electrical feel across his skin or the hairs standing up on the back of his neck. He knew logically it was a complete fabrication, still he liked to pretend that he could feel the space-altering field's effects.

Turning back to his console, he began reviewing the data of the off-axis field controller all the way at the other end of the nacelle. He was looking for any variances in the warp field asymmetry it created for propulsion. Generating a warp field didn't create motion; it just defeated the light speed limit of the universe. What created motion for a warp-capable vessel was a combination of "layering" the field generation by the pulse frequency of the plasma stream and the slight frequency offset to reinforce the warp field ahead of the starship. This frequency offset was managed by the off-axis field controller and was important in getting as much speed from the warp engines as possible. It was engineering "inside baseball," as the Terrans liked to call it, but variances could self-reinforce over time and really cause problems with the warp field geometry, affecting ship heading and acceleration. So here he was, spending some of his off-duty time on something his father would call "obsessive behavior."

Von smiled at the memory of his father's oft-used term, before hearing the tell-tale effort of a person making their way to the control room using its only access-way; a Jeffries tube. Looking down over the railing, Cantor saw Lynette Ryan pull herself into the control room, breathing heavily, and wipe sweat from her forehead.

"Lynette Ryan, are you following me?"

The Betazoid felt the spike of startlement as surprise flashed through the engineer. "Lieutenant!"

Von laughed, self-consciously. "Sorry, sorry. I should have warned you first with a thought or something. I didn't mean to startle you."

Ryan looked up, gaining control of her breathing - and her heartbeat. "What are you doing here?" She quickly rephrased. "I mean, aren't you off-duty?"

From his stool on the second level, Von stretched. "Yes, but I figured I could get the variance checks done during one of the quieter shifts without interfering with regular engineering duties. Wait, what are you doing here?"

She gestured at the viewport on the second level. "Plasma injector alignment check."

The COO laughed. "I think I can confirm that the plasma injectors are well within their alignment parameters. I mean, I'm working on the off-axis controller, so..."

Ryan waved away his comment. "That may be true, Lieutenant, but I have my orders." She smiled. "And I'm not following you."

Cantor nodded. "Fair enough. Well, I'm just about finished here. I'm going to head over to the port nacelle next-"

"Then I'll see you over there," Ryan interrupted as she climbed the ladder to the second level.

Von smiled. "See you over there."

---

NRPG: Writing about nothing, but just needed to get something out to stretch my writing muscles.

Feel free to bring up pictures of a nacelle or the nacelle control room for a good visual reference. Do I get credit for researching the Star Trek technical manuals?


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Marko J. Sertic
aka
Lt. Cantor Von
Chief Operations Officer
USS PHOENIX