Gold Standard Repairs
Posted on Tue Jan 16th, 2024 @ 7:57pm by Lieutenant Etan tar-Lexros & Captain Xavier Carey & 1st Lieutenant Kayleigh London & Lieutenant Geiger Zaal & Ensign Xavier Hardy
Mission:
Lantea
Location: Lantea
Timeline: Shortly after beaming down to the planet
He turned to his officers. "My officers Lt Commander Rinne, my chief security, Lt Rutherford Chief Medical officer, Lt Rendar, Chief Tactical, Lt Hamilton, Chief Engineer, Lt Tar-Lexros Chief Operations, and Lt Commander Pallara Intelligence Officer, 1st Lt Kayleigh London marine medic."
Nodding to those present. "The medical side of things will be seen to by Lt Juravinski. She will be at Lt Rutherfords beck and call until things are over. Engineering and Operations side will be seen by Commander Shran... Security and tactical will be two phases... the orbital defense platforms, and the security systems down here. Will be handled by Commander Nelson."
Etan nodded at the Commodore, then looked to Commander Shran. He brought over the PADD and showed it to his planetary counterpart. "We've fulfilled your resource requests. Thank you for making sure you have clearly-marked transport spots. My teams are ready and transported directly to their equipment staging areas, they're waiting to liaise with your people and make sure we're all on the same page, sir. Damage control and repair ops should be ready to go shortly. We've ticketed out everything you gave us and prioritized it based on criticality of system. I brought down a container of life belts for use in the underwater repairs. That way, we don't need to worry about rebreathers or EVA suits." It was obvious that Etan, for all his insecurity and normal nerves, was actually handling this situation well; at least for now. It suited his experience, since it was just a series of logical repairs.
Shran looked over the padd, "More thorough than I would have expected." He agreed as he looked over the supplies, "I see you have accounted for anything unexpected. If your group will accompany me, we will get to it immediately."
The Commodore replied as he looked over the officers. "I would like some of your security to accompany all teams."
Xavier raised an eyebrow. "Expecting trouble sir?"
"Just being cautious."
"Very well. Lt can you accompany the engineering team?"
"Yes sir." Kay said crisply. "I am all yours." She then said with a grin to the engineering party.
Etan nodded briefly at Kay as she joined the team while they walked with Commander Shran. Realizing that he might well be the ranking officer in this team from the ship had set his nerves back on edge - and it made him want to defer to the planet crew even more. He wasn't giving in to it yet, but the anxiety was absolutely now present in his mind. Still, he was able to remain calm - nothing was going off-plan yet, and teams all over the planet were beaming down, staging, and getting to work. He turned to the others with an expression that didn't fully hide his growing nerves. "The teams are reporting in via tickets now. They're getting the routine work out of the way. We will, um, need to run a quick test of the life belts once we're near the water. They tested all clear on the ship, but double-checking is a good idea."
It wasn't exactly the most strident direction that he could give the team, but it was still on-task, and it helped him to remain focused.
Kay walked next to Etan and not looking at him so not to draw attention she whispered in his ear. "You got this, sir, I have every confidence in you." As they had met once or twice socially and as a counsellor she had read his body language as him being a bit nervous.
Geiger was ready and fell in line after giving his wife a small nod of the head as she stayed with the Captain. "Where are we starting first with the repairs?" he asked.
Looking over. "The main computer Core. It is under water, I presume you were briefed on the located and the system that is used."
Etan smiled at Kay, nodding at her without saying anything - just that small vote of confidence was enough to help. Geiger and the man from the planetary team, Commander Shran, were discussing the computer core they were there to replace. "Yes, sir. That's why we have the life belts, and we have the equipment and supplies ready to go. They were beamed down to the dispatch site shortly after the team arrived, a member of my team is ready to quarter them out."
Kay set to doing what she was here to do to keep her eye on the environment around them, to scan for trouble and to be ready to defend the team if needed.
Geiger was all ready to go, they were discussing the computer core and wrapped up. "This computer core has shielding that works to protect it from the water on the planet in case there are storms. It's still powered for now, but we are on a time limit if the generators to those shields failed. We need to identify the source of leak, seal it or drain the area."
Etan nodded at Geiger's assessment, gesturing to the antigrav sleds of equipment. "We have scanning equipment, a small base for correlating tricorder readings, and additional lithium cells to drop in line with the generator to prevent power fluctuations. Uh, along with the safety equipment, obviously." He walked over and opened up the crate of life belts, putting one on and powering it up first to test it. The buzz of the personal shield wrapping over his body gave him the tingle of static electricity. But the power held steady after 30 seconds, and the diagnostic came out green.
He picked up the rest and handed them out. "When you put the belt on fully, press the green button. Hold it down until it makes a buzzing noise. Wait at least two seconds before you go into the water - that's the field calibration time. It could, uh, cause a field collapse if you tax it sooner than that." He watched the others, waiting for them to get the simple (but effective) gear on and online.
Kay had worked with this equipment before and put it on and got it working without trouble. "Do you want me to go ahead and scout or bring up the rear?" She really wished there was more security for the group.
It only took Geiger a moment to get the belt connected and the shield calibration completed. "Either way, whichever you think will suit you better. So far it seems like it's just us here," the Trill commented. It wasn't like this seemed like they had been attacked. Everything in their reports said it was a space storm.
"I will bring up the rear then." Kay said.
Etan nodded at Kay's decision to trail behind the group, based on Geiger's suggestion. It was always easier for him to focus on the technical details rather than the people. "Yes. please keep an eye out for any danger, especially anything environmental. I'll take the lead position. Hamilton & Zaal, please follow me."
He looked at the water as he activated his life belt, walking to edge of the water. Looking down, he had to focus and stop himself from holding his breath. The safety equipment would allow them to breathe normally. He put a foot down toward the water, and heard the hissing as the personal shield repelled the water molecules around him. Then, with the appearance of a lot more boldness than he felt, he took the other step, and plunged down into the water.
The life belt allowed him to drop into the water with ease, and by adjusting the field, he could adjust his buoyancy, until he was heading toward the underwater computers, tricorder in hand. He tapped his commbadge, even as he saw some kind of native fish swim past him. It was a strange experience, being underwater while fully safe and able to act as freely as on land - or even better, as though he was under reduced gravity.
=/\="Engineering and Operations personnel, please join me at the main terminal. Hamilton, Zaal, please help the teams get equipment down here safely. Miss London, once everyone else is in, please join us."=/\=
Kay acknowledged the order although she cringed at the miss London instead of calling her lieutenant. but now was not the time to point that out. Right now she had a job to do and that was protecting the group.
it had taken them some time to get all the equipment transferred down below, and get everything set up to do the repairs. While they had been working for a bit, it appeared to Geiger that this wasn't just a systematic failure, and this was not just natural space weather having caused such damage. He went over to the Operations Officer, and asked for a moment to show him the damage alone to see his interpretation of it.
Etan looked up when Geiger called him over, and leapt through the water. The assessment from the engineer wasn't inaccurate. He looked at Zaal, and shook his head without saying anything. He'd only seen something like this one time before - it wasn't weather, it was sabotage. Considering that, he was sincerely worried about the people they were working with. But he couldn't raise too much of a fuss, in case one of the saboteurs was still watching. Being underwater like this, it was all too possible for them to have surrounded all the ways up without the ship transporting them (and under water, with the shields from the life belts on, that would be risky). After a closer look, Etan tapped his commbadge.
=/\="Lieutenant London, this is tar-Lexros. Lieutenant Zaal and I require your assistance here. Please, come quickly."=/\=
=/\= On my way, sir.=/\= Kay responded and set off on a run to catch up with the others. Her heartbeat went up a little and all her senses were alert.
"Tell me what you need." she said two the two other officers.
When Kay joined them in the water, Etan gestured for them all to move a bit closer to the damaged control system that they were there to repair. With the shields and support systems from the life belts, they were able to talk mostly normally. "Lieutenant Zaal pointed this out to me - it looks like someone intentionally sabotaged this unit. It doesn't appear to be immediately dangerous, but I think we should let the Captain know that we have saboteurs on the planet."
Kay nodded. "You want me to go to the captain personally, sir? You don't trust communications?" It made sense but she would hate leaving them alone here and not for the first time she wished that they had brought more guards with them.
Etan thought for a moment after taking another scan. Being the Ops officer, he knew how those communications systems worked. In a sense, there was a slight professional insult there - but he also knew just how unsafe it could be. "We do have our communications frequencies shared with the planetary authorities. It's possible that someone would notice the communications bursts, or hack it. So it would be best if we do it in person, at least for the time being."
"I will go at once." Kay said but then turned back to Etan. "You take care of yourself while I am gone, sir."
Etan nodded, looking over at Geiger briefly. "I'll try. You be careful as well."
