Ghosts in the Machine

Posted on Sun Mar 15th, 2009 @ 1:50pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Lieutenant Cress Maven & Master Warrant Officer Sam Jackson

895 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: In The Dark
Location: Engineering
Timeline: Current

=A= Ensign Owens to Bridge: Commander Arkham’s shuttle has just left for the surface. =A=

Lightly tapping his commbadge as he sat comfortably in his Captain’s Chair, the Trill smiled. =A= Understood, Ensign. Lane out. =A=

He looked upon the view screen at the planet before him and drew in a lungful of breath. It was a remarkably diverse and architectural beautiful planet.

Just then the ship's computer core shut down. It was only for a moment, but for a blip of just a milisecond the entire ship went offline. "What in the hell was that?" Sam moved out of his office at a pace when he noticed the lights flicker.

Crewman Torval replied rapidly "Looks like a computer failure for about a milisecond"

"Oh that is not good" Sam said as he moved into the Core Control room, studying the readout that the Crewman had brought up he tapped his comm badge =^= Jackson to bridge, did all the consoles up there just flicker for a second?"

As the Trill gripped the arms of his chair with his hands, he levered himself out and arose to stand centre-bridge. =A= Chief, what just happened? We just momentarily lost all systems, yes. Sensor data, the viewscreen, the lot… =A=

"Looks like the Computer crashed for about a second sir" Sam paused "I'm not sure why yet, I'm looking into it."

=A= Good, Mr. Jackson. I'm heading down to Engineering as we speak. Meet me there when you have some information. =A=

"Computer begin a level one diagnostic on all computer systems" Sam said aloud

"That procedure will take four hours"

"Understood Computer, do it" he turned to the four crewmen near him "Get everyone on duty, I want them searching that computer themselves. I'll be back soon"

Lane swiftly rounded the rail on the platform of the Bridge and entered the turbolift. "Engineering," he commanded as the doors sealed him in. The short turbo-ride agitated the Trill as his unsettling nerves were becoming more frayed. As he snaked his way down the corridors to the main deck, the massive Engineering doors rolled open to a vision of smoke and several flashing, burnt out consoles. Spying the Chief Engineer on her knees, elbow deep in a control panel, the Commander headed straight for her.

"Chief, report…"

Sheedy pulled out of her current work just long enough to wave the already approaching commander closer. "Tha's the bloody problem, sir. Nothin' t' report." She accepted a padd from one of her ensigns and glanced at it briefly before swearing and slamming it down on the console. "Th' thing had no reason nor call t' be doin' that, blinkin' in'n'out tha' way. It jus'... did." The green-skinned hybrid sighed and leaned wearily against her control panel. "One minnit we were workin', th' nex', engineerin's shot to 'ell. Th' closes' thing I c'n compare it to is... a backfire." Skanda turned back to her work, adding, "We're still runnin' tes's, should figure i' out afore too long."

Just then Sam entered Engineering "Sir, Lieutenant, I've begun a Level 1 diagnostic on all computer systems and I've got my people checking every milimetre of the core, but I'd like to try and minimise any problems should the computer fail again before we find out whats wrong."

The Trill just stood static, looking intently at his Chief Engineer and Chief Ops Officer. "Okay," he said, shiftily. "So, it was just 'teething problems', then?" almost thinking aloud.

"Looks like it sir" Sam replied

"I don't know, Chief. For some reason, I just have this feeling that it's something… more than that." He looked through his CEO for moment, pondering to himself. "And, I can't explain it to you any more than it… arising from a feeling of intuition." He sighed heavily and looked about the deck. "I can't explain it. Well, see to it that a full report is complied and on my desk within the hour, Chief. And if anything else occurs, notify me immediately, no matter how trivial you think it is." Turning to face his COO, he said, "Mr. Jackson, as soon as the diagnostic is complete, let me know."

"Understood sir" Sam said "Can we just move the Archimedes into a higher orbit? You know, just incase."

"Agreed, Chief," Lane replied. "Right, I'll be back on the Bridge should either of you need me. And see to it that none of the crew are aware of my… suspicions at the moment. I may just have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning is all. Any good at poker, guys," he said, braking into a fracture of a smile. "'Cause I suck at it and I don’t want them unnecessarily worrying, so, if anyone asks, 'teething problems', all right?"

"Understood"

"Got it, sir," Skanda answered without looking at Coltan and Sam. She was tapping away at her panel, busily running diagnostics. "It'll be 'ard work keepin' it fr'm the engineerin' crew." The woman swept her blue hair out of her face with a grunt of frustration and glanced at the commander before going back to her scans again. "I'll do m' best an' call if anythin' shows."

"I appreciate it, thank you."




Commander Coltan Lane
Commanding Officer,

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Skanda Sheedy
Chief Engineering Officer

AND

Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class Sam Jackson
Chief Operations Officer

 

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