Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) in Engineering - Does Something Smell Burnt?

Posted by Lieutenant Paige Garrison (Chief Engineer) in Engineering - Does Something Smell Burnt?

Posted by Ensign Elemirre Serinde (Engineering Officer) in Engineering - Does Something Smell Burnt?
Posted by… suppressed (16) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The ship had rocked a few times after some glancing blows from asteroids.

NE Millicant was on duty monitoring readouts and keeping a firm grip on his console to keep from being thrown. His face was filled with unease as the tension he felt was palpable. Something caught his attention though, kind of like a distracting thought but he couldn’t place it. He wiped a hand over his face in an attempt to focus back on his job and took a deep breath to steady himself. The breath brought into clarity what he was missing, something smelled burnt. He rapidly lifted his head from the readouts and surveyed engineering as quickly as he could. There! He spotted a dull orange glow coming from the seams of a power junction!

“Fire!” He yelled loudly. “There’s a fire!” He pointed to where the orange glow was increasing in intensity.

~Creeping Dread

NE Sasha Gagarin’s eyes went wide when he followed Millicant’s finger. What was that?! Why was that?! That shouldn’t be happening.

“Fire team!” Paige called out as she rushed over and grabbed two fire extinguishers.

Three figures detached from the other side of engineering and came running. CPO Cleare was one; two seamen in tow. She pointed to one - Dorian - to clear the immediate area. “Suit up,” she said to Galen Sideris.

“Well don’t just stand there,” she called out as she shoved one into NE Millicant’s hands as she rushed past trying to put out the fire until the Fire Team arrived.

Paige turned her head, taking her eyes off the flame for a second as she looked over her shoulder. “Someone cut power to those systems, and get me an update on what we are looking at!”

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

NE Millicant fumbled the fire extinguisher that was shoved into his hands but managed to keep from dropping it. He rushed behind the CE towards the orange glowing panel whilst he simultaneously pulled the safety pin and prepared the hose for use. Unfortunately his grip on the fire extinguisher wasn’t solid while he tried to multitask and that led to him to drop it. Even more unfortunately the fire extinguisher landed in such a way to activate and since Millicant was bending down to pick it up… the extinguisher rocketed upwards right across his temple and killed him on the spot. His body sprawled onto the floor as the fire extinguisher bounced further way.

~Creeping Dread

Paige turned as she heard fire extinguisher go off, followed shortly by the thud of Millicant hitting the floor. She let out a curse as she turned her eyes back to the fire. As crude as it was, if they didn’t get it under control first, a lot more people could end up getting hurt.

El rushed out of the machine shop. The suddenly alive extinguisher smacked Millicant with a wet thud right in front her. Millicant went down one way. The extinguisher another and she dodged. She smelled the tangy scent of superheated metal. “Junction D25!!” she called out. “Sasha! Isolate out Junction D25!! Route to D9!!” She glanced to Millicant. He was a recent addition from their short furlough. As she noted the caved in part of his skull she thought his tenure was noticeably quick. He had had a tendency to eat dessert first, she thought, as the only real thing she knew about him. That and that he had a clumsy streak. Bending she checked for a pulse. “D25 is the supplementary power conduit used to boost power to defensive systems,” she called out now to the chief.

Paige said a silent prayer to that, at least it hadn’t effected a critical system, yet. “Call the bridge and let them know. And someone get that extinguisher under control!”

At about this moment Green came running into Engineering and sized things up. The couple of others who had been on that shift had passed him by telling him every so briefly what was happening. Taking Dorian by the shoulder he turned him. “Help Fawkes,” he said curtly. Dorian propelled himself toward where Fawkes was trying to snare the extinguisher. Green, meanwhile, took that moment to catch the closest comms console. Pressing it to open a channel he said, [o] Bridge this is Engineering [c] He paused to catch the status of things and take a breath. [o] We have an overloading power junction. Possible fire. Explosion hazard. Evacuating non essential personnel. Damage control on site. [c]

Sasha came to his senses at the call and brought up the power distribution system. “D25! Commanding D25 isolate!” His foot tapped as he waited for the command to go through and get system verification. “Come on,” he said in Russian as he watched the display.

Petty Officer Fawkes watched the clatter of the extinguisher and emitted a “Bollocks!” as he noted the extinguisher clattering toward a life support console and related couplings. Grabbing a handful of webbing from a cabinet nearby he threw it at the extinguisher hoping to snare it. Meanwhile, Dorian was calling for the engineers near to Junction D25 to clear out, waving them, his usual lighthearted voice edged with tension. “Move. Move Move!!” At the same time Fiona was not far from Galen, shrugging into emergency suits.
- Various Engineers

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

It was at this moment that the power junction decided to explode outwards. Several engineers were caught in the pressure and thrown but the worst of it was a witless NE who moved too slow and got thrown with too much force across the room to crumple against a bulkhead.

Essentially everyone was caught in some fashion in the explosion to some degree. Green was the most fortunate in having some cover from the Cochranes while he was communicating. Farther away were Fawkes and Dorian. Off balance Dorian fell against the rear life support console, wrenching his shoulder. Fawkes was just thrown back from the force but kept his feet under him. Pain coursed about his left leg, whether shrapnel or plasma dappled along his calf. A moment later he went to one knee, holding his leg.

Fiona and Galen were pushed back to the deck from the force. They were closer but they were also better prepared having donned protective gear. Thrown back and to the desk they scrabbled back to their feet to fight the effects of the blast. NE Selwyn Lake lay crumpled beyond them. NE Sasha came away lucky; he was on the other side of the Cochranes at a console and only felt the heat of the blast as it passed overhead but the sound and suddenness of it paralyzed him. El if anyone was looking, which most were not as they were otherwise occupied would have seen her flow with the blast, almost reacting ahead of it to somersault with the wave and come up to her feet and run to Sasha, pushing him aside even as she felt the gravity lessen. Uttering a Chinese curse under her breath she tucked a toe under the ridge at her feet and brought up the power grid layout to try to figure what the status was and what to do about it.

Dorian came around as Fawkes snagged the extinguisher but it was not secured to anything so it was just caught. “Catch the other end of the net!” Fawkes said, struggling to evade the unpredictable beast and hoping it discharged before anything or anyone else was hurt. Dorian made a go at the net but missed as the extinguisher dodged left rather than right.

Galen and Fiona made it into their suits and was pulling out the hose. It was an antiquated thing - hoses - where a fire suppressant would fill the room if discharged. But it wouldn’t do anything against a potential plasma fire at a junction conduit. That needed non-conductive coolant directly applied. Fiona tugged on the hose even as Galen guided it out of the cabinet.

Rising, El sprinted to where Sasha was - the only engineer still at a console. “Where are we at?” she asked.
“I’ve commanded the junction to close, but I’m not getting any confirmation. The sensors may be damaged by the heat. It may have worked. It may not have,” Sasha said.
“Bring up the conduit pressure,” El replied. “If it’s not changed we might have to do it manually.” She sprinted to suit up herself in case she needed to manually go and divert the plasma from that junction.
- Various Engineers

OOC: Ignore the split I caused as I brought that over here.

And it was at this point that several key systems failed; more specifically gravity control, helm control, deflector control, and communications.

~Creeping Dread

[c] Bridge. We have had an explosion. Engineers down. Medical assist needed. [c] he said before he paused. Nothing came back. Frowning he looked to the Chief. Things needed to be done but what .. in his mind much did need to be done and hoped that the off duty engineers were heading in. “Chief? Are you okay?” he called out ..
Various Engineers

OOC GM .. just an FYI here with the crew size we have @ 15 engineers on the ship plus the Chief. With two down, one you mentioned on the bridge, most of the engineers are active here barring about 4-5 left. Just letting you know so you don’t go venting 6 into space :) .. Gene

OOC: Thanks Gene. I’ll reap some NEs from elsewhere. ;)

The console Sasha was at finally showed a change in status. The junction was still on fire but it was no longer being fed except by the oxygen left in engineering.

~Creeping Dread

“I think I’ll live,” Paige called out with a groan as she pushed herself up off the ground. She had been thrown against the bulkhead, taking the hit in her shoulder. From the way her arm wouldn’t move, there was a good chance it was dislocated. “How bad is it…” she trailed off as she felt herself getting lighter as the gravity playing started failing.

“Everyone hold on! And secure any equipment you can grab!”

Not a stranger to zero g but not a fan either, Green grabbed the edge of a console to keep himself in place. With his other hand he brought up the issues. “Communications, gravity, deflector control and .. communications. No wonder nobody was answering. Hang in there Chief,” he said, now almost a shout as the fire control team started their spraying. “Sasha! Reroute power. Try and get gravity back! Serinde, comms are out. Find out where the break is and fix it!” At that point Warrant Officer Jackson floated in. “Jackson, you’re with me. G Deck. Deflector control. It’s out.” They retreated out the way they came.

She really hoped the DC team had the fire under control, she really hated fighting fires in zero g.

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

Meanwhile the fire control group had activated the magnetic boots in their suits and were stable. Fiona took the head with Galen behind. Aiming she shot out the coolant gel in a fine spray to both smother and cool down the fire.

Sasha and El took another moment at the console. El was stabbing her finger on the console saying something unintelligible to the others with the distance and noise. Sasha was nodding and, more slowly, moving his hands on the controls, his long thin fingers contrasting to El’s smaller ones. With that said, El did a smooth swing about in the zero G and shifted to another console where she brought up the communications grid and running a broad, fast diagnostic to determine it’s point of failure. Meanwhile Sasha was rerouting, if more slowly, power through secondary conduits to bring back power to primary life support systems which included artificial gravity. A drop of blood floated in the air in front of him. It was at this point that he realized that he was bleeding at his chin that he must have banged when the explosion came. Swatting it away only brought him a red blotch on the back of his hand.

Fawkes and Dorian picked themselves up. If anything the zero gravity helped Fawkes with his leg. Slapping the magnetic edge of the netting that caught the extinguisher Fawkes clung to that. “Dorian, bring Selwyn here,” he said as he put a toe in the netting and swung around to catch a first aid kit from the nearest cabinet. It was a stretch but he got it and closed it before anything got away. Fortunately there was not much loose here in a modern engine room.

OOC: GM .. which deck has the explosion? D-E or F deck. I know it is just one big area in the central area but working at the picture of it. Was assuming F deck but I could be wrong here.
Various engineers

OOC: We’ll go with F deck.

The diagnostic for comms indicated that the line from engineering to the bridge had gotten severed somewhere in the junction that exploded. The repair time would likely take several hours after the fire was fully contained.

The redirecting of power was proving to be a slow process as the exploded junction was causing a drain on the system even if it wasn’t being directed power.

~Creeping Dread

El cursed again under her breath, a rather bawdy one that would not be ‘monastery’ acceptable. One of her younger companions had said at one time that she would make Buddha blush. That comms relay that would take them to the bridge was routed through the damaged area. Fine. And they were sparing in this model of ship so that rerouting lines simply was not going to work. Bekele and Rosa-Marie were there awaiting direction, having just arrived. A moment later, Bekele floated, after grabbing a scanner, to scan at the junction that had exploded to check for temperature and if things were under control. El did a somersault and landed at a material cabinet marked emergency. Pulling it open she took out three communicators. Launching off she moved then to where Rosa-Marie was. Thrusting a communicator into her hand she said, “Take this to the bridge. We have no comms from there to here. You will be our connection. Go. When you get there synch it from the bridge console so that we can have comms from there to the rest of the ship. Like sick bay.” Suppressant was getting all over but that could not be helped. That would be a clean up on all three engineering decks.

With that she slid off and moved to the Chief. “Ma’am. The communication link to the bridge is broken near where the explosion was. Not a quick fix. Will take a lot of time to recable. I’m sending Rosa-Marie to the bridge to be our link. Here’s another for you. Should we send one to Lt Green at the deflector dish?” She glanced at the two engineers down and Fawkes and Dorian looking injured and the chief nursing her arm. “Should we send someone through to sick bay to get a medic here?”

“Thanks,” Paige said taking the communicator and tucking it into a pocket quickly, before grabbing back onto the wall she had started to float away from.

“Send one to Green. Deflector is a priority, especially if they are going to keep flying us into this mess. And if we have anyone to spare, see if we can get a medic here.”

At that moment the ship shuddered with impacts. A console at the far side beyond Sasha sent a shower of sparks out. Sasha turned his head, wide eyed, but then went back to the work of rerouting. Rick and Aeled, the last of the Engineers to come in floated in. Rick moved to where Sasha was and clung to a hand hold while he strove to help Sasha. Aeled, short and stocky moved over to El and the Chief seeking direction.

Meanwhile Dorian and Fawkes had pulled Selwyn in and were checking him, the ship shuddering nearly dislodging them. Dorian, not balanced, went to a knee and the spray went wide for a few seconds adding to the future mess. Every engineer was on deck and doing something. Millicant, floating, was at the moment forgotten in the face of the emergency.
- Various engineers

The junction was still much too hot to try and tear into for repairs. Even the fire retardent, heat resistant gloves would be at risk of melting if pressed against any of the hot surfaces.

~Creeping Dread

The fire control group paused. Fiona took out a scanner to read the temp and shook her head in frustration. “Easy, Fiona,” Bekele said. “There is a lot of energy in plasma. It takes time to cool it down. Keep on it.”

El gave the spare communicator to Aeled. “Get this to Lt Green in deflector control. If you can assist them do so. If not return. Go,” she said. Then, turning To Dorian who was over with Fawkes, she called out, “Dorian. Grab another two communicators and head to sick bay. Tell them we have injured from an explosion and need assist. Give the CMO the communicator if she wants it. If not hang on to it and head to the Armory for a damage report from there and the torpedo launch bays. Go now.” More quietly now, “Fawkes, move Millicant into my machine room.”

El then shifted gears. “Sasha, what is going on?”
“The break is causing a power drain. I don’t know where it is bleeding out but it is sluggish,” Sasha said thickly in his Russian accent. He was getting frustrated. Rick nodded his agreement that it was difficult.
“Keep on it and focus on diverting power to the hull polarizing and thrusters,” El said. “I’m going to work on our gravity.” With that she pushed off and moved around to an undamaged console to see what the problem was with the artificial gravity.
El and others …

The console readouts for gravity control was confusing. Power that was meant to be going there wasn’t but the system wasn’t reading a break in the line. It could be wrapped up in everything behind the melted junction but another possibility was the power was getting diverted.

The ship jolted again as it took another hit.

~Creeping Dread

El blew out a breath that would have scattered her hair had it not been tied back in a pony tail and hung on with the jolt. Fortunately it didn’t feel bad and it felt far away from her so she studied the screen. THAT made no sense. There were supposed to be priority of action with power that automated these the power distributions and gravity was not low on the list. Even after a power disruption like this automated AI controls would reprioritize power use unless manually adjusted. El thought of just trying to force the hand behind things; if the bridge had made a change then priority was given to it which would not allow her to just change it and her attempt would be useless but then there would be a flag in the system that told her what was done in the logs.

No, right now, before leaping to any conclusions of nefarious actions she should see a birds eye view of where the power was going before trying to bleed energy from elsewhere. Until she knew where it was going it was hard to snag some. Carefully she tapped in the command for a power distribution schematic with energy flow and levels and where it ended up at. Where WAS This power going? Or, if it was related to the break, where WAS it being bottlenecked?
- El, Eng

“Where’s the bleed?” Paige said having floated over towards El. The fire seemed to be under control, at the moment. “The systems should have started automatically switching over, unless the space dock crews messed with that too.”

She still held her left arm tight to her side, and had one ear open for the chirp on the communicator.

Lt. Paige Garrison - CE

El’s mind rang with the warning long ago that there was a warden on board. Was this the cause? Was this intentional? That junction. The power. The deflector. Just the right things to distract. But that wasn’t the thing to engage the mind now. She felt the Chief nearby and her question was El’s question. “The display is slow to form. The power is going somewhere. Automatics should be regulating this according to ship’s priority even in an emergency state. There are protocols.” Her tone was focused and with a touch of tension but her movements smooth, unrushed but her mind was racing.

While she waited for the distribution to form El reached to bring up those very protocols. Had they been disabled? Changed? Around her the work continued. The spray to the junction continued, drops of it floating in the air that had not clung to a surface, the sound a wet hiss that drowned out other conversation to a muted background noise. The engines sounded labored. She could feel the changes in course as the ship wheeled about, made all the more noticeable with the lack of gravity and the infinitesimal catch up of the inertial dampers. The crash of a collision with a rock highlighted the danger was still present.
El, Eng

The power display loaded on screen with thirty percent of the total output completely unaccounted for. The largest chunk was going to the polarized armor plates, followed by the deflector dish, maneuvering, what life support systems were functioning, and lesser power draw system like lighting and whatnot. So power was moving somewhere but it wasn’t being metered by what was likely various sensors.

~Creeping Dread