Posted by Ensign Jova Kiwa (Engineering) in Main Sim – Survival of the Fittest - Engineering

Posted by Gamemaster Mal Fet (GMT) in Main Sim – Survival of the Fittest - Engineering

Posted by Captain Rende Asam (Commanding Officer) in Main Sim – Survival of the Fittest - Engineering
The bosun’s whistle echoed through the ship. [O]Attention all hands to battle stations. Emergency distress call has been received from the USS Declaration. She is under attack by several Klingon Vessels.[C] Closing the comms, Rende hit another button on her chair that put the ship to red alert.

A moment later a message came in from the engineering station on the bridge. ‘Pushing the engines to maximum. Reinforce our shielding.’

Cpt. Asam, CO

Jova entered main engineering once he heard the order to go to battle statoins. His place was the environmental systems, and having dealt with the cascading failures earlier, including the bypass, with Jilva, he was pleased to be back at the station with which he had more experience.

Main Engineering was a hectic scene.

Jova once had asked his father how he handled a kitchen when a rush was on, how he made sure everything got done on time, without losing control. His father told him, if the little things get done, you can look after the bigger things. Focus on you own work, my boy, let others focus on theirs, so that when the spit hits the fan, you in a position to help. So in this case, he checked the environmental conditions for key locations around the ship … the bridge, medical, science, main engineering. Getting a baseline, he set up an alert if the conditions worsened considerably.

“Mate,” he said to one engineer, who looked even more green than he felt, “you’re on that station there, aren’t you?” The NE looked at him, ad nodded. “Remember the training from the academy … set the baselines, set an alert and be prepared to respond to the emergency, you can do it.”

“Yeah … but,” the engineer said, “klingons.”

“Focus on your job, mate, it should help,” Jova said gently, “and yes, I know what you mean … klingons.”

Going to emergency warp was a daunting task at the best of times, and doing it when multiple systems were degraded was pushing the envelope further than many young crewmen and NEs were comfortable with, especially when the warp core had been overheating a few hours ago and heading toward a breach.

The warp field stuttered again… causing many young engineers to look up. The core just wasn’t outputting as much power as it normally could. It needed some serious maintenance, and probably a full overhaul.

Still, the Sentinel could probably maintain Warp 8.1 with no issues if the electro-plasma system wasn’t also on the fritz. Its draw would slowly increase over a few minutes, requiring the engineers to compensate, only to drop suddenly and cause the warp field to sputter.

“Guess I get to work on the electro-plasma system,” Jova said, “I did the basics, not a specialist, but, I’ll help.”

The department was stretched thin. The warp core wasn’t the only problem; the frigate was also dealing with burnt-out systems and hull breaches. And with the distress call from the Declaration coming in, they’d had to adjust priorities on the fly to ensure they were ready. Or as ready as they could be.

The clock counted down, and the ship dropped out of warp as scheduled. The NEs had a few scant seconds of relief before the bosun’s whistle sounded again.

[O]All hands prepare to engage the Klingons.[C]

Gamemaster Mal Fet

Jova hurried back to his station at environmental control and held his breath as he waited for the battle to begin.

Ensign Jova Kiwa, Engineering, USS Sentinel
“Mount up and Make it Sing”

Jova had almost made it to the console when the disruptor blasts slammed into the ship, sending him stumbling. He was barely able to catch himself on the console and stay on his feet.

The environmental systems seemed to be holding for the moment. The most worrying area was around the hull breach on Deck 9. While the repair teams had patched some of the interior bulkheads, it was still a concern for a ship engaging in combat.

The console next to him showed that the strain on the warp core had decreased since dropping out of warp, but the electro-plasma system was still fluctuating, and the power draw from the shields and phasers continued to place it under significant stress.

Gamemaster Mal Fet