Engineers Meet
Posted on Mon Oct 7, 2019 @ 8:41am by Lieutenant JG Scaliontis Lovok & Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas
2,209 words; about a 11 minute read
Mission:
Doors of Perception
Location: Main Engineering - Cybernetics Lab
Timeline: MD 11 1600
[ON]
Lieutenant Kivan Ta'Gas had received word that someone was inside of the cybernetics lab tinkering with the Romulan Core. He knew there were only a handful of people on the station that even knew the first thing about the Core and they were all off-duty. Thus, as he entered the outer bay and looked through the glass window, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw the head and familiar ears of a Romulan facing a terminal.
"Arrogant bastards, they couldn't even wait for us to properly set things up for transport before trying to take it." He said angrily as he entered his access code and made his way quickly towards the cybernetics lab inner chamber.
"What the hell are you doing here!? You don't think we can handle this thing on our ow----" The Cardassian's tirade was cut short as he entered the room and saw the that Romulan was actually a Starfleet Officer.
The last thing on his list to do was meet with the acting chief engineer and hope that officer doesn't feel like they were overlooked by talking with them. Lieutenant jg Scaliontis Lovok wanted to assure this Kivan Ta'Gas that he was not going to ignore the, and this was interesting Cardassian-Bajoran hybrid, man's efforts as acting chief wasn't appreciated.
On the schedule he found that Kivan was working in the Cybernetics Lab on the Romulan computer core, and they seemed to not be making much progress with it. It was amusing he was here now being Romulan himself. Scaliontis entered the lab and began checking the logs to see what his staff were attempting to do.
He was about to begin cracking the core's security when a loud voice behind him triggered his survival instincts and went into an attack stance to find the hybrid staring at him.
The Romulan slowly returned to a normal position and smiled. "Hello Lieutenant, I apologise for not coming to you sooner, in truth I was looking for you and saw you had scheduled time in the lab."
Kivan was taken aback. In his rushed to save his work he had completely discounted the possibility that it was a fellow Starfleet officer who was working on the device. However, he was still slightly confused as to who the individual was. It was not everyday that he encountered a Romulan Starfleet officer. To be fair, there weren't too many Cardassians walking around in uniform either.
"You have me at a disadvantage. . .you are?" Kivan said guardedly as he fully entered the lab.
"Oh my apologies, I'm Lieutenant jg Scaliontis Lovok, the new.. Chief Engineer," he said with just a smidge of apprehension. He wasn't sure how the acting chief would take the news of another being placed above him. He would be upset himself if he worked for a leadership role all his career, Scaliontis had a plan should there be hostility.
"You're the new Chief?" He asked, moreso to himself than actually to the Romulan before him. Well, you had to have been replaced sooner or later Kivan thought to himself. "I guess Commander Soran has been so busy lately that she wasn't able to inform me of your arrival." He said as he walked over to a nearby console, partially to avoid the apparent awkwardness, mostly to check on the status of the core.
Scaliontis sighed in slight relief but still held some apprehension. He approached Kivan and smiled. "Yes she is busy and I got the impression from her that I was responsible for informing the department of my arrival." He said.
Time for his plan. "Since you know the station and the people, I want to request that you assume Assistant Chief as I will need your help to keep things going smoothly. That is if you want to the position."
He walked over to the console next to Kivan but about a meter away so it gave the other man time to process the request. Scaliontis was about to begin looking for a certain piece of programming that wasn't encrypted.
"Thank you, I appreciate the offer. Although, I'm not sure how smooth anything can run on this station. Between the sudden appearance of a planet, the time-bending portals, the growing racist fanatics on the station, not to mention the Cardassian military fleet nearby, I'd say that smooth is the last thing we're going to get." He said as he ran the level 2 diagnostic on the passive sensor readings from the previous test.
"Then there is the sudden interest in this core by the Romulan government." He said. "I still think that something is up. We've had this thing sitting here for years and not a peep from them. But then the planet appears, and the Core goes hay-wire, and now the Romulans suddenly want the device back." He said with frustration in his voice.
"We suddenly start to make progress on figuring this thing out and now they want to swoop in and take their marbles away and go home." The Cardassian said, referencing the Human term he had heard once. He was not quite sure what a marble was, but it seemed evident that Human children possessed them and took them away when angry.
Scaliontis was a little disappointed about refusal, though it didn't sound like an outright no. He could understand there being little to no personal time with so much going on, he was actually a little excited that there was non-stop activity.
Not all of the activity affected everyone which was okay with him, at least some break time can be achieved. "Well think on my request a little longer before giving me your answer, can you do that for me please?" He asked with just a hint of pleading.
He knew that Kivan, with Scaliontis' arrival, would be automatically placed into acting Assistant Chief unless he or Commander Soran made other arrangements. So he smiled when he turned back to the console he was at.
"Has the Core been interfaced with the station's for the years we have had it Lieutenant?" Scaliontis asked though he suspected it had been, otherwise how would they access it. Well tried to in this case, but he wanted confirmation though.
Before the other man could answer though Scaliontis added. "Something tells me you suspect that this Core may have something to do with the planet's appearance and or the portals?" He looked over after tapping at the console in front of him, he'd pinged the computer to retrieve sensor logs about the Core, for the time around the planet's appearance.
It seemed apparent that the new Chief was determined to have a conversation. "Yes, shortly after the planet appeared, the Core went haywire and a dormant core inside of it came online." Kivan said. "The waveform was dense, and varied, and every few seconds the line went flat, indicating a pause. I believe there were at least three distinct messages repeating in a pattern between the Core and the planet's surface." The Engineer said.
"There is a connection there, but the Romulans have decided to butt-in and try to snatch the Core before we can find out what took place." He said in an accusatory tone.
Scaliontis smiled. "Fascinating." He said, the Romulan gestured at Kivan. "Lieutenant, I may be Romulan but I am a Starfleet officer and I will do my best to help defend this station, the Federation and those I love. If my loyalty is something you do not think in the right place I will submit to any way to prove it." He wanted to get that sorted before they address the Core.
Loyalty. . . just the very thought of the word caused Kivan to reach for the area of his abdomen where he was stabbed. It was his loyalty to the Federation and not to some deranged power-hungry Cardassian that led to him nearly being killed. Kivan had seen horrible atrocities as a child growing up on in a Cardassian labor camp, then on Cardassia during the final days of the Dominion War.
Growing up he had been beaten for not being Cardassian enough by others. But when he put on this Starfleet uniform, he thought those days of recrimination and harassment were forever behind him. Unfortunately, his trip into the past through that damned portal only illuminated that he no matter what uniform he put on, he could never escape his burdens and sins and came with his Cardassian skin.
"No...that...that won't be a problem." The assistant Engineer finally said to the Romulan standing beside him. "You were appointed as the Chief of the department, and that's all that needs to be said." He added crisply. "The only thing that matters at the moment is understanding this Core and what connection it has with the planet below." He said, attempting to shift the focus of the conversation to something more positive.
At the hand to stomach gesture Kivan made, Scaliontis had instinctively taken a step towards the Cardassian-Bajoran hybrid. "Are you okay?" He asked concerned for the other man's obvious discomfort and Scaliontis worried it was something he said. Though considering what the other man is he could guess it would be something to do with the history between Cardassia and Bajor.
"I'm fine!" Kivan said, raising his hand quickly. He was not some child that needed to be pampered. Cardassian children were taught from an early age to not show weakness during times of discomfort. The very idea of him needed someone to coddle him because of his injury offended him. "Let's get started on the Core." He suggested as he brought up a diagnostic screen.
"Since you are much more familiar with Romulan language than anyone else on this station, what do you make of the waveform that was transmitted from the Core to the planet?" He asked.
Scaliontis eyed the other man for a moment or two as he wondered if Kivan was truly okay. He returned to fully face the console as he tried all the access codes he could recall from his past. "It's not typical Romulan frequencies, that much I know for sure."
"The Romulan Core was designed to prevent a malicious attack on its kernel; however, somehow this has managed to form a sub-space bridge with the same tachyon particles that have radiated from the planet." The Cardassian said.
"That's not all it was designed for, it's a computer core." Scaliontis said, "it does everything a Federation one can do, the specifics may vary though."
"What's the likelihood that the activation of this Core has had an affect on some other Romulan facility or unmanned station." Lt. Kivan asked. "If we're going to get anywhere with this thing we'll probably have to wait for the next portal opening and record the readings from there." He added
"If we restrict it to certain output parameters it shouldn't do anything we don't want it to, though I think we'd better take it to the surface and connect it directly to the equipment, closer the better right? Wait a minute, the planet makes tachyons?" Scaliontis asked looking over at Kivan.
The Assistant Engineer nodded. "Yes, the planet seems to produce a surge of tachyon particles when one of the portals activates. If you can develop some form of containment device that will still allow us to record output, then we should be able to see what happens once it's activated near one of the portals." He added. "That's the easy part, the hard part will be convincing the Commander to activate one of those portals again." He said.
"It's either Tachyons or Chronitons isn't it," Scaliontis said annoyed. "The two most troublesome particles for the Federation," he knew of another thanks to his parent's tutoring as the Tal Shiar did want it and had tried to find out more from the Federation but thankfully didn't. He knew it was level 10 classified so didn't mention it.
He smiled. "I'll deal with the Commander, and as for the containment device, for the portal or the tachyons?" Scaliontis asked glancing over at his colleague.
"Tachyons" Lt. Kivan responded as he began to download the information into a portal drive. He also began to delegate orders to other Engineers within the unit to prep the Core to be removed.
=^= Ops to Lovok, the Commander has requested your presence for an away team down to the portals. =^=
Scaliontis tapped his combadge. "Understood, thank you, on my way. Lovok out." He tapped it again to close the channel. "Looks like I'll have to leave you with the containment chamber, I'll talk to the Commander about it, though may have to consult Science but shouldn't they know about the Tachyons already?"
"Considering everything that has been going on lately, who know who knows what." Lt. Kivan said "But what other choice do we have?" He concluded.
The Romulan grinned wide. "Well said Lieutenant!" Scaliontis nodded. "Agreed, I'll be back soon, you have Engineering lead." He said with a smirk before he left the lab to go meet the Commander.
Lieutenant JG Kivan Ta'Gas
Assistant Chief Engineer
DS5
Lieutenant JG Scaliontis Lovok
Chief Engineer
DS5
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