<USS Avalon> "Ignoring The Rules"

"Ignoring The Rules"
Capt. Skyler
Lt. K'etrall
Ensign McGivern
Cialra the AI
Hap the Exocomp
 

Upon receiving the PADD from Phillipa, Skyler began to read the report.  It 
was mass devastation. How or why would anyone want to kill that many people?  
After finishing the report, she was in shock or more like  disbelief.

"Okay, you heard the Admiral, the warp speed rules don't  apply. Maximum warp 
to the Terra system. Also make sure we rendezvous with the  Admiral's shuttle 
in time. I don't think he would appreciate being left out of  this mess."

Turning to Moreya, who was not only the science officer but  the new second 
officer, Skyler nodded. "I need all information you can gather  about Alpha 
Centauri B II, Facility 18. I want to know everything that was going  on there, 
so we are prepared when we meet up with the admiral."

"Aye  sir," Moreya replied, turning to the library computer  console.


Tapping her comm unit, she called Engineering.  "Lieutenant K'etrall, we will 
be diverting from our original plan. We are also  going to be going at 
maximum warp, so I want those engines to keep  together."

K'etrall tapped her combadge and replied, "Understood,  Captain. Maximum 
warp." She turned and looked at Cialra as apologetically as a  Klingon could 
manage. "I am sorry, but we won't be making that trip to gather  your needed 
materials. In fact, I may need you and Hap down here to help out. If  you don't 
mind?" She was going to need Ensign McGivern as well to work overtime.  "We 
need 
to make sure these engines can withstand the increased demand upon  them."

Cialra frowned slightly, but nodded. "As best I can help, I will  do.  I 
cannot speak for Hap or any of the other exocomps, nor would I wish  to do so." 
 
She turned to Hap.  "So, ready for a few challenges, my  friend?  And those 
right here on the Avalon-C?"

"Whatever we can do  to help," Hap responded.

"Thank you both for your help. I don't know  exactly what is going on, but it 
must be something important, if we are  disregarding the warp speed laws." 
Tapping her combadge, K'etrall called Bobby.  "Mister Woodward, this is 
Lieutenant K'etrall again. I have a need for Hap and  perhaps one other of your 
exocomps if you can spare them. It would be greatly  appreciated."

"I'll ask them, but it shouldn't be a problem," he  answered.

Cialra raised both eyebrows in surprise as she realized  something critical.  
"Other than monitoring and donation of my own remotes,  assuming any of them 
still have power, I am of little actual use to this  situation."  She looked 
down, then closed her eyes in concentration.   Seconds later, the three small 
remotes she carried aboard the Baron l'Orange  were making their way to the 
Avalon's Engineering bay at their full safe  speed.  She opened her eyes and 
said 
quietly, "My remotes, although not as  sophisticated as Hap here, will be 
here in two to three minutes."

As  promised, three silver, gray and black Regellian exocomps arrived two and 
a half  minutes later, but one wavered and dropped to the deck.  Cialra 
frowned,  rushed over to the one that had dropped, and showed one of the 
Engineering  staffers how to change the power cell, which was, fortunately, a 
type also 
used  aboard Federation vessels.  On changing the cell, the exocomp 
successfully  rebooted before rising once more, but was unsteady at first.

"Cialra,  even in your present condition, you are more than capable. You may 
be able to  spot something that I or one of my engineers might not. That alone 
will be of  great assistance, and with the exocomps helping, you will all be 
assets to this  department. I am lucky to have you. Now, shall we make sure 
these engines are up  to snuff? I would hate to disappoint the Captain and the 
Admiral. Especially as  this is essentially the first major test of these new 
engines."

Victoria  was still sitting at the Warp Subsystems console in engineering. 
She was  currently working on fine-tuning a slight variance in the warp field 
harmonics.  At that point in time, she was running a simulation on the latest 
bit of  telemetry she had added into the mix of complex numbers that made up 
what the  warp field was.

One of her remotes, Cialra could not have said which at  first, for she'd 
never heard their names, and their paint jobs were all but  identical, was 
staying as close as practical to her, while the other two stayed  in silent 
formation, apparently scanning the entire department for  trouble.  Suddenly, 
both 
sped off toward the warp core and began working on  it.  Cialra frowned, but 
shrugged, relaxing as she received a report from  them.  They'd detected a 
minute, 
yet deadly flaw in the warp-core's  containment, and had corrected it before 
any of the normal personnel had even  seen the anomalous readings, or the 
monitoring systems could give alarm.   One had noted that the equipment was old 
junk, but she knew that not even Hap  had heard the jibe, since it had been an 
ultra-short-range ansible transmission  to her core aboard the shuttle.  She 
reported to K'etrall, "Minute power  fluctuation in the warp core containment 
has been detected and corrected,  Sir."  She nervously awaited the next 
revelation from her remotes,  uncertain why they were acting so autonomously.

Victoria's attention was  diverted by the announcement of a variation in the 
containment field, and her  heart skipped a beat, but returned to normal when 
no alarms went off. She turned  to her console, and began looking over the 
sensor readings, and confirmed  silently what Cialra had said. She started 
looking deeper into the very small  malfunction, trying to determine where this 
small variation in the protective  field had come from. Not finding any further 
issues, she turned back and noted  the completion of her latest warp field 
adjustments from the computer and  frowned. "OK, you're gonna be a pain today!" 
she 
mumbled under her breath.  Pulling back up the new algorithm she had entered, 
she adjusted a few of the  equations, and began yet another simulation on the 
new  figures.


Cialra wandered over toward the Warp Subsystems console at  the 
almost-understood outburst, and noticed a harried-looking Ensign busily  
working on 
optimizing the algorithms.  Silently, she studied the figures,  analyzing the 
problem 
herself.  As it became clear to her, she found it  difficult not to start 
chuckling.  The solution was so simple to her, but  she would be the first to 
realize that she was working from what, for her, was a  historical perspective. 
 
To this crew, the warp systems were bleeding-edge  state of the art, not 
museum pieces.  Furthermore, she had had several  hundred more years experience 
at 
Engineering than anyone aboard the  vessel.  She, alas, didn't have the 
authority to even suggest the proper  corrections, even though she winced as 
the 
simulation failed yet  again..








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