<USS Atlantis> "An Added Line"
- From: "Brad Ruder" <GroundZero@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: ussatlantis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 15:57:32 -0800
?An Added Line?
by Marine Captain Adam
Drake?Are you OK?? Drake turned his head up
from his work and gazed at his assisting Ensign. Alexandra Potter,
who was aiding Drake in his experiments with new shielding
technology, looked tired and her blonde hair was skewed and messy
from a long days work. ?You can go if you?d like, you aren?t even on
duty.?
She shrugged, ?Nothing else to do.?
?I think
I?ve realigned the phase circuits, and the feedback distributors were
fired.? He tapped on the small object in his hand with a refined
Engineering utensil. Adam ran a quick diagnostic on the miniature
filaments and wires that lined the internal side of the device, and
when all checks were complete he set it back on the pad.
?Same
program again, sir??
?It?s Adam, we?re not on duty.? Drake
didn?t mind the formalities at all, but considering the circumstances
of working while off duty, he found it unnecessary and too volatile
to even mess with. ?Yes, Alexandra, same program as last
time.?
?I hate that name, call me Alex.?
?OK, let?s get
going then, Alex.? Adam smiled.
?Do you think it will work,
sir?? Potter tapped the console feverishly and pulled up the
program.
Smiling, Drake looked at the little device more
closely, ?Something tells me that thirteen won?t be our lucky
number.? They had been struggling with the same problems repeatedly
for nearly four hours. Each period of reinforcing relays, couplings,
desequencers, and resetting the configurations had almost a half an
hour.
?Aye, sir.?
?Adam.?
?Sorry,
sir.?
?Adam.?
?My apologies, Adam.? She winked at him
and engaged the sequence. The hologram lit up before them. A
red-shirted (isn?t it always red) appeared before them with the
little device strapped carefully to his upper right shoulder.
?Computer, run first set of tests. Weapon designation is a
standard Romulan disrupter.? Adam stared at the figure as a Romulan
appeared behind him. The green-skinned enemy fired a standard
disrupter at the red shirt. The forcefield surrounding the man was
effective after several shots.
?So far so good.? Potter
muttered in the background as Drake?s eyes shifted uneasily to the
display recording everything.
Adam shook his head, ?There are
many things to take care of first. This was only the first step in a
ladder of ten.? He smiled as he realized the young Ensign had gotten
ahead of herself in assuming that with the first step taken care of;
the rest would follow easily.
That wouldn?t be the
case.
?Computer, activate second sequence of tests. Weapon
designation is an enhanced Romulan disrupter.? The same set of the
results passed with the forcefield, using the energy produced from
the enemy?s weapon, recharging itself to full strength.
?That?s two.?
?Computer, initiate the third sequence
of tests. Weapon designation is a standard Romulan disrupter rifle,
type one.? The sets followed with no noticeable effect or problems.
Drake nodded as he shifted cycles to compare the first three tests to
the last seven that he was about to start.
?Third time?s a
charm.? Potter smiled and crossed her arms gingerly and without
hesitation. She was confident that their hard work would pay off;
Drake on the other hand wasn?t so sure of himself or the work that
they had put into the small piece of new technology.
Shaking
his head, Drake looked at her. ?Seven to go, Alex, just calm down.?
He winked and ran a diagnostic on the strength of the power pack and
recalculation module embedded inside the emitters. ?The circulator
module is interfering with the recalculation module. It?s
distributing the energy cells power along with the enemy?s
power.?
Potter stepped up, a look of defiance and anger in her
eyes, ?We checked that.?
?Several times actually, a regulator
has had no effect. With the rifle it overloaded the primary
procedure subroutine and shorted out the rest of the regulator.?
Drake?s hand worked quickly and cautiously over the console trying to
isolate the problem.
Potter shook her head violently again,
?No, we went over that a million times and it was fine. Check the
parameter control.?
?I looked, it doesn?t matter the amount of
space that the forcefield takes up. It still has to pass through the
regulator, that is where the problem lies.? Drake didn?t look up, he
just continued tapping the controls.
?I found it.? Alex
smiled, ?It?s in the converter assembly. It?s too much power to
change. The regulator has no effect because that is specifically
assigned to the distributor set of subroutines. A separate regulator
on that system should work.?
?Agreed, make the
changes.?
Alex tapped the console feverishly, a smile and a
look of determination crossing her fine features. She was getting
into what they were doing, even though it had taken four couples of
coffee and an in depth talk on Betazoid culture before she would help
him. She was eager, Adam would give her that much.
?Done, set
to update.?
?Computer, load the updated features to the
holographic representation and run the third sequence of tests
again.? Drake stepped in front of the console as the Romulan
rematerialized and fired again. He turned after the Romulan had let
off all his shots; Alex looked at him and smiled. ?Well??
?It
worked.?
?Computer, run the fourth sequence of test drills.
Weapon designation is a Romulan disrupter rifle, type two.? The more
powerful rifle had little more effect than the type one, and the
hopes grew in both Adam and Alex.
?Computer, activate fifth
sequence. Weapon designation is standard Tal Shiar Disrupter
pistol.? Adam knew, that in order to be effective and correct, he
would have to include all types of personal firearms and munitions
that could be used by the Romulan. He assumed, trying to cover all
the basics that they may run into, Tal Shiar operatives might become
a factor on a later mission.
?Tal Shiar, ever run into them??
Alex looked intrigued by the weapon of Adam?s choice.
?Yes,
actually. On a moon that we thought was devoid of all life there was
a Tal Shiar listening outpost. They were monitoring all of the
Federation?s transmissions within ten light-years. We landed and we
were to destroy it. Several vessels engaged with Romulan Warbirds
while we lit the place up like the fourth of July.?
?No way,
what did you do??
?I led the expedition.?
?Did you kill
anyone??
?Of course, it?s what we have to do. I don?t like
taking people?s lives??
?But, Romulans are OK?? Alex laughed
as she leaned nonchalantly on the console, not particularly caring
about the series of tests or what they were working on, just him.
Adam laughed and looked at her, ?They were in our
way.?
?Did you lose any under your command?? An innocent and
perfectly good question, it froze Adam in his tracks.
His
mind raced and relived the moments. He looked off into space and
didn?t focus on her. Her head tilted slightly to the side and stared
at him, a look of confusion crossing her delicate face. Adam turned
and looked at her, ?Yes, I did.?
?Anyone
important??
?All people are important in that sort of
situation, Alex. This one, though, was my best friend. We were
rounding a corner and he was the lead, he rounded the corner and took
a shot from a Romulan defense turret. It ripped a hole in him the
size of a cargo container. I couldn?t stop, though I wanted to, we
had to keep moving.?
She put a hand over her mouth and shook
her head, a look of terror lining her eyes. ?I?m so sorry, sir, I
didn?t mean to pull out harmful memories.?
?Don?t worry about
it, and it?s Adam.? He smiled and winked. ?Computer, run sixth
section of tests. Weapon designation is a standard Romulan defense
turret.?
The man appeared again, and a Romulan shimmered
into view standing behind a huge gun aimed at the protagonist of
their program. The burst rocked the man, who steadied his ground,
and the forcefield flickered as if it was losing power.
?What
is it?? Drake looked over his shoulder at Alex who had returned to
shuffling through the data.
She shook her head, ?The regulator
fused.?
?Keep a Tri-polymer resin between the two, that should
keep it from fusing.?
After the changes were made they ran the
sixth again, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth sequences of tests and
all proved to be flawless. Orbital cannons, plasma torpedo launches,
Warbird disrupters, and all angled attacks were eliminated of
threat.
?There we go. I?ll submit the data to Vice Admiral
Sankoh and Captain Ruffian tomorrow morning.? He looked at her and
smiled as she rubbed her eyes and the sleeplessness disappeared to a
rejuvenated energy. ?You?re tired, go back to your quarters and
sleep. That?s an order.?
?You?re not on duty, Mr.
Drake.?
?I know, but you should still sleep. Shore leave
isn?t officially over until tomorrow anyway so I suggest you get it
before you don?t have a chance for it anymore.?
?I do have a
question for you though, Adam.? She seemed to change to a more laid
back approach to him.
?Shoot.?
?Are you
married??
Adam laughed as he picked up the prototype of his
portable shield generator, which he had designed to be an added line
of defense against the Romulan forces. He walked a bit as she
followed, his laughter still audible to her.
?What??
?No, I?m not married.?
?So, would it be
out of line if I asked you to come to my quarters for dinner tomorrow
evening?? She looked up and thought for a second, ?Let?s say about
sixish??
?Sounds great.? Adam looked at her as she winked and
smiled at him. She walked gracefully from his office and out of
Engineering. He leaned back as he put his legs up on his desk. He
was flattered, he really was, but it was completely unexpected.
?Wow, this shore leave sure has taken a turn.?
Yet, in that
turn, he couldn?t figure out if it was for the better or for the
worse.
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