Sensing the Frequency

Posted on Tue Feb 2nd, 2016 @ 8:27am by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Captain Patrick O'Connor
Edited on on Fri Feb 5th, 2016 @ 6:29pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Taking Chances
Location: USS Bonne Chance, Deck One, the Bridge
Timeline: 2265

"Science, we will be putting the sensors under a great deal of use, so make ready for that as well." the Captain said, looking over at Charybdis.

She nodded back at him, then watched as he issued a few more orders before leaving the bridge. Her sensors were actually operating at such a level that she would be willing to put them up against any in the fleet... her early recommendations had all been approved, and thus while at warp speed they were simply operating regularly, as soon as they dropped out of warp they were blanketing the area with so much signal that she was confident that they could locate cloaked ships.

In point of fact she was rather positive of that fact. Motion tracking sensors would detect the displacement of minute particles by a standard deflector field, thus a cloaked ship would be detectable... beyond that, plasma exhaust from starships in motion at impulse. And the upcoming experiment from Lieutenant Commander Ackroyd with tachyons might possibly lend themselves to more advanced detection, she realized.

He knew that her sensors were her pride and joy... after all, they were the primary responsibility of shipboard Science officers, and she took particular pride in her sensors being fine tuned and broad ranged. The little voice of intuition that had warned her of something this morning was still there, and she had no idea what was wrong... but it was beginning to feel as though it was not incorrect.

There was nothing she could do about a feeling right now. What she could work on was following her orders, and insuring that her sensors were beyond reproach.

She signaled Ensign Sato to cover for her on the Bridge, and once he had arrived to relieve her, she contacted six of her more technically oriented science officers and gathered them in Science Lab Delta on Deck Two.

"The Captain has charged us with making the sensors ready for a great deal of use.. and so we are going to insure that is the case. Now, each of you have been taking your turns maintaining the long-range and navigational sensors, and I've been following your reports... you have all been doing excellent work, and I am very proud of each of you, and our department as a whole. At this rate I am going to have to find some sort of incentive program to show how much I appreciate all of your efforts- I'll put out a suggestion box," she said with a grin.

"But today we're going to work on the lateral sensors, and we are going to make sure that they are calibrated and tuned better than when they rolled out of Planitia Utopia. Now, as we all know there are twenty-four semi-redundant suites of these six standard sensor pallets. These 144 pallets are distributed on the Primary Hull and Secondary Hull lateral arrays."

"Now, with six sensor pallets, each bearing multiple sensor apparatus, this is a complex task... even more complex that the long-range scanner calibration, and according to our records they haven't had a full on hand calibration since seven months ago. I know, it is supposed to be a yearly task, but we've been called upon, and the Science department rises to the task, right? Without Engineers and Scientists we wouldn't be in space, right?" That got a murmur of agreement, so she pressed on.

"According to the manuals, calibration of one packet is supposed to take approximately four point two hours each, assuming nothing needs to be replaced. And currently according to our records we don't have any experimental palettes loaded in our laterals, so that is good for us. We seven..." she gestured around the room, obviously including herself, "can get two packets per person done in a duty shift, with a little bit of overtime. And that means that if all of you give me just a little extra time today, we can not only calibrate those sensors, we can double check one another's work. Not because I think that any of you will not do a fantastic job- but by double-checking we will insure that out work will be beyond reproach."

"I am going to assume that there will be minor malfunctions, parts to be replaced and glitches- there always are. And that is going to be my job. You need a part, I will bring it to you so that you can keep going. You have a snafu, I will handle it to free you up. I will be all over the ship and be the 'runner' to insure that this all happens today."

"And in return... I will ask the Captain for shore leave at the next possible locale, and I will insure that each of you gets a full extra day of shore leave for your hard work. Are you with me?"

It was not a cheering, rousing battlecry that she received in response, but a gentle murmur of goodwill and agreement, and that was good enough for her. They were scientists, after all... for them this WAS enthusiasm. but she knew that she could do better.

"And I will approve of one experiment apiece of your pet projects of my choosing when this mission is over. Nothing crazy, but use of the ship's resources included as well as anything up to and including the phasers."

That got a much more rousing cry out of them, and she grinned as she handed them their assignments and they grabbed their tricorders. She may not have been worth a damn as a Vulcan, but she understood human scientists just fine, it would seem.

 

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