Reactivation

Posted on 26 Nov 2022 @ 6:51pm by Lieutenant Commander Harva Taliborn & Ensign Kat Walker & Lieutenant Commander Thex sh'Zoarhi & Lieutenant Callisi Veera & Lieutenant Madalene Sabine

1,567 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: A New Frontier
Location: Fighterbay

Several man-hours had been spent on researching what had caused the fire and redesigning the offending piece that had failed and combusted. Now though the redesign was nearing completion. Most of the damaged parts in the fighter had been replaced, though the main power junction that had actually failed was still just a design schematic on the console viewscreen.

"Here, how 'bout this?" Harva asked Thex, his deep rumbling bass resonating. "I beefed up the secondary and tertiary distributors, and if we use a bit higher spec capacitor array this whole thing shouldn't happen again. If you agree, we can fabricate the part and install it," he mused.

Madalene walked into the fighter bay, glad to be out of the science labs for a little bit. Luckily the labs took little damage, but she was putting out fires with the scientists that had some of their experiments damaged, or delayed, "commanders," she said simply as she approached them.

" Good call Harva," Thex said as she continued her work and laid new undamaged cables ready to be sent into the underbelly of the fighter bay. " Make sure the outer casing is reinforced as well," she added.

"Good idea boss," Harva rumbled, "I'll add a blow-off panel too, to vent any excess pressure should this array fail," he added, starting the design work. "Lieutenant Sabine, good to see you. You're a bit early. While you're here anyways, can you go over my cable work in Kat's fighter? Make sure I connected everything right? Still have to finish designing and to manufacture the main capacitor array, but that will be the final piece before we can reactivate the Ensign."

Madalene pulled out her PaDD, which she had modified also to be a tricorder, "impressive work, Kat's wiring is no easy feat to learn to work with," Madalene said always enjoying working with Kat, or helping her improve her being-hold, "....everything, err almost everything looks good," she said adjusting one of the cables, "there we go," she added.

Thex gave a thumbs up to the vent port as she started threading in the new wiring.

"Excellent," Harva rumbled. Between the three of them, it didn't take very long to get everything ready. The wiring was checked, double-checked, and triple-checked, the capacitor pack was designed and fabricated using the materials replicator, then transported to the fighter bay, everything hooked up internally, the fighter hooked up to an external power source, and the time came to power it on. But for that, one additional person was needed.

He tapped his comm badge. "Harva to Lieutenant Veera, we're about ready to power on Ensign Walker. All we need is your presence."

Callisi heard her badge chirp, followed by the announcement. She gave a tap on her chest badge, "This is Callisi. I'm on my way. Where do you need me?"

"Fighterbay," came the short reply.

"Understood. I'll be there shortly." with that, the rabbitess responded before heading to the bay. It took a few minutes but soon the cyclopean rabbitess joined the others. "Sir." She commented and greets the others in sequence as she arrived.

"Lieutenant," Harva rumbled in greet. The fighter stood, still, the top panel removed, showing the guts underneath. Seemingly everything had been fitted, the cables connected, though the machine was hooked up to external power rather than internal. "Alright, this is how this is gonna work. I've re-manufactured all the damaged parts. Beefed up the power distribution node that blew, beefed up the capacitor array that blew it. Installed a blow-off panel to break away should a similar eruption happen again. Vent away the pressure, all harmless like," he said, addressing the gathering.

"Only thing I haven't done yet is installed the circuit breaker between the AI core and the fighter's systems. Shields, engines, weapons, communications, and the like. So all she has access to is her own support systems. This way, if she does end up freaking out, she can't take out the entire ship. Figure that gives us some peace of mind while we work out if her mind is still with us," he glanced at Callisi.

"Lieutenant Sabine, if you could keep an eye on the power draw. Boss, you monitor the temperatures of the AI support systems, especially the shit we rebuilt. Lieutenant Veera and I will switch on power and then - well, then we'll see what happens," the massive Sirran spoke, his voice resonating. "Everyone agreed?"

The sheer fact that a division existed between the AI and the weapon system proved they were learning. "Agreed." the daughter of Ts'usu confirmed.

Thex nodded as she moved over to the console that monitored the Ai temperature. The last thing they needed was for the AI core to explode.

The power levels were looking good, steady no weird spikes or plummets, "power levels are keeping level for the moment," Madalene said tapping a few buttons.

"Alright, looks like we're all set. Powering her on in three, two, one ... " Harva pressed a key on a PADD, signaling the fighter's onboard systems to start feeding power to the AI support systems. A gentle hum sounded, the unit's cooling system coming online, followed by the ship's running lights and signal lights flashing and activating, to show the system was receiving power.

A moment later a flicker, a shimmer, as the humanoid avatar of the Ensign appeared, T-posing at first before settling into a more natural pose. A glassy, thousand-mile stare in her eyes as her systems came online before her expression softened and she focused, looking around the assembled group in confusion.

"Sir, Ma'ams," she ventured, standing at attention, a look of concern on her holographic features. "I - " though she trailed off, deciding to remain quiet instead, unsure what to say, really.

"Kat, Kat is everything alright? The more you can tell us the better we can help you," Madalene said softly hoping to keep her calm.

Calissi kept quiet during the reactivation sequence, more focused on the readout of thermal scans and power distribution than being reunited with the AI. After a moment, she shifted her attention to the holographic avatar. Regarding the form for a moment with an eye that didn't shine and another hidden from the world, the rabbitess turned back to the power readout. "Power flow is clean. No spikes outside of tolerance."

"I am - alright, Madalene," Kat ventured, though still with a look of concern on her features. "Most of my AI support systems reading within parameters, except for the power distribution node and secondary capacitor pack. But I can't interface with any of the fighter's systems. Shields, engines, weapons, communications, and sensors reading unavailable."

"Yeah, that's me," harva rumbled. "We couldn't be sure how you'd be when powering on so we thought it safer not to give you access to anything that could - well - go wrong, so to say."

A nod from the AI Ensign. "That's understandable."

"As for your power distribution node and capacitor pack, we figured out that's where the fire originated so we beefed them up a bit. Shouldn't go wrong again," the massive engineering officer explained. "Now we just have to make sure you're still - ... You, before we give you access to the rest of your systems."

"Oh. That makes sense. Thank you, Commander," Kat mused, flashing a soft smile before that look of concern returned. "How can I help you do that?"

"...lets start with the two safest things which are communication and sensors, and as we power them up just talk to us," Madalene said moving back to her console, "and we'll keep an eye on things as well," she added.

"Let's confirm identity and intent before we start restoring functionality." Callisi called up before turning her attention to the group. "No math, no computations. Let's check recent memory retention. If the unit has regressed to an earlier build, it might not have access to recent data. Obviously before the fire. So..."

"I allowed you to ask a number of questions of me and my people. What did you ask?" she inquired.

"I asked you what happened, meaning to cause distrust between your people and AI. I asked you what your people did after the construct was eradicated, and I asked you whether you believed the Federation's opinions on AI and the presence of AI like me would be a deciding factor in your people's cooperation with, and entry into the Federation," Kat replied, her full attention on Callisi.

Though as she spoke, Harva worked, and after she's answered the Cyclopean rabbittess, Kat turned to Harva for a moment. "Sensors and communication online."

A slight nod, and seemed to satisfy the daughter of Ts'usu. "That's accurate." She turned her attention from the construct to return to the power coupling.

"Well, now that's settled - Ensign, I'd like to keep you under observation status, for the time being, run some tests including stress tests on the rebuilt components, until we're satisfied your systems are stable and reliable. Then I'll give you engines, shields, and weapons back. How's that sound?" Harva asked.

"That's acceptable," Kat replied. "Thank you - for bringing me back. I - ... thank you."

"You are welcome, you are a part of this crew, and we don't leave crew behind," Madalene said with a smile. "Power levels still looking nominal, nothing out of the ordinary," Madalene added looking over the incoming data.

 

RSS Feed