Bigger than a Breadbox

Posted on Thu Sep 1st, 2011 @ 7:59pm by Lieutenant Jasad Broca

Mission: Tomorrow's Arizona
Location: Engineering/Jeffries Tube
Timeline: After Relics, before and after Following a White Rabbit

"Minamoto to Lieutnant Broca, I need you to take care installing a Borg transponder in a Jefferies tube on Deck 17. I have to help the science officer to sickbay after a discharge of some sort. Be careful."

Jasad had been sitting at a diagnostic station, lazily running triple-checks on everything that had been modified this week. When the call came through, he stiffened and straightened abruptly. Minamoto's voice was stressed. He tapped his own badge in response, "Acknowledged."

Standing up, he turned to ask one of the drones to come with him. Their presence had become so commonplace over the last several days that he had gotten used to having them around. But no... they were gone now. The deal was concluded, and now both parties were going their separate ways. The Arizona crew was on their own with these bastardized systems, now.

He nodded to Davis, "You are in charge until the Chief or myself return," he said. Then he paused, "Or is it myself or the Chief?" Some details of Federation Standard grammar still escaped him. "Well," he shrugged, "either way." Then he collected his satchel and proceeded with all due haste to the indicated location.

Minutes later, crawling through the uncomfortable miniature corridors that crisscrossed all Federation starships, Jasad found himself mentally uttering the usual expletives. He didn't know much about the renowned Starship Architect named Matthew Jeffries, but he knew that he hated the man. Jeffries' idea of 'easy maintenance corridors' had spread like a disease through Starfleet Engineering, ensuring that every ship was plagued with access tunnels that were usually too cramped for most humanoids to navigate without discomfort. Perhaps Jeffries had been what used to be called a 'little person' in Earth's history, when memories of the Eugenics Wars were still fresh enough to make the correction of genetic anomalies unpalatable. That would explain a great deal about the man's design philosophy.

Finally, he found the place where the Chief and Science Officer had been attempting to fit the transponder. He glanced at the unit, then at the... breadbox? The thing on the exposed corridor wall section where it seemed most likely to go. "Hmm."

Opening his satchel, he withdrew his tricorder and began to scan the wall and the transponder unit. After scanning for several seconds, he fished a PADD out of his satchel and interfaced it with the tricorder. In the PADD, he summoned a three-dimensional model of the wall-mount and the transponder unit. It took several minutes of minor adjustments in order to make the PADD's 3D model accurately resemble the details he was visually observing. Then he began to manipulate the figures on the display with his finger.

"Ah," he said at last. Then he reached out and turned a small blue bulb. The 'breadbox' and its associated systems went dark. With that accomplished, he lifted and fitted the transponder into place. Holding it with one hand, he took a splicing tool out of his satchel and began to make the connections he thought were appropriate. When that was done, he scanned everything once more.

It looked right.

Turning the blue bulb back on, he restored power to the integrated unit. Immediately, a threatening whine began to emanate from the wall. Alarmed that he may have made a mistake, Jasad reached out to turn the bulb off again, but before he made contact, the whine began to soften. Frowning, he took out his tricorder and scanned again. What he saw surprised him. He had apparently reversed two of the connections, but the 'Breadbox' had detected this error and was reconfiguring itself internally to correct the power flow. It was quite remarkable.

Momentarily, the transponder was online and operating at what appeared to be optimal levels. He shook his head and tapped his badge. "Broca to Lieutenant Minamoto and Commander Aix. Transponder installed and working. I'm heading back to Engineering."

Packing up his gear, Jasad began the long crawl back out of these cursed tubes. He didn't deserve the credit for this installation, but if anyone in authority turned out to be happy about it, he'd be sure to take advantage.