Sabotage! Part 1: Briefing
Posted on Wed Nov 24th, 2021 @ 10:14pm by Captain Maho Takahashi & Commander Ichika Misono & Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair
1,821 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Handling the Fallout
Location: USS Myogi (NCC-65918), Captain's Ready Room, Deck 1
Timeline: After "Jane Sinclair's Busy Day, Part 5: Indoctrination"
"Oh, what in the..."
Word around the ship was spreading that Commander Takahashi had recently come under the weather, so Ichika was presently on her way back up to the ready room when her PaDD suddenly alerted her to an incoming notification. Unclipping the device from her belt, she pursed her lips as she opened her inbox and pulled up the most recent message.
FROM: LTJG Sinclair, Jane
TO: CMDR Misono, Ichika
CC: CMDR Takahashi, Maho; LT Pratt, Brandon
SUBJECT: Missing Shuttlebay Equipment
Commander,
I have just discovered that the Myogi’s Shuttlebay is missing its stock of tools and spare parts for shuttle repair and maintenance. I believe Spacedock personnel may have removed reallocated it and neglected to replace it. Without such equipment, we cannot keep our shuttles in good working order.
Chief Engineer Pratt is aware and is looking into setting up a meeting with Spacedock Supply Operations. We are tentatively scheduling something for tomorrow to get our equipment and parts stores replaced before launch.
Jane
Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918]
She shook her head. "You've gotta be kidding me; what egghead removes all our equipment and doesn't bother to replace it?"
Sighing, she reached over and tapped her comm badge; Commander Takahashi was going to have to know about this sooner rather than later.
=A=Captain, may I speak with you in private, please?=A=
Maho had returned to her quarters to fetch something when she received the page from her XO.
=A="Of course;"=A= She responded. =A="I'm on my way to my ready room. Meet me there."=A=
Maho tapped her combadge again, changing to a different frequency.
=A="Takahashi to Takahashi:"=A= She said. =A="You're in command until I give the signal."=A=
Ichika found herself standing in front of the Commander's desk in five minutes' time, PaDD already in hand.
"I'll get straight to the point, Captain," she began, pulling up Lieutenant Sinclair's report and sliding the PaDD across Maho's desk for her her to assess. "I received a notification from the CFCO informing me that someone-- and I'm not pointing fingers-- appears to have reallocated our shuttle bay equipment without bothering to replace it; the Chief Engineer is reportedly looking into the matter and has a meeting scheduled with Spacedock Supply Operations tomorrow, but if I might advise, I recommend looking into replenishing the supplies as soon as possible, even if it's just for the interim. We don't know if we're going to have to set off at a moment's notice, so I'd prefer that we're overly cautious rather than under-prepared."
"Clearly, this is unacceptable:" Maho responded after reading the report and listening to her executive officer. "If Senpai were still here, he'd be demanding the perpetrators' heads on a silver platter. I'm willing to bet several personnel from the previous iterations of Flight Control and Engineering did this; but seeing as they are now scattered among the cosmos, it would be next to impossible to track them down, so the best we can do is to procure some new equipment. Typically, I'd put in a request to the corps of engineers for replacements of the tools we need, however, that takes time, and I'm afraid that is a luxury we cannot afford, as our next assignment has been handed down to us, and it is of utmost importance that we waste as little time as possible to respond. Any suggestions as to how we might be able to secure what we need faster than a request to the corps takes?"
Ichika took pause to ponder their predicament.
"If I recall, we should have some industrial-grade replicators down in the Engineering Labs," she explained. "Granted, I don't think we'll be able to replicate some of the more complex parts, such as replacement nacelles for our shuttlecraft; but as I mentioned previously, the Chief Engineer may have us covered in that regard. Otherwise, our biggest hurdle is going to be the time it'll take to program it."
"That, I can agree to." Maho responded. "Though I am curious to whether or not you are entirely familiar with replicators from any of your previous assignments:"
To demonstrate, Maho strode over to the replicator located in the ready room.
"Tea, Earl Grey, Hot." She instructed.
No sooner had the words left the commanding officer's mouth than a scalding hot cup of tea materialized inside the replicator. Maho removed it and turned back to Ichika.
"It would depend on the complexity of what exactly needs to be replicated, but a replicator usually does not work like an old Earth 3D printer for replicating things like basic hand tools and even more basic shuttle components like paneling." She explained. "At most, I see the process taking an hour to complete, and if it takes an hour and one minute to complete, there will be accountability for incompetence: How the hell am I supposed to run a law-enforcement ship if I can't even keep my own damn crew in line?"
"Well, let's see," Ichika muttered as she pulled up the report. "Lieutenant Sinclair doesn't mention what it was specifically that we were missing, so perhaps we could consult with her and then get a production estimate from Engineering?"
"Great Idea." Maho said, tapping her combadge.
=A="Takahashi to Sinclair: Can you report to the ready room?"=A=
In the corridors, Jane Sinclair had just finished her meeting with Lieutenant Reno when her commbadge chirped and the order came in. Always one more thing, she thought. She tapped the commbadge to reply. “On my way.” She turned toward a different turbolift and took it up to the bridge.
Moments later, she was chiming the door to the Ready Room. Upon being let in, she stood before the Captain and First Officer. “You asked to see me, ma’am?”
"Apologies if you were busy with anything, Lieutenant," Ichika began, motioning for Jane to have a seat. "Commander Takahashi and I recently received your report and were hoping you could enlighten us as to what exactly was missing from the shuttlebay."
Jane took the offered chair, crossed her legs, and alternated looking at the CO and XO as she gave her report. "It's bad, ma'am. Every tool, and every spare part has been purloined from the shuttlebay and associated storage rooms. This includes small things, like hand tools, to larger things like spare nacelles and thruster assembles."
She shifted in her seat. "This also included key parts in the shuttle maintenance area's own industrial replicator. I'd be able to fix most of the problem myself if not for that. They left us truly barren down there. Now, some of this is solvable with our own replicator systems. Between the ones in the engineering support labs and getting my own unit up and running. With adequate assistance from Mr. Pratt and his staff, I can get us to seventy-five percent within the next three days. But I can't get us past that. Some of the larger systems, including two particularly important tools, cannot be replicated with our industrial replicators. They need to come from Spacedock or another ship."
"It appears we're going to need someone in Intelligence to look into this, Captain," Ichika surmised as she jotted some notes down on her PaDD. "the sheer amount of items that were removed from the shuttle bay would appear to indicate that this was a deliberate act of sabotage."
"I agree that we should bring Lieutenant JG Reno up to speed on the situation." Maho added. "Senpai always kept records on who came on and off his ship, dating all the way back to the recommissioning, so it shouldn't be difficult to track down the members of the previous iteration of flight control; perhaps to entice people, we should offer a reward for any information on them? Senpai would have never let an act of sabotage stand, and I don't see why I should."
Ichika nodded her head in affirmation.
"As for the parts," Maho turned to Jane. "If you happened to know what exactly those two parts we need are, it would help me when I call ahead to Utopia Planitia looking for them."
Jane nodded. "One is a small-scale warp coil relaminator. The other is the warp field stress simulator. Without the first one, I can't repair damaged shuttle-sized warp coils, and the one in the engineering support lab is too big. Without the second one, I can't run hull stress tests without taking the shuttles out for a flight."
Ichika nodded silently and quietly jotted the information down on her PaDD.
"Very well." Maho said, having also taken notes on her own PADD. "I shall go ahead and contact Utopia Planitia: Those parts are fairly common, and they should have what we're looking for:"
"If I may, Captain?" Ichika quickly interjected. "I had heard that you weren't feeling well, so why don't you leave the matters with Utopia Planetia to me?"
"That won't be necessary, Commander." Maho said, waving dismissively. "I will handle the matter with Utopia Planitia. It seems there is plenty of work for you to do here, and taking my work is not one of those things."
Ichika's cheeks puffed up in annoyance-- sort of akin to the look a mother would give their child for doing something they were explicitly told not to do-- but whatever it was she was thinking at that very moment went unspoken. Perhaps in some regards, it was for the better.
"Understood, Captain," she conceded, reluctant as she was to do so. "At the very least, shall I speak with Engineering about the parts that we can replicate?"
"That is something I will leave you to do." Maho responded, having not seen Ichika's reaction. "After speaking with UP, I shall speak with our other department heads, make sure this bout of bad luck hasn't befallen them either."
"I'll get right on it, Captain," Ichika nodded before turning to Jane. "Lieutenant Sinclair, if you have a moment to spare, would you care to accompany me down to Engineering? You're going to have a better idea of what it is that we'll need to replicate."
"Yes ma'am," Jane answered. She stood and was ready to follow the XO down to Engineering.
Ichika turned back to Maho. "Do take care, Captain," she bade before leading Jane off to Engineering.
"Dismissed..." Maho muttered to herself after Ichika and Jane had left the ready room.
To be continued...
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Posting by:
Commander Ichika Misono
Executive Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)
Commander Maho Takahashi
Commanding Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)
Lieutenant Junior Grade Jane Sinclair
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)
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