Sorting Out Bugs

Posted on Sat Feb 2, 2019 @ 8:18pm by Lieutenant JG Jacob Hartley & Commodore Michael Aravan & Ensign Willow Riordan

Mission: On Slippery Ground
Location: Intel
Timeline: MD 1 || 1245 Hours

Willow sat at her console entering in search parameters when it went blank, wavered in and out of focus, then vanished entirely. "UH...Jac...Lieutenant Hartley?" she called as she blinked.

Jacob, sitting at his desk, heard his name called out, frowning. He stood up, and saw Willow at her console. He walked over to her. "Hey. Everything okay?" He asked.

"No, everything is not okay," she said. "The holographic interface vanished. I can't access anything and it's not coming back up."

Jacob looked at the console. "That's odd." Jacob said. He went to the next console, to see if he could begin a scan on Willow's console, when that one went down. "Hartley to Main Engineering, are we having power issues on Deck 44? Some of our systems are going down." Jacob said. He wanted to check the obvious first, hoping that it was something simple. His gut, however, told him it wouldn't be anything simple. It never was. He still had bad memories of when the AI Guardians screwed up, almost giving him a proctological examination.

=^=Gefel here,=^= the Bolian Assistant Engineer responded. =^=I'll send someone there right away. Make certain that we can access the deck, Lieutenant.=^=

"Understood." Jacob replied, as he saw more of the holographic consoles go down. "I need to know who you're sending so I can give the computer authorisation to allow the turbolift to stop."

=^=Ensign Mirkat,=^= came the Bolian's response, sounding harried.

"Computer, authorise Ensign Mirkat for entry into Deck 44." Jacob ordered. "Authorisation Hartley Two Seven Beta Charlie."

"Confirmed," the computer responded.

"What's going on, Ja...Lieutenant?" Willow asked as she tried to reboot the holographics.

"At the moment, not a clue. I'm hoping it's a simple power distribution problem. Last time we had a problem with the computer systems..." Jacob said, "Well, it wasn't fun." Jacob said, as he looked at the computer systems. At this point, the room was darkened since the holographics were almost all done. "Jason, Avery, do a quick check on the rest of the Intel centre, see if other systems are failing." He ordered.

"You got it, Jacob." The two men replied, getting up.

"Willow, with me. Let's make sure nothing happens to Ensign Mirkat." Jacob said.

Willow got up from her seat and glanced at the weapons locker near the door. "Should we arm ourselves?"

"Good idea." Jacob agreed. He looked at the others in the room. "Arm yourselves people, better to be safe than sorry." He ordered, as he opened the weapons locker. He grabbed a phaser pistol and a holographic disruption grenade. "Trust me, these are essential if there is a serious problem." He said.

The slender redhead got a phaser and power cell for hers and checked it, then set it on stun as others did the same. "If the holographics are going down...do you really think we'll need those?" she asked.

"God, I hope not, but the Guardians run off of a different system. Anytime there's a problem, I make sure I keep these handy." Jacob replied. He stood aside as others came for their weapons, and checked his phaser pistol. He looked at Willow as he holstered his weapon. "I swear, this ship's starting to get a reputation. I thought the excitement in the fleet happened on the Enterprise or Voyager, but then again, I guess ships of the line tend to get their fair share of excitement."

Willow put her phaser in the holster and grabbed a grenade of her own. "Good point. Shall we go meet the Ensign?"

Jacob nodded, and led the way towards the exit. "I think we have one thing going for whatever's happening. At the moment, I'd say it's confined to Intel, otherwise we'd be at yellow, or even red alert." Jacob commented.

"Uh, we are at yellow alert, Sir," she said. "We have been since we headed for the Badlands."

"Good point." Jacob commented. "Okay, so maybe I need to check in with medical at some point. Hartley to Aravan. Commodore, are you having any computer or system issues up there?" He asked. He knew that the Commodore would want to be given a heads up as to what was happening.

=^=The entire ship is being affected by something, Lieutenant,=^= Came the commanding officer's voice. =^=What's the status in Intel?=^=

"Holographics are down, and we're losing systems. We're waiting on an engineer now to come and see if he can help us. Any idea what's caused this?" Jacob asked.

Now a hint of irritation entered the Commodore's response =^=No, but the crew is working on it. Let me know when things get fixed there.=^=

"Understood, sir." Jacob said. "Hartley out." He added. He looked at Willow as they exited the intel centre. "Okay, so I was wrong, it's a ship issue and not an Intel issue."

"That's...fun," Will responded as they exited Intel and looked down the hall towards the turbolift. "I wonder what's taking him so long?" she asked.

Jacob frowned. "With things going the way they are, the turbolift went to the wrong deck or got stuck." Jacob commented. "Computer, locate Ensign Mirkat." Jacob added.

"Ensign Mirkat is in Turbolift fourteen on deck forty-four," the computer responded.

"Computer, open turbolift fourteen doors." Jacob ordered.

"Unable to comply," the computer responded.

Willow uttered a Klingon curse that would melt duranium, then went to the access hatch beside of it, popped it open and reached inside. "Manual release," she said as she reached around for it.

Jacob growled softly as he watched her work. "Just once, I'd like things to work properly on this ship." He commented dryly.

The door slowly opened and a disgruntled Caitian came out. "Did you forget to authorize me?" he asked.

"No, I authorised you. Let's put it down to whatever problem we're having at the moment. Most of our systems are screwing up. We've lost holographics, among other systems." Jacob explained.

In the Intel office, the Chief of Intelligence's Yeoman's combadge chirped. "Rho to Intelligence, what in the holy hell is going on down there?! Of all the freaking places on this ship to be compromised... You better have severed the connection with Starfleet Intelligence!"

Priscila responded a moment later. =^=The link is severed, Lieutenant,=^= she responded. =^=Lieutenant Harley and Ensign Riordan left to see what was keeping Ensign Mirkat a minute ago. Holographics have deactivated over the entire department. F.R.E.D. is also down.=^=

"Understood, Priscila. Thank you. And please ensure that I'm kept apprised of what's happening down there by fifteen minute updates. Should the deck be blown open to the vacuum of space and half the staff sucked out, I do not want to read about it in an after-action report. Rho out."

The Yeoman gave a worried look at the door, then wondered if she should activate the Guardian AI's which ran on another system, but if Alex wanted them activated, he would have told her.

Mirkat gave a disgusted look and curled a corner of his lip to reveal a fang. "Well then, let's get it over with."

Leading the way to the Intel Office, Jacob looked at him. "What's happening with the rest of the ship?" Jacob asked. "All I knew was that one moment, everything's fine, and the next we're losing systems. Did we take damage?" He hoped the engineer might have some idea of what was happening. He didn't like situations like this.

Willow followed behind Jacob and the Ensign, but stayed silent.

"Not that I know of, but the shields, phasers and targeting systems went haywire," Mirkat said. "We're running ragged in Engineering. What systems were affected here?"

"Holographics have gone down, which comprise most of our key systems, and we've lost our AI, F.R.E.D." Jacob replied, as they reached the door to Intel. "Stay close, just in case our Guardian AI's are affected."

"You named your AI Fred?" the Caitian asked.

"Forensic Recovery of Evidence Device," The redhead responded.

"And what are these Guardian AI's?" Mirkat asked.

"Exactly what the name implies. Holographic AI's that are the guardians of the Intel deck. Dangerous and deadly if we ever get intruders in the Intel Deck." Jacob explained. "Like I said, stick with us. We protect a lot of information, and we're dead serious about protecting it. Last thing I want is these damned system problems to injure anyone."

"Well, let's get in there before anything else goes wrong," Mirkat responded, his s's rolling off his tongue like a snake hissing.

Jacob nodded and opened the door to the Intel area. "Priscila, any more problems cropping up?" Jacob asked.

The Yeoman looked up from the bare desk that sat in the bare entry room leading to the department and gave a shrug. "If by more problems you mean has anything tried to kill us or escape from quarantine, the answer is no. If by problems you mean F.R.E.D. briefly appeared and did a tango, then yes."

"A tango? Sorry I missed that." Jacob commented. "This is Ensign Mirkat. Can you confirm he's authorised for entry please."

Priscilla looked at Hartley as if she had just discovered a new breed of idiot that was proclaiming how it was going to wipe itself out of existence. "Excuse me, Lieutenant," she said. "But aren't you and Lieutenant Rho the only two who can grant access to personnel in here? Also of note, the fact that the defense systems haven't beamed him to the containment facility yet should be proof that either the system is down, or you've already cleared him."

Jacob looked at her. "I did authorise him, but with the system the way it is, I didn't want to see him beamed into containment. Knowing my luck, he'd be beamed into containment, and other locations at the same time, or at least pieces of him. Right now, the ship's facing god knows what problems, and I don't want to be picking up pieces of crewmembers from the carpets. Which is why I asked you to confirm the computer acknowledged my orders. Under the circumstances, wouldn't that be a wise idea?" Jacob asked.

The Yeoman looked at the bare desk in front of her and mimed working at the non-existent holographic interface, then gave a sage nod. "The system indicates that everything is fine. Sir."

Mirkat began to look worried. "This is a joke, yes?" he asked.

Willow shook her head. "No."

Jacob looked at the desk, annoyed. "Are you telling me every system we have in Intel is holographic? Who the hell came up with that idea?" He asked. "Ensign, follow me. Willow, keep an eye open for the Guardians, especially if every holographic is screwing up." He said, leading the way into the main Intel Data Centre. "Welcome to Intel, Ensign Mirkat." Jacob said. "Please tell me that the solution will be...simple."

Priscilla watched Jacob walk straight into the wall that was normally a holographic projection. "Oh, I'm sorry, Sir. Not all of the holographics are down. We had to replace them with force fields." She reached under her desk and pressed a button and it deactivated.

Jacob kept his face calm. 'I'm not going to lose it, I'm not going to lose it...' He thought to himself. "Thank you, Priscilla." Jacob, through gritted teeth. Today was a day he wished he hadn't gotten out of bed. "Let's try this again, shall we?" He asked, annoyed with himself more than anything for not thinking of that.

Willow and the Ensign followed him in again. "If you'll point me to the main junction, I can get started," Mirkat responded.

Jacob nodded, and led him to where he needed to be. "Right here." Jacob said. He stepped aside for the Ensign, and looked at Willow. "Right now, I'm just wondering if there's anything else I can do to screw up today." He commented dryly.

Willow gave a less than professional smirk. "I'm sure if you try hard enough..."

Meanwhile, the Ensign took his toolkit and settled down to the task.

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "Thanks for the vote of confidence. I swear, every time I think I'm starting to understand this ship, something else happens." Jacob said to her. "If things get sorted, how about dinner tonight?" He asked, his voice low enough so only Willow could hear him.

"That sounds good as long as it isn't replicated," she responded. "I'm not inclined to trust the computer right now."

"I'm with you on that one." Jacob agreed, with a small smile. "I actually have a surprise for you later, a present of sorts."

"A surprise present?" Willow asked with a raised eyebrow. "You know Intel doesn't like those sort of things, but do I get a clue?" The Ensign grunted and pulled of a panel, then began to inspect the machinery under it and started an inspection with a variety of tools.

Jacob smiled at her. "Well, any clue I give you will kinda ruin the surprise." Jacob told her. "But you'll like it, I promise you that." He said, thinking back to what she had told him on their first date.

"I'll take your word on it," the petite redhead said as the Caitian approached.

"The problem is a blown EPS tap," Mirkat told him. "I'll have it replaced soon."

"Sounds kinda simple for the situation, but hey, I asked for simple." Jacob said. "Thank you Ensign." He added. "We'll escort you back to the turbolift."

"Do you have transporter capacity here, Lieutenant?" Mirkat asked. "It can be beamed directly from Engineering. Or if you have an industrial replicator, I can call up the specs for one and replicate it."

Jacob nodded. It made sense, especially given the issues. "Thankfully, yes, we've got an industrial replicator. I need to get the tap cleared by the computer, but that won't be an issue." Jacob said, leading the way from the data center to where the replicator was housed.

Mirkat followed him while Willow made herself busy with something else. "Do things like this happen often on this ship, Lieutenant?" The Caitian asked. "This is my first time aboard."

"We've had some...interesting moments." Jacob admitted. "Serving on board this ship is definitely a new experience, but for the troubles, it can be a hell of a ride."

"For a flagship, I would have expected smoother sailing and diplomatic missions," Mirkat said.

"Really?" Jacob asked, raising an eyebrow in a Vulcan manner. "Did you ever read anything about the voyages of any of the Enterprise's?"

"I have and many of them didn't not involve sabotage or systems going haywire," the Caitian responded as he programed the replicator to create a EPS tap.

"No, just aliens taking over the crew, a few run ins with the Borg, some of the crew being turned to kids, and I seem to recall an incident where some sort of life form was looking for energy, and ended up taking over the holodeck on a train from Earth's past, the Ferengi taking control, albeit briefly and I think that an alien took over a crewmember, using the holodeck to take over the ship. Believe me, this kind of thing happens more than it should." Jacob said, entering his authorisation code to allow the replicator to clear it's usage. "Hell, from the logs on Voyager, they were once disabled by a giant form of a virus. But that's why we're out here, exploring the final frontier and learning what is out here, regardless of the danger."

"Here we are, but I've heard an alien took control of the ship and a few hundred people died, then there was an virus created by Starfleet that was killing thousands of people, Admirals who were seduced by an Orion and other things," Mirkat countered as he lifted the EPS tap from the platform.

Jacob nodded. He knew of a few things he couldn't discuss, of course, but he did understand. "That's the problem we face. Starfleet can be flawed because the people who run it is flawed. It's been the same with others within my species past. Used to be religion and politics guided people, and it brought wars because mankind was flawed. It took humanity time to move past it. There may always be problems, but there's always going to be good people who counter the bad."

"Things are much simpler on Cait," the Caitian said as he headed back to the junction. "The females of the clans run things and the males go out and do what they wish. It's extremely straight forward."

"That's why I joined Starfleet, to learn about different species. All of us are different, but we also have a lot of similarities. Love, hope, courage, wisdom...traits found in all species." Jacob said. "But no matter how dangerous...it's always worth it."

"The common goal is to do it together," Mirkat said as he took his Engineering tricorder and began to calibrate the tap. "Cooperation in all things across the board leads to unity."

"You won't hear any argument from me on that one." Jacob replied. "Whatever happens, as long as we stand together, we can do anything."

"That we can," the Engineer responded as he double checked the readings, then inserted the EPS tap into place and activated it. All across the Intel department, the holographic consoles flickered and solidified before they requested authorization from all the users, which was standard.

"And you're all set," Mirkat said as he wiped his hands and came to his feet with the old tap.

"Anderson, Whitmore, run a full check on the systems, let's make sure all systems are up and running." Jacob ordered. "Hartley to Aravan, we seem to be up and running. We're running checks now to make sure we've got the problem sorted." Jacob reported.

=^=Acknowledged. Good work, Mr. Hartley,=^= Michael responded from the bridge. Anderson and Whitmore confirmed everything was go and Mirkat gave a nod before he headed out.

"Well, this mission has gotten off to another fine start," Willow said after she logged into her console and brought it up. "Now to see what the rest holds."

"Hopefully, nothing as exciting." Jacob replied. He wasn't sure what was going to happen on their mission, but what Mirkat said, about unity...it was definitely something he was glad to see happened on the ship. As long as they didn't have to keep sorting out bugs, they'd have a lot to learn and explore.

And, of course, he had his date with Willow to plan for, and his surprise for her. He was sure she would like it. As he went to his station, he smiled, thinking of how much his life had changed since being on the Triumphant. All the good, and the bad.

And he wouldn't change it for the world.