"The Day Mountains Walk"
[ Con't from "Entrance" ]
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{{On that day the stars will fall from the sky and burn up, the sun and the moon will break away, mountains will walk, the earth will tremble, and water will cease to flow.}}
- Islamic description of 'Doomsday'
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Stardate: 60301.1520
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Section G, Level 5, Docking Port
Having completed the installation of the remote drones on the ANUBIS' two specialised crafts, the Oltharian Engineer had been ordered to report to the USS NILE to help with the repairs to its warp drive. Although Elan had officially been designated as a Robotics Engineer, his knowledge and working experience with the Quantum Warp Drive prototype, which was still being worked on by none other than his own mother, had made the giant a logical choice to help with the work.
As the COMET-Class vessel finalised its docking, the Oltharian reviewed the specifics of the Slipstream Drive that he had just been informed had been responsible for the damage he had been enlisted to help fix. The drive which possessed many similarities to the Quantum Warp Drive utilised a special transporter system that literally allowed the ship to beam itself ahead while travelling at warp speed. With the greater majority of its mass in this form, the ships would in theory be able to achieve speeds far superior to those of other vessels using conventional warp drives.
Looking over at the engineering specifics the Oltharian immediately understood why the Slipstream drive had not become a widely used tool - the drive being able to be used only once and for a limited period of time. The reason for this had been due to the distortion caused to the matter/anti-matter injectors by the phased warp field. Any ship trying to use their warp engines after having used their Slipstream drive would run the risk of a warp core breach that would result in the destruction of the ship. With that knowledge in hand, the massive engineer understood the need for the repairs that he had been ordered to assist with and the limitations of this special drive system which given the situation of NEW ALEXANDRIA meant that it could only be used to return home.
=/\= Docking complete. Engineering team, report directly to the NILE's Main Engineering and begin repairs immediately. Warp drive needs to be fully operational in six hours, =/\= the voice from someone in the docking control center said, establishing the timeline the Oltharian and the other engineers would have to work with.
As the large circular doors rolled out of the way Elan and the others reached for their tools and prepared to board the ship that they would be working on for the next six hours or so. Somewhat aware of the urgency of the repairs, the Oltharian understood why he and so many other engineers had been asked to assist with this task, not that any of them knew exactly why.
Being the kind alien that he was, Elan waited for everyone else to board the USS NILE before he followed, thinking it wise for the largest of them to be last if only not to block everyone's view of where they would be going. When the last of the engineers entered the umbilical connection, the Oltharian reached down for his kit and went to follow only to realise that someone had been coming out.
"Ensign," the 7'6" giant said in a respectful greeting as he gave the 5'4" woman a bow that made her stop dead in her tracks. The sight would have been described as hilarious if seen by someone else, but to the Ensign who had just stepped off the USS NILE, there had been nothing amusing about being welcomed by such a towering *beast*. Of course there had been no way for the ANUBIS' new Counsellor to know that the Oltharian had been absolutely harmless despite his enormous size, and the joke played on her by Captain Stoba had not helped matters any.
"Lieutenant," Susan hesitantly replied, giving the giant as much room as she could in the restricted area the two of them had been in before darting past the Oltharian and into the unknown base hoping that these sort of surprises would soon come to an end.
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Francois Charette {f_charette@hotmail.com}
Lieutenant Junior Grade Elan Talak Fairborn 2005 post #076
Robotics Engineering Officer
NEW ALEXANDRIA
