"Knowledge Shall Light Your Way"
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"Knowledge lights our path. Fear is the cost of ignorance."
- Ulrah The Wise, High Priest of the Oltharian Religious Circle
Stardate: 60340.2200
An hour ago the HATHOR had crossed into Cardassian space, which had given the Oltharian Engineer that much time to get the ship which had been following as battle ready as could be before they did the same. The reality of the Cardassians having been too busy to even care about the intrusion into their territory had been received with mixed feelings amongst the engineers of the ANUBIS. Many saw this as a chance to further repair the ship without encountering any problems while the rest of the staff were concerned that should they meet whatever had challenged the Cardassians, the ship would not be ready to properly defend itself. With only the defensive systems working at full strength, the ship could withstand most attacks but had been in the inability to even out the score should such an action be required.
Despite the whispered rumours and increasing number of theories which
filled the air, the Oltharian pressed on with his duties, pushing everyone
around him to do their best to have the ship ready for whatever might be out
there. Being the peaceful man that he was, Elan gave no thoughts about the
conflict involving the Cardassians that might have been raging amongst
the stars, his only concern having been to reach SURIAL III and do everything in his power to bring Enaii back from her shapeless imprisonment. It had been unfair of the universe to deprive the young Talia of one of her parents once again, and the gentle giant had vowed to do everything in his power to see this rectified. If there was the slightest chance for the Intel Operative to be rejoined with her family, someone would find it and the Oltharian would help in every way available to him to make it happen.
Not knowing what was out there had been a liability that the crew of
the ANUBIS could not allow to distract them from their objective - there
would be ample time to deal with whatever had kept the Cardassians busy
*after* their departure from SURIAL III. Even if Elan had wanted to debate as
to what might have been out there occupying the Cardassians, the extent of
the work which needed to be completed in the time frame allowed had simply
not made it possible. As the Chief Engineer Officer of the ANUBIS it had
been Elan's primary responsibility to see to the ship's return to full
working capability.
=/\= Bridge to Engineering, =/\= the voice of the Commanding Officer
was heard filling the air of the room, =/\= what is our status? =/\=
"Long-range sensors have been restored to nearly 70% of maximum reach, but their sensitivity is only at 50%. Auxiliary and back-up systems have been increased to 80% readiness. This is more then enough to safely get us to and from SURIAL III but it will make it impossible for us to get any readings on what is happening with the Cardassians unless we get closer," Elan explained carefully selecting his next words. "A lot closer than I am sure any of us would like to get to the centre of whatever is happening out there."
=/\= Understood, =/\= Captain Rikar continued, having received both the
report and the underlining message given by the Oltharian engineer.
=/\= How about the offensive systems? We will do everything possible to
avoid getting into any types of conflicts, but in the end it might not be
possible and I would like to be able to do more than open an airlock and throw
my shoes at whoever would be out there. =/\=
The vision of the ship's captain hurling her shoes at another ship made several engineers present in the room laugh, a sentiment that the Oltharian had not shared being too literal in his interpretation of what the Commanding Officer had described. "Captain, it would be ill-advised for you to use an airlock to throw your footwear at an attacking ship. Not only would it result in no damage to the other ship, but it would place your own life in extreme risk."
The Oltharian's *innocence* had been in many ways refreshing, if not comical at times, but the captain could not permit herself to let this distract her more than it had already did. =/\= Then Mr. Fairborn I suggest that you tell me that we will have something better to use should it come down to that. =/\=
"The main phasers are still not operational and will require several
more *days* to make them to be," the Chief Engineering Officer replied. "On
the other hand, the pulse cannons are currently working, although only at
50% strength. The two forward torpedo launchers are also operational but
we still need to realign the targeting sensors which will take a few more
hours. The aft launch unfortunately requires extensive work and will
be out of commission for at least several more days."
=/\= I guess it could be worse, =/\= the captain noted with a sigh, not
sounding at all thrilled with the idea that the majority of the
weapon's system of her ship had been either working at only a fraction of their maximum strength or not working at all. =/\= Try your best to get the
main phasers back online, but your priority remains the sensors. Once we
reach SURIAL III I suspect that we will be needing the ship's full scanning
capabilities to be able to accomplish what we have set out to do. =/\=
"It shall be done Captain," the Oltharian replied, offering the
customary bow despite the fact that the Commanding Officer of the ANUBIS had not been capable of seeing the gesture of respect. Once the communication had
ended, the Oltharian turned to his staff and restated the priorities as they
had been set by their captain. "Alpha and Beta team, you are to continue
working on the sensor arrays, focus on increasing the resolution as
well as the bandwidth of the long-range sensors. Accuracy at this time is more important than range. Delta team, continue working on the Auxiliary Systems, as you as you have them working at 100%, join Gamma team who will be working on restoring the Pulse Cannons to full strength as well as trying to get the primary phaser banks operational. Let me remind you that as of right now we are *inside* Cardassian space, so work quickly but diligently. We are here to rescue a fellow shipmate, not to lose any in the process."
After having received their updated orders, every available engineer
rushed back to their assigned work knowing that each and every one of them
played an integral role in insuring the continued safety of the rest of the
crew and the increased odds of their completing this mission successfully.
--==(/\)==--
Lieutenant Junior Grade Elan Talak Fairborn 2006 post #032
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Main Engineering
Francois Charette {f_charette@hotmail.com}
Robotics Engineering Officer
NEW ALEXANDRIA
&
Chief Engineering Officer
USS ANUBIS
