Sigma Pentricle...

Posted on Sat Feb 22nd, 2025 @ 5:09pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Thral Skrit & Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko

Mission: Pandora's Box
Location: Engineering
Timeline: Day 1
2765 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

The calmness of those rare periods where a ship wasn't moving was just bloody lovely, Thral thought as he whistled through his work. Main engineering was almost empty, with nobody needed on-hand to actually tend to an actively engaged warp core. There were, like himself, of course several engineers here and there working on various specific tasks, but for the most part the subdued core was in keeping with the serene atmosphere. So much so his whistling echoed back at him, as he lay on his back feet first just inside a conduit access space, replacing a faulty sensor relay junction. His whistling, without him overly realising, gave way to singing which was quite audible in the quiet engineering complex.

There once was a fella from Sigma Pentricle.... who 'ad a face what looked like a -"

"Testicle," Finn knelt in front of the conduit. "His skills were top notch from his head to his..."

Thral jumped slightly at the sudden appearance of the boss lady. Engrossed as he was in both his work and lyrical recitation that he'd been unaware of Commander Keating's approach. He winked cheekily at her before replying; "Now it all depends dunnit on what species we're chattin' baat". He angled his head further backwards to see her, as turning over would spill his array of tools from his chest to the conduit floor. " 'ere guv why you upside daan anyways? he beamed at her".

"You aren't the only one that does actual work around here you know," she chuckled. "I was actually just coming to replace the faulty sensor relay junction, but it looks like you've beat me to it. However, since I've so conveniently found you here...I could use some help tomorrow setting up a...back up plan of sorts. How do you feel about explosions and programming?"

Thral's antennae twitched as he flipped himself over, spilling the tools. He mad a fleeting grab at them before deciding not to bother. He instead interlaced his fingers and used his hands as a bridge to support his chin whilst crossing his ankles and raising his feet, overly exaggerating what he'd come to learn of from his human mates as 'princess pose'. He bared his teeth in a wide grin and winked. "Need a coupla Jerry Toms do ya guv?". Explosions, Thral was there, but programming....maybe that young lad in intelligence could be helpful.

"Jerry Toms?" Finn responded with an eyebrowed arched in confusion. "Who is Jerry and what does that have to do with explosions?"

"Bombs" Thral enlightened the boss with smile He reached out for her arm to support him climbing out; " cor 'elp us on mi plates o' meat will ya?" he asked, grateful for her hand as he stepped up and stood again.

"We're gonna have to work on these sayings of yours. I can barely get through the accent itself and I'm not sure how I feel about lending a hand for your...plate o' meats? Anyway," Finn wiped her hand off as if it were infected by whatever 'plate o meats' meant. "We'll need to come up with a plan. We can use the engineering lab, but I'll need a cup of coffee first."

"I don' fink there's anyfin wrong wiv 'ow I rabbit n' pork to be honest guv..." Thral replied, a little more defensively than he had meant to, catching it in his voice as the words left his mouth. "But errr, 'ow about that sticky toffee....there's a clean it later on the main level aint there?" he asked, looking down through the deck from the upper level to the main level.

Finn stopped, turned and gave Thral a quizzical look. "What?" Normally she could at least figure out the basics of what he was trying to get across but this time, it was near impossible. What did rabbit and pork have to do with anything?

"Gawdon Bennitt...." Thral shook his head, taking off his comm badge and making a show of giving it a shake close to his left antenna as if trying to detect a rattling, or something broken with the UT compiler. He gestured to the hole in the wall which had been awkward to climb out of; "Mi Feet Guv, feet. Mi plates o' meat. I asked ya for a bleedin' 'and aat ov that ruddy fing". He reattached his comm badge and took a step towards the core, leaning against the railing and looking over, down the two levels to the main deck.

"Rhymin' is what it's all abaat Guv" he explained. "Rhymin' what goes back centuries it does. Naa c'mon, fink abaat it - you was 'avin a pop at mi sayin's an' that; n' I said 'rabbit n pork...'". The Andorian looked at the boss' face, seeing if he could work out just how much she was following him. "So... watcha reckon - rabbit n pork is...?".

Finn simply looked at the man for a moment without a clue as to what he was talking about and then swiftly moved on towards the replicator. "Coffee, hot with a splash of mint cream." She picked up the cup as soon as it appeared and took a long sip of it. A pause lingered in the air as if Finn were waiting for the caffeine molecules to perform some sort of miracle that would allow her to better translate what Thral was saying, but to no avail. "I have positively no idea what you're talking about. Shall we?" She waved towards one of the engineering labs, indicating that she no longer cared to know what he was saying. There was work to be done.

"Cuppa Rosy Lee" he ordered from the Replicator, and a steaming cup of Old English tea appeared in a pretty floral china teacup. Not that he would have admitted to adding a translation program to his replicator vocal interface, but he shot the Chief a look as if to say 'well if the replicator can do it...'. Catching up the the boss-lady he thought he should probably join her in focus. "So guv, blowin' shi- blowin' stuff up yeah?".

"Precisely," she smiled as if the thought of explosions made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. "We need a backup plan, to blow this whole planet killer to smithereens, but obviously it's huge. A standard explosive charge won't do the trick."

"Aint gonna 'appen boss" Thral replied shaking his head vigorously. "Been 'avin a proper brain shrink abaat this one. Fing is, even lookin' back to the first one. Took 'ole bleedin' starship blowin' up just t' turn the ruddy find off diddun it!". He took a sip of his tea and carried on; "End of the day it's a matter o' exajoules innit? Be easier to blow the 'ole planet and take it out that way, than reckonin' on destroyin' a solid bleedin' neutronium starship". He chucked to himself a moment - "oi oi, planet killer...killer planet...poetic justice innit" he carried on chucking and shaking his head, astounded at his comic wit as he sipped more tea.

"I see you two are hard at work," Xavier said from the doorway as he eyed their various steaming drinks. He was hoping that Finn would be working with one of her other engineers, George or even Teyo, though that seemed unlikely. He had nothing against Thral, he liked the guy, but constantly trying to translate his "broken Federation standard" was a minefield he didn't have time for right now. "Don't be too dismissive crewman," he said to the Andorian, "there hasn't been a structure invented that our highness here hasn't been able to blow up."

Thral looked over the rim of his cup at the newcomer; Lieutenant Gekko...Letgo...? He couldn't remember. "Guv" he nodded, lowering the cup. "The leftenant's pickled dill for blowin' shi- stuff up not wivstandin', that fing is still solid neutronium innit..." he shrugged. "Finkin' back to the Defiant, even 'ole ship goin' ancient tomb inside it only disabled the fing". He held back a sneeze with his wrist and wiped the inadvertent beginnings of the same on his sleeve; "end o' the day, still gonna need to blow the 'ole planet up". He grinned and winked. "Oi I tell ya what though... the king's count o' magnesite and fistrium in the crust..." he furled his lips raised his eyebrows as both antennae stood tall.

"What do you reckon?" Xavier asked turning to Finn. He ignored the Andorian's butchering of his name and relented to being called "Guv" from here on out. Broken speech aside, Thral raised some good points, this wasn't going to be an easy task but he didn't want to be the one to tell the Commodore that they had no backup plan. "Maybe we can work out why it crashed here in the first place? Maybe there's something different about this area of space. If we can find it, we can maybe use it as a weapon to disable it further."

"That's a good place to start...let's see if science has any additional scan data we can use." Finn pulled up the appropriate files while realizing how much she had missed this. This feeling of working through a problem. A real problem, not just looking at diagnostics and solving minor inconsistencies. Bonus points for the fact that the ultimate solution was a very large explosion and the fact that she was working on it with one of her best friends. It felt good to be back in the game. "It looks like there's some interesting properties in the area...but nothing that would cause the crash, at least nothing obvious. Do you see anything that I'm missing?" She asked the pair, though she wasn't entirely listening for an answer as her mind was already churning through ideas following Thral's suggestion on blowing up the whole planet.

Xavier smiled at Finn's sentiment but didn't say anything. For one, he didn't want to embarrass her and two, she would kill him if she knew he was reading her thoughts. Instead, he moved further into the room, grabbed one of the PADDs from the side and started working on his own calculations.

"Diddly Squat Guv" the Andorian answered, twirling his antennae as he thought. "But bein' the bleedin' genius I am..." he chuckled, taking over the console near to them and bringing up the various latent sensor readings from the area. "Aint exactly a bovver to kick up a solar fare right?" he asked as he pointed, "and finkin' baat it them gravitons easily be battered n bruised to compress it. All that mad malarkey in the crust make it burn like an 'eart's desire innit?" he suggested. He looked at their faces as the slowly worked it out. "Gonna ignite the crust aint we" he clarified with a grin and a wink.

Xavier lowered the PADD he was working on and looked at Thral. He shook his head gently, dismissing the young man's idea as he ran through the scenarios in his head. "Destroying the crust could be too dangerous; it might create one hell of a mess that none of us are equipped to deal with." He paused for a second further. "Though if we could isolate a singular section, burn the crust away there and then run deeper scans of the exposed area, that could work."

A million tiny thought explosions were running through Finn's mind all at once. "What if...doesn't the device have some sort of shielding?" She scrambled for a PADD to look it up as a possible solution started to form based on the previous two suggestions. "Yea...Look at this," she pointed towards the data on the device's shielding. "What if we sort of combine all these approaches? We can modify the shields to shield an actual portion of the planet, then ignite the crust within the shielded area. Keeps the entire planet from blowing up," she shrugged with a hint of sadness. "But it starts the chain reaction within a controlled area and with a few extra carefully planted explosives...should destroy the device itself. Right?"

His antennae drooping in disappointment, the Chief shrugged morosely. "No guarantees guv..." he verbally pouted. "Solid neutronium at the end ov the day innit..." he continued, his hands held out in an exaggerated shrug; "flare from the currant bun, direct it, blow the 'ole crust to smivvereens...". Thral's antennae had begun to stand erect again as the discussion had turned back to igniting the planet's crust in a cataclysmic detonation of literally world ending proportions.

Xavier pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "It's too much speculation," he said, sounding defeated. "We just don't have enough data and we can't penetrate further to get more information. We can try running a simulation on the holodeck but the margin for error might be too high with how little information we have."

Finn let out a sigh of disappointment. "You're right, to a point. We have to speculate because we don't have enough data, but also maybe we're over thinking this. Thral's suggestion, which admittedly does blow up the whole planet, is the simplest solution. Also, it's a back up plan. We may not have to blow up anything at all, this is only a worst case scenario, but if we get to worst case we need this to work without fail and Thral's option may be the closest we have to assured destruction of the planet killer." Finn held up a hand to pause any immediate rebuttal. "Your'e right, Xav, that it could create a mess, but if we get to the point where we need to enact this plan, then we're already in a mess. Plus we don't have a ton of time to do a million analyses. We could set up the plan to ignite the planet's crust and then spend our time focusing on limiting the damaging impacts."

Thral gave a single large clap of his hands, sending an echo reverberating through the otherwise quiet engineering space. "Oi oi! Naa we're in business aint we!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together and noticing how wildly his sensory appendages were twitching. "We should launch probes, get a better butcher's at the range o' changeling's contortions in the area right, work aat gravitons and all sorts right?".

Xavier let out a heavy sigh. He didn't agree with this plan and would make that known to whoever would listen. Finn was right, time was against them but this just seemed... wreckless. "I want it noted that I wholeheartedly disagree with this course of action, Sir," he said. He knew the use of her rank would annoy her but he had to make it clear he would only go along with this as an order. "Give me time and I can find you a better last resort."

Feeling his antennae droop again, Thral looked back to the bosslady with hope in his eyes. "Aint got no lemon n lime guv, lez getta butchers so we can blow the 'ole lot to smivereens!".

Finn twitched at the Xavier's response. "I'd be more than happy to consider alternatives, especially ones that are safer. As much of a reputation as I may have, I do like to put the crew's safety at the top of my list." She sighed. "You have two hours, Xav. That's all the time we were given and as far back as I can put the timeline to accomplish this task."

"Boom" Thral mouthed, grinning, as he walked away with a new task in hand - assessing the local distortions, graviton fields and localised conditions which would feed into the calculations for kicking up a directed solar flare to explode a decent section of the planet below. He'd need at least three sensor probes to get a decent picture; "weyyy Huey, Dewey n' Louie!" he exclaimed aloud without context to any happening observer as he approached a wall console to get on with the job.

"Thanks Finn," Xavier said with a joyous wink. He turned on his heel and headed out of the room the way he came. He only had two hours and he wasn't going to waste a second of it, especially if he was going to stop Thral from blowing up the entire planetary body. "I'll get you some answers, make sure he doesn't blow anything up until I'm done," he called over his shoulder before the door closed in his wake.