Randy Dandy-O

Posted on Mon Feb 16th, 2026 @ 11:53pm by Ensign Carter Page & Lieutenant Commander Darrod Hanous & Lieutenant Azrel Vox & Lieutenant Yōji Itami & Lieutenant Georgette Lemare
Edited on on Tue Feb 17th, 2026 @ 12:11am

1,808 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 6: Echoes of the Interphase
Location: Midway, Deck 16, Engineering
Timeline: M6 MD04 (2268.10.07) 2000

The situation kept rolling in Darrod's mind - shore leave cut short by weeks, and the crew of the Midway had been given an impossible task. Make ready by 9AM the next morning, the order went. It was an almost laughable situation, honestly - but the crew knew their Captain. Unlike some of the guys who'd made rank, Faust didn't give an impossible order unless it was a crisis. This was really going to be an all-hands effort.

Dar had called Vox down here because they'd been called to radio silence. That meant everything had to be done without comms, without half of the support systems of the ship. Plus, they had to have runners between sections decks apart. He looked out over the Comms and Engineering crews, a sea of redshirts, and not a single one could be called expendable in this effort.

"Let's dispense with the small talk, folks. Somebody, get the antimatter preheater running while I'm yapping. We have a lot to do and no time to do it. Until we've cast off and struck soundings, Vox, you're Assistant Chief - you speak in my voice - I want comms people assigned to every Engineering team across the ship after we get the core online. The book says reboot cycle should take 30 minutes, 22 being minimum safe. I want it in twenty flat. Everyone in here is going to help. If you don't know what buttons to press or what dials to turn, sound off readings and you'll be told. Mind the flow sensors."

He turned to the others, and to those he'd leaned on as trusted members of the team before. "Lemare, I want every control system online in two hours. Then you and your team get to the shuttlebay and start getting all auxilliary craft ready to rock. Itami, you're on environmental and power distribution - I'll be running ahead of you with a few folks. Some of you might have seen the letter I sent in the SCE journal thread on EPS backed phasers. That system was set up last night. The supercaps are now wired for smoothing rather than direct delivery, and there's no batteries between the EPS and the phasers. I have the fail-safe relay set because I want to take one last check before I risk us exploding or going into an antimatter imbalance. By the time you get to me, I'll have either removed the relay and stayed with battery backing or we'll be open to EPS on the phasers - and then I'll head down to the shuttlebay. Page - Transporters need to be online ASAP, that means the Computer needs to be ready. I want to be able to beam up a gnat before we call ready. Vox, your team are as familiar with sensor noise as us Engineers, I want your best folks with Page's team. Comms are also responsible for making section-by-section reports to Chief Corden. Any department that has an Engineering need, you have my trust to call the right team for the job."

He looked around the engine room, and squared his shoulders. For all the stress and suddenness of the situation, Darrod was controlled and organized. He knew what had to be done and was ready to do it. "Briefing over, get to startup stations. Let's get our lady running."

Lemare and Itami looked at each other for a brief second before dispersing in different directions.

Lemare rushed over to the primary control access console. "Most of the controls systems were just on standby..." she called out as she looked up at the control chart. "I can have them back on line and ready to go in just a few minutes."

Meanwhile Itami had pulled up the power distribution chart of the ship. "Once the core is online, we can switch from external to internal power. Fusion and impulse reactors are currently dormant, but powering them up won't take too long."

'Me? Assistant Chief. Ok then ' she thought. She nodded as she was advised of the plan. She was grateful she had brought her padd with her so she could make notes. She could feel the eyes of all the Comms officers on her from the assembled group.

One of the yeomen handed Ensign Carter Page a thick stack of clipboards and said, "Good luck," before heading off. Carter sighed and headed over to the table in the small briefing room attached to engineering. He set them down and opened the first one, titled "Executive Summary."

It looked like the yard had completed the required repairs from the skirmishes and battles the Midway endured during her last few missions, but several of the upgrades were incomplete including the main computer core upgrade. This was going to fun as always.

Darrod nodded and headed quickly to the main intake station of the warp core. It was the touchiest piece of the whole puzzle, and the most likely to fail. That meant he was the one who had to have hands and eyes on it. He glanced back toward Page who was getting the info on the computer uprate; one of many things that hadn't been done due to the hurry. He looked over and spoke in a reassuring voice. "The onboard computer's gotten us this far. See if someone can send up a core for us, we can try to refit en route. Or at least we'll wire it in, and let the tech boys have their conniption when we get another chance at leave."

He looked at Lemare first and nodded, then at Vox. "Vox, send one of your comms people with Lemare, I want to make sure the ODN network is secured and we're running full silence. Bridge, Impulse, Environmental. Then down to the shuttlebay." He looked at Itami and nodded. "Good."

He could feel the thrumming starting, the first questioning pulses of a warp core deciding whether it was an engine or a bomb today. "I need callouts here, folks. Antimatter pressure and temperature, matter flow rate. Dilithium decay status is nominal."

Vox turned to one of her Comms team, an Ensign Richards. " Richards, please accompany Lemare. " The Ensign nodded and set off with Lemare.

Darrod thought for a moment as he watched the warp core, then glanced back at the others in Engineering. "Itami, I want a temperature check. Vox, send your fastest runner to Environmental - I need to know CO2 concentration in the engine core. I don't need exact numbers, I just need a range - nominal, high, or low."

Vox smiled as she swiftly turned to her gathered team.

" Rodriguez, your up, go." She requested. Rodriguez set off at speed.

Rodriguez returned. " The CO2 is slightly elevated, it's not in the nominal range, just above it." He exclaimed, getting his breath back.

Darrod nodded briefly, and took a firmer hold of the lever he'd been holding. His knuckles turned slightly yellow, a relatively subtle sign of the grip he was exerting on the core handle. His tone got very short. "Okay, no need to panic. Thanks, Rodriguez. Vox - at the panel behind me, there's a dial set to point-five. Turn it to two. It's the CO2 vent position."

"Yes sir." Aze replied, adjusting the dial as requested. She hadn't spent much time in engineering at all so this certainly was a change of scenery.

With an eye on the gauges, he spoke again. "Itami, power system check. Is the overpressure in the reaction chamber or external to the core? Page, forget the damned computer and get eyes on the dilithium chamber - I need to know degradation rate of the main crystal - do we need a new crystal in the chamber?"

The young ensign looked at the readout, pulling the tape out and looking at it. "Sir, the crystal's structural integrity, output and degradation rate appear within limits, but they are definitely off from our diagnostic when we set into dock." He paused for a moment, "The settings are off, reset to shipyard settings before we tuned them," he responded.

Darrod glared at the lever in his hand with his expression a blend of worry, rage, and sympathy. It was much the same look as a jealous man might give to his wife if she'd been touched by someone else against her will. Someone would pay for this, but his priority was here, setting right what once went wrong. He spoke with a grim voice. "Remind me to file a formal complaint against those idiots as soon as we leave. Reduce flow rate by five percent, we'll have to bring it up slow. Check the piezo reflector plates, make sure they're in phase with the crystal. They never really properly calibrate that at Starbase. Vox - ease that CO2 dial down from two to one and a half, nice and slow. Let's see if reducing the pressure doesn't set off a problem when we close the CO2 vent. I'll open the antimatter tank another five percent."

He muttered under his breath as he gingerly pushed down on the lever, his eyes tracing between a slew of gauges. There was a sense of frustration that he usually didn't show in his manner now. "Starbase idiots think they're right touching a ship that's had more variance requests than the Lexington. Could have blown us all to smithereens even on a gentle start. I bet the Old Man is behind this. It has his fingerprints, right down to pretending that his people know what the SCE doesn't." He glanced at Vox. "Call out when the CO2 vent dial's at one point five."

" Understood. " She watched the dial as it crept up. It was taking its sweet time, especially the final move from 1.0 to 1.5 felt like eternity. As the dial finally registered that all important figure, she sighed with relief." 1.5 on the dial. " She called out.

The engine had taken twenty minutes to come back to life, but was now humming as though it had never been shut down. The CO2 venting eased itself back down and, gradually, everything was back to normal. The engineer took a deep breath and released the lever. He took a moment for a suspicious glance, and stepped back from the core. With that, he nodded, and it was back to business.

"Page - back to the computer. Vox, like I said, I want your people shadowing engineering squads. You're my assistant and our mission control here. Back to the grind, people." He stepped closer to Azrel and spoke in a quieter voice. "Remind me to make a complaint against Nogura's team if we survive whatever he's got in mind for us."

With that, he was stepping away, grabbing a small team to work on one of the many sections that needed upkeep around the ship before the Midway could leave dock.

 

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