SIM:Lt.JG Salak: The Dangers of a Cup of Tea...

Note: This is a combination of the sims "The Left Torpedo Launchers connected to the... Replicators?", "The Dangers of a Cup of Tea..." and "A Vulcan Grasp of Humour". These were written in Early January 2006.

((USS Wallace))

::It had been almost 24 hours since Salak had met with his Engineering teams about the repairs. All had seemed on course at the time for the Wallace to be ready within a day or two but the maintenance crews had been encountering unexpected problems through the morning... Someone had been tinkering with the tactical systems...::

::It had been a distraction from the other repairs. Normally protected circuits had been cross wired and tinkered in such a way that it had caused the Replicators on Deck 2 to cease working. The circuits were guarded by forcefields to prevent tinkering; only engineers or tactical had the codes to get around them. Salak had not assigned anybody to do any work to tactical systems and having inspected the work himself he found it was a patchwork job...::

::But if no engineer had done the work, then that meant it would be a member of the tactical department? Surely they'd've checked with the engineers before working on such systems... the Wallace had had enough problems recently not to have weapons trouble added to the list. Wanting to get a full overview of the damage, Salak opted to try the engineering terminal on the Bridge on the deck above rather than travel all the way back to Engineering...::

::As he stepped out of the turbolift, he was a little surprised to see Lt.Cmdr Kirov tinkering with the tactical console, panels of the wall and littering the floor around him, the Jefferies Tube hatch not quite sealed...::

Kirov: Salak! Just the person I want to see.

Salak: ::raising an eyebrow:: Am I indeed...

Kirov: I'm integrating this control matrix into the ships tactical console but I'm hitting a snag and I don't know what's causing it.

::Salak walks towards the Tactical console::

Salak: I'll have a look...

Kirov: Thank you. Its a 3-dimensional display interface. I think it will allow for a better understanding of range and co-ordinates for the tactical user.

Salak: That makes sense...

Kirov: I know I'm no where in your league but I was wondering if you could see the problem?

Salak: Well there seem to be so many circuits cross wired at the moment, many of which are connected to the tactical systems.. I had come up here to run a diagnostic and find out just how bad the problem is. It's possible the wiring might be causing problems with your interface...

Kirov: Give it to me straight Doc....will she live?

Salak: It's a strange problem... the circuits involved are protected by forcefields. Only the Tactical staff and the Engineering staff on Wallace and officers above Commander rank have the appropriate codes to disable the forcefields and I've not had any engineers working on the Tactical systems... we've been too busy working on the SIF...

Kirov: Well I may only be talking out of my professional interests but I believe that we need to be able to defend ourselves out here.

Salak: Well there won't be much of a ship to defend if the SIF fails...

Kirov: Good point well made.

Salak: In trying to get the interface working, have you been adjusting a few cables, perhaps trying to linkup or check the connections between the weapons and the interface?

Kirov: I may have made the odd tweak here and there....

Salak: Tweak?

Kirov: It was a point of personnal pride. I like to do my own work.

Salak: With respect, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few sir. Engineers ability with the circuits would be of benefit to the whole crew where as satisfying your 'pride' is likely to be less beneficial to the ship overall.

Kirov: Yes I know... Pride cometh before a fall.

Salak: Indeed...

Kirov: Well do you think you can fix it?

Salak: Everything is able to be fixed Commander, given the correct equipment and time. The other repairs are close to completion and we're almost ready for a shakedown so we can start to fix the damage fairly soon. Generally weapon repairs can be done in flight, although this is not the safest sector of space...

Kirov: I'm not letting this ship out of docks without weapons. Not here anyway

Salak: At the moment, I would advise against trying the torpedo launchers...

Kirov: Oh yes?

Salak: The wires have been mixed with those for the shuttlebay doors. You also linked the Phasers to the Replicators....

Kirov: Well there goes my afternoon tea

Salak: Unless you wish to explain why we are shooting full phasers at the station, I'd suggest everyone try to give up tea for the time being...

Kirov: I see... well look on the bright side

Salak: Bright side?

Kirov: If we get attacked we can always baffle our enemies in to submission using the insanely effective diversion of jetisoned cargo and tea bags....

Salak: I fail to see how throwing a tea bag at an enemy vessel would help the situation...

Kirov: Quite simple... no-one wants to fight a crazy person.

Salak: ::raises eyebrow:: I suppose that is somewhat true...

Kirov: Well I think I've done enough damage here. I don't want to hinder you more than I already have.

Salak: Thank you...

Kirov: Well I better get to my office. Apparently a whole heap of new tactical data has come in on this sector

Salak: How interesting...

Kirov: Oh you have no idea the paper work I have to file. Mission reports, tactical briefings, eyes only information..... I have to read all this stuff then go around the station pretending I don't know any of it... It's like I've become some sort of secret agent here or something..

Salak: Curious... given the comparison; are you a secret agent, sir?

Kirov: I'd tell you. ::Kirov's face went stoney for a second:: but then I'd have to shoot you.

Salak: You could get in severe trouble for shooting an...

::Kirov chuckled as Salak realised he'd been joking::

Kirov: Oh yeah before I forget. I have a few new phaser arrays coming in to upgrade the station. I think it's time we gave our station a few teeth. Do you reckon you and your lads will be able to install them or should I ask that some installation teams come with them?

Salak: A few phaser arrays should be manageable given the engineering crews experience reactivating the station. I doubt a seperate installation team would be required.

Kirov: Right then. I'll send the final confirmation to Starfleet then. Catch you later Salak.

::Salak walked over to the engineering console and began the diagnostic to ensure that all of the wiring faults had been found. As the diagnostic ran, he tried to take the replicators offline to prevent any chance of a cup of tea being ordered. Little did he know the work that lay before him...::

Lieutenant Junior Grade Salak
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Wallace & Deep Space 17