Comms Array

Posted on 31 Oct 2019 @ 9:32pm by Lieutenant Mitchell Graham & Lieutenant JG Lilura Karakalakss

Mission: Mission 2 - The Agora crossroads
Location: In space near Andromeda's position
Timeline: MD1 1700
1329 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON]

"Workbee zero-seven here. I'm maneuvering the first piece into position," Mitchell said. He was sitting in the cab of the small craft. It's bubble canopy afforded a spectacular, unobstructed view of the heavens around him. Mitchell, however, wasn't distracted by the sights. He was squarely focused on the thirty-meter long object he was holding in the workbee's grappler arms. It was a high-gain subspace antenna. One of six that would be inserted into the "tower," which was a large, cylindrical object packed with a myriad of smaller antennas, sensors, and equipment bays. The words "United Federation of Planets" and a Starfleet crest were painted on its white hull.

Several space-suited crewmen were working on the hull. Their magnetic boots kept them anchored in place. Others buzzed around wearing thruster packs. They reminded Mitchell of bees pollinating a flower.

"Stand by, Graham." It was Ensign Han. He was on the bridge of the Andromeda, which was holding station nearby.

"What's the holdup?" Mitchell asked, trying not to come off as impatient.

"Waiting on the go-ahead from the Chief Engineer."

Another Workbee came out from behind the Andromeda and headed for where the array was being assembled. It's retrofit had just been completed thirty minutes prior and was the reason why the CEO was late to the party. The Workbee came up and Lilura commed to the other units, =^= Workbee 10, CEO, reporting. Heya Gents, let's see if we can get this assembled with minimal fuss. Of course, be on your toes, simulation to actual parts can leave off an important unknown that grinds things to a halt. Now, let me get a flyover... =^=

Lilura did a flyover with her Workbee and Tricorder doing scans. She nodded to herself, then sent out, =^= Comm Array Assemblers, Workbee 10, everything looks good. When I give the word, proceed with assembly in the parts order given. If something comes up, holler immediately and everyone stop immediately till I can check the problem and how to resolve it. Ready... start assembly.=^=

"Here we go," Graham mumbled to himself. With careful confidence he advanced the throttle. The workbee moved forward, as did two others that were holding similar components. Each piece had to be placed in a precise sequence.

Directly in front of Graham, a space-suited crewman waved both arms in a continuous come-here gesture. The radio was silent. All comm chatter would be kept to a minimum in case someone had a sudden emergency. Hence the hand signals.

Graham slowed to nearly a crawl and then rolled twenty-five degrees. He loosened his robotic arms' grip on the antenna only slightly. Several crewman moved towards him and took possession of it. Graham fully loosened his grip, the robotic claws opening wide, and the antenna was now fully theirs. As a team they manhandled it into position on the tower. This took several minutes. Then, maglocks clamped down. A green light on the hull interface indicated it was locked in. Graham got a thumbs-up from one of the team.

"Component alpha-one-charlie is in position," Graham reported.

"Alpha-one-charlie confirmed," Ensign Han said. The ship was receiving a good signal from the antenna. Han began typing commands into his console to begin tests.

Lilura, in her workbee, saw the green telltales alight with the first component in place. She smiled at this. The several run throughs in the holodeck, with her deliberately causing issues for the team to scramble to fix, were paying off. While it looked like everything was going smoothly, well, it was, she had seen some shifting of the components in workbee manipulators, but the crew had easily maneuvered those shifts back into proper motion, aligning, and connecting. Thus, the slight unknowns were being overcome as they happened. Good. She called out, =^= All diagnostics coming back in the green. You guys are just to good. Let's see if you can do the same with Beta-Two-Delta... if we can get the five parts assembled smoothly, well, first two rounds are on me.=^=

"I thought we lived in a cashless society," Derek observed with a smirk.

Someone from among the work crew chimed in over the frequency. =/\=The good stuff still costs a few slips of latinum. =/\=

Another person spoke up. =/\= And the really good stuff costs a whole bar. The bartender keeps that bottle hidden. =/\=

=/\= Really? How big a bottle? =/\=

=/\= Why? Are you planning to drink the whole thing, Ramha? =/\=

=/\= I might! =/\=

=/\= Whatever. We're not carrying you back to your quarters again. Last time we were in port-- =/\=

"Okay, focus up, people, we're not there yet," Mitchell ordered. The frequency fell silent again.

Lilura had a large grin on her face. She now replied herself, =^= Just because it is cashless doesn't mean there isn't a barter system in place. Federation uses credits while Starfleet uses credits and rewards. Why do you think you earn bunk space, shower time, holodeck time, and move up into better kitchens? All of you are earning credits, they are debited from you as you purchase goods and services. When you run out, you cannot buy, if any of you have taken care to notice when you stop receiving 'expensive' stuff and suddenly only have access to the 'free', or rather, obligatory must be considered basic necessity stuff that the Federation buys and hands out 'free' to its population. And, yes, as I am from a 'Capitalist' Society that used to be War Feudal, I have some credits to spend, so I will buy the good stuff. Let's get this array assembled.=^=

An assortment of "aye-ayes" and "yessirs" answered back over the common frequency.

Lilura watched the engine assembly coming together smoothly as well. The Controls, Computers, and Communications were all in the comms array. After this would be the defenses, and then the energy soaker arrays and hydrogen ram scoop modules, and they would be done.

--------------------------
SOME HOURS LATER...
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The large antennas of the array had fallen into place, mostly without incident. Things were held up only a few times to deal with parts that wouldn't fit together or some EPS conduit that wouldn't carry power at the right frequency. There was also a pause in the work when one person became spacesick. Each issue was summarily dealt with. The sick person was beamed back to the ship.

Finally, they were doing systems checks. Derek Han used the array to send a single-burst test transmissions back to Earth. Minutes later he got a signal back from Starfleet Command. He grinned. Tapping his commbadge he said, "Han to Karakalakss, initial test transmission indicates a strong, clear signal. Ready for full comms traffic."

Mitchell was on the other side of the tower observing the installation of the hydrogen ram scoop. =/\=Crewman Tam is drilling in the final locks for the central RCS quad. We'll back off and you can do the honors, Lilura.=/\= By "honors" he meant type in the command codes that would open up the main antennas; much like opening a flower. Then the array would be ready to handle millions of subspace messages. Mitchell's workbee moved away with spacesuited Crewman Tam hanging on to the side with his hands.

Lilura chimed in, =^= Thank you. As soon as you're clear, I'll gladly do so. =^=

After making sure everyone was out of the opening radius, she typed in the sequence codes to bring the comms array fully online. She whistled in appreciation as their sprout they planted bloomed into a large, multi-flowered plant. She grinned widely as there was nary a hiccup in the opening act. She now activated her comm for the last time for this project, =^= We did good, boys, our baby is alive and well. Let's get to that drink I owe you, and again, the good stuff and my treat.=^=

OFF:

●○ Lieutenant JG Lilura Siana Karakalakss
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Andromeda

●● Lieutenant Mitchell Graham
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Andromeda