Repairs

Posted on Sun Jun 14th, 2026 @ 10:56pm by Lieutenant Varkl Brukh

829 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Lines in the Vacuum
Location: Freighter Gatlin

After receiving the go-ahead from their respective captains, the two engineers set off for the Frontier's shuttle at the airlock.

"We're going to need a length of optical cable to run to your closest data port." Brukh commented.

"There's some not far in maintenance bay 1." Alura replied, "I can get it while you get set up on the shuttle."

At the airlock they went to complete their separate errands. Brukh re-boarded the shuttle and took took the pilot's seat. Activating the sensor console he ran a quick sweep. It revealed that the second Frontier shuttle with the extra repair teams were already on their way, an external scan of the Gatlin showed several hits to the armor plating, but no buckling of the hull, the port nacelle however was severely damaged, as Alura had suspected.

Rising from the seat he rummaged through his tool-kit and pulled out a hyperspanner. In the rear of the shuttle's crew compartment he opened the computer access hatch and started working on removing the needed data leads. He had just about finished when the Gatlin's engineer returned with the spare cable.

"100 meters should be enough, the data port is only a few meters down the corridor." Alura announced.

"Aye, more than enough. Go forward and check the scanner readout, you were right about the nacelle damage." Brukh agreed." Looks like at least 3 coils are damaged, possibly more; we won't know for certain until the repair team can take a closer look. I've got some of my best specialists on the way over.

"And most welcome too!" Alura replied sitting at the console. "The should be docking on the port side in about 5 minutes." She looked over the sensor info, "at least the armor held up. We only got that added on last year just in case, I've tried to talk the captain into getting some of the new shield emitters, but they're still a bit too expensive for us poor boomers."

"My brother's what you call a boomer for my world. He's had many of the same challenges."

"What's his ship? We may have heard of him."

"Captain Kivor Brukh of the freighter Zarta, with the Tellarite cargo fleet."

"Zarta... yeah, that's familiar. I think we were both in port at the same time on Arken II, can't say that I met any of them though."

Brukh laughed, "You would have known if you had. It's a small galaxy after all isn't it."

"Well when you run in the same circles you're bound to meet a lot of like-minded people." Alura grinned. "If you don't mind my observation, you're a bit less argumentative than most Tellarites -at least from what I've heard."

"Being around humans I've tried to... let's just say tone down my nature for their sake."

"Well on behalf of my race, thanks.. I guess."

Brukh made the final connections and moved to the console and pressed a button to activate the comm, "Brukh to Captain Greene, the shuttle sensors are now tied in to the Gatlin."

The pair then started the long walk to the freighter's aft to check the nacelle damage.

[One hour later]
The nacelle damage had turned up a bit worse than anticipated. Two of the warp coils were damaged beyond repair and would need to be replaced, 4 others were damaged but fixable. Repairs were already underway, and once completed the Gatlin could limp along back to Sentinel at warp 2, as it was the closest facility where the coils could be replaced.

Meanwhile with the combined sensor power of the Frontier and Sentinel, the nearby planet had been scanned revealing not only the downed ship on the scorched surface, but that the planet itself was a source of ionic emissions which were disabling the use of transporters by disrupting their targeting scanners.

The problem, as Greene had described it to the engineers and scientists, was how to investigate the downed ship given the harsh environment.

"The shuttlepod can withstand the temperature, but it'll be pretty uncomfortable for most passengers that aren't used to heat." Brukh pondered.

"We can't use any heat dissipation devices like radiators in that environment, "Ensign Ridley commented back "what about extra heat shielding or thermal insulation?"

"What about using a ceramic coating?" Alura suggested, "one of the shipments we're carrying is a zirconium-hafnium diboride composite."

"That would be a good insulator to regulate the temperature, but we're still stuck with the problem that no one could leave the shuttle. Environmental suits can't withstand more than 200 C, but at least it'll get us to the surface to take a better look." Brukh replied.

"Can't the same coating be applied to the suits?" Alura asked.

"Not without losing mobility in the joints, they're going to be the weakest point in the suit." Ridley answered.

"Time to take our suggestions to the top and leave it up to the bosses to make the final decision then." Brukh decided.

=================
Lt. Varkl Brukh
Chief Engineer
Sentinel Station

 

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