Auxillary lighting goes offline during launches.
Posted on 2025, Sat Aug 9th, @ 8:45pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Larry Lamontagne & Lieutenant Commander B'Orak
1,422 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Episode 1A "Shadows of the Empire"
Location: Hanger deck
Timeline: T pluss 1 hour after launch from starbase.
Senior Chief Petty Officer Larry Lamontagne was assigning trouble call ticket numbers when he ran out of technicians. Not that he was out, they were all out fixing things. Taking the hanger deck trouble call ticket, he logged it in the system as his. Larry then grabbed his fancy tool kit, which included his overpowered, tricked-out tricorder, and headed to the replicator, Filling up his non-slip, wide-bottomed, Titanium 1.5-liter hot-coco cup. Placing the cup in the replicator slot, he said, "Larry's hot coco #13 extra whipped topping." Once ordered the replicated liquid was soon in the aforementioned cup. Larry grabbed the cup and headed out of Engineering towards the hangar deck.
Arriving to Flight deck Control, he asked a Female in the Hangerdeck Department currently performing maintenance what he could assist her with. Based on the confused look on her face, Larry figured she was not the person that put in the trouble ticket. Noticing a Tall Klingon approach.
"Eerrrrr", he said, " I am Senior Chief Petty Officer Larry Lamontagne. I am from Engineering, and I received a trouble call ticket on problems with the Auxiliary lighting failing during launch procedures."
"Are you addressing me?" B'Orak asked, his voice steady but tinged with frustration. "If that's the case, I want to make it clear that I have no involvement in that issue; it falls squarely under the responsibility of the Engineering team."
Looking at the miffed-looking Klingon, Larry wondered if he should have just waited till the morning.
"I understand that, Sir," Larry said. "I am from Engineering and will be attempting to fix the problem. Are there any other problems here that I should know about?"
"Only you making a Klingon Angry!" B'Orak stated.
Larry looked up at the Klingon who had just cracked a joke, or maybe not. "Well I could use some exercise, so going out for a jog, might just help... get rid of my ..." Larry pointed down at his slightly round middle section, and said," Too many cinnamon rolls ... It's my guilty pleasure." Larry had heard that Klingons liked prune juice, but didn't pay much attention to the noble warrior race.
Larry had his souped-up tricorder hard at work, sending test signals to various parts of this complex system. After twenty minutes of troubleshooting, Larry turned to Lt B'orak and said, "Well, I need to have a working flight craft sitting on the launch platform and we will have the computer run through the launch procedure, but pause at the actual launch command. This also means I need a qualified pilot so we dont accidently launch an unpiloted flight craft out the bay without a pilot to bring it safely back."
"I Guess. but don't have me court martialed when you get sucked out the airlock..." B'Orak let out a loud Klingon laugh.
Lary looked down at his Engineering coveralls. He was good for 2 minutes of hard vacuum. Larry then looked at the flight deck forciefield that was all that kept them from sucking vaccumm, then back at this boisterous Klingon..."Well, Larry said, "have you ever played Jova ball in Zero-Gee?"
"No, I prefer Bat'leth practice" stated the Klingon
Those things are as big as me." Larry said, "Do you exercise... in the holodeck? How often do you.. erm work out?" Larry felt the sudden need to get in shape, standing next to the muscular Klingon.
"Exercise? Why the hell wouldn't I do that? I'm a Klingon!" the Klingon stated loudly.
"Well..." Larry said," Would you have any advice for a soft human like...erm... me?"
"Someone as soft as you? Ha! Maybe you should spend some time with me in the holodeck; it might toughen you up a bit!" B'Orak chuckled, his deep laughter echoing through the dimly lit room. "I can guarantee you'll face some challenges that will push you beyond your limits!"
"Well," Larry said, "Think you could possibly not kill me in the first sparring session. I only have limited Self-defense training."
The Klingon laughed. "Funny, let's get this over with."
The testing took a mere 30 seconds to reveal a fault in the deck edge lighting repeater console. A wire was put in the wrong position, pinched when the console access pannle shut. When the system reached this point, and the auxillary lighting controll system activated, shut off all that auxillary lighting.
After testing twice more to enshure the Fix held, Larry turned to the Still miffed looking Klingon, and said. "Now that that is fixed, when should we hit the Holodecks?"
"Lets go" the klingon respond.
Larry walked into the gym/holodeck. in the opposite corner, two Klingons were slugging it out. It was almost too fast to follow. There were at least 5 headbuts a minute, and that was not even counting their swords or weapons that caught the flashes of light. The more Larry thought about it, the less happy he was to be here. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on if he survived, someone was waiting for him. Larry groaned mostly to him self. Taking a big gulp of his 2-liter water bottle, Larry put his bag in a corner, and stood to face his teacher/Sensei.
"Your gonna need more water than that" B'Orak stated as walked in carrying his Bat'leth.
Larry looked at the weapon that looked bigger than he was. "That looks sharp! How do you keep from injuring anyone when practicing combat sparing?"
"I don't" B'Orak stated simply
Larry Stood after a quick look around, saying, "Ok what's first?"
Larry knew the basics on how to stand, so a small breeze would not push you over. And he kept adjusting his stance to keep the Big Klingon front and center.
"What do you think?" Asked the Klingon testing Larry.
"I am about to get my ass kicked" said Larry. "But to quote a famous saying, Today is the first day of the rest of your life. So make it count. And I plan on counting... a lot..." Larry decided the best defense was a good offence, but how he ended up on his back was a mystery... "ermm," Larry said, "What happened?"
"Your guard was down, that's what" Stated the Klingon.
Larry decided that being a {trixy} Engineer, He would feint with the blade and lash out with a kick. After all, Engineers were always lifting, hauling, moving, cajoling, begging, and pleading with big heavy things to get them to move where they were supposed to be. Larry had been doing this a while, and being a Farm boy, he was not a weakling. His feint was intercepted, and then his leg hit a mountain. That rock hard feeling when you kick something that has two hundred thousand times the mass you do, and laughs at your feeble attempt to move it. It felt like he had kicked armored hull plating, and it kicked back. Larry limped back to the starting line, while the Klingon just looked back at him.
"ok," Larry said, "Just how dense are your muscles?"
"Why you ask that?" B'Orak asked.
"Well, normal things at least move a bit when I kick them." Larry complained. "Larry tried another feint, then a leg scissors. It was a wrestling move, but it seemed that this was the only way that he stood a chance..
"Im not normal am I?" the Klingon asked.
"I don't know!" Grunted Larry, trying to make the Klingon at least look like he was getting a workout. "Normally, leverage works for me, not against me!" Larry said through clenched teeth. Larry refused to yield, trying to use an elbow strike to the solar plexus to move this mountain of a Klingon. Something had to work.
The Klingon stopped. "Do you ever work out?"
Larry shrugged his shoulders, then said, "Well, we are always hauling heavy pieces of gear, putting it in strange places, and using brute force to get it into place., so yea!"
"That gear does seem a little heavy sometimes, don't it" B'Orak asked.
"Yes!" said Larry, "Starfleet Corps of Engineers has come a long way in minaturizing, but some Engineering equipment is still heavy and bulky." Lary looked at all the armor and weapons the Klingon carried. "Do you have a basic loadout or list of items you carry for everyday use and a different set for combat conditions? Or is the same for all situations?"
"At least we agree on something" B'Orak laughed.
To be continued...
Lieutenant JG B'Orak
Flight Control Officer
Senior Chief Petty Officer Larry Lamontagne
Damage Control Specialist
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