DDIY Don't Do It Yourself

Posted on Tue Jul 2nd, 2019 @ 4:38pm by

2,160 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 98 - A Raid on Peace
Location: Hanger Bay 4
Timeline: MD 03 1200 hours

ON:

Whilst taking a break from the Gallery, Vox had decided to have a go himself at fixing an engine problem on his Aeries Class ship, the Tenaran. With his overalls styled suit on, he started work on the impulse engines, making sure they were definitely not powered at all before taking off the manifold covers.

He must have spent a good two hours sat on top of the port side nacelle arm. Tools in a mess around him along with the schematics on several pads. He chose to have a go himself to save having to bother anyone. He knew the engineers on the station were busy people.

After he had finished and hoped he corrected the issue, he resecured the manifold cover. Once on the bridge of his ship, he restored power to the engine, in idle only. All seemed good. But then, a claxon sounded, red lights appeared on the controls and then.... one hell of a bang was heard, even from inside the ship. From the outside, the manifold cover blew off the ship with an almighty bang accompanied by smoke and sparks. Vox immediately shut down the power but it was too late, the hangar bay's own alarm now sounded. He put his head in his hands..."Awww crap." he muttered.

Outside the ship, in the hanger, a jet of nitrogen gas enveloped the damaged area of the ship to prevent any possibility of a fire. The manifold cover, scorched and dented was on the floor.

Vox, now in one of his protective suits, climbed out of the ship to inspect how much trouble he was now in. It was only a matter of time before someone turned up.

Braxton was helping a friend when the call came in that something was not right. He was in a hazard suit and heading that way. He entered the hanger fully ready for what awaited only to find that there was a lot of fast clearing smoke. He noted that the man in a matching suite was non-other than the new art gallery owner. Braxton relaxed, "Trouble?"

"You could say that" Vox replied. His voice raised over the ongoing claxon. Vox was standing in front of his Aeries class ship. "Tried to do my own repairs on my portside impulse engine only to get it wrong and now the main manifold panel is scorched and bent on the floor over there. The dam thing blew off with one hell of a bang, sparks and smoke. So think I now have a major engine problem compared to the minor one I started with. " Vox continued.

Braxton smiled. "This I can help with. Come off to the side while they vent the hazard gas and we'll de suite and work on this."

"Will do and thanks. I appreciate this. " Vox replied " Once sorted, you are welcome to have come aboard for a tour if you want. " Vox offered.

He smiled, "Sounds good." They moved to the back of the bay behind the protected wall. It took five long minutes for all to be cleared and another five of status quo before they were allowed in. Once they were allowed inside they took their suits off and Braxton grabbed a tool kit. "So what was happening before the attempted fix?" As much info as he could get would tell him what the original problem was.

"Well during the flight I would randomly lose power in the port side impulse engine. Also, it would sometimes, although rarely, put out a power surge causing the ship to veer starboard. It would also cut out all together."

"I see." He thought a moment. "Sounds like a power coupling and surge inhibitor were out." He smiled, "Let's fix the now problems and then go back." He smiled feeling happy he was working out some of the frustration he had.

"Sounds like a good plan. Hopefully, I will get to take her out for a test when we are done. She hasn't been out since I arrived a few months ago now and I have only just got around to trying to sort the problems out." Vox replied.

"Well it might take a day to get it all fixed up and connected but I know where we can get a spare surge inhibitor. If you want we can meet back here in one hour and start work on it?"

"Sounds great. I hope I am not going to get into bother about this. " Vox smiled.

"Should be fine." Braxton yelled as he was heading out the door on his mission to find a surge inhibitor.

=/\= One Hour Later =/\=

Promptly Braxton walked in with a few larger crates in his hand as well as a tool kit. He'd changed into jeans and a sleeveless shirt. "Alright! Ready to work?"

Vox was in his overalls. "Ready to go. " he said.

Braxton put everything to one side and pulled a took box out. "Let's see what's burned. You pull out all the unusable parts and I will try to keep a list of all the replacements we have to make. In the mean time I'll check the surge inhibitor sizes and get a few things cleaned up from the scorched parts. You'd be surprised as to how many can be reused."

"Right" Vox replied. He removed various unusable parts from the damaged impulse engine. "It's frustrating that it was only serviced 12 months ago. " Vox commented.

"Yeah but depends on a lot of things." He started cataloguing the parts making a mental map for himself as Vox removed the parts. It took a good two hours to clean and in the end all but three parts were salvageable. "Well that went well." He said to Vox. "Only three parts to replace and then we can work on the original problem."

"Not bad at all. Impulse might be a problem but the warp core on her purrs like a kitten." Vox remarked.

He smiled. "Before we do anything we need to have the inhibitor installed to protect from surges." He pointed "That one is heavy. It will take two of us."

"Yeah. Where do you want me to help lift that and install it? " Vox asked.

"This goes inside behind the main consol...we have to take that apart. Long job." He smiled, "We will do it, my friend." He unpacked the box and the two men pulled and pushed it into the ship. Braxton took the console apart like a pro and they wedged in the part and one hour later the ship was in one piece. "She is ready to try."

"Ok, we need to get permission to take her out. I guess. " Vox replied.

He gave a nod. "Should not be difficult. File a test flight plan. We should have it approved within the hour."

Vox picked up a padd. With a few taps, he had filed the test flight plan. " Done. " He exclaimed.

"And now we wait."

Within an hour, the flight plan had been approved. it wasn't long before the two men were on the bridge of the Tenaran. The ship was powered up as the hanger bay was cleared and prepared for its large space doors to be opened.

Vox turned to Braxton, who was sat at one of the auxiliary stations, whilst Vox was at the main helm "Ready to roll? " he asked.

"It has been a while but I believe I am ready." His hands flew at the console setting a test for the ship to make certain it would function. "On your mark."

The bay doors opened. Vox's hands flurried over the controls and the Tenaran lifted off the floor, her landing struts raised and returned inside the ship. Vox engaged the main thrusters and took the ship steadily out into open space.

Once the ship was clear of the station, the tests could begin.

"OK, ready to go," Vox announced.

Braxton initiated the course codes and the test route. It had been a long time since he was in a ship just flying. This would be what he needed to clear his head. As the ship glided forward it seemed to purr with perfection. "So far so good."

"Indeed. I am taking her up to full impulse. " Vox replied. He moved his hands on the console and the ship accelerated to full impulse. It seems ok for a moment but then a judder could be felt. "Ah, that feels like an issue with the Inertial Dampeners. Anything showing on the engineering console?" Vox asked.

"Engines reading fine. I will compensate." He made a few adjustments and then felt the ship ease a little. "That did the trick."

"That did the job. I have a conference to go to on Betazed in three months so this needed doing. " Vox exclaimed.

"What kind of conference." He felt oddly curious. Braxton wasn't much for talking or butting into other people's business but curiosity got the better of him.

It's a conference for artists, craftsmen and dealers in the arts and crafts. Artists display new works and dealers get to trade between each other or directly with the artists. A ship like mine allows me to have my own accommodation and so I don't need to book any at the conference." Vox replied.

"I see." kept his eyes on the instruments. "I am getting some readings. All stop. Let's test the thrusters."

"OK, Helm answering all stop. Thruster controls on station keeping. Ready" Vox said.

Braxton tested the right thruster. "All clear on right."

He then engaged the left thruster. "There it is!" There was a shudder and then a gasp. "Left thruster isn't engaging. I think there is a block somewhere in the process."

"That's not good. I did have problems with the thrusters a while ago but it seemed to sort itself out but clearly, the gremlins are back. " Vox remarked. "Shall we head to engineering and have a look at it?" he asked.

"Let's go. We're on all stop. I'm setting the computer to monitor for anything out of the ordinary around us. I think I can fix this. I have seen it before." He imputed the commands to monitor against any threats and they headed out.

"Good thinking. " Vox replied. The two head to the main engineering to see what can be done about the thruster issue. On arrival, Vox runs a quick diagnostic on the thruster system. "Well look at that, one of the thrust regulators is offline and I can't enable it. Hmmmm" He stated.

"We have to manually turn it on." He was already heading for an engineering kit. "This is a nice ship."

"Thanks. I bought her four years ago and spent over a year customising her. Internally she is quite unique" Vox replied.

Braxton sighed. "I have always wanted a ship. You have a business on the station?"

"Yes the art gallery "Serenity" Vox replied

"Ah yes the gallery. I have passed by it a lot. What do you have? Paintings or just sculptures? I have a friend that is an artist....a Trill woman. She is always looking for places to showcase her work."

"Sculptures, paintings, alsorts. She would be very welcome to display her art. What's her name?" Vox asked.

"Cassiopeia Sentinel. She's a Counselor by trade but a great painter." As they talked they worked and within a short time the thrusters were up and running. They both closed the heavy panel and watched as the levels went back from yellow to green. "This is wonderful! We are at full now. Why don't you go test things I will stay here in case something happens."

"Ok" Vox replied. He headed back to the bridge. Tapping the coms when he got there. "ok, engaging main thrusters. " The ship moved through space without the slightest issue and at full thrust. "Fantastic I think we have it sorted. Helm back to full stop. Come back to the bridge and we can head back to 400" he said over the coms.

Braxton sighed. "Perfect. On my way." He closed the repair kit and headed back. The ship was not huge so it didn't take him long to get back to the bridge. "Alright. I think you will be ready for your trip." He thought a moment. "Can I ask you somethin'?"

"Sure, what's on your mind?" Vox asked as he set course back for Starbase 400.

"How long is your trip that you are planning?"

"A couple of months why?" Vox replied.

"Could you use an extra pair of hands?" He really needed to get away and clear his head.

"I wouldn't say no to an offer like that" Vox exclaimed.

Braxton gave a nod. He needed to clear his head. He had a lot of leave accumulated so he'd take a couple months to himself. "Alright. Then I will invite myself along."

"Great" Vox replied.

He smiled, "Let us head home."

"Indeed" The two returned to Starbase 400

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