The Breathing Heart of the Unicorn

Posted on Thu Dec 21st, 2023 @ 1:57pm by Lieutenant Commander Travis Paladin & Lieutenant Razeen el-Ben & Lieutenant Kayoko Himeji
Edited on on Thu Dec 21st, 2023 @ 2:00pm

2,115 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: First Deployment
Location: USS Unicorn; Decks 9 and 10 - Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 0 - 2130 Hours
Tags: 2156, Character Introduction

[ON]

After being cleared by sickbay, Kayoko had finally shaken off the jitters in her belly about meeting others. She had observed that she was still very young compared to most other officers aboard. Many of them had been in space much longer and had seen more. But the one thing she really wanted to see, more to feed her curiosity was the new Warp Seven Reactor. She had never had a chance to see in person the Warp Five models on the NX Class ships, but the one on the Unicorn was more advanced with a higher top speed. With her being a pilot, she was naturally curious.

It took her a little while to navigate the maze of corridors before she found the engine room. She then entered the area and instantly felt like a black sheep amongst the her od red striped engineers and technicians. Her yellow shoulder striped stuck out like a sore thumb, and she even gained a few funny looks as she slowly approached the large Warp reactor.

She stood looking up at in awe, she was used to the older much smaller designs, a d this one seemed so big.

The first person to notice the wayward officer was Ben. Razeen set down the datapad he had been using to assist in the calculations on a monitor in the antechamber of Main Engineering, giving a smile as he approached the "yellow-stripe", a nickname derived from the crews earnest attempt to distinguish each other. In the distance, Lieutenant Commander Paladin was assisting two Engineering Officers with repairs to an open panel on the huge Warp 7 Manifold.

"Welcome to Main Engineering, Lieutenant!" Ben greeted as he observed the pips. "You're about the twelfth officer to come here unannounced, actually. It's become a sort of expected thing recently. Are you here for a tour, too?"

Kayoko jumped, easily startled by the sudden approach of the Chief Engineer. "Oh hi... Well..." she stumbled on her words slightly. She then bowed upon spotting his rank pips. "Lieutenant Kayoko Himeji sir. New Chief Helmsman, sorry if I intruded!"

"Oh, no intrusion!" said Ben as he chuckled at her surprise. "Listen, it's a big and new ship. Folks are going to want to know things. Only natural. And welcome aboard! We seem to be filling out nicely so far!"

The Assistant Chief peaked over to check on his superior. Travis was just about finished up with the panel. He nodded, looking back to Kayoko.

"Listen, Lieutenant, I really appreciate your interest but I am kind of busy," Ben said, motioning to where he had been. "however the Chief Engineer will be available shortly. Do you want to wait?"

Kayoko nodded slowly. "Ok... I'll just admire this engine a bit more..." she said with a nervous smile.

Ben gave an appreciative nod as he briefly approached Travis, then departed back to his work. A few more moments later, the Chief Engineer had finished up his work and the after-report with his team, promptly approaching where the Lieutenant stood. He gave a half-smile as he neared her.

"Lieutenant Himeji, right?" Travis asked, extending his hand in introductions. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Travis Paladin, ships Chief Engineer. You're the new Chief Helmsman? Damn pleasure to have you. We'll be working closely together to ensure all the best comes from this ship, I assure you. So, what brings you to Main Engineering today? Ben said you might have some questions."

"Well..." Kayoko said nervously. "I've never seen a warp seven engine before. Plus, I'll be flying her..." she said as she tapped the side of the warp reactor gently as if not to 'hurt it'. "I thought i should see what she's got under the hood so to speak..."

"Oh?" Travis said as his eyes lit up. "Well! You're in luck! Your engine is a true Gravimetric Field Displacement Manifold engine, a true Warp 7 Manifold engine. It is an advancement over the Warp 6 Manifold that was released some time ago. Thanks to Vulcan miniaturization techniques, we've been able to pack all the necessary combustion chambers into a smaller and more efficient size to enable us to reach past the previous Warp 6 barrier. To to this, the manifold engine has to first permit adequate cooling."

Travis, in his element, pointed out the appropriate areas of the engine as he begun in earnest to explain. "These four plasma radiators on the sides are a critical component to the process of cooling the manifold after anti-matter/matter combustion. The plasma routes itself around critically heated components inside the manifold that would elsewise melt the assembly if left unregulated. Dilithium flow introduction into the anti-matter/matter combustion process is also a critical component of controlling the overwhelming heat produced, elsewise this manifold engine you see before you would be a simple two-story tall anti-matter bomb. Without these two critical components assisting with managing the heat, we couldn't produce a stable gravimetric field to allow the ship to go to warp."

The Chief Engineer turned back to Kayoko to ensure she was following. He continued.

"The plasma that flows through the radiators is actually a byproduct of the entire anti-matter/matter combustion process. You see, there's a set of 'warp coils' on the interior of this chamber that need to be magnetized to allow the warp process to function. To do this, as stated earlier, we introduce a matter/antimatter combustion that is managed by a dilithium flow matrix that produces electro-plasma as a product of that reaction. The electroplasma is split by a flow matrix where the magnetized electro-plasma is sent to the warp coils and the unmagnetized plasma is sent through the cooling system. The cooling system is chilled to a suitable degree by the introduction of liquid nitrogen, whereupon the heated plasma is cooled through a series of radiator tubes and the nitrogen itself is recycling through a super-cooling system. This entire process maintains a constantly combusting manifold for the purpose intent of powering electro-plasma straight to a series of warp coils which produces a 'warp bubble' thanks to focused dilithium, which I'm sure you're familiar with and so I won't explain further on that.

Now what I'm informing you of is the simplistic version of how this manifold engine produces its energy. Without the reactions this reactor produces, the ship would not have any energy to power its systems or lights, nor would it have warp capabilities. This manifold usually idles at 290 millicochranes to produce a stable flow of energy, but the amount of millicochranes typically rises when the process to start the warp coils rises."

Travis turned back to the new Chief Helmsman, happy to have had another walkthrough of the reactor done. He was smiling. "Do you have a grasp of understanding of how your manifold engine works now, Lieutenant Himeji?"

Kayoko stared blankly for a brief moment at the engineer. "Yeah... Maybe..." she said clearly overwhelmed by the amount of information that was just thrown at her. "I got that I shouldn't break it as it sounds complicated..." she added with a nervous smile as she rubbed the back of her head.

There was a momentarily pause before Travis said, "Exactly!", and laughed.

"Look," the Chief Engineer said, giving a wink as he patted the manifold, "I understand that not everyone comprehends the complexities of engineering. To me, though, this is a passion. I've always been eager to be a part of the advancement of human progress. This is my contribution. So your passion is flight control, right? I assume because you're Chief Helmsman, you're a great pilot? Want to elaborate?"

"Elaborate..." she pondered for a brief moment. "Well, I'll try. But it's hard to explain. I can fly a ship by how it 'feels'. Sensor readings are ok and all, but once I know how the ship 'feels' under certain conditions allows me to know what I can do with it." She gave him a small smile. "But this ship is new, so I need to get to know her a bit better before I do anything drastic with her. It's like driving a vehicle, you just know down here what it's capable and not capable of..." she said as she placed a hand on her stomach.

Travis eyed her, squinting a bit. Then he gave a half-cocked smile and nodded to her. "I think I understand," he said, then turned to his Assistant Chief and raised his voice slightly to cover the distance. "Hey Ben, can you raise the reactor output to 300 millicochranes?"

Ben turned, then shrugged and gave a thumbs up. "Coming right up, Chief!"

"Alright," Travis said as he turned back to Kayoko. "Put your hand here," he instructed as he placed his palm on the manifold. "Feel her. Close your eyes. Just let the manifold talk to you."

The hum of the manifold began to increase in tempo. On the outside, it wasn't an intense noise, but the gentle increases and decreases in tempo as the reactor raised in output were shorter in duration. The vibrations, however, were clear as day. Travis closed his eyes as he listened to a healthy reaction - felt the reaction - taking place.

"Do you feel it?" He asked, almost quietly. "Do you feel her heartbeat?"

Kayoko gently placed her hand in the right place, closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. The soft vibrations pulsate through her body as she could feel the intense reactions taking place deep within the casing of the reactor. She stood there for a little while, breathing in sync with the pulses before opening her eyes. "It's like she's alive. She breathes with every pulse."

After a short moment, Travis opened his eyes. "That's right," he said, smiling fully. "She does. What you're feeling is the matter/antimatter reaction. Every vibration is a controlled explosion, contained within a shielded chamber designed specifically for that purpose. Each pulse circulates the plasma flow, heating and cooling as the radiators take away heat and cool the plasma back to level. The dilithium stabilizes the combustion, focusing the energy to the warp coils as the electro-plasma magnetizes them. Every part of her, from every corner, sustains a reaction that should by all rights be uncontrollable. It is beauty in its purest, most fantastic form."

Placing his hand away, Travis leaned against the manifold. "I sometimes daydream of what it was like in the old days, when combustion-driven engines were used. Diesel and gasoline driven engines and all that. Some folks back then were avid mechanical enthusiasts, upgrading and tuning them to the finest degree to gain the most output from their engines. She's the same way, my passion is the way. I did just the same thing on my old assignments years ago, gained recognition that way but I was never looking for that. It was always to ... I guess to make it better, hear this tune more clearly, feel it more intimately."

Travis took a moment to look up and down the large two-story reactor. His smile briefly widened, then it went back to half-cocked as he looked to the Chief Helmsman again.

"Now you've felt her, more intimately than most could," he said. "I hope it helps you gain a better understanding of your ship, Lieutenant. Of the work we do down here to help you in your role as our pilot. That's our goal, to make sure you have everything at your disposal to achieve your role as our pilot so we get through thick and thin. We can do only so much to give it that extra punch. Everything else ... well, that's up to you to discover, and our job to provide you the tools to explore that potential with. In that way, you and I are a team."

Kayoko nodded in response as she tool her hand off the reactor. "I am looking forward to working with you all!" She said giving him a slight bow. "I would love it if you could send me the engine specs. So I know what I can do with her. Also, what stresses the hull can take. I need to accommodate for it all when at sub-light speeds," she asked.

"You got it," he winked. "I'll have it sent to your datapad within the hour."

Bowing to him again. "Thanks," she then straightened up. "I'll let you get back to work. I appreciate you letting me indulge a little." With that she gave him another brief smile and turned to leave the engine room.

[OFF]

----------

Lieutenant Commander Travis Paladin
Chief Engineer
USS Unicorn

&

Lieutenant Kayoko Himeji
Chief Helmsman
Unicorn

&

Lieutenant Razeen "Ben" el-Ben
Assistant Chief Engineer
USS Unicorn

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