| SUBMITTED: Stardate 96368.6 | FILED BY: LTJG Khet, Mossic | SECURITY: Level 1 - Open |
LOCATION: Main Shuttlebay, U.S.S. Shackleton
MISSION: Rebuild alien vessel's graviton-based propulsion system
OUTCOME: Propulsion system successfully brought online
KEY PERSONNEL:
LT Voyrays
LT Ivanov, Yevgeni
LTJG Khet, Mossic
ENS Zodd, Adoq'ra
LT Ivanov, Yevgeni
LTJG Khet, Mossic
ENS Zodd, Adoq'ra
NARRATIVE: On or about Stardate 96366.8, I was summoned to the main shuttle bay by LT Voyrays, where I witnessed a phenomenon (which I would later understand to be a graviton discharge) toss a pair of cargo containers across the bay. The incident was caused by an unsuccessful propulsion systems test of the alien spacecraft being repaired there. LT Voyrays explained that this malfunction had repeated several times without a clear cause and asked me to double-check the repair team's work.
After familiarizing myself with the schematics and work notes of the repair team, I noticed some very small molecular discrepancies in the inner sheath materials of the replacement tetryon conduits we replicated. These were small and within the operational tolerances for most Starfleet hardware, but I thought that there was a chance that it might be at fault here. I contacted LT Ivanov in the science department to ask for a material analysis consult, and he agreed that the discrepancies might interfere with the conduits' breakdown threshold, effectively lowering it below operational requirements. To raise the threshold to where we needed it, we would have to get the molecular diff down to below 0.002%.
That kind of precision isn't possible for our onboard industrial replicators. Medical replicators are built for precise work, but the ones aboard Shackleton are too small. I decided to try kit-bashing some spare med unit parts into an industrial replicator, mainly replacing the focal assembly for increased molecular precision. This would come at the cost of fabrication time and power draw, but we weren't in any big hurry, so it seemed like a worthwhile tradeoff if it worked. Assisted by ENS Zodd, I reconfigured the replicator and manufactured a test segment of conduit.
Once this segment was installed in the alien vessel, completing the primary PTC, we conducted a limited test of the propulsion systems again. This time, we didn't get kicked in the teeth. Satisfied that we'd solved the issue, we replicated additional conduit segments for installation into the craft, and then restored the modded industrial replicator to its standard configuration.
RECOMMENDATION: If we want to do any further work on this kind of power system, we'll need to keep in mind that these tetryon conduits are real finicky and have to be fabricated with much narrower tolerances than we're used to. A specialized replicator hardware profile for large-scale, high-precision work might be a fruitful area for further development.
OOC: Thanks to Derenzis for running this mini-event.