U.S.S Voyager, 2 Days Later
Captain's Log : Supplemental
It is times like these that I can truly appreciate how diverse and unknown the universe really is. It has been two days since we escaped from the alien ships we encountered and Voyager's crew is still struggling to attend to the damage caused by that battle. Main power is due to come back online by noon today but weapons, shields and propulsion are another matter entirely. Those systems bore the brunt of what these unknown attackers had to throw at us and had the battle gone on any longer than it had they would have been completely unsalvageable. Surprisingly though it was not the main alien ships that inflicted the majority of the damage but rather the fifty or so smaller one man vessels that were launched after the initial skirmish. We have no record of vessels even matching those designs in our database and certainly none with the power these craft exhibited. Hopefully the senior staff and I will be able to come up with something at this mornings meeting.
"So anyone want to tell me how we got our asses kicked by things the size of shuttlecraft?" Tom Paris asked with less than his usual restraint and tact.
"While I would not have used Lt. Paris' exact words I share his concern." Tuvok stated with a raised eyebrow being the only outward sign that he was troubled as well.
"B'Ellana?" Janeway asked with as much politeness as she could muster.
She knew that the half-Klingon half-Human chief engineer was not in the best of moods since the attack considering the workload that had been dropped in her lap. Rumor had it that engineering personnel were actually drawing straws to see who would be lucky enough to get a work assignment away from Lt. Torres and who would have to suffer. If the look on B'Ellana's face was anything to go by they may well have been justified in their concerns.
"I'm afraid Captain that there isn't much I can add to what we already know." , Torres said as she tried to remain calm and professional rather than mad and testy, "All of the one man craft had some sort of shielding which reflected our sensors making it impossible to get an in depth scan of the vessels."
"I'm afraid she's right. I tried every trick I know to get past their shielding but the data I got back was fragmented to say the least." Ensign Harry Kim stated with disappointment.
"So basically what you are saying is that we got next to nothing." Chakotay stated calmly yet encouragingly in an attempt to keep things peaceful.
Janeway took note of this fact and was glad that he was trying to look for the proverbial silver lining even if there wasn't much of one there to begin with. The pride of Voyager's crew had taken a hit today and it was slow in recovering from it. Still situations like these were bound to happen when exploring uncharted space with only what your own sensors told you for intelligence. While it was true that what he said wasn't very encouraging the way he said it would make the rest believe that he had the utmost confidence in their abilities to triumph over this latest crisis.
"While it is true that we do not have factual evidence to aide in combating this species we can make educated guesses as to their technology and capabilities." Seven stated from her chair with the icy nonchalance of the Borg collective she was once a part of only a short time ago.
"Well one fact that was made blatently obvious was that their speed and maneuverability." , Tom stated with irritation borne of trying to evade the small craft, "It was all I could do just to avoid more than half of them. If we're going to go up against them again we're either going to have to decrease their speed and maneuverability or increase our own."
"That won't be easy. We've already made considerable enhancements to both the warp and impulse drives already." , Torres commented with a frown, "Barring a sudden brush of insight I don't think we'll be able to get much more of either out of this ship."
"Then taking away our enemies advantage is what we'll have to do." Janeway decided for them all.
"We could employ a dampening field around the ship to interfere with their crafts systems. It would diminish their ability to control their ship as effectively." Seven suggested with a stoic confidence.
"It wouldn't be entirely effective. If these ships have shielding that can deflect our sensors then chances are they have protection against a dampening field as well." Kim commented uncomfortably as he received a somewhat icy glare from the former Borg drone.
"Some is better than none. Get on it." Chakotay stated.
"What about weapons? Sheilds?" Janeway asked as she looked at Tuvok.
"The enemy craft's abilities make a positive target lock unstable at best and aiming manually would make hitting a target random at best." , Tuvok replied with an almost discouraged tone in his voice, "I will attempt to modify the targeting sensors to anticipate enemy tactics and extend the photon torpedoes range and maneuverability. This should improve tactical results by at least forty-five percent."
Great. Another five percent and we'll stand a fifty percent chance of hitting them. Paris thought bitterly as he remembered the small number of enemy fighter craft that Tuvok managed to destroy last time.
"Too bad we couldn't go out in shuttle craft and fight them head to head." Harry stated which caused more than a few to look at him in shock.
Janeway couldn't help but agree with their reactions. A comment like that they would have expected from Tom Paris but not conservative Ensign Kim. Still the idea was one she was sure everyone had thought since they left the small one-man craft in their dust.
"Unfortunately Ensign we possess insufficient shuttlecraft to match them in terms of numbers and given their obvious advantage over a starship it is highly unlikely that your proposal would succeed." Tuvok said with detached indifference.
"Then why don't we design something from scratch like we did the Delta Flyer?" , Tom suggested in an attempt to bail out his buddy from the Vulcan's onslaught, "We can use what sensor data we have on those ships and with a little Starfleet and Borg know how we can probably come up with something."
"Given the fact that there is no record of any race in the Federation having designed a craft remotely similar it is unlikely that we could construct one of our own before coming under attack again." , Tuvok responded in rebuttle to Paris' suggestion, "Add to that the difference in numbers and your suggestion would be no more likely to succeed than Mr. Kim's."
Sensing that another Paris/Tuvok debate was about to break out Janeway decided to intercede before things got too far out of control.
"In any case we have enough on each of our plates to work on at the moment." , Janeway stated as she got up from the conference table, "Begin working to modify the specified systems but continue to look for anything else that might give us an edge over these new enemies of ours. Dismissed."
The Captain watched as the senior staff filed out of the room until only she and her second in command Chakotay were left in the room.
"Thanks for stepping in before those two went at it again." , Chakotay said with a smile, "I don't think that I could have kept my composure if they started debating logic versus human insight again."
"I don't blame you but this situation has everyone on edge." Janeway said in acknowledgement.
"Understandable considering we were just beaten by things only a fraction of Voyager's size." Chakotay stated as a more serious look came over his face.
"Don't forget the story of David and Goliath, size doesn't necessarily decide a battle." Janeway pointed out as they both headed towards the conference room's exit.
"Lets just hope that we have better luck than Goliath." Chakotay muttered under his breath.
U.S.S Voyager, Engineering, 13:20 hours
"Well this is exactly how I wanted to spend my afternoon." Jason muttered to himself as he continued with the repairs to the ship's systems.
Ever since the Chief Engineer had come back from her staff meeting with Captain Janeway she had been working everyone to the bone trying to get the ship back in fighting trim. Needless to say she seemed to take special pleasure in giving him the most difficult or most boring tasks she could think of and smiled at him gleefully each and every time their eyes met. Obviously she was enjoying his discomfort and while this would normally make him mad he was willing to give her this small bit of pleasure since she obviously had the biggest load of them all to work away at. Rumor had it that B'Ellana had been given the task of modifying several key systems in order to bring them up to the aliens' level. Personally he couldn't see there being that much more they could do since the previous hostile races they had encountered had forced them to do the same. To the best of his knowledge there wasn't a system on the ship that hadn't been modified at some point in time and half of them had been guess work since there wasn't exactly a lot of time to theorize everything out.
So basically I have no idea how we're going to get ourselves out of this one. he thought to himself as the information coming up on the screen finally stated that the system he had been working on for the past two hours was operating within normal parameters.
Turning around he was about to move on to the next job on his list of tasks for the day when he saw Ensign Valia coming his way with Lt. Torres in tow. To this he could only roll his eyes and wonder what he had done in some previous life to earn such bad karma as to have his best friend and his boss team up against him. To the best of his knowledge the only thing he had done lately to piss off Valia was be late a little too often for his shifts but that was more or less to be expected of him and not a revenge justifiable act. For a moment he looked around the room for some escape route he could take to stave off this moment for at least an hour longer but none of the lifts were at his level and there was far too much activity going on by any of the access shafts to the jefferies tubes. This meant that there was no way he could make his escape without making it obvious he was trying to escape and that would only add more anti-matter to the mix and he was in for it as it was so there was nothing more to do but sit back and take it like a man.
Torres seemed to sense this and smiled but in a way that lacked the usual feral grin that usually accompanied her foul moods. This could either work out to be very good for him or very bad and right now he wasn't sure which would be preferable. After all if it was very good then he was bound to catch himself some heat from other crew members who were currently feeling miserable with their workloads. After all misery loved company and seeing him escape it when they could not wouldn't earn him any popularity points. If however it was very bad then B'Ellana had found some new depth of punishment to subject him to in which case he wished that someone would just do the humane thing and just kill him right then and there.
"Don't worry Lieutenant. Ensign Valia was just telling me about your hobbies." Torres stated in an apparent attempt to calm him down.
That assurance did little to raise his spirits as there were several of his hobbies that Valia had discovered over the course of their friendship and there were a few of them he would rather some attractive female superior officers not know about. Nothing too bad but enough to give them incentive to make his life difficult until they weren't mad at him anymore.
"What hobby in particular chief?" he asked in a perfectly neutral tone of voice as he tried to pick up on any twitches or glances that might let him know what was going on with the Chief Engineer and his best friend.
"According to Ensign Valia you're into armored suits like the ones that attacked us. She also tells us that you've been designing one in your spare time." B'Ellana said with a smile on her face that was either the 'so that is what you've been spending your time on' smile or the 'looks like we've finally caught a break' smile.
Given the potential consequences of either he wasn't sure whether or not he should be proud that he was going to be able to show off his work. If what he showed Torres impressed her enough he would wind up showing the senior staff his design schematics which would be pressure enough since he had not shown anyone outside his close friends what he had done so far as far as designing a Gundam. Also if this got past the senior staff then he would most likely be the one they put in charge of making one since this was such an atypical design that no one else on board could do it. That would more than likely put the fate of the entire ship in his hands and depending on his creation they would either be able to fight off these new aliens or be destroyed by them. That added a whole new load of pressure onto him that he wasn't sure that he wanted placed on his shoulders.
"Not exactly like them Chief. I've just been taking some designs from an old Earth program and been trying to reverse engineer it based on what I know." He explained in such a way that made it look as though he were being honest but at the same time adding nothing that might give her reason to pursue this conversation further.
"Let's see what you've got so far." B'Ellana said in a voice that hinted that she knew what he was trying to do but still wanted to see what he had to offer.
Silently he cursed his luck as he led them over to a workstation as there was no way to refuse short of insubordination and hiding his work wasn't worth that kind of trouble. It wasn't that he didn't want to help his crew, he just felt that what he had done thus far was nowhere near a completed work and stood a real chance of blowing up in someone's face if he had made a mistake somewhere along the way thus far in his design. Add that to the fact that the Gundam he had designed was made with parts and technology from the twenty-first and twenty-second centuries and it would take more than a little work to come up with a twenty-fourth century equivalent. Hopefully once Chief Torres saw this or if all else failed the senior staff they would discount the Gundam as a possible solution to their current dilemma.
"Computer, display file 'Stone Gundam Design' version 3.1" he said out loud and watched as the plans he had made thus far began to appear on the screen before him.
Since he already knew what the files contained he decided he would focus his attention on Valia and Torres to see how they would react to his designs. They would provide a valuable range of reactions that he could use as a frame of reference if this went to the senior staff. After all they were on two different ends of the spectrum as far as how they looked at things from an engineering perspective. Where Torres was willing to try the unorthadox or the untested Valia was the most by the book engineer he had ever met and rarely went outside established fact unless the situation demanded it. Looking at Torres' face as she perused the file and accessed the sub-files attached to it he could see that some of what she saw confused her while others seemed to impress her quite a bit. Not surprise considering much of the design components had been invented almost completely from scratch by him whereas other parts were just named without any real thought being put into how to create them. Valia on the other hand was less responsive with what she saw since she had caught him numerous times working on the design during his duty shifts. Still those were just bits and pieces of a puzzle whereas this was the complete picture so now that she was able to see everything she seemed to be thinking 'uh huh' and 'so that's what this is connected to'. What this would mean in the end he didn't know but he felt that he should lay out the most important fact in front of the chief before her thoughts got a little too far in ahead of the rest of her body.
"I would ask though Chief that you keep in mind that this design was based on twenty-first and twenty-second century technology and I am not even done that version of the Gundam." , he explained as soon as the two women seemed to finish looking over the file, "Not to mention that I have nothing but holo-deck simulations to prove that any of my custom made components actually work. There is no guarantee that this will even work at all much less be enough against these hostile aliens if we are able to construct a working prototype."
"Still this is more than anything the rest of us have been able to come up with and from what I see here the Captain will definitely want to hear about this." , Torres said as she grabbed a nearbye data padd and downloaded the file to it before tapping her comm. Badge, "Torres to Janeway, assemble the senior staff. I think we just might have something new to show those aliens."
With that B'Ellana Torres strode out of the engine room with energy in her stride that told him that the creativity engine in her head must have just hit Warp 9 and was well on its way to Warp 12. Looking at Valia he shot her a sour look that clearly said 'now look what you've gotten me into' which of course only made her smile grow wider. Just as he was about to turn back and finish the work he had been assigned before he had been ambushed the doors to engineering reopened and admitted an annoyed Torres.
"What are you waiting for Lieutenant? Come on!" B'Ellana said in a way that made it clear this was an order not a request.
Following her out this time he could have sword he heard laughter break out in the engine room after the doors had finished closing.
Well look at it this way Stone, it can only get better from here on in. he thought to himself but then kicked himself as he realized he had just jinxed himself.
Briefing Room, U.S.S Voyager 13:50 hours
I am SO screwed. Jason thought to himself as he sat at the end of the table opposite the Captain's chair.
Torres had elected to give her opinion on his basic design supposedly to give it more weight in the eyes of the others and leave him to answer any specific questions asked afterwards. Believe it or not though he actually wanted to go up first since it would mean he wouldn't have to stew in his open apprehension and fear for twenty minutes. By the time attention was shifted his way he would be lucky to be able to get more than a few syllables out much less anything else. It was not a task that any member of the crew overly enjoyed when they were asked to make a presentation or in his case a proposal to the senior staff. Personally it felt like he was being put on trial by the faculty back at the academy and that his entire future rested on the hope that he could persuade them to see things his way. Which generally meant that he was doomed to whatever punishment they thought was appropriate because he had never been able to win an argument against a superior officer and he doubt he would prevail in a room full of them. Hearing that B'Elanna was about to finish up her brief on his design and its feasibility he tried to put himself in a more positive state of mind figuring it couldn't hurt his chances.
"… So while his design might be a bit baffling in a few areas it shows some promise." B'Elanna stated before sitting down which was his cue to stand up and be interrogated.
Standing up he went over to the main display and brought up the plans he had managed to put together thus far on the 24th century version of Wing Zero. Truthfully he wished that he had been given more time to fill in a few spaces because right then it looked like he had just drawn it up in the past week when in fact he had been carefully putting it together for the past seven years. Still a great many of the parts and designs he had come up with were one of a kind and hadn't even been tested outside of a holo-deck which meant that he had no idea if they even worked. That was one of the problems when putting together something from scratch that had never before been attempted by anyone in the history of the Federation. It was just a bunch of half-baked ideas and assumptions with no real concrete evidence to prove that it was right much less would work. Still he would explain what he could and bull shit things where he could not and hope that he wouldn't wind up in too much trouble for taking up the senior staff's time.
"Ever since Starfleet Academy a few other engineers and myself have been trying to take machines, spacecraft and various other devices from works of fiction and trying to make real life working copies. It is a challenging job at best since most works of fiction do not go into a great deal of detail as to how their dreamt up devices do the things they do." , Stone explained as he pressed a button to have the screen cycle through his design files, "The few times that they do try to explain things it not much more than gibberish so my friends and I have often been forced to design certain components from scratch or settle for devices of lesser capabilities than we originally wanted. About seven years ago we decided to take on the job of designing a mobile suit designated as a Gundam from an old Earth program."
Pressing a button he began to run recordings of his previous battles on the holo-deck from both inside and outside the cockpit of the Wing Zero. Needless to say a few of the senior staff started to look more interested than they had before and this convinced him that he had their undivided attention.
"We would work on it together over sub-space, help each other when we hit design snags, and try to come up with a working design. Unfortunately since none of us were independently wealthy we knew that we could never actually afford to have one constructed. The most we could hope for was a complete set of schematics and some holo-deck simulations." , Jason said as he brought up the 21-22nd century design schematics of the Wing Zero, "As you can see here we were able to complete schematics for a Gundam but this was designed with the idea that only period parts would be used in its construction. Likewise its offensive and defensive capabilities were arranged to make it for use against period opponents. I had begun to work on a 24th century equivalent to this design plus a few modifications to make it a match for everything from starships to space stations. Needless to say being dragged out here into the Delta quadrant has given me time to work on it considerably."
With another series of buttons pushed he brought up a rotating view of what he hoped would be the final appearance of the finished 24th century Wing Zero.
"Its weapons would consist of two shoulder mounted swiveling phaser repeaters such as the ones used in Defiant class ships back home, a concentrated energy beam saber as shown here" , Jason explained as he pressed a button that caused the Gundam on the screen to activate its beam saber, "A hidden pair of photon torpedo launchers in the bottom end of the shield and something I'd like to call a trans-phasic buster rifle as a weapon to be used on starship rather than another mobile suit though it could be used to destroy large concentrated groups of enemy mobile suits."
"As for defensive systems it would be completely covered in ablative armor that a colleague 'heard' would be used in the next generation of Starfleet vessels. The shield though would have extra protection in the form of a reflective polymer coating that would disperse most of the power behind energy attacks as well as an independent shield generator. It of course would not be as strong as the main shields but it would provide some extra protection." , Stone continued as he tried to gauge their reactions and opinions from their body language, "However the main and most important defensive ability of the Gundam would be its speed and maneuverability. After conducting some research into the variety of targeting systems employed on most starships and battle cruisers I have concluded that in the hands of an experienced pilot a Gundam capable of maintaining a battle speed of warp one point one should be able to evade most enemy fire."
"Now I know what you are thinking. 'How can anyone pilot something in battle at warp one point one and make it work?' and trust me this was one problem that took me forever to solve but I have a plan to get around that." , Jason stated as he tried to draw the discussion away from that niggling detail, "It was my intention to have these plans for a 24th century Gundam completed by the time we got back to the Federation but it looks as though they will be put to use sooner than expected. Any questions?"
For a moment there was nothing but silence in the room with no one at the table saying even a word but instead looking between him and the screen displaying the final product of his hours of design. He figured they would either laugh at him for having such fantastic ideas or yell at both him and B'Ellana for wasting their time. So needless to say the clapping he began to hear from Captain Janeway and then multiplied by every other member of the senior staff all but floored him. Still he wasn't going to make a move until they did something else because he was still waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop on his head.
"How soon can it be built?" Captain Janeway asked in a tone that seemed to be actually serious.
For a few moments Jason Stone just stood there more than a little dumbfounded at the question and leaving his mind scrambling to come up with some kind of an answer. He had expected her to pick apart his idea, ridicule his ideas or at the very least ask that someone else head the project with him just being a consultant slash advisor. From the way that she was looking at him she apparently wanted him to be the one in charge of the project. Lucky for him he was good at thinking on his feet or he might have made himself look like a right fool by standing there silently any longer.
"Well that's the tricky part Captain. To my knowledge nothing like this has ever been attempted in the entire history of the Federation so a specific timetable for completion will be difficult to come up with." , Jason replied as a separate section of his mind tried to come up with an answer for her, "Over three quarters of the parts for this will likely be custom jobs or entirely original parts designed one day and created the next."
"Your best estimate then?" Janeway asked as she took the reply of his in stride.
"Assuming I can get the materials, tools, equipment, work space and personnel I need and we all work non-stop until it is assembled and programmed?" , he asked rhetorically before continuing, "At least three weeks but probably closer to a month and a half. I doubt anything we have to design and create will work on the first try and there will most certainly be set backs that will have to be taken into account. Given that those alien ships will be looking for us from now on I think it would be best to find some nebula to hide in until either the Gundam is complete or we find another way to deal with them. Besides it will give Lt. Torres time to make repairs."
"Fine. Get on it. You have permission to requisition whatever materials and personnel you deem necessary to get this 'gundam' completed." , Janeway stated with a tone that indicated it was a done deal, "If there is nothing further to discuss then I suggest we all get to work."
With that the meeting was concluded and the various members of the senior staff began to file out of the room. He though stayed behind in the hopes that he could ask the Captain what in the name of Kahles she was thinking putting such confidence in him. He of course had confidence in her abilities to lead, the troubles she had managed to seem the ship through in the past were proof enough of that, it was more himself that he lacked confidence in. He was just a lieutenant and he was being handed a project that could either save or destroy the ship depending on his inventing skills? Man they were so screwed. When the room was finally empty he began to move towards the Captain who was still looking over some datapads containing systems status reports and no doubt other ideas for dealing with their new aquaintences. After a few moments in which she seemed to take no notice of him he coughed lightly and as he had hoped she looked up at him.
"Something else you wished to discuss Lieutenant Stone?" Captain Janeway asked in a slightly confused manner.
"Yes Captain. I am slightly confused as to why you would be willing to devote so much time and resources to the pet project of a lieutenant such as myself." , he explained as he tried to sound respectful yet questioning, "Especially since even I don't know whether or not I'll be able to build a working Gundam at all much less in the time frame I mention. This won't be like modifying a shuttle. We will literally be building something from scratch."
"Lieutenant Stone we have been working in uncharted waters since we landed in the Delta Quadrant. Every system in the ship has been modified or outright replaced at one point or another with it most times being to our benefit." , Janeway stated as she put the padd she had been looking at to the side indicating that she was giving him her full attention, "While I'll admit that your Gundam will be slightly more out there than anything we have attempted before you seem to know what you are doing. Besides contrary to what you are probably thinking B'Ellana actually considers you one of her best people."
"She does!?" he said while trying to keep the shock out of his voice.
"Yes. So if the head of Engineering has confidence in you then maybe you should have a little in yourself." Janeway stated with what must have been her best encouraging smile.
"Alright but I reserve the right to say I told you so if this winds up blowing up in our collective faces." He said humorously as he moved towards the exit.
"Duly noted." Replied the Captain.
Once the door closed and he made his way to the turbo-lift he had only one thing to say about his current situation "Oh yeah! Not too much pressure on me! No not too much at all!"
Cargo Bay 4, The Next Day, 9:00a.m
Okay, here goes nothing! Jason thought to himself as he stood in the middle of the cargo bay that the Captain had set aside for the construction of the Gundam.
There were materials off to the side as well as a fairly decent computer workstation that would be used for the software programming end of the deal. He had a feeling that the rest of the space would be filled up pretty quickly one way or another but hopefully when his time was up and it was time to show something for all their effort it would be well worth it. Today he would be laying down the cornerstone of what had become very important to him over the past five years. He would be assigning specific tasks to each member of the team he had listed in his request that he had sent off last night. It would be of course up to the Captain's personal decision but she seemed determined to give him all the rope he would ever need to hang himself if he was not careful. Still the worse that meant was to be transferred to waste management for a month or two. After all he was sure that the senior staff were pursuing other avenues of attack to deal with these mobile suit using aliens so even if he falls flat on his face they'll find some way of making sure they still survive.
With a sound he recognized he knew his team had finally decided to show themselves and it was time to see who the Captain had cut from his list and whom she had chosen as replacements. The look that appeared on his face though was not one he wanted plastered on his face when addressing his 'troops' for the first time. Mostly because it was one of shock, surprise and more than little confusion since it seemed with the exception of B'Ellana every member of his chosen team was present. The Klingon/Human hybrid was probably swamped with repair detail in all sections of the ship along with putting something together to combat the aliens. He was still wary of his good fortune so far as he knew that for as much good luck he could expect to get an equal portion of bad luck somewhere down the road. He just hoped that it would not come at the expense of the ship and its crew. After all he had expected from the beginning that one of his hair-brained schemes would wind up killing him but he would never wish anything bad to happen to the crew of Voyager.
Well no sense setting yourself up for failure with negative thoughts. , he thought to himself as he looked over the faces of those he would have too work with over the next month or so, Might as well get things started. Time is against us and I want as much time as we can scrounge in order to triple check every single item.
Putting his hands behind his back he prepared to address the people in front of him although his stance had more to do to keep his hands from fidgeting in plain view.
"As you already know from the events of the past few days we have come up against an enemy with a style of attack never seen in the Alpha quadrant. Unfortunately this means that the majority of our offensive and defensive systems were designed without an opponent like this as well." , He stated as he allowed his eyes to do the walking back and forth among them, "This has put us at a disadvantage and it is a great one that we as a group have been tasked with overcoming. To do that the Captain has tasked me with creating a mobile suit capable of meeting these aliens on their own terms and winning. Keeping that in mind I have chosen you to help me design and construct the mobile suit which will be referred to as a gundam class mobile suit. Much like Voyager it is intended to be the very latest and most sophisticated of its kind in the entire quadrant. I have no idea whether or not we can do this be let's give it our best shot."
Looking to the first member of the team he could tell that the man was at a loss as to why he was here at all.
"Doctor you will be working primarily in sick bay designing two flight suits for those who will be piloting this Gundam. Keep in mind to design the suits to take the edge off of the serious acceleration and sudden changes in direction. One of the primary advantages the enemy mobile suits have over the ship is their maneuverability and speed which makes it logical that our suit will have to either match or surpass them in those areas." , Jason stated calmly as he handed a data padd with all the relevant information to the holographic doctor, "You'll have to co-ordinate with the team in charge of designing the cockpit as well as the propulsion team in order to properly design it. Can you do it?"
"I'll admit I have never undertaken anything like this before … but I will do what I can." The Doctor said with an uncertain smile.
"Just do your best. After all that is all that can really be expected of any of us right?" Jason said as he gave a brief pat on the shoulder as a sign of encouragement.
Moving on to the next team he had to admit that this was the team he expected the most of when taking in the task as a whole.
"Tom, you and Seven of Nine will be in charge of designing the propulsion systems. As the person who managed to break the warp ten barrier you have proven innovative in your designs as well as unconventional in your thinking. This is going to be an asset in the designing of the Gundam." , Stone said as he turned to the blonde former drone, "Seven you represent a storehouse of knowledge from your time among the collective of the Borg. Sift through the information centered around propulsion and help Tom come up with something that will suit our needs."
Both nodded though Seven seemed a little insulted at the thought that she needed Tom's assistance on the task. In her mind she probably thought that she was vastly superior and that Paris would only slow her down. He himself hoped they would act as an equalizer for each other with Tom providing his imagination and Seven adding her self-discipline and efficient mind to the mixture. Together he had little doubt that everything would work out at least on their end.
Moving on he came to the person whom he felt would cause him to have more than one monster headache before the project reached its conclusion.
"Tuvok, while I know that at least half of your time will be spent with the ship's weapon's systems I would like you to utilize whatever free time you have to design the Gundam's weapons system and combat computer. Since it is unlikely that you will be able to design a revolutionary targeting system in the time we have been given I would suggest that you focus your efforts on making it easier for the pilot to manually target an enemy and anticipate tactics." , Jason said as he tried to sound as logical as possible, "If we cannot rely on a computerized targeting system to hit our prey then we must look to other avenues to solve the problem."
"Logical." The Vulcan replied with a raised eyebrow and a nod.
Oh yeah, BIG headaches coming my way! he thought to himself as he restrained himself from rolling his eyes.
This came to the last team which made him worry only in as much as it was for the retelling of his past escapades and tardiness.
"Valia and Kim, you will be in charge of the Gundam's sensors and navigation arrays. With so many targets flying around out there I'll need to have a good grasp of the battle field as well as a way to keep from getting run over by the enemy." , Jason stated as he dared his friend from engineering to make a comment, "Make sure the sensors can keep track of as many as objects as possible as well as a detailed analysis so I don't detonate an explosive or power core by accident. The navigational array should try and work in concert with the sensors to warn me of oncoming objects that might either pass me or collide."
Valia of course had to smirk at the mental image of him messing up either by detonating a torpedo or smacking into something no matter whether it was by accident or on purpose. Unfortunately it was at that time that her mind clued into the fact that he had indicated that he would be the one to pilot the Gundam.
"Wait a minute! You intend to be the Gundam's pilot?" , she asked with some confusion and perhaps some anger, "Shouldn't you stay on the ship in case something goes wrong?"
"It's exactly because something could go wrong that I have to be piloting the Gundam. If something malfunctions I want to be able to correct the flaw on sight rather than simply relay commands to someone else who won't know the system as well as I will by the time its completed." , Jason stated as he turned around so he wouldn't have to see the look he was sure Valia was sending his way right at that moment, "Besides unlike the Gundams from which I am drawing my basic design this mobile suit will be larger in order to accommodate a second cockpit from which an engineer will be keeping an eye on the systems and make repairs so I can keep my mind on the battle."
This caused Valia's disgruntled feelings to vanish as he knew she would make sure that she was the one to take the position of mobile suit engineer. He almost felt pity for anyone else who tried out for the position given his experience with Valia and her getting what she wanted. He had been forced to do many a menial duty and fork over plenty of replicator rations in order to 'persuade' her to keep a few secrets and tell a few lies. Anyone who challenged her had better be prepared for one helluva fight and prepared for some of the most underhanded moves ever conceived.
"I myself will be working to co-ordinate the efforts of the entire group as well as design the main body that all of your individual projects will be incorporated into." He stated at last in the hope of curtailing any thoughts some of the team might be having that he was just going to sit on his butt and order them around.
"The rest of your will be assigned according to each section head's needs and time constraints. If one section is falling behind then personnel will be reassigned to help bring it up to par with the others. If any section has more crew members than is absolutely necessary than the excess members will be reassigned to those sections that could use the extra help" , he explained to the crew members whom he had not addressed personally, "Any questions?"
"Yeah, where did you come up with such a lame idea anyways?" a male crew member whom he did not recognize asked.
This is going to be a llloooooonnnnggggg day! he thought to himself as he could no longer keep himself from rolling his eyes and looking at the ceiling of the cargo bay.