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Star Trek Enterprise

Here We Stand

Chapter 06

Accentuating the Positives Mitigating the Negatives.

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Horatio was elbows deep in the forward phase cannons. An idea had struck him last night and wouldn't go away so at two AM he showered and dressed then got to work. The Star Fleet had for years used pulse plasma cannons that were slow-firing but very strong. The new Phase Cannons were better in several aspects but could be improved upon.

That was his mission here. He wanted to improve on the current generation of weapons with his knowledge on the Federations Phasers and the Klingons brutal disruptors he wanted to adjust them into more formidable weapons.

Admiral Forest had given his approval for the upgrades in secret using a level ten encryption the highest that Earth has. This would make sure that not even the Vulcans knew of the Capabilities of the ship's weapons, similar encryption was used for the adjustments to the Warp Engines the new Warp 5 engine had been retrofitted for its true speed Warp 6.5.

This speed could only be activated through the use of a key. Known as the Red Key, it was given to the Captain, Chief Engineer and the two Pilots. These keys would unlock the subroutines allowing the ships navigational computers to increase the speed until they are then removed. There use similar to that of the nuclear launch keys.

He was finishing the last of the adjustments when the door to the armoury opened. He didn't bother to check who it was as the armoury while in space dock was sealed to anyone under the rank of Lieutenant. At this time of day, there was only one Lieutenant on the station that being Malcolm Reed, the only other trunking officer was Commander Tucker. He always liked to announce his arrival by loudly calling the name of the person he was looking for.

"what can I do for you, Mal?" he asked as he was calibrating the weapon. He pulled himself out of the alcove that housed the weapon he faces, and hands smeared in oil and grease, giving him the almost laughably dark marks on his face reminiscent of camouflage paint.

"what are you doing?" He asked, unsure of how to approach the subject. Several work crews had told him that the Commander had been working on doing something to the weapons but kicked them out to do it by himself.

"making much-needed adjustments." He said, grabbing a three-quarter inch wrench and attaching it, he began making more adjustments to something Malcolm suspected was the projector port but couldn't be sure.

"to the weapons?" Malcolm was getting closer to the man's position to see exactly what he was doing.

"no, to the bar." he said sarcastically as he put the wrench back and picked up a smaller tool he recognised as a laser scalpel. "of course, the weapons."

"what precisely have you done?"

"can you give me a minute?" he asked, there was a quick burst of sparks before he replaced the tool and pulled himself out of the alcove. "I need to finish this up, and you're distracting me a bit." He said as he went to the computer and began running a simulation. As the simulations came back positive, he turned to Malcolm with a tired smile. "right, what did you want?"

"the weapons," he said, crossing his arms. "what have you done to the weapons."

"I've improved them." He said as if stating the obvious

"How have you improved them what precisely have you done?" he asked, he didn't demand as making demands to a superior officer never went well, but he did strongly infer he wanted to know.

"let me show you." Horatio loved to pull Malcolm's leg now and again, but he knew not to take it too far. He indicated to the computer, "Watch and lean young grasshopper." He allowed the computer to run the simulation and Malcolm was mesmerised.

"Is this true?" he asked as the weapons output numbers were astonishing if the data was right then the phase cannons were almost as power full as a Vulcan Suurok class Combat Cruisers weapons. "you're not pulling my leg again?" He asked his eyes, not leaving the console screen.

He gasped in exaggerated shock, holding his hands over his hart.

"you wound me deeply." He said holding a limp hand to his forehead fulling off a flawless dramatic swoon, "Woe is me, Et Tu, Mal?" he then executed a perfect fall landing, mostly painlessly, down on the floor lying down "I can see the light in the distance."

"would you get up?" He sighed exasperatedly with the antics of his superior officer

"it's getting cold."

"would you please stop" he was trying hard not to smile.

"Tell my tale to those who ask. Tell it truly, the ill deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. The rest... is silence" Horatio gave a loud, exaggerated death rattle before tilting his head and lolling his tong out of his mouth.

The two were silent for a moment before Malcolm broke into a small chuckle that became a full laugh. This caused Horatio to laugh, he got to his feet and hung his right arm over Malcolm's shoulders, giving him a one-armed hug.

"that has to be Oscar-worthy." He smiled

"oh aye, Oscar for worst performance while on duty." Malcolm responded as the two got to the computer. "come on tell me what you did?" he asked almost in a whine.

Horatio spent the time to give him the full rundown, the forward weapons would have the more powerful pulse cannons but could also switch to beam weapons this would give him as the armoury officer more options in a tactical situation and giving the weapons a variable yield in a way that the originals would never have. The two officers would spend the rest of the day adjusting the targeting computer and updating the computers tracing ability.

The computer could now target over two thousand individual targets, designate the most militarily lethal and designate them as priority targets and filter the rest through a colour coded system that was easily readable and simple to use. They also spent about three days updating and adjusting the Active, Passive, multispectral and motion scanning equipment. The new system could track something the size of a marble at relativistic speeds.

Once they were finished, they were finished with the weapons and sensors they had to do the most difficult part the reactors this would be Commander Tucker's realm, and they needed to approach the upgrades very carefully, they didn't want to blow the ship up by accident.

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With the new equipment installed, they were well on track to finish the ship within six months. The Hull plates were being produced quickly, and the quality control was being handled by Star Fleet engineering corps every plat that passed was stamped with a proof mark and initials of the quality checker as a means of accountability.

It was a similar system that the old militaries of earth used to use when proofing weapons. It proved very effective as very few of the plates failed the test, let alone the second set of teste that Horatio insisted on. The computer core was the next component that Horatio, Reed and Tucker would adjust.

After demonstrating how suspectable to hacking the system could be, by hacking a nearby warp delta and making it do a few barrel rolls in front of Admiral Forest, we began constructing security protocols. These would give each officer and member of the crew along in code that limited them to access only what they were cleared to access. While this seems like paranoia given the recent issues that Star Fleet command had suffered made such protocols more needed than ever.

Every Star Fleet ship would have a prefix code that would allow them to be remotely shut down the weapons and the propulsion of the ship effectively make Star Fleet ship near unhackable. The codes would be known by Captain level and up, but only they and the flag officers would have the security clearance to access them.

The system was comprehensive, and they had to rebuild the computer core from scratch practically, almost every component had been upgraded or changed in some fundamental way. Once all the kinks were worked out, and all the computer issues were fixed. The system was vastly more intuitive and capable of computing more data.

The only system that wasn't drastically overhauled in the software and hardware upgrade was the communication systems. That system remained mostly the same but contained better encryption software making it more difficult for anyone to listen in on the communications being sent to and from the ship.

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The new computer system was up and running, and the work crew were fine-tuning the system as the final part of the computer integration. The last panel had been attached, and stress-tested successfully, so the ship looked like a ship again. There was still a few internal things that needed to be updated. The Bridge wasn't finished as the Captain's Chair had yet to be installed

"you want to what?" Demanded Tucker as he ran another simulation on the warp engines.

"make some adjustments to the Impulse engines." Horatio said, handing the man a pad and on what he wanted to do. "it's a small adjustment that should up the engine efficiency by ten per cent and drops the power consumption by five."

"I can see that, but with the new reactor package engineering put in these should be unnecessary." He said as he began to adjust the code and rerun the simulation. "You've told me multiple times that were on a tight schedule to get this ship finished. This upgrade will set the bridge completion back about a week."

"True, I suppose we could do it after launching." He admitted. Even if he knew the Commander would be testing the upgrades within days. Tucker was a true hotrodder at hart and getting the ship to go even fractionally faster is something that he was determined to do, be it warp or sub-light, he wanted to be the fastest.

"have you seen the captain's chair?" Horatio asked Tucker as the two men looked over the simulation. The Warp engines new inertia dampeners had been installed, and the core was on its way up by specially constructed shuttle pod. He was simulating to make sure the engine was safe. As soon as it was installed and the hull fully attached, they would be running the ship out for tests.

"no, why?" Tucker asked as the simulation came up green again

"I lost it." He said as Tucker reinput the calculations as if he said nothing at all.

"what do you mean you lost it?" he asked, looking inquisitively at the man.

"It was on its way and was signed for, but it's not on the ship or the station, and the cargo ship doesn't have it either." He said he then looked up at him

"Oh, you think we can push the engines farther before burn out or is 6.53 the best we can get," Tucker said with an easy-going smile, but there was something about it that seemed slightly forced and not completely genuine.

"can we get back to the chair?" Horatio spluttered indignantly; he couldn't believe how nonchalant he was about a potential security breach.

"Oh sure, it's not like the engines are important." the response was slightly overly dramatic.

"yes, they are," he admitted before continuing. "But this could be a security breach."

"it's a chair." He said completely deadpan

"it's not just a chair."

"it's a nice chair."

Before Horatio could fly off the handle, Malcolm made his presence known as he rushed into the engine room. He was slightly pink in the face and slightly breathless but not like he had been running long distance. He looked slightly panicked and rushed up to the two.

"someone has absconded with the captain's chair." He paused for breath "I have checked every storage compartment and lab space, but it's not on the ship." He had a pad in his hand and gave it to Horatio. "you signed for it so you must know where it is."

"yes, commander Tucker was just explaining where it is." The two looked at him deadpan for a moment as Reed began to catch his breath, the moment seemed to the dragon on for what felt like minutes before the engineer broke.

"Alright, I lent it out." He admitted raising his hands in mock surrender.

"you what?" Malcolm almost shrieked

"Crewman Daniels wanted to take some pictures with it, and then Lieutenant Braxton wanted to, and before I knew it, the whole crew wanted to take some pictures on it and well, I lent it out so we could get some work done."

"where is the chair?" Reed stressed each word.

"it's in the storage room five on the station." Neither man had never seen Malcolm move so fast Horatio quipped

"I hadn't seen him move so fast even when we were under fire."

"I think he needs to lay off the coffee," Tucker said as he got back to the calculations. Horatio followed Malcolm out at a more sedate pace. By the time he got to storage room five on the station, Malcolm was in fine voice.

"This is not a pleasure cruise!" he roared as ten officers and three crewmen "how dare you breach security in this manner."

"I am disappointed." He interrupted Malcolm before he blew himself out. He was beginning to turn an unhealthy colour of beetroot when he got there. "seeing as I don't know how many of you are guilty and how many are innocent, I can't just single you out." He reasoned "so instead the whole shift will have to be punished. He grabbed the communicator and pressed a different set of buttons and called out. "Nowhere this all of Bravo shift will report to briefing room three on the station immediately."

The voice was broadcast overall internal communication lines on the station and the ship. It took a moment for the thirteen in front of him decided to move, so he put on his drill instructor hat and got them moving at a brisk jog. They were the last to arrive in the room, and he took his position at the head of the room.

"Welcome, I'm sure you're wondering why I asked you all to be here?" he said as the thirteen he came in with were all standing behind the group. "when I sign for a piece of equipment, and it's not where it's supposed to be, I could be court-martialled for theft as the buck stops with the last signature on the pad." He said eyeing the whole crew "So when I sign for something, and it's not there because someone moved it without signing the work pad it's understandable that I would be a touch upset." His eyes narrowed as he watched over the crew. "but when I find that not only has the pad not been signed but the crew is using the item in question as a photo opportunity like it's a tourist trap, that is wholly unacceptable."

The punishment that he had them running laps around the station and ship for two hours singing sea shanties and for the next week every crewman on Bravo shift had to sing a sea shanty while they worked. It was ear-splitting for a while, but he got them in tune and working very hard that whole week.

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Slowly the ship was becoming much more capable ship for Star Fleet's purpose, with the stronger weapons and defensive capabilities the ship could handle most of the races of the region effectively. With the sensors upgraded the ship could perform its role as an explorer more effectively, and the upgraded computer systems now allow for the scientific teams and labs to do more comprehensive tests and push the boundaries of scientific knowledge farther much faster.

Everything they had done so far was to make the ship much more effective and much more robust in its original role. But with this comes the ability for Star Fleet to defend their own space and expand their territory, should they shish to, every part of the NX was made to prove not only that Star Fleet took its exploration role seriously, but it could defend itself. The rest of humanity should the need arise.

As the last of the Hull plating was tested and installed, the construction was complete. They just needed to do the checks and tests in the solar system of the engines and weapons systems as well as the sensors. It would be another seven months before the ship would be ready to be deployed. Still, all too quickly life throws ossicles in the path and one summer day in a cornfield in Broken Bow Oklahoma the future came knocking and knocked with a Disruptor pistol in hand.