Computing Power
Posted on Sun Dec 10th, 2023 @ 9:31pm by Commander Kevin Lance
Mission:
CSI: Chuck Norris
Location: USS Chuck Norris
Timeline: Current
on:
{Computer Lab}
Commander Rodale’s instructions rang in his ears as Kevin departed the barracks. “That is your problem,” she had said, “Take over the excess power issue with the computer and make sure the Captain’s orders are followed.“ He was accustomed to being the Executive Officer’s taskmaster from his days as Chief Tactical Officer aboard the Indy but here he lacked the positional authority that his previous role conferred.
The instructions would make it easier for him to conduct the investigation tasked to him by Admiral Desai. But he worried that it was too convenient. A less suspicious man might conclude that he had fooled her. Kevin didn’t believe that, however. Lieutenant Commander Rodale was too smart to be that easily manipulated.
She knew about him receiving the priority communication but hadn’t pressed him on the contents. Kevin was fearful that despite the precautions, she knew the whole story and have purposefully assigned him these responsibilities to test his loyalty to the ship and her Captain.
It was an aggressive move in the game that was being played. It put him on the defensive and he would have to tread lightly to avoid arousing additional suspicions.
Kevin entered the Computer Lab and addressed the technicians, “Commander Rodale has suffered an injury and has delegated the examination of the increased power consumption to me.” The technicians looked confused and one asked if the injuries were life threatening.
“The XO never delegates,” the woman exclaimed, “She must be on death’s door or unconscious!”
This statement, though an accurate portrayal of the Lieutenant Commanders devotion to duty, caused Kevin to worry even more. Why had she delegated this to him? There were others who were better technically suited to the task. And even bloodied, she had still looked more than capable of doing the inspection herself.
Pushing his fears aside, Kevin adopt a business like tone, “Be that as it may. Pull up the power consumption records for the computer core since our departure from Earth.” The technician moved to follow his orders.
The graph of the power consumption had been steady from Earth to Vulcan and during the first hours of their return. Then consumption had grown slowly over time peaking just before the Grazerite clone’s time of death and remaining steady since. Kevin noted with satisfaction that the additional demands placed by his use of Admiral Desai’s security program had not registered a spike.
“Why wasn’t this reported earlier,” he asked.
“Increased consumption due to isolinear chip failure isn’t uncommon,” the technician explained, “Usually we take systems off-line until we identify the errant component, then we perform maintenance.”
“And you can’t take systems offline during a yellow alert,” Kevin replied remembering procedure.
“Precisely,” the woman acknowledged, “Initially we logged by ignored the problem and since it has been become so significant, we have tried different methods to identify the location but so far have been unsuccessful.” The technician proceeded to show those different methods to Kevin, most of which seemed overly complex.
Throughout the presentation, Kevin thought about the problem, possible causes and effects. Suddenly he asked, “Has there been any unusual demands on life support systems?”
The technician stared at Kevin blankly.
Smirking, he tapped his comm badge, “Lance to Operations.”
=/\= “Go for Operations.” =/\=
“Any significant anomalies in the life support system?”
There was a pause on the comm badge, then =/\= “Aye, sir. The cooling system on deck 5 port side is underperforming but we haven’t been able to ascertain way. It is mostly out of the way so it has been lower on our priority.” =/\=
“Roger, Lance out”
Turning to the technician he ordered, “Take a team down to deck 5 and check the computer component in that area”.
:off
Lieutenant Kevin Lance
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Chuck Norris
