Bright Idea

Posted on 10 Jun 2014 @ 6:59pm by Captain Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant JG Ivan Dash
Edited on on 29 Jun 2014 @ 8:21pm

865 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Pursuit
Location: Bridge / Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: February 2, 2388 || 0730 hours

Ensign Ivan Dash Bounced his PADD against his leg as the turbo lift took him to the bridge. His shift was not for 30 more minutes, but Ivan wanted to talk to the Commander about the research he had been doing.

The turbo lift doors opened to the bridge and Ivan stepped out. The Commander was not in his seat so Ivan made his way over to the ready room door and pressed the call button just out side the door. He stood there waiting nervously. Ivan had not had that much experience with the Commander yet and was not sure how he would react to his helms man doing research out side of his assigned position. But Ivan had always had an interest in Engineering, even if he had never scored great marks in the classes at the academy. Ivan just always chalked that up to the fact that he does not test well.

Harvey hadn't been able to rest, the events of the day still eating away at him. He didn't care how but he was going to get the answers he needed. The turbolift doors opened, depositing him on the bridge before Alpha Shift. The watch officer looked up, but Harvey quickly waved him back on duty. Harvey wasn't eager to take the chair just yet.

Noticing Ensign Dash standing outside the Ready Room, Harvey approached the helmsman. "Come on in," he said, his presence alerting the doors to part. "Something to drink?" he asked, stepping up to the replicator for a cup of coffee.

Ensign Dash stepped in behind the Commander. "Yes sir, some coffee will be perfect, thank you. I guess in the future I should ask the computer your location before charging off to find you huh?" Ivan asked sheepishly.

"I wouldn't worry about that," Harvey replied, entering the requests in to the replicator. After the steel mugs materialized, the captain walked over and handed one to the ensign. "I'm in my office quite often. You happened to catch me at an odd time, that's all."

Harvey sat behind the desk, gesturing to the Ensign to take a seat if he wanted. "What brings you here before Alpha shift, Ensign?"

Ivan took the seat that was offered to him and a long drink of the coffee. "Well Commander, I was doing a bit of research about Tetryon beams in my off time. Considering what tactical was saying about that ship we came across a few days back I felt it was in my best interest to be on top of what info we have." Ivan handed over the PADD he had with him, on it he had booked marked the reports he had been reading. "From everything I have read it seems to me that Tetryon will cause hell on our shields, but that they bounce harmlessly off solid things like a ships hull. This caused me to think of something. If that ship fires it's beam at us, why don't we just turn off the shields? Lieutenant Noxa would have to be very quick, but I bet you that weapon has a recharge rate." Ivan took another sip of his coffee and lead back in his chair as he marveled at what had just come out of his mouth. He had never been very good at research, but yet here he was with a good idea and research to back himself up with. Even if the commander found a flaw with the idea, Ivan was very proud of himself.

"Anything out here has a recharge rate," the Captain replied, skimming through the PADD. He sat there for a couple minutes, looking through the proposal. If he had learned anything during the Dominion War was that tactics in any form had to be planned and executed perfectly. Even being off a fraction of a second would cost lives.

Finally, he looked up and handed the PADD back over to the Ensign. "I have a couple concerns, which I believe Lieutenant Noxa will also share, but I think the idea is rather sound. Anything could happen while the shields are down, including boarding parties or a stray shot breaching the hull."

Dash nodded as the Commander spoke "I understand, my thought process was it would be better to drop our shields and have them available to instantly re-activate then have the shields go threw a recycle. If they got hit and we had to take the time to recycle them, that would leave us exposed for a lot longer. We will face a risk regardless, I was trying to find the smallest risk available to us."

"And that you did," Harvey replied, leaning back in his chair and taking a sip of the hot coffee. "I appreciate your ingenuity. Perhaps there is a way it can work. Work with Lieutenant Noxa and see if maybe windows can be opened in the shields, letting the tetyrons pass through, instead of simply dropping the shields."

Ensign Dash took up his cup and PADD and stood " Thank you Commander for your time, Ill go find the Lieutenant and show her what I have found." Ivan turned to the door and made his way out.

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