Post by Admin on Mar 31, 2016 6:03:56 GMT
Tholian Parking Only
Postby DeirdreMcGowan » Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:20 am
"Engineering... gods... we're going to need a bigger cage to keep it in," Quintus quipped from her seat in the command chair.
"Oh, easy for her to say," McGowan thought to herself. It had taken over a day of meticulous planning just to get the specs for the small one, and now she had to build a big one in a hurry. She retreated from the bridge into the lift, thinking all the while. Ordering the lift to ME, she considered the possibilities.
They did have guest quarters with independent environmental systems, but all of those were designed to work from -10°C to 80°C. To get it over 100°C and up near 200° where the Tholian wouldn't work, as the room wouldn't be able to insulate properly. Retrofitting quarters just for the insulation necessary would take well over a week at standard speed, and maybe three days non-stop, and that didn't even include the rest of the necessary installations.
Building a new, larger container? Just as time consuming, she figured as she stepped out of the lift and toward the large double doors that led into Main Engineering. She wasn't sure if they had the materials available anyway after making the first one. The cargo bay where the current oven was stored wouldn't do either, it was an interior bay and not shielded much better than standard rooms... but a shuttle bay... that was definitely shielded properly. If it can handle space radiation it can definitely handle a bit of standard heat, and keep it all nice and tidily locked in.
Stepping into her office she pulled up the specs for the deck three bay. Yes, the main interior doors could be sealed shut, and the control room already has an airlock for emergency situations and would work nicely. It was most certainly roomy enough for an extended stay, and plenty of room for the medicos to stomp around in EV suits, anyway. Then assuming the Tholian survived and thrived it would definitely have enough room to pace around in frustration, too. Mentally she flicked the shuttles right out of the bay and turned her attention to the details.
Heat, that was the main annoyance of dealing with the whole Tholian mess, so how to achieve it? After a few seconds of looking over the bay specs she hit upon the solution, and elegantly simple it was, too. With EPS conduits above, below and to both sides of the bay it would be straight-forward enough to tap them and use some of the throughput on space-heating. She made a note and moved on.
The environmental controls wouldn't have to be modified too much to get a Tholian atmosphere, and as the bay was already capable of acting independently and had high-heat capable scrubbers, some of the extras she'd used for the smaller oven in the first place. She tapped in another note. They already had a few of the modified replicator bits ready to go, she'd just have to steal them and blame the delay in installing them into LeGran's quarters on the silicoid. Another note.
Yes, this would certainly work for a while, she thought. They'd have to jam the shuttles from the bay into the other two, but other than the nuiscance, and probably some safety code, it wouldn't bother her conscience any. If her teams could get the essentials functioning right away and get the Tholian tucked into a biobed for the medical types to work on, they could deal with adding creature comforts later. No point in making a house a home until you're sure the occupant is going to live to need them.
"McGowan to bridge," she said over the comm. "We're going to turn shuttle bay two into a Tholian nest, so I'd suggest you get someone on the job of valet parking the shuttles elsewhere."
She exited her office, notes and specs in hand, to start barking orders at her engineers.