Chief Engineering Officer's Log- Savesh (Nadira)

[NadiraArrant Resident]

United Federation Starfleet
USS Shogun
NCC-73812-A

Engineering Officer's Log: Ensign Savesh
Stardate : 230214.1930

It has been two weeks since we left Pinastri Colony and since I have been assigned this post in Engineering on the USS Shogun. My transition to the Shogun was indirect, and it is only now that I am prepared to make formal duty logs. This will be my first for this mission.

The day began at 0800 hrs in an uneventful manner, as we were occupied in making repairs to the ship whilst orbiting planet H-4569421. Nearly half an hour into the shift (0825), an unidentified vessel appeared in orbit with us, and beamed some objects down to the surface of the planet. Their shields were strong to the point that we could not gather much useful information from a scan. They refused to answer our hails.

Shortly after they left I began to be affected by a pulsating headache, which started out mild and increased rapidly in severity. I am usually able to withstand such intrusions, and the fact that this came upon suddenly and in an uncontrollable manner leads me to believe that this was an attack of some kind, and not a normal physiological headache. Other members of the crew who have some kind of telepathic abilities were also affected; tragically, ENS Marina, our Betazoid member with the strongest telepathic skills, succumbed to this attack and passed away later in the day.

I was able with the help of a hypospray to manage my headache and join the away team to H-4569421's surface to inspect the objects which had been beamed down. There turned out to be three energy-producing devices, and we decided to disengage them and take them back up to the USS Shogun for inspection.

Almost immediately upon beaming down I began to hallucinate images of dogs, which is unusual first because, like headaches, hallucinogenic substances are things which I can usually withstand. Secondly, I am not afraid of animals. Yet these dogs provoked a sense of panic and fear, and I found it immensely difficult to not respond. I was only able to ignore them once I was convinced that they were only hallucinations. The Captain describes this activity as the result of a 'Telepathic Underground', but I have never heard of such an organisation.

The effect of the devices lessened as we deactivated them, with all hallucinations disappearing as the final device was turned off. My role now will be to assist Lieutenant T'Lara in reverse-engineering these devices, as we certainly cannot risk further attacks to our crew in this manner.

End Log.

[NadiraArrant Resident]

Engineering Officer's Duty Log: Savesh
Stardate: 230220.1630

Today's mission was both simple and profoundly challenging. Having recovered three of the psionic energy devices from the planet, I was tasked with the job of collaborating with Lieutenant T'Lara to study the device and find a way to protect ourselves from further similar attacks.

We began the mission in a briefing, where I was presented with my goal. I attempted to clarify with the crew that we actually have two problems to solve: 1. understanding how the device works, and 2. devising a means of protection against it. In solving problems such as this we must be very exacting in defining our specific goals, even if the outcomes are related.

I was stationed with Lieutenant T'Lara in Sciences, where we worked on the device. Exposure to it produced a mild unpleasant sensation, even when the device was inactive. T'Lara informed me that the only similar technology of which she was aware to protect us from the machine was of anti-psionic devices used to help Vulcan children regulate their emotions. I admit I had not heard of these devices before. She researched these as a point of comparison, while I studied our ship's current anti-psionic shielding.

Our anti-psionic shielding is very basic, and only provides meaningful protection against psionic probes. Increasing power to these shields by 5% only boosts their power slightly, and does not increase protection against psionic attacks. However, while working on our current shields I had the idea that a psionic weapon could, in theory, with its power reverted, turn into a psionic shield.

Lieutenant T'Lara thought this a potentially fruitful area to explore, especially as the energy patterns of the psionic device and the Vulcan anti-psionic devices seemed to have some similarities. We worked on the dispersal patterns of the psionic radiation, first to invert them. This had a slight effect of reducing our cranial discomfort, but then it seemed that once we inverted them, we had to increase the radiation levels in order to produce a shield-like effect. This had a fortunate result: we turned the weapon into a shield by inverting its energy flow and invigorating it with radiation energy.

I suggested to the rest of the crew that we could create three anti-psionic shields in this manner, and then attempt to integrate them into our current psionic shielding. However, that is an engineering problem which is equally massive, and which will take more time.

End Log.

[NadiraArrant Resident]

Stardate 230327
18:00

Duty Log designated specifically to Captain Ulrich

Today, seeing as Engineering were working to repair the damage from yesterday's battle with minimal needed supervision from myself, I took a personal day so that I could attend to some niggling problems with the psionic shields. I believe my work has been a success, and that I might have given us 8-10% more power back to engines when the psionic shields are active.

This will need to be tested, of course.

1. I fed in three plasma cannisters to each Devore machine which is producing the shields. Hopefully this will provide a backup source of power so that we can use more of our engines while shields are in use.

2. I rerouted some EPS taps from Holodecks, Shuttlebay lighting, and Astrometrics (optionally, with permission of Astrometrics personnel) to the machines. This means that if we divert power, it will go directly to the shields and free up energy elsewhere to be used for the engines. By splitting it like this it means that the shields aren't directly draining the engine power.

There are two other in-progress projects which may help us more:
1. Dr Skytower has suggested to me that a lead or nitrium overlay may help reinforce our psionic shields. However, I do not know how much of an overlay will be effective. I have asked his and LT T'Lara's advice.
2. It seems that metal can absorb psionic radiation - the scout craft we picked up on the planet a few weeks ago had absorbed it and gave me headaches when I was inspecting it. Spark is also concerned that his materials may absorb psionic radiation. If we can find out this exact mechanism of absorption we may be able to protect ourselves further.

To summarise my perspective on the matter, I feel that this was a successful endeavour, although not perfect.

End Log
Ensign Savesh
Engineering

[NadiraArrant Resident]

Stardate 20230402.1300

Engineering Officer Ensign Savesh reporting.

Today we encountered a drifting Kazon vessel 118.22. At first I was suspicious of their lack of life signs and lack of apparent issues. I wondered if it was an intended ruse...I would not put that past the Kazons.

Unfortunately we found aboard their ship evidence of cruel and brutal destruction. Flayed bodies lay everywhere. I am informed that the other away team gathered important intelligence about the nature of the destruction of the vessel. It appears that some of the Kazon had agreed to work with the TE and viciously destroyed the ship's crew when it did not wish to participate.

My away team was tasked with investigating the Engine Control room. Their warp core was suspiciously the only thing intact; every other system showed evidence of heavy weapons damage. Random systems were offline; not systems which are taken offline for the purposes of preserving a ship. This seems to evidence widespread and effective targeting of ship operations by the TE. All but one of the consoles were damaged and electrically live, and they could not be touched without risking burns. We were able, with the one console that was still safe to touch, to configure the warp core settings to our tricorders. We then blew up the ship at a distance, giving the Kazon their culturally-acceptable funeral.

Going forward, it seems patently clear that we should not underestimate either the TE's ability to destroy, nor the brutality of people who have agreed to work with the TE. This level of violence is unprecedented, even for Kazon culture. However, it appears foolish of the TE to leave such evidence behind for us to discover.

End Log.

[NadiraArrant Resident]

Stardate 230521: 17:30

I have just returned to quarters after a rather busy and interesting shift. We are currently unaware of where we are in space or time, and thus I am seeking to adhere to my routines to strengthen my sense of normalcy.

We have been traversing space in Sector 0037 when we came upon a species requesting medical aid. Having taken damage from last week's rapid-shifting time travel, the Engineering Dept. has been working hard at repairs. Lt Tal is a capable officer who is able to manage our repair teams effectively.

I have been investigating the ongoing problem with the QSD. It appears to be a conflict between the field geometry of the ship's QSD and the deflector array beam at high speed. I suspect this is interfering with the phase variance of the quantum field, which forces us out of the slipstream.
This, of course, will take time to confirm and address.

In the meantime, today's mission has landed us in the unknown, which robs me of that opportunity. We were thrown into an (unusually stable) quantum slipstream until we hacked our way out of it, by an unknown species. Again, Lt Tal's ideas and significant skills allowed us to regain our ship's control. The only benefit I can see to our current predicament is that I may now have data to reverse-engineer what caused their slipstream to be so stable.

End log.

[NadiraArrant Resident]

230528
15:30

I have finally had a moment of peace after a full day's work of maintaining our faltering power systems. Something about this current world in which we find ourselves is unusual, and is draining our usual power supply decay at a 10% higher rate than normal, when we are not using power. When we are firing weapons or shifting up or down in warp speed, we lose 12% on average each time. This is clearly unsustainable.

We encountered a strange lifeform today which gave us the unfortunate opportunity to fully test out our systems' functioning in this unusual environment. We have escaped it for now and are orbiting a Class K planet, hiding and making repairs. My team is mostly fully operational and we should have repairs complete and full power restored within 11.5 hours from now.

Atop all of this I still must continue my investigations into our QSD. We would have benefitted greatly from it today, as it is more energy-efficient and would have helped us avoid the need to use weapons.

It appears this new dimension in which we find ourselves is far from restful.

End Log.

[NadiraArrant Resident]

Stardate 230625
1230h

This is the initiation of the Chief Engineering Officer's log for Savesh (currently at rank of LTjg).
I have been moved from the position of Acting Chief Engineer to Chief Engineer of the USS Shogun, and this is my first log under that specific title.

We have now re-entered our dimension and our proper quadrant, after considerable time fighting temporal technology and aliens bent on punishing us for our mis-existence. The ship is currently in need of extensive repairs, although my Engineering crew have performed adequately in making the most important repairs to our warp drives, shields, and weapons. We have been eagerly anticipating spacedock in order to complete shipwide repairs, however.

Today's mission has dismantled those hopes, however, as we have received a mission which has rerouted us. Suffice it to say that we will not be reaching a spacedock soon.

Furthermore, the particulars of our mission have been particularly taxing for the personal life of one of my Engineering officers, and I am concerned for her wellbeing. I will make a note to keep an eye on her and ensure that she does not need assistance.

End Log.

[NadiraArrant Resident]

230723
1200h

Duty Log, Chief Engineering Officer, USS Shogun.

Today was my first shift back after a few personal days. The crew had come upon an M-Class planet which had been forced into stasis by some unknown species, and then raided by the Kazon. It was a truly unfortunate situation for the inhabitants, who are on the cusp of warp travel technology.

I was briefed by the various departments, and we set to work minimising and destroying the orbs which had been installed on the planet's surface and which had frozen the inhabitants. It was tricky work, but with our coordinative skills, our crew successfully dealt with the issue.

As expected, Mr Venture's assistance proved invaluable, as he was able to notice at the last minute the energy differential between the power of the ship which controlled the orbs and the distance to the orbs - and help us adjust as necessary. We could not have succeeded without his assistance.

We are now tracking the Kazon ship which had plundered the planet, and I have allowed myself to be convinced once again to divert power from 'non-essential' areas in order to improve sensors. I do not think our sensors are strong enough, since this is a regular demand from the rest of the crew. It seems unnecessary.

End Log.

[NadiraArrant Resident]

Recording: Duty Log of Chief Engineer LT(jg) Savesh


230730
1010

Today was a remarkable day for our current mission. We have been tracking the Kazon ship steadily since my last report, and were making progress in overtaking it, when without warning we lost all of our sensors and visuals.

After some experimentation between our department, Sciences, and Ops, our crew determined we were in the midst of a dark matter nebula. We used a combination of manual flying and metreon illumination navigation to find our way out.

Upon exiting the anomaly, we recovered the Kazon trail, already 9 days old. I suspect they were aware of the anomaly and used it to deflect our pursuit.

Nothing remarkable to report from Engineering's side, other than Ensign Brown's forgetfulness is beginning to affect other departments, and we had a few maintenance injuries. I must instruct the team to be more careful.

End log.

[NadiraArrant Resident]

Recording: Duty Log of Chief Engineer LT Savesh

Stardate 230827
1230 hours.

It has been the first eventful day in quite a while. I was enjoying the efficient, calm functioning of the ship, with no issues arising for many days. Of course, on the day that we receive a distress signal, we simultaneously begin experiencing EPS conduit malfunctions. Such a situation must be the inspiration for what the humans call 'bad luck'.

In honesty, I was so occupied with ensuring this ship would operate effectively in battle that I was unable to pay close attention to the intricacies of the encounter with this new alien species. The Kazon have their eternal greedy interest in whatever vulnerable population they can harass, and no matter where we go we encounter defunct Borg technology that less logical species enjoy fighting over and...worshiping, in this case. It all seems like a waste of time.

I must report that the coincidences collided in an unfortunate way. Whilst we were attempting to bypass Kazon interference signals and communicate with the planet by going to the opposite hemisphere, my very ambitious Engineering officer LT Tal offered to replace one of the troublesome EPS conduits. I gave her permission because it seemed that we would be at the opposite side of the planet long enough to replace it and ensure systems would function enough to engage in battle with the Kazon. We needed a fully functional EPS grid to use our shearing weapon.

Unfortunately by the time she arrived to repair the conduit (we have some trouble with some...unambitious Ensigns who can't seem to do a job on their own), we had to come around the other side of the planet to re-engage the Kazon. Before we could pull her out, she fell off a ladder and has sustained an injury. I hear that she is cooperating with Security to get the medical attention she needs.

I look forward with anticipation to a more peaceful shift next time.

End Log

[NadiraArrant Resident]

Recording: Duty Log of Chief Engineer LT(jg) Savesh

Stardate 230903, 1017h

The ship is running well, which is a pleasant situation that I hope continues. All personnel are efficient and communicative, though ENS Brown is unchangeably clumsy both physically and interpersonally. I am striving to have patience in the hopes that he can improve.

Our mission today was more eventful off the ship. We received a very...cloaked, interference-riddled signal, which we followed to a very inhospitable and irradiated planet. We had to work to shut off its defense systems and investigate the outpost.

LTCMDR T'Lara and I deciphered a comms message on the planet which suggests that the Kazon...are attempting to auction off artifacts relating to the temporal gate/gong and psi emitters from the Telepathic Empire. We clearly find this very concerning.

The outpost also contained a science lab, with diagrams relating to the temporal gateway. We have confiscated these diagrams in boxes which protect us from their radiation.

Finally, we found the remnants of a reconstructed gateway, which suggests Temporal technology is in use by the Kazon or by their co-conspirators. Needless to say, we destroyed all this evidence after confiscating everything that we needed.

I look forward to a quieter shift aboard the ship for the rest of the day, perhaps assisting the team with our routine maintenance.

End Log

[NadiraArrant Resident]

230917
12:30

Begin Log Entry

We are currently set in the midst of a safe pocket of space, surrounded by highly unstable metreon radiation, monitoring a planet where we suspect the Kazon have stashed the results of their thievery. We arrived at this location by passing through the radiation put out by a star going nova, at great risk to the ship and its crew.

Myself and ENS Wren worked at first to remodulate the multiphasic shields to provide some protection against the radiation, but at some point it became too much for our systems. Our bio-neural gel packs were affected en masse, causing a cascade failure of our power systems. This normally should not happen, but the amount of packs affected, and the rapidity by which they went down, seems to have bypassed our hybrid system's backups.

A team worked quickly to install new gel packs, but we are still experiencing odd malfunctions. I suspect that the radiation has affected other systems, and the results of that will make themselves known sooner or later. I have modulated the maintenance shift to include systemic manual inspections of all systems, as well as increased the frequency of our diagnostic test routines.

On a completely illogical note, ENS Brown discovered a semi-functioning bio-neural gel pack and became attached to it. Decided to name it 'Jack the Gel Pack' and has taken it back to his quarters to 'nurse' it back to health. I truly do not understand the human proclivity for anthropomorphising technological equipment, even if it is biological in nature. They've even enabled subroutines in the main ship computer to have an emotional overlay. Nothing in my education has prepared me for such...emotiveness. I would deem this fascinating, if it did not cause so many problems.

End Log