Destabilized

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2026 @ 5:33pm by Lieutenant Jennifer Matthews

Mission: Royal Mail
Location: Deep in a Jeffries Tube
Timeline: Day 451, Afternoon
661 words - 1.3 OF Standard Post Measure

There it was.

The fracture along the gyroscope could not reveal its true depth under the flashlight that shone on it, but the portable scanner Jenni held did not need illumination to do its work. A variety of methods ranging from echolocation to depth perception confirmed that the fracture had transformed into a true crack that had mostly split the primary arm from connection to connection. One good jolt from weapons fire or any sort of turbulence would absolutely shorten the port stabilizer’s life.

It didn’t spell doom for the Atlantis, but it would put the ship into a precarious position. The vessel sported two of these units, one on each side. Each unit operated in tandem with each other to keep artificial gravity alive, which was essential for both electrified plasma for day-to-day use and warp plasma to flow in proper directions. In addition, the ship’s turn rate would be significantly reduced, condemning the Atlantis to limp wherever she went.

Jenni didn’t need the Captain to tell her that this would be unacceptable. She clicked her flashlight off, but remained laying on the catwalk that stretched under the suspended stabilizer. Jenni glanced to her left where her open tool kit lay. She deactivated her scanner and placed it and the flashlight in the open kit, but not in their designated spaces. She lifted a the sole padd from the kit, which had been pre-programmed with various schematics. As she pointed it at her face, the screen became illuminated, displaying the schematics for the stabilizer.

She had become accustomed to reviewing schematics like these, not to familiarize herself with how they functioned and how to maximize their efficiency. Engineers had two jobs, maintain and innovate. Maintaining without an infinite supply of human parts continued to increase the challenge difficulty. Innovation now required ingenuity; either trading for parts that could be adapted into Atlantis' infrastructure, or finding ways to fashion suitable replacements using anything they could find.

Using foreign deuterium that went through a different refinement process was one thing. But finding a suitable stabilizer among these alien cultures was another. Could it fit in the available space? Would it run on the EPS grid? These were all questions that could be answered if the ship had a port to call home and weeks to dismantle and rebuild the system.

But they didn't have a home port. And they didn't have weeks to rebuild the system.

That brought Jenni back to the real reason she reviewed these schematics and gave critical parts a different eye. The question she had was... how could she re-machine certain components to keep Atlantis operating without a trip to spacedock? And now she'd been presented with the first real test. Could it actually be done?

Jenni laid the padd down on her chest. The device went to sleep almost immediately, it's gyroscope realizing it had been placed face down on a surface. Jenni's brown eyes returned upward, and quickly locked in on the crack. "It's just an arm," she muttered. "An arm... on one of the most crucial components on this ship."

She counted the bolts that held it into place. Then notated the available area around it that would serve as access points. Three panels would have to be removed in order to get the arm out and a new arm in. That could be fashioned well enough with their dwindling stock of materials. But perhaps the stabilizing components could be disassembled, cleaned, and strengthened before reassembly.

A sigh escaped her lips. It was a gamble, but one that would have to be taken.

The only real question was... could Engineering get the replacement manufactured before the stabilizer had to face that additional stress?

Another sigh. Jenni rolled over and began to reassemble her tool kit. There was only one way to find out, and that that meant pulling together the team and workshopping a solution before taking it to the Captain.