Vertangos System
The Hulk
Sinn'Are'Sen stares uncomfortably at the hatch before him: the first reminder that the Hulk was not a normal Republic or Empire ship that he had seen in person. The hanger deck and passageways thus far had been neat and orderly, regular geometric shapes made out of sensible structural materials. The hatch though was not the Republic's preferred sliding-door style hatch nor the Empire's vertical opening hatch. It looked like an iris hatch in design, a round opening that would open and close from all sides, but instead of a handful of smooth blades it was filled with dozens of triangular teeth like the mouth of a deep sea fish.
“Do you think it will work Aubrey?”
“Probably. We should wedge it open though. I don't want any of that closing on me.”
“How is that power generator looking Dara Tonn? Do we need to work quickly or do we have time to be extra cautious?”
“The power generator that you are making for appears stable for the moment. The attached batteries are another matter however. I'm not detecting any power draw on them which means they are probably dangerously overloaded. Haste is advised, but not at the expense of caution or safety.”
“Understood. Give me a hand on this manual override lever Aubrey, it looks a bit rusted.”
It takes several attempts and a smattering of profanity for the two of them to force the lever. The teeth of the hatch slide back and spiral open with awful grinding noises. Sinn gives the lever one last kick for good measure to be sure that it has locked open before ducking through the hatch.
“I see that battery bank you were worried about Dara Tonn. I take it you are watching my eyepiece feeds?”
“Yours and Aubrey's both, so long as you are outside of my hull.”
“I don't like that bulging.”
“Neither do I. That battery bank may as well be a pressure bomb filled with any one of a number of highly caustic compounds. Do not rupture it or dump a power surge through it. I don't have a good read on the power conduits, but it looks like you will need to fully stabilize the power generator and divert power around the battery bank to the rest of the hulk.”
“Do you recognize any of this equipment Aubrey. Any suggestions on where we begin?”
“Some, hopefully enough. My memory module implant has been working overtime bringing me up to speed on engineering matters as that is the 'environment' it believes that I'm working in. This looks like a backup power generator, not the primary one, so it's got a hot plasma loop, a steam boiler to make use of the heat, and a turbine to turn that steam into electricity. What exactly is unstable Dara Tonn?”
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“Pan your camera around the compartment please? Thank you. I am still showing power flow irregularities however I believe I have located where, and perhaps why, they are occurring. Check the valve assemblies and controls for the boiler. One or more of them seems to be set incorrectly for the current pressures. Sinn, I'll direct you to a spot where you can give me an overview of the boiler, plasma loop, and turbine. With that view I can tell what effect a given valve change has on the plant.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Take it slow and careful Aubrey.”
“With super heated steam, hot plasma, and Veil knows what in the battery bank? Careful is a damn given.”
Aubrey carefully stalks over to the cluster of valves at the base of the boiler and kneels down to examine them.
“I'm fairly sure that 'primary water feed' should be set to 'open' instead of half way closed.”
“That has improved the pressure in the boiler, but it is still not functioning properly. Steam is building up but not flowing to the turbine.”
“Keep an eye on that please Dara Tonn while I try to re-route power away from the battery bank before we start the turbine up again. Working with live lines is going to suck major ass, but the insulation on the connectors looks solid enough to keep me safe. None of this is health and safety complaint of course, but we don't exactly have the resources or people power available to do it that way.”
“Affirmative.”
Aubrey moves over and crouches down by the power cabling coming off of the turbine. She removes one cable, then throws it aside in disgust when she sees that it is severed only a half meter or so from the connector. The severed piece lands across two other wires and smokes for a long moment before going up in a mighty blue-white flash. Electrical arcs run down various cables but stop just shy of the battery bank itself. Aubrey looks on in horror and Sinn gulps loudly.
“let's not throw things about willy nilly please Aubrey? If that battery bank goes off we're in deep shit.”
“Yeah, that's a good idea, let's do that. Ok, tracing the line...”
Aubrey tales a pair of long steps back from the power lines then traces out the connections from the battery bank to the turbine one by one, pointing at as well as following them with her eyes from terminal to terminal. As she identifies each one she disconnects it form the turbine and neatly coils it aside.
“I'd prefer to disconnect both ends to be sure, but I;m not getting close to that battery bank if I can help it. Time to spin up the turbine.”
Aubrey moves over to the turbine, dramatically raises a pair of crossed fingers over her head, and turns the star-up valve. It turns with creaks and groans but it comes open and the turbine rattles to life.
“Not the most efficient of pressure settings, but better to be under-powered then over when we can't tell the condition of other connected devices.”
Sinn nods in agreement. “I'd image we'd see or hear things exploding if things re overcharged, but it seems good so far.”
A sharp crack echoes from the passageway out of the compartment and the toothed hatch slams shut. Power arcs across the teeth of the hatch and the ozone stink of arc-welding metal fills the air.
Sinn rolls his eyes in disgust, “I spoke too soon didn't I? Ok, let's see what other ways we have out to this compartment...”
Aubrey points at a large grille set into the deck.
“The other passageways are the same: failed hatches or clogged with debris. We'll have to navigate the air system to get out of here. With luck we'll come across another compartment in short order, but these large grates are not very common out side of 'tech' compartments like this one. It'll be cramped, but it should be clean enough.”