USS Erigone – Bridge – 1200

“You see what I’m talking about?  The engineering computer isn’t communicating with the bridge computer.  Something’s gone wrong in the central computing core.”  Ambrose Harris stood before the Master Systems Display pointing at the failure points.  Beside him stood Master Chief Christopher Grace, a frown on his face.

“That’s downright weird, ‘Brose.  You ever figure out who mothballed this girl?”  Christopher was in his 50’s and tired, but not retired.  He’d worked on enough ships, yards, and stations to know when someone had messed up.  His old friend had given him the tour and walked him through what he was trying to figure out.  At the top of the list was the current situation.

Harris growled, “Yep.  He was reassigned and then demoted and then resigned his commission.  All within six months.  Guy was an idiot.”  He handed over the PADD with the details.  

The master chief chuckled and then let out a slow whistle, “Glad to know he wasn’t on my crews.  Lordy, woulda keelhauled the moron.”  He handed the PADD back, “Well, let’s go dig into the central computing core.”

USS Erigone – Computer Core – 1215

Grace slid through the tubes as he scanned the computer core ahead, “You’re right.  The malfunction is at the core.  Almost like its limiting output.”

Ambrose was ahead of him, pushing forward to the hatch, “I tried to reach the guy but he’s gone dark.  Like weird dark.  Not just off the grid, but…like erased himself somehow.”  He tapped in the codes for the hatch and was rewarded with a beep and a whoosh as it slid open, revealing the core.  He scooted out of the hatch and climbed down the ladder, followed by Christopher Grace.  “Let’s get to work.”  Harris went left and Christopher went right as they scanned each section of the exterior of the core.  The former chief engineer frowned as he went from section to section.  There were odd power fluctuations across conduits and receptors and even the transmitters.  He continued until he met up with the master chief, “You reading the same thing.”  

A nod, “I haven’t seen this…well, I don’t want to say never, but this is master level sabotage work, ‘Brose.  If you had tried to blunt force trauma the power start or even the power fix, this thing woulda shorted out, sent confusing signals to the ship’s systems, and the Erigone woulda been, well…gone.”  He shook his head, “Somebody was playing a game with this ship.  Hell if I know what.”

Ambrose pulled a PADD from his belt and handed it to Christopher, “I did some research on the name of this ship.  It might be a clue.”

Grace clicked open the file and read, “In Greek mythology, Erigone was the daughter of Icarius of Athens. Icarius was cordial towards Dionysus, who gave his shepherds wine. They became intoxicated and killed Icarius, thinking he had poisoned them. His daughter, Erigone, and her dog, Maera, found his body. Erigone hanged herself over her father’s grave.”  He looked up, “That is one helluva backstory for a ship’s name.”

Harris shrugged, “I think our saboteur probably read that and decided the ship needed to go out in style.”  He accepted the PADD back and sighed, “How much work are we going to need to do to get this core back up and running?”

The master chief grimaced visibly, “I think we’re looking at a complete replacement, ‘Brose.  The time we spend trying to unwire whatever madness he put in there is probably going to take us longer than just getting a new core in.  I’m sure I can rate this ship needing a refit or two along the way.  I would suggest you do a full search of this ship for any kind of further issues.  If this guy played around with the computer core, I’m wouldn’t put it past him that there’s more surprises.  You want some of my guys to help?”

The former chief engineer groaned, “Make commander, get my first ship, and it’s a mess from the start.  I know when I’m beat and need help.  Send whoever you can spare, Chris.  You know where to find me.”  He gestured to the ship around him.  Grace shook his hand and headed out of the core, leaving Harris to frown.  Why had the saboteur done what he had done?  As he climbed the ladder and pushed through the tube, he contemplated his next steps.