Act I

– Three hours earlier –Burkely lay in his bed, the sheets pulled up to his waist as he dreamt of peace and quiet; however, in the back of his mind, he knew that this was just a dream and that when he opened his eyes that he would still be on the Denver. A soft beep came from his communicator and he reached over, knowing exactly where he had placed it before he had slipped into bed, and grabbed the small device. Without opening his eyes he flipped open the device, “Lovecroft here,” he said in a slightly groggy voice.

‘Sorry to wake you Commander, but we are having a slight issue with Deck 24. Our internal sensors have detected that the EPS grid on that deck is having a major issue,’ came a voice from the other side.

A sigh left Burkely’s mouth as he lay there for a moment. “Contact the Chief of the watch and let them know that I will be there in a moment,” he stated just before he flipped the communicator closed and opened his eyes. ‘What the hell would this ship do if it did not have me on board?’ he asked himself. He flipped the covers off himself and slid his feet onto the shag-carpeted floor and moved toward the sonic shower before he dressed in a fresh uniform and headed for “main engineering”.

– Two hours later –

Lovecroft stood up from the main engineering station, having read over the level three diagnostics that the computer had run for him; on the EPS grid on Deck 24. The irritation could be seen on his face as he headed for the nearest engineer’s locker and the kit that was inside it.

A few moments later he exited out of the lift that he had taken from engineering to deck 24. As soon as he stepped off he noticed that the corridor lighting was flickering. He shook his head and head down the corridor. After taking a corner he stopped and pulled off a panel from the wall. He then reached into the kit that he had set on the ground and produced a tricorder that was specifically designed for the engineering department and began to scan the terminals in the bulkhead.

The tricorder came back saying that nothing was wrong at this junction so he replaced the panel and moved on to the next one; further down the corridor and on the opposite side. Once more he removed the panel and performed the same task as before.

This time, however, the tricorder indicated that several junctions were not powered and that half of the wiring was shot to hell, by being overloaded. Setting his tricorder down he reached up into his shoulder pocket and pulled out his communicator.

“Commander Lovecroft to the bridge.”

‘Bridge here.’

“Bridge, make a note on the Night shift report that deck 24 will be without power due to a minor issue with the EPS grid and that it should be back up shortly after Day shift takes over, Commander Lovecroft out,” he said as he flipped the communicator closed.

Moving the panel back into place he placed a tag-out lock-out on the panel. He placed his thumbprint on the device as he moved away to the nearest Jefferies tube and headed up it. As he climbed into the tube he opened a panel in the tube and crawled into the crawl space between decks 24 and 23 and headed to where the wiring intersected with the EPS grid for the deck below. He pulled out his tricorder and began to scan the grid for the source of the overload. A short while later he slipped back into the Jefferies tube with a module in his hand, and once more placed a lock-out device on the panel within the tube.

Headed back to “main engineering” he stopped one of the shift’s crewmen for engineering and instructed the crewman to wake Ensign McKenzie. He knew better than to wake her himself and thought it best to have someone else do it. The crewmen nodded and headed for McKenzie’s quarters.