The vast vista of space seen from the bridge of the Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer Halcyon Warrior always took First Officer Pherik ‘Serpent’ Zail’s breath away.  That is, when he had a chance to look at it.  At times like these, when he was up to his eyebrows in reports and co-ordinating activity on the command deck of the massive warship, he felt fortunate just to get a half second to catch his breath.

It was worse at times like this when there was a minor crisis on hand.

“Engineering are about to try again, sir!” Came the voice of a Junior Bridge Officer helping out at the helm.

“Proceed,” Said the Executive Officer, praying that this time, their third try in the last hour, things would work right.

There was a sudden tremble as the Halcyon Warrior built power, a charge in the very air as the solar ionization reactor, equivalent in power to a small star, surged with energy.  It built in a pleasing roar, ready to tear apart the walls between this reality and the next, and propel them into hyperspace beyond the speed of light.  Any moment now...

Another shudder, sharp and unwelcome, and then a slow dying whine into nothing.  The mighty warship still floated in the black of realspace.

“Frak,” Said Zail aloud.  “Tell Engineering to keep trying to fix it.  Let’s just hope this is sorted before the Captain wakes up and...”

“Pherik?” Growled a voice suddenly from behind the XO, “Why is my ship hanging pointlessly in the void, instead arriving at Lotaith as scheduled?”

Zail turned around swiftly to meet the overly-large eyes of his Mon Calamari CO, the being he was rather hoping was still two hours from reporting for duty.  “We are having engine trouble, sir,” He told Captain Mihawk quickly.  “Engineering assures me that the problem with the hyperdrive is routine and that we shall be on our way swiftly.”

The Mon Cal stared back at the human, and Serpent felt himself wither.  “I have a lot of meetings with Naval High Command,” Said the alien firmly.  “I cannot afford to be late.”

“I understand, sir,” Said the XO to the Chief of Naval Warfare. 

Drac smiled.  “You know what works really well, in command, Pherik?”  He asked rhetorically.  “When a superior does not bother with messages or comlinks, but talks to his subordinates one-on-one.  Really glares them down in person to get his message of instant compliance across."

Serpent gulped.  “You mean like you are doing to me right now?”

“Exactly.”

“Understood, sir!” Said Zail.  “I am heading down to Engineering right away, sir!”  And he was off towards the turbolift at a swift march before the last syllable had fully left his mouth.

-----

Engineering was a hive of activity at the quietest of times, but with the problem of engine failure at hand the atmosphere was positively chaotic.  As Serpent entered the cavernous chamber, several eyes turned his way to note the XO’s arrival.  He heard one person mutter the words “here comes the Blue-eyed Snake”.

Zail ignored the nickname.  Since becoming First Officer his sometimes sharp attitude with the crew had earned him some ire, and drawing attention to his cold eyes and Serpent callsign was just their way of expressing it.  He did not care.  Some XOs were loved, others hated.  He seemed to be the latter, but if it got the crew doing as he told them then he was content.

He approached a short Quarren who was directing techs and repair teams throughout the mammoth Star Destroyer.  He was Tlig Marril, the Chief Engineer of the Halcyon Warrior, and he looked decidedly unhappy.

“If the Captain sent you down here to be a rush on me,” Said Marril to Serpent as the human approached, “Then don’t bother.  We are working as fast as we can.”

“I have no doubt,” Said Zail to the engineer, not drawing attention to the other’s lack of “sir” in addressing the XO.  They were both Chief Petty Officers and Serpent had no wish to antagonise the Qarren by throwing his Fist Officer weight around.  “Still, I have been told to tell you to hurry, so that is what I am doing.”

“Noted,” Said Marril, taking a datapad off a passing subordinate and reading the report detailed there on.  Not even looking at Zail he asked, “Still here?”

Serpent’s eyes narrowed.  “Mind your tone, Marril,” He warned, indulgent only to a point.  “I will go when I so choose, and not a moment before.  Besides, I thought you could use a hand.”

That got the other’s attention.  Handing the report back to the underling and dismissing him, Marril asked the XO, “Can you help?”

Zail shrugged.  “I’ve been working on TIEs a lot of late, so I know the basics of engineering.  Just give me a hydrospanner, a schematic, and point me in the right direction.”  The Alderaanian lowered his voice a notch and added, “It beats being on the bridge with the Captain looking over my shoulder.  You know how he can get when he is impatient.”

The Quarren nodded.  “Okay, let’s give you something to do.  I have teams running checks of the hyperdrive motivator and the field guide, and so far both check out.”

Serpent nodded, he knew the basics of Hyperdrive Theory.  “So the ship is creating the gamma radiation needed to actually enter hyperspace.  Is it actually reaching the reactor and the engines?”

Marril seemed mildly impressed at the intelligent question.  “That’s exactly what we need to check next.  Take a scanner and join Tech Team 12 as they make their checks of the connecting coils.  Go over them with a careful eye and fix any abnormalities.”

“Understood,” Said Zail, and headed off to join the crewmen in question.

-----

Aside from Serpent there were three of them, all young crewmen eager to do a good job.  Zail found them all to be quite thorough yet quick, and together the four of them did an efficient sweep of the part of the ship’s immense engines that was assigned to them.

And after an hour’s work they had found nothing.

Serpent was just running his scanner over an exposed conduit, looking for micro-fractures or tears in the coils and conductors.  “Nothing,” He announced at last, and the others swiftly replaced the bulkhead they had removed to expose the analysed system.  “The power flow is solid.  The gamma radiation is getting where it needs to, it should be producing a hyperspace field.”

“True,” Agreed one of the techs, “Maybe one of the other teams found the fault.”

“Let’s hope,” Said Zail, and then lifted his comlink to report in to Engineering.

“Your team found nothing either?” Sighed Chief Engineer Marril.  “So it seems that nothing is wrong!”

“Giving up?” Asked Serpent, hearing the frustration in the Quarrn’s voice.

“Not a chance,” Retorted Marril.  “We must just have missed something.  We’ll re-arrange the teams, get fresh eyes on the systems, and go through everything again.”

“That will take ages,” Said the First Officer.

“Do you have a better idea, Zail?” Asked the other.

Serpent did not reply.

“Didn’t think so,” Said Marril.  “You and your team head to deck 32 and go through the conduits there.  Check-in again when you are done, Marril out.”

“Let’s go,” Said one of the techs, sounding less than enthusiastic about another laborious sweep.

Zail raised a hand to stop them before his team could take a step.  “No, wait, we are not going anywhere until we think this through.”

“But the Chief gave us an order...” Began a female Zabrak crewman.

“And I am over-riding it!” Snapped Serpent, using the sharp tone that had earned him his nickname of the Blue-eyed Snake.  “We’ve checked the engines, and we all know that the hyperdrive is fine, right?” He asked and got a few nods of agreement.  “Well then, what if it isn’t the main hyperdrive but one of its other constituent systems?  Like the Inertial Dampeners.”

“If they were gone we would still enter hyperspace,” Said one of the other techs, “It would merely be that the acceleration would have killed the lot of us instantly.”

“It was just an example,” Snarled Zail at the crewman, who took a step back and lowered his head to avoid the XO’s glare.  Taking a deep breath, Serpent went on, “Look, something is happening.  The power is building, it all looks good, and then the ship just doesn’t move.  Why?  Why won’t a stable hyperspace field form?”

“A hyperspace field is the responsibility of the engines,” Said the female Zabrak, suddenly thoughtful, “But a stable field needs the null quantum field generator to be online.”

“Well, is it?” Asked Serpent, rushing to remember what the null quantum field generator did.

The tech shook her head.  “No, no that can’t be it.  The NQF generator just keeps us in hyperspace and prevents us exiting prematurely.  If it were acting up we could enter lightspeed fine, but would just be ejected when we hit a particularly rough patch of hyperspace.”

Zail stared at her.  “And what if we were already in a rough patch?” He asked.

The techs glanced at each other, and then stared dumbly as realisation dawned.  “Then we would shudder and go nowhere,” Said one, “As the field would form and then collapse before we even entered hyperspace.”

“Which is exactly what’s happening!” Exclaimed Serpent, convinced that they had the answer.  “Ignore Marril, let’s head to the NQF generator!”

-----

The four of them arrived at the part of the ship in question, a dark and quiet corner of the main engineering complex, and set to work investigating the immense generator.

Zail, a sonic wrench in one hand and scanner in the other, advanced around the base of the machine while one of the techs walked alongside him, schematic datapad in hand, pointing out where to check.  On a rail above, the other two members of his team did the same, checking the upper half of the generator.

“It’s clear,” Came a voice from above, just as Serpent completed his own ten-minute evaluation of the technology.  “Guess that’s not it,” Said the tech, him and his partner coming down a ladder to reunite with Zail and his assistant.

“No, this must be it,” Said the XO, “I just have a gut feeling.  We are on the right track.  Now, if the generator itself is fine, what else could be affecting it?”

Again it was the female Zabrak who spoke.  “Could be a software glitch?  Want me to run a diagnostic of the generator’s administrative computer, sir?”

“Yes, do,” Ordered Serpent.  Turning to the others, he said, “You pair, check the connections between the NQF generator and the engines.  Maybe something has gone wrong there.”

“Yes, sir!” They said in unison and hurried off.

Zail himself watched them go, then turned to the datapad of schematics.  Upon it was a large jumble of inter-connected systems, the intricate co-dependent mess that composed the heart of the Star Destroyer’s dizzyingly complex and powerful hyperdrive system.  He was eyeing up other areas of investigation in case this one failed, and was just narrowing down his options when the Zabrak tech spoke.

“Sir!  I have it!” She declared, excitement evident in her voice.  He crossed to her side and saw the image on the computer screen.  “File corruption,” She said simply.  “It happens from time to time.  In this case, the software has been degraded and isn’t working right.  The generator isn’t even kicking in, no wonder we can’t form a stable field.”

“Ah, now that I can fix,” Said Serpent with a smile, and keyed in his access codes for the Halcyon Warrior’s main computer.  As XO he had clearance for even the most protected parts of the ISD’s memory, and he quickly located the codes and protocols relating to engineering subsystems.  He hit restore for the files relating to the null quantum field generator.  “Well?”

The tech ran her eyes over renewed computer settings.  “That’s it, we should be fine now, sir.”

“Excellent.”

-----

Back in main Engineering, Zail had his team returned and walked boldly up to Chief Marril.  “Done!” Announced the First Officer with pride.

“What?” Asked the Quarren, confused.

“We can hyperspace when ready,” Said Serpent confidently.  Lifting his comlink, he announced casually, “Helm, this is Zail.  Set course for Lotaith and take us to hyperspace.”

A “Yes, sir” was heard on the other end, and then the engine room came alive with the roar of the engines.  The surge of noise rose along with the power, and then with a pleasing lurch they all felt the Halcyon Warrior leap into hyperspace.

“Your team performed well,” Serpent told the dumb-struck Quarren.  “Thank you,” He said to them, and turned and walked off.

OOC:

2140 words.  A bit of a Picard-esque delegation and leadership in solving the hyperdrive problem, hope that’s okay for the Ancillary skill!  Also, I have included my first few references to the crew’s new nickname for my character, as I have decided that they don’t like him!

After Action Report:  The Halcyon Warrior develops an engine problem and Zail works on his knowledge of Hyperspace Mechanics by helping the Engineering teams to fix the problem.