Sean was contemplating the schematics on the main engineering screen. What these people intended to do was very risky from his point of view, but the orders had been issued from the highest echelon of command and acknowledged by BGen. Keylor himself, which meant, that as much as Sean disliked their ideas, there wasn't much he could do about it other than follow his orders. He had spent the last three hours rechecking the data and running simulations of as many situations as he could think of that would jeopardize the ships safety, but the results so far had been within acceptable levels. "Acceptable is not good enough" muttered Sean annoyed. He didn't know what bothered him more, the fact that there was this manhandling of his ships heart and soul, or the fact that he wanted to punch this Garsha really hard in the face and knew he couldn't without having himself placed in the brig and removed from this post. Without really seeing what he was doing, he entered new data to the simulation and started to run it again, when he saw a young engineering officer coming through the entrance. Ensign Rodgers, 10 minutes early, walked over to McTaggert, who seemed irritated about something. Rick knew that look all too well, as he had seen it on his father's face on more than one occasion. It was a part of the job, Rick realized. "Sir, you wanted to see me," Rick said. "Depends on who the hell you are" Sean answered without looking up. He finished modifying the model and looked up. In front of him was a tall ensign with a mustard collar. "Oh" Sean said. "Ens. Rodgers I presume. Well, have a look at this PADD and pay attention to this simulation. Then tell me what you think of it. Computer." he spoke out loud. "Run sim Delta 44" The screen in front of them came to life with the schematics of the chimera. Different colors flashing indicated the modifications to the deflector and shield emitters reacting to different situations. On a side, lines and lines of data showed the different results. After a few minutes, the simulation finished. "Well?" Sean looked at Rodgers. 'This is insane,' Rick thought to himself, feeling that opinion was left unsaid. He looked over the post-simulation data some more, making certain he didn't over look anything, no matter how minor. "Obviously, we want to do this with as little risk to the ship as possible," Rick finally said after a few seconds of thought. "No matter how much power we pump into our shields, the stress to our hull and the strain on our engines are going to be extreme to say the least." Rick tapped the console as he shifted through certain information that he wanted to reexamine. Several minuted passed, but Rick didn't realize this as he was deep in thought. He then tapped in a couple of adjustments. "Sir, may I ...?" Rick asked. Ensign Rodgers reran the simulation, making even more adjustments when it was finished. He then ran the simulation once more. The risk of damage to the Chimera was still there, but it had somewhat declined. The stress levels were even lower. Still, Rick wasn't satisfied with the results and imagined that McTaggert felt the same way. There were still too many variables. Rick then decided to ask the question that had been on the tip of his tongue since Lieutenant McTaggert first handed him the data padd. "Sir, may I ask exactly what we're going to be doing?" Rick asked. Sean approached the console and reviewed the modifications. "Not bad, Ensign" he finally muttered. "We still have an unacceptable level here on this array" he pointed to a section left to Hangar Bay 1. "and here" he turned the simulation and showed a purple colored ring around the deflector shield. "What we are doing, is letting those Bragg morons ruin our ship." he continued with a sigh. "As you have read in this PADD, these shield modifications 'supposedly' will protect the hull against chronal discharges of any kind. How that is accomplishable is beyond me, especially taking in account the amount of energy needed. Hence these plasma stress levels." he paused. "It also means, that our shield effectiveness is 14% below optimal, sacrificed in favour of their new function. The harmonics rotation is .03 lower and the strength slightly above acceptable. Basically" he finished. "One good shot at us, and we're screwed. Long live science." he faced Rodgers. "Ensign, tomorrow 0800 I want you to take two teams and pair up with friggin Marine Captain Garsha to get the ship ready. Your task is to keep a close eye on what these people do and inform me of any modification that is not on program or potentially dangerous to the ship." he gave Rodgers the PADD. "I also want you to work with Ops as we are getting the equipment beamed onboard today. Have everything ready and Ensign." he stepped closer to him. "I don't care about classified or non classified. I want that equipment thoroughly checked before it comes even close to our systems, do I make myself clear?" “Aye, sir,” Rick said. “Perfectly clear.” Rick knew where McTaggert was coming from. These modification were tricky at best. Add that to having an outsider playing around with your systems ... well, no engineer would like that. Rick knew he didn’t. He had a copy of the modifications transferred to another data padd. He planned on studying them every chance he got. It would make for good bedtime reading. Lieutenant Sean McTaggert NPC DCEO U.S.S. Chimera Ensign Rick Rodgers Assistant Engineering Officer U.S.S. Chimera