Keylor stepped in to the turbo lift . he had just had his rather interesting converstation with Lieutenant MCTaggert. Interesint because the chief engineering is worried because everything was working perfectly, or at least the readings of things. Though Keylor was feeling the pressure to get to the parsh, he had to silently agree with Sean that some thing was not all right. And seeing that the only thing that had changed with the ship was the installation of the prototypes, He would have to agree that those things have had some affect on the ship. Keylor tapped on his comm. badge. "Bretam to summers" her commanded. "Doctor Summers here General. Is there something wrong?" she replied. "Doctor. Could you please pay our chief engineer a visit in main engineering? He seems rather on edge and looks tired. Give he a quick once over and make sure he is well." He asked. "Yes sir, I will head donw ther shortly. " she responded. "Thank you. Bretam out." He responded. Now looking at the inside of the lift, Keylor had to decide where to go next. He searched his memory of the hundreds of report he had read over the last week nd recalled seeing a few that mentioned Samantha's name when referring to the installation of th eprototypes. He figured she had some idea of what these things were for and she would be a good start to ask question. "Computer. Location of lieutenant commander Palmer?" [Lieutenant commander Palmer is in her quarters.] it responded. "Deck 2" Keylor chirped to the lift. ===Few minutes later=== Keylor stood outside of Samanthas quarters. He pressed the chime and waited for the doors to open. As they slide open he stepped in , "Commander a word please?" he asked only having stepped in one pace. "Of course, General," she replied when the General had stepped inside. She suddenly felt a little self-conscious about her living quarters. The bed was unmade, several empty coffee cups stood around, and her blonde hair was loose and unruly. She had spent the majority of the morning running reading through some reports and looking at ways to improve the modifications, and hadn't given much concern to her looks or surroundings. Keylor looked at Samantha, "So commander, what can you tell me about these prototypes that have been installed on the ship? What are their purpose." He wondered if he would get a straight answer. "Sir? I thought I had already explained it." Samantha was rather surprised by his question. An in-depth explanation of the modification prototypes had been given at their first briefing with Captain Peckinpaugh, and once again she had briefed the senior staff at the meeting a few days before. She was also certain he had a padd that contained all the necessary information about the modifications and why Bragg insisted that they be installed. Keylor nodded, "Yes that was the cursory explanation I assume. But in detail what are these things going to do for, or to the ship?" he asked still wondering if more is happening than it appeared. "Let me explain. I just had an interesting talk with the ships chief engineer. He is concerned because everything appears to be working at 100 percent." "At 100%? I would take that as a good sign, General. I hadn't expected everything to work this well so soon," Samantha replied, her face calm and unconcerned. But inside her mind alarms went off, and her thoughts were pulled towards the algorithm she installed in the early hours of the morning to cover the new command subroutines that Nicolas had introduced. "I don't know about you but everything running at 100 percent, 100 percent efficiency is a bit strange don't you think? I am no engineer, but not even the fabled Captain Scott was known to get the old constitution class ships running better than 96 percent." he said hoping to pry any new information out of her. "Just how are these things supposed to affect a ship like this?" "The Chimera seems like a fine ship, General, but she is quite old." Samantha's brain was working overtime to improvise a convincing reason for the sudden perfect equilibrium achieved with the ship's systems. "Perhaps the diagnostic systems have malfunctioned or are outdated. They might not be picking up the new technology installed and detects that everything is normal." Keylor looked puzzled. "Hmm... But are these systems so integrated with all ships systems to cause such an effect? " he wondered out loud. He looked at Samantha, directly into her eyes. He wasn't too sure but he thought he could see her thinking. {Wish Athena was here right about now to tell me what she was really thinking.} he thought. "Yes, unfortunately. This technology replaces many of the existing functions; it's not just merely enhancements or slight adjustments." "Is that wise Commander? To integrate something so new, so untested to where every system is affected, or at least the readout? I am beginning to have second thoughts about this. Maybe we should have the engineers deactivate the systems until we know exactly what is going on." he said. "General, let me be honest with you," Samantha said, her tone turning serious. She was already tired of covert games and tried to be as straight with the CO as she could be. "I am only doing what I have been told to do. While I have overseen and assisted in modifying the prototype technology, I did not design it and I did not advocate its installation on the Chimera. I was assigned to this mission by Bragg to make sure that everything goes smoothly and to provide my assistance and advice of temporal physics where needed. The problem this technology has had with the Chimera has raised my doubts about whether it was a good idea to install it on this ship, but by then it was too late. The mission had already been cleared and the original design team had cleared the technology to be installed on an Intrepid class ship. "Perhaps if we make some modifications to the diagnostics system, we might get the correct results. I realize this means more tampering with the ship's systems, but I see no other option at the moment." {If she does not know what these systems are designed for, then why are we using them. I am starteing to agree with McTaggert in thinking we would be better off without these things.} he thought. He soured his face a bit. "Commander, then who does know about these systems. My engineers did WHAT they were told, and now there is doubt. It is beginning to appear that the safety of every soul on this ship has been disregarded for the sake of some measly little science vessel working on some obtuse and seemingly theoretical experiment. I am not getting that warm and fuzzy feeling right now." He some what growled. "Engineering is looking in to the problem as we speak. You call back to headquarters and get the specifications for this mess and get them to the CEO immediately. The last thing I want to see is this ship dead in the water while my oda is battling a angry group of xchi on the Gott. That is if we get there." He said annoyed. "Aye, sir," was all she could say to his reply. Samantha had learned by now there was no use arguing with a man who had that tone in his voice, especially not a flag officer. "I'll get right on it." Keylor stared at her, "Good, I will expect some thing soon. And if there are any problems. Let me know right away. If they won't give you anything, I will have a heart to heart with them." He said trying to regain his composer. Not waiting for a reply he turned and headed back out of the door. "Commander." He nodded as he turned. ===End log== Bgen Bretam Keylor Captain & LtCmdr Samantha Palmer Mission specialist