| Wires Crossed |
| Summary: | Marcion, Merrell, Ren, and Sofia investigate the galley fire, and discover some serious implications. |
| Date: | 19 Feb 2041 AE |
| Related Logs: | Charbroiled |
| Players: |
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[ Galley ]------[ Deck 9 - Battlestar Cerberus ]—
Behind the two hangar decks, the Cerberus' Galley is the largest room on the ship. Nearly half the size of a football field, the eating area is made up of long lines of stainless steel tables that can be folded up and placed against the wall for larger events. Individual seats are the standard military issue, boring and grey with lowest-bidder padding. The line for food stretches across one of the shorter sides of the room while the kitchen behind works nearly twenty-four hours a day to produce either full meals or overnight snacks and coffee for the late shifts.
-=[ Condition Level: 3 - All Clear ]=---------
ST/NPCS: Gabrieli
The galley was reopened soon after the fire. Folks gotta eat, after all. The section that was affected by the fire has been roped off and shielded from prying hands and eyes for the last few days until the Cerberus' repair crew got to the work order. A note with that instructed Marcion and Merrell to take special care with nailing down the cause of the blaze, especially now that there's been another suspicious incident in a storeroom elsewhere.
After dinner shift, once the galley quieted again, it was completely shut down. Empty and silent but for a few enlisted in the back doing cleaning, the cavernous room awaits its crew. The buffet table that was scorched is still there, covered up, as is the grill where the grease fire first began.
Marcion walks into the room, looking around and checking things in the room against the chart in his hand. "Reports mentioned lights flickering just before fire began. Has been known to happen elsewhere, as well. Curious. Should probably start with power grid, first. A look at auto-fire suppression would be a good idea, as well. Power surges may have knocked out automatic systems."
Coming up on the short end of things, it's Sofia! She's got a clipboard in hand and seems to look an awful lot like a rat or a wolf, slinking behind the group. Weasels indeed. She seems to either have invited herself or walked along on a part of her usual patrol to ensure that logistics remains duly informed. She listens for now. Sharp green eyes narrow a bit as she looks around, listening. Should she be here or offering shady bets on Pyramid? Well, if ferrets could wear trenchcoats, she'd fit right in. Nevertheless the woman trails quietly behind.
Merrell has her own kit with her, slung over a shoulder. Her coveralls look fairly clean for once, though knowing her that will probably change quickly. She stops beside Marcion and nods. "Fair enough, sir." Eyes survey the damage, the grimace on her face unmistakable. "Specialist Ren, check out that fire system. I'll back you up. Wolfe? How good are you with electronics?" She turns her head a bit to look to the young crewmember.
Ren is trailing along with the crew on this galley excursion. Engineering kit in hand, coveralls on, ready for some general sniping about. A nod to Merrell. "Will do, Chief." He trucks on over to nose around the fire system, slipping a pair of safety gloves on before getting to work. "Frak. Maybe we should've done more testing before heading out of dock. Lots of fritzing going on, it seems like."
Things are still covered up with fireproof sheets - the grill that originally caught fire, and the buffet table that burst into flames afterwards. Up overhead, two sets of lights that had shorted out are still blown, the long bulbs cracked and brown.
… Eep. Sofia sinks behind the clipboard a bit. "Oh. I'm not too bad with them," Sofia nods. "I can work some electronic countermeasures, repair them a bit…" She doesn't seem /too/ confident, but neither is she running screaming like the wires stole her lunch money. She considers things though. A deep frown. "I'll be sure… to check what cleaning and maintenance was done too," She notes quietly. Neglect causes fires too. She tilts her head, as she finally gets in range to see things more closely.
Marcion walks around, examining everything carefully. The grill gets a head shake. Open fire, onboard a Battlestar. FANtastic idea. "Be careful with electric grid. Make sure all power cut before touching any wires or fuses. Looks like a serious overcharge."
"Well, sir, can I suggest you and the Crewman here-" Merrell tilts her head towards Sofia. "Work on the electrical cause. I'll help out the Specialist with this fire system." She readjusts the sack over her shoulder and waits for his decision, eyes on Ren as he goes about his business.
The grill is…well. Grilled. The grease fire that started on the topside of the black grill has left a rich coating of soot and grime that still stings the nose even now. Overhead, there's a column of black marks on the wall where the smoke rose up towards the ceiling.
Ren looks back once at Sofia before getting down to business. He doesn't seem to lack confidence. Or, at least, he goes about his job in a businesslike manner. "It's weird. I mean, this place has full sprinklers installed. I wonder why they didn't trip…" He wields a screwdriver and pops a panel in the wall. The nearest access point to the fire suppression system. "That is…weird. Sirs. Chief. It doesn't look like the system was ever even tripped. The signals didn't reach it."
Hmmm. Weasels are great for this sort of thing. Green eyes narrow as Sofia things. She nods, whatever she is assigned to. "Could something have frayed or broken? I'll be sure to pour over all work done on this," A frown. Mechanical failure: Cursing humanity ever since the wheel fell over. Sofia looks to Ren, before glancing around once more. She patiently aways orders for a moment. "I will go wherever you point me," She nods. She goes quiet at that, perhaps figuring out where boundaries lie and if she might learn something more.
Marcion nods to Merrell. "Good idea. Will look over electic with…" he pauses as Ren announces what he found. "No sign of electical damage, or short out? One moment." Walking over to the power panel, he pulls on insulated work gloves. "Make sure power won't short again while we play with systems." Prying the panel open, he glances at Sofia. "What do you see?"
The Chief nods to Marcion and heads over for the panel that Ren is at. She unslings the bag and drops the heavy canvas sack to the deck with a series of 'clangs'. Her eyes survey the inside of the panel for her own knowledge. "Alright, Specialist. Tell me what you see."
<FS3> Marcion rolls Repair: Success.
<FS3> Ren rolls Repair+10: Success.
Ren doesn't answer Merrell right away. He flicks on his flashlight and beams it around the innards of the panel for a moment. Eyes following the wires and connections. "Nothing, Chief." The answer isn't a dismissal of concern. If anything, he sounds more puzzled. "I mean, it's not damaged at all. I figured it would be, since the fire didn't trip the sprinklers. But if there's a problem, it's not in here."
Sofia peers over, but she might be late to the parade. A smile at Ren. Job well done! She pauses, "What do I see?" She's making sure that it really is her that is being addressed. "Hm. I wonder if it's closer to…" taptaptap. Think girl think. "I could pull the maintenance records and check any switches and wires along the way. If something was busted, surely someone was paying attention," She frowns. "But I would think if something-" Confusion. Break means repair means paperwork means - zzzt. Hmmm. She looks apologetic, perhaps at a loss for a moment. "If the sprinklers were jammed, it would have at least tripped them," Ponder. One step at a time, couch girl. Her eyes turn upward, almost rolling into the back of her head as she thinks. Yikes.
The sounds out here have attracted two sets of eyes, peering out from the section of galley that wasn't damaged. Two enlisted cooks are watching the engineers around the corner, one drying off his pruny hands from loading wet plates into their industrial dishwashers. One of them mumbles to the other, nodding him towards the buffet table that burned up and making a 'boom' motion with his hands. The other gives the first an annoyed look.
Marcion's brow furrows. "Makes no sense…" he mutters, before reaching over to the controls to cut off power to the circuits containing the lights. "Power fluctuations SHOULD have hit here, as well. We'll have to look at the wiring itself. Call for some ladders." Turning around, he notes the chefs and nods. "Evening gentlemen. Please stay clear of the area. Hope to get kitchen back to full capacity as soon as possible."
Merrell follows the beam around the inside of the panel and nods. "Yep. So that means we probably have bad sensors. So what I want you to do is disable the water flow into the pipes and I'm going to start testing these things to see what works and what doesn't." She looks over towards the back galley and lifts her chin at the cooks. "Hey! You guys had any flow problems with your water system?" she asks, not bothering with being polite like the LT.
The crewman ducks back into the kitchen, quick like lightning. He's not staying around to get yelled at. The Specialist, on the other hand, stays where he is. Shoulder leaned against the wall, he taps off a not-really-salute to Marcion. "Ain't goin near it, sir. Water? Naw, water's fine. Fans been frakkin up real bad though." He points towards one of the vents.
Ren turns his head, stepping clear so Marcion can have room to work and staring at the cooks. "The fans? Can you describe what they've been doing?"
Heehee. Sofia smiles at the two cooks peering over her clipboard. If no one else moves to, "I'll take care of the water flow then unless you've got it." Nod. She for her part, is quiet - and observing, green eyes narrowing a bit in thought.
"Fans powered from above, for cooking hoods?" Marcion half inquires, not bothering with worrying about the barely a salute. He was never a big one for protocol. "Ceiling power has been cut." he grabs a ladder and brings it over by where one of the lights has blown out, and starts climbing. He then gestures to Ren. "Check ceiling over there. And be careful."
"They ain't been doin shit, that's the problem." The specialist gives Ren a toothy smirk. He tosses the dishtowel over his shoulder, folding his arms. "Just over there." His stubbly chin lifts, indicating near the grill. "Ones in the way back seem okay, though, once we reset 'em." He watches Marcion start hauling up, with the eagle eyes of an enlisted man just itching for an officer to fall off on his ass. "Nah, not the cooking hoods. The big ones up there."
Merrell has an interest, now. "Did you have to reset the breakers or just cycle the power on the fans?" Her arms cross and she waves off Sofia. "Don't sweat it, Wolfe. If its a bunch of electrical problems the sprinklers wouldn't have fired anyway."
Ren chuckles at the smirking specialist, nodding in proletariat solidarity. "I got you. We'll see if we can't fix that." He gets himself another ladder, heading over to the other area that needs checking. Grunting as he gets his tools secured so he can climb without fear of dropping them. He's careful as he ascends the latter but he shows no hesitation going up.
Blink. Sofia nods and listens. She tries not to smile at the smirking specialist. Fortunately, she pulls the clipboard up a bit. A nod at Merrell. "Probably not," She agrees quietly. For now, hers is a role of observation, lingering near Merrell and peeeeeeeering. Observing is hardly a passive art, and Sofia is turning over routines in her mind. Surely- oh well.
"Cycle? I don't know about that shit, Chief. I just wash the frakkin dishes." The man shrugs, sucking his back teeth. He's still watching the snipely monkeys climb. It's the only amusment he's had all day.
The vent that Marcion and Ren are headed to is up on the wall near the ceiling. There's a vague odor still, the same one that Marcion smelled a few minutes ago at the grill. The residual acrid smell of heavy smoke, and indeed the metal grating over the fan's housing is blackened from the billows coming off the grease fire.
"What were you raised in a barn?" Merrell calls back at the Specialist, shaking her head with a smirk. She turns to see Marcion all the way up the ladder. "Lieutenant. I'm going to make another helpful suggestion and make a motion that you get down from there." She doesn't sound happy. The SCPO moves to steady his ladder while watching Ren. "Wolfe, do me a favor and find the circuit breaker box around here. There should be a simple wiring diagram inside it. Check it. I want you to tell me if the fuses for this circuit tripped." The ones with the exploded grease table thing.
<FS3> Ren rolls Repair+10: Success.
<FS3> Sofia rolls Repair: Success.
<FS3> Marcion rolls Repair: Good Success.
Ren's nose twitches up at the vent, the wrinkles and he continues to smell. "Might be damage from the smoke," he says, tugging at his gloves to make sure they're firmly in place before diving in. Screwdriver out, he assists Marcion with getting the vent over off. "Or…the fire. Frak. It looks fried up here."
Marcion's gloved hands carefully go to the vent, wiping away some of the residue to find the screws. "Would like to take a look down this vent, see if we can see any obvious damage or…" he glances down at Merrell, curious. "Supervising. Right. Um…" he glances over at Ren. "Down in moment, Chief." Pulling a flashlight, he looks down the vent and grimaces. "Damage bad. Look there… panel blown clear off. Not just residue… direct burn. Wiring damage goes way back." He crawls down the ladder and smiles sheepishly at Merrell. "Wiring damage back into main system. Should check wiring hub for further damage."
Sofia nods. "Sure thing," She replies quietly. She finally gives up the safety of having a clipboard pulling out a bitty flashlight and shuffles over towars the circuit breaker box. She zooms in on it like kids on cake. Ah hah. She might know wires after all. Squint. Peer. "Hey wow," Sofia blinks. "That's weird. Something really, really seriously overloaded these. What were people doing?" Sofia asks quietly. "This is like, heavy overload." Totally dude. Totally. She checks the diagram, bobbing her head and looking a lot like she's a giant owl about to swoop onto a mouse. Fortunately, she doesn't start hooting. Instead, she just peeeeeeers.
The Senior Chief nods to Marcion. "Sir." That's all she says, looking at him from under heavy eyelids. She moves over towards the box Sofia is at and takes a look. "So we've got a heavy overload, and a massive burn up in the vent shaft. Basically two fires at once, only one that spread. I call that lucky." Her Tauron accent comes out with the last sentence. "So we've got a shit-ton of faulty wiring." She goes about looking around the fuses for a cause.
"Not much luck up here, Chief," Ren replies wryly to Merrell. "Though I guess we can be glad it didn't spread or cause wider damage. Do you think the overload might've caused the fire, sir?" The question is directed down to Sofia, head tilted at her from his perch atop the ladder.
<FS3> Merrell rolls Alertness: Success.
<FS3> Sofia rolls Alertness: Success.
"Two fires, simultaneous, one of which prevents other from being controlled by automatic systems?" Marcion shakes his head. "Look for tampering."
"You should look at this," Sofia murmurs to Merrell. "And ummm… me? I'm hardly worth a sir," She admits quietly. "The fuses did their job. They blew, the box looks okay for what happened. But - the wiring is weird. It's burnt and the insulation looks wrong," She wrinkles her nose, looking a bit like a spoiled kid when she does so. "But I think I'd like a second opinion because that doesn't necessarily make sense at first glance. Something is kind of odd and I can't put my finger on it." She squints and looks again, glaring at the wires like one of those cops in a cop drama. TALK!
"Yeah, go ahead and bring yourself down Ren. Mark that place so we don't forget to tear it apart and fix that box up there." Merrell looks back to the fuse box for a moment before Sofia points her attention back to the wiring on the chafing dish thing. "Whoa. Good eye, Wolfe." The Chief walks over to it and rolls it up in between her fingers. "Hey El-tee. Check this out." She holds the insulation up, focusing on it with her eyes.
<FS3> Marcion rolls Alertness: Success.
Ren blinks at Sofia, flushing some. "Oh. Yeah. Sorry. Still had my head up in the vent." He frowns at Marcion's words but has to nod. "It is weird, sir, and no mistake. I mean, know things go tits-up with new installation all the time, but some of the problems we've been having…well, I'd like to think we'd have noticed some of it during the construction phase." He carefully marks the spot he was poking at with handy snipe sharpie, then descends the ladder. Slowly. The trip down is always a bit trickier than the trip up.
Marcion walks over to the pair and looks at the insulation being held up. "Definitely faulty…" he mutters to himself. "But a matter of purpose or incompetence? Can you tell?" The fact that two unrelated fires started simultaneously still bothers him.
Sofia looks to Merrel and blinks. "Oh thanks," A nod. She watches a moment. "It's okay, I'm pretty new here anyway," Sofia smiles a little. She frowns. "I thought we'd gotten the paperwork and proper maintenance and things down too," This is troubling. Wouldn't someone have noticed? She rubs the back of her head. "That's a bit tough to tell," She admits. "Stupidity is hard to pull from malice but I would think if someone was paying even a tiny bit of attention…" Well, that's an incompetence level that might make the Three Stooges proud. The woman tries to look a bit more closely at it.
"I don't know. Yet." Merrell looks at the wiring in her fingers then up to the fans over their heads. She's quiet, pondering it as she squats nearer the floor. "Well okay, we've got a simple grease fire, right?" She points to the charred plate. "It cugs out smoke like a barfly and it all heads up into the fan." Her eyes lift to it. "Smoke is gonna make those fans crank harder and pull more juice. Cookie in the back already mentioned the problems with them. That probably overloaded the circuit up in the shaft and that's what you all saw up there. Twenty cubits says the wiring in the fan looks like this godsawful mess right here. Anyway wanna take the bet?" She looks between them.
"There was definite fire damage up there, Chief," Ren says, hopping the last step back onto the galley floor proper. "Direct. I guess it might've started like that, if the smoke made the fans overload and something sparked. Maybe." A shrug. And a grin at Merrell. "I wouldn't take that bet."
"I don't think I like those odds," Sofia admits. She looks to Merrell, although one gets the impression Sofia is the sort who tends to be only under favorable circumstances. She rubs the back of her head. "That theory makes a lot of sense. But - I thought we had stronger fans than that? Surely one fire shouldn't short it like this?" Is Sofia overestimating? "Although I guess if it was having trouble before, this would be the straw that broke its back…"
"If wanted to give you 20 cubits, would have sent with a lovely card," Marcion says, dryly. "Good working theory, anwyay. Run with it. Let's take a look at the wiring." He glances sharply upward. "Problem. So far, can explain a heavy power draw. But what about an overload big enough to blow the lights?" He glances back at the grill. "Kitchen fans unable to handle fires… major incompetence. But work with theory for now."
The Chief rises from her squat and looks to Marcion. "The overload through the bus would have probably blown the lights before the surge hit the fuse box." She takes out a flashlight with a pointed beam and aims it along the ceiling. "Follow that wiring harness all the way from the fan down to the lights, it hits a splitter and heads off towards the breaker box. Pretty frakking bad wiring job." She looks to the other two then. "Well the system would need to draw more power to turn the fans at the designed speed. Smoke is a lot thicker than air and requries a lot more power to move it. So if you had bad wiring to start with, I'd say that it was just a matter of time. Like the Specialist suggested." She nods to Ren.
"They should be stronger than that," Ren replies firmly to Sofia, eyes going back up to the fans again. Frown. "Yeah, Chief. My guess'd be the wiring. I'm starting to wish we'd gotten an extra week in drydock. Even that would've been enough to test the kinks in a lot of these systems." A shrug and he adds under his breath, "If they are kinks."
"A wise man once said never attribute to malice that which can be attributed to be stupid and hm," Sofia wrinkles her nose. She sighs and rubs the back of her head. "I guess that sounds like a good theory," Better than anything she herself could come up with at least. Sofia will roll with that. She hms softly. "I'm sorry if I don't know this ship well yet." Sadness.
<FS3> Marcion rolls Repair: Success.
<FS3> Merrell rolls Repair: Success.
<FS3> Ren rolls Repair: Good Success.
<FS3> Sofia rolls Repair: Good Success.
Marcion just shakes his head. "Well, not getting anything done talking about. Want a complete survey of all Galley wiring and any bad insulation replaced. Also, bring in better transformers, so power draw from smoke doesn't overload system." He shakes his head. "Smoke in a Galley. Can see why they didn't see that coming."
Ren strides over toward Sofia, to dig a little deeper into the wiring with her. Out comes his screwdriver. "You'll learn her, Crewman. I was part of the construction team. Been here for a year now. It was pretty cool seeing her jump after welding down her panels. Biggest thing I ever built." All by himself, he makes it sound like. "Huh…that's weird. The wires from the tables look frakked in the same way the fan up top was. Same markings…look like they came from the same source…"
"This is a nightmare," Sofia frowns, "With that fire in the storeroom too. I think I may pull what information I can find on that," She sighs. She pauses as Ren strides over and explains. She smiles at that. "Ah? That's impressive," She is in awe. Nod. She blinks and leans over to see. "Hey… you're right. Do you think it could have created a power surge and since the lights and heaters are all wired up too-" She trails off, furrowing her eyebrows. It becomes apparent when Sofia thinks, she nearly goes completely cross-eyed. Someday that's going to stick. "I mean, heaters, lights and fan… with the same insulation defect, isn't that asking for trouble?"
Merrell nods her head a few times. "I'm going to make a leap here with this recommendation, but if these blew that badly, we need to check every bit of wiring in here." She looks to Marcion. "Sir, we will probably need to dig through paperwork and see where else this contractor did work. Then? Then we need to check it and probably replace it. If this is causing fires and shorts in the Galley, imagine what would happen if there was a short in the wiring in munitions storage or Gods forbid in one of the Tylium delivery tanks. If the latter happened, we'd never even know it. We'd poof like a nuke." She then looks to Sofia. "Yeah. It is. But its also due to cutting budgets and construction delays. Same shit we saw with the airlocks down in Frame Thirty-seven." A glance to Ren.
"You think that was fun…" Marcion says to Ren. "Imagine seeing her jump when you built the FTL." Big grin. "Ok, look up the paperwork. Any non-critical areas to be shut down until their wiring can be checked… critical areas, well, work as fast as we can. We'll need a few more teams on this, and I should let the Captain know what we found."
Ren shares the briefest of grins with Marcion, but it's short-lived. A nod to Merrell. "I know, Chief. Like I said, I wish we'd had more time to test things. Anyhow, sir, Chief, just let us know what you need of us and we'll do it. I want to get the bugs worked out of this ship, take care of her proper."
Hmm. Sofia is quietly pulling logistics in her head. She looks strange, staring off into space. "That really is no good. I'm sorry," A frown at the budget cuts. "I guess-" Well, being who and what she is, that's likely meaning more paperwork. "Um. Well, just point me in the right way. I'm kind of like a paper seeking heat weasel if you will when it comes to files," She considers, pushing her fingertips together. "I really would like to help." Even if she /is/ kind of malevolent in that sinister management way. There might be a soul in there yet.
The Senior Chief nods to Marcion. "Copy that, El-tee. Wolfe," she announces and looks to Sofia. "You're Three-Em. We're going to start digging through paperwork and see about where this wiring came from." She then looks to Ren. "Specialist, I want you to grab Petty Officers Turner and Dorado. Tell them that I've tapped you three to start assembling teams to check the wiring in here and replace -all- of it. If they give you any crap about working with them, tell them to talk to me. You've already dealt with faulty junk twice and you know what you're looking for." A lot of faith in the Specialist from Merrell. She then looks to Marcion. "Sir, I take it you're going to inform the Captain, aye?"
"Yes, will go to Captain immediately. Should make his day." Shaking his head, Marcion stands. "Good work, chief. And the rest of you. When we get name of contractor, next time on Leonis, I will pay for shuttle so we can all go and slap him."
"You got it, Chief," Ren says, game for the work. He finally takes off his work gloves, depositing them back in his kit. His clean hands are a sharp contrast to his grubby uniform. A quick nod and "Aye, sir" to Marcion. He's ready to get to it.
"Yes'm," Sofia straightens a bit at that and nods firmly. Promise! She seems willing to do her darndest. She rubs the back of her head at Marcion's comment. "Or have him pay for all this trouble. It's going to be a pain to sort out the new budget now, but- that's alright, we'll do our very best, right?" At least she's only moderately sinister as far as management goes. "Um> Let me know what areas are needed after you guys pick." Nodnod.