--Deck 2--
Up close, you can see the woman has brown hair and is wearing a black jacket over a black-and-white striped shirt. Her friendly face betrays no emotion, but you can sense her radiating sympathy for someone--but you can't tell who.
-==IC: Counsellor Riker==-

"Hello, Cadet. I don't believe we've met. My name's Rebecca Riker, I'm the ship's counsellor. And you are?"
OOC: Yeah, I'm using IE, can't switch to a different browser, unfortunately.

But congrats, you rolled a 13 on a DC 12 Engineering check!
--Main Engineering--
-=-=Challenge Successful!=-=-
As Elaine assembles the final part, the replacement console assembly materializes in the replicator.
-==IC: Chief Becklissin==-
"Great job, Cadet! You're a natural!"
Wonder why they didn't teach her this at the Academy, she could have been assigned to us from the get-go. Oh well, we'll have to try recruiting her later, once we've gotten this place back into shape. "Now to install."
Becklissin has a burly-looking Saurian carry the heavy component to the site of the burnt-out panel. She points out to Elaine the finer points of the bolt work as the Saurian removes the old console and firmly affixes the new one into place. "Now the potentially dangerous part. If you remember nothing else, remember this, or you'll end up like that fool Sulu: always
cut off power to the circuit before you try to plug in a new component. So, let's find the power control console...oh." Becklissin suddenly remembers which console they'd been replacing. "Hmm. Well, guess now's a good time to explain the second rule of Engineering:
everything has a backup or 'auxiliary' system. Sometimes it'll be damaged, too, or else inaccessible for some reason, but always remember
auxiliary systems are easier to jury-rig, just like
normal systems can do complicated tasks the backups can't. Now, the auxiliary power control console is..." she looks up at the upper level, and then notices the lift is still damaged. She sighs. "Case in point; yes, the console has a backup, but we can't get to it until we fix the lift. That one's gonna take a while, we'll need to call down to the storage holds for something that big. We have to replace pretty much that whole column, floor to ceiling." She shakes her head, then looks absently at the engineers and volunteers working busily at repairing the room.
"Chief," Elaine asks, "How are they able to work on the circuitry if they can't cut off the power without the console on the upper level?"
"Well, Cadet,
wall circuitry and other small electronic circuits can be removed from their power supply manually, with the proper tools and training. Consoles, on the other hand,
are connected directly to major conduits, and must have their power shut down from a local power supply console. On the bridge, for example, that would be the Engineering console, with the auxiliary power supply console located in Environmental and Life Support controls. If
those ones go down, there's a number of emergency backups on the lower level of the bridge, but
most systems only have one backup, and none outside the bridge and the battle bridge have more than two."
Becklissin looks at the work going on, then glances at her chronometer. "Blast, we've worked through two full shifts. I'm sending you off-duty, cadet. You really should stop by the barracks in case the acting chief of Security wants to talk to you about the scheduled shift you missed, but if you just tell them you were helping out down here I'm sure they'll understand. Good work, Cadet, and I hope I-we'll see you again soon here in Engineering!" She waved as she ushered Elaine and several other cadets out of Engineering.
OOC: Etain's conversation and Elaine's visit to the barracks and we'll timeskip a few days, get back to the main plot.
