Investigations of Power

Posted on Wed Oct 7th, 2026 @ 10:38am by Senior Chief Petty Officer Kotyar Ral Avran

1,922 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: The Invisible Hand
Location: Engineering | Starbase 11
Timeline: MD005 - 1130

“Hey! What are you doing down here?”

The words took a moment to reach the man in the Starfleet issued overalls, sleeves pushed carelessly back and dark blond hair a bit unruly on his head. Quick brown eyes narrowed as the man tilted his head, looking up the ladder at the Lieutenant wearing the mustard of…Operations, Engineering or Security. Dealer’s choice. “I’m helping out,” he said, before he motioned to the monitor that showed the output from the deuterium reactor. “Commander Reyes mentioned that there was a fluctuation around this time, daily. Always same time. Computer can’t pinpoint it.”

The Lieutenant jumped the last few feet from the ladder, his boots heavy before he walked over. “You’re the Engineer they knew from the Fleetyards? They mentioned you. Chief…Avran?” he asked, looking at Kotyar with a small frown as he tried to remember the name.

“Ral Avran,” Kotyar gave a smile as he nodded then looked back at the console. “The surname is Ral Avran. But I’m not that picky, answer to most things.” He scratched his neck for a moment, shaking his head before his eyes widened. “There! See it? That’s the bastard…” he added as he looked at the readings, at how they changed and then…settled. A few seconds spike, power draining somewhere, coolant slowing and then the reactors steadied.

“Any idea what it is?” the Lieutenant asked as he stepped back with a weary interest, more because of the excitement on the engineer’s face, that…energy that seemed a little bit manic.

“Not yet,” Kotyar said before he pulled back and crossed his arms, his fingers tapping against his arm for a moment. “But I like a bit of consistency built into my errors. Let Reyes know I got this. I’ll either figure out what it is, or at least dismiss it as unimportant.” He grinned at the idea before he nodded, moving to the ladder.

“Where are you going?” the Lieutenant called after him, watching as Kotyar was already halfway up the ladder.

“To track the power!” Kotyar called back, pushing himself up before he started to walk off. “Track it to the very end if I need to.”

It turned out that the very end was further away than he had hoped. And Kotyar may have wanted to eat the words later in the evening. He spent the next hours moving through Starbase 11 with a tricorder in hand like an idiot, becoming more annoyed every time he found a console, checked the logs and found nothing wrong. From hangar decks to quarters and places where he was not welcomed, he kept taking readings. Lunch got forgotten. Well, something had to give he supposed.

The problem was that the fluctuation had already happened. So he was just…following the echo of it. Just a trail through the station, where relays had registered the extra draw and then logged it, and when all settled nicely together there was nothing left to worry about. Technology could be so fickle. But it did mean he could…follow it. Sort of. Almost.

He was hungry and tired by the time he reached one of the last panels, realising he had spent the better part of a day, when he was technically on shoreleave, chasing gremlins on a starbase he did not even serve on.

Idiot. Absolute idiot. He sighed with resignation and crouched beside an open panel, one knee against the deck as he looked between the tricorder and the mess of connections in front of him. “Oh, you sneaky little…” he murmured, smiling despite himself as the logs gave him the next junction to check. Fine. He could just…he could do this. And reward himself with something afterwards. A drink. Good food. Something.

He closed the panel and stood, rolling his shoulders before heading off again. By the time Kotyar finally stopped, he had gone through three decks, two maintenance shafts and one access tunnel which someone had clearly decided did not need proper lighting. He had also ruled out the reactors, the environmental systems, docking control and several other things which would have been considerably more interesting.

But he had narrowed it down at least, to one section…and yes, several possible systems. And he needed to catch it red handed for it to…work. Which meant that for the next…10 hours, he was free. Well, free to eat and sleep and then repeat parts of this tomorrow.

Annoying, sure. But his stomach told him it was time to quit for the day anyway.

The following day Kotyar was back before the expected fluctuation, leaning against a bulkhead near one of the main power distribution points with his tricorder ready. He watched the time tick closer, eyes narrowing as he waited. And dead on time, it happened. The decrease of power for a split second before the increase, like water retreating for a moment before the next wave rose.

Kotyar moved quickly, tricorder in hand, following the power. Which was a bit of a joke in itself, but he took it as it came. And then he stopped and looked at the door he encountered. Holosuite One. He frowned, tilting his head and then put his tricorder in his belt. “You got to be joking,” he said and walked in.

What met him was beautiful. Explosions in the sky, with Starbase 11 personnel laughing, plus various other Starfleet and civilian people. The fireworks lit the dark sky, showing not just the faces of the people watching, but the…rest of the theme park. Rides, people screaming with glee…he itched to try the rollercoaster just out of principle. And then it hit him. “Of course,” he said quietly to himself and smiled. Always at the same time. He looked around for a moment before he walked out, taking a deeper breath. It was a theory.

A few minutes later he found an Operations officer at one of the nearby control stations. Kotyar leaned against the side of the console, holding the tricorder up as if presenting evidence to a tribunal, with a lazy smile. “Holosuite One. Theme park programme. Fireworks happen at the same time every day,” he said, watching the officer for any sign that this was news.

The Operations officer glanced at him before nodding, with a little half-nod. “Yeah. They pull quite a bit more power when they start but it keeps everyone happy,” he said easily, looking back towards the console.

Kotyar stared at him long enough that the man finally looked back. “You knew?” he asked, disbelief creeping into his voice as he lowered the tricorder and then sighed as he put it away.

“About the power draw? Yeah. We adjusted the allocation months ago,” the officer said, straightening slightly as Kotyar continued to stare at him. “Why?”

“Engineering has been trying to work out why the reactors show a fluctuation every day,” Kotyar said, blinking once before he folded his arms. “For…months, from what I hear.”

The officer frowned, clearly only now realising there might be a problem. “Really? I thought Engineering knew,” he admitted with a small shrug. “It was mentioned during a meeting.”

Kotyar stared at him for another moment before his mouth pulled into a smile despite himself. There was no fault, no damaged system and nothing about to explode. He supposed he should be grateful. “You thought Engineering knew,” he repeated, nodding slowly as he pushed himself away from the console. “Of course you did. Of course it was a meeting…” he was willing to bet that Reyes had not attended the meeting. The officer opened his mouth, perhaps to defend himself, but Kotyar lifted a hand as he started to turn away. “No. No, this is better,” he said, already grinning at the thought of the conversation ahead. “I get to tell Reyes I spent two days chasing fireworks. On my own shoreleave…” he laughed as he shook his head and walked away.

He found Commander Reyes later in one of the station bars, sitting with a drink and a PADD on the table in front of them. Kotyar walked over without asking and dropped into the empty chair opposite, stretching his legs out underneath the table.

Reyes looked at him over the edge of the PADD, studying him for a moment. “Well?” they asked as they lowered it slightly, with a small smile. “You got that look on your face like when you climbed Olympus Mons…without telling anyone.”

“I told you, didn’t I? So I told someone…” Kotyar reached for the bottle sitting on the table, checking it before pouring some into the empty glass beside it. “First…Good news! Your station isn’t about to lose power,” he said before taking a drink.

Reyes lowered the PADD completely, one eyebrow lifting. “I’m sensing there’s more,” they said, watching him over the rim of their glass. They let out a soft breath of humour, the smile a bit tired.

“There’s always more,” Kotyar said before taking another drink, letting the silence hang for a moment because after two days he felt he had earned that much. Just a little bit of dramatics for the sake of…dramatics. “Holosuite One.”

Reyes frowned slightly as they sat back. “What about it?” they asked, clearly waiting for him to explain.

“Theme park,” Kotyar said, watching their expression and enjoying for a moment that it did absolutely nothing to help. He sighed and leaned forward, resting his arms against the table. “Every day, same time, they have fireworks. Lots of holographic explosions, lighting changes, extra people running around screaming happily, some of them actual people and the rest holograms. Pulls more power for a few seconds,” he explained, taking another drink once he had finished. “I’m surprised you haven’t been, you always loved a bit of a…rollercoaster.”

Reyes stared at him before their mouth twitched, their eyes lowering. “Kotyar…”

Kotyar pointed at them with the glass. “Don’t,” he warned, narrowing his eyes before he knocked back another drink just because he could and it maybe would annoy Reyes.

“I didn’t say anything,” Reyes replied, the smile getting worse as they reached for their own drink.

“You’re thinking it,” Kotyar said, sitting back in the chair as Reyes finally laughed. He lasted another three seconds before he laughed as well, shaking his head. “Operations knew about it, it was mentioned in a meeting…and…” he caught his breath, leaning closer. “I bet it was an Operations only meeting!”

Reyes shook their head, still smiling as they lifted their glass. “So there’s no problem?” they asked, the amusement still clear in their voice.

“No problem,” Kotyar confirmed, lifting his own glass towards them. “Your station is fine. Communication between departments could use some work.”

Reyes touched their glass against his before taking a drink. “And you?” they asked, settling back into the chair, their foot nudging against Kotyar’s, their eyes holding his.

Kotyar considered the question for a moment before giving them a crooked smile. “I got two days crawling around a starbase chasing a mystery,” he said, taking another drink as he relaxed properly for the first time that day. “And I am in good company. Reyes…I’m fine…” he winked and then looked thoughtful. “But I could do with some food.”

--

Senior Chief Petty officer Kotyar Ral Avran
Engineer
Formerly of the USS Erasmus

 

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