Chief Engineer's Log

Commander Brokkar, Chief Engineer.

Engineering Log, Stardate 78850.361.

The warp geometry is finally behaving.

This is unfortunate for everyone who thought I would stop making adjustments.

Current calibration results place the propulsion system comfortably within Starfleet specifications.

I dislike the word comfortably.

Comfortable engineering is frequently another way of saying someone stopped paying attention.

The field geometry remains stable through all projected operating conditions.

Efficiency levels meet design expectations.

I have also become increasingly convinced that the design expectations are wrong.

Not dramatically wrong.

That would be easy.

They are wrong by a small amount.

The most irritating amount.

I believe Kepler can achieve measurably greater field efficiency through adjustments to load distribution between the forward and aft nacelle pairs.

The Ship Design Bureau disagrees.

Several warp theorists disagree.

A conference lasting two hours and fourteen minutes was recently conducted so that everyone involved could explain why I was mistaken.

I found the discussion invigorating.

They were intelligent people.

Most of them were even wrong for interesting reasons.

Additional analysis is underway.

I fully expect further disagreement.

This is encouraging.

Engineering without disagreement is usually a sign that nobody has discovered the problem yet.

The assistant chief engineer reported aboard this morning.

Lieutenant Commander Reth is competent, organized, and appears willing to challenge my conclusions when appropriate.

This suggests excellent judgment.

The department has responded favorably.

Several officers now possess someone else to complain about.

The timing is fortunate.

The primary warp core is scheduled for cold start procedures within the next operational cycle.

Months of construction, calibration, testing, recalibration, testing of the recalibration, and arguments regarding the testing of the recalibration are finally approaching a meaningful milestone.

A starship does not truly become a starship until the warp core comes alive.

Everything before that is preparation.

The shield emitters continue to be less cooperative.

Their behavior remains technically acceptable.

This assessment should not be confused with satisfactory.

Intermittent variance within the emitter synchronization network has resisted several corrective efforts.

As a result, a team of Andorian implementation specialists arrived this week.

They immediately informed us that our assumptions regarding the problem were flawed.

I informed them that their assumptions regarding our assumptions were flawed.

We have since developed a productive working relationship.

The emitters are already showing improvement.

I suspect the Andorians may actually solve the problem.

This is mildly disappointing.

I was beginning to enjoy being irritated by it.

I received another message from Thalek today.

Our son is officially en route.

He is currently traveling aboard a passenger liner accompanied by my mother-in-law.

I am uncertain which of them represents the greater logistical challenge.

My mother-in-law has apparently decided that Starfleet replicators remain incapable of producing proper Tellur cuisine.

She is therefore transporting several containers of authentic sleeper ship stew.

The fact that she informed me of this as a warning rather than a courtesy remains concerning.

Engineering personnel have already begun asking questions.

The aroma has not even arrived yet.

Neither has she.

The ship continues to fill.

The corridors are louder.

The mess halls are busier.

Departments that once consisted of construction crews and diagnostic teams now resemble actual shipboard communities.

Soon there will be a fourteen-year-old wandering the decks asking inconvenient questions.

Soon there will be family dinners.

Soon there will be real Tellur stew somewhere aboard this vessel.

I am informed these developments should be considered positive.

I am prepared to argue the point after I have sampled the stew.

End Log.