Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus, Warrant Officer, Engineering Section, ERS Einheri.

Logs
Early Missions: The Coffee was terrible. We took a lot of damage and I fixed it. I think Praezorians were involved. Our first Captain was replaced. I had a young Cetian assistant. Typical of the Star Navy Bureaucracy that runs the office of Personnel Management he was not actually trained as an engineer. Still he worked hard took directions well and he was also a fast learner. I think he may have had psychic powers.

Diplomatic Mission: I was assigned to an away mission. It was almost a total disaster. We were trapped in a cave in while we were in a 1870's style fortification. I spent most of my time trying to find my coffee thermos, it turns out it was left on the ship. We escaped the cave in after I modified the Maxicorp Model C2156 Civilian 3D printer to help us create drilling tools to clear out the debris. Unfortunately I was unable to use it to create a decent cup of coffee. I think Praezorians were responsible for the cave in.

Further Diplomatic Missions: I was able to swap out the old coffee maker and the coffee has improved considerably. We took several more Sorties to the planet where the cave in occurred. We took a lot more damage and I fixed it. I think someone on the planet was shooting us. I bet the Praezorians were behind that. We had a new Science officer, at one point during the voyage he asked me to evaluate the Captains Methods. I thought the request odd so I told him as an enlisted crew member I just did my job and followed whatever orders the captain gives and don't question them since Star Navy Command gives the mission objectives to him and not me.

Last of the Diplomatic Missions: Someone replaced the coffee maker and I am back to having terrible coffee again. Our new "science officer" seems to have been transferred off the ship, I bet he switched the good coffee maker with the one we have now. We had a new captain this voyage. The ship took Damage again and I fixed it. I think the mission was successful, since a lot of promotions and commendations were handed out. The only reason for that to happen is if someone was able to prove that the Praezorians were behind everything.

Stealth Mission: Disaster has struck, I didn't think things could get any worse but they have. MaxiCorp has been dissolved, something about AI's I think. Anyways it various divisions and subsidiaries have been spun off haphazardly by government bureaucrats. Whatever successor corporate entity that wound up with the coffee concession to supply the Star Navy doesn't have a clue what they are doing, the Coffee is almost undrinkable now, something will have to be done. I have started some science self study guides to try and figure out a solution but it doesn't seem to be helping. The ship was fitted with some kind of Stealth Device, I didn't get too many of the details on how it worked, but I think some of the stuff wasn't put together well so I had to make some adjustments to make sure it didn't stop functioning in the middle of the mission. Evidently my fixes weren't enough as someone, Praezorians maybe, were able to detect us and launched an attack on us. We took a lot of damage and I fixed it. After the mission the officers seemed pretty happy with how things turned out so the mission must have been a success. We were given a new Ensign to run the engineering section, I bet he was recommended by that science officer who stole my good coffee machine, fortunately he spent most of the voyage on an away mission. That may have been related to the stealth device.

Routine Patrol: Some of my contacts in the Quartermaster's Service were able to get me some of the last of the old Star Navy Coffee for the ship, things are looking up for this cruise! I just hope no one looks to closely at the spare parts manifest. I ran an experiment in the science lab with the help of the science officer. I think she might have been have been flirting with me but I wasn't paying attention, I had to fix the coffee machine. Sadly after a few hours I couldn't stay focused on the task at hand and the innovations that had seemed so clear started to slip from my grasp. In the end the coffee machine remains as bad as ever. Other than that the ship took some damage and I fixed it. The Praezorians may not have been responsible for all of the damage. We decommissioned a starbase that may have been in Praezorian space. A bunch of the engineers decided to tag along, seems they were old Maxi corp employees who got lost the the paperwork shuffle that was the Maxicorp Bankruptcy. They are in the star navy now! At some point I think the ship may have have been caught in some sort of Psychic field because everyone started acting funny. This is, coincidently, when I got my great idea on how to fix the coffee machine. At one point during my experiment I had to go up to the bridge to vent a plasma build up by discharging it through the plasma cannon, an old trick I know but it works, anyways I think there may have been a giant tentacle attached to the ship at the time, I didn't much care, I had to get back to fixing the coffee maker. My nemesis must have influence in the OPM, I have been promoted to Warrant Officer and I am to report to Leadership school for training, Nothing good can come from this.

Einheri 9 [Venom] 23Apr16: In leadership school I have learned how to conduct formal Performance reviews with my new engineering team, this should improve their performance. On the other hand I have not been able to keep up on the latest Bulkhead Repair Techniques so I don't think I will be able to do this in the future. I received notice to report to the Einheri from Leadership school at the last possible moment, this means I was unable to secure a new coffee maker or a new supply of drinkable coffee... Worst. Mission. Ever.

While I know that I have covered the important portion of my ships log entries my instructors at leadership School insist that I fill in more details from the mission. Here then is my official Report.

The mission was to investigate several outposts in the Cetian Sector, our assigned patrol area, that belong to the Earth Republic and our Cetian Allies.

The first Outpost was just two Cetian scientists and their teenage daughter. When we arrived our away team found only the daughter still alive. They returned with her, the outposts robot and the bases black box recorder to try and figure out what happened. When the recorder was plugged in it revealed a message from the captain of the Empire of Sol starship Scorpian. This is the same ship that the Einheri has encountered while our first captain was in command and the message was a threat aimed at him and the Einheri.

Analysis of the Einheri's computer systems while in dry dock after the mission show that failure to properly isolate the system used to access the recorder allowed a top of the line Empire of Sol military virus to infect our ships systems. For more information see appendix A "Empire of Sol Virus Analysis, Initial Infection and progression in Earth Republic Maxi Corp O\S 66.3.2002.112a".

The first sign of the infection was the fire suppression system discharging Halon Gas on the Bridge. I was able to purge the gas quickly and then investigate the computer logs to find the source of the problem. My initial conclusion was that the problem was related to a recent upgrade to the O\S but I would need further analysis from the science section to confirm that and recommend a course of action to confirm that. At the time the captain was having the science section work on other tasks and the Analysis was set aside for a short time while they finished with what they were working on.

As our mission progressed the computer system began to become more problematic. Other sections were flooded with Halon Gas and consoles began to require preventive maintenance or else risk being damaged. Analysis of the computer problems began around this time. This Analysis pointed to a deeper problem with the computer systems and provided us with a better understanding to begin the next Analysis of the problem.

The next step would require a gambit, scan boost and efficiency boost to begin the experiment. The requirement of the efficiency boost would prove to be the source of a critical delay. On larger ships efficiency boosts are generated by the personnel console, but that is not a luxury afforded to to Valkyrie class starships. My next unit in Leader ship school will cover Efficiency Reports and Productivity Reports and we didn't have time for me to try and figure them out on my own. That left us with our nanobots which can under the best of conditions generate one or two boosts in an hour. Unfortunately the nanobots were also affected by the virus. For more details on nanobots see appendix B "Einheri Nanobot Performance Review and Recommendations Mission 23APR66" and also appendix C "Einheri Nanobot Virus Vulnerabilities".

Mercifully the Captain was able to generate the much needed efficiency boost but not after a painfully long delay. By this time events on the Einheri began to accelerate. For a more detailed Analysis see appendix D "Einheri Captain's Log Mission 23APR66". I will detail what I was aware of in the approximate order that I remember them in.

Virus attacks on the ships consoles began to accelerate as the virus began to exploit vulnerabilities in our systems. We were unable to stay ahead of the ever increasing attacks. Often the attacks were coordinated to attack up to 3 or 4 systems at a time leaving us with as little as 2 minutes to try and conduct repairs to prevent actual damage to the consoles. More details can be found in appendix A "Empire of Sol Virus Analysis, Initial Infection and progression in Earth Republic Maxi Corp O\S v66.3.2112.114a".

At the next stop on our patrol we found a mostly destroyed and looted out post. One survivor was brought and board who died shortly thereafter. As I was working in the science lab next to the medical bay I overheard his dying words. While I don't remember exactly what he said, I was left with the following impression. The outpost was attacked and looted by the Empire of Sol Starship Scorpion. This included a variety of Earth Republic Missiles. The dying individual knew the access codes to render the missiles inoperative but he died before giving us the codes.

This is a possible failure point for the mission. Given a proper Analysis by science I suspect we could have recreated the codes but we were still busy trying to resolve the virus in our computer systems. This information should have been passed up to the captain, but I do not believe that was done or at least done in a timely manner. I made the decision to press on with the virus cure before pursuing the access codes for the missiles. The Scorpion attacked before we could finish our first attempt at a cure for the virus.

For details of the fight refer to appendix D "Captain's Log Einheri Mission 23APR66". Also refer to appendix E "Declassified Analysis of Empire of Sol Technology Recovered From the Wreck of the Scorpion by Star Navy Intelligence" pages 444-460. That section discusses an exploitable weakness in the Scorpions bulkheads from her Prior battle with the Einheri. This weakness likely would have been revealed with a scan of the enemy but was overlooked in the heat of battle. The last note on the the battle comes from appendix F "Tactical Results and Strategic Consequences, Star Navy Command's Decision to Recall Fighter Formations From Forward Defense Operations for Homeworld Defense in the Aftermath of Toronto" by Lt. Richard Patel, Weapons officer, ERS Hydra" pages 4-8. Here the well known Fighter Advocate discusses the likely impact that the withdrawal of the Einheri's fighter wing for Earth Defense in the immediate aftermath of Toronto had on the engagement.

During the engagement with the Scorpion, our Analysis of the Virus finished and on the captain's orders we shut down the ship's systems, implemented our solution and rebooted the systems. See appendix A "Empire of Sol Virus Analysis, Initial Infection and progression in Earth Republic Maxi Corp O\S v66.3.2112.114a" for the partial effectiveness of this solution.

Before I move on from the battle with the Scorpion I would like to call attention to the damage sustained by the Einheri. After the Scorpion had exhausted its supply of missiles 5 out of 6 of the ship's bulkheads were breached but the ship maintained a reasonable combat effectiveness. This probably played a role in the decision by the Scorpion to intentionally ram the Einheri. A Collision estimated at 20 terra joules of energy. See Appendix G "Dry Dock Assessment of Damage, Replacement parts Needed and Time Estimates to bring the Einheri to Various States of Combat Readiness" pages 468-73. Also note Pages 100-115 for the Analysis of how the Einheri's last bulkhead was able to absorb that much energy and not rupture, it was an astounding result.

While there was still the boarding action, see appendix C "Captain's Log Einheri Mission 23APR66" note that the casualties from that fight include everyone but the ship's doctor, science officer and the civilian cetian, for the ship the fight was over. Damage Control efforts were able to Restore enough of the bulkheads and Consoles to allow the Einheri to return to dry dock under her own power. I chalk this feat up to an effective regimen of Standard Maintenance and System Tests. I would like to Commend Crewman, formerly of Maxi Corp., David Miles for his tireless efforts to keep the ship repaired, but mostly for his expertise in Bulkhead Repair.

Before I close my official report I would like to call attention to Appendix G "Dry Dock Assessment of Damage, Replacement parts Needed and Time Estimates to bring the Einheri to Various States of Combat Readiness" pages 1043-44. As noted on page 1042 the impact of the Scorpion disabled the break room security camera. It is my opinion that the break room coffee machine was destroyed by the impact as well. Not as stated on pages 1043-44 "by repeated blows with a blunt object, most likely a wrench".

This ends my Official Report.

Looks Like Einheri is getting a new Coffee Machine. BEST. MISSION. EVER.

Einheri 10 [Star Bloom] 05Jun56, Official Report: I will start my report with a quick note about our commander for this mission. After an action with an Enemy Vessel or when a Star Navy ship is lost or suffers extensive damage, it is normal for a board of inquest to be formed. The purpose of the boards is to find out as much as possible about the Enemy and their strengths and weaknesses and to evaluate the crew performance and technology of the Star Navy. While the Board continues its investigation of the Empire of Earth vessel and its actions before its deadly encounter with the Einheri the review of the crew was finished with the usual list of commendations and recommendations with one irregularity. Its seems they were not satisfied with the amount of continuous action that Captain Alan Green has seen and he was forced to take leave for several weeks and then prepare a presentation about the Einheir's battle with the Empire of Sol Ship for the Star Navy Tactical Collage on Earth. Until Captain Green returns the Star Navy has placed Captain Remy-An Cao in command of the Einheri.

When the Einheri arrived in the Epsilon Indi System the ship was struck by a tendril of hyperspace matter and took some minor damage including damage to the scanner system. While damaged the system was unable to create reactor boosts which meant no scan reports of the anomaly. Since I was still conducting basic system maintenance and safety tests the Captain decided to attempt the repair himself and was injured by a plasma arc since he was not familiar with the safety procedures for the equipment.

I rushed the maintenance and safety tests and then restored Scanners. After that I finished repairing the other damage the ship had taken. With all the ships systems functioning again I decided to inform the captain that I was going on my Star Navy regulations authorized coffee break. That is when he decided to do an intervention for my coffee addiction. After listening to his mentoring for several minutes I agreed to monitor my coffee intake. I then returned to Engineering where I returned the Intermix reactor to Optimal Status before going on my coffee break.

The Einheri continued to take a moderate amount of damage including a hull breach. During one of the moments between the damaging energy wave I lead an Engineering team out to repair the Hull Breach accompanied by the captain. This almost proved fatal for us as I miss timed the arrival of the next tendril and we were barely able to make it back inside the safety of the ship. As it was we were both incapacitated for our troubles and needed to be revived by the doctor. After that the ship continued to take enough damage to keep me busy, but not enough to seriously threaten the ship.

At one point during the mission the science officer and I were ordered to program a unit of the ship's experimental Nanobots to make an Akek ship to activate its warp drive and execute a one light minute jump. The nanobots were then taken aboard an Akek ship that was under some kind of duress and turned loose so they could execute their function. The point of this was to either move or dispel the Hyperspace anomaly that threatened Ardys. This part of the plan worked. However what was left unanswered was how to retrieve the Nanobots after that. First we were blocked by a Zara Ha ship from docking with the Akek vessel then we were blocked from docking by an Akek ship that arrived on scene. In the end Lieutenant Dasson ordered the Nanobots to mail themselves to earth and the captain ended the mission.

Notes from the Private logs of Warrant officer Charles Mingus, Chief of Engineering ERS Einheri:

Through the exemplary efforts of Sergeant Parker, one of the Engineering team members who joined the crew from Deadrock Station, we were able to acquire a new, still in the packaging, Maxicorp Model 4320 Hot beverage dispenser. Thats right we were able to lay our hands on a brand new "Brewinator", the greatest coffee maker to ever travel to deep space! We barely had time to properly integrate it into the new Galley when the mission started and I began ship operations before I could taste its delicious black ambrosia before beginning ship operations.

I was able to quickly finish my work and repair the first round of repairs when disaster struck. When I went to inform Captain Cao that I was taking a coffee break he felt compelled to take a few minutes and mentor me regarding my intake of coffee. He went on for several minutes about how he thought I might have a problem and that even the admiralty was worried about coffee intake among the fleets Engineering crews. Then he dropped the mother of all bombs. He had replaced the ship's coffee with decaf.

Stunned I went back to Engineering and returned the Intermix Reactor to its optimal state trying to come to grips with what I had just heard. Eventually I made my way to the ship's galley hopeful that I might find one last packet of real coffee. I was sadly disappointed. I wonder how decaf with Erogline-T or maybe some Methyltonin would taste?

Einheri 11 [Forsaken] 11Sep56, Official Report:

Captain Alan Green has finished his Sabbatical with the Star Navy Tactical Collage and is once again in command of the ship. Since the Captain arrived late our briefing was short and to the point, we would be heading to Epsilon Indi to overlook an International Conference between the 3 leading powers on the planet. After that we promptly entered Hyper-space.

My time spent at command school has left me a little rusty as my initial handling of Engineering at the start of the mission was not as efficient as I would have liked. In particular I failed to get the Intermix Reactor distributing and creating power as fast as I would have liked and the creation of spare parts for repairs was also sub optimal although this would not be an issue on the mission.

While reviewing the maintenance logs of the ship I spotted some irregularities in reported results so I quickly ran system maintenance of the ships systems. I found the Ship's Shields to be in a bad state and while they would work I feared there could be problems with it later if emergency repairs were required. I informed the crew to be careful if they were going to do repairs and to make sure they followed the correct safety procedures in case there was a problem.

While doing maintenance on the bridge I overheard Lt. Dasson Dealing with a new space station the Gharil have in orbit. I believe that it only had one person on board who had been abandoned by the crew and that the station's orbit was decaying. The Lt. decided to tow the station into a higher more stable orbit with a tractor beam and the situation was deemed resolved. I would have loved the chance to see on board the new space station to evaluate it and see if there was anything that needed fixing but I always have plenty to do on the ship.

While the space station issue was being dealt with an away mission with The Ship's doctor and my new cyborg assistant went down to the planet to deal with several issues. I later learned that they were asked to effect repairs on a Prazorian Power plant that was not performing to specifications. Later I helped the doctor disarm a simple explosive device via vidio phone. I also heard a report about some sort of Death/Suicide Clut.

While the away team was on the planet surface 3 Praezorian Ships approached Ardys at a high rate of speed. The Einheir detected them quickly and a combat ensued. Lt Dasson was able to open a Hyperspace gate in front of one of the enemy ships which left it out of most of the fight. A 2nd ship broke off the engagement and landed on the planet while the Einheri remained engaged with the other two ships. After 5 or 10 minutes on the surface the Praezorian ship took off again and then All three ships fled into Hyperspace. Thanks to the Science section the ship did not take very much damage during the combat because of a timely shield upgrade so I did not have many repairs to deal with.

I know that the captain was involved with negotiations with the various factions on the surface while most of this was going on and after the battle he left for the planet with most of the command staff leaving only the ships weapons officer our medical specialist and myself along with the two fighter pilots one of whom was in the sick bay.

the Ensign and I heard an unexpected noise from medical so we decided to arm ourselves and investigate. There we found the wounded pilot had slipped into a coma. The medical specialist arrived and stabilized the pilot while I went to science to conduct an experiment to try to find out what had happened. This was cut short by a verbal altercation between the unwounded pilot and the doctor. I put an end to the altercation before the confrontation became physical, and then things got fuzzy.

I am not sure why but I became convinced that my life was in imminent danger. That is when I got my engineering team I went and found a good hiding place. After 10 minutes or so the Ensign and Specialist found me and took me to sick bay. They were about to strap me down when the Ensign attacked me and the two of us ended up drawing our weapons and using them on each other. The doctor, who was the only one of us with combat training was able to subdue the ensign but not until I had been rendered unconscious by my wounds.

It is around this time that the captain returned to the ship having successfully negotiated an agreement between the major power of the planet. I was revived by the medical specialist using Regenifaceint and as is so often the case with that drug I found myself in the medical bay for the rest of the mission slipping between consciousness and coma as I was given ever more Regenifaceint. Eventually I awoke in intensive care facility at the Sector Star base.

Notes from the Private logs of Warrant officer Charles Mingus, Chief of Engineering ERS Einheri:

I blame Lt. Dasson. I can't prove it but I am guessing the the First officer was arranging some kind of hazing ceremony for our new trainees that backfired on the regular crew. With out our regular doctor the new one used Regenifaceint to try and solve all the crews medical problems. He even tried to use it on me when I took a hard fall during the combat. When I saw what he was going to shoot me up with I told him to get rid of that stuff and use proper medical procedures to fix me up. Later, after my fight with the Ensign, I was not in a position to object since I was unconscious, thus started my ride on the Reginfaceint Roller Coaster. My Survival was starting to look dicey but thankfully the captain declared our mission over and they were able to get me to a proper Doctor. I wonder if I can get a good cup of coffee in this hospital.