#rocheworld

[whirligig-girl]

Troublesome Engines: A Lower Decks fic

The first few chapters of Troublesome Engines is now up on AO3.

It's 2383, and Beckett Mariner and Eaurp Guz are tasked with repairing the infrastructure of a crucial Federation-Ferengi Dilithium Mine on a binary planet. To Eaurp's elation and Beckett's bafflement, the damaged infrastructure are automated steam locomotives! Can they and the rest of the crew get to the bottom of the sudden failure… or is there something deeper going on?

Archive of our Own Link

Chapter 1: Contact Binary

Chapter 2: Runaway

Chapter 3: We Need To Talk

Chapter 4: 28,627 People

Chapter 5: Osculating Orbital Elements

[scifi2feature]

[whirligig-girl]

Shuttlecraft Train Chase

TROUBLESOME ENGINES a Star Trek: Lower Decks fic

The USS Cerritos comes to the aid of a Federation-Ferengi dilithium mine on a contact binary planet, which reported the loss of their transportation infrastructure. Their trains--powered by automated steam locomotives--have stopped running altogether. Can Beckett Mariner, Eaurp Guz, T'lyn, Brad Boimler, Sam Rutherford, and Tendi figure out the source of the mechanical error? Or is there something deeper going on here?

NT&TGR No.16 is a Little Nagus type outside-frame 2-8-2 locomotive outfitted with sensors and a computer to allow it to be operated entirely automatically. There are very basic crew accomodations in the form of a deckless cab, but that aside the engines can be run entirely uncrewed. They are cheaply produced in order to maximize profit, but are built to modern standards, with duranium frames and boiler, and compound cylinders utilizing a camshaft and poppet valve based valve gear. The cylinders appear to be undersized, but this is due to the extremely high boiler pressure in use, and even then, the cutoff must be kept exceptionally low to prevent wheelslipping, especially when utilized in lower gravity environments.