COMM ID: Sandra Rivers, Lieutenant
TARGET ID: Navy High Command
SUBJECT: Technical Issues
ENCRYPTION: Moderate
PRIORITY: Moderate
Lt. Rivers here,
After sudden and seemingly random technical difficulties during a flight through Kasas system, I returned to Freeport 4 in magellan for a techncial check up of the Guardian craft I was flying.
During flight in Kansas system the reactor over-heating alert suddenly went off but according to the crafts on board systems and its diagnosis program, the heat in the reactor core was at perfectly normal levels. Still, to be sure I was sent to Freeport 4 to check the craft.
It turns out I was very lucky and had I not turned around I would not survived that flight. But for further information I am adding the report the Freeport 4 technical crew sent to me this morning.
I was also advised to visit the nearest navy medical facility for a thorough check up on radiation damage just to be sure, therefore, I also would like to request a bit of time to see to that.
We have concluded our examination of your craft and are glad to report the following results to you. Please forward our report to your high command, it contains important information on the incident.
--- Freeport 4, Hangar Team
Technical Report:
The crafts external hull was in good condition, external damage was minimal to non-existant. Signs of damage (singular, one hit) repaired by onboard repair systems (nanobots).
Sensors were operational and working at capacity. No errors.
Engines were fully operational and working at capacity. No errors.
Computer core was fully operational and working at capacity. No errors.
Reactor core was fully operational and working at capacity. No errors.
Energy grid was fully operational with the exception of a singular damage, more information following.
At first sight we found no apparent cause for the reactor overheat warning. We were able to replicate the error, however, as we started the craft's engines and initiated stand by mode in the hangar.
As we continued our examination we found a minor damage in the energy grid at a certain relay point. This point was neither directly connected to the reactor, nor to the on-board diagnosis programs and warning systems. However, we found that the damage at this relay point of the energy grid caused minor portions of energy to spring over to another nearby relay-point. And this second relay point was directly connected to the craft's reactor core and also to the onboard diagnosis and warning systems due to its importance.
During our testing we found that the energy portions that were springing over from the relatively unimportant relay point 1 to the very important relay point 2 had the potential to essentially short-circiut the relays. This would have caused an immediate reactor melt-down, resulting in the instant explosion of the craft.
The only reason this has not happened was that the buffers of both relay points remained intact, buffering the energy that sprang over between the relays randomly. But those buffers, which are installed between each relay and the next on both sides are made to last, and are optimised for low-amplitude, continuous fluctuations that are inevitable in every energy grid, but not for random and frequent energy spikes as was the case with the malfunctioning relay point.
Therefore, the buffers were eroded and in less than optimal state. We exchanged the two relay points, including buffers and tested the two malfunctioning ones further, to see how much more strain they could have buffered. After five minutes and fourty one seconds of (emulated) normal engine use (on standby mode in the hangar) the buffers and the second relay fried. We estimate that had the pilot flown for another thirty to fourty clicks in cruise speed that this would have caused an explosion of the craft.
Of course, we searched for a reason how such an unlikely series of events could have happened and we found the solution in the repaired hull damage of the craft. The location is exactly proximal to the first, relatively unimportant energy relay and it was the weapon's large calibre (and frankly bad luck) that a single shot hit the craft without shields at this specific location, in such a manner that it would not only damage the energy relay but also in such a particular way that it would affect a nearby, fully protected and buffered critical relay point.
Due to the repaired state it was difficult to determine the exact nature of the weapon that hit the craft but the sheer size of the repaired area spoke for a large calibre weapon such as cruisers or battleships use.
Of course, this raised a concern to us for the safety of other pilots flying such craft, so we interviewed the pilot and she confirmed our suspiciouns: The craft was hit by a gallic battleship stationed to guard a jumpgate in Edinborough system.
Under these premises, the situation makes sense. Small craft are not build to withstand large calibre fire and even though the initial examination raised concern, we are confident that there is no need for concern about the design or production of the crafts.
We believe that this particular incident was simply bad luck, and quite frankly, a lot of it. However, your pilot also was incredibly lucky at the same time for had she flown the craft only a bit further, the craft would have exploded violently and suddenly, chances of her surviving a sudden explosion like that are very slim.
The craft was repaired and is now operational again but we suggest that it is flown to next Navy Yard for a thorough and more in depth check up.
We have still not found the reason why the reactor over-heating alert went off, when there was no over-heating happening, but whatever the case your pilot is lucky it went off, even if faslely. We suspect it to be a related malfunction of the energy grid that was damaged.
//oorp info: a random muse to add some flavor and rp to a random and otherwise irrelevant ingame incident. During the last event I was hit by the stationary gallic battleship in edinborough exactly once and it cost 4 nanobots to repair. But lateron I had to drop out to tend to RL stuff. (I flew back to land under the premise of a reactor-overheating warning )
So I thought I would add some rp flavor to it. If there are any problems with it, do feel free to let me know and I will see it changed immediately.
)