Archive : MD25 : Technobabble
Technobabble
Summary: Jason walks in on Kai and Roubani recalibrating a Viper. Nerdiness ensues.
Date: MD025
Related Logs: None
Players:
Kai..Roubani..Poppy..Jason..Vendas..

HANGAR BAY A
Poster's Note: Log starts at Jason's entrance into ongoing scene, as I lost what was before that.

"As in the University of?" A smile, warm, causes fine crow's feet to sliver at the corners of Karim's eyes. He's hoisted himself up to the top of a ladder currently butted up against a retrofitted mark seven, with Roubani just having settled down inside and initiated a systems check. The deck crew are bustling in preparation of the arms resupply tomorrow morning, leaving the two pilots to their own devices. And, ostensibly, trusting the Captain not to break anything too badly. "Port Kanpur," he supplies, as to the 'you'. And Roubani gets points if he's even /heard/ of the place, ass end of nowhere little village that it is.

"Yes, sir, as in University of," Roubani still doesn't smile. He looks back at the controls panel, flipping through the startup sequence by rote. Lights blink on, things purr underfoot. "Afraid I haven't heard of Port Kanpur. Aera Cura was too busy being sucked into its own black hole to notice anything beyond its own event horizon. Is it in the south?"

Vendas climbs up the stairwell in her blues and begins a slow walk down the flight deck as if looking for someone. Slow and steady, she doesn't appear to be in any hurry. Her hair back in a tight bun and uniform pressed, the woman looks quite formal. Spotting Kai, she angles over towards him. "Captain," she greets with a bit of a smile. "How are things?" Her gaze lifts to the man in the cockpit. "Ensign." A nod.

Jason slips out of the tool room, idly brushing his hands together as he heads back into the hangar bay proper. A few nods are offered to the other officers as he passes, though he doesn't do much to draw attention to himself. His general destination appears to be one of the Raptors.

"I'd be surprised if you had," Kai answers tersely, weight resting on his elbow as the viper thrums to life. "Right. Go as far south as you can on the freight line, then get out and walk a hundred kilometres or so, and catch a logging boat across the strait." He pauses when the Major arrives, and in the interests of not toppling off the ladder, offers her an abbreviated salute with his free hand. "Sir. I'm having Ensign Roubani help me recalibrate a few of these refitted sevens. Chief just got me to sign off on the work, I think they hit a few snags along the way, but I'm sure you'll hear all about it."

Roubani comments mildly, "And here I grew up thinking we were remote for having to switch L-train lines once to get to the capital. I freely admit I was spoiled, sir." He pushes his hands against the seat of the Viper, standing up awkwardly in the cockpit to salute Vendas. "Major." He can't really see down to the floor where Jason is walking. The party's up in the Viper.

Vendas gives the Captain and Ensign an abbreviated salute - two fingers tapping her temple. "As you were, please." her attention turns to Kai, then. "Ah. Good to hear. But I'll wait on the final verdict from you, Captain Marek, before I go asking questions or prying too much." She smirks. "But I wanted to talk to you about something when you have a few free minutes. It doesn't have to be now. Especially if you're in the middle of something." The Major glances over as Jason passes by. "Lieutenant." There's a flickered smile to him.

Jason pauses to give Vendas a quick salute as he passes the CAG. It's crisp enough, though he returns the smile. "Sir," he says, adding a nod of his head in greeting. The work Kai and Roubani are doing on the Viper is eyed with some interest.

"I am. Can it wait ten?" Kai's unapologetic. Not that he's being a particular ass about it, but work's work and he's obviously not going to compromise that unless ordered to. "I hear they're building an L-train out to Steele, which is a start," he murmurs absently, and nods Roubani's attention toward the console. "She's hot, Ensign." As in, good to go. Unless maybe Kai likes his women made of metal and thirty milimetre cannons. "Let's run through the monopulse radar receivers, I think they're our best bet to start." Jason is noted within his peripheral vision, but not acknowledged at the moment.

Roubani folds his hands behind his back until Kai calls attention back to the Viper. He settles back down, reaching for the correct panel as Kai points it out, and his dark eyes focus on the readouts that begin to flicker. "Variable-gain amplifiers are go. Gain control is good. Synchronous demodulator D…is running a little hot here, sir." He squints slightly. "Sum signal Sigma to the difference amplifier's showing too much noise, got a serious ambiguity here." He spits out this vocabulary like he could do it in his sleep.

Poppy arrives from the Hallway - Hangar Deck.

Poppy has arrived.

"Of course. No rush. Come find me when you have time. Its not urgent." Vendas allows a quick smile and backs away from the Viper and nods to Jason. "We're installing a missile package on the Mark Sevens." Her gaze flickers to the Captain. "Might be worth looking at getting the bombing computer transferred, too. Though if you make a request like that, the Chief might actually put one in your forehead." She chuckles and takes a few steps further away, heading off.

Jason listens along with Roubani's technobabble, and seems to follow it decently enough. He makes an "Ah" sound at Vendas' answer, nodding. "You another hand with that? I'm more familiar with Raptor systems than the dogfighters, but I can try and put my hands to good use."

Kai might be impressed, but if he is, he's not showing it. He must be wicked to play triad against. "Roubanis, boost the difference amplifier. Watch the gain, it'll read a little high, but it always does on the sevens until you've got the demodulator synched up." Turning his head, he nods once to the Major. "Yes, sir. I'll be by, as soon as I'm done here." Mention of the bombing computers draws a slight smile, but he keeps his eyes trained on the viper's console. "I'll see what I can do, sir." He'll let Vendas field Jason's question about lending a hand.

Poppy comes clattering down the stairs from above, off duty given her attire but nevertheless in what would classify as a 'duty zone' - go figure. Rubbing a hand through her hair as though it weren't messy enough, she steps down onto the hangar deck with a loud clank. Pivoting on a foot to get out of Vendas' way, she only now seems to notice that the deck is fairly bustling. She blinks.

"Got it, sir." Roubanis knows which dials to reach for, watching the screen as he runs the adjustments with a careful eye. "Does the difference Delta run independent on these models? Might be what's messing with the demodulator. I read these things have a hell of a time picking up invariant signals. Loops back to the sum channel and overdrives the quadrature components for the target return signals. It's a bitch." The whole thing is said in a mild voice, never rising above the soft volume he seems to use normally. He glances up and over the console as he hears a new voice, his hand barely visible as he offers a salute to Jason. "Sir. I have a Brass-Attracting Gravitational Field tonight."

Vendas nods to Jason. "Absolutely, Lieutenant. Get another ladder and see if you can teach these Viper sticks a thing or two." She gives him a quick smile and heads off Fore, bound for the Ready Room. The Major gives a quick once over to the pilot on the hanger deck in off-duties, as if to say 'Careful'. Her face doesn't hold any real malice for the pilot's dress, though. She disappears through the hatchway.

Vendas heads through the exit labeled <F> Fore.

Vendas has left.

"It's the orbital rotation in here. Has a brass gravitational pull," Jason quips to Roubanis with a faint grin. That grin widens at the 'teach these Viper sticks a thing or two' word from Vendas. "Yes, sir," he says firmly, striding off to get a ladder. He glances back at Poppy, noting her in her off-duties. His fellow ECO is offered a friendly nod as he goes about his business.

"You got it," Karim replies in a low voice to the Ensign he's working with at present, and leans in closer to rap a knuckle lightly upon one of the ancillary panels. "If you watch this carefully, you might spot when it sums and spikes. What we want's a pattern, time it on my watch. If you're right, and I think you are, we'll probably need to re-route the difference circuits through the azimuth instead. On my mark." His eyes flick toward the departing Vendas, then down at Jason rounding closer to the bird they're perched atop of. Then back to Roubani. Hope he's ready. "Mark."

"Hey," Poppy says, offering a casual wave as a greeting for Jason as she watches Vendas walk past and takes note of the look on her face. Hmm. Realization begins to dawn on her face all of a sudden and a light bulb practically pops into existence above her head, "Oh frak! That was her, wasn't it?" Who she is speaking to will have to remain one of the great mysteries as she wheels about and immediately takes off at a run towards the ready room to try and catch up with Vendas.

"Well. Now at least I know I'm not repulsive." Roubani puns shamelessly, deadpan as ever. His dark eyes look over the side of the Viper as Jason heads off to get a ladder, brow raising, then he quickly looks back at the panel as Kai starts them off. Crap, looking! "Check…check…check…" His eyes flicker as the gain spikes, then spikes again, then they narrow. He shifts in his seat, for a moment looking like a cat stalking a mouse. "Give me a second…"

Jason answers Poppy readily enough, whether she's speaking to him or not. "'Her' the CAG? Yeah," he says, smile widening with amusement. It's a well-meaning enough sort of humor, though. He watches her go, letting out a low chuckle, then goes back to hauling the ladder around. It's set up navigating the deck with the ladder. He sets it up near one of the Vipers, though for the moment he just observes what Roubani and Kai are doing. As if getting a feel for the work in his mind.

"Lieutenant Tusculani." Kai's still got his head ducked, watch hand lifted so he can count off the ticks to thirty seconds. Once she's stopped, /if/ she stops, he furthers, "The next time I see you in a duty area, in your offduties, you'll be getting a bucket and mop from the technician currently in charge, and cleaning the deck plating." Pale eyes flick up to Roubani again. "Mark. What do you figure? Lieutenant, grab a ladder and come on up, maybe you can learn something." That last is to Jason.

"Deal, Captain," Poppy says with a nod, having paused when called up by the squadron leader, "I'll never roam again. On my way out … swear it. Just gotta see … " The rest of what she has to say becomes muffled as she quickly backs herself towards the Ready Room, disappearing inside of it mid-sentence.

Poppy heads through the exit labeled <F> Fore.

Poppy has left.

If Roubani hears the dressing-down to Poppy, he doesn't look up. He's got his attention trained on the radar screen. At each spike, his fingers gently tap the back of his hand, and once Kai calls time he closes his eyes. His fingers keep tapping out a memorised pattern onto his skin. "Spikes are all on the difference edge, interfering with the predicted echo-return. Subtract the differentiated output from the difference channel…multiplied by properly phased sum channel signals…" He opens his eyes, looking up at Kai and Jason, and declares with no small amount of triumph in his voice. "It's inversely proportional to the signal gain level of the sum I.F. amplifier."

"I'm always up for something educational, sir," Jason replies simply to Kai. He sets the ladder down and climbs on up. Dark eyes peering with interest into the Viper's electrical interior. A vaguely sympathetic look is directed in Poppy's direction but he leaves it at that. He's got Viper parts to peer at. And technobabble to try and keep up with.

Kai doesn't quite stifle his own triumphant little smile. It darts across his lips briefly, creasing soft lines in his cheek that couldn't adequately be called /laugh/ lines, so much as proof he's inching toward middle-aged. "Good job, Roubani. You sure you signed on as a pilot, and not a snipe?" His eyes cut briefly toward Jason. "Have you worked much with monopulse receivers, Lieutenant? They use the same BSE controls as the raptor's guided missiles, though they don't key into the viper's systems quite so cleanly. So we have to trick it a little."

Roubani shrugs. "Know the horse you're riding, sir." He looks over the Viper controls, eyes making a sweep across the entire panel. Then he looks up at Jason.

"I'm familiar with it, sir, but more the theory than the practical end," Jason replies to Kai, setting an arm on the Viper to steady himself as he peers into it. "I've always been kind of impressed the Vipers can handle such complex electrical systems in such a small frame. In one of the big birds, we get more room to have more of the technical fun."

"Comes from having less to do," Kai replies evenly. "DRADIS, compression sensors, gun deployment and rotation. Maneuvering. Engines. Nothing in here's going to pick off a target for you, unless it's hooked up to one of those." He nods to the missile rack latched to the mark seven's undercarriage. Which, it seems, is precisely what they're trying to get working. He pats the section of wing he's been leaning over. "See whether you two can get that signal output fixed. It's been fifteen minutes, I'd better see what the Major wants." He begins clambering back down the ladder.

"Yes, sir." Roubani rubs his fingers over the side of his jaw, and reaches over to adjust a dial. Carefully. His eyes flicker to the missile rack when it's mentioned, then back to what he's doing. Another adjust.

"Aye, sir," Jason echoes Roubani to Kai. In well-heeled junior officer fashion. He leans over to get his hands more properly into the Viper. "How do you compensate for the increased variability in electrical pulses in the smaller input receiver?" he asks of Roubani. Dusting off his geek-speak for this endeavor.

And off he goes. Satisfied that the two junior pilots have things well in hand, Karim's headed for the ready room.

Kai heads through the exit labeled <F> Fore.

Kai has left.

"Hardware issue." Roubani takes a moment to look at Jason, settling back in his seat and loosely folding his arms. "You couple two transmission lines together by resistive elements, distributed along the length of the lines. The conductance of each coupling resistive element as a function of its position along the line is selected to produce the desired pulse shape in the output line when an easily produced pulse, such as a step function pulse, is applied to the input line. Problem solved." Duh. He thins his lips and looks back at the panel, frowning. "Or I guess you could just stab it with a fork."

Jason gets a chuckle out of the fork comment. "Or a spork, if you could find one. More versatile." He looks impressed, in spite of himself. "I don't think I've ever heard a Viper jock who could recite the tech schematics like he actually knew what he was talking about."

"Maybe I just saw it on TV." Roubani glances up, only managing to hold his serious expression for a moment. It breaks into a smile so faint it's almost not there at all, and he looks back at the panel. "You a Raptor pilot?"

"Frak, no," Jason replies with a chuckle, shaking his head. "Nah. I'm not a pilot. Electronic countermeasures officer. ECO in common nomenclature. The Colonial Fleet does love its abbreviations."

"They do, don't they," Roubani admits. He sits up, unfolding his arms and fiddling with more buttons and dials on the panel. Some numbers are tapped into an input panel half-hidden on the far left side. "I don't know very much about Raptors. Is it…fun?" His tone sounds quite aware that that's a lame question. He almost seems to apologise for it without saying so.

Jason doesn't mind the question, giving it real consideration. As if he'd never thought of it in quite that way before. "It's an interesting job, as far as miliary work goes," he says. "More opportunities for exploration. Not /real/ exploration, out there beyond the lines, but you get to look at some interesting phenomena now and then. Even got some scans of a supernova remnant when I was doing my first tour, during a convoy run. Wouldn't have gotten to see that back on Caprica. I've got to admit. Not that I got to stick around long enough to really study it."

Roubani works while Jason talks, finally rebooting the Viper's radar systems with the flick of a switch. Things humm as lights power down and then back up, beeping and blinking. "You're an astronomer?"

Jason leans in to monitor the radar readings while Roubani reboots. The question earns a shrug, and a nod. "Back in the real world, yeah. Finished my undergrad work on Caprica a few years ago. Doing my master's through the military exchange program." He says it with a certain amount of wryness. "It pays the tuition bills. Can't complain about that. I probably should've tried to get on with a research ship but…I don't know. This is fine for now. Almost done paying my dues, anyway."

"At least a CEC doesn't suddenly run out of funding," Roubani offers, shrugging. His smile is again faint and brief. He clears his throat quietly and starts shutting down the panels. "I should go, I've got to go sign away my firstborn child to Logistics before they let me go to dinner. It was nice meeting you, Lieutenant."

"The military paperwork's more of a bitch than grant applications, though," Jason replies with a half-smile. He closes off a panel, assisting with the shut-down process, then descends the ladder. "Nice meeting you, Ensign. Careful of the quartermasters. General distribution can be pretty rough territory." A mild joke.

"I'm sure they're proud of every moment of it." Roubani says drily. He climbs out of the Viper, finding the ladder rung with his foot. "Goodnight, sir."

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