SANS Time to get a start...

Posted on 12 Feb 2026 @ 9:06pm by Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd & Lieutenant Commander Leland Hawksley & Lieutenant JG Faith Benson

2,022 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: S04 Episode 02 The Hackers Backdoor (Incidentals)
Location: First Officer's Ready Room

OOC: This takes place after bridge duties of Departed

[ON]

=/\= Lieutenant Benson and Lieutenant Commander Hawksley, please come to my ready room. =/\= Dodd stated into his commbadge.

Dodd departed the bridge to head directly to his office. It was time to get the two people he needed to have included in his SANS Project together and get the project moving.

Hawksley entered with a bright smile. He wanted to jump Dodd, wanted to punch him for being away for so long... But Leland knew he was on tight business with Starfleet, and he could not ask why, where he was.

"Sir." Leland saluted in his sharpest, proudest, tall stance. "Hawksley reporting for duty as requested."

Faith gave a little bit of a stretch coming in behind of Hawksley. Giving a bit of a side glance as she stopped to stand next to him. She didn't salute, but she did go to attention.

"As you were, glad you are here."

After the two crewmembers had arrived, "Hello, so glad to be back on the and with family so to speak." Dodd stated as he motioned to the two to have seats at the sofa in the pack of his office.

"I have asked you both here as I will need to have you both working with me on a new project. Benson, you have an idea of what it is as you have been tinkering on a similar idea and I was given permission to have you join me in my project because I have reviewed all the data you had in the ship's database and it was practically the same as my project." Dodd stated to the twosome.

"This project is called SANS for short. It stands for Starfleet Adaptive Nanosuit System. SANS is an adaptive environmental suit that can allow the wearer to be more independent and flexible than the traditional environmental suits. These suits use nanites that are adaptive but non-sentient. The Kavosian Collective have been included in this project and given us their permission as long as then nanites used are never given sentience. They have even helped to generate the nanites we will be using to help prevent them from ever gaining sentience.

The suits will grow from a device that can be modified to wear as a belt or a pair of wristbands. The nanites will have a link to our comm badges so they can access the nearest computer system for updates and data. Each set of nanites will be programed for the specialty of the wearer. However, suits for the captain, first officer and certain select individuals will have a more broad usage. But standard individuals will have suits tailored to their respective duties on the crew. So medical personnel will have medical abilities in their suits such as built in medical tricorders to keep both hands free for treatment, and the suit can also replicate medical instruments while in the field to help with immediate care. Engineers will have the means to scan any equipment issues from built in sensors and thus also have both hands free to do repairs. This is the same for all the crew when the time comes to issue to all of the Tomcat.

Any questions so far?" Dodd asked to give the two a chance to express themselves about the project.

Hawksley leaned forward, a sharp grin flashing.

"Not yet, no," Faith shook her head.

“Non-sentient, Kavosian-locked, Collective-approved nanites with comm badge uplink and role-specific replication? Sir, that’s the sexiest briefing I’ve had in years.”

He ticked off points on his fingers:

“Comms blackout protocol: if the link drops (ion storm, jamming, Borg interference), do the nanites freeze in last-known config or auto-retract to the belt?”

“Power source: bio-electric induction, thermal gradient, something else? Because micro power cells on every crewman are a non-starter.”

“Resources: when do Benson and I get a dedicated lab, priority fabricator time, and permission to blow up as many prototypes as it takes until this thing laughs at plasma fires and Risa bar fights alike?”

He sat back, arms folded, eyes gleaming.

“Your project, Commander. My engine room, my team, my sleepless nights. Whatever it takes: it’s already being built in my head. Say the word, and we start breaking things tomorrow.”

A quick sideways glance and a nod to Benson. “Lieutenant, strap in. This is going to be fun.” Leland is excited to be working with his engineering Mentor, Commander Dodd, once again.

Dodd could feel the emotional high of Hawksley, like a kid with a free pass to a candy store or a free toy shopping spree. Nothing but joy and excitement radiated from the chief engineer.

The moment Commander Dodd finished the briefing, Leland felt the grin split his face so wide it almost hurt.

He didn’t even try to play it cool.

“Sir… you’re telling me I get to work with you again? On this?” His voice cracked with pure, unfiltered excitement, the same tone he’d had at twenty-two when Lieutenant Commander Dodd had first let an over-eager ensign crawl inside a Jefferies tube on the old USS Valiant to help him redesign a plasma conduit on the fly.

"Yes, Chief, I am telling you, we will be working together on this side project." Dodd replied.

Leland practically bounced forward on the sofa, hazel eyes bright behind the faint smudge of isolinear grease he never quite managed to wash off.

“Commander, the last time we were in a lab together, you taught me how to make a warp coil sing in three-part harmony. I’ve been chasing that high for eight years.” He laughed, short, giddy, and utterly genuine. “SANS? Adaptive non-sentient nanosuits with Kavosian lockouts? This is the kind of insane, beautiful, career-defining madness I signed up for Starfleet to build.”

"I knew you would enjoy this opportunity." Dodd replied trying to keep himself in check as watching Hawksley be so excited was very stimulating for Dodd.

“Whatever you need, sir. Long nights, blown containment fields, coffee that could strip hull plating; name it. Working under you again feels like coming home and getting handed the keys to the galaxy at the same time.”

He sat back just enough to keep from vibrating out of his uniform, fists clenched in barely contained enthusiasm.

“Just say when, Commander. I’m already mentally rearranging the auxiliary engineering lab in my head.”

Faith was being eerily quiet for the moment in thought. Running things over in her head. Blinking out of it, "Didn't bring any of my notes and papers. I'll have to find where I put them all and get them sorted."

"As a matter of fact, I was going to make a request to get one of the auxiliary science labs reconfigured to the needs of the project and have it ready for use hopefully by the end of this shakedown mission." Dodd replied.

"Which auxiliary lab were you eyeing—Bio-3 or Chem-2? And what specific reconfigurations are we talking about? I'll put in the formal request through Engineering and Ops myself to expedite it." Hawksley curiously eyed back at Dodd.

"As the Chief Engineer and a part of this project, you pick the lab, the one that is the most underused. This project will take the lab out of the normal work rotations." Dodd then hands Hawksley a PADD. "This will give you all the parameters for the lab's set up and it contains the codes to the stored pattern buffers of the equipment that needs to be installed as well as the basics for networking the nanites to each crew member."

Faith chimed in. "We can use the torpedo workshops also, they are rarely in use that often. They don't have a much as one of the Engineering labs but the Engineering labs don't have some of the equipment those do."

"We can replicate workshop modules and resitu, re-cycle the older lab placements." The Chief Engineer closed his eyes confidently, as he slowly shook his head, as noise was all he had heard between what the ships XO had stated.

Holding his large chaffed engineering paws for hands outward, he gestured... "They are meant to be recycled within the industrial replicators, as they break down and reuse the products to molecular levels to spark new replicated materials in demand."

"So, we can easily reset up the lab up he was checking the parameters of the padd, with the main lab computers that could stock those right away

Hawksley looked through the engineering specs pad and then nodded right away. "We can use the engineering laboratories (adjacent/sub-labs).

"A smaller dedicated lab near main engineering, which handles prototyping, diagnostics, and R&D." He shook his head. "I'm not asking to shut down the torpedo interlock array labs, not while were in cruise. Besides, the Captain may need them to test. What we need can be done on Deck 13 - Lab 07."
Suited for computer enhancements, circuitry repairs, or experimental tech (potentially including nanite containment or neural interfaces).

"Understood, Commander." Leland calmed himself down a bit from the excitement of engineering. "I can have all the implements adjusted by the end of this week. Then we can begin with the SANS development at your guidance, of course."

"So where do you want me?" Benson teetered back and forth on the pad and heels of her feet.

"Well, I want you to insert your data and any notes into the appropriate spots in my data. Then once Hawksley gets the lab set up and integrated into the ship's computer, you will be good to go for a revives prototype. This prototype will come in the three variation format that I have established. There will be a Command version, an Operations Version and a Scientific/Medical version. Then we will create five full-function versions for the full testing. The one Hawksley, yourself and I will be testing will be from those five." Dodd replied as he looked squarely at Benson and handed her a PADD. "I am looking to you to be the most radical version of yourself as possible and do all you can to put this to the test. You have only to advise me of what you think of and we will let you lead the testing for the most extreme limits of the suit. There is even a Holodeck program that will allow you to create versions of the Captain, Dr. Corsair and ourselves to do the testing of our prototypes. The SANS is designed to be fully adaptive and work for holos as well since there may come a time when they are more integrated into society."

"But what if I want my units propreitary and don't want to share to the entire universe? I'll just help with the creation of the first, and then yall can mass produce them." Faith paused, "Of course, after I get the first and only prototype since it was my idea to start with." She grinned up, down, left, and right.

Hawksley grinned and grunted, "Wicked." After he had heard what Dodd and Benson were working on. He was just there to provide moral support and follow the project management as directed. "Sounds good, Commander."

"Benson, I value your input to help this technology to become a grand expansion of what Starfleet can become beyond just our simple ship." Dodd replied. "And Hawksley, you are a key part of the operation, as you will be the key team member on the inside of the core of the program and you have input as well since you are more familiar with all the interface options of the new Tomcat systems. I am looking forward to getting this into full service as soon as we can. Dismissed."

[OFF]

 

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