Dun looked over with a 'hmm' and an equally distracted visage as he listened to what the ensign had to say.  Then he replayed her comment in his head and ran it parallel with the countless batteries of tests he had run on the systems represented by what he saw in front of her.  He punched a few buttons and pulled up the holographic relay and studied it.<br/><br/>"What is normal about this projection you have drawn up is that which is standard for most star ships..."  Dun's face softened a bit from the edgy look he had moments ago.  He started to move a stylus within the confines of the holographic model, opening pathways that had not been called upon within the initial measurement and introduced the simulation to a new parameter that reset the initial query.<br/><br/>"Computer, run an overlay of the initial query with the new one as set for direct induction via the plasma inhibitors.  If you will notice, Liara, the nacelles, or much on the ship in fact, can not handle a direct stream of the McNairs SDD Plasma, so the inhibitors, which double as a buffer of sorts, slows it down and stores it so that the ship can handle the energy.  The only thing that can handle the direct output is the Gatekeeper's shield and array and our impulse drive, if you can believe it.  Anything that gets the power out of the ship, the ship can handle, odd as it may seem.  You have accurately seen the problem the scientists had perplexed over for years.  Achieving more power was never the problem, but incorporating it, now that was a doozy!"<br/><br/>As he waxed technical, which was always his comfort zone, Dun moved over behind the ensign and smiled, patting her on the shoulder.  Anyone with a zest to know and learn that which drove him to improve and break the mold was going to get along with him just fine.   With a deep breath, he turned back for the main engineering doors and headed towards them.<br/><br/>"I have a meeting to get to, ensign, please...  study the impedance variables and find the break over point for cost effectiveness and optimal performance in your own estimation.  You will find it a fine line.  Starfleet will not put up with us and a major overhaul every other year, so learn to foster those fractional percentile points.  Oh," Dun paused and looked back over his shoulder at her with a big grin, "and by the way.  This was the work that I did to make this..." he gestured all about the engineering main room as he spoke... "a viable option for Starfleet in use with the ships that have used it thus far.  I have a feeling you can get your head around the numbers though!"<br/><br/>And with that, the Chief Engineer hurried out the door.  He knew he was late for the senior briefing and he hated it, but he was very confident that the delay was one that would pay off in aces.  Ensign Kroken Liara was very sharp.  With instruction and nudging, she would quickly close the gap between knowledge and experience, her to him respectively.<br/><br/><--Moving to the Observation Lounge-->