Science! Assemble!

Posted on 24 Mar 2014 @ 11:00am by Commander Norvi Stace & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton & Commander Andreus Kohl & Petty Officer 3rd Class David Emerson & Petty Officer 1st Class Daniel Rhodes (KIA) & Lieutenant Jared Nicholas & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley & Ensign Branwen Martell-Darby & Lieutenant Elijah Williams IV, M.Sc. & Petty Officer 1st Class Threxa Shroll & Petty Officer 1st Class Viru Evek & Nesh Saalm & M'Ressa & Vincent Kramer Ph.D. & Alethea Coleman Ph.D & Tarishiana Barel
Edited on on 25 Mar 2014 @ 9:33am

4,097 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo: Science Laboratory, Deck 2
Timeline: MD -07 - 1000 hrs

ON:

Stace and Pendleton had ambled back from the staff briefing with (for Stace) a concerned yet renewed sense of purpose. As they made their short walk to the turbolift, Stace's heavy brow sung of her perplexed feelings about what she had been told and how they were going to proceed. Not docking at DS9 meant that the Trill would have to forego a prearranged social engagement with her previous host's reigning admiral, but for that she was merely relieved. What nagged at her was the mention of these 'metaphysical manifestations' reported by the mining workforce. She knew in such technologically advanced societies that such trifles as ghosts and ghouls no longer held sway but then she couldn't quite shake off the Bajoran's attitude to their prophets. She halted just outside of the turbolift's sensors and turned to Pendleton with furrowed and knitted brows.

"I'll contact Kohl and ask that he gather the science heads together in one of the science labs. We might as well conduct a joint briefing to save time if you're up for it."

"A wise and excellent decision Norvi." He smiled at her.

"I just can't shake off this absurd notion of ghosts. Not that I think either the commodore or the captain believe in such ridiculousness, but I suppose we have to consider all options."

Stace paused and then casually leant against the bulkhead with her slender arms folded neatly across her chest. "What do you think, Jacob?"

"I know better than to rule out anything." He replied with a now serious face, "Did you know that despite all our advancements, scientists still do not know where the five planes that disappeared in Bermuda Triangle went? Or how we still only have theories about ball lightning, the reason why Stonehenge and the Easter Island statues exist and who built them? To this day we still have no idea what happened to the crew of the Mary Celeste, or why the rings of Indrian IV rotate opposite of the planet's rotation or why there is a dual wormhole at the edge of the Beta Quadrant that has been seen by observers TWICE in one hundred eight years, among many other unsolved mysteries. I like to keep an open mind about things, we will just have to get there and see if we can solve this mystery."

As Stace moved and shifted her body weight to heave herself from her relaxed position, the door to the turbolift breathed open as both of them stepped inside. "Stace to Kohl," she said out aloud into the middle distance, tapping her combadge. "Assemble the science team in Lab Two for a briefing."

"Understood, Lieutenant," came Kohl's voice from the communication system. "I'll have them there in fifteen minutes."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I'll see you in quarter of an hour. Stace out." She turned to Jacob and flashed him a smile. "Deck three."


Science Laboratory 2

In the heart of the laboratory, Lieutenant Andreus Kohl was seated at the circular ring of LCARS workstations. At, basically, the very minute Stace had called the meeting, Kohl had started making arrangements via his combadge. As he did so, he broke out into a sprint to make his way to multipurpose laboratory two before anybody else. He had replicated a couple of trays of cheeses, crackers, fruit and cured meat bites, and positioned them on workstations around the lab. Before anyone else had arrived, Kohl was making follow-up calls to members of the science team he suspected would be tardy.

When the communique had come in from Lieutenant Kohl, Elijah had been surprised. He didn't expect to be called into a briefing so soon. He lifted himself off his stool and grabbed a PaDD and headed out of the geology lab. It didn't take long to get to the general labs and he entered to see Kohl standing there. Food was positioned around the main consoles. He had to admit, that was impressive. He stepped forward, gray eyes scanning the various trays of food he then looked to the taller man. "Looks good," he said, offering a bit of a smile. "Also, reporting as ordered."

"Thank you, Elijah," Kohl said through a pleased grin. He strode around the side of the work table to move towards the entryway. "I know I certainly think better on a full stomach," Kohl remarked. "But that's not true of all physiognomies."

"Oh food, great I'm starving!" Abbey said walking through the door smiling towards both Elijah and Kohl, both of which she had met already. Picking an apple from the selection of fruit she bit into it, swallowing and sighed with pleasure "That's a good granny smith. What's this all about?" She asked openly standing next to Elijah his height almost seeming to tower over her.

Kohl clicked his tongue against the back of his teeth. "Lieutenant Stace didn't say," he replied. Stepping closer, Kohl took a matching apple for himself. "All I know is she wanted anyone in a blue collar packed in here, stat."

Nesh was next to arrive, though was seemingly more distracted than usual. She had received the call from her shift on the bridge, where she seemed much more at peace. Between her shifts and the tribbles that were nestled happily, and safely, on her bed, the Orion had very few issues keeping to herself lately. "Hello everyone!" It didn't stop her from being her jovial self, especially today.

Waving back in reply, Kohl declared, "Hello, Nesh."

Jared didn't mind crowds if he were performing he rather liked them. But he and meeting didn't exactly see eye to eye. They tended to on and on ad infantium. At first everyone contributed and they went well, but the more people that were involved the longer they took and the longer they took the less value they provided.

Throw in the fact that too many people were to opting to voicing divergent views, most such meeting involved very little information and a whole bunch of bullshit and ass kissing. But he had been summoned so here he was ~At least they are proving food~he thought to himself, before picking up some meat and crackers to make an impromptu sandwich.

Evek had be very occupied when his commbadge went off. He had to quietly sneak away and then sprint to the lab, straightening his uniform as he entered the door. He scanned the room for a good place to stand. He picked a great spot right beside petri dish storage.

The next to quite literally skip in was the ever-bright and happy Aenar zoologist. She had decided to take a little nap, and had just had breakfast when Lieutenant Kohl's reminder chimed in on her commbadge. It would have been awful to be late for a meeting! So, she resolved not to be, happily arriving just in time to find herself some form of fruit and stand off to the corner, with a happy smile next to a quiet Cardassian scientist. Not that she knew he was a Cardassian, but she did know he was there. "Good morning!" she piped happily to Evek. "Isn't today a lovely day?"

"Indeed it is." He smiled flirtatiously at the Aenar, "and your beautiful smile has made it just that much more lovely."

Despite her assurances to Lieutenant Stace that she would be more punctual, Branwen had forgotten all about such matters of timekeeping almost the moment she had left the CSO's office. As such, it was only by random chance that she happened to be even vaguely on time for the meeting: she was walking down the corridor when she saw scientists entering the lab, and decided to follow, curious. The cosmologist took a place at the back and listened; she recognized a few faces, such as Stace, Pendleton, and Williams, but the rest were new to her.

Dr. Kramer walked to the meeting. He was reviewing some material on an unusual planet found in the Beta Quadrant when the doors opened to the lab. Vincent stopped suddenly when his peripheral saw a room full of people. He blinked his eyes looking side to side. It was a bit crowded. He thought, They must have called every living scientist on the ship into this small lab. He squeezed into the side and found a piece of wall to lean up against.

M'Ressa arrived for the briefing with one of the scientists assigned to her project. PO3 Emerson reminded her of her brother-in-law, except he was ex-marine and PO3 Emerson wasn't. Unsure exactly what the meeting was about, she'd brought several PaDDs with her in case a status update was required.

Dr. Coleman followed in after the Caitian. She looked around the room as if she were already bored to be there. She spotted the food, but she hated eating while standing and so refrained from taking anything. Everyone was sort of finding their own spot to stand and converse and even though it wasn't the case she felt suddenly very awkward as if everyone were watching her. She decided on a corner that would make her the most inconspicuous and waited for the meeting to start.

Dasha entered into the multi-purpose labs, and headed over to the bench where she normally worked, leaning against it.

Out of breath, Victoria stopped running just before the entrance to the lab to straighten her uniform and catch her breath. It was tough getting used to meetings and briefings again after such a long break. Whatever. It's still good to be back. She took a deep breath and walked into the lab as casually as possible, relieved to see that they hadn't started yet. She walked over to a spot near the wall and waited.

Stace and Pendleton seemed to unknowingly time it so that they were the last to arrive. Walking into their own court like king and queen was not Norvi's intention. In fact, she had wanted to get there a little earlier, but downloading a few of the mission specifics for the briefing is what had caught her off guard, and it wasn't until Pendleton had called by her office to collect her that she realized how quickly the fifteen minutes had gone. She strode in, a stern but passive expression on her face, and addressed the collected scientists. "Hello everyone," she started with, her red ponytail flicking about her speckled neck. She looked over to the refreshments, glanced quickly at Kohl with an amused and impressed smile, and then poured herself a coffee.

"Lieutenant Pendleton and I have just returned from a senior staff briefing with Commodore Saalm and Captain Holliday." She ambled over to the main desk in front of the wall readout and perched on the side of it placing down her coffee and framing her hips with one arm either side of her. "It looks as though we might have our work cut out for us with this one." She turned and nodded to Pendleton, indicating for him to take the mantle.

Jacob's booming could be heard quite clearly through the room, much as easily as he could be seen by all, "Ok folks, as Lieutenant Stace said, we face a unique, complex, and quite frankly different than anything that this ship might have ever encountered before." He stopped for moment to gather the body language of the staff before he continued, "We are heading for Lyshan III and the joint Federation-Cardassian mining colony there. The colony is under great duress as the miners are on strike due to... strange occurrences going on there... apparently my fellow scientists, the miners are encountering... what we would refer to as metaphysical manifestations... and therefore are too afraid to continue working under such conditions." He watched their body languages change as he knew the questions were going to come like waves now.

Coleman rolled her eyes and she made a 'pfft' sound when she heard the word metaphysical. She of course, like everyone, immediately had a dozen questions, but she waited for others to say something first. It would then give her more time to compose her thoughts.

"So in laymen turns... Ghosts?" She said between bites of her apple. "Sorry someone had to say it" She shrugged not looking at all to concerned. Abbey had a way with things and saying how it was had become an annoying characteristic she gained from her father.

Both Jared's brows rose above his hairline. He'd seen a lot before coming to the Federation, some of it he would like to forget and some of it was a different kind. Things that weren't explainable. While he didn't believe in ghosts per se, he as open to the possibility that the metaphysical could be as real as the material world.

Evek remained rigidly silent. Listening to the conversation around him and hoped that the Cardassians did nothing the cause the apparitions. The last thing he needed was a mission full of hostile Cardassians to completely alienate him from the rest of the crew.

Leaning against the circular array of workstations at the centre of the room, Kohl's face lit up with a beaming grin. His sapphire eyes searched the room for Lieutenant Stace. Shortly after Abbey asked her question, Kohl chimed in before anyone could answer it. "What did the ghosts look like?" he eagerly asked.

Dasha smiled for a sec, adding, "And do we need to make particle accelerators?"

Ghosts? Elijah liked how bold Abbey-Mae was. He wished he could be that bold sometimes. He looked to her and smiled. She seemed so casual and relaxed. Though he was going to go out on a limb and assume he wasn't much older than her, but he felt like an old man compared to her. He turned his attention back to the meeting, he didn't believe in ghosts, there was obviously something scientific behind this mystery, so he took it all with a grain of salt.

Branwen's foster parents had told her traditional Irish ghost stories when she was a child: the banshee, the sidhe, the fae. In exploring her Xenexian culture, she had encountered similar kinds of stories, though each tribe treated the question of the spirit world a little differently than the next. But, she did not credit any of these stories with being anything more than that: just stories, the same way people had once made up stories to explain the movements of the planets and stars, but now knew the truth. What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent? She smiled quietly to herself, and held her silence. They would discover the truth of these apparitions soon enough.

Having torn her focus from the flirtatious Cardassian she was standing next to, Shroll blinked, turning toward where she suspected the pair of science heads were. "Are they spooks the miners identify with? If there is a religious... or otherworldly identification behind the manifestations, it may be easier to narrow down a scientific cause based on the color they're glowing... among other things, of course."

Stace smiled at the breakout discussions as the science team hypothesized the actual science behind what was transpiring at the mining colony. She pursed her lips and held up both hands in a mock surrender of the verbal assault that both she and Pendleton faced. Her smirk broke into a grin as she then reached for her coffee to take another sip. "We both know as much as you guys do at this point," she said flicking her attention to Jacob. Now turning back to the room, she looked over to Kohl.

"We have some time before we reach Lyshan III. Lieutenant Kohl, I want you to organize the Planetary Sciences division to start working with what we know about the planet and its characteristics. Williams and Martell-Darby will assist you with the team. We might as well get a handle on what we're facing before we enter orbit. Pendleton," she then added, turning to face him, "we'll take the rest of the team. See if we can find a thread in this tapestry of mystery to unpick. Any questions?" She turned to face the room with raised eyebrows, awaiting to field any logistical questions about the assignments.

Elijah gave a nod of acknowledgement concerning his assignment. He was glad to be working with Kohl, he already somewhat knew the man. Or well, at the two had a conversation. There was some comfort in that for him.

Jacob smiled at her and nodded, "Excellent plan Lieutenant Stace." He then turned to the room, "Regardless of what you believe or do not or what assumptions you want to make or not we will do as all scientists before us have done, and that is solve the problem, find the answers and do whatever is necessary to making a positive outcome from this situation. We have a great team here and I expect nothing less than professionalism and great things. Let's get to it!"

Abbey nodded and gave a small cheer, raising her hands in a clenched manor. "Go team" She turned to Elijah "Shall we?" She gave him a nudge and a glance to Kohl before moving to the door.

Elijah nodded and fell instep next to Abbey-Mae. Again, he smiled at the woman's enthusiasm; it was a nice thing to see. How he felt about the situation, ghosts or what not, was a moot point, he had a job to do.

Before too many other science personnel could disperse, Kohl raised his hand as if he were a keener student in a lecture hall. "I do have a question," Kohl called out, and there was an obstinate edge to his tone, almost demanding that the briefing continue. It was never a good idea to get in between Kohl an opportunity for Kohl to talk. "Have we been invited to the mining colony?" Kohl asked. "Do we know if the miners want Starfleet's intervention, or can we expect some resistance from the locals?"

Not expecting Kohl to speak up and ask a question, by the time she had stopped she was half in the threshold of the door. Turning to looking back into the room, she waited to see what the answer to the question was.

Jacob looked over at Stace then back to the group, "We have heard nothing of resistance, they have asked Starfleet for aid as far as I am aware and so we shall answer that call."

Stace nodded in agreement with Pendleton. "You have to understand the importance of this mining operation to the Cardassians. It's their second largest uridium supply in the quadrant. The strike will affect them just as much as it will us, if not more, and they're keen to get things back to normal." She paused for a beat and then looked to each and everyone of them gathered in the room. "A Galor class has already been dispatched by the Union to investigate what is happening here. It is a joint effort for both parties, but our scientific advancement places us with operational control. We're here to help, not interfere."

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Kohl replied brightly. "You've put some incipient anxieties at ease."

Jared too had been headed towards the exit when the Assistant Chief raised the question. It was of course a legitimate one, so he paused. But when the answer came he was satisfied and continued out the door.

Dr. Coleman had stayed silent, arms crossed. A scowl was set on her old features as she watched everyone's reactions. She appreciated the question addressed by Kohl, as it was one she shared. She was a little disappointed that more questions weren't asked or opinions on strategy weren't asked for, but in her over 20 years experience in Starfleet she learned that every ship operated a little differently. She was fine asking Kohl for clarification during the planetary science team discussions, but there was just one question that the Exoecologist just couldn't let go. She cleared her throat to gain Stace's attention. "It hasn't been mentioned yet, but I know Lyshan III has been heavily terraformed the last few years, has it not? Is the terraforming program a joint venture as well and will we be given full access to their records and equipment?"

Terraformed? Dr. Kramer's ears finally caught on a word that interested him. Terraforming usually brought the desired results on the surface, yet typically disastrous effects altering the structure below. He thought, They may have jug into an area of instability.

Stace flashed a smile to the doctor, and nodded at her question with affection. "It's a good question," she replied, leaning over to her left to collect a stack of data padds, passing them around before anyone had the chance to make for the door again. "As I have previously stated, it is a complete joint effort. In their own fraction-riddled state, the Cardassians are just as eager to make this work as we are. But on this padd you will find all the information you need. The terraforming equipment itself is by design, construct and execution largely Starfleet, so we may want to team up with Engineering for those a little rusty on geographic and atmospheric manipulation." She stopped, took in a breath and then added, "It's been over fifteen years since the wars." She looked to Evek. "The diplomatic vein of this mission doesn't concern me. They need help to organize this just as much as we want to offer it and succeed."

Abbey had moved back into the room and was listening carefully. She herself wasn't too concerned about the diplomatic and security situation will be on the planet, but she had decided to ask her dad what he was going to be doing. Knowing him, if there was trouble, he'd be in the thick of it.

Elijah took the PaDD that was handed to him and studied it intently. He didn't really remember the war, he was a child and he had remembered his father mentioning it at the dinner table on more than one occasion. It reaffirmed his father's belief in that Earth, humanity, had no business being in space. Nevertheless, his parents mourned all the losses just like everyone else.

Nesh had been taking notes the whole time, paying close attention to every word. Though she was not the first to arrive, she wanted to be last to leave, despite her eagerness to return to her bridge station. If she had anything to say on the matter, though, it would not be about Cardassians or politics. She was too young for that to even phase her.

Shroll blinked, eying the others as they spoke, or around about where she suspected they would have been. "I don't suspect anyone will have an issue with us being there, especially if we've been invited." She piped up, smiling as innocently as ever. "Even if they hold any of their own prejudices, Cardassian, Human, or otherwise, they'll have their hands full worrying about what they called us in for to begin with."

"Exactly," Stace agreed with Shroll, nodding. "We'll all have a common goal. It shouldn't be a problem." She paused and reached for her coffee once again. "You all have your assignments and my office door is open to any of you who should need it. If there's nothing further then you're finally dismissed."

Victoria pushed herself off the wall and headed out, mulling over the issue silently in her head. Ghosts? Really? She shook her head and stepped onto the lift, confused and a skeptical.

OFF:


Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton
Chief Research Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Jared Nicholas
Linguist
USS Galileo

Crewman Apprentice Abbey Wyatt
Scientist Mate
USS Galileo
[PNPC Jake]

Lieutenant JG Elijah Williams IV
Geologist
USS Galileo

Cadet Freshman Grade Nesh Saalm
Scientist's Mate
USS Galileo
[PNPC Shi]

Petty Officer 1st Class Threxa Shroll
Zoologist
USS Galileo
[PNPC Shi]

Lieutenant Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Dr. Vincent Kramer, PhD.
Planetologist
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Rhodes]

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

Dr. Alethea Coleman, PhD.
Exoecologist
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Beaumont]

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