Looking at the stars

Posted on 04 Oct 2014 @ 11:16am by Commander Andreus Kohl & Ensign Jaana Voutilainen & Trisant Myrddin

1,206 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Astrometrics Lab
Timeline: MD 08 - 0750 hours

[ON]

The architecture of the Astrometrics Lab was of such rounded consistency -- of such consistently soft curves -- that it felt, to Trisant Myrddin, as if the entire room was hugging him. Seated on a round stoold at the crescent-shaped LCARS console, Trisant was facing the massive curved viewscreen, which was set into the curved bulkheads. Resting on his elbows, Trisant was leaning forward on the console with his head lolled in his hands. His head was lolled and his eyes were closed, because he was well and truly asleep.

Jaana entered the lab that would be her new home. She had finally found time to visit it, with the away mission and all. The first thing she noticed after entering was the person sleeping behind one of the consoles. She didn't know who he was, and his rank, but she had a feeling it was her colleague. There was only one other person assigned to the Astrometrics lab, according to the manifest. "Petty Officer" she said loudly, in the hope to wake him up.

"P'phets," Trisant spat out and he jerked upright on his stool. He gripped the edge of his console firmly, when he thought he might fall over. The colony of tribbles, sleeping at the foot of the holographic viewscreen, were apparently startled by Trisant's exclamation. Many of them began to shiver and hoot in fear. Without moving his neck, Trisant examined the compartment with his eyes. The tribbles were starting to calm down. Considering how little movement he was making, Trisant didn't manage to make eye-contact with Jaana. "When did my quarters get so big?" he asked to no-one in particular.

"Goodmorning," Jaana said with a chuckle. "Slept well?"

"Oh no," Trisant said with dread of embarrassment. He slowly spun around on his stool, and when he saw Jaana, he said, "Oh, sir. Oh, sir, I'm so sorry." Trisant blinked a lot, and he shook his head.

"It's ma'am, not sir." Jaana offered her hand. "Jaana Voutilainen"

"So, so, sorry, sir," said Trisant. He crossed his arms and closed his eyes, and he said, "Uhm... ma'am. I'm called Myrddin. Or Stellar Cartographer 3rd Class Trisant." When he opened his eyes, he smiled wanly, and affirmed, "It's better when I'm doing the opposite of talking."

"I think it's better that you get some sleep." Jaana said with a chuckle. "What have you been watching here in the last few hours?" she asked so she could take over and send him to bed. "Besides the inside of your eyelids."

"I was looking...?" Trisant said. When he trailed off, he narrowed his eyes at a spot over Jaana's shoulder. He hugged his arms around his chest, and then he met Jaana's eyes again. "I was looking for space ghosts, ma'am."

"Offcourse you were," She looked at him, waiting for him to explain. "Tell me about it."

Behind the pair of stellar cartographers, the doors whispered open. From the corridor, Andreus Kohl came striding into the lab. He was clutching a widescreen PADD ahead of him, and his eyes were on the down, drawn to the display. He had walked halfway into the compartment when he looked up, and he stopped. "Well, then," Kohl said, "You're still here?"

Trisant shrugged. "I'm still here," he echoed.

Kohl squinted at Trisant, and then he cocked his head to the left. "Ensign Voutilainen," Kohl announced, once he took notice of the woman in the room. "Hullo! I'm so pleased to meet you."

"Goodmorning sir," Jaana said in reply. She hadn't met the officer jet, but his rank and uniform color gave her the clue he was the departments assistant chief.

"I'm called Andreus," said Kohl, and he flattened a palm against his chest. "Welcome aboard Galileo; I'm sure we're very lucky to have you. Was Trisant giving you the star tour?"

"He was just about to do so, weren't you?" Jaana asked the petty officer.

"Yes? Yes, I was, ma'am," replied Trisant. He turned his back to the pair and laid his hands on the LCARS console. "...Once I get the results from the level three diagnostics on the astrometrics systems. I was seeing blurry-- seeing artifacts in the sensor composites. But I think the problem was coming from the holographic projectors here, rather than the sensor logs themselves."

"What kind of artifacts?" Jaana asked as she took a step closer to the terminal.

"Blurriness in the shadows or in the void," replied Trisant. He scootched over, allowing Jaana her own corner of the console. "Spaces in the image where it should be solid black, but isn't."

Jaana tabbed a few buttons on the terminal. "That's certainly interesting." She said with a smile on her face.

"Is it?" asked Kohl, from over Jaana's shoulder. "I provided Trisant with what we could make sense of the sensor readings from the Lyshan III mines. He was meant to be scanning the star system for any similar energy readings from non-corporeal or cosmozoan life."

Trisant looked over at Jaana, and in an undertone, he said, "Space ghosts."

Jaana chuckled. "Having evidence of something that doesn't exist to me sounds interesting yes."

Trisant's repsonse was mostly body language: shrugged shoulders, furrowed brow, and a questioning smirk. "What doesn't exist to you?" Trisant asked, echoing her words back at her.

She laughed. "Are we going to discuss ethics today, or actually do some work?" she asked with humor in her voice.

"The day isn't complete unless I've done both," remarked Trisant. He grinned over at Jaana, as he swiped his fingers over the LCARS controls. In response, a swirling hologram of the Lyshan star system materialized on the viewscreen ahead of them. Sensor composites of the eneregy readings from the caves scrolled across the bottom of the screen for reference. Sweeping a hand towards Jaana, Trisant said, "Care to show us what you can do?"

She was glad she memorized the Galileo's latest mission perimeters before getting on board, especially about Lyshan III. She zoomed the holographic display to the planet. "Lyshan III, K class planet, Orbital period of 2.07 years, Rotation period 1.23 days. Composed of water, iron and silicate and an atmosphere consisting of nitrogen, argon, oxygen and carbon dioxide."

"Hmm," vocalized Kohl. Looking up at the holographic display, requested, "And how about Lyshan III's moon?"

"Lyshan's moon has a diameter of 1430 km. It has a dense, cold atmosphere, primarily made of nitrogen with a small fraction of methane. The dense atmosphere frequently produces bright white convective clouds, especially over the South Pole region." Jaana rambled.

"Can you detect," Kohl asked, "any energy readings on the moon?"

She looked up for a second before continuing. "Negative, Sir"

"Please continue the search for those energy readings across the star system," said Kohl. He took a step back, and he held out a hand to Jaana. "I'm pleased to have met you," Kohl said.

"So am I sir, " she said with her mind already focused on the energy reading they were to find.


[OFF]

Jaana Voutilainen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 3rd Class Trisant Myrddin
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galieo
[PNPC Kohl]

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