Human Hubris (Part 3 of 3)

Posted on 21 May 2016 @ 2:45am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Lieutenant JG Natalya Kirilova & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Greg Mitchell & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Anthony Duval & Sable Iroh Ph.D.
Edited on on 21 May 2016 @ 2:54am

1,616 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 11 - Divinum Mundi
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 7, Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD 01 - 2215 hrs

Previously, on Human Hubris (Part 1)...

"Doctor Tuula Voutilainen," said Tuula, placing a hand on her sister's arm. "And this is my little sister Jaana!" she exclaimed, her excited attitude a sharp contrast to her dark makeup.

Luke bowed his head in respect and gratitude, "Lieutenant Luke Wyatt, I am the ships Strategic Operations Officer. I hope you have a pleasant stay aboard the Galileo Doctor" He smiled and then stepped back allowing others to introduce themselves.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Once the introductions were finished, Lirha took the lead and gestured for the doctor to follow her and her officers to a more comfortable setting. "If you will follow me, doctor, we can proceed to the observation lounge where you can hopefully help answer some of our crew's questions."

"An observation lounge? How quaint!" The doctor replied, clapping her hands together before nodding in agreement.

"Please lead the way Admiral...let us see what this ship of yours contains shall we?"

The walk and short turbolift ride down to deck 7 did not take long, and within about a minute and a half, everyone was assembled near the large briefing table. Lirha gave the doctor a nod to indicate for her to proceed. "Perhaps you can explain a bit more about your prototype? And its sentience?"

"All in good time Admiral, all in good time. Suffice to say at this point that if the experiment we intend to run on Celes III works out the way I expect it to, we may very well be at the dawn of an entirely new forefront of science and exploration. "

Dr Iroh waved her hands in a dismissal fashion at the mention of further details. Like a true academic she knew when to make claims and publish papers, and when to keep her mouth closed.

Duval raised an eyebrow. "Sir... I do not mean to be rude... but I do." he commented. "Why are we settling the third planet?" he inquired. "The forth planet in the system is in a stable orbit around its host star.." he raised an eyebrow as he continued. "The third planet follows an erratic orbit."

"Mr..Duval was it? I'm terrible with names." The doctor replied looking towards the man who had questioned her plans as if he had just insulted her parentage.

"The fourth planet would be far too simple a task - colonization is well documented on planets in such stable orbits, the real challenge is to make those worlds that would usually be unsuitable for habitation because of our own limitations, suddenly accessible. This test of my work requires something a little more...out of the box. Celes III provides exactly that."

Greg smirked at the answer, but had to subdue his instinct to comment on it. Instead he answered in his head. If you really wanted a challenge, you should have tried it on a star. The comment wouldn't have been offensive, just Greg's usual sarcasm, but now was not the time to make jokes, especially on a ship he was new to and in front of Chief and Assistant Chief of security. As such, he kept his mouth shut and moved off to the corner of the room, out of the way enough to observe and react on the highly off chance some idiot decided to run into the room with an explosive.

Allyndra cocked her head. It was something that intrigued her since the history of her own people was one of failed colonies. She considered the idea for a moment but then went ahead and asked. "Interesting idea, I am curious though why such the effort? I did not think that population growth was such a problem to require trying to change or inhabit such a....challenging place."

Duval raised an eyebrow, clearly amused but surprised that the doctor had even bothered to take the time to note his name at all. "I see... I'm no expert on cybernetics but you might be asking a little too much from your prototype..." he rumbled. "Considering its not been tested yet..." he slowly smiled. "Considering what I have heard about other cybernetic systems that have gone haywire over the years... and there are a few."

"A few, yes. But none designed or built with these two hands." Sable raised her palms towards the officer that had made the comment. She was well aware of the design flaws, even with the Soong units that had led to some rather unwanted behaviour; behaviour that she had made sure would be impossible in her own design.

"Science is about pushing boundaries, not about simply doing what is comfortable or doing what is expected of us...I could quite easily spend my years designing implants or other cybernetic aids, or studying the Borg if I wished to. The fact is, I enjoy what I do, and regardless of the discussion, Starfleet and the Federation council has authorised this mission, and I will be seeing it through until it's conclusion. Now if anybody else would like to debate the validity of my work, I am happy to offer out a dozen papers on the subject that would suitably allay your fears? Hmm? Anyone?"

"Certainly." Duval rumbled. "I'd welcome the chance to read your work.." he regarded her with a cool and measured gaze, not at all intimidated by her or by anyone else in the room. "As for allaying my fears... I would welcome the chance to do so.... considering the numbers of successes versus the numbers of failures in the cybernetics areas of study..."

Greg, feeling the tension rising in the air, coughed in an attempt to get the subject to change. He knew he was out of place to say anything, but was also tasked with keeping the peace.

"Pushing boundaries is one thing doctor, but one should have some foresight to see what those changes might be. Just because something can be done, should it be done." Allyndra remarked. Her own people had learned that the hard way though perhaps they had over reacted as well but the culture still coloured her views.

Lirha thumbed the bottom of her lip while she listened to the exchange between her crew and the prominent doctor. As much as any question was worth its warrant, she couldn't help but feel unsettled at the seemingly-latent hostile questions that were being asked of the head of Starfleet's Applied Sciences Division. But perhaps that was just her perception as the overseeing admiral of the operation.

"I think," Saalm chimed in to try and subdue some of the tension in the air, "that Doctor Iroh has done her due diligence in her research. She is a specialist in robotics and has devoted her life to studying artificial lifeforms. We...none of us are infallible, but Starfleet has learned from past experiences. I am sure the doctor has as well. There is no science without progress, and no progress without trials," she philosophized.

"Agreed," chimed in Tuula, excitedly. "We've been doing some experimenting with artificial intelligences ourselves. You should meet Raven, our Emergency Babysitting Hologram."

Allyndra just shook her head and muttered quietly, "Ka'pulae lele Akua ‘ahe*"

Natalya listened on in silence. She had concerns about the project, but now was not the proper venue to voice them. If her involvement eventually led to a conflict of ethics, she would pursue the proper course of action in order to distance herself from the situation. The last thing she wanted to do was cause a diplomatic incident before the mission even got underway. Still, the whole mission seemed like a sneaky sidestepping of the Prime Directive: to create a new lifeform, then actively interfere in its natural development by subjecting it to various challenges that were more than likely not of its own choosing.

"Exactly! Boundaries have to be pushed of course, but there should always be a careful, scientific approach to progress!" The doctor agreed, clasping her hands together and shaking them in agreement with the Admiral.

Listening Luke started to think just how far boundaries could be pushed. "A black Hole.. Now that would be cool" He muttered to himself. In his head he imagined a planet able to keep in orbit whilst inside the gravitational pull of a black hole, the military defensiveness would be... one of a kind. His hand moved to his chin as he scratched his stubble in wonder.

Duval also listened in silence, he for was was already predicting disaster as he found that in his experience most scientists did great in the lab but their real world results were disastrous for various reasons as he caught the comment from Lieutenant Wyatt, he slowly smiled as he agreed with the man. 'Get too close to a black hole and it will crush you.' he thought to himself. 'Much like hubris.'

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Noah Khoroushi
Assistant COPS
USS Galileo

WO2 Anthony Duval
Engineer
USS Galileo

LCmdr Allynda illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen
Medical Officer
USS Galileo

LTJG Natalya Kirilova
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Commander Andreus Kohl
Second Officer
USS Galileo

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Dr Sable Iroh
Chief Researcher
[pNPC Holliday]

ENS Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

AMB Caymen Greener
Diplomat
USS Galileo

CWO2 Greg Mitchell
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

ENS Jaana Voutilainen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

LT Wilhelm Von Haeften
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

CMDR Reyes
Commanding Officer
USS Semmes
[PNPC Saalm]

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