The Stubborn Facts

Posted on 06 May 2020 @ 2:50pm by Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri & Petra Varelli Ph.D.
Edited on on 07 May 2020 @ 1:22pm

5,462 words; about a 27 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo - Deck One, Briefing Room
Timeline: MD 04, 1501 hours

[ON]

“Computer? Transfer holodeck simulation ‘Genesis Waveform version three’ to this terminal. Authorization Plumeri-Vagodendo-One-None-Five-One.” Matthew said as soon as he entered the briefing room. The computer trilled its compliance and the data from the holodeck was converted into a two-dimensional representation auto-magically.

Following him were his colleagues, Kalindra, Calin and Petra. Each of them had made important contributions to the scientific presentation that those in command must listen to. They entered through the rear of the briefing room and not through the bridge entrance. Matt figured that if a troupe walked through the bridge entrance it might be improper. Maybe ‘improper’ is what will be needed here, he thought to himself. Matt turned his attention to the bay window and looked out.

Outside, the Lagrange stayed in her formation alongside this tiny fleet of ships. Galileo was the center of the formation – and possibly of the impending storm about to break. Beyond the ships were the stars, those meaner beauties of the night. So great their number; so faint their light. Yet, he drew comfort from them and trusted that the problems of a few people in a small corner of the galaxy amounted to not much in the grand scheme of things. He remembered, ‘Teach me to feel another's woe, To hide the fault I see, That mercy I to others show, that mercy show to me.’ (*)

Matthew looked over his shoulder and then turned to his friends and said, “When I was a kid…. a million years ago now…. a night watchman once told me to never ask an Administrator to make a decision. Because that would cause them to stop and think. And if they must think then the answer will always be a ‘no’. It’s always better to ask for forgiveness than for permission. The best that we might hope for here is that we can delay any action until we have time to study it. I never thought that I’d ever come to appreciate the incremental advance of the academic process and how slow it would take. But here, it is our ally. We must convince Commander Kohl that this is a Federation problem; not the Tholians.

Kalindra came in last behind the officers and quickly found a corner to all but hide into. This was the bridge, well technically it was the captain's ready room right off the bridge. She had never been this far into the center of the nervous system of the star ship. There was a big window, the stars with that odd shift of light and other ships out there. She had more or less known that they were there but to actually see them was something else. She was nervous and knew it, she kept catching herself trying to wrap a finger around her hair even though it was neatly tied up in regulation style. A bad habit but she could not help herself and it made her even more conscious as the others seemed so much more at ease here. Perhaps she should not have volunteered to come along after all.

Petra agreed with what Matthew said. This presentation was critical. If they had any hope of studying the bio-silicon creatures, or the planet they were on, they would need to persuade this new captain that he should go against Starfleet and give science a chance to learn from past mistakes. And that would require an open mind. She just hoped their presentation and arguments were enough to get through his thick skull. She hadn't met the man yet, but she hoped he would see reason and logic.

Matt saw that Kalindra was looking anxious and he came over and said, "You feeling alright Petty Officer?"

Kalindra almost jumped. "Fine, sir," she said quietly with the nervousness showing in her voice. "I have never been to the bridge let alone the captain's ready room, sir."

He smiled gently and said, "Well, good, you're in luck. This is the briefing room so you'll do just fine. Can I get you a cuppa? The replicators on the bridge get serviced first don't you know? Spared no expense either. Energy drawn straight from the core for extra zing. I could use a drink myself." He offered invintingly.

Kalindra shook her head, perhaps a little to violently. "No thank you sir," she spoke quickly. She was pretty sure if she even thought about imbibing something she would pee herself and with senior officers on the bridge what good would that be for a career.

"You'll be fine. Might as well have a seat at the table" he said trying to reassure her.

Chewing on the final bite of crust from a sandwich, Commander Andreus Kohl strode into the briefing room from the main bridge. His stride had been confident, but he appeared to lose his way once he made it halfway into the compartment. On the old Galileo, Kohl had sat in so many different chairs around such a similar conference table. Chief Medical Officer, Chief Research Officer, Chief Science Officer, Second Officer... the only chair he wasn't considering with his eyes was the one that his brain labeled for Lirha Saalm. Kohl cleared his throat. He supposed that was his chair, temporarily, for now. As he made his way to that chair, Kohl offered, "Good afternoon," and nods of greetings with each of the officers.

Matthew started to answer him by addressing him as "Commander" but that wouldn't be correct. Whether Plumeri liked it or not, Kohl had been appointed master of this vessel and had earned the title of 'captain'. "Comm...Captain Kohl. Thank you for seeing us. You may or may not know all of these people, allow me to catch you up Captain. Petty Officer Kalindra is a specialist with waveform physics, Doctor Petra Varelli is the ship's geologist. Ensign Mastrel is also a specialist in physics and stellar dynamics. Captain, it is very urgent that we stop, immediately, any further aggressive action in the Latari system. The Federation colonists and the Tholians are in danger as are we."

Petra nodded a greeting to the commander when she was introduced. "Before you ask, we have evidence to support our conclusion. I was on the second away team, along with others on this ship. Our science is sound."

Kalindra took a seat at the far end side eyeing the captain. He was tall as she imagined all captains to be. Ruggedly handsome with honey brown hair and the most interesting blue eyes. It fit with her notion of what she romanticized what a starship captain should be. She was so into her thoughts that she somewhat missed the introductions. She had completely forgotten to acknowledge the introduction and the brief sweep of those blue blue eyes over at her before going back to the lieutenant. She admonished herself mentally. She was not sure if she should say anything or not. Finally gathering her courage she said, "We have done the physics on how and why this happened."

Nodding slowly, Kohl's gaze became lost somewhere in the middle distance as he catalogued the new names and he processed what they had to say. "I've been in your shoes," Kohl said. He spoke slowly, fully recognizing that his command of Galileo had been thrust on the senior staff abruptly, and had been communicated to the rest of the crew through methods of cascade and broken telephone. Frankly, command had been thrust onto Kohl himself, just as unexpectedly.

Kohl looked from face to face, as he said, "I served on the dearly-departed Galileo as a science officer. I trust that you wouldn't have come to me without the appropriate sensor readings, computer forecasts and analytics" --and to Petra-- "and especially your lived experiences." He held a palm up to request they pause and take a step back. "Before we refer to your analysis," Kohl requested, "Can you tell me more about what aggressive actions you're requesting we halt in the Latari system?"

Matt gave him the ~Come on man!~ look on his face and said, "Captain, I can read the repair schedule. Primary weapons systems, secondary weapons, defensive shield grid, targeting systems, torpedo launchers, primary and secondary shield modulations as well as hardening of the propulsion systems. And yet noticeably missing are accommodations for the Federation colonists, medical bay is gearing up for battle and disrupter fire, security is practicing intruder scenarios. When we should be preparing the conference room and emergency housing for the colonists to find a way out diplomatically."

Matt pointed to the Lagrange out the window, "We're already forming into a provacative posture with the ships in a flanking formation. Captain, none of this looks like we're getting ready to find a peaceful way out of this mess; it looks like we're gearing up for a fight. I got my ass kicked but good by the Tholians but new information has come to light that we think you need to hear. Sir."

Kalindra listened to the the lieutenant and looked again out the window. She was doing calculations again in her head and then without looking at anyone still looking out the window as she came to a conclusion. "You might set off a full genesis wave if disturbed." It was quite statement, quiet as a mouse almost.

Petra turned to Kalindra, hearing her quiet words. She said nothing, but nodded her agreement.

Lieutenant Plumeri had been holding Andreus Kohl's attention -- his full attention. Kohl nodded at each point Plumeri raised to prove his argument, and Kohl kept his expression open. His expression offered no argument, nor acknowledgement, to Plumeri's interpretation of Galileo's repair schedule. At Kalindra's interjection, Kohl turned his head in her direction, offering Plumeri one last curious look. Kohl opened his mouth, but it took him a few heartbeats to formulate his question.

"I might unleash a genesis wave if what is disturbed?" Kohl asked, tilting his head to the left.

Matthew also inclined his head and looked in PO1 Kailindra's direction to hear her answer.

"The artifact," Kalindra was still somewhat preoccupied and then realized that the captain was talking to her. She blinked sheepishly and then looking around at the others looking at her. "We figured that a piece of the old ship might have gotten combined into a soliton wave. That is a self propagating wave which traveled here over the period of time. However, now thinking about it further, the only way that even a small portion of a genesis effect means there is likely protomatter and a nearly fully functional device. Any further disturbance might and could activate the entire device sir. If the colonists, ships, or anything is close enough could be caught up in the wave if activated."

Matthew sat there a moment, gobsmacked. He blinked and then looked at Dr. Varelli, "Did you see anything like that on the surface? Or even at the colony site? Would the colonists even know what they were looking at if they found proto-matter caught up in a matrix?" Matt looked at Callin, "Sensors would have picked up the Genesis wave when we first entered the system yeah? Probably would have picked up before we even entered the sector?"

"We found no colonists where we landed, but we did find a section of an old starship," Petra said. "It's now a roiling lava field. There would have to be significant proto-matter for that kind of reaction. It was enough to bring a Proto-Tholian to life. I believe its unstable. We need to find a way to carefully study the planet and neutralize the unstable material so we don't accidentally trigger a secondary wave that will send the proto-matter out into the galaxy to go who knows where."

Matt looked back at Kohl, "We need more time. That's not so much to ask. Keep the Tholians off our backs while we conduct the research. You can do that can't you Captain?"

Kalindra had come back into the meeting from her distraction but just listened to what the officers where saying. She had not meant to kick over a hornet's nest and if anything she wished she could just melt through the bottom of the seat and flow out the door.

Kohl fell into an old habit of staring at the overhead as he worked to process information. He caught himself doing it after a few heartbeats and then he offered Kalindra a faint smile. "You can read a repair scheduled, Lieutenant Plumeri," was Kohl's reply, meeting Matt's gaze. "We haven't recovered from our last encounter with the Tholians. I'm not sure if an in depth planetary survey is what we're going to see in our tea leaves." --Kohl took a breath through his nose-- "How much time do you reckon you'll need?"

Matt responded to the first part of Captain Kohl's response first, "We got our asses handed to us. This isn't a battleship. This is a ship of Science and Discovery. We're in no shape to mount anything more than an evac of the colony site. If we can get those people on the planet below to safety and somehow manage to convince the Tholians that we're backing off...then" Matt did a quickie guesstimate in his head. "Then a week to do the orbital survey and then a month for an analysis of the soil and geological survey. Cartography and topography maybe just a few days. Six weeks ought to do it." Plumeri replied.

Petra nodded. "We also need to get the first away team back." She firmly believed they were still alive. If they hadn't returned, she wanted to go find them.

Matt agreed, "That signal that we detected earlier. Something's out there. With all the solar activity and damage to some of our primary systems from the attack, I think it's reasonable to be cautious and take a second look. If there is a chance that our people are still alive. And, not to put too fine a point on it sir, there is the whole matter of our missing Captain Saalm. She went on her own and saved two of us from the Trial. She's still out there or I wouldn't be here. And, Captain, I know you haven't had a lot of time to catch up on current events around here but we had someone or something escape from our sickbay and jump out of the ship and into open space. Some crystalline person or lifeform that we've never seen before. With all fo this going on...how can anyone authorize any direct action that isn't a rescue mission?"

Kalindra just felt like one of those really old time dolls whose heads just bobbled back and forth as she listened to what was being said. There was a lot of information that obviously had not made it to the lower decks. Saalm was missing, and then there was another missing away team but what really got her attention was the mention of a crystalline person.

"Ummm......sir, you mean like a brand new life form? One different from the creature that I guess the other away team encountered? Where was this?"

"On the Galileo," Petra said. "Or so I was told. Medical dealt with him." She turned to Kohl. "As Lieutenant Plumeri said, we have a lot of unanswered questions. We need those six weeks to find answers before we can decide anything."

Plumeri pulled up the log entry and said, "Patient Zero....a colonist by the name of Elegy Reiko. While the colonist was escaping from sickbay I was being beamed aboard the Trial and so missed all the fun. It's not everyday someone takes a flying leap out an airlock."

Leaning to one side of his chair, Kohl rubbed the palms of his hands together. He was a kinetic learner, by nature, and the fidgeting helped him to think -- even if such modes of learning had been disproven and proven and disproven again over the past few centuries. "If I'm hearing you correctly, we need to strategize rescue missions for each of the missing away teams, complete an autopsy and last rites for a crystalline lifeform, and conduct a six week planetary survey," Kohl said, summing up the disparate points raised by the scientists as best he could. He looked to each of them, in succession, as he mention each crew-member's respective priority.

Kohl shook his head slowly, wincing as he struggled to make the math work in his head. "I don't see how we can proceed with either plan until we've negotiated with the Tholians first," Kohl said definitively. "I've reviewed their communication with Captain Saalm. The Tholians didn't ask us to back off. The Tholians have declared this whole star system quarantined. They consider that crystalline lifeform and this starship as contaminated. They seek to obliterate us. ...What leverage have you gathered to change their minds, at least for six weeks?"

Kalindra raised her hand like a school girl. She waited until the captain looked at her which was not long. "If there is a device and proto-matter of sufficient amount then how about wiping out an entire solar system might get their attention sir."

At that, Kohl could only clear his throat and squint at Kalinda, studying her facial features as closely as he had listened to her words. Rubbing the back of his neck, Kohl tried to hide the incredulity in his tone, when he asked, "Is that your suggestion, Petty Officer? We negotiate with the Tholians by destroying this star system and, presumably, all contaminants within?"

"No sir," Kalindra replied timidly. "A warning, that there is a potential that unless we can study further could potentially result in the complete destruction or rather remodeling of the entire star system. Perhaps further if I understand correctly. The original device consumed an entire nebula, we are talking something spanning hundreds of light years, that would extend well into known Tholian space sir." She shrugged lightly, "Then again I do not know what or how Tholians think, nor can I without any further data know what is there and what might happen. Call it a worse case scenario sir."

"Negotiating with a very big bang," Kohl replied, acknowledging Kalindra's suggestion with a mimed explosion between his hands. Grinning at Kalindra's audacity, Kohl continued, "Across the edges of Federation and Tholian space. Impactful. I love it." --He spared a look to the others and back to Kalindra too-- "Before we get to the worst case scenario, how else might we appease the Tholians. We know so little about them as a race. How do we buy six weeks from alien beings that consider us contaminated?"

"Negotiating to prevent a very big bang," Petra corrected. "As Kalindra said, we can show them our data and holographic representation, and the potential for a catastrophic event. We can offer to do a joint scientific exploration. Before you say they won't go for that, I agree--unless we sweeten the pot. But they might, if we promise help fix the problem, neutralize the proto-matter and prevent any further contamination. We can then use that data to make sure there will never be another Genesis wave. If they don't agree, if they choose to chase us off, we remind them that they can't just ignore this, and without our help they may never figure out how to stabilize the planets and thus leave themselves vulnerable to that very big bang."

Matthew couldn't help but feel, proud. Yes, that was the word. He listened to what Kalindra and Petra had said. He nodded his head in thoughtful admiration of his colleagues and simply added, "The time is always right to do what is right." Matt had been beaten by the Tholians. Thanks to the ministrations of the medical team, his beating was now only a memory. "Captain, none of us want the knowledge of the Genesis Wave to spread. But the fact is it will spread. Like my colleagues have already said. The way out of this mess is acknowledge the stubborn fact of that which already is. The question is no longer can we keep the Genesis Wave a Federation secret; we cannot. Rather, we must admit that we have it and we know how to fix it. We understand the properties and the way in which it behaves. The Tholians already have the plans, the raw data. They don't have the understanding to make the data useful. That knowledge...that's worth the six weeks."

Petra nodded in agreement. It was well said, and she hoped Captain Kohl would not only accept the truth of what they were saying, but act on it.

Kalindra having kicked the hornet's nest more or less made herself as small as possible in her chair. In her mind the old phrase kept repeating, 'When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers.'

Andreus Kohl frowned. Silently, he cringed at the scientists, really, at what they were proposing. His eyes widened, as he struggled to take in everything they were proposing. Kohl crossed his arms over his abdomen, and he looked at the overhead. Kohl took a breath. Then he lowered his arms to his sides and he met the gaze of the senior science officer in the room.

"Matthew, I need you to take it down to impulse speed," Kohl remarked, far more condescendingly than he intended. "Your beautiful words are proposing that we change Federation policy and legislation," Kohl said, shaking his head in incredulity at the distance they had come from where they had started. "I find nothing objectionable in what you propose, but you're getting ahead of us. Before we strategize a rescue mission for each of the missing away teams, complete an autopsy on a crystalline lifeform, conduct a six week planetary survey, and politick new legislation before the Federation Council, we need to persuade the Tholians to listen.

"The Tholians have not entertained a dialogue with the Federation in decades," Kohl stated. His tone had boiled down to a matter-of-fact manner. "I don't mean to be pedantic, but I find it useful to start with the absolute truths; the points of agreement. Wiser diplomats than me have been unable to influence the Tholians into saying so much as hello or goodbye. If the Tholians will not accept the transmission of a holographic presentation --from an arguably hostile enemy source-- how else might we convince the Tholians to parley?"

Matthew took in a breath and paused a moment. If the Virginia hadn't beamed Matt and the Trial's XO, the Tholians would have killed him the last time they met. And they were not too merciful in how the beat him either. He answered homestly. The kind of answer that he was hoping was still left in Kohl. "I...am not sure. The Tholians don't think like us and they are territorial. They are pushy, hard-headed. We don't know a lot about them really. It's all bad news anyway on what we do know. From their point of view we are the agressors here. We have invaded them and they have detected - or traced - the Genesis wave here. I don't know how we reach the Tholians. Historically, they don't much care us. Humans in particular. They didn't ask me for a birth certificate last time I met them and I look pretty Human. I see two options. One is staring down the end pf a phaser cannon. The other is...too unthinkable. We need another option. I thought this was out best chance. I still do."

Shifting his weight in his chair, Kohl offered a nod at Matthew's assertion. Kohl's gaze drifted, shifting to the middle distance, somewhere between his eyes and the edge of the conference table. "On the last Galileo's maiden voyage, I got my hand sliced open by a surly Klingon's bat'leth," Kohl said and there was something distant and faraway about his voice. "After the ship was refit, I was paralyzed by a Borg drone in her Sickbay. I thought my career was over; I never thought I'd walk again. But I did, and then I nearly got my brain-swapped in a parallel universe..."

Kohl raised his gaze to the science officers sitting before him. "I will bleed for this ship," Kohl said, "and for all of you. All I ask is that you point me in the right direction: provide actionable intel or a a hypothesis you truly believe in. We can't get anywhere in this star system until the Tholians stop treating us as a threat."

Petra looked at the others. "You have the scans I took of the planet, right? Have you compared them to the most recent scans? Is the planet destabilizing?" She had to admit, she hadn't checked that, specifically. It might be an argument in their favor.

Kalindra looked between everyone and the captain as the discussion raged on what to do to get the Tholians attention and pause long enough to present data or do scans or whatever. She waited until a pause and then said, "How about just telling a fib, a lie to them, something just plausible enough to get their attention?"

At the head of the table, Kohl swiped his left hand over the LCARS interface set into the surface of the tapletop. Along with an LCARS feedback tone, the large display behind him shifted to a star chart of their current position in relation to the Tholians. "We know they're territorial," Kohl said, by way of explanation; citing what Matthew had told him earlier. "And unwilling to engage in a dialogue with the Federation," Kohl added; to the LCARS display, he added a list of diplomatic attempts to speak with the Tholians that had ended in silence.

"The planet may be unstable," Kohl continued. Along the bottom of the screen, he swiped on a scroll of Petra's sensor data from Latari A III. "And the Tholians consider the planet, Galileo, and the crystalline corpse to be contaminated by... something." --Kohl took a breath-- "What lie might grab their attention?"

Kalindra looked at the captain with her big brown eyes and said boldly, at least for her boldly, "Tell them they are contaminated as well but we have a way of reversing it."

Plumeri was looking at Kalindra in disbelief. He put his hands on the table and stared forward a moment. He shook his head slowly, "No. Lying about this in the first place is how we ended up here. A century ago, Starfleet tried to hide this technology by burying the details of the Genesis device. If the Genesis Effect is a good thing then it was inevitable that it would be found. And it has been found and it should be shared to everyone. If the Genesis Effect is an evil? Then none should have it. By our actions so far - we certainly don't deserve to wield such power. The only way out, the way forward is total openness and transparency. For the first time. And if we can't do that." He looked at all of them and then said, "Then we should go home and leave these people alone."

"I agree. We can't lie to them. But if we can somehow prove to them that we can fix this, stabilize this, and then we both go our merry ways, it might work," Petra said. "They have to believe they need us, not just our data."

Kalindra could see where the officers were coming from but if these beings were really that stubborn or warlike trying to get them to listen first before they struck first was going to be hard to get to their altruistic nature if they even had one. Well she had her trust in the captain though she did not know him, after all they put people in that position that knew what to do and make the correct decisions.

"Captain Kohl, this puts you in an awkward but tremendous place. You said earlier that ni diplomacy has ever managed to convince the Tholians to our view of the galaxy, shall we say? This is it. This is the opportunity. We can't go back and try the things that didn't work before. It's your awesome responsibility now to do the impossible. Try something, try anything that will work. We're nerds" Matthew indicated to the Science team, "we have just started the research and we have the data. But Petra is right. We need more than data to convince them. And we've given the Tholians nothing they can trust and nothing that we can bargain with. I'm sorry Kohl; it's a shitty break. But that's what we're dealt and we do have to deal with it."

"Sirs, I could be wrong, hope I am wrong and I have no proof whatsoever but neither do I have sufficient data to say I am wrong, but erring on the side of what we know and what I could model, there is still a very good chance that a complete genesis wave could be set off. If these beings have any knowledge of this now they should know exactly how dangerous and devastating that could be. It is not truth, it is not a lie but the best guess scientific hypothesis based upon what we do have." Kalindra circled back to her original claim and the numbers and figures were possible, probable but not necessarily correct. A best guess then, she figured and she hoped it was all wrong.

Matt nodded, "We still have a lot of unanswered questions. If I've learned anything about being a Historian it's this: Moments like these where it comes down to a few people...or even just one sir...can change the world. Is it so wrong to want Peace?"

"Look at the data," Petra said, adding to the other two. "You know what it means. You know the potential. We have a chance to do something incredible, to give meaning to all this, to learn from it and thus keep it from happening again. We can't prove it. Not until it actually happens and then it will be too late. But the odds are high. Starfleet is about exploration. Let us explore this, now."

"Thank... you..." Kohl said slowly, taking in the three similar but disparate points of view being presented by the science staff. Kohl cleared his throat, and put greater thought into what he wanted to say to them. "I want to thank you all for your research and your data. Don't underestimate yourselves. You can't say you only provided facts and figures; you all shared insight as well," Kohl said, insisting on that last point.

"As you may not know, I temporarily command this ship," Kohl said, "but Captain Rasmussen is our mission commander. I will confer with the Captain immediately to discuss your concerns and your suggestions, before any further decisions about our mission can be made."

Matt thoughtfully nodded. It was an acceptable outcome. He had hoped for getting the Commander to change the course of the mission. That would have been ideal. But this was what was reasonable to expect. Kohl was handed the Galileo as it is. The mission was commanded by Rasmussen. He could live with this. He thought that after they see reasonable data and reasonable conclusions with logical arguments and the stubborn facts staring them in the face, well, hell, there'd be no other choice. "OK. Well, then I've got a duty shift in 15 minutes on the bridge. Thank you Captain."

Petra nodded. "Yes, thank you, captain." She wasn't sure if they made a difference, but she hoped so. "Feel free to let us know if you have any followup questions or need additional data."

Kalindra for her part just nodded her head like one of those bobble dolls not wishing to draw further attention to herself.

"Thank you all again for your insight and your candour," Kohl replied. "You've certainly given me new depths to think about, and my door remains open to every one of you."

[OFF]

--

LTJG. Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer/Historian
USS Galileo-A

Commander Andreus Kohl
Acting Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC ir-Llantrisant]

PO2 Kalindra
Science Specialist
USS Galileo-A
[NPC Warraquim]

Petra Varelli
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

(*) Alexander Pope – English poet 1688-1744

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