Data Interference

Posted on 01 Nov 2012 @ 12:23pm by Trisant Myrddin

1,562 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 5, Stellar Cartography
Timeline: MD 04 - 1330 hours

[ON]

The stellar cartography bay was empty. On some level, Liyar could appreciate this, as he was rarely in the mood to socialize.

The Vulcan diplomatic officer stepped down into the pit, a circular table separated from the rest of the lab and looking out over a large LCARs panel embedded in the podium. The wide viewscreen was still inoperative, but the data storage was functional. He tapped the controls and began superimposing several large pieces of sector space over one another, using his finger to guide the machine into creating distinct lines into an elaborate criss-cross pattern, green over black.

He glanced down at a PADD intermittently, and paused to correct some information before continuing down to check something further. Several numbers began popping up as he calculated something, based on an indeterminable variable apparently noticed on the screen. Liyar turned suddenly as the sound of a door opening behind him caught his attention.

"Do you require assistance?" he asked coldly, voice raised a little to travel over the gap that separated them. He turned, regarding the Bajoran petty officer severely over the top of his PADD.

Striding across the threshold from the passageway, Trisant Myrddin was caught off guard by the question being shot at him. He was physically caught off guard and he froze in position at the entryway. As Myrddin rolled the question around his brainpan, his grey eyes narrowed and his lips pouted into a frown. Then the answer came to him. Instantly, the raven-haired man regained his composure and continued in his stride. "No," Myrddin answered with a quiet confidence. "No, sir, I don't require anything." Moving forward, he closed the distance between himself and the solitary workstation.

As if nothing had occurred to break his focus, satisfied with the answer of a science officer in a science lab presumably going about their own business, Liyar showed his back to the man, turning to continue moving his hands over the control panel he stood above. He resumed his work in efficient silence, eyes bearing intently into the new patterns of information, rows upon rows of indiscernible numbers.

Approaching the workstation brought Myrddin close to Liyar. Once Myrddin was standing within reach of the LCARS panels, he was practically shoulder to shoulder with the Vulcan. Without a word, Myrddin began clearing half of the LCARS displays that Liyar had been using on what he now considered to be his side of the workstation.

Abruptly, Liyar input a rather complex algorithm into the LCARS system, and the entire display froze, immovable. All in all, nothing in his demeanor had changed, but he regarded the junior officer magisterially. "Explain your reasoning for deleting half of my gathered data," he demanded sharply.

Even when the computer interface stopped responding, even when Liyar made his pronouncement, Myrddin continued to tap and swipe his fingers across the LCARS control panels. He cocked his head slightly and turned to look when Liyar went silent. Myrdinn considered the man as if he hadn't even noticed he was there before. "Do you require assistance, sir?" Myrddin asked, in his best impersonation of a hotel concierge.

With all the emphasis of an old boot, Liyar regarded the man stonily. He could have been angry, certainly appeared that way with eyebrows drawn together, or it could simply just be the way he was. His voice, when it came, continued in the same terse, even tones. "Your statement is redundant. I have made my meaning clear. You will explain."

"This," Myrddin said and he slowly dropped a pointed index finger onto the frozen LCARS panel, "is where I work." It was a simple statement. It didn't entirely answer Liyar's question, but Myrddin said it with a finality that communicated his personal satisfaction with the answer.

Liyar was silent for a long moment, before retrieving the PADD near the side of the console station and removing an isolinear rod from the back. He inserted it into the data port and unfroze the system, watching as the blocks on his 'side' of the console disappeared, downloaded into the isolinear firmware. His expression hadn't changed an iota since they encountered one another. Perhaps it was simply his way. "Should you require to work in my immediate vicinity again, Petty Officer, you would do well to exercise prudence in your desire to interfere with my data." The words held a low, murky undercurrent of warning.

As soon as Liyar began to speak in his low tones, Myrddin's face contorted into a wince. Myrddin raised a hand to his head in an uncoordinated movement, somewhere between rubbing his temple and covering his ear with his palm. Despite the even timbre of Liyar's voice, Myrddin was asking, "Can you not speak so loudly? My head..."

Liyar paused in front of the console, having unlocked it entirely for Myrddin's use and intending to take his work elsewhere. He looked up, tilting his head. He could feel the thin snap of pain reverberate through the room, and slid his controls into place not to react. He turned, whatever foreboding aura and irritation put on the backburner for a moment. "The modulation of my voice does not exceed average parameters. You are experiencing disproportionate distress to the situation." He met Myrddin's eyes calmly.

"No..." Myrddin replied vaguely. The expression on his face softened to an impassive demeanour. Staring back in Liyar's eyes, he felt unnerved down to the pit of his stomach. Myrddin couldn't follow Liyar's sudden turn from idly threatening him to expressing something almost like concern for him. He shook his head almost imperceptibly and ran his raised hand through his hair. Breaking off the eye contact abruptly, Myrddin turned back to his workstation. "No, I just have a headache, sir," he said.

Liyar studied him mysteriously, blankly. There was something there. In the atmosphere, or from Myrddin himself. The sense of something unbalanced. He couldn't feel it before now, but it accompanied the spikes of pain, the edges of it lightly tapping his consciousness. He merely stared, as if he barely saw the scientist at all, skepticism in silence. Then, simply, as if nothing had occurred, Liyar finished inputting the computer commands, grabbed his data chip and turned once more. "As you say, Petty Officer."

Relieved to put his hands on his LCARS panel, Myrddin accessed the sensor composites of the Z'Tarnis Nebula, the ones collected by the modified sensors on the shuttle scouting mission. He tried to display the entirety of the nebula on the viewscreen, but the holographic projectors just vaguely fizzled. "Damn," Myrddin murmured.

Liyar didn't leave, as expected, but merely relocated his work to another area down the stairs. He couldn't leave, since he couldn't exactly take the stellar cartography database with him, so he merely sat down in front of a reference station and keyed up the important parts of what he was looking at earlier, however insufficient the display was now. The two managed to work in somewhat not-intolerable silence, given they didn't encroach on the others' work station, for some time before Liyar felt the sharp, strange twist of pain again and glanced up.

Myrddin was vaguely leaning forward at his workstation, not looking at Liyar nor at his displays. He had his head in his right hand, which was being supported by his elbow on the flat surface of the LCARS panel.

"I would suggest that you adjourn to the medical bay." The suggestion sounded a little more like an order, from a man who seemed used to having his suggestions followed. The Vulcan mysteriously appeared near the comm panel once more, seemingly merely to grab one of the empty data storage units. He pocketed it.

"Sir, they're not going to be able to do anything for me," Myrddin replied. The heat was gone from his voice. He spoke like a man defeated and then he sighed. Myrddin straightened up his posture, and he said, "I didn't sleep last night. I have a headache because I didn't sleep. They're going to tell me to get some sleep."

"And you cannot," Liyar deduced simply. His demeanor didn't alter any, still icy as ever, but he leaned forward and tapped a few controls on the LCARS system, lowering the stark brightness and increasing the contrast to the words. "From what I understand of medicine, it should not be difficult to assist you in obtaining adequate rest."

"When my shift is over, my obligation done," Myrddin said, as he warily eyed the changes Liyar was making to the console. He allowed, "Then they can help me, yes sir."

Being Vulcan of course Liyar wasn't one to push when it came to medical issues, or even when it came to duty, but he couldn't shake the nagging sensation that something was seriously wrong. Not just with the petty officer, but in general. There was nothing he could do about it now. He had no logical basis for his conclusion. Therefore he simply acquiesced. "As you say, Petty Officer."

With that, he was gone, striding out the doors as if nothing had happened at all.

[OFF]

Petty Officer 1st Class Trisant Myrddin
(played by Andreus Kohl)
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Liyar
Diplomatic Officer, SDD/VDF
USS Galileo

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