Impossible Standards

Posted on 25 Jan 2025 @ 8:37pm by Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Lieutenant JG Selon Illialhlae & Ensign Tora Zalos

4,193 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 4, Geology Lab
Timeline: MD 02, 1920 hrs

[ON]

"And this would be the third one, Sofie?"

If she didn't know better Sofie might have assumed that was irritation in Dr Cunningham's voice. She briefly glanced up from the notes she was reading "Third one?" Her eyes immediately returned to the text. The other Science officers would begin to file in over the next few minutes. This was her last chance prepare to make a good first impression. Of course she'd known Tora for years and Vala had been on the ship for the last few days (and then a few more which she only half remembered), but the third new officer she hadn't met aside from in the transporter room yesterday.

"Yes Sofie, the third meeting you have conducted today in the geology lab." The older scientist was looking at her over the top of his glasses. As she reluctantly pulled her head up from her reading once again she wondered if they were practical or just decorative.

"Third one, yes." She confirmed and tilted her head as to ask if there was anything else.

Cunningham was unmoving. "Am I to assume that future meetings will also be conducted in the geology lab?"

Sofie responded with a nod.

After a further pause he continued "And not in the chief science officer's office?"

"Correct." She didn't feel like elaborating so instead pointed a finger to her notes in a clear indication that she was busy. He shrugged and turned back to what he was doing which was exactly what she had been aiming for. She didn't want to grapple herself with why she didn't feel comfortable moving into Sandoval's office quite yet. And in the meantime while she wrestled with the meaning of her position on the ship there were still the important duties of administration that needed to be conducted so why not use the geology lab? It was the closest thing she had to a home on this little ship and maybe this pompous scientist needs to consider that he is the one invading, not her.

"That's right Sof, you tell him." She was getting used to the frequent interruptions by the voice of the flayed man. The pain that it brought in her hands was less easy to get used to but it was, as she kept reminding herself, not a sign of injury or danger but a fabrication of her very messed up brain.

"You know I am trying very hard to tolerate your presence and I know you keep saying that you're on my side but please, I am going to try and make a good first impression so could you perhaps exit for a while." Previous negotiations hadn't exactly been fruitful but the last thing she needed right now was to see her already feeble authority eroded by a bad staff meeting.

She could picture him sitting there as grim and horrible as the real version but somehow less terrifying now. The smile she could hear in his voice was almost comforting. "Look Sof, I've said it before: we're together, in this for the long haul, just you and me forever. I can't just exit, I'm part of you. I know this is important to you so how about I'll only interrupt if it's important."

"You know I think mad scientist is very cliché. On that level I am totally against this whole arrangement, I hope you understand. Perhaps we can just-"

The sound of the door opening pulled her back to reality. The heat dissipated, her hands unclenched. Negotiations had concluded.

Sofie was quick, she pulled on that practised and professional Ullswater smile and stood up to greet the incoming officers "Please, come in. Take a seat." She gave a gesture indicating where she had set out some seats. In the middle of the circle of chairs was a small table with a basket of fruit from the arboretum. All of it laid out just so. Every detail had been planned with her obsessive eye towards perfection.

Selon had been, in a word, 'busy', for the entire day thus far. Between packing up his quarters on the Yuron, transferring himself and his belongings aboard the Galileo, unpacking what he could in his new quarters and then scouting out his new 'office' in the planetary development lab with Ensign Mimi it was a full, very full, day. It was for that reason that he was surprised that an off-shift department meeting was called for that evening, but apparently everyone else was as determined to pack as much into this day as he was. Something he could sympathize with. As he entered the geology lab he found Lieutenant Ullswater, who he had met on the transporter pad earlier, alone with Owen sort of... sulking in the corner, clearly not a part of the meeting.

"Lieutenant Ullswater. Selon Illiahlae, we met earlier in the transporter room." Selon held out his hand in greeting. "Owen." He nodded in the direction of the geologist who had his face buried in a microscope.

From over Ullswater's shoulder the Cunningham gave a little nod followed by a raising of the eyebrows and a head nod in the direction of the short department head before he turned back to his work.

"Sorry to be dragging you out again so quickly but maybe you've had a little time to settle in. Quarters and such are all alright I hope?" If they weren't she'd put it on her list of things to bother Jeysa about.

"Satisfactory, yes. I had expected to have a roommate but I forgot the Nova Mark II has less crew and more space for amenities." Selon had been both disappointed and impressed that he wouldn't be rubbing elbows with a roommate. His quarters on the Oakland were spacious and well appointed since the Nebula Class ship had room and he had been somewhat looking forward to having to share space, well living space that is, as part of the Galileo experience.

Vala strode into the room looking a little distracted, a binder of untidy notes under one arm. His analysis of the strange event of a couple of days ago had been progressing somewhat but exceptionally slowly. Usually the calculations were a satisfying activity, but the strange dreams and hallucinations had been marring the experience.

He found his traditional seat at the lab counter near Sofie and gave a nod. "Good evening Sofie," then turned to the others, "Welcome aboard."

"You know I don't think I've asked you since you got here either," Sofie acknowledged Vala with a little nod in return. "Are your quarters alright?"

"They are... adequate." He responded with a shrug, "I do not have many personal effects so they are somewhat minimalist as far as it goes."

"Lieutenant Vala, I'm Lieutenant Selon Illialhlae, pleasure to finally meet you in person." Selon outstretched his hand towards his countryman.

Vala bowed his head in greeting and took the officers hand. A human gesture... not one he had come to appreciate much in his years in the Federation. He looked back up at the individual. A Vulcan or... was there a hint of... Rihannsu about this one? Strange.

"Jolan'tru, Lieutenant Illialhlae," his native accent lacing the words, "It is good to become acquainted. I trust the long journey was not too unproductive?"

"No Lieutenant, I had more than enough reading material and clerical tasks to enjoy to keep me occupied." Selon was only slightly more than half serious. While not a vacation and not the most productive period of his life, the journey on the Yuron had not been unstimulating, nor strenuous. Other than his own nerves of course.

It'd been a long while since Tora had last been back to the science labs. Well, just over a year, actually, but still, it definitely felt like a longer time than that to her. It felt strange walking in the doors now; she hadn't spent long at all on board before leaving for that brief period. The Cardassian took a deep breath before walking through the door. "Ma'am." She acknowledged Sofie and the others. A catchup could wait - now was the time for official stuff.

"Tora." Sofie was honestly a little taken aback to hear her friend from the academy address her as a ma'am. True, since their reunion on the station three days ago Sofie had moved from being just another colleague and friend to a direct superior but she hadn't been quite prepared for this. "Good to see you."

Sofie waited for the taking of seats to begin before taking her own and clasping her hands together in a way that said I am about to talk. "Thanks all for coming. I figured since the three of you have all joined us in the last couple of weeks it would be good to have a little meeting to discuss procedure, expectations, the facilities and what the department can offer you." She punctuated each item of the list with a tiny gesture.

"Before we get into the boring stuff though I thought maybe let's introduce who we are and maybe a little about our research interests. Starting with myself I'm Sofie, the department head." She gave a dismissive little shake of her hand and sped through this part "We can get cover all that later but I've been with Galileo since it left Earth a year ago. My published works are mostly related to bitrious quasicrystals and aperiodicity in a more general setting. Of course out here the theoretical is all I can really do since we aren't likely to find any natural examples and we are very far away from the nearest lab that can produce a synthetic one."

First lie of the meeting and it only took you a few seconds, good job Sofie. She didn't dwell on it, compartmentalised information is like that. "Still, I'm sure there will be much in the way of other interesting things we'll bump into out here. This area of space certainly isn't dull. I've also done work on Avila motion in the past and there have been some excellent case studies so far on our journey."

Satisfied that she had covered just enough to not sound like she was a complete idiot Sofie spread her hands to indicate she was done and wordlessly ask who wanted to go next.

Selon was the first to take the Lieutenant up on her offer, though he first did a double take to think if he should or could rein in his enthusiasm to talk about his interests with a captive and appreciative audience. "I'm an archaeologist and anthropologist, my fields of expertise are in the Progenitors and other dead civilizations and in Recently Contacted societies, second contact if you will. I've published journal articles in both disciplines but most of my recent work was bound up in the Oakland's second contact mission for the past four years. My book on planetary unifications just entered its second edition."

Vala shifted in his seat and elected to go next, "I am Sofie's deputy and, I believe, one of the few physicists aboard. I have spent much of my career, beginning in the Star Empire and subsequently in the Federation, concerned with the eccentricities of temporal mechanics. Lately, as my main specialism is something of an esoteric field, I have been concerned with the practical application of extreme magnetic fields in Gallicite." He shrugged noncommittally. "On my last posting I led a team that created anti-polar suits in order to explore bodies that were excessively magnetised."

"Gallicite? Now that is tricky." Sofie nodded, honestly somewhat impressed. Had this not come up before, or perhaps had it only come up in a future timeline that she had imperfect memories of? "I remember reading about this asteroid in the Phendana Drifts-" She cut herself off as she put two and two together. "That was you wasn't it?"

Vala gave a sanguine nod, "A phenomena rarely seen - the mineral has exceptionally novel properties. I am no geologist of course, but my understanding of ferronic waveforms and quantum polarisation gave me something of an edge when approaching the problem of how to approach the asteroid itself." He shrugged. "Assuming they rid the drifts of pirates I am sure we will see that particularly unique body of Gallicite put to good use."

Sofie couldn't help but recall that this incident had taken place before she had even matriculated at Starfleet Academy. Vala had been a chief science officer before she had even been a cadet. She wasn't going to let that make her feel small though, for some unfathomable reason Tarin had chosen her for this job and she was going to do it.

Sofie would have loved to keep yapping on about Gallicite's host of interesting mineralogical properties but instead gave an apologetic gesture to the the other two officers "Don't worry, the two of us aren't going to press gang you into endless mineral studies. As I'm sure you were made aware when this assignment was offered we are looking to support whatever individual research interests you might have. You would have been told about my predecessor Commander Sandoval's policies regarding personal research projects and balance with ship wide research priorities."

"I have no real desire to shake the boat on this, I think things have been working well for the last year I have been with the ship." She reached for some PADDs on the table and handed them out to the other three "Here's the paperwork and guidelines for personal research projects. They'll all need to be approved by me before any work can begin and I'm introducing a new ethics review procedure. We are far from the light of any formal institution out here but I will not let ethical standards slip."

Sofie indicated her PADD with the tap of a finger. "I'm sure many specific issues will be answered in guidelines but do any of you have any immediate questions about this?"

Selon had long served on review boards for journals and some of that involved a modicum of ethical considerations but acting as one for his most immediate colleagues in a formal capacity was a new notion for him. On the Oakland whenever he was faced with an ethical dilemma relating to his work, mostly questions of the Prime Directive, he would reach out to Captain Wrynn and get her sanction. Only rarely had he sought formal approval and clearance from his peers aboard ship. Reading over the guidelines he could see they were comprehensive but hardly laborious, which set himself at ease somewhat. "An interesting proposal." Was all he could muster up to say at first while he continued reading to himself. "Do you foresee much of our research encountering moral quandaries? I was under the impression the Galileo rarely came across observable populations."

"It does seem unlikely." Sofie admitted apologetically "The Pleiades Cluster isn't known for harbouring many populations of any kind. I would hope that we wouldn't run into too many issues of scientific ethics however..." she shook her head. The cold station and Latari, both of the major incidents of the last year had been the result of unsupervised and dubiously ethical Federation research.

Might as well make it clear what the stakes were, why this point was so important. "We've unfortunately already encountered examples where our colleagues used the isolation of the Mutara Sector as an opportunity to covertly conduct unethical research. All classified so I won't go into details but I don't want any of us falling down that hole. We are to be an example of a better way, of the right way. I don't want to overbearing but the paperwork does exist, and always has, for a reason."

Vala shrugged, "Little of what I tend to occupy myself with would find itself in front of an ethics board." He looked at Sofie, once again acutely aware of her discomfort when discussing the previous mission. "I have a slate of temporal and material science experiments to conduct in the immediate future," his eyes flicked down to the newly distributed PADDs, "I trust I will not have to fill a form in for every last one of them."

"I'm going to expect all research proposals to include the ethics review. Unless anyone raises an issue with an individual experiment I wouldn't expect all to need review. There is, however, a requirement to log all experiments. You'll also find a form for that included in the package. I just need to be aware of all experiments going on at any given time." She shook her head and gave an apologetic hand gesture but it was theatre, she took very seriously her responsibility for all goings on in the department "Security and safety reasons among other things, I'm sure you understand."

Thinking back to the specifics of her other colleague's question Sofie added an additional thought "Thinking of Oakland's mission, ours doesn't really feel that comparable or at least not quite as tightly knit with your research interests. Do you have any ideas of what you want to get out of your time on Galileo? Any projects on your mind so far?"

"But the space beyond the Pleiades is uncharted and who knows what civilizations might have planted their flag here long ago?" Selon opined rhetorically. "The Galileo's mission is on the frontier while the Oakland. One ship let me be second to encounter new civilizations, I'm hoping this one will allow me to be the first." It was as much a statement of naked ambition as Selon was capable of vocalizing aloud.

"You see yourself as the architect of future first contacts then?" Sofie gave a little nod, not so much of approval but more acknowledgment. "You have to admit that's a bit of a gamble. If we don't find a new people to make contact with then... Well you're going to be stuck out here for a while. On the other hand you could certainly make your own place in the history books." She couldn't help but grin a bit at the possibility, she admired a good roll of the dice.

"It might not be as much of a gamble as you think, but even if it is I'll have some personal projects to fill my time, mostly case studies and articles I never finished from the Oakland." Selon sat back in his chair, resigning himself to maybe being the most superfluous research officer on the ship.

"Personal projects are all well and good," Sofie turned back to her notes, she didn't need them to remember, they were just another prop on this stage "They are however the lowest priority work here. One step up will be the department research priorities. These relate to our ship's objectives with charting this area of space and categorising our discoveries. There may be additional research priorities handed down by SPS and Director Frost on Regula station. As science officers you'll all have duties overseeing this work."

"The level above that will be the mission specific research priorities handed down by the command staff, that's Captain Tarin and Commanders Blake and Warraquim." Ullswater gave a knowing glance in the direction of Vala "They aren't always going to be the easiest to work with but when they say jump we jump. Things can be dangerous out here. If the ship needs something from us we will provide, as highest priority." Sofie paused, allowing her peers to add any questions or comments about the research priority hierarchy.

Selon's keen eyes caught the glance between his fellow Lieutenants and guessed at its meaning. Captain Tarin certain had a... philistine streak when it came to 'intellectuals' and their 'arrogance' but Starfleet's job was exploratory and research was the bedrock of that. As abrasive as she might seem personally, Selon actually didn't think she was the type to interfere or stymie the pursuit of knowledge, even if she had reservations about pursuing it for its own sake.

Sofie pointed for a moment at a displayed duty assignments list she had in her notes. "You're all assigned to a duty team. Watches rotate each week. I'm team one, Vala is on two and that leaves you two to manage team three." She gestured to the two team three officers before turning her attention to Vala and Tora. "For both of you that's bridge duty. Vala, you have beta shift, starting at 1500 and Ensign Zalos you'll be taking over at 2300."

Night shift. Oh, boy. This was going to be fun - not really, but still. Tora seemed to deflate a bit, but she recovered soon enough. "Understood." She said. "I'll do my best. Promise."

Vala gave a small nod. He preferred the lab to the bridge, but given his experiences with Commander Tarin thus far it felt rather... imperative that a voice of reason was nearby the Captain's chair at all times.

Turning her attention to the third officer Sofie wanted to gauge his opinion on the matter "I notice you haven't been assigned a bridge shift. If you want some bridge time I could take this upstairs and see if I can get you any."

Selon nodded graciously. "I'll admit I had thought to get more time as a bridge officer on a ship with a smaller crew, the Oakland rarely required the a subdepartment head to take on those duties but I'm also very experienced as a member and leader of away missions so as long as you can promise me some time to stretch my legs, I'm willing to let the rest of you have your time with the bridge crew." He turned and smiled at his fellow officers.

"I'll be sure to pass that on to the command team." Sofie said and picked up her stylus to make a little note on her to-do list.

"Those are the duties and expectations that command will have of you. I feel before we leave though I should let it be known what my expectations of you are." Sofie sat up straight and put her two perfect hands perfectly together. "We have high standards in this department. I can't ask any of you to be perfect but I expect you all to strive for perfection. So long as you do that you will never disappoint me." She tilted her head, she was still smiling that unmistakable Ullswater smile but the quality of it changed "Conversely you should always remember that this is a small ship and it has a small crew. We do not have space for those who will not strive."

She let the statement linger for a moment, her smile unflinching. She let it sink in. The moment seemed to last an age. But just as quickly as it started she brought things back with a little laugh, she scratched the back of her head and then continued. "Hopefully you're managing to settle in to the new labs. If you need any help setting things up or understanding how things work Petty Officer T'Lin or myself will be more than happy to assist. We're the ones who have been here longest. Well, before we break do any of you have any other questions?"

"Not at the moment." Tora smiled. "I'm just excited to get underway at last."

Selon was familiar with the sentiments expressed by Lieutenant Ullswater and with a purse of his lips and a brief cock of his Vulcan eyebrow did he reveal what he thought of them. 'Perfection' to him was a hopeless rabbit hole and an absolutely unreasonable expectation. It was the hallmark of wider, mainstream Vulcan culture, a quest not for mere mastery but of a goal that was ultimately both self defeating and self effacing. For Vulcans brooked both no iconoclasts in their society, and while Logic was the source of just as may divergent points of view as it was the death of many others, it was the pursuit of perfection, insipid in Selon's mind, that was truly wrong with the rest of his kindred. At a more base level it brought up memories, reminders that to many perfectionists 'one's best' was not nearly enough, no matter how close it might touch to perfection. The fact that it differed in any way was aberrant and abhorrent. It would remain to be seen if Lieutenant Ullswater meant any of the sentiments Selon had ascribed to her words.

"None." Selon said with a simple shake of his head.

"Good," Sofie smiled, looking each of the three officers sat with her in the eyes for a moment. She was content that her message had got through. "Excellent. No questions. Then we shall begin."

[OFF]

--

LTJG Sofie Ullswater
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Selon Illialhlae
Anthropologist
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Montgomery Vala
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

Ensign Tora Zalos
Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Juventus]

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