Science Visit

Posted on 18 Feb 2020 @ 5:17pm by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx

1,321 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Sentience
Location: Stellar Cartography
Timeline: MD 1 || 1500 hours

The Black Hawk had been at warp for a few hours now. As much as Harvey enjoyed the comfort of the bridge, his mind kept circling back to that morning's briefing. Commander Djinx, specifically, came to mind multiple times. Harvey came to realize that the Science Chief had been rather quiet for the last few months, and in that silence, several items had gone by unnoticed, including the prolonged issues with the science labs. Harvey knew he couldn't simply sit by. He needed to check in on the Science Chief and see if anything needed to be done.

Exiting the turbolift on one of the science lab decks, Harvey asked, "Computer, locate Commander Djinx."

Arjin was looking at the big screen of the Stellar Cartography Lab. Looking at the possible routes his officers had come up with to give the scanners a good test run. Amidst the chart he felt a bit more at peace than he was before.

It was not long before Captain Geisler arrived at the Stellar Cartography Lab. The door did not open automatically, likely a new setting on most of the occupied labs designed to prevent anyone from disturbing a sensitive project. Harvey's mind briefly went to Lieutenant Carmichael and all those months he'd been used as a Dolmoqour pawn, plotting away in secret and unnoticed. Such a feature could have been implemented then and Harvey would have been none the wiser.

Those days, however, were behind them. Harvey knew he could simply override the lock with the touch of a button or a command, but he elected to press the chime instead, respecting the occupant behind the door.

A chirping sound of the Lab's chime interrupted his thoughts. Could they not even leave him be when he was working. He considered turning the visitor away, but he still was the Chief Sience Officer. He had to at least do his duty in that respect. With a swipe of his finger, he unlocked the door. Still looking at the charts, he added: "Yes?"

The door panels swiftly parted, allowing for Captain Geisler to enter the large, cylindrical room. He'd only been in the lab thrice before, but the raised platform in the middle of the room always seemed to get to him. "Commander Djinx," Harvey greeted, noticing that he hadn't turned around.

Arjin was startled to hear the voice of his Captain. But he quickly put on his happy face before turning around.
"Captain.", he replied "Nice to see you. What can I do for you?"

"Just coming down to check in, and see how things were going." Harvey tried to keep things as neutral as possible, especially considering the rocky exchange during the staff briefing earlier. If that topic came up, they'd go through it, but if not, he'd skirt around it this time. "Taking a gander at the local phenomena?"

"We are actually looking for the best way to give the new sensors a run for their money.", he reacted. Still a bit on the defensive on the inside. Doing his best to not show it on the outside.

Harvey nodded, approaching the center console. He kept his eyes fixated on the map that was displayed. "Any possibilities?"

"We were thinking about the Chamra Vortex as a prime candidate.", he replied. Bringing it on the screen.

The Captain did not reply, and instead studied the map as presented on the screen. The Charma Vortex was almost right in the middle between New Bajor, Rakhari, and Finnea. Just seeing the name Finnea brought back reminders of their last major mission inside the Convergence Zone. The further away they could be from that world, the better. "If I recall correctly, the Vortex is a pretty volatile nebula. High concentrations of asteroids and toh-maire gas."

"Your memory serves you right, Sir. But seeing the sensors have been upgraded. We could stay further away until our scans match those we have now. Thus extrapolation how well the upgrades to the sensors work."

"We'd still have to enter the Vortex at some point," Harvey observed. "To see how well the sensors handle the nebula at close range. But I like your ideas."

The Captain's praise was like sweet balm to his scarred ego. He changed the viewsceen to present another possibility. The view was replaced by an image of the Jenkata Nebula. "This could be another possibility. ", he brought up.

"Near the Teplan system?" Harvey asked, looking at the changing map. He wasn't at all familiar with this nebula, but he could tell that it was a fairly dense cloud. "Possibly."

The skipper knew his region. Arjin had to give him that. "Near the Teplan system, yes. Less explored yet. So here we would have more chance to explore and we would have to extrapolate through other means. Hoping there are similar nebulas we already explored to compare the data with."

Captain Geisler nodded. Like the Trill, he was a scientist by nature and knew the value of recent data, especially when compared to older data sets. "Both are certainly good options. I'd recommend meeting with our new helmsman, Lieutenant McCullen, and compare those options against what he already has planning for the ship's course for our cruise." The helmsman certainly had a lot to account for for each of the departments' various needs, especially the Squadron needing a place to run wargames.

"I have not yet had the pleasure to speak with the new skipper.", he pondered. "But I will cetrtainly follow up on your sugestion." Internally he sighed at the need to speak with someone more. At least the flyboy was new and had not witnessed what had happened on the bridge.

Harvey nodded his confirmation to the acknowledgement and continued to look at the map presented on the screen. A glance over at the Trill Science Chief told him that there was more going on than what he was letting on. "How's everything else?" Harvey asked Arjin.

Arjin startled over this unexpected question by the Captain. "Uh, Sir? That would depend on your definition of everything else.", he quickly replied.

The Captain arched an eyebrow at the unusual question. He'd thought his own question was obvious, which only led him to believe that the Trill was walking down a trail that Harvey once blazed. "Your staff, your facilities, everyday operations," he answered. "And you."

"The staff has been replenished.", he answered. "There is a new assistant. She was part of the team that worked on our new sensors. So that will be very helpful in the testing. As I told earlier, Science labs 7 to 10 are working but not properly. Every basic experiment comes out with numers that are outside parameters. Even in the months before, the people working on the problem were unable to find what caused this problem. I have put some of our best persons on it. The Bio-hazard is contained. I asked Lt. jennin and Ensign Alessandro to look into it. Normaly these problems should not interfere with our shakedown nor our daily working."

Harvey had already met Lieutenant Ryler on a shuttle ride from Gamma Command, and he'd already considered her to be an excellent addition to Djinx's staff. The report on the labs wasn't much as a surprise, especially since that news had been shared earlier, and thankfully an action plan was already in place. "Excellent," Harvey replied, still taking note that the Commander was dodging his other inquiries. It was certainly unlike the Trill, and Harvey's concern was slowly becoming greater.

"Well, I suppose there's nothing else to discuss then," Harvey stated. "You've got an action plan for your outstanding tasks, and some suitable nebulae. And since it seems that you have everything, including yourself, in a positive state, I shall take my leave." Harvey turned for the exit. "Don't forget about meeting with our new pilot."

"Nothing else. Positive state.", Arjin replied. "I won't forget contacting our pilot, Sir."

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