It's like laughing at a funeral

Posted on 07 Apr 2014 @ 6:59pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Victoria Crawley

1,128 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Science Office
Timeline: MD -08 - 0919 hours

[ON]

"Guess what I have," announced Andreus Kohl. The Argelian Lieutenant had hardly stepped into the science office when he let loose his proclamation. Words were flowing out of him when he was still standing in the doorway, not far enough into the compartment to let the doors close behind him. Kohl didn't appear to be speaking directly to any one member of the science team, and yet, there was one particular member who he hoped would hear him. "Guess what I have in my hands," Kohl said, "Right here and right now."

Victoria turned, holding an empty slide in her mouth and putting notes into her PADD based on a reading she was getting from her terminal. She smiled at Kohl in greeting (or tried to, anyway) and took the slide out of her mouth. The sample of brain tissue she had studied back on Earth was degrading too quickly and she was just starting to get irritated with it when Kohl walked in, so this was a welcome break from her present task.

"What is it?" she said, curiosity piqued. "If you don't mind my asking."

"Don't mind?" Kohl echoed her words, but he delivered them with excited incredulity. He approached Victoria's workstation. "I asked the computer to track you down, because I wanted to make sure I came to the right lab." --He clasped his PADD between both hands and he made the PADD dance for Victoria-- "What I have right here are the medical charts for every Vulcan treated for trellium exposure after the accident on Kessik IV." --And he sounded far too enthusiastic about that fact-- "Along with exclusive consent to pursue research with these medical findings within the next two years."

Victoria just stared at him for a minute, eyes wide and mouth agape. This had to be a joke; it was just too much to take in. "Are you serious?!" she asked, almost shouting at him.

Kohl's mouth opened wide in a beaming grin, and a kind of maniacal laugh came out at the sight of Victoria's aggressive excitement. "I promised you," Kohl said, sounding far more subdued than her, but not by a lot. "When you transferred aboard Galieo I promised I would work on this project with you. I've been" --and he hesitated, and his eyes went dull-- "distracted... But, I sent out inquiries. I sent out feelers to a few nurses I know, and one of them is actually still on speaking terms with me. And she personally handed the consent agreement to every patient in her infirmary."

She jumped out of her chair and just barely kept herself from dancing around the room. She was pretty sure she was going to start bouncing soon. "When can we start? I can start getting my data together right now." She grabbed her own PADD and started typing away.

"Well..." Kohl said, and that one word carried the weight of some doubt. He moved towards an empty workstation, and sat on the edge of the table. "Although I have consent to conduct research with the medical findings, we don't... actually have consent from Lieutenant Pendleton to use duty hours for this avenue of research." Kohl was quick to add, "At least not yet! Which would mean a proposal will be where we start."

Victoria stopped typing, a bit bummed, but understanding. She nodded at Kohl and put a note into her PADD. "I'll go ahead and get a proposal written up and have you read it over and edit as needed?"

"Yes, yes please," Kohl affirmed. His mien was distracted, as he was thinking the project through, and forgetting about his immediate surroundings somewhat. "What ever happened with your previous studies?" Kohl asked, and he rubbed the back of his neck. Again, his manner was crestfallen because he had ignored his promise to Victoria for so long. "Were your research partners on Earth willing to share their analysis with you, or at least their raw data?"

Biting her lip she shook her head. "Yeah, but there was some data corruption thing down at the lab in San Francisco recently, at least where my colleagues were, and they lost a lot of the data. They sent me what they were able to recover, but there wasn't much there. We didn't get very far while I was there, any way." She made a face. "I assume you'll need whatever data I have?"

"I'll need?" Kohl said. He echoed her sentiment back at her, but he sounded terribly amused by it. He clapped the palms of his hands against his knees. "I don't need anything at all. I'm here to brainstorm with you, to organize the research, maybe take my fair share of the writing... But you've got the history with the research. You're the project lead, Lieutenant."

Her eyes widened. "Are you serious? That's fantastic!" She was about ready to scream. It wasn't something she thought would happen, in all honesty. She had figured that even if she could get cleared to do her research on the ship, she would still be working under someone else's direction, a co-researcher at best, but certainly not the project lead. She bit her lip, suddenly daunted by the thought. "When do we start?"

"I don't see why we can't start on the proposal right now," Kohl replied. His grin was as broad as it was genuine at the sight of Victoria's effulgent enthusiasm. There was no question in his mind about Victoria being the right choice. He braced his palms against the table he was sitting on, and used his upper body to shove himself back into a standing position. "We won't reach Deep Space 9 for a few days yet," Kohl said. "Nothing to point the sensors at but ourselves."

"Let's do it, then!" She was pretty sure that if she were any more excited about this, she'd literally explode. It was either that or the four cups of coffee she had earlier. She grabbed her PADD and started typing.

"I've got to get back to the Bridge," Kohl remarked, and he jerked a thumb at the ceiling. "I was too thrilled to deliver the good news as soon as the communique arrived. I couldn't wait." As he backed towards the doorway, Kohl waggled a finger at Victoria's workstation. "Send me what you've got, once you've got something put together."

Victoria, fully immersed in her work again, gave him a distracted wave and turned back to the workstation, her mind buzzing with the thought of actually doing her own research. Maybe she'd finally get some answers...


[OFF]

Lt. JG Victoria Crawley
Psychologist
USS Galileo

Lt. Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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