Something Sciency

Posted on 17 Jul 2014 @ 12:04am by Commander Norvi Stace & Petty Officer 1st Class Viru Evek
Edited on on 17 Jul 2014 @ 12:20am

1,643 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2, Science Laboratory
Timeline: MD01 - 1400

ON:

Viru was a chemist. He was used to dealing with chemicals. Not entire plants. Just to the extent that one can make chemical derivatives. But he had somehow come in possession of a plant. It was sitting at his work station when he arrived for his shift and he had no idea where it could have come from. Was it left there by mistake? It had elaborate self contained hydration and ventilation systems in it's transparent titanium case. It was some kind of fern with silver blue leaves. It had berries that produced a heavy purple pollen that coated much of the inside of the case.

Stace strode into the lab after her tangent-type meeting with her assistant, Kohl, in an almost daze mulling over the mission brief and what she had her teams working on in the transit time. Her mind was clearly elsewhere as she sat at the main desk, powered up her console to begin work, not noticing a colossal Cardassian already established in the lab. She looked up and started as the dark skinned youth focused into her line of sight. In reality, the Cardassian wasn't threatening-looking in the darkened room at all. His lithe frame much smaller than Stace had come to know the Cardassians for. But still, compared to Norvi, he was still a little bigger.

"Evek!" she exclaimed with a jump. "I didn't notice you there. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." he replied, somewhat startled. His expression quickly turned to one of concern as he noticed signs of fear in the Trill. It was a familiar reaction, but one that always made him want to recoil into a hole somewhere. He hated that just because of his race he was quietly hated and feared by many of his Starfleet comrades. And even in friends there was an occasional subtle apprehension. He suspected he was paranoid.

"Do you know where this plant came from?"

Undaunted by his appearance, despite what the Cardassian felt within him, Stace left her chair and walked over to him. "Sorry, Evek," she replied softly. "You just caught me off-guard and with sitting in near darkness." She rested a familiar hand on the young crewman's shoulder and leant over him to gain a better look. "No idea," she replied, honestly. "What is that? An Andorian Thrush?"

"I thought it looked like a Feloran bromeliad leaf" Abbey said making her way into the lab holding a cup of hot chocolate with a caramel and hazelnut shot. I don't know how it got aboard the ship though" She added taking up position in front of the other two scientists.

Stace's memory clicked into place as she halted, spun on her heel and then made her way back to her console. After a few taps of the interface the cargo manifest started to scroll across the readout. "Ah!" she exclaimed tapping her finger on the information before returning to the table again. "We took on board an addition transport case when we left San Francisco Fleet Yards. I haven't had time to really see what was in it but it wasn't requested or logged. I'd left it with Lieutenant Kohl to deal with and return it with the shuttle we're rendezvousing with in a few days but I'm sure that he mentioned some self-contained, unknown fauna in the mix. This must be one of them."

"I wonder why they sent it here, it almost seems infectious," the Cardassian mused absentmindedly as he stared at the plant. Occasional puffs of pollen occasionally emanating from the berry clusters. The more he looked at it, he realized that the veins in the leaves were luminescent, a slow pulsing blue light.

"What better place to see, eh?" Stace said emphatically, lifting her arms up in the lab. "That's a Starfleet issue bio-containment canister. Let's bring it over to the diagnostic table and have a closer look."

Viru shrugged and then nodded in silent agreement as he picked the case up from his desk and carried it across the room to the diagnostic table. It felt unusually light weight, even in spite of the case. He placed it down carefully, as if it were some live ordinance he expected to detonate at any time.

"Computer," Stace said into the middle distance having followed them both to the table. "Identify the plant in the canister."

The familiar, tonal beeps of the computer as it processed the audio command reverberated around the lab before coming to its conclusion. "Biological specimen unknown." Stace's eyes furrowed as she looked to both Abbey and Evek. "Are any of its chemical or biological components similar to anything we have in the Federation database?"

Again, the beeps replied as the computer then followed. "Affirmative. There are four hundred and forty three billion, seventy one million, nine hundred and sixty seven thousand, three hundred and forty seven similar genetic specimens currently known."

"It's obviously not that unique then," Stace replied out loud. "Well, it's genetic make-up."

Abbey couldn't wrap her head around the plant "why is it in a container anyway? I'll volunteer to take it out if you guys want to" she said. Abbey always was one to gun ahead. "I bet it smells beautiful... Well it's got a very good chance that at least one of those plants it matches will"

The color drained from Evek's face when Abbey suggested opening the container.

"Maybe we shouldn't open it." he said, imagining the brightly colored pollen spores acted as some kind of horrific nerve agent on most humanoid life, and he would be right there to inhale a big breath of it when the plant emerged.

Abbey put her hand on top of the container and taunted before turning her mouth into a pout "Oh whats the worst that can happen?" She was quite aware that the worst could be some sort of Man eating plant or even worst than anything she could imagine but she liked the idea of smelling it and hoped it smelt as good as it looked.

"Hold on," Stace said quietly, her hands now raised up in a surrendering position. "We really don't know what that plant is. The spores could be poisonous and infiltrate the environmental system should we open it. Let's investigate a little further before we haphazardly attempt to open this thing up."

Rolling her eyes before grinning "Sure, I don't fancy becoming the next victim of a man eating, plant even if it is so gorgeous!" She took her hand of from the container. "So, where should we start?"

"Maybe we should contact a botanist." Viru said, crossing his arms. "Do we have a botanist?"

Suddenly, as Norvi lifted the canister up again to gain a better look at its contents, a small hairline fracture shot through the air-tight surround. Stace flicked her eyes to both scientists as the widened. She carefully placed it back down on the table and stepped back, urging the others behind her to do so. "Computer, scan the biological canister. Is its integrity still intact?" The computer trilled and replied. "Negative."

Now with both hands blocking both Abbey-Mae and Viru, they all exited the area in two strident steps backwards.

Abbey was shocked, how could the canister begin to degrade like that, maybe the plant was dangerous after all. "We should apply a force field" She said, he voice full of urgency.

"Computer," Stace shouted out, "erect a Level Ten forcefield around the observation table." She turned to Abbey. "I don't want to take any chances." She field pinged into life before the three of them. Stace took a step forward to see more clearly what was happening. Suddenly, the plant's mouth-like bulbs began to open in an animated and snarling motion. "What is it?"

"You know that man eating plant I was joking about? I think we just pissed it off!" She was face up to the forcefield squinting her eyes trying to define all the little details about the plant.

Stace's eyes widened. "I'm... not sure what to do. We can't just purge the area and destroy it. But it doesn't look like it's a friendly either. Suggestions?"

Abbey shrugged "Maybe we should just feed it Evek?" She joked.

Stace raised her eyebrows at Abbey and then shot a smile. But it faded quickly. As she had turned the plant roared at the three behind the field, and then seemed to spit at them. Stace's look of shock clouded her features. The venom it had projected started to fizz at the forcefield. "Is that toxic?"

Abbey scooted over to the labs scanner's and read the infomation displayed on the screen. "It seems to have a high level in androstenol, a potent pheromone, nothing dangerous or toxic." As the plant's odd display of activity the forcefield continued to flicker "You don't think that the forcefield might fail do you?"

"It's Level Ten," Stace replied without looking at her. "If it fails under that plant's strength then it'll rip through the bulkhead without a care in the world." It spit at them again as the jaws of it opened in their direction. "I'm all about the preservation of life and scientific investigation but some things just need to be contained."

Before any of them had another chance to study the plant it began to turn an autumn brown and yellow colour before completely disintegrating "Well that was a little anti-climatic no one got eaten" She sighed shrugging.

Stace let out a frustrated yet relieved sigh as she placed a hand on her hip. Leaning forward she shook her head. "Easy come, easy go, huh?"

[OFF]

--

CA Abbey Wyatt
Scientists Mate
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Wyatt]

Lieutenant Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Petty Officer 1st Class Viru Evek
Chemist
USS Galileo

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