It Didn't Happen That Way

Posted on 09 Aug 2015 @ 8:42pm by Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant JG Manuel Lucero & Lieutenant JG Cyrin Xanth

2,277 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 09 - Empires
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Multi-Purpose Laboratory 1
Timeline: MD 01 - 2339 hours

[ON]

The moment the doors opened for Andreus Kohl, he was quick to ask, "What do you say?" His mien was bright and cheery. Almost offensively so. And certainly not genuinely so.

Kohl quickly assessed the state of the multi-purpose laboratory. At first glance, only half of the workstations were operational, but there was no debris littering the deck. No bloodstains ground into the carpet. This lab had fared better than Astrometrics. Striding into the lab, Kohl's sapphire eyes quickly found the back of Ensign Xanth's head. Once Kohl closed the distance between himself and the young science officer, he patted Xanth on his left shoulder. "Have you ever surfed an ion wave that spun you as hard as that vortex?"

Normally, any mention of surfing would have made the Trill start babbling on excitedly, but after the events of the last couple of hours he turned a rather pale looking and nervous expression up at Kohl. "That shouldn't have happened, Commander," he began, meaning the singularity that had formed, but forgetting to actually say that as he plowed onwards. "At least, not by the readings I was seeing. To create a point in space that gravimetrically dense, it takes a lot of math, and I mean a lot. That's not something that could happen lightly. Well, I mean, it could, anything is within the realm of some level of quantifiable likelihood, I suppose. But, this? No. An unfocused coherent graviton emission of that magnitude should have created waves, you're right, but they didn't...I mean, it was beautiful, but...it didn't..."

Xanth took a breath, his mind still trying to make sense of the brief moments he'd actually gotten a look at the sensor data before they'd gone in. "It didn't happen that way," he said after a moment, stating the obvious. He was just trying to order his thoughts so he could speak more clearly - never really one to be good at that in the first place, and leave it to the astrophysicist to be one of probably a very few people to refer to the monstrosity that had engulfed them as beautiful. "And what's worse, my console was blown out with all the damage. My data is gone." He wished that last part didn't come out close to a wail. There had been so much data incoming, he'd only begun to wrap his mind around it, enough to realize that they'd already passed the event horizon and that no amount of reverse thrust was going to get them free. There had been more, something he'd only begun to glimpse in the numbers that had scrolled across his screen before it blew out, but it was gone almost before he realized there had even been something. Suffice it to say, Xanth was not happy.

"I lost all my sensor data too. Right from the moment we entered the vortex. Operations is scanning isolinear subprocessors on the Bridge to see if they can recover anything," Kohl said. From him, it was more of a guilty admission, and perhaps a little commiseration to remind Xanth that he wasn't alone in their situation. Kohl wasn't nearly as personally invested in the loss, because he trusted in his team's ability to work with whatever they had. And he knew something that Xanth didn't. Kohl approached Xanth's workstation and didn't say anything more until he met Xanth's eyes. "I have a present for you," Kohl said, and now he sounded far too amused with himself. "I think you're going to like it."

Kohl's first words made Cyrin pause and take stock, and he started to feel a little guilty himself. The first thing he'd done is whine about his precious readings, when he could have realized that other people might have had the same issue too. Or he could have asked about how everyone else was fairing, or even more responsibly, asked what his next orders were to be. A discernible red flush worked it's way up from beneath his collar towards his cheeks, making his spots stand out, even before Kohl went an initiated some uncomfortable eye contact.

Cyrin blinked rapidly, gulped, and asked, "A g-gift?"

As if he were describing the ingredients in a seven-layer cake, or the method behind a new sexual position, Kohl said, "Sensor logs. A continuous, glorious record of the vortex's entire lifecycle." --Kohl pressed a thin green isolinear chip on the LCARS panel between them-- "Crewman Thelin managed to gather it in Astrometrics. But you're not allowed to look at it until you tell me something: how are you? Did you make it through the vortex all right?"

The astrophysicist's face lit up at hearing that there was at least some telemetry that had been saved. Grey eyes peered eagerly at the isolinear chip as it was revealed. Maybe there'd be enough for him to make sense of what had happened, and at the very least it was right up his alley. This was the reason why he was out here, to explain and study the sometimes strange ways the universe worked. Cyrin reached out tentatively for the chip, but then snatched his hand back when Kohl gave his ultimatum.

"Oh, uh, I'm okay," he muttered, and cast a wary look at the patch that had been put into place to cover the hull breach that had occurred in here. The lump on his forehead was going down already, and he'd likely fared better in the zero-g than many of his crewmates. "How is, you know, umm, everyone else?" Can I have the data now? his eyes seemed to say.

Kohl took Cyrin's question at face value. "Crewman Thelin was injured pretty badly by the structural collapse in Astrometrics," Kohl replied. Possibly, he had picked up Cyrin's question being slightly disingenuous, but he answered the question anyway. He left out details about Sigrid Thelin's diagnosis and prognosis, but he continued with, "But the rest of the injured science staff are being released from Sickbay. They're on their feet."

Cyrin's face visibly paled at that. He could have easily been in Astrometrics himself during the incident, if he hadn't gone to hide out in the less-used lab they were in now. He'd not abandoned his post of course, as he could do his work just as easily from in here as he did there and with less distraction, but Xanth began to feel slightly guilty that he'd not been there to help. Then again, he'd had his own crisis to deal with here in the lab with the hull breach and Oren's injuries, so neither option was particularly appealing. Nothing much about their current situation was.

"What are our orders, C-C-Commander?" Cyrin asked, much more subdued now, whatever joy he'd had in hearing they had some of the logs still gone from his expression.

"Your gift is also your homework," Kohl remarked. He plucked up the isolinear chip and he slotted it into the appropriate port on an LCARS workstation. "Review whatever sensor data we have left to determine what our deflector has done, how bad is it, and is it irreparable. Lieutenant Lucero will be joining you, and he can order up whatever additional resources you need. Ensign Voutilainen's expertise would be valuable in this project as well, I believe."

"Aye, s-sir," Cyrin said, nodding quickly. A chance to get to work, to tackle their problems head-on from a scientific point of view, was exactly the sort of task that would boost his own morale - and Cyrin was pretty sure that Kohl knew it. He was an observant man to work for. Eager to get started, he nevertheless kept looking at his commanding officer a little while longer.

"We, uh, we'll figure this um...out sir," he tried to say encouragingly. "Depending on how much d-d-data that there is left, we should be able to reverse the effects that brought us h-here." There was a lot of hope in those words, especially since he'd not even reviewed what Kohl had brought him yet. Still, the young Trill was an optimist, and he even smiled at Kohl broadly to show what sort of confidence he had in things turning out just fine.

With the soft sigh of a turbolift door, Lucero crossed the threshold into the labs whilst, characteristically looking down at a PaDD. Looking up, he immediately spotted Kohl's piercing eyes.

Ahh... Well, I suppose this is the time to get acquainted with the rest of the Department.

Smiling, the Lieutenant walked over to the two. He acknowledged Kohl with a nod and a wink, then extended a hand to the Ensign.

"Hey there, I don't think we've been properly acquainted."

"H-hello, s-sir," Cyrin replied quietly, standing up quickly from his seat and rising to his tall height as he shook the other's hand. "Ensign Cyrin Xanth," he managed to at least get his own name out without mangling it with his stutter. It was always harder for him when he was put on the spot, even more so with superiors, though Kohl was easy to get along with since he was so friendly. It would remain to be seen just how difficult it would be to work for Lucero too.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Cyrin." Manuel gave the most comforting smile that he could muster.

From where he was standing, Kohl raised a palm to indicate towards the young Trill. "Ensign Xanth here was just telling me our deflector array couldn't --or at least shouldn't-- have created that vortex," Kohl said. He certainly sounded as if he trusted in the analysis put forth by Xanth. Looking the Trill in the eyes again, Kohl asked, "Were this a perfect universe, what would be the simplest explanation for a point in space as gravimetrically dense as the one we passed through?"

"Well, a naturally occurring one would be either a black hole or a wormhole, Commander," Cyrin said. "But for one that was artificially c-created?" He trailed off, running through a list of possibilities in his mind of what would be the most likely. "Damage caused by a subspace weapon, a cluster of cosmic strings, or a coherent and properly modulated deflector pulse of sufficient magnitude." The last answer brought him up short. "Y-you d-don't think s-sir that maybe th-this was intentional?"

Although his eyes widened with paranoid concern, Kohl shrugged a big I don't know at Cyrin. "One final hurrah by the Klingons," Kohl supposed, "to soar away from NIMBUS victorious?"

Lucero looked introspective for a moment. "It wouldn't be the first time that Klingons have been primal." He looked up at the other two. "I wonder what the Captain thinks about such a plausibility."

While the other two discussed the possibility, Cyrin dropped back down into his seat again, finding that his knees felt a little weak. It seemed like too far a stretch that the problems with the deflector, the vortex, and them being able to survive the passage through it was a coincidence. Sabotage, no matter how difficult, might be more likely. But that wouldn't be his problem to deal with, as Kohl had given him his assignment.

"When would y-you l-like to get started, L-Lie-Lieutenant?" he asked, looking up to Lucero.

"Hmm?" Lucero looked up and sighed. "I suppose I should investigate as soon as I can." He then thought of something and looked at Xanth. "You know, Cyrin, If I'm not mistaken, you'll be sharing my Department Head's quarters with me. Probably due to some space constraints." He smiled. "You'll love the sofa."

The ensign looked like anything but enthused by the idea. But with the recent change in personnel and the reshuffling that had caused, he supposed he had to wind up somewhere. These quarters were probably a bit bigger than what he'd been in before, though Cyrin figured that no quarters on the small vessel could really be considered to be large. "I'm sure," he said faintly, taking the opportunity to plug in the isolinear rod Kohl had brought to upload the data.

Watching Cyrin all the while, Kohl remarked, "I'll leave you alone with your data, Mister Xanth." Because of what he'd seen in Cyrin's body language, there was a noticeable a glint of amusement in Kohl's tone. Kohl strode away from the pair and made his way to the doorway into the corridor. As he went, Kohl added, "And your new roommate."

Cyrin half-stood as his superior made his departure, but stopped when he heard the man's tone, "Goodnight, sir." Kohl certainly kept him on his toes, guessing when he was being serious or joking. Oddly enough, it made him easier to work for than his previous superiors. The Trill turned his gaze to Lieutenant Lucero, wondering what it would be like to work for this man.

"I have a few hours till the end of m-my shift, sir," he informed Lucero. "And I'll b-be happy to work extra t-till we get through the logs." There was a slightly questioning tone to his voice, as if he was asking for direction. Kohl had ordered him, in his own humorous way, to review the data but he was also to work with the Assistant Chief on this.

"Not too many extra," Kohl called back from the corridor. "Get some sleep. That one's an order."


[OFF]


Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Manuel Lucero V
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Ensign Cyrin Xanth
Astrophysicist
USS Galileo

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