A Hyperion Welcoming

Posted on Mon Mar 14th, 2016 @ 8:18pm by Lieutenant JG Élan Val & Commander Eva Grey

1,300 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Pathways
Location: Deck 8, Science Labs

If there was one thing Eva had found out quickly in the short amount of time she had been on board the Hyperion, it was that the Luna class star ship was not only much larger than her previous ship it was also slightly more confusing to navigate through the corridors. She had tried to memorize the deck layout the computer had helpfully provided, but the Hyperion was over four hundred meters long and the corridors were slightly confusing in some places. She was concentrating on finding the science labs, which made sense since Eva was not only the executive officer but the chief science officer as well. Knowing where the labs were would help her find her way in dealing with the science department matters that she would have to take care of personally, and find a place to hide when the pressures and demands of being first officer became too much. Having already found a few of the general multipurpose labs, Eva had found the door to one of the specialized labs and without bothering to check the door label she walked into the lab.

Élan frowned at the readings on the output monitor above the table where a delicate chemistry experiment was taking place. One of the science specialists, a petty officer Élan hadn’t caught the name of, had requested an officer be present for an experiment that one of his crewmen was performing. Naturally, Élan had volunteered to be the officer overseeing the experiment, since there weren’t really that many officers on the ship and she hadn’t wanted to bother the chief science officer. That thought had only reminded Élan that she hadn’t officially reported in yet, but she was sure that such formalities could wait. In the meantime, she was watching an experiment that she doubted was going to end well.

“We should just scrap the project and call this one a dead end,” the petty officer said, shaking his head.

“It should have worked. There should be a chemical reaction taking place right now,” the crewman who had started and conducted the experiment said.

“Well, it’s not working, is it?” the petty officer snapped.

“Let me add just a little more nitrogen to the mixture,” the crewman said as he reached out and tapped in a command into the controls.

“Oh all right . . . NO!” the petty officer shouted the last part, which made Élan jump since she had partially turned her attention away. An alarm started to ring out, followed instantly by no less than ten additional alarms and a computer warning.

“Warning, live explosive mixture detected. Evacuate to safe area immediately.”

“Damn! Everyone out now!” Élan snapped. She led the charge to the nearest door that led into the corridor. Sadly, the doors opened to let someone in right when Élan and the two non commissioned officers charged through. Élan roughly slammed into the poor woman and both painfully fell to the deck. The two enlisted crew members kept right on running down the corridor, leaving Élan and the other woman on the deck.

‘Oh, please don’t let this be anyone important,’ Élan thought as she rolled over, grabbed the other woman by the arm and dragged her to her feet. They staggered to their feet just in time for whatever mixture had been created in the chemistry lab to explode. The containment force field didn’t fully activate in time, which meant that part of the force of the explosion reached the door and slammed into both women before the doors slammed shut to contain the resulting fire.

“I’m sorry,” Élan said as she pulled the other woman to her feet a second time. This time, she took a few seconds to try to identify who the woman was and she quickly spotted the three gold pips of a full commander.

‘I’m dead,’ Élan thought.

“Ok, what just happened, Lieutenant?” Eva said as she patted the small flame that had caught part of her arm on fire out. It wasn’t every day that she was knocked off of her feet, trampled by her own crew, blown out of a lab, and set on fire by said explosion, and since the Hyperion hadn’t even left orbit or for that matter had a full crew on board, having an explosion and a fire in the chemistry lab on what was technically her first day wasn’t putting Eva in a good mood at all.

“Lieutenant Élan Val, Ma’am, and I’m not exactly sure what happened. If I had to take a guess, the crewman who had been conducting the experiment added the wrong element to a multi elemental mixture and caused an undesirable explosive effect,” Élan replied.

“Computer, are the containment protocols enabled in the chemistry lab?” Eva asked the computer. “Confirmed. Chemistry lab three is contained. A repair crew is on their way,” the computer voice answered. Eva nodded and turned towards the science officer. She was having a hard time placing the woman’s face, but since she hadn’t met everyone in the science department yet, she wasn’t surprised. “Alright, we’ll let the repair team handle the aftermath. Since I believe we haven’t met yet, I’m Commander Eva Grey, executive officer and chief of the science department,” she said.

“Lieutenant Élan Val, general science officer,” Élan said, praying that she wasn’t about to become Ensign Élan Val.

“Well, I don’t always have first meetings with my officers in such a manner, Miss Val, nor do I have to file a report on an explosion in the science labs while the ship is parking in orbit waiting for her crew to arrive. I guess the Hyperion will be an interesting assignment,” Eva said, trying to make the science officer relax a little.

“I wasn’t planning on reporting to you in this manner, either, but while we’re here, I’d like to officially report for duty. That is, unless I’m about to be put on probation for overseeing someone nearly blowing the executive officer out of the room just as she walks in,” Élan said.

“I normally do that to officers who knock me to the floor and get trampled by everyone else who is running for their lives while an explosive mixture is in the process of exploding,” Eva said as the repair team arrived. “But, I’ll overlook it this time. No one got hurt, and we’re capable of repairing the damage. I’ll expect you to file a full report on the incident and have it presented to me by 0800 tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, Ma’am. Um, Commander, since I did knock you down and get you trampled right before that explosion set your arm on fire, can I make it up to you by buying you a drink in the lounge?” Élan asked.

“I’m afraid I need to take a rain check on that offer right now,” Eva said as she waved her hand at the repair team entering the lab. “But, I’ll catch up to you later on and we’ll go over how to set up preventive measures for future experiments. I do want you to go hunt down those two who were so kind to give me my welcoming trampling and get a full report from them. And make sure they understand that next time, they need to stop running once they’re safely out of the explosion radius.”

“I’ll go find them right now. Thank you, Commander,” Élan said. Turning, she started off down the corridor and silently prayed that nothing else would go wrong today.



Commander Eva Grey
Executive Officer
Chief Science Officer


Lieutenant Junior Grade Élan Val
Science Officer

 

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