The Science of Possibilities

Posted on Sun Mar 5th, 2023 @ 1:27am by Captain John Theisman & Lieutenant JG Élan Val

1,095 words; about a 5 minute read

Élan stepped on board the Hyperion, giving the security officer a slightly teasing grin as she passed him. She had been assigned back to the Hyperion, and the fact that the new ship was an Intrepid class had excited her more than her assignment to the previous ship of the same name. Even Miko, the medical officer who had she had become friends with and seemed to tag along from assignment to assignment, had been excited as well. While the Luna class was indeed an impressive ship, the Intrepid class stood out among the various classes that Starfleet fielded.

Remembering the deck layout she had studied en route, Élan easily navigated her way through the ship's corridors towards the nearest turbo-lift. Normally, she would have reported in to the first officer but she knew who the captain was and she had a dark, twisted desire to torment someone this morning. So, instead of reporting to the bridge, Élan instead ordered the lift to deck one and found her way to the second door to the commanding officer's ready room. Adjusting her uniform, she tapped the door chime and waited.

"Enter," John called as he juggled which padd bound report he should read first. There were a lot for him to read through in order to get caught up fully, and unfortunately paperwork was considered light duty, so he had no choice to to deal with it. The ringing of the door chime promised a break from it all, so he welcomed the distraction.

Stepping through the door as it opened, Élan gave the captain a mischievous grin as she crossed the compartment and braced to attention. "Lieutenant Élan Val reporting for duty as science officer, Captain," she said.

"Oh bloody hell, I'm plagued with you again as well," John groaned. "Sit down Lieutenant," he added as he slumped in his chair a little. Of all the Trills in the universe, he had this one again. "Where's your wing man?"

"Oh, Miko's here, I believe she's coming in on the afternoon transport, but since I knew you missed me I wanted to get on board as quickly as possible and let you know the wonderful news of how I get to be your number one science officer again," Élan said with a grin that she couldn't help. "Besides, I really couldn't help myself when I was given my orders. I've always wanted to serve on an Intrepid class star-ship."

"I really can't fault you there," John said with a nod. Indeed, the Intrepid class was still one of the most desired and sought after assignments for Starfleet officers. The very fact that they surpassed every expectation and were just as capable as starships twice their size even after twenty years spoke volumes of their design. Still, John did miss the grandeur of the Luna class. "So, how long until you do something and blow a hole in my ship?" he finally asked. "Or just blow something up in general?"

"Blow something up?" Élan feigned surprise with her reply. "Me? Why, I'd never do something like that."

"I seem to recall a hole being blown through two decks on a Luna class starship, which almost covered three decks if I remember correctly, and you trampled the executive officer in the process of escaping from whatever concoction you created in that science lab that led to said explosion," John growled, his mood darkening a little. "So I repeat my question: am I going to need to expect you to blow something up on my ship?"

"No, Sir," Élan replied flatly, firmly aware of how dark the captain's mood could get when he asked direct questions and didn't get direct answers. She also knew just how far to push before her choice of humor led to problems. Adding to the captain's directness, Val seemed to squirm inside her pouch, picking up on the general mood of the conversation. "If I may ask, where are we heading with this new Hyperion?" Élan asked, changing the subject and hopefully adding some light back on the conversation.

"Back to the Beta Quadrant," John answered, allowing the tension to ease out of the room. He liked Elan, but he also knew that sometimes officers like her needed to be reminded that they needed to remember just how far certain behaviors would be tolerated. "Primary mandate is exploration, secondary is to search for any traces of missing Starfleet ships and their crews."

"Namely one particular Luna class star-ship, if I would have to venture a guess," Élan said in a casual observational tone. She had to admit to herself that the possibilities of finding the Luna class Hyperion were slim, but still there. "Sir, I hate to play devil's advocate, as you humans say, but using the science of possibilities the chances of us ever finding the previous Hyperion are extremely slim."

"The science of possibilities?" John asked, raising his eyebrows. "What is that, some science techno garble?"

"It's what science officers are trained to refer to when considering long term outcomes on some projects," Élan said. "I've never been a fan of it, but in this case we have to at least consider all options. It's been nearly a year, the Romulans devoted an entire squadron to searching for the ship, and we would be taking a guess on even getting started in our search. Taking all of these facts into play as a starting reference and then applying the science of possibilities, our chances of finding one single star-ship in a galactic quadrant are very low."

John nodded quietly, mostly because it was logical thinking and also because he had had the same thoughts. "It doesn't matter," he finally said. "We owe it to those officers to try, and we're going to do our best. Even if we don't find them, I'm not going to look back and wonder if we could have done more. I want to be absolutely sure."

Élan nodded, feeling Val's agreement to the captain's resolve. "We both feel the same," she said. "I just felt that as one of your senior officers, it needed to be pointed out that the chances of success are extremely low. Regardless, I agree that we need to give it our utmost best in our efforts to find them."

Standing, she nodded solemnly. "I'll see to it that the science department and our assigned equipment is as prepared as possible for our sojourn. With your permission?"

"Dismissed, Lieutenant," John said with a nod. "And it's good to see you again, Elan."

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