Scientific Matters

Posted on Fri Jul 29th, 2016 @ 6:47am by Captain John Theisman & Lieutenant JG Élan Val

948 words; about a 5 minute read

Élan stared at the holographic display of the space surrounding the Hyperion as the ship warped towards Romulus and sighed, feeling a sharp feeling of both loving support and redirection as well as a brief scolding from Val through their link. The symbiont had been a source of motivation for Élan over the past few weeks, sometimes being hyper enough to the point that it was annoying. It wasn't uncommon, although it was usually something that was reported in young symbionts. Val, being barely a century old, fell into that category. There was no way to avoid it, since younger symbionts were not as calm as older ones, and sometimes the host had to simply ensure the antics. But, that was something that Trills had learned to live with.

Even now, as she stared at the huge holographic display of the stellar cartography lab, Élan had to wonder what secrets the Hyperion would discover. Val, ever the adventurous Trill symbiont, had pulsed with excitement at the thought of being on board the first Federation ship allowed to fully explore the dark secret corners of the Romulan Empire. The image displayed before her now held nothing new, since a few Starfleet ships had scanned into the Neutral Zone before. Even on the few times that a star ship had actually visited Romulus, some sensor data had been recorded and analyzed. There wasn't much to report on a route that had been travelled on before, although the Hyperion's advanced sensor systems did allow for a better scan of those regions.

John had been looking for Lieutenant Val, and eventually he had been pointed into the direction of the stellar cartography lab. A holdover from earlier exploration ships, the Hyperion had been built with stellar cartography in place simply because it was always useful for something. Entering the lab on the upper level, he noticed Élan Val right away. She was the only other person in the room. "You know the astrometrics lab is better suited for detailed analysis of the sensor scans," he said, trying to make a light hearted joke as he walked up towards the science officer.

Élan felt a shiver run down her spine as she realized that someone, the commanding officer if she recognized the voice correctly, had walked into the room. Even Val seemed to jump, as they had both been distracted and over-focused on the display. Turning around, Élan’s eyes widened as she caught sight of the captain. Practically jumping out of her seat, she braced to attention.

"Captain, I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in," Élan said.

"At ease, Lieutenant," John said with a wave of his hand as he walked up to the controls and took a closer look at the display. "So, are you studying the data or just taking a look at the sensor feeds?"

"Mostly just looking. The rest of the team is in the astrometrics lab studying the data from the sensor feed, but I've mostly been using stellar cartography to check the updates to our charts as well as the live feed from the Federation Science Division," Élan replied.

John nodded as he turned his attention towards the young science officer. "Well, after I discuss what I came down here to talk to you about, I'll let you go back to it," he said. "And I'll just jump right into it. I've decided to name you the Hyperion's new chief science officer."

"Sir, with respect, I'm sure that there are a number of other officers who qualify for the position, not to mention the fact that I was only just recently promoted to lieutenant," Élan said, bringing up her points in an effort to argue the captain's decision.

"I've checked the files for everyone else in your department. You're the only generalist science officer we have on board, everyone else is a field specialist. That means that you're the most qualified and, you're the only lieutenant in the science department who doesn't have some form of formal reprimand in her file. That jumps you straight to the top of the list," John said.

"I see," Élan said as she nodded slowly. It didn't appear that the captain was going to give her much of a choice, and she would be kidding herself if she didn't admit that she did want the position.

"So, if you're out of excuses, take this and get yourself into proper uniform," John said as he handed his new chief science officer a black velvet box. Inside was a solid gold pip.

Élan felt her eyes widen even further as she saw the rank pip inside the box, but she nodded and replaced the gold rimmed black pip on her collar with the solid one. Placing the old rank pip into the box, she handed it back to the captain.

John nodded as he took the box back. "Now, Lieutenant, I fully expect a status report on your department and full update on everything that science has going on right now on my desk at 0900 tomorrow. And one more thing, make sure that the chemistry lab doesn't go boom again."

"Understood, Sir," Élan said with a short nod, even though she felt her expression tighten at the mention of the chemistry lab explosion. She offered a sharp salute towards her commanding officer instead of saying anything.

John returned the salute before he turned and left stellar cartography. Sliding the black box into his pocket, he checked the time and decided that it was time to call it a day, unless someone decided to ruin the quiet evening he had planned.

Captain John Theisman
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Élan Val
Chief Science Officer

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