New Science Reports!

Posted on Mon Sep 18th, 2017 @ 6:04am by Captain Enalia Telvan & Lieutenant Nathanial Summers DSci

Mission: When Iconians Deserve to Die
Location: Captain's Ready Room

Technically the Hera still had a week of shore leave left, but Enalia decided she'd best spend it getting used to the relatively cramped confines of her ship rather than her orbital fortress with the rest of her crew to prepare for the upcoming mission. Her crew deserved a lot more time off after everything they'd been through and though she wished she could stay here another few weeks, but duty waited for no one and the Master was on the move.

Thankfully, they finally had a full Science officer to fill the Chief position. Enalia had checked the logs and he had checked in and all that so hopefully soon he'd be reporting in to meet her. Honestly, she was just hoping for something to break up the monotony. Even Schwein's pig references seemed funny compared to these TPS reports she was reading...

Elsewhere, Nathanial was stepping out of the runabout 'Kyrie' that he had flown to get him to his new assignment, the USS Hera. From what he was able to glean from Command, she was a modified Nebula-class heavy cruiser and the largest ship he had ever served on. He was happy to join this crew on their journey. He knew from the orders that he needed to report into the captain and Executive Officer. So he made his way to the Captain's ready room.

As he neared his destination, Nathanial stopped just short of the door and breathed in deep and let that breath slowly out of his lungs. He then pressed the door chime and waited to be bid to enter...He took another deep breath an also held it in.

"Enter," Enalia called as she looked up from a report on stellar decay on yet another anomaly they were supposed to use as a cover story. "Oh thank goodness. You must be Lieutenant Summers, our new Science Chief. Do you prefer tea, coffee, or water?"

Exhaling out, he said "Lieutenant Nathanial Kristopher Summers, reporting as ordered Sir! Peppermint Hot Chocolate, if you have it, Sir?

Enalia sighed heavily and leaned back in her chair,shaking her head in disappointment. She then leaned forward and started pulling foil packs, a bottle of water, and a self heating mug out of her desk and started preparing a proper mug of cocoa as she spoke. "You had one chance at making a good first impression and you blew it. I mean, yes I obviously have peppermint hot chocolate... You'll have to wait for the mug to warm the Bolian peppermint oils and Risian cocoa... But if you call me Sir one more time you'll be drinking it on the other side of an airlock. I am to be addressed as either ma'am or Captain. Understood?"

By the time she was done talking, the mug was done as well, steam rising from the frothy chocolate so she slid it over to her new Science Chief. "Be careful - the mug tends to get a bit hot."

"My apologies, Ma'am. One can never tell how to address female captains so I decided to follow protocol. It will never happen again, rest assured, Captain. I have learned the error of my ways."

"Good, now sit down and tell me about yourself." Snapping her fingers, Enalia remembered the most important thing and pulled out a silver tubular device. Clicking a button, a fluffy white thing popped out and she offered it to him. "Marshmellon?"

"Yes thank you, Captain. Well, where to begin? Oh, I know. Ever since I was a little boy, I would dream about the stars. I got my first telescope when I was 7 and spent every night looking up at the sea of stars that surrounded us. It was then and there that I decided to would join Starfleet as soon as I was old enough.

"After graduating from high school, I applied to the Academy and was accepted. I chose to study sciences like my Uncle Raymond Grey. I had given serious thoughts to going into Medicine like my father and law like my mother but in the end, Sciences won out.

"My choice of careers has put me at odds with my family because neither of my parents nor my siblings served. My parents had high hopes for me; they just didn't mean this high," Nathan smiled at his comment. "Captain, I pledge myself to your command and will never do anything to jeopardize your ship or crew. I just wanted to say that. Anything else you would like to know about me?"

"Enalia nodded and popped out a second marshmellon as she listened, chewing on it thoughtfully. "You already took an oath to that uniform, Nathan. I don't need any more loyalty than that. Though now that you're on a ship assigned to Intel Command, you're going to be seeing some things you'll wish you hadn't. How up to date are you on nanotech? both Borg and otherwise?"

"While it isn't my specialty, I feel up to snuff. I've read quite a bit about Borg nanotech. And I've even done some work in the field," Nathan said. "Why do I get the feeling that I've just landed in a hornet's nest?"

"A hornet's nest doesn't begin to describe it. We've been tasked with hunting down a dangerous Vulcanoid doing genetic research and experiments who we've found out happens to also be an ancient Iconian demon. He's gotten help from the Tal Shiar, Obsidian Order, House Pegh, Section 31, and every other secret society in the galaxy it seems in order to continue his work since he's awoken. With a scrap of luck, his next lab we raid will be one of his last and the time to face him will draw that much closer." Taking a sip from her water glass to moisten her throat after that expository speech, Enalia continued with a bit more info. "I requested your security clearance be upgraded to sigma nine and as soon as our Intel Chief gets back from Magna Roma you should be cleared for briefings on specific details on all that from her."

"Now that does sound interesting, Captain. I must warn you, Captain, that my areas of expertise are climatology and stellar phenomena. Though I've studied Borg nanotech, that doesn't make me an expertise in the field. Perhaps your Medical Officer or your Chief Engineer would be more pragmatic choices in this arena," said Nathan, trying not to cause his new CO to lose faith in him.

"Understandable. Unfortunately, with how things are these days, as Chief Science Officer I'll need you to brush up on all of this and be ready to be an expert on anything even remotely sciency." Enalia tapped on one of her desk terminals for a few seconds and pulled up one of her desk's holo displays to show off the sensor scans of one of the enemies they'd faced - a nine foot tall Borgified Gorn that was modified to breathe jets of fire. Next to it she pulled up its counterpart that shot jets of liquid nitrogen from its mouth. "Here are a couple examples of the enemies we've fought in the past as an example."

Shrinking them down and bringing in a third hologram, Enalia showed him one of their more recent conquests... a 50 foot long genetically modified Cardassian vole that looked like it belonged in a Godzilla movie. "That vole ate two of my crew and tried to eat the away team's runabout."

Nathan was shocked at what he saw.What have I gotten myself into? he thought to himself. "Is it too late to ask for a transfer?" he asked his new CO jokingly.

"Only if you want to transfer to Medical. We need a new Chief in that department as well." Enalia grinned wryly. If she was knew to this whole thing, she'd probably ask the same thing. Clicking the holo-displays off, she sat back and was quiet for a moment before continuing. "I know it's a lot to take in. Unfortunately, the truly horrifying things are going to have to wait for Clio to return from her trip so for now you just need to do your best to settle in, learn the layout of the ship, and enjoy my family's orbital fortress during your off time. We still have a week left of scheduled shore leave and resupply ahead of us. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Not at this moment,no ma'am."

Enalia smiled politely. He seemed a bit stiff, but his records spoke highly of his skills and just from this brief conversation she knew he'd fit in well. At the very least, she was sure she wouldn't have to stun him or fake his death any time soon like so many other crewmembers... She always seemed to find the interesting ones. "Well, stick around and finish your cocoa at least. I don't want my mug walking off. Welcome aboard the Hera."

"Thank you, Captain. I think I will finish my cocoa," Nathan sat back and enjoyed her company. This is the first woman who put me at ease since my mother. I only hope she stays this way.

Nodding and picking up a PaDD, Enalia clicked it back on and yawned immediately. Yeah, these TPS reports were more dry than Vulcan witticisms... "Computer, please spy on my wife and try to figure out what she's making for dinner without alerting her."

The computer gave a chirping sound to signify that it had acknowledged the order and a few seconds later, it replied. "She has been alerted and would like to notify you that dinner will be Trill cod and pasta with a white sauce and asparagus."

"Thank you computer," Enalia replied. Then under her breath she muttered, "Monitoring the internal sensors again... Can't get anything by her..."

"Maybe I can help you with that," Nathan said with an odd grin.

Enalia chuckled softly and shook her head no. "No tampering with my wife please. She may be photonic, but she's a sentient lifeform. So is Akira, whom is our Operations Chief and her niece."

"I was talking about reprogramming the computer, Captain," Nathan said. "I have some knowledge in computer programming and I could do some tinkering to it that would allow you to 'spy' on her without her knowing about it."

"She uses the internal sensors around her as a sort of sixth sense so... Good luck..." Enalia added. "Besides, it comes in handy and I wouldn't want things any other way. It adds some spice to life. When I get home I'll have to explain why I got my hand caught in the cookie jar rather than just asking her."

"OK good enough," he said. "I just thought I'd try. You can't fault me for that, can you?"

Enalia smiled "Not at all. It's admirable, but in this case, somewhat futile I think."

Nathan sat up in his seat and realized he had yet to pick up his cocoa. Smelling the strange aroma of the peppermint, he grabbed the mug from the table beside him and drank deeply. He let something akin to a purr as he did so. As he set the mug down, he realized the cocoa had left something behind; a mustache of foam above his upper lip. He let out a light-hearted laugh. It had been a long time since he had been able to sit and enjoy a drink. As he finished his cocoa, he stood up and bowed at the waist to his new Captain, "It's been a pleasure talking with you but I really should be going. Thank you for the enchanting time and the excellent drink. Am I dismissed?" he said with a big grin.

"You are," Enalia replied pleasantly. "And I recommend you take advantage of the hot springs bath in the fortress before we leave. They're somewhere in the sixtieth floors. The holo-maid system can help you find them."

"Thank you, Captain for the excellent cocoa and the informative chat," Nathan said as he took note of the captain's suggestion. "Noted," he smiled once more and yet again and then turned to leave.

After Nathan had left, Enalia leaned back in her chair and sighed heavily. She hoped this Science Chief lasted longer than the last few. It seemed this ship was cursed when it came to Science and Medical Chiefs. She even lost one Science Chief as he was arriving in a shuttle accident in her own shuttle bay, not to mention the Medical Chief that fell down that turbolift shaft on that away mission... On second thought, that was probably far more merciful than what happened to the rest of the away team that didn't come back...

Sighing again, she pulled the used mug off her desk and dropped it into the cleaning unit in her desk, then resumed reading her TPS reports.