The Scientific Process

Posted on Jun 02, 2016 @ 4:56pm by Thomas Varn
Edited on on Jun 02, 2016 @ 4:57pm

Mission: Fortress: Earth

“The Scientific Process”

(Continued from “Traffic Control”)

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Location: USS VERNE
Scene: Main Science Lab -> Chief of Science Office
Stardate: [2.6]0602.1536

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The news had come unexpectedly, as if someone had become aware of an illness not wanted that would dramatically change the course of one's life, effectively destroying plans and preconceptions. It was wrapped nicely in salutations, and scientific exhortations declaring to all , that feigned to read, of its individuality. It was delivered in much the standard manner that any Starfleet Officer was accustomed, downloaded to a padd, and quickly summarized and skimmed by the reader of choice, whom this time was a fiery trill named Ja'Veen Tar.

Ja'Veen, was not physically different from other trills that one may see, other than her fiery red hair, which she had come to enjoy when braided and loosely draped down her back ending at her waist. She wasn't especially tall, standing no more than a few inches away from six feet, as she would say (five feet ten inches), knowing that no one was allowed to validate this with medical records lest they be visited in the night by three ghosts which she named hammer (her right fist), whammer (her left fist), and bammer (her head). Her volatile nature, had become a commonplace occurrence in the Science Department aboard the USS VERNE, a Nova-II class that was brimming to the teeth with all nature of scientific equipment and teams.

Tapar, her vulcan assistant, had come to acknowledge her singular intelligence and brash nature while overlooking the idiosyncrasies of her personality, mainly her penchant for creating names for him. His time in Starfleet had taught him few lessons that the educators on Vulcan could not prepare him for; but, even after ninety-nine years of terran exposure there were things that still, on occasion, would catch him off guard. “What do you mean they sent the same information back to us,” Ja’Veen demanded sending a padd spinning above the heads of her subordinates.

The bustling den of theories, tests, and speculation quickly came to a pause with the combined sounds of Ja’Veen’s voice and the padd striking Ensign Veytar, a young ferengi known for his brave advances to anyone who would look his way, directly on the ridge of his forehead causing a scream to emit so high in its pitch that Tapar speculated many of the species in the room could not hear it.

“Lieutenant, I know that answering the rhetorical question you have posed would undoubtedly allow you to vent the steam,” Tapar stated making a motion with his hand sending the room back to its normal operation, “but, you must remember the community at large upon which you are negotiating with.”

The truth was that Ja’Veen had effectively beaten down all the other chiefs within the fleet to be the liaison between all vessels, advising them that the VERNE’s purpose was scientific in nature thus making it the most scientifically logical choice. “It’s not bad enough that we are running around in circles,” she stated picking up another padd, “but now even the bloody scientists are playing politics, giving into the bureaucratic nonsense. And, its let off steam you overly literal pointy ear gremlin!”

Tapar’s right eyebrow slowly raised as he pondered the very idea, but he had learned in his stint serving as the assistant chief of the science department aboard the VERNE that it was best to allow Ja’Veen room to breath. He carefully watched as her skin began to turn all the usual colors that could be associated with red pigmentation in the blood while weighing the truth that nagged in the back of his mind. His normal procedure at this juncture had become to allow Ja’Veen to fully calm herself before continuing any discussion, thus allowing logic to win the day; but, the time it would take to come to fruition was time that the fleet and earth did not have. He carefully followed the trills movements, his green blue eyes locked on to her as if he was a targeting program ready to strike.

Ja’Veen slowly paced the floors gently tapping the back of the padd she had acquired on her palm. The rhythmic tapping was something that she had done since she was little, it helped her control her breathing and heartbeat calming her nerves. Soon she found herself staring out the window in her office at the fleet that floated like stars well hung in the vacuum of space. She gently tucked the padd under her arm and began stroking the braid that flowed from her head to her back. Her anger had been washed away with a sudden flood of worry. “We aren’t the best equipped ship in the flee Tapar. Not to mention we aren’t the most advanced, “she stated allowing her braided hair to fall back to it usual position behind her, “Why was I unanimously elected to be the go to correspondant for all the other science heads in the fleet? Tell me why am I the one that is trying to wrangle other scientists who seem more interested in marking their intellectual territory instead of working on the problem at hand?”

“Might I remind you Lieutenant, you are the one that was very vocal about the nature of this task,” Tapar stated as he moved closer to Ja’Veen’s workstation, “and it was you that insisted on being the head due to the systems upon which the VERNE currently have.” Tapar, knew that Ja’Veen did not like it when he was right, but he had no more time to delay. Slowly lowering the original padd down with the data that had been retrieved from the injured Ensign Veytar Tapar stepped back and motioned to Ja’Veen’s office, “might I suggest we look at the data once more?”

“You know better than I do there is no need for that Tapar,” Ja’Veen sighed taking the padd moving into her office, “I have never doubted your analysis before and I will not begin now.” She knew that the true intent was to separate her from those that served under her while minimizing the damage to Veytar’s brain, not that he had much of one. Ever since the fleet being moved about Ja’Veen knew that she would run into at least one crewmen she didn’t not like. Unfortunately for Veytar, he was that individual and under her command. He had no clue the first time he meet Ja’Veen that he was addressing his superior officer, and demanding that she find the Hoo-man in charge and then later retire to his quarters together hadn’t helped the situation.

As the doors closed behind them Tapar watched Ja’Veen take a seat behind her desk only to take one on its opposite side. The duo had come to work professionally well together, and trust one another with reasoning and critical thinking situations. Ja’Veen, would like to think that they had become friends but the issue or question was never brought to light. Leaning back in her chair Ja’Veen fingers slowly rubbed against the sides of her head, “tell me Tapar, how are we supposed to accomplish anything?”

The assistant chief remained silent knowing any answer he would provide would not help the current situation. In truth they both knew that there had been some information which had been trickled down through the fleet; but, nothing that anyone felt gave a substantial lead to go on. The common denominator present in all the scientific communications that had arrived to date was the fact that they kept coming through, with the same data. Ja’Veen sighed holding herself in a hug before sliding her hands up and down her arms as if she were chilled.

“All this bureaucratic nonsense makes my spots hurt,” she stated standing as if her nerves would not allow her to sit very long, “and the worse part is, more will arrive any minute.”

The doors to Ja’Veen’s office quickly opened, as she rarely locked them, and Ensign Veytar stepped in holding another padd in his hands. Veytar’s steps, slowed and came to a stopp only a few inches within the room itself keeping the entry way open, for a quick escape. Clearing his throat he did his best to ignore the throbbing of his lobes caused by the bump on his head, “more communications from the fleet.”

“Thank you Ensign,” Tapar stated standing to his feet and moving towards Veytar, “i’ll take those.” The vulcan had always been the first to read the communications, as to summarize the information, new or old, to Ja’Veen. The information stored had come from several ships in the fleet all confirming or slightly adjusting the previous data they had received; but, it was the final entry that he knew Ja’Veen would find particularly interesting, “It would appear someone agrees with you.”

“What do you mean,” she stated slowly moving closer to him before taking the padd away. As she stood there and skimmed the beginning entries as her mouth slowly opened before forming a full gap as she read. A quick and stifled snort was emitted from her before looking back to Tapar, “was this one of our staff? Veytar maybe?”

Tapar shook his head knowing full and well that all those under Ja’Veen’s command were aware that she would be forced to take action against them. He also knew that each communication that was received carried with it a origin point, to assist with keeping accurate records. “The origin point is from the PHOENIX,” he pointed out motioning with his hand, “but there was no record of who sent it.”

The air stood still for a moment before Ja’Veen began to laugh, “I never thought he’d do this.” Walking slowly to her desk laying the padd into the stack her face slowly turned red as her laughter continued. She had only met the Ensign currently filling the position of Chief of Science aboard the PHOENIX via communication, but she was certain that the no nonsense Tellarite she did not have the backbone to send out what was there. Her mind began to wander over the message before she read it again, this time her laughter bellowing forth, “they sent it to the whole fleet!”

[[Lieutenant Faraday to Lieutenant Tar, there is a priority message coming from several of ships in the fleet for you mam.]]

Ja’Veen face had flushed with hues of rouge and underlying tones of pink and her eyes began to water due to the continued laughter. Slowly moving to behind her desk she took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself and collect her thoughts. “Very well Lieutenant patch it through,” she stated wiping her eyes before allowing one last chuckle to escape, “don’t leave Tapar i’ll need you to keep me serious.”

As the display flickered to life Ja’Veen began naming off the officers that now were before her. All of them either the rank of Ensign, Lieutenant Junior Grade, or Lieutenant like herself and each of them with stares that would cause a warp core to breach. To her delight LaHav, the chief from the PHOENIX, was among them and his face was still the no nonsense tellarite that she remembered. Sitting there in silence Ja’Veen’s mind returned to the message only to allow a smile to begin to grow.

Tapar did his best to motion and quietly calm Ja’Veen, but the cause was already lost. She had already allowed the laughter that had been trapped inside to escape. The net few moments all happened quickly, but Tapar could not look away as if some force had insisted he keep his gaze fixed. Ja’Veen’s smile had quickly escalated into a hearty bellow of a laugh and each officer on the screen reacted differently. The Vulcan officer from the USS VICTORIA simply stared at everyone with no expression at all, the female Bolian officer from the USS COLUMBUS begun shaking her head before covering her face with embarrassment, and there was a brief moment when LaHav’s face contorted as if he would lung through the display. [[You see I told you she would not take this seriously,]] he howled slamming his fists into the desk before him, [[I wouldn’t doubt if she sent it.]]

Ja’Veens laughter quickly subsided at the accusation before she encroached closer to the display of LaHav. “You can stop right there you arrogant twit. I received the transmission just as you all did and have my assistant chief as a witness,” she huffed her eyes narrowing with a soul piercing gaze bent on LaHav’s demise, “besides, we keep the origin point record for our records and it shows the PHOENIX. I must admit LaHav you had me fooled.”

LaHav’s brow furrowed under the news and a small snort, much like a Terran pigs, emitted from his nose. Looking around before taking a padd from someone out of view he scanned its information and turned his attention back to the caucus before him. [[I’ve just confirmed that the transmission was sent from the PHOENIX, but not from my staff or myself.]]

“Well that’s just great Ensign,” Ja’Veen shouted tossing herself back into her chair, “now we may have some sort of security breach to investigate.” The group continued to bicker and instruct the young tellarite on exactly what needed to be done and how he should follow up with security, his captain, and a list full of other officers. It was in the point in the conversation that everyone had once again to repeat themselves that the open voice only channel made itself known.

[[You’re all idiots, blind fools feeling their way in the dark,]] a low voice stated causing the others to cease their ramblings. Each officer peered at their display frantically trying to identify the source of the voice, unaware that another comm channel had been or was opened when they all reached out to the VERNE. As general sense of alarm had begun to creep over Ja’Veen’s face as the possible security breach had become a very real possibility. Her mind raced before returning to its natural choice and reasoning for all situation that she did not like; and, even Tapar who normally removed himself from assessing her temperament knew that Ja’Veen was mad.

“Who is this,” she demanded suddenly, “and are you too afraid to show yourself?”

There was silence on the line and everyone seemed to be waiting with baited breath, everyone but LaHav, who was frantically using the consoles nearby. A deep chuckle could be heard from the other end of the open comm line only to stop as if it had met its own demise. [[If you were to use your so called powers of observation and shut up, even for just a moment, you would have seen that I am currently unable to do so.]]

Ja’Veen’s cheeks flushed with a deep flush of blood as she listened still getting no where. “You could just be a coward,” she stated doing her best to prod whoever it was speaking to them, “to afraid to face those that could do you harm.”

The sudden burst of laughter caught everyone listening off guard causing some of them to jerk slightly and cringe at its sound. The laughter was not like normal laughter, something was different as if the joy had been removed and only replaced with nothingness. The sound was an empty sound that seemed to take in all that was around it deafening the very world it filled. The only reprieve they found when the laughter stopped as the sounds of someone scuffling with another or knocking something over was heard. Silence filled the air, and soft tones of groaning and pain could be heard from the other side.

It was in this silence that LaHav have found his voice once again, having completed the inquiry that he frantically had begun, [[ you have no business being here and I’ll ensure that you are properly rewarded for your crimes…]]

The sound of glass shattering broke through the sentence that the tellarite officer desperately tried to finish. A low growl began to be heard from the unknown speaker, softly at first but growing with intensity with every moment. [[You dare threaten me saying i’ve committed crimes? You, a pig faced up start that has no business running a science department because you can barely manage sending out the copyrighted dribble you called scientific research?!]]

Ja’Veen’s face had begun to hurt and her head began to throb as she did her best to quench the storm raging inside. She for one had enjoyed the truth and honesty that the unknown addition to their conference had brought but it had reached its end. “This has gone on far enough,” she spat through gritted teeth, “it ends here and now. Furthermore, how dare you interupt…”

[[Listen to me you red-headed rage induced scientist wannabe. There is very little in this world that you can do to scare me, almost to the point where I have nothing that will. So, you’ll excuse me if your hyped up, bloated, and temper fused ramblings do very little to sway or change anything.]]

It wasn’t the names or other remarks that finally had pushed Ja’Veen over the edge. It wasn’t the fact that the male voice had been mean to Ensign LaHav that caused her to jump off the deep end. The fact that whomever this was constantly interrupted everyone was the final button to be pushed sending Ja’Veen into a temper flared rage tossing a padd at the door to her office. “You listen to me whoever you are,” she bellowed standing to her feet, “I am Lieutenant Ja’Veen Tar Chief of Science aboard…”

[[ the USS VERNE. I am very much aware of who you are Lieutenant and of who all those in present company are as well,]] the male voice stated having once again seemed to change to a calmer more stable mood. Ja’Veen simply stood there her body moving with each breath she took laboring to provide enough air to her organs. Leaning over her desk clutching its ends with such force that it would have broken a man’s hand she stared.

“Then, good, sir,” she spat emphasising each word, “you would know, that I can order you, to leave this channel, or face the consequences.”

There was a slight chuckle heard again from the voice only line before silence. The uninvited guest had been biding his time, waiting to see and judge reactions only to find that most of them were incompetent or too afraid to do anything when it mattered. There was however a silver lining, he mused to himself. The trill, she seemed competent, at least enough to stand up to who or whatever challenged her authority. His voice was not calm and slow trying to aid in any efforts to regain Ja’Veen’s composure, [[You see that is where you would be wrong, Lieutenant. What our wonderful Ensign LaHav has yet to provide to you all, although he has confirmed it, is that I have just as much right, reason, or authority to be here with all of you. In fact I was invited to this little party, by someone with a lot more brass than any of you; but, if we are going to get into a measuring contest then allow me to oblige. None of you, your r frighten me because I have seen and know things that would make you cry to your first hosts mommy. None of you have any authority over me because I’m here at the request of my ship's Captain; and, the mere fact that I am not Starfleet officer at the moment. If I were currently in Starfleet, you, madam who may have the guts to stand up to me would find very quickly that I will rip them out and cut them off. I am not some civilian who has no clue as to which way the wind blows and i’m not some Ensign thrown into the thick of it because I just happened to be there. I am and was Lieutenant Commander Thomas Varn, and it’s be best to remember that. Now everyone shut up and let's get to work.]]

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Justin K. Owens
Thomas Varn
Ressurrected Something