Good Spirits

Posted on May 26, 2014 @ 9:22pm by Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Edited on on May 26, 2014 @ 10:17pm

Mission: All Our Yesterdays
Location: USS DISCOVERY
Tags: Kane, Russ, Jake, Stonn, Byte, Cindy

"GOOD SPIRITS"

(Continued from "Chance And Change")

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"Behind every man now alive stands thirty ghosts, for that is the ratio by which the dead outnumber the living."
- Arthur C. Clarke, "2001: A Space Odyssey"

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Location: USS DISCOVERY, orbiting Suvin IV
Stardate: [2.14]0518.0230
Scene: Sickbay


Michael Turlogh Kane crossed the threshold of the DISCOVERY's sickbay for the first time since they had launched from Spacedock. He passed through it while on his inspection tour after coming aboard, and had been silently impressed with what he had seen - a refitted ICU, half-a-dozen of the latest biobed models with all-new software, and a new Chief Medical Officer.

Bonnie Reardon, a flame-haired goddess of a woman, had wasted no time in getting to work. Not a day went by when one of her departmental reports appeared in Kane's message list, updating him with all the pertinent information from sickbay. She was supposedly one of the finest medical officers in the fleet - the testimonies of her previous commanders shone so brightly they may as well have been aflame. A list of illustrious starships fell away in her wake, and now she was aboard the DISCOVERY.

The first injury suffered by a crew-member in the line of duty had happened. One of the engineers assigned to wiping the virus from the main computer of listening station UFP-855 had been hurt when a booby trapped console had exploded in her face. There was no risk of fatality, but the feeling of responsibility remained. The worst thing about being in command was the risk of ordering someone to accomplish a potentially fatal task.

The doors to sickbay swooshed open and Kane stepped inside. Several of the medical staff looked up from their work, but he ignored them and moved towards the biobed where Dr. Reardon was working on the wounded engineer.

He waited until she noticed him and came over. "Captain Kane," she said pleasantly. "Welcome to sickbay."

Kane looked past her to where the wounded engineer lay on the biobed. One of the nurses was running a dermal regenerator over her face, its pink light smoothing away all the cuts and bruises she had suffered. He caught her eye and nodded. She smiled weakly. He looked back to the doctor. "Report."

"The patient has a mild concussion, as well as some cuts and bruises," Reardon replied smoothly. "She is a little shaken, so I've given her the rest of the day off. She'll be ready to go back to the station tomorrow."

"We're not going to be here tomorrow," said Kane.

"I thought there was a saboteur - "

"Apparently not one that wants to kill people, Doctor. This puts him or her farther down on our list of threats. We have a bigger mystery waiting for us in the Beta Quadrant, remember."

"I haven't forgotten, Captain. Sickbay will be ready."

"Good." Kane shot another glance at the patient. "What's her name again?"

"Cindy Rochemonte," said Reardon. "She one of the assistant chief engineers."

"Give Lieutenant Rochemonte my best wishes," said Kane, turning to leave.

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Scene: Bridge


Distracted for a moment, Jake Crichton looked out the main viewer. The ash-gray planet of Suvin IV was rolling by gently, silhouetted by the blinding glare of the distant orange sun, and the dome-and-spindle listening post had just caught the sunshine. One side of it was glinting beautifully, starkly contrasting the dead world below it.

He turned to Lieutenant Byte. Both of them were sitting at an operations station at the rear of the bridge, waiting for the computer to resequence what little data they had recovered from the listening post's computer. "What do you think of that?" he asked.

The android stopped what it was doing. Turning around in its seat, it regarded the vista for a moment. {{It is a pleasing view,}} it said, its head cocked to one side.

"Pleasing? It's beautiful." Jake turned to the computer screen. "Can you, you know, appreciate that sort of thing?"

If Byte was offended by the question, it did not show it. Like the sunshine, the android's cornflower blue eyes contrasted starkly with its ash-gray skin and its rubbery black hair. {{I am aware of the concept of beauty, of course,}} it said in what Jake thought was a genial voice. {{However, the variations and complexities of aesthetic pleasure are beyond my programming.}}

"Mine too," smiled Jake.

Byte regarded him quizzically. {{May I ask you a question, Commander?}}

"Of course."

{{Am I ugly?}}

Jake started in surprise. The android was looking right at him with those beautiful blue eyes, scrutinising him like he might stare at a troublesome ODN relay. But the rest of it - the gray skin, the dull oil-slick hair, the carefully-constructed neutral-expression face - looked wrong. For all the work that the Maddox Institute had put into creating a positronic lifeform, the result was as far from Human as a Horta. Whatever Byte was, it was just not natural. "Well," he said, "I don't - that is to say, I'm not sure how..." he stopped, remembering the old adage about stopping digging when you're in a hole. He decided to change tack. "Why do you have blue eyes?"

{{Commander?}}

"Well," said Jake, "your creators obviously designed you in the shape of a Human. They would have taken steps to ensure that you looked as close to one of us as possible. I understand that you're not cybernetic so there was no need to give you normal skin colouring, but I'm curious as to why the blue eyes?"

{{Ah.}} Byte turned back to the computer. {{That was to ensure that nobody hated me.}}

"I don't understand."

{{Not long after I was activated in the Institute, I was shown to some young Human children who were on a school tour. My construction was not complete at that stage. My eyes were black and several open circuits were visible on my epidermal layer. When the children came into the room, I approached one of them and tried to greet her.}}

"What happened?"

Byte's voice was quieter, and his eyes seemed to be looking inside himself. {{She began to cry and scream in fear when I approached her. Seeing her reaction to my appearance, many of the children ran away. They pushed each other aside in an effort to escape my presence. I did not know what to do. Doctor Maddox deactivated me to show them that I was an android, and would not hurt them.}}

Jake watched as Byte told the story. The android looked almost plaintive.

{{When I was reactivated I requested that my eye colour be changed to a more familiar and pleasing hue. I know I am not Human, Commander, but now at least I look like I have a soul.}} He turned to Jake. {{I do not want to make little children cry again.}}

Jake smiled. "You may not have a soul, Mister Byte, but you sure do have a heart."

{{Thank you, Commander.}}

The computer chimed as the last bit of data was resequenced. Together, they went to work.

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Scene: Captain's Ready Room


Kane was looking out at the starfield, druming his fingers on the desk, when the door chimed. "Come."

Stonn entered the ready room. The Vulcan ExO was carrying a PADD and he placed it on the table. "The resequenced data from the station's computer."

"Have we been able to identify the data we want?"

Stonn raised an eyebrow. "Commander Crichton and Lieutenant Byte are working on it at the moment."

"I see." Kane activated the PADD and scrolled down through the information for a moment, but quickly gave up and tossed it onto the desk with a clatter. "This might as well be Pakled. Somewhere in all these yobibytes of information is the full signal from K-60. If we can isolate it we might have time to analyse it ourselves before we arrive."

"You are not satisfied with Starfleet's efforts?"

Kane leaned back in his seat with a sigh. Then he said it. "No. It's all bullshit."

"Captain?"

"Come on, Stonn. It's logical."

"Captain, I do not follow you."

"Oh? Let's look at the steps so far. If we are to believe everything, that is. First, Starfleet detects a mysterious signal from inside the Beta Quadrant. They think it's a Federation starship's main computer. Second, they reactivate the DISCOVERY. They assign her a crew and a launch date. They send you to me with an offer of reinstatement in the fleet."

Stonn was frowning. "Yes."

"Only it's not done by the book. I don't meet Admiral Halle to talk about my commission for weeks. Instead, I meet Admiral Edgerton in some hotel on the Moon. He tells me only what I need to know. The DISCOVERY launches, and then he dispatches a team of marines to meet us here. Meanwhile, someone else is tinkering with the main computer on the listening post that first detected the signal. They flood the computer with enough white noise to seriously dent our ability to learn any more than we know already. Meanwhile, the msytery remains."

"What are you saying, Captain?"

"I'm not saying anything more than that it's bullshit." Kane shook his head. "I've never trusted anyone who works in Intelligence. I never will. They get people killed."

"Permission to speak freely, Captain?"

Kane nodded.

"If you will forgive me, sir, I believe your logic is flawed. I have counseled you previously not to speculate as to what we are heading into. Instead of working with what we know, you remain fixated on this bizarre conspiracy theory."

Kane sat up. "What?"

"Admiral Edgerton met you on the Moon because he decided that would be a less formal atmosphere that you might better respond to. Like all command authorities in any organisation anywhere, he told you what you needed to know about the mission you were being assigned. He must have been unable to inform you by subspace about the marine detachment, and in any case their orders, and yours to receive them, were all above board. Captain, as the ship's first officer, I must ask - are you certain you are able for starship command?"

Kane was shocked. "Commander, I - "

"Sir, as far as I can tell we are operating under normal conditions. We have been assigned a task which it is our duty to complete. I agree that there are questions to be answered over the apparent hacking of the listening post's computer, but our original objective remains. If you are unable to lead this mission, then I respectfully suggest we contact Starfleet to abort and set a course for home."

There was silence in the ready room. Kane realised that it was the longest speech he'd ever heard Stonn make. His mind whirled, full of self-destructive thoughts. Vulcans were masters of philosophy - maybe it was all in his mind. Maybe all his own thoughts were the bullshit. He rubbed his temples with his fingers.

"Do you trust me, Captain Kane?"

Kane looked up at Stonn's demonic visage. The Vulcan was looking into his eyes. Searching for an answer, he shrugged. "Yes. I have to."

Stonn nodded, seemingly satisfied. "I will not break that trust. Please, stop remembering your old crew, the ones that died at the hands of the Calnarians. That was many years ago. You are angry and agitated because you are living in the past. Be at peace in the now."

Kane closed his eyes. Stonn was right. When he opened them again, he spoke flatly, calmly. "Thank you, Commander. You're dismissed."

Stonn seemed to want to say more, but checked himself. He stood up and made for the door. before he left, he turned around. "There are no ghosts on this ship, Captain Kane. Let the dead rest in peace."

The door closed behind him, whisper soft.

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Scene: Main Engineering
Time Index: Later that day



Engineering was quiet, but it was not so quiet that her Chief Engineer did not need to be there. Everything needed supervising. Power systems, warp field - everything needed monitoring. Plus there was the daily level three diagnostic. Engineering was the beating heart of the ship, and nothing could be left to chance.

"Jake?"

Snapped out of his reverie, Jake looked up to see Cindy standing there. She looked great - there was a little discolouration on her face but was otherwise back to normal. "Cindy! Not in sickbay?"

"Discharged a few minutes ago. Going to my quarters to get some sleep." She held up a pair of glasses. "Even replicated a new pair so you can go on calling me Specs. Just called down to say thanks."

Jake looked past her. The turbolift doors opened, and Captain Kane was coming. He smiled apologetically. "Here comes the captain."

Cindy backed away. "See you later. Thanks, Jake." She turned to leave, greeting Kane by his rank.

The irascible Irishman didn't stop for pleasantries. "Did I just hear Lieutenant Rochemont address you by name, Commander?"

"Yes, sir. I don't really enforce formality on duty."

"Oh." Kane looked mollified. He put his hands behind his back. "I've never been able to do that. I always prefer a certain amount of decorum on the job."

"Yes, sir."

"It didn't always used to be like that," said Kane suddenly, looking at the floor.

Jake wasn't sure what to say, so he said nothing.

After a moment, the captain looked up again. "We'll be leaving the system shortly. Give me your final report on the station's computer."

"The virus has been purged, sir. There are large gaps in the main computer but critical systems are not hugely affected. Life support remains at one hundred per cent operating capacity. I recommend we send a message to Starfleet asking for an engineering crew to overhaul the computer. The station will not be running at full speed for a while, but other than that, all is well."

"Understood, Commander. Good work." Kane looked around at Engineering. "It all seems to be under control down here. Carry on."

Jake watched as he turned on his heel and made for the turbolift.

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Scene: Bridge


Kane made it back to the bridge in good time, to see Stonn finishing off a conversation with Lieutenant Nguyen on the station. The young Asian officer called him by name when he stepped onto the bridge. {{Captain Kane! On behalf of us all, thank you for your assistance in repairing our main computer!}}

"Glad to be of service." Kane moved to the centre seat. "We're departing the system now, Lieutenant. Starfleet should be dispatching engineers to fully restore your systems in the next few days. I regret we haven't been able to find your saboteur so I advise vigilance. Not all questions have an immediate answer."

{{Understood, Captain. Nguyen out.}} The viewscreen winked back to the distant orange sun shining on the dome-and-spindle as the ash-grey world rolled by.

Kane straightened his tunic and turned to Stonn. "What do you say, Mister Stonn? Shall we get underway?" He sat down in the centre seat.

Stonn moved to Russ BaShen's shoulder. "Set course for system K-60, warp factor seven."

"Course laid in."

Kane activated his arm rest's display. "How long will it take us to leave Federation space once we're underway?"

Russ did a quick calculation. "Only two hours, sir. And two weeks to K-60."

Kane looked out at the starfield as the DISCOVERY turned away from the listening post, facing outward into the great unexplored mass of the Beta Quadrant. Alien stars flickered in the viewscreen, the great dead expanse yawning open. In two hours they would be out there, lost in the wild.

Two hours. Not long at all. He allowed himself a small smile.

No ghosts on this ship. Only good spirits.

"Engage."

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Scene: Exterior


DISCOVERY snapped forward in burst of light, shattering the warp barrier, and she was gone, gone into the Long Night.

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NRPG: So, we're back on course for the Beta Quadrant. Let's have a couple more shipboard posts before the arrival.


Jerome McKee
The Soul of Captain Michael Turlogh Kane
Commanding Officer
USS DISCOVERY


"He speaks an infinite deal of nothing!"
- Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice', Act 1, Scene 1.113

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