Science Department Review

Posted on Sat Feb 27th, 2021 @ 7:20am by Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Cadet Sophomore Grade Triston Montgomery [Lalor] & Captain Gary Taylor & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar & Lieutenant Nevada McKay & Captain Garrett Lovejoy [ Taylor]

Mission: Season 5: Episode 1: No Exit
Location: Main Science Department
Timeline: -MD6 13h00
Tags: ```````````````
2079 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Phoenix was smirking as she walked briskly to the airlock. She had not been joking with Gary the day before about the person she was meeting.

Ensign Hamilton walked beside his captain wondering why she looked so happy.

As they approached the airlock they came across the XO. "Ah Commander, ready to greet our special guest?" The captain asked brightly.

Gary nodded, "I am, though I'm amazed he agreed to do this." He finished

"Well he owes us. And I want to see Arri keep her cool. If she can" Phoenix said as the hatch opened and their guest entered.

"Ah Commander Lovejoy, thank you for making the time for this." The Erisian said, her tone warmer than normal when dealing with Lovejoy,

"Captain Lalor." Garrett replied pleasantly. No hint of animosity, no glacial ice in the tone. It was...friendly. "It is good to see you again." He turned to Gary, "Commander Taylor, I trust you are well."

To his credit Gary kept his composure and replied. "Thank you Commander. I hope all is well with you."

"Yes, everything is fine with me. I appreciate your asking." Garrett answered before turning back to Phoenix. "I understand you need me for an inspection of the Science Department. Is that correct Captain?"

The captain all but grinned. "Yes. Normally I wouldn't bother you, but this is a special case. Commander An Vantar is newly to the role of Second officer and I need an independant point of view of how she is handling both roles."

"An you thought to ask for my opinion, fully knowing her opinion of me." Garrett replied. "Very sneaky Captain, I like it. Very well,I can be completely unbias in this circumstance."

"Also, part of command is being able to work with people who you might not get along with or want to work with." Phoenix said brightly. She stepped back and waved down the hall. "Shall we gentlemen?"

"Oh, I think this qualifies on both counts Captain." Garrett replied, wondering himself just what Commander an Vantar's reaction was going to be. "Should be interesting." He muttered to himself.

At her look, the Ensign headed off to warn Arri's team that the inspection team was on their way.

"Captain." Garrett asked as the Ensign left, headed for the Science Department. "Do you wish me to enter the department first? Catch Commander an Vantar in an unguarded moment?"

"oh no I think you will be fine to come in with us" Phoenix said innocently.

=SCIENCE+

Ensign Hamilton entered and paused by the door. A blond cadet he knew well was at a console. "Hey Montgomery, where is the chief?"

"In her office" Came the vague reply. "Why?"

"Captain and Commander on their way. Inspection." Hamilton said and went and hit the chime to Arri's office. When the door opened he stuck his head around and said "Commander, the Captain and executive Officer are on their way. Inspection."

Arrianna spoke. "Enter..."

Phoenix led the small group into the science lab and looked towards Arrianna. "Commander, we are here to inspect your department..."

Arri's eyes suddenly focused on Lovejoy in the room. She straightened her uniform and stood. "Lovejoy...." She hated the man with a pure fire.

Phoenix raised an eyebrow. "Commander Lovejoy is assisting with these inspections as a personal favour.."

"Permission to speak freely. What in the name of the ascendants of Tirielle is this man doing in my doing in my science division!!!!! Is this some kind of game Lovejoy!!! Because I am not playing it." Arrianna had completely lost her emotional control.

"ARRIANNA!" Phoenix snapped so loudly that it made the room quiet. "Commander, that is enough! As I was saying, Commander Lovejoy is assisting with these inspections as a favour to me personally. And I expected better from you Commander!"

She closed her eyes... "Control...... Balance...... Serenity... Control.... Balance... Serenity..." She opened her eyes again. "I apologize Captain."

Lovejoy to his credit, didn't lash out or fire off some sarcastic reply. He knew that Commander An Vantar hated him. He also knew from first hand experience what it was to misjudge someone as he had Captain Lalor. "I know my appearance here is a shock to you Commander and I apologize for that. However I am not here to cause you any undo problems."

"Commander, I'll give you full cooperation, you're clearly here to evaluate my team. I will not delay you any longer." Arrianna noted as she sat down.

Lovejoy nodded, "Thank you Commander, I do appreciate your gracefulness in this matter."

Phoenix rolled her eyes "Aren't you going to show us around Commander?"

Arrianna sighed. "My team will be held to a fair standard of performance for a Starfleet Officer? According to regulations governing the fair assessment of a Starfleet Officer." She was suspicious of Lovejoy, and she was not going to feed his vision of what a Starfleet Officer should be.

Lovejoy sighed mentally, Commander An Vantar was unduly suspicious of him despite his assurances he wasn't out for her blood. "Yes Commander, all fair and above board." He told her.

Phoenix all but rolled her eyes at Arri's thoughts. Maybe it would have been better to take Garratt through security instead.

"Very well. This way." Arri left her office and showed the way towards Astrometrics. She entered the lab. "This is Astrometrics. We've managed to reproduce the Astrometrics lab to great detail that was used onboard the USS Voyager very closely. It's accuracy is based on the algorithms used in are QSD with the ability to plot accurate jumps for a Quantum Slipstream. The calculation buffer links to the helm console, and we're able to run a trajectory check on Ensign Derani's course to verify accurately that we don't slip into a sun." Arrianna mentioned.

Lovejoy looked around the room and the set up with great interest. "Impressive." He said after a few moments. "You spoke of accuracy in jumps and a calculation buffer. Have you been able to measure just how accurate your jumps are? Also what procedures do you have in place should the buffer fail?"

"Actually the idea for the saftey systems came from Lt. Commander Vaii and her experience as, what she calls herself, 'a twenty-fourth century astronaut.' In earth's twentieth century they had redundant computers running the same calculations and safety protocols before Nasa launched their space shuttles. What we have is similar. We have multiple redundant sub-processor cores. Three in engineering, Three here in Astrometrics, They all perform the same calculations and report to Avalon. If these sub-functions are in agreement. Avalon green lights the slip jump. However if one or more sub-functions report any anomaly, Avalon can bring us out of slipspace or terminate the sequence. Even if Avalon is not online the subfunctions take a vote based on what I see and Lt. de Tolly sees on his console. Both I and the Lieutenant can immediately initiate a sequence termination at will." Arrianna mentioned. "And if any vital system has issues, the Engineering Sub-Functions will shut down the jump as a precaution." Arri mentioned. "We undertake countless trials and improvements on the system in the field, and the shipyard technicians back home use these trials to fit QSD's in other Federation Starships."

"A wise choice after the Vesta accident" Phoenix said, having herself argued against it until such measures could be put in place.

"We're going to Exobiology, Nanotechnology, and Planetary Sciences next." Arri lead the way to Nevada's department. Leading them into the the lab. Once again, a product of Arri and her team's high standards. "We've managed to configure the lab to study Exo-technology. It's a new field in Xenoarcheology. The study of ancient technology."

The Xeno-Biology Lab was Almost Painfully Clean, Radiating a sterility that Would rival eve the Most void Ridden world, occupied solely by Nevada herself, who's Stark white Lab Coat Hung loosely over the Short sleeved garrison Uniform She wore. She glanced up to the approaching officers with an air of disinterest before she slowly pushed her elevated chair away from her Desk. "Captain, So Nice of you Pay me a visit...to what do I owe the honor?" she asked with a warm, but Weary smile.

"Commander Taylor and Commander Lovejoy and I are inspecting the labs Lieutenant," Phoenix replied.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find everything to be ship shape here...Its been at least twenty hours since our last Containment breach after all," Nevada said with a good Natured Chuckle and a knowing Wink towards the man who[d Been Identified as Lovejoy.

Arrianna lead the group to one of the more secure labs. The Bulkheads surrounding the labs were double reinforced, as well as forcefields and molecular seals. "Before we enter the hot-labs. I need you to put on these overalls. They are designed to isolate you in your own environment." Arrianna entered the decontamination room with the group.

Phoenix nodded and they all did as requested.

"These are our Hot-labs. They are configured for experiments that would not be run in a normal laboratory environment. We enter these labs using envirosuits only. Molecular sealed ones. This place contains even my own cybernetics research. Experimental Nanotechnology is researched here, and black level experiments are also stored here." Arrianna noted. "Every experiment in the hot-labs, if there's a breach in their isolated containment module, can and will be subjected to a purge of high energy plasma before there is a containment breach.. Suffice to say, the research projects here, may one day defeat the Borg Collective." Arrianna mentioned. "And this is a regulation Starfleet Hot-Lab built to Starfleet Tactical and Science's requirements.There's a grave risk in our profession that we could find some mysterious virus on an away mission that requires this level of precaution."

"Excuse me Commander, did you say black level experiments? I'm guessing you have the proper authorization to conduct these experiments and that the personnel in charge of these experiments all have the proper security levels to preform said experiments." Lovejoy questioned.

"Yes." She said simply, then moved on. "The next labs are Quantum Mechanics and a new recently constructed lab called Trans-Dimensional Analysis." Arrianna mentioned. "The TDA Lab was created due to the recent incident with the Mirror Universe. We conduct experiments with the purpose of understanding alternate universes, most importantly a way to detect an incoming Terran fleet if the Emperor ever gets the idea to invade our reality in force." Arri mentioned as she lead them into the TDA Lab. "This lab contains equipment that tests for a possible means ot bridge the gap between our reality and theirs. Allowing our sensors to detect military buildups on the other side. The goal is to have early warning if there is a dimensional penetration, and provide Starfleet Command with early warning to assemble a battlegroup. At least forty-eight hours early warning."

Inside the lab was possibly the most advanced equipment known, as well as something of a memorial on one of the bulkheads with pictures and names of the casualties from the science department.

Lovejoy bit back a sharp retort at Commander An Vantar's short and simplistic answer. He had promised to be on his best behavior and he wasn't going to let her slight get to him. He simply made notes on his PaDD and followed along with the rest of the group.

Phoenix did not even glance at Lovejoy, she did however give Arri a hard look.

"That is there to remind us of what happened, and what we need to prevent. Almost everyone here can never forget the fact that we were enslaved for four days of our lives." Arri concluded.

"Some even longer" Phoenix said casually as she moved through. "Commanders, your thoughts?"

Gary answered first, "Being a witness of what this crew went through, I agree completely with the sentiment and the hope that we remain forever vigil in making sure that this never happens to another Federation crew."

Lovejoy listened as Gary spoke and when Gary had finished he spoke. "I had my heart ripped out of me by losing someone to the mirror universe. It changed me as a person,. made me, hard, cynical... an ass to deal with. However my heart was restored by this crew, this Captain and I am forever grateful and it is my sincerest wish that no families are ever again torn apart."

Phoenix nodded. "Well done Commander An Vantar. Please continue."

OFF