Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men

Posted on Tue Jan 25th, 2022 @ 1:48am by Lieutenant Commander Rin & Captain Gary Taylor

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Elysium corridors
Timeline: Before current mission
1327 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

Rin frowned to herself after McKay had headed to Sickbay. McKay had given Rin such a wounded look when she had returned with the XO. Had McKay really thought Rin would keep quiet? McKay had literally stated she wouldn't comply without an order from a senior officer. Had she thought Rin wouldn't find the situation serious enough to involve the XO?

If Rin hadn't thought it serious, she wouldn't have pursued it in the first place.

She scratched the back of her head in irritation. She could still feel the proximity of the damn nanites, and it was unsettling.

She jogged down the hall to catch up with Gary, falling in step beside him.

"If I may ask, sir, was that behavior normal for Lt. McKay?"

Gary slowed his pace as Rin came up and fell in step with him. He turned his head to look at her. "Of course you can ask Lieutenant and the answer is yes, but we're speaking of Dr. McKay who for the most part is and was more interested in her work than interacting with the crew." He paused for a moment before continuing on. "Dr. McKay is a gifted and brilliant scientist and like most gifted and brilliant scientists she has a eccentric behavior. I think she was closer to her work than any member of the crew." He shrugged his shoulders, "I could be wrong but I don't believe so."

Gary studied Rin, "Why do you ask?"

"When I first brought this to your attention, you asked me about her mental state. I could name things like paranoia being evident, but I couldn't know if that was normal for her, nor do I know if other aspects of her personality have changed. But you two have served on the same ship for some time, so I was wondering what your impressions were."

"That is definitely true, you had no baseline to compare her behavior." Gary stopped his walking and faced Rin, "Dr. McKay as you have now witnessed is not the most social person. Oh, she would come to some of the major ship functions like the Christmas party or an awards banquet but even at these she tended to stay to herself. I don't she likes people by and large."

"Is that a common trait of people here? I'm starting to get the impression it is."

"It is not a common trait." Gary answered. "I like people, so does my wife . The Captain and his partner both seem like they like people. Have you met Fernando De La Rosa? HE really likes people. He can carry on a conversation with a replicator. I could go on but my point is the Elysium's crew is filled with people who actually like other people. Oh, there are a few like McKay who avoid interacting or keep it to a bare minimum."

"Understood," she said with a nod as they continued walking.

"Is there anything more you need from me? You had mentioned when I first reported this you had been wanting to see me."

Gary shook his head, "I always like to meet the new officers who transfer into the Elysium. See what they bring and what their strengths are and incorporate them into the Elysium so they can work seamlessly with the other officers."

"Not sure what I can say that isn't in my record. If I didn't do my job well I wouldn't be here. Respect the chain of command. Done a lot of cross training. Working on the people thing." she gives a little smile and a shrug to that last point.

"You do do your job well which is my you are here. Same with respecting the chain of command. If you didn't you wouldn't be here." Gary agreed. "The people thing will take time, don't rush it. I could tell you horror stories about me and people. But I met someone who helped tear down the walls I had put up." Gary said honestly.

"My current goal is 'more charm than a Vulcan.'" Rin rubbed the back of her neck again, where it met with her head. "I have no idea what she did to those nanites. Not nearly as powerful as a drone, but significantly different from any xB I've met. It's like the Borg version of Esperanto: sounds familiar but can't really make sense of it."

Gary chuckled at her statement. "It's a start to be sure. Just stay at it and it will become easier and easier. I promise you." He shook his head in a mixture of sorrow and dismay. "I don't know either but I do know she had no oversight. She was free to act anyway she wanted and now she is paying the price for trying to act like God."

She nodded grimly. "The Borg don't always need to invade. More than a few worlds have fallen because they chose to experiment with Borg tech. I imagine most of them thought they had things perfectly under control until suddenly they did not."

"Very true Rin. Case in point, look at Mckay. I'm sure she thought she had everything under control as well. Reminds of an old Earth saying. The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray." Gary replied sadly.

"I wonder if that's not the entire history of the Borg. Did they turn out the way their creators intended, or did the result escape even their intentions? I wonder if the entire Collective isn't an experiment gone wrong."

"An interesting theory to be sure Rin and one that I feel is not too far off the mark. I think somewhere, some unknown scientist was working on nanites and they escaped their confinement and took over their creators and the Borg were born." Gary replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Of course it's just my theory."

"I think it went farther than that. Advancement - evolution - comes in stages. someone -probably a group of someones - had a vision of perfection. The early steps might have been widely seen as beneficial: improvements to endurance, better immune systems, slower aging, mental acuity and so forth."

"At some point, they began making changes that affected the mind. Maybe the creation of the Collective consciousness. And the vision changed. The things they had become had a new concept of perfection, a concept based on what they now were, not on the ideas of inferior minds."

"And a perfect world has no room for imperfect people. Maybe they even thought they were doing others a favor by forcing them into the Collective."

"But perfection isn't attainable. Evolution has no end point. So now they're on an eternal quest for something they can't have, attempting to fulfill ever-evolving parameters."

"I wouldn't be surprised if even the Collective doesn't know. Maybe it's buried in some forgotten archive in the Unicomplex, deemed irrelevant."

She looked up at Gary with a bit of a sad smile. "Of course, that's just my theory."

"It's a good one and you just may be right Rin. As you say the Collective strives for perfection. It is why they assimilate other races not just for their technological prowess but if you will spiritual as well. However with each race they assimilate they realize they haven't reached perfection and as you rightly pointed out, they never will. It is an elusive and impossible dream." Gary shook his head, "Amazing isn't it? That they can't see how illogical and fruitless their pursuit is."

"Spiritual?"

"Not sure what to call it Rin. It may well be spiritual or an impossible dream." Gary replied. "The sin of it if you can call it that is that they will forever pursue an elusive and unattainable goal."

Rin nodded and walked in silence. "Is there anything else you need from me, sir?"

Gary turned his head , "No I don't believe so Rin. Thank you for everything you've done in this matter."