The Data
Posted on Wed Aug 3rd, 2022 @ 11:38am by Rear Admiral Yoshi Minawara & Major Amelia St Lacroix
Mission:
Between Realities
Location: Science Lab One.
Timeline: Following Contact
1280 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure
Somewhere he was sure that the Flight Control team would be absolutely furious with him if they could see Yoshi right now. In the Science Lab he'd assembled a collection of cables, parts, and the computer core from a shuttle. All this was gathered on the various tables and benches of the room, connected to the central scanner bed. The Commodore was standing with a PaDD in one hand, and a diagnostic tool in the other. Quickly he checked to make sure the power and optical connections were correct. From his office he'd tried the same scan, but the ship's computer was too tied up. It had, politely of course, informed him that it was a glass of 62' Gleninvar Scotch from Earth. There had even been a warning of the dangers of real alcohol consumption. This had given him pause, and a bit of a laugh even. With automated repair protocols in effect, there was simply nothing more the computer could do. Then he'd had the idea.
A shuttle's main computer could never replace the Vesta's main computer. That much was plain. It didn't have to, rather it had to supplement the primary one to ensure the data stream was stable. It had taken time, but everything was finally connected. One last check, and he'd be sure it would work. Keying in the commands, the lights and shimmering effects of the sensor suite embedded in the room whirred to life, spitting out a stream of data. The machine chimed that it was complete, and Yoshi pulled up the data to review only to find... nothing. He had to be missing something, something more than the fact that the system was positive that this was in fact a glass of scrotch. He scoffed, sliding the PaDD onto the desk with a sigh. Reaching for his comm badge, he was given pause when the door slid open. In stepped the heavily armoured figure of a Marine, who looked just as confused as he was. The pair exchanged a set of looks at one another, before the Captain pulled her helmet off her head and nodded to him.
"Sorry sir," she said, as she placed the piece down and looked around at everything gathered. "I seem to have caught you in the middle of something, everything alright?" she asked, nodding to the collection of equipment.
"It's alright Captain, I'm getting a better sense of something. Needed a bit more juice is all." He looked back to the scotch, which seemed to be taunting him back. To her credit, Ameila who was far from being a scientist simply shrugged and offered her advice.
"Looks like scotch sir."
Yoshi started to laugh and shook his head. "No, no, you are right," he added as she cocked her head a little. "It's from my own journey across to another connection. I've been reading the reports as they come in, and I managed to bring an artifact back. I have this exact same bottle from this exact same scotch in my office. Mine, yet, is sealed." It took a moment, but an understanding started to form on the Marine's face.
"Ah!" With a single motion she pulled out the tricorder from her armor and placed it down. "My team was scooted into our own adventure. I managed to set up my tricorder to record everything as it came in. Here is the data I was able to find." As the Commodore scooped the device up off the table, he looked it over, and began scanning through what it was presenting. He stopped, looked to her, and then back to the device.
Pulling a datacord, he ran it into the small tricorder and then into the shuttle's computer. Carefully he keyed in a few commands to the PaDD, and then started keying in lines of code. With intense interest, the woman watched him, before asking, "Sir, what are you doing?" For a moment it looked as though the Flag Officer was ignoring her, writing away as he was on the keyboard present to him. His eyes scanned over lines of code, and he squinted, clearly thinking hard. Another pause, and then a few more furious slaps at the keys, and he looked up to her.
There was brief moment where the Marine understood the passion of a person caught in something they enjoy. She watched not a ranking Command officer, but an engineer solving a puzzle. "In subspace mechanics, there is a bunch of checks that a run automatically. It doesn't matter if you're dealing with a site-to-site transporter, or the Quantum Slipstream Drive. Given enough time, subspace begins to have an effect on everything. Matter becomes slightly misaligned. There is a disconnect of phase. Remove yourself from it, and you will eventually resync with real space. It's harmless," he said noticing her wince, "and for the most part we have corrected for it in most designs. But that only applies to matter native to our plane of existence. Our.. universe, if you will."
He ran whatever program he'd been working on, and for a moment, he held his breath, watching. A beep happened, and dutifully the computer chirped "Subspace instability detected."
"And there it is." He pointed, to something he was seeing but she clearly was missing. Her eyes traced the finger, and realized the ship's holographic projectors were working. From the glass there was a faint red hue. "There is a phase shift on the glass. I'd bet there are pockets of these, weak points in the armor of reality. And I bet I know what's causing them."
"Tholians, sir?" Amelia asked, more trying to be an active participant than anything else.
"No. Well, actually yes. But not them really." He looked around with a moment of panic. He needed to ask Jack what he'd seen on the Tholian ship. He looked back to the woman, and frowned. "I don't suppose while you were onboard the Tholian Cruiser you saw anything exotic? Pockets of dark matter, an active tear into reality?" When she only responded with a blank stare his frown faded into a sigh, and he shook his head. "No, there is something wrong, and I'd bet our QSD is interfering with it. But if we drop it-"
"We're going to be stuck again," the Marine caught on. "How can I help?"
"I am pushing the data to your tricorder. It should be able to sense out these pockets of instability. Your helmets can show them in real time, but partner with Security and see about making sure we don't have any guests. I'm going to grab Ewan - Captain Darrow," he corrected himself. "And I'll see if we can figure out more about what is going on. I'll likely need Commander Marc, and if you happen upon Lieutenant Kita send him to us too." He paused, mentally cursing not being more pushy with Jack's health. He could really use the diminutive engineer about now, or at the very least his expertise in thinking outside the box.
With a snap of boots on the deck, the Marine clicked the tricorder into place and returned her helmet to her head. She was two paces out the door, not waiting for a dismissal, as he heard her call into her comms headset. "All Marines, I am pushing you a sensor update, be on the lookout for..." Whatever was said next was lost to the goods hissing closed behind her. For a moment he stood in the room, considered what he saw, and downed the rest of the drink on the sensor bed.
"Captain Darrow, meet me on the bridge."
