A Day in the Lab

[James Ramort]

[Crwm. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

T'Rea nodded her approval of his experimental design and found herself automatically help weighting out different concentrations of his selected nutrients. "I read your most recent publication while on the transport ship that brought me to the Discovery, since your field of study seemed closest to my own when I reviewed the the crew roster," she told him after a few minutes of working together in content silence. The paper, 'Lichen on an Icy Moon: Ecophysiological Study of Glyphis on Rhea' had been well organized and offered genuinely new (and well grounded) insight. "I was particularly interested in the new subclass of lichenicolous fungus you documented and reported on. I had not known that Rhea possessed such a unique microhabit to enable it."

Perhaps other newly arrived crewmembers would try to form a more personal connection with their coworkers, but T'Rea had not attempted to intentionally pursue such connections outside of her own family for some time now.

[Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

She had read his paper. She even was ablet to converse about it. This seldom happened. Of course his peers valued him and had helped him in the past with some experiments. Yet none of them were too interested in the delicate nature of lichen of solar moons. This had to be his lucky day.

"You liked it? You have no Idea how much this brings joy to me. Rheas biosphere is indeed curios. Originally the Rock had no life at all. When humans first landed on it they brought some bacteria with them that managed to adept and survive there. Slowly breaking apart the surface rocks and leaving behind accesiable nutrients the prepared the ground for the next space crafts that carried some spores on accident, resulting in one of the few accidentally spawned biospheres inside the Solar System. But who am I talking to, you know all of this or course. What was your opinion on the presence of Archean in this system?"

Momentarilly not focusing on his plants he walked over to the replicator to get some Chai. Taking his pod from the materialisation area he realised he should have offered some to his colleague too.

"Do you want anything too?"

[T'Rea]

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

After the piece of cosmically crafter alloy had been inserted into the main chamber via a small tray, Ramort addressed the assembled Scientists.

"Perfect. Everyone, please stand back from the main reaction chamber.
Computer, intiate Boot up sequence and start program. Testrun - 1."

"Programm running. Reaction chamber initialising.
5%
20%
40%
65%
90%
Online!"

A bright red plasma beam charged up and hit the metal. Only to be deflected meaninglessly and painting the armoured glass of the chamber in its signature hue. All computer first only a failure of feedback before their energy meter simply jumped beyond the scale.

"Crap!"

[Crwmn. M'ura]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

As it turned out, it was M'ura's reflexes that were fastest (and perhaps the most well trained, as he was one of the most experienced in the room when it can to hands-on experimentation).

The Caitian crewman all but leapt forward to press the emergency stop button that Ensign Kedan had wired up just a short time ago. The sudden silence was loud.

There hadn't necessarily been any danger but such a feedback loop could do serious damage to the carefully set up chamber and computers---better avoided if at all possible. But even still... "Now what?" he asked

[T'Rea]

[Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

She had read his paper. She even was ablet to converse about it. This seldom happened. Of course his peers valued him and had helped him in the past with some experiments. Yet none of them were too interested in the delicate nature of lichen of solar moons. This had to be his lucky day.

"You liked it? You have no Idea how much this brings joy to me. Rheas biosphere is indeed curios. Originally the Rock had no life at all. When humans first landed on it they brought some bacteria with them that managed to adept and survive there. Slowly breaking apart the surface rocks and leaving behind accesiable nutrients the prepared the ground for the next space crafts that carried some spores on accident, resulting in one of the few accidentally spawned biospheres inside the Solar System. But who am I talking to, you know all of this or course. What was your opinion on the presence of Archean in this system?"

Momentarilly not focusing on his plants he walked over to the replicator to get some Chai. Taking his pod from the materialisation area he realised he should have offered some to his colleague too.

"Do you want anything too?"

[Crwmn. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]
"Archean is a curious finding, certainly. I pondered how it might have been inadvertently brought to Rhea--it seems unlikely that it could have developed naturally from the other building blocks and implanted organisms already known to be present," she mused aloud as she continued preparing nutrient solutions.

His offer for a drink took her slightly off guard--Vulcans tended to be slightly more pedantic about food and drink in research areas than she had observed amongst Starfleet personnel in her short time in service. But given the nature of the work they were engaged in, there was no reason to abstain. "If the replicator here is capable of making theris-masu, it would be pleasant to have a cup," she requested her preferred variety of Vulcan tea, only lightly spiced. Perhaps, if she was particularly fortunate, the act of consuming it might even help her feel capable of a proper rest period.

[James Ramort]

[Crwmn. M'ura]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

As it turned out, it was M'ura's reflexes that were fastest (and perhaps the most well trained, as he was one of the most experienced in the room when it can to hands-on experimentation).

The Caitian crewman all but leapt forward to press the emergency stop button that Ensign Kedan had wired up just a short time ago. The sudden silence was loud.

There hadn't necessarily been any danger but such a feedback loop could do serious damage to the carefully set up chamber and computers---better avoided if at all possible. But even still... "Now what?" he asked

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

How did this go from perfect to a hairs width from exploding in his face so quickly. If not fur M'uras quick reaction worse might have happened.

Taking a quick breath, his mind went into analysis mode.

"Ensure everything is shut down. I want a full analysis of what went wrong. Someone ensure we didn't just convert our sample into toxic fumes. I also want the sensor data backed up. If there is something in there we will get to it."

Getting to work himself closed some quick valves to the chemical tanks to prevent any potential leakage. The last thing he wanted to do know was to explain to Ops how he managed to get acid stains into the flooring and why they had to remove and replace the panels.

[Crwmn. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]
"Archean is a curious finding, certainly. I pondered how it might have been inadvertently brought to Rhea--it seems unlikely that it could have developed naturally from the other building blocks and implanted organisms already known to be present," she mused aloud as she continued preparing nutrient solutions.

His offer for a drink took her slightly off guard--Vulcans tended to be slightly more pedantic about food and drink in research areas than she had observed amongst Starfleet personnel in her short time in service. But given the nature of the work they were engaged in, there was no reason to abstain. "If the replicator here is capable of making theris-masu, it would be pleasant to have a cup," she requested her preferred variety of Vulcan tea, only lightly spiced. Perhaps, if she was particularly fortunate, the act of consuming it might even help her feel capable of a proper rest period.

[Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

"I am sure it is saved somewhere in the library. And if it is saved it most likely can be replicated."

Turning to the computer he ordered the exotic drink he never heard about.

"One serving of teris-masu please", taking the cup out of the replication bay and carefully carrying it over to the Crewman he sat down at his station again.

"I believe they attached themselves to the exterior hulls of some probes that sat down. They could have survived the harsh environment in space without much issue. Some might have even used the spare exhaust residue from the manoeuvring thrusters to jumpstart their.."

He was interrupted mid-sentence by the Lab's System blaring out with an alarm. All three main lab's systems were linked to ensure equal access to data and processing power. This also had a security aspect, though. In case something went wrong in one of them, all other Labs would also get notified to rush to their aid.

[T'Rea]

[Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

"I am sure it is saved somewhere in the library. And if it is saved it most likely can be replicated."

Turning to the computer he ordered the exotic drink he never heard about.

"One serving of teris-masu please", taking the cup out of the replication bay and carefully carrying it over to the Crewman he sat down at his station again.

"I believe they attached themselves to the exterior hulls of some probes that sat down. They could have survived the harsh environment in space without much issue. Some might have even used the spare exhaust residue from the manoeuvring thrusters to jumpstart their.."

He was interrupted mid-sentence by the Lab's System blaring out with an alarm. All three main lab's systems were linked to ensure equal access to data and processing power. This also had a security aspect, though. In case something went wrong in one of them, all other Labs would also get notified to rush to their aid.

[Crwmn. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

T'Rea was listening intently to Rajagopalan's theory as she took a careful first sip of teris-masu to test it's temperature, but the alarm took her off guard (she had never heard it before) and a bit of the liquid spilled out of the tea bowl as she quickly set it down on the nearest bit of counter. "Something wrong with the comet investigation?" she guessed with a concerned glance in his direction, already on her feet and heading towards the door.

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

How did this go from perfect to a hairs width from exploding in his face so quickly. If not fur M'uras quick reaction worse might have happened.

Taking a quick breath, his mind went into analysis mode.

"Ensure everything is shut down. I want a full analysis of what went wrong. Someone ensure we didn't just convert our sample into toxic fumes. I also want the sensor data backed up. If there is something in there we will get to it."

Getting to work himself closed some quick valves to the chemical tanks to prevent any potential leakage. The last thing he wanted to do know was to explain to Ops how he managed to get acid stains into the flooring and why they had to remove and replace the panels.

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]
M'ura had already started to pad a lap around the large machine in search of any signs of electrical failures or chemical excursion, and the rest of the team was making an effort to rouse themselves and find some useful actions to pursue.

It seemed the Caitian members of the department were among the fastest to react and recover from the shock, because T'lel was the next to respond to the Lieutenant's instructions, "I'll check on the sample, sir." She looped the strap of her tricorder around her neck and climbed up to the primary view port to scan the atmosphere inside to see if it was safe to open.

Sam had never witnessed anything quite like it. Far more accustomed to interacting with experiments only from the safety of their resulting datasets, the officer watched the rapid fire developments in something shocked silence before they spoke up, "I can take care of the data backups, no problem." They quickly moved forward with a storage chip towards the primary control computer.

As Sam worked, a voice came from the far side of the machine, "There's some burnt out circuity over here," M'ura called. He sniffed the air for the tell-tale sounds of scorched components to better pinpoint the location of the source before starting to work opening a panel near to the ground.

[James Ramort]

[Crwmn. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

T'Rea was listening intently to Rajagopalan's theory as she took a careful first sip of teris-masu to test it's temperature, but the alarm took her off guard (she had never heard it before) and a bit of the liquid spilled out of the tea bowl as she quickly set it down on the nearest bit of counter. "Something wrong with the comet investigation?" she guessed with a concerned glance in his direction, already on her feet and heading towards the door.
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]
M'ura had already started to pad a lap around the large machine in search of any signs of electrical failures or chemical excursion, and the rest of the team was making an effort to rouse themselves and find some useful actions to pursue.

It seemed the Caitian members of the department were among the fastest to react and recover from the shock, because T'lel was the next to respond to the Lieutenant's instructions, "I'll check on the sample, sir." She looped the strap of her tricorder around her neck and climbed up to the primary view port to scan the atmosphere inside to see if it was safe to open.

Sam had never witnessed anything quite like it. Far more accustomed to interacting with experiments only from the safety of their resulting datasets, the officer watched the rapid fire developments in something shocked silence before they spoke up, "I can take care of the data backups, no problem." They quickly moved forward with a storage chip towards the primary control computer.

As Sam worked, a voice came from the far side of the machine, "There's some burnt out circuity over here," M'ura called. He sniffed the air for the tell-tale sounds of scorched components to better pinpoint the location of the source before starting to work opening a panel near to the ground.

[Ensign Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

"Yes, thats Lab 2. We are linked into their systems. And there I fought I could get one day of productive work in."

Taking only the time to shut down his Terminal, he rushed behind T'Rea to the door. If something was going on back there, they had to help, however possible.

"Lets see if they need us!"

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

Pulling out the security pins and pushing red buttons all over the place he worked as fast as possible to bring the entire apparatus to a full stop.

Their collective efforts were soon rewarded when the Computers warning sounds began to die down. Being replaced by longer and longer log files pilling up in the storage they had originally reserved to chemical composition data on the material composition analysis. All screens showing various analysis of parts that had been damaged, either by the misdirected energies or by the unplanned shutdown of the assembly.

In his heads he could already see the tons of documents he would have to write to the Daystrom institute, explaining how he managed to break their newest crown jewel within seconds of taking it online.

"Thank you all for your quick reactions. Lets take a five minute break and get some coffee for everyone. I certainly need one now. We will reconvene afterwards to find out what went wrong."

[T'Rea]

[Ensign Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

"Yes, thats Lab 2. We are linked into their systems. And there I fought I could get one day of productive work in."

Taking only the time to shut down his Terminal, he rushed behind T'Rea to the door. If something was going on back there, they had to help, however possible.

"Lets see if they need us!"

[Crwmn. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10]

It was only a few hurried steps down the hall to Lab 2, and T'Rea didn't have the time to reflect upon the fact that she wasn't on duty and therefore wasn't necessarily supposed to be here before she found herself stepping through the doorway with Rajagopalan.

But despite the fact that she thought they had had a quite fast response time, any real danger (if there had ever been any present) seemed to be passed as she stepped into the expansive space. A few scientists were still finishing up pulling out the final system shutdown pins or frowning at terminals and Ensign T'lel was climbing back down the access ladder to what T'Rea assumed with the complicated systems primary view part. The newest memeber of the department opened her mouth to ask if there was anything they could do to help--but Lt. Ramort spoke up first.

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

Pulling out the security pins and pushing red buttons all over the place he worked as fast as possible to bring the entire apparatus to a full stop.

Their collective efforts were soon rewarded when the Computers warning sounds began to die down. Being replaced by longer and longer log files pilling up in the storage they had originally reserved to chemical composition data on the material composition analysis. All screens showing various analysis of parts that had been damaged, either by the misdirected energies or by the unplanned shutdown of the assembly.

In his heads he could already see the tons of documents he would have to write to the Daystrom institute, explaining how he managed to break their newest crown jewel within seconds of taking it online.

"Thank you all for your quick reactions. Lets take a five minute break and get some coffee for everyone. I certainly need one now. We will reconvene afterwards to find out what went wrong."

His suggestion was immediately met by murmurs of agreement from most of the personnel present, and as the large group turned towards the doors back to the hall (where she and Rajagopalan were now standing) she abruptly found herself wishing she had not come down to the labs at all while off duty. Tondelier, who had given T'Rea her assignments for the preceding gamma shift, was gazing at the Vulcan with a perplexed look and T'Rea wasn't looking forward to having to explain herself over a cup of (unpalatable) coffee in the department break room.

[Ensign T'lel]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

Neither her tricorder nor the inbuilt poison gas sensors reported any vapor more harmful than a bit of residual smoke inside the chamber itself, and that was quickly being ventilated away, even as she watched through the small viewport. By the time it was mostly clear she could make the sample itself, to the naked eye it looked no different then when it had first been inserted into the chamber, which was impressive in it's own right, considering the bow that had been directed at it.

T'lel leapt gracefully down the last step and quickly slipped through to Ramort's side. "We'll have to look closer later, but the sample looks basically intact, so you don't go worrying or wondering about it instead of enjoying your cup of coffee and taking a proper break along with the rest of our, Lieutenant," She told him with a fond half-smile that implied to knew him rather too well. Indeed, she had been at the Academy with him and had known him nearly the longest of anyone in the department.

[James Ramort]

[Crwmn. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10]

It was only a few hurried steps down the hall to Lab 2, and T'Rea didn't have the time to reflect upon the fact that she wasn't on duty and therefore wasn't necessarily supposed to be here before she found herself stepping through the doorway with Rajagopalan.

But despite the fact that she thought they had had a quite fast response time, any real danger (if there had ever been any present) seemed to be passed as she stepped into the expansive space. A few scientists were still finishing up pulling out the final system shutdown pins or frowning at terminals and Ensign T'lel was climbing back down the access ladder to what T'Rea assumed with the complicated systems primary view part. The newest memeber of the department opened her mouth to ask if there was anything they could do to help--but Lt. Ramort spoke up first.
His suggestion was immediately met by murmurs of agreement from most of the personnel present, and as the large group turned towards the doors back to the hall (where she and Rajagopalan were now standing) she abruptly found herself wishing she had not come down to the labs at all while off duty. Tondelier, who had given T'Rea her assignments for the preceding gamma shift, was gazing at the Vulcan with a perplexed look and T'Rea wasn't looking forward to having to explain herself over a cup of (unpalatable) coffee in the department break room.

[Ensign T'lel]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

Neither her tricorder nor the inbuilt poison gas sensors reported any vapor more harmful than a bit of residual smoke inside the chamber itself, and that was quickly being ventilated away, even as she watched through the small viewport. By the time it was mostly clear she could make the sample itself, to the naked eye it looked no different then when it had first been inserted into the chamber, which was impressive in it's own right, considering the bow that had been directed at it.

T'lel leapt gracefully down the last step and quickly slipped through to Ramort's side. "We'll have to look closer later, but the sample looks basically intact, so you don't go worrying or wondering about it instead of enjoying your cup of coffee and taking a proper break along with the rest of our, Lieutenant," She told him with a fond half-smile that implied to knew him rather too well. Indeed, she had been at the Academy with him and had known him nearly the longest of anyone in the department.

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

He was thankful for her words. The mere thought of all the paperwork and explaining he would have to do if he had vaporzied a precious probe in an experimental high energy testing apparatus on an active duty ship with the room packed with distinguished scientists. Heavens forbid anything had happened to any one of them.

As the adrenaline set down, the full reality of the situation settled on him. What it meant if someone could have gotten hurt because he signed off on an experiment.

"I think I really need a Coffee now. This was so much closer than it should have been.", his voice not shaking too much, he hoped.

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Break Room]

The Break Room was quite small, usually too small to house all the team. It had once been a spare storage room that was split in two after a remodelling of the ship's deck plan. He had been one of the ones spending their free time, making it into a cosy space for Scientists in between shifts. The walls were covered with a wild mixture of screens scrolling through recently published papers. Team photos from when they had attended conferences together or just some proposals for what to focus on next that any one of them could put there, mixed in between various replicated posters showcasing anything from a variety of Martian silicate formations to the larvae stages of a Vulcan Steam Fly.

Most important though, there were 3 large kettles of steaming hot coffee planted right on the center table. Paving his way through his colleagues, he poured two pots of coffee and brought one of them back to T'lel.

"A little thank-you. I guess the incident rattled me more than I initially realised. Do you want anything with it? Sugar, anything?
Any ideas what might have gone wrong? I would hate to turn the device back on and this time have it blowing up in our faces even more.."

[Ensign Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | In front of Science Lab 2]

Completely oblivious to T'Rea's predicament, Rajagopalan was deeply relieved to only find some residual plumes of smoke hanging under the ceiling and quickly being vented by the ships life support system.

On any spaceships, fire was the most dangerous thing that could occur. Flames eating up the precious oxygen and the systems being damaged by the heat. The very heat that would add another deadly layer to the trap all biological entities would find themselves in.

So some smoke really was the best thing that could have happened.

"Puhh, seems whatever went down here is already over. At least I got my cardio in for today already. Hey, how about we join the others in the Break Room for a bit. Our experiments are interrupted anyway, and I don't know if you had the opportunity to meet everyone yet."

[T'Rea]

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]
He was thankful for her words. The mere thought of all the paperwork and explaining he would have to do if he had vaporzied a precious probe in an experimental high energy testing apparatus on an active duty ship with the room packed with distinguished scientists. Heavens forbid anything had happened to any one of them.
As the adrenaline set down, the full reality of the situation settled on him. What it meant if someone could have gotten hurt because he signed off on an experiment.
"I think I really need a Coffee now. This was so much closer than it should have been.", his voice not shaking too much, he hoped.

[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Break Room]
The Break Room was quite small, usually too small to house all the team. It had once been a spare storage room that was split in two after a remodelling of the ship's deck plan. He had been one of the ones spending their free time, making it into a cosy space for Scientists in between shifts. The walls were covered with a wild mixture of screens scrolling through recently published papers. Team photos from when they had attended conferences together or just some proposals for what to focus on next that any one of them could put there, mixed in between various replicated posters showcasing anything from a variety of Martian silicate formations to the larvae stages of a Vulcan Steam Fly.
Most important though, there were 3 large kettles of steaming hot coffee planted right on the center table. Paving his way through his colleagues, he poured two pots of coffee and brought one of them back to T'lel.
"A little thank-you. I guess the incident rattled me more than I initially realised. Do you want anything with it? Sugar, anything?
Any ideas what might have gone wrong? I would hate to turn the device back on and this time have it blowing up in our faces even more.."

[Ensign T'lel]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Break Room]
T'lel had put a reassuring hand on Ramort's shoulder on the walk to the break room, and now she accepted cup of coffee from him with a grateful smile, her tail waving reflexively in response to the familiar smell beneath her nose. "Cream, please," she requested--even though he already knew how she liked it (and indeed already had the milk pot in hand). Coffee was hardly a common drink on Cait, but she'd quickly became fond of the drink at the Academy during late night study sessions with her human peers (Ramort among them).

She listened quickly while he added the cream and to her cup and asked her opinion about what might have gone wrong. Her ears twitched silently as she considered, "A positive feedback loop is probably most likely. If we inadvertently induced some kind of sympathetic resonance in the sample, things could get out of hand quickly, just like we saw." she commented as she took a sip of her drink, and let out a soft almost-purr of contentment, "But you know more about this fancy new machine than any of us, so I'm more interested on what you think." she prompted him with air of almost gentle encouragement.

[James Ramort]

[Ensign T'lel]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Break Room]
T'lel had put a reassuring hand on Ramort's shoulder on the walk to the break room, and now she accepted cup of coffee from him with a grateful smile, her tail waving reflexively in response to the familiar smell beneath her nose. "Cream, please," she requested--even though he already knew how she liked it (and indeed already had the milk pot in hand). Coffee was hardly a common drink on Cait, but she'd quickly became fond of the drink at the Academy during late night study sessions with her human peers (Ramort among them).

She listened quickly while he added the cream and to her cup and asked her opinion about what might have gone wrong. Her ears twitched silently as she considered, "A positive feedback loop is probably most likely. If we inadvertently induced some kind of sympathetic resonance in the sample, things could get out of hand quickly, just like we saw." she commented as she took a sip of her drink, and let out a soft almost-purr of contentment, "But you know more about this fancy new machine than any of us, so I'm more interested on what you think." she prompted him with air of almost gentle encouragement.

[James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Break Room]

Setting down the can of milk and taking his own cup of coffee, he sat down on one of the few remaining seats, gesturing for T'lel to take the one opposite to his own. Seeing her taking a sip from the coffee he had offered her, he noticed her obvious happiness about the drink. Not fully able to suppress a smile himself, he quickly started talking to overplay the moment.

"We originally noticed the asteroid, because it reflected our scans. I hoped its refractive properties and its microcrystalline structures could be slowly chipped away by direct energy modulation. My first guess might as to what happened then might be, that it has a far higher reflective index than we thought. The laser would not have been able to actually effect the material if it had been deflected. The other cause I can think of from the top of my head would a hardware issue. The device is experimental after all, who know, maybe the energy matrix was misaligned, pulsed too much power into the beam. It could have evaporated the top layer of the metal. If the right amount of trace contaminants were inside, who knows what reaction occurred. We certainly fed it enough energy to start, whatever the result was."

Taking another long sip from his mug before placing it down, his head was spinning. He had hoped this day would go so much better.

[T'Rea]

[Ensign Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | In front of Science Lab 2]

Completely oblivious to T'Rea's predicament, Rajagopalan was deeply relieved to only find some residual plumes of smoke hanging under the ceiling and quickly being vented by the ships life support system.
On any spaceships, fire was the most dangerous thing that could occur. Flames eating up the precious oxygen and the systems being damaged by the heat. The very heat that would add another deadly layer to the trap all biological entities would find themselves in.

So some smoke really was the best thing that could have happened.

"Puhh, seems whatever went down here is already over. At least I got my cardio in for today already. Hey, how about we join the others in the Break Room for a bit. Our experiments are interrupted anyway, and I don't know if you had the opportunity to meet everyone yet."

[Crwm. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | In front of Science Lab 2 --> Break Room]

"Not everyone," T'Rea was forced to admit to Rajagopalan. For a long moment she considered coming up with some excuse to avoid the social mingling entirely, but it was too late for that, the group had already seen them, and they were all but swept along together towards the breakroom, where she found herself repeatedly declining offers for cups of coffee from assorted officers and crewmen. It was safe to say that this had not been the kind of distraction she had had in mind to seek out when she left her too-quiet quarters to make her way down to the botany lab... but here she was. Kadiith.

[James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Break Room]

Setting down the can of milk and taking his own cup of coffee, he sat down on one of the few remaining seats, gesturing for T'lel to take the one opposite to his own. Seeing her taking a sip from the coffee he had offered her, he noticed her obvious happiness about the drink. Not fully able to suppress a smile himself, he quickly started talking to overplay the moment.

"We originally noticed the asteroid, because it reflected our scans. I hoped its refractive properties and its microcrystalline structures could be slowly chipped away by direct energy modulation. My first guess might as to what happened then might be, that it has a far higher reflective index than we thought. The laser would not have been able to actually effect the material if it had been deflected. The other cause I can think of from the top of my head would a hardware issue. The device is experimental after all, who know, maybe the energy matrix was misaligned, pulsed too much power into the beam. It could have evaporated the top layer of the metal. If the right amount of trace contaminants were inside, who knows what reaction occurred. We certainly fed it enough energy to start, whatever the result was."

Taking another long sip from his mug before placing it down, his head was spinning. He had hoped this day would go so much better.

[Ensign T'lel]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Break Room]

"Oh, but that's easy enough to work out, though," T'lel answered him with an almost-eager nod at his hypotheses. "We use our other tools and equipment we're more familiar with to assess those specific properties of the sample. I can run another sample of the asteroid through the reflectometer and the ellipsometer. We can test at the same wavelengths as the this Daystrom tool had get a direct measurement on reflectivity and refractive indices. If they aren't high enough to match with your first theory we start digging deeper into the second.

"Come on, Ramort, stop with the worried eyes. It's fun to have a bigger mystery than normal to sink our teeth into!" She didn't share his anxiety of stress about the turn the day had taken at all (perhaps because it simply wasn't in her nature--or perhaps because she didn't share his burden or responsibility). As far as she was concerned, the recent 'accident' only added the the intrigue and excitement of the feeling of impending discovery.