Season 15: Episode 3 - Restless Spirit

[Tekin Nevir]

Captain's Log, Stardate 78253.8

The Discovery is on its way back from Katra Station.  More than likely a punishment for our diversion from the plan against the New Dominion, we were sent here to the far reaches of Federation space for repairs and to receive repaired upgrades to the ship's systems. After having the hull fixed, we are en route toward the wormhole to make the trip back to Earth.  It is nearly the day of celebration... a culmination of two hundred and fifty years marked by unprecedented deviations from standard Starfleet protocol. There has been a sense of discomfort from many other captains in recent decisions, but all of these have been coming from the brass, so of course we can't really find a reason not to follow them.  But its the little things here and there that just leave a sense of concern.  Aside from my first officer, I have done my best to keep this from the crew.

The upgrade team has stated that most of the network systems are online, and we are now 'communicating' with the rest of the fleet.  This is supposed to help us find each other as the ships will start talking to each other.  Theoretically, a message from one ship can travel through subspace on different ships and reach Earth.  Its the type of thing that I know Ian would hate, and I'm sure Lek isn't too comfortable with either.  Just another thing to add to the list of concerns, but surprisingly not at the top of the list now.

Starfleet has put an alert bulletin of an incident that occurred between two ships, leaving one of them damaged and the other on the run.  We have standing orders to keep aware and apprehend the wayward vessel.  I can only hope that the reports are inaccurate... Shaw isn't the type of Captain to go awol.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Nevir looked down at his console to see the ship schematics. They were cruising at Warp 6 headed for the wormhole after going through a shakedown to test their new systems.  He looked up at the bridge... he could swear the lightning of the bridge and the ships in general were getting darker.  He remember the first time he was on Discovery... its bright white interior matching her sister ship was now a thing of the past.

Less than ten minutes ago their fleet techs confirmed Discovery was now able to reach out and communicate with other ships remotely, giving a current and clear deployment map of the fleet.  Not that it meant much in this distance; a good majority of the fleet was already at Earth.  Some ships like Challenger were spared the celebratory assignment.  Discovery was not so lucky.

"Sometimes it pays to have an old ship..." he stated quietly, looking up at the viewscreen.  It was still quiet and they had some time before they would reach the wormhole.

[Sydney Reid]

[Ensign Reid Personal Log, Stardate 78253.2]

We've finally pushed off from Katra Station en route back towards the Wormhole. While the numerous reports described what to expect, actually going through the Bajoran Wormhole isn't an experience that can be put into words when doing it the first time. The wait at Deep Space Nine hadn't been as long as I feared, but that was only because the Discovery had been repaired to the point of being able to make the trip to Katra for final repairs and numerous upgrades. There had seemed to be a bit of apprehension prior to the initial journey through to the Gamma Quadrant, but the sigh of relief that followed was comparatively short once everyone was ordered back to work.

Besides a couple of short trips, I'd been too busy to really get much of a tour of the distant station. Katra was certainly impressive, but Lieutenant Banan, having taken note of my credentials, had assigned me to oversee all of the upgrades to the Discovery's computers. While the hardware was minimal, the programming upgrades were substantial. While the science behind them wasn't particularly groundbreaking, it was clear that Starfleet is taking cues from the Borg with the unique interconnectivity. I had considered bringing up my security concerns to Command, but seeing as it was a Fleet-Wide Directive, and my experience with emergent tech and Starfleet before when it came to Security Concerns, I'm certain my concerns wouldn't be new, and thus just as quickly dismissed.

While I may not be a fan of automating some responsibilities away from the people usually in charge of such things, the advantages that are provided to Fleet Communications, and galaxy-wide communications for that matter, can't be overlooked. Subspace relay outposts are sure to become less and less necessary as Starfleet ships will now be able to handle the load. The only downfall is that it means I'll have more to monitor in the Cryptology Lab, even if that system is largely automated. To that end, the inherent delay in subspace comms is being vastly reduced. I've already been able to exchange a few messages with my family which would have taken exponentially longer before.

With the Discovery now assigned to return to Earth to take part in the much-hyped 250th anniversary of Starfleet, being called Frontier Day, I had hoped to find time to visit my family since I'd be in the sector, but it seems that Merik's, or more specifically our parents' search to find the right University for him has taken precedence over the anniversary. I'm not surprised given Papa's continued thoughts on Starfleet, despite all that has been revealed in the last couple of years. Regardless, I'm hoping to at least get a short reprieve to see nearly all of the Fleet's ships in formation. It's probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but that will only happen if Lieutenant Banan allows me to take some time outside of this windowless lab.

The Cryptology Lab isn't so bad. I found it quite lonely at first, but have quickly come to discover how amusing the ship's 'pet' holographic velociraptor STEVE can be. While the space itself is small, given the lack of crew needed for it and the space the additional computer hardware takes up, it's still larger than some of the glorified closets I've had to work in before. With enough room to play what amounts to 'fetch' with STEVE, the moments of idle time watching the system do its work with limited need for input from me have allowed my mind to wonder how I could improve the small holograph's programming. I've already worked out some of the reported glitches STEVE has displayed before, but now I'm thinking about if I could give it some limited speech potential. Until I have a working prototype, I've decided to wait to ask for clearance. Nonetheless, STEVE seems to enjoy all of the attention, and jello, he gets as a result of keeping me company.

I should get back to work before someone walks in and realizes just how little effort it takes to do this job. I wouldn't want to suddenly find myself on Bridge Duty. All of the standing and saluting certainly sounds tiring"¦

[End Personal Log]

[USS Discovery-B | Deck 13 | Cryptology Lab]

Deactivating her implants and setting her PADD on the console in front of her, Sydney interlaced her fingers and stretched her arms up over her head, letting out a long groan as her chair leaned back to compensate for the movement. As she lowered her arms and brought her hands back to the console, she entered a few commands to bring up the system's diagnostics. Her dark eyes followed the code easily, detecting nothing out of the ordinary even with the new configurations in place.

"Ensign Reid, Status Report."

Sydney had already become used to the voice of the Ops Chief that was certainly enjoying the views from a dozen decks above her. Tapping her commbadge, "All systems green, Sir. I have not detected any anomalies since the integration of Emergency Protocol NX12.11."

"Acknowledged, Ensign. Inform me immediately of any issues. Banan out."

As the comms connection closed, Sydney let out a heavy sigh. Despite knowing full and well what to expect as the newest Operations Officer, she was still surprised by just how little effort the Lieutenant made in ensuring her adequate performance during her duty hours. The woman could anticipate the check-ins nearly to the minute. She couldn't be all that shocked by the man's hands-off approach given she was effectively in charge of the ship's 'Mail Room' until there would be a need for her to do some actual decryption work. With the Discovery's next assignment being taking part in Frontier Day, Sydney didn't imagine she'd have anything actually engaging to do for quite some time to come.

[Kinley Garrison]

[Ensign Reid Personal Log, Stardate 78253.2]

We've finally pushed off from Katra Station en route back towards the Wormhole. While the numerous reports described what to expect, actually going through the Bajoran Wormhole isn't an experience that can be put into words when doing it the first time. The wait at Deep Space Nine hadn't been as long as I feared, but that was only because the Discovery had been repaired to the point of being able to make the trip to Katra for final repairs and numerous upgrades. There had seemed to be a bit of apprehension prior to the initial journey through to the Gamma Quadrant, but the sigh of relief that followed was comparatively short once everyone was ordered back to work.

Besides a couple of short trips, I'd been too busy to really get much of a tour of the distant station. Katra was certainly impressive, but Lieutenant Banan, having taken note of my credentials, had assigned me to oversee all of the upgrades to the Discovery's computers. While the hardware was minimal, the programming upgrades were substantial. While the science behind them wasn't particularly groundbreaking, it was clear that Starfleet is taking cues from the Borg with the unique interconnectivity. I had considered bringing up my security concerns to Command, but seeing as it was a Fleet-Wide Directive, and my experience with emergent tech and Starfleet before when it came to Security Concerns, I'm certain my concerns wouldn't be new, and thus just as quickly dismissed.

While I may not be a fan of automating some responsibilities away from the people usually in charge of such things, the advantages that are provided to Fleet Communications, and galaxy-wide communications for that matter, can't be overlooked. Subspace relay outposts are sure to become less and less necessary as Starfleet ships will now be able to handle the load. The only downfall is that it means I'll have more to monitor in the Cryptology Lab, even if that system is largely automated. To that end, the inherent delay in subspace comms is being vastly reduced. I've already been able to exchange a few messages with my family which would have taken exponentially longer before.

With the Discovery now assigned to return to Earth to take part in the much-hyped 250th anniversary of Starfleet, being called Frontier Day, I had hoped to find time to visit my family since I'd be in the sector, but it seems that Merik's, or more specifically our parents' search to find the right University for him has taken precedence over the anniversary. I'm not surprised given Papa's continued thoughts on Starfleet, despite all that has been revealed in the last couple of years. Regardless, I'm hoping to at least get a short reprieve to see nearly all of the Fleet's ships in formation. It's probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but that will only happen if Lieutenant Banan allows me to take some time outside of this windowless lab.

The Cryptology Lab isn't so bad. I found it quite lonely at first, but have quickly come to discover how amusing the ship's 'pet' holographic velociraptor STEVE can be. While the space itself is small, given the lack of crew needed for it and the space the additional computer hardware takes up, it's still larger than some of the glorified closets I've had to work in before. With enough room to play what amounts to 'fetch' with STEVE, the moments of idle time watching the system do its work with limited need for input from me have allowed my mind to wonder how I could improve the small holograph's programming. I've already worked out some of the reported glitches STEVE has displayed before, but now I'm thinking about if I could give it some limited speech potential. Until I have a working prototype, I've decided to wait to ask for clearance. Nonetheless, STEVE seems to enjoy all of the attention, and jello, he gets as a result of keeping me company.

I should get back to work before someone walks in and realizes just how little effort it takes to do this job. I wouldn't want to suddenly find myself on Bridge Duty. All of the standing and saluting certainly sounds tiring"¦

[End Personal Log]

[USS Discovery-B | Deck 13 | Cryptology Lab]

Deactivating her implants and setting her PADD on the console in front of her, Sydney interlaced her fingers and stretched her arms up over her head, letting out a long groan as her chair leaned back to compensate for the movement. As she lowered her arms and brought her hands back to the console, she entered a few commands to bring up the system's diagnostics. Her dark eyes followed the code easily, detecting nothing out of the ordinary even with the new configurations in place.

"Ensign Reid, Status Report."

Sydney had already become used to the voice of the Ops Chief that was certainly enjoying the views from a dozen decks above her. Tapping her commbadge, "All systems green, Sir. I have not detected any anomalies since the integration of Emergency Protocol NX12.11."

"Acknowledged, Ensign. Inform me immediately of any issues. Banan out."

As the comms connection closed, Sydney let out a heavy sigh. Despite knowing full and well what to expect as the newest Operations Officer, she was still surprised by just how little effort the Lieutenant made in ensuring her adequate performance during her duty hours. The woman could anticipate the check-ins nearly to the minute. She couldn't be all that shocked by the man's hands-off approach given she was effectively in charge of the ship's 'Mail Room' until there would be a need for her to do some actual decryption work. With the Discovery's next assignment being taking part in Frontier Day, Sydney didn't imagine she'd have anything actually engaging to do for quite some time to come.

[Science labs]
Back in the Chief job again. With the previous CSO injured in the battle that nearly destroyed the Discovery,  Kinley found herself back into one of her previous stations. Overall, it was a welcome transition, as she did actually like being in charge of the science department. However with that came the official orders.

As she was the one who had led the team in developing a relatively working Breen language Unimatrix on the fly before their last mission, it was only natural that people up top noticed and wanted a more thorough final version for the entire Fleet-Wide Linguistic Unimatrix. Kinley had faced a lot of high-pressure situations in Command, even, but this? This was more intimidating than when she was XO back on the Shran. She was a scientist, not a linguist or translator, and she was admittedly wondering how she'd do it.

But she was pretty sure that the crew could work with it, somehow.  They were all brilliant in their own ways. She just had to organize it all.

Heading to the Cryptology lab, Kinley knocked as to not startle anyone working and deep in thought. (One of her biggest pet peeves.) Inside, she saw Sydney, the cryptography ensign she met at the party. Not too far off, on one of the terminals, she saw Steve, napping, surrounded by a cup of what she could only assume was Jello. "œ Hey there! So, that's where Steve's been this past couple days! she laughed, clearly not surprised that Steve found another friend.

[Sydney Reid]

[USS Discovery-B | Deck 13 | Cryptology Lab]

Heading to the Cryptology lab, Kinley knocked as to not startle anyone working and deep in thought. (One of her biggest pet peeves.) Inside, she saw Sydney, the cryptography ensign she met at the party. Not too far off, on one of the terminals, she saw Steve, napping, surrounded by a cup of what she could only assume was Jello. "œ Hey there! So, that's where Steve's been this past couple days! she laughed, clearly not surprised that Steve found another friend.

Watching code pass by was mind-numbing work. With how everything ran, Sydney was often lulled into states of day-dreaming while passively watching the whole lot of nothing she was in charge of. That is why, when a knock came at the door of the lab, she nearly fell out of her chair as she spun it around to face the door right before it wooshed open. Shooting to her feet, she couldn't imagine the Ops Chief knocking, and STEVE never knocked, so she reflexively went to a stance of attention before the familiar face showed itself.

Letting out a heavy breath as a near sigh, she considered using the moniker Kinley gave her way back when they'd first met in Quark's, but decided, since they were both on duty, it wouldn't be appropriate. "Greetings, Commander." Even as the words were leaving her mouth they felt like sand on her tongue from how awkward they were given the two's prior dealings. Sydney was not expecting the response she got.

Flicking her head sideways to glance over at the sleeping hologram, the Ensign turned back quickly, though her posture didn't relax. "Yes, Sir. During the integration of the upgrades provided at Katra, I read the past reports on STEVE and modified his programming to reduce potential glitches. Commander Lek should never have to worry about coming face to face with 'Big STEVE' again."  Sydney wasn't entirely sure why Kinley had decided to visit the lowest of labs on the ship, leaving her pausing silently for an awkward moment. Finally, she was able to squeeze out, "Was there something you needed, Sir?" albeit in such a way as to show her confusion and concern over the unexpected arrival of the Chief Science Officer.

[Lorut Vila]

Day 1
USS Discovery-B
Ops-Engineering Room

Vila sat at a table, brunette head bent over a PADD. She was studying internal schematics; she was already in a lot of trouble, and didn't really feel like screwing it all up again. She was on standby-the Romulan was, unsuprisingly, upset and had put her on a short probationary status. She was back to doing basic Cadet-level things-paperwork he didn't want to do, mostly.

She bookmarked her spot, and then stood up to get some coffee. She'd need a break soon-she could only sit so long-leaving her idle usually caused MORE problems than letting her be. She was the oldest Ensign, but had a twenty-year career of her own, doing contract work for the Federation and neutral planets. She was a trained Aerospace System Engineer, and she'd be bored fast doing filing and whatever. She tapped out a message on her Comms badge.

==^==Commander, I am going to take a short break. I am reporting to the Engineering office.==^== She clicked off before she could be told no, and left the room. She found the nearby Engineering office, and walked in.

"Hello!"

[Lek]

Day 1
USS Discovery-B
Ops-Engineering Room

Vila sat at a table, brunette head bent over a PADD. She was studying internal schematics; she was already in a lot of trouble, and didn't really feel like screwing it all up again. She was on standby-the Romulan was, unsuprisingly, upset and had put her on a short probationary status. She was back to doing basic Cadet-level things-paperwork he didn't want to do, mostly.

She bookmarked her spot, and then stood up to get some coffee. She'd need a break soon-she could only sit so long-leaving her idle usually caused MORE problems than letting her be. She was the oldest Ensign, but had a twenty-year career of her own, doing contract work for the Federation and neutral planets. She was a trained Aerospace System Engineer, and she'd be bored fast doing filing and whatever. She tapped out a message on her Comms badge.

==^==Commander, I am going to take a short break. I am reporting to the Engineering office.==^== She clicked off before she could be told no, and left the room. She found the nearby Engineering office, and walked in.

"Hello!"

[Main Engineering  - USS Discovery]

Lek looked up from the pool table with an expression of complete disinterest.

"What can I do for you Ensign?"

[Alexander Graham]

[USS Discovery-bridge]

Alex was at the pilot seat observing everything as the ship was cruising at warp speed six. He kept an eye out in case there were any abnormalities or any chance that he would need to make some adjustments. He noticed the new crew mates aboard the ship. He was going to have to once he has the chance to get to know the new people. It was something that was going to have to wait until some time later. While it was quiet he was ready to make a status report if he needed to.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Cmdr. Rayek tr'Lhoell
[USS Discovery - Deck One - Bridge] (enroute to the wormhole)

After a week's travel to Katra and over a week in the station's auxiliary drydock getting the required repairs and upgrade fixed, Rayek was more than ready to leave the Gamma quadrant.  Returning to the station that where Tess and he had first met and began their family was not the pleasant stroll through memory lane that one might have expected.   Changes to the station and more notably the absence of the planet Meridian where they had built their home intending it to be a safe haven for their family, came as a blow, especially on the heels of Tess' miscarriage.  The planet had been destroyed a year prior.

How had they not heard of the destruction of an entire planet?   The answer to that was Rayek at the time was on loan to the Romulan Free State and Tess was living with Fvienn and her adoptive father on Ba'ku, hoping it's regenerative energies might help the paralysed Starfleet officer.

Now his son, a registered Meridian citizen due to a naturalization legal loophole that Rayek had used in hopes of keeping his birth hidden from Tal'Shiar enemies, was like his father - without a homeworld.

Yet despite his own confused feelings about the station, he did speak to Tess about the idea of his possibly transferring if she felt it would be better than remaining on Discovery - where the chance of battle could be higher.  Discovery was warship after all.  Yet, she immediately turned down the idea - saying she didn't want to interfere with his career.  The Romulan tried to reassure her that he would be content as long as his position had some means of protecting her and their family.   Be it an enlisted security crewman or a Commander - his goal was the same.

Tess didn't answer just smiled sadly.

Now as the ship began its trek back towards the worm hole, Rayek almost felt a tinge of regret at leaving.  This might have been the last time they would ever see the small frontier station.

Captain's Log, Stardate 78253.8

The Discovery is on its way back from Katra Station.  More than likely a punishment for our diversion from the plan against the New Dominion, we were sent here to the far reaches of Federation space for repairs and to receive repaired upgrades to the ship's systems. After having the hull fixed, we are en route toward the wormhole to make the trip back to Earth.  It is nearly the day of celebration... a culmination of two hundred and fifty years marked by unprecedented deviations from standard Starfleet protocol. There has been a sense of discomfort from many other captains in recent decisions, but all of these have been coming from the brass, so of course we can't really find a reason not to follow them.  But its the little things here and there that just leave a sense of concern.  Aside from my first officer, I have done my best to keep this from the crew.

The upgrade team has stated that most of the network systems are online, and we are now 'communicating' with the rest of the fleet.  This is supposed to help us find each other as the ships will start talking to each other.  Theoretically, a message from one ship can travel through subspace on different ships and reach Earth.  Its the type of thing that I know Ian would hate, and I'm sure Lek isn't too comfortable with either.  Just another thing to add to the list of concerns, but surprisingly not at the top of the list now.

Starfleet has put an alert bulletin of an incident that occurred between two ships, leaving one of them damaged and the other on the run.  We have standing orders to keep aware and apprehend the wayward vessel.  I can only hope that the reports are inaccurate... Shaw isn't the type of Captain to go awol.

[USS Discovery - Deck 1 - Main Bridge]

Nevir looked down at his console to see the ship schematics. They were cruising at Warp 6 headed for the wormhole after going through a shakedown to test their new systems.  He looked up at the bridge... he could swear the lightning of the bridge and the ships in general were getting darker.  He remember the first time he was on Discovery... its bright white interior matching her sister ship was now a thing of the past.

Less than ten minutes ago their fleet techs confirmed Discovery was now able to reach out and communicate with other ships remotely, giving a current and clear deployment map of the fleet.  Not that it meant much in this distance; a good majority of the fleet was already at Earth.  Some ships like Challenger were spared the celebratory assignment.  Discovery was not so lucky.

"Sometimes it pays to have an old ship..." he stated quietly, looking up at the viewscreen.  It was still quiet and they had some time before they would reach the wormhole.

Rayek, sitting in the chair to the Captain's right, looked towards Tekin at his quiet statement.  The Captain had shared some of his concerned regarding the new upgrades and those concerns were valid, but short of ignoring direct orders, there was nothing to be done about it.  Not while the installing technicians were still aboard, at least.

Day 1
USS Discovery-B
Ops-Engineering Room

Vila sat at a table, brunette head bent over a PADD. She was studying internal schematics; she was already in a lot of trouble, and didn't really feel like screwing it all up again. She was on standby-the Romulan was, unsurprisingly, upset and had put her on a short probationary status. She was back to doing basic Cadet-level things-paperwork he didn't want to do, mostly.

She bookmarked her spot, and then stood up to get some coffee. She'd need a break soon-she could only sit so long-leaving her idle usually caused MORE problems than letting her be. She was the oldest Ensign, but had a twenty-year career of her own, doing contract work for the Federation and neutral planets. She was a trained Aerospace System Engineer, and she'd be bored fast doing filing and whatever. She tapped out a message on her Comms badge.

==^==Commander, I am going to take a short break. I am reporting to the Engineering office.==^== She clicked off before she could be told no, and left the room. She found the nearby Engineering office, and walked in.

"Hello!"

He was distracted from his mildly mutinous thoughts by a message from Ensign Lorut.  The Bajoran Operations officer was a difficult one for Rayek to get any good connection with.  She seemed to thrive on making things harder than they should be.

He was just about to note his acknowledgement when she cut the comm, leaving the Romulan rather put out.

Rayek figured he'd make 'Friends' another day.   

[J.B Dersch]

[Weapons Locker -  USS Discovery - Ensign J.B Dersch - SEC/TAC ]

After the Meeting with his parents...Well it ended with him throwing them both on their shuttle and them leaving and him saying he never wanted to see them again. He was currently doing a 3rd Weapon locker check. Damn, This is going to get old, if I keep doing this to take my mind off things... he was also checking the extra cartridges for the rifles as well and checking some other minor weapons stored in the locker. Well, Now the thing is , do I tell Olivia...Or Keep it from her....AHH!"I hate this CRAP" he said out loud...Crap. That was out loud...Lucky no one was in here besides me...I will just tell her on my next free break

[Tanner Lachlyn]

[USS Discovery| Tanner's Quarters]

"œAnd you will go"¦" Tanner made an undecided "˜hmmmm' and then plopped the yellow plush elephant on the shelf, "œAlright Rugby, you need to watch the quarters when I'm gone." Her gaze moved to a photo of her parents, "œ...and keep them company."  Absentmindedly her hand moved to stroke the delicate silver frame.

The chime on her PADD rang and she sighed, retracting her hand from the precious photo, "œI bet you know who that is." She said to the still image of her mother, "œYour brother is a pain in the ass."

Moving to pick up the PADD she activated the call. Propping the PADD on a stand she took a seat in an adjacent chair, "œHey Unk."

The man on the other side of the screen, her Uncle Jason, took a moment to look past her, eyeing the quarters, "œStill unpacking?"

"œIt's good to see you too." Tanner said with a tilt of her head, "œI'm settling in just fine."

"œSorry Tan," He gave her a warm smile, "œYou can imagine how busy Earth is at the moment. I merely was distracted by the pile of boxes."

Turning around Tanner eyed her domain, "œI've been busy and it's not a pile. There are"¦one, two"¦.and a half" She had been meaning to get them all taken care of, but being on a new ship had her distracted. She needed to know every nook aboard, every fastest route, every protocol, every bit about the Chief staff and then the rest of the crew.

"œAnd a half?" He laughed, "œOnly you would find a half box."  Her uncle's laugh was so soothing and it moved through the room, bringing a feeling of life to the quiet space.

"œI know you didn't call to criticize my packing." Tanner said with a smile, "œWhat's up?"

"œWhen the Discovery gets to Earth, are you planning on taking the time to see family?" He tried to keep his voice light but the topic was a heavy one, "œI wasn't sure if you were getting the messages or had them blocked."

Tanner bit the inside of her lip nervously and contemplated her words before admitting, "œI got them. I ignored them. I'm undecided. Can we leave it at that?"

Her Uncle, a pepper-haired well-built man who was commanding even without his uniform on nodded, "œFor now. I can hold them off, for now. I will need an answer soon Tan. I'll talk to you later."

She nodded and offered a wave before the screen went dark. A whole body sigh followed and she slumped into the chair.  Her eyes looked up to her elephant, "œDon't judge me Rugby. You know it's complicated."

A sound from behind her went off and she closed her eyes, "œThank the stars." It was time for her shift. A welcome distraction by any means.

[Weapons Locker -  USS Discovery - Ensign J.B Dersch - SEC/TAC ]

After the Meeting with his parents...Well it ended with him throwing them both on their shuttle and them leaving and him saying he never wanted to see them again. He was currently doing a 3rd Weapon locker check. Damn, This is going to get old, if I keep doing this to take my mind off things... he was also checking the extra cartridges for the rifles as well and checking some other minor weapons stored in the locker. Well, Now the thing is , do I tell Olivia...Or Keep it from her....AHH!"I hate this CRAP" he said out loud...Crap. That was out loud...Lucky no one was in here besides me...I will just tell her on my next free break

"œYou ok?" Tanner asked quietly as she popped her head into view. Perhaps looking for him hadn't been the best idea. They were on the same shift and he was the only face she knew thanks to their meeting at the station, "œNeed some time alone?"

[J.B Dersch]

[USS Discovery| Tanner's Quarters]

"œAnd you will go"¦" Tanner made an undecided "˜hmmmm' and then plopped the yellow plush elephant on the shelf, "œAlright Rugby, you need to watch the quarters when I'm gone." Her gaze moved to a photo of her parents, "œ...and keep them company."  Absentmindedly her hand moved to stroke the delicate silver frame.

The chime on her PADD rang and she sighed, retracting her hand from the precious photo, "œI bet you know who that is." She said to the still image of her mother, "œYour brother is a pain in the ass."

Moving to pick up the PADD she activated the call. Propping the PADD on a stand she took a seat in an adjacent chair, "œHey Unk."

The man on the other side of the screen, her Uncle Jason, took a moment to look past her, eyeing the quarters, "œStill unpacking?"

"œIt's good to see you too." Tanner said with a tilt of her head, "œI'm settling in just fine."

"œSorry Tan," He gave her a warm smile, "œYou can imagine how busy Earth is at the moment. I merely was distracted by the pile of boxes."

Turning around Tanner eyed her domain, "œI've been busy and it's not a pile. There are"¦one, two"¦.and a half" She had been meaning to get them all taken care of, but being on a new ship had her distracted. She needed to know every nook aboard, every fastest route, every protocol, every bit about the Chief staff and then the rest of the crew.

"œAnd a half?" He laughed, "œOnly you would find a half box."  Her uncle's laugh was so soothing and it moved through the room, bringing a feeling of life to the quiet space.

"œI know you didn't call to criticize my packing." Tanner said with a smile, "œWhat's up?"

"œWhen the Discovery gets to Earth, are you planning on taking the time to see family?" He tried to keep his voice light but the topic was a heavy one, "œI wasn't sure if you were getting the messages or had them blocked."

Tanner bit the inside of her lip nervously and contemplated her words before admitting, "œI got them. I ignored them. I'm undecided. Can we leave it at that?"

Her Uncle, a pepper-haired well-built man who was commanding even without his uniform on nodded, "œFor now. I can hold them off, for now. I will need an answer soon Tan. I'll talk to you later."

She nodded and offered a wave before the screen went dark. A whole body sigh followed and she slumped into the chair.  Her eyes looked up to her elephant, "œDon't judge me Rugby. You know it's complicated."

A sound from behind her went off and she closed her eyes, "œThank the stars." It was time for her shift. A welcome distraction by any means.

"œYou ok?" Tanner asked quietly as she popped her head into view. Perhaps looking for him hadn't been the best idea. They were on the same shift and he was the only face she knew thanks to their meeting at the station, "œNeed some time alone?"

[Weapons Locker -  USS Discovery - Ensign J.B Dersch - SEC/TAC ]

He looked up from the PADD, With a look of ....Lovely, I was not alone..."umm..I am fine..Just family issues....But am fine..I come here to find a way to get my mind off things." This might be a wise idea to ask how she deals with family Issues....No Bad idea..Just met her yesterday....Bad idea...He turned to her again. "Feel free to help, Could use some company." He gave a her smile..But it looked fake...Which it was since he had a deep inner self thing fighting his happiness.

[Kinley Garrison]

[USS Discovery-B | Deck 13 | Cryptology Lab]

Watching code pass by was mind-numbing work. With how everything ran, Sydney was often lulled into states of day-dreaming while passively watching the whole lot of nothing she was in charge of. That is why, when a knock came at the door of the lab, she nearly fell out of her chair as she spun it around to face the door right before it wooshed open. Shooting to her feet, she couldn't imagine the Ops Chief knocking, and STEVE never knocked, so she reflexively went to a stance of attention before the familiar face showed itself.

Letting out a heavy breath as a near sigh, she considered using the moniker Kinley gave her way back when they'd first met in Quark's, but decided, since they were both on duty, it wouldn't be appropriate. "Greetings, Commander." Even as the words were leaving her mouth they felt like sand on her tongue from how awkward they were given the two's prior dealings. Sydney was not expecting the response she got.

Flicking her head sideways to glance over at the sleeping hologram, the Ensign turned back quickly, though her posture didn't relax. "Yes, Sir. During the integration of the upgrades provided at Katra, I read the past reports on STEVE and modified his programming to reduce potential glitches. Commander Lek should never have to worry about coming face to face with 'Big STEVE' again."  Sydney wasn't entirely sure why Kinley had decided to visit the lowest of labs on the ship, leaving her pausing silently for an awkward moment. Finally, she was able to squeeze out, "Was there something you needed, Sir?" albeit in such a way as to show her confusion and concern over the unexpected arrival of the Chief Science Officer.

[Cryptography lab]
Kinley noticed her new rank as Sydney spun around, but decided to not say anything about it. She wasn't going to lie, but she saw a lot of herself in the ensign. She nodded. "œThanks for fixing those glitches there. I knew that Steve spooked Chief Lek, but it wasn't only until later that I heard from the Nurses that he had suddenly gotten big. I'm not too shabby with computers, but it would have definitely taken a while for me to parse through all of his subroutines even with that. His creator wasn't exactly a programmer. More like a pilot,  so I've been working to parse through exactly what she did when she created Steve. "  She noted, giving a soft pet to the still-sleepy dinosaur.

"œActually, yes. So, I'm not sure if you've heard about the last mission, but before our encounter with the Breen, we were tasked to infiltrate their base inconspicuously. To help with the social aspect, I was tasked with creating a team of both science and ops personnel to make an essential Breen translation program. And of course, the Brass got wind of it and asked me and in essence, the rest of the Discovery to finish up that rough program. For the whole Fleet. she sighed, It worked well enough on the fly, but that was a small field test and the away team didn't need to speak much. "œSo, yeah, that's the short of it. But that might be something up your alley, if you're interested.

[Tanner Lachlyn]

[Weapons Locker -  USS Discovery - Ensign J.B Dersch - SEC/TAC ]

He looked up from the PADD, With a look of ....Lovely, I was not alone..."umm..I am fine..Just family issues....But am fine..I come here to find a way to get my mind off things." This might be a wise idea to ask how she deals with family Issues....No Bad idea..Just met her yesterday....Bad idea...He turned to her again. "Feel free to help, Could use some company." He gave a her smile..But it looked fake...Which it was since he had a deep inner self thing fighting his happiness.

Tanner offered a reassuring smile, "I can join ya." She put her PADD down and leaned on a closed locker, "I would ask what you haven't counted yet, but I have a feeling you may have already completed the checks. In fact, I'd bet money that we're both the kind of person that when we're having a bad day,  it's easier to hide away in a vague room where we can count things and distract ourselves." Tanner shrugged, "Or I'm wrong and I'm just speaking inward, as I'm originally from Earth and I have a large, very complicated family. Some who I'd rather see pushed out of an airlock. So, you can imagine my joy that we're heading back to their side of space."

"What about you?" She tilted her head, "Should I be worried about someone who enjoys counting rifle ammo while growling angrily to themselves?" 

[Sydney Reid]

[USS Discovery-B | Deck 13 | Cryptology Lab]

[Cryptography lab]
Kinley noticed her new rank as Sydney spun around, but decided to not say anything about it. She wasn't going to lie, but she saw a lot of herself in the ensign. She nodded. "œThanks for fixing those glitches there. I knew that Steve spooked Chief Lek, but it wasn't only until later that I heard from the Nurses that he had suddenly gotten big. I'm not too shabby with computers, but it would have definitely taken a while for me to parse through all of his subroutines even with that. His creator wasn't exactly a programmer. More like a pilot,  so I've been working to parse through exactly what she did when she created Steve." She noted, giving a soft pet to the still-sleepy dinosaur.

"œActually, yes. So, I'm not sure if you've heard about the last mission, but before our encounter with the Breen, we were tasked to infiltrate their base inconspicuously. To help with the social aspect, I was tasked with creating a team of both science and ops personnel to make an essential Breen translation program. And of course, the Brass got wind of it and asked me and in essence, the rest of the Discovery to finish up that rough program. For the whole Fleet. she sighed, It worked well enough on the fly, but that was a small field test and the away team didn't need to speak much. "œSo, yeah, that's the short of it. But that might be something up your alley, if you're interested.

Kinley wasn't saying anything that Sydney hadn't already deducted. STEVE's programming was fairly rudimentary from an Artificial Intelligence aspect, hence why the cryptologist saw it more as a 'pet' and potential project than anything she deemed as being a threat to Discovery's security, unlike other Self-Aware Computers. With the time she'd had during all of the upgrades the ship had taken on, Sydney had 'cleaned up' a great deal of STEVE's programming to stabilize him. He would certainly present with far fewer glitches than before, but would still be the lovable, small velociraptor that he had been initially created to be, with a love of jello still included.

Even though her shoulders had relaxed slightly, given the Chief Science Officer's friendly demeanor, Sydney still remained rather tense in Kinley's presence. She nodded at the woman's recounting of the crew's previous mission, having read through the numerous logs and reports after gaining the necessary clearances for her role. She'd always been one to keep up to date on whatever she was taking part in and Discovery was no different. Even as Kinley described the task set to her, Sydney stayed mute on the fact she'd already taken a look at the new Commander's prior work on the Breen Translation measures taken. The linguist had her own thoughts but wasn't entirely sure how well received they would be.

"Of course, Sir," she answered with an almost forceful nod. The very idea of putting her skills to use besides being tasked to monitor something that really didn't need her help certainly sounded more engaging that her current duties. "And I'm sure you have already cleared inviting me to this 'Task Group' with my Chief? It was more of a rhetorical question as she didn't see Lieutenant Banan arguing with someone whose collar carried more weight than his own, especially when it came to his newest Ops Officer he'd relegated effectively to the 'basement'.

Dropping her hands from behind her back, Sydney turned to step next to the seat she'd previously been occupying: one of only two in the small Cryptology Lab. Taking control of the console there, she quickly closed the scrolling diagnostics and brought up the Breen Unimatrix that Kinley had previously worked on. While her eyes stayed on the screen, her hands flowing over the controls with the speed of one that had probably mastered LCARS while her age was still in single digits, Sydney spoke without looking away. "While your work on the Breen Language was impressive, Sir, I do think that Starfleet as a whole might have been approaching the problem from an incorrect point of view. As we know, the use of their refrigeration suits allows some automatic translation of the language spoken by the user to be translated into a close replica of Breen syntax, but I believe that may be overlooking the idea that the Breen Species themselves has a language that their own system automatically translates into an electronic language that is more easily translated between them by use of these suits."

Having made use of the numerous screens within the small lab, Sydney had brought up several examples in both Kinley's programming, prior Starfleet study, and the study of other species that had dealt with the Breen, particular intelligence gathered from the Dominion, and highlighted a few corresponding sections. Taking her hands away from the console and standing up straight, the Ensign turned to Kinley to explain, "My brief study of the issues presented has led me to believe we need to decipher the programming contained within the refrigeration suits, pinpoint exactly what it does to all speech, and then work backward from that to reach the root language of the Breen to be able to properly integrate their language into our Universal Translators.

"Basically, both us and them are using different types of Universal Translators whose programming and syntax are bumping up against each other. If we can turn that 'bumping' into 'connecting' via a unified decryption matrix, we'll be able to start treating the Breen language just like all other languages our Universal Translator is programmed to compute. At least, that's how I'm seeing it." Sydney wasn't entirely sure if all of that made sense to Kinley, but was hoping the Science Officer had been able to follow her rambling on the subject. Despite her expertise in linguistics, the Ensign was much better at written forms than spoken ones.

[Lek]

[Commander Nira Said | First Officer's Quarters | Deck Two | USS Challenger NCC-40117-A]

Nira was becoming enthusiastic about what the Ops people come up with, and the perfect implementation with the holo-emitters.

"Computer, activate holo-file Ahkbar-One."

And with that, a dachshund exactly from her childhood emerged into being and leapt into Nira's arms.

"Aww, look at you!" she said. She requested it of the holo experts as she had meant for a long time to get a pet. Well, a holo-pet, for more conveniences, she felt she didn't have the time for a real pet. Plus, he was always on hand when she needed it.

She had described every detail as best as she could. Ahkbar was one of her closest friends as a child and budding teenager, as dogs usually were. He died of old age before her own foster mother, Aunt Parisa Said, had died. He had lived a good long life for a dog. The holo-Ahkbar was exactly like him in many ways, though Nira can easily summon him with a command from the computer. Nira pulled up a photographic memory from a frame slide, and there she was, her teenaged self with the real Ahkbar.

Then she deactivated the holo-Ahkbar and sent a transmission to Lek.

"Hello, Lek," she said in her letter. "I hope you've gotten my present that I've arranged to send over to you. I have heard of the therapy holo-raptor, but I found it highly illogical. So while I had arranged a holo-pet of sorts for myself, I thought to send a copy of it over. He's based on a dog I used to have as a teenager. His name was Ahkbar. He's quite a delightful fellow. You'll find the file under 'Holo: Ahkbar-Two.' I hope it will suit you good, Lek. Better than a raptor any day. Love from Nira."

And she sent it to Lek on the Discovery. She had the file sent to him in advance, but in her excitement she forgot the note to explain. But she had a feeling her old friend and comrade from the Discovery would appreciate it.

Now to send a holo-note and file of Ahkbar-Three to Torra...if she wanted it...

[Main Engineering - USS Discovery]

Lek sat in his office and looked frustrated. He was pleased to see that the Discovery's systems seemed to be functioning normally, which was always a dicey situation, especially after such a major rebuild. It didn't matter how good the shipyard was, there we always 'issues' before the ship was really fully ready. So far, there were minor problems and there were repair teams, supplemented by Ops personnel, already addressing the reported problems.

Lek's PADD pinged and he turned from his terminal to check the message. He was surprised to see it was from Nira. He hadn't thought about her since she transferred to the Challenger, which set up a pang of nostalgia to think about his first ship as Chief. He saw there was a large file attached to the message and after scanning to make such it was safe, found it was a holoprogram.

He had no idea why a former crewmember would send him a program, but he decided to activate it and was stunned to see it was a small mammal. He cringed as the message played and he found out the velociraptor incident was now no longer confined to Discovery.

Just as he was about to angry, the long skinny dog stood up on its hind legs against his lap. This made Lek laugh and completely changed his mood. He typed up a quick response to Nira

"Hello Commander, thank you so much for the program. I don't think it is possible for your timing to be better. I am in your debt. Next time we meet, I owe you far more than just a drink. Lek out."