Nebula, Nebula, Whatfor Art Thou Nebula

Posted on Wed May 31st, 2023 @ 8:19pm by Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant JG Jenna Jade & Lieutenant Rebecca McMillen & Lieutenant JG Raven Windancer & Ensign Rene Rouen

Mission: Which Came First, The...
Location: Conference Room

As per her normal wont, Jenna had arranged everything before anyone had arrived at the conference room. Coffee, tea, juices and snacks, the works had been laid out in quantity and quality so that as everyone came in, they would be able to snag their favorites as they found their seats. Then she grabbed a pair of donuts and a danish, a cup of a rather fragrant tea and sat in her own seat as she waited.

Raven was a bit tied, but she wasn't gonna be the last one dragging her butt into the conference room, so she hotfooted it down there and entered.

"Jenna, hi! Wow, this all looks so good!" Raven's demeanor perked up instantly as she grabbed an Eclair and a cup of Mint/Raspberry tea.

"Why thank you, Raven!" Jenna beamed, "Ah just figured that I'd put together a little somethin', especially since the Captain was so... Excited about somethin'." It was more a joke as Calypso had been rather unanimated than anything else, a look of concern on her face in the video message. She shook her head slightly.

Raven cocked her head at Jenna's strange behavior...then shrugged it off.

The door swished open, then shortly thereafter swished closed. With no one having entered while it was opened. Was it a glitch? A ghost? A cloaked Romulan Marine Infiltrator? "Ummm, a little help please?"

Raven eeped a little, then laughed at herself for forgetting the nimble George Shrinks sized Rebecca McMillen.

No, it was just Rebecca having walked in.

Jenna's eyes went wide as she recognized who it was, "Oh my gosh!" She slid out of her seat and rushed around the corner, dropping to her knees with her hands cupped out so that Rebecca could step up onto them as she lowered them to the ground, "I've got even really really miniaturized snacks for you! But can I interest you in tea? Coffee? Juice?"

Rebecca stepped up into Jenna's offered hands. "Oh you don't have to bolt like that, though I do appreciate it. Thanks." a pause, "What, think I can't solo a whole muffin?" a muffin that was, by standard measure, bigger and heavier than her.

"Cause I can't. I'd love some coffee, please. And a little, little, little, little, mini muffin."

Jenna rapidly brought Rebecca over to the seat closest to where the Captain would be sitting, then busied herself with a very tiny cup fit for someone Rebecca's size and carefully put what appeared to be three drops of coffee into and placed what looked like a pair of medium-sized crumbs onto a equally tiny plate and brought them over, "Thank God for replicators bein' able to do basically any size."

René arrived and nodded to Raven as he entered. He gave Jenna a warm smile as he took a seat. It took him a moment to see the diminutive officer on the table. He did a slight double take. He'd heard the scuttlebutt regarding the assignment of a tiny new Chief Science Officer, but it was still a bit of a surprise to see her in person for the first time. He gave Rebecca a nod. "An honor and privilege to meet you Lieutenant. Ensign Rouen, at your service."

"Oh shush." she waved away, but didn't tell him to stop. "But it's very very nice to meet all of -- oh, thank you." she claimed her tray of goodies and coffee. Blessed coffee. "Thank you, now where was I, oh yeah, it's very nice to meet all of you. Looking forward to getting back out into the field and doing what I can. I'll try not to be a burden." she knew she was, but getting it out there felt better. She looked around the vast expanse of the conference room table. Very nice, very shiny. She was worried she was scuffing up the surface walking on it.

Raven nodded a greeting to Rene, then smiled at Rebecca's comment...not in a bad way, but it was HARD not to laugh at those kinds of words from someone her size!

"C... could I trouble you for a chair?" she asked the figures looming above.

"Of course!" Jenna reached over to where she had already prepared for Rebecca with both a chair and a small little table and brought them over for the small officer, then nudged Rene, "Come on, Rene, let's back off just a bit, give the poor woman some space."

René slid down the table a bit and pulled out a chair for Jenna to sit in.

Jenna TAG

René pulled out a PADD from his pocket before taking a seat next to Jenna.

"Space? Plenty of it outside the hull!" The cheerful voice could only be the Captain as she came in, flight suit on and one hand digging in a pocket, withdrawing with a bit of chocolate that got popped in her mouth even as she reached out for the coffee and a cup unceremoniously, "Good morning everyone, and what a lovely morning it is!" She glanced out the windows, "It IS morning, right? Hard to tell with all that black stuff out there... Let's find our seats, perhaps?"

As everyone took their chairs, Cally leaned back in the one at the head of the table, "We'll forego status reports, since a bunch of the senior staff are getting ready for their own trip to a stuffy old planet with old buildings or caves or something. That's because we've got a nebula to look at ourselves, because there's something odd about it. Rebecca, care to enlighten us?"

"Certainly." the diminutive officer offered with a nod, rising to her feet and linking her diminutive PaDD to the main display. "Right now, we're still decrypting all the data that the long range scans are giving us. The nebular mass is composed of matter not normally found in standard nebulae. We're running a diagnostic on the sensors to ensure we're getting proper readings. Until then, the composition is something of a question mark. The interesting part of the nebula is, well, this." and Rebecca pulled an image up on the main viewer. It showed the nebula, thicker than normal conventional nebulae would be, with a mote of light coming from within.

"Best as we can tell, that's a STAR. Inside a nebula. Go ahead and question it, I did."

"A star inside a nebula?" Jenna asked, "Ah mean, Ah know that stars do form from nebulas, but usually don't they consume whatever nebula they form in?" She shook her head as she aske the question.

Rebecca turned and gave Jenna a nod nod, "Exactly! Nebula matter fuels the birth of a star, but there's little to no nebula left over when this process is done. But this nebula is MASSIVE! We're having trouble mapping the entirety of it so far, and if there's enough nebular mass to form a star and still have this much matter left over...." Rebecca whistled, "That's massive."

Raven fell out of her chair!

"What the banana heck!? That that...I thought they were just kidding about that thing," Raven shakily picked herself up off the floor.

"Not just that, when Rebecca says massive, she means it! What a hundred-ten cubic light years of nebula that we can't see into?" Cally quirked an eyebrow at Rebecca, "I know you were saying something about a thick soup of organic material, or was it a stew?"

Rebecca gave a concerned look towards Raven, "H.. hey, you alright?" she scampered to the edge of the table to glance over its edge.

"Yyeah, Lt., just a bit freaked about a children's tale coming to life," Raven's smile was a bit lopsided, but she was mostly ok now...just embarrassed that she was sitting on the floor instead of her chair.

With Starfleet Standard Concern for Fellow Crewmembers (SSCFC) handled, Rebecca turned her attention back to the meeting, walking back to her desk on the table. "Oh yeah, the Chowder Paradigm." she giggled. "You need to have a snack BEFORE you visit me in Science Division from now on. Either that or I'm going to have a bowl of chowder waiting for you." she teased, a wink and a bump of a hip midair as she walked. "Okay so, THIS...." a series of material readings took up one side of the screen. Very minimalistic stuff. "... the normal composition of a nebula. Mostly dust and a good mix of hydrogen and helium, along with whatever is normally trapped in the nebula's area at the time that gravity starts to take hold."

"Now, THIS..." another set of materials took up the right side of the screen, "... is the composition of this nebula from the scans we have so far. Not as much hydrogen or helium, but oddly the presence of free floating carbon and a few other trace elements. Elements that shouldn't be found in free range space."

"What this nebula is... is unique."

"That's for sure." Jenna muttered, "Jus' t'ain't natural. Well, it is, but you know what Ah mean."

By this time, Raven had regained her seat and was staring into the nebula intensely. [Why is this thing scaring me so bad?] Raven was trying to remember, but she'd flipped the stories off as puff for babies.

Calypso rubbed the corner of her mouth as if wiping something off of it, but nodded, "Jenna, I'm going to need you to work with Rebecca to get the sensors um... Realigned? Re- um..."

"Calibrated?" Jenna offered.

"Yes, calibrated!" Cally gave the young woman a wink in thanks, "Calibrated to be able to see within this nebula thing, or something! Raven, you're the one that's going to be flying through this chowder, so if there are asteroids floating around, make sure you'll be able to maneuver Chimera around them. We'll probably be able to avoid most of it through warp, but no doubt we'll still have our fair share, even if just to get a good sample." Her eyes quested the table, "Rebecca, I want you on the bridge when we get there, hitch a ride with Jenna or I'll come and get you. Rene? I'm not sure what to do with you yet, but I'll want weapons available in case we need to blow an asteroid out of the way... But without the message to a certain Admiral this time?"

"I'll be there one way or another." Rebecca responded. Bridge duty? OH BOY!!! Play it cool play it cool play it cool play it cool play it cool...

Raven nodded, almost purring in anticipation! [I'll finally get to put this crazy myth to rest] Raven thought with a smile.

The Captain smiled broadly, pushing down on the table to get to her feet, "Then let's be about it, everyone! I'll see you on the bridge in... Oh, a couple hours!"