Nebulous Discoveries

Posted on Wed May 31st, 2023 @ 8:13pm by Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant Rebecca McMillen

Mission: Which Came First, The...
Location: Science Lab

Cally walked into the lab like she owned it or something, perhaps because in a very real way, she did. It was a part of her ship, after all, but it also belonged to Rebecca and so there must be some sort of decorum involved.

The Captain's arms were thrown wide as she spotted her tiniest officer, "Rebecca! And just how are you today? I mean, after all, you really wanted me to come down here because you found something that you thought was really awesome and unique and in the process rescued me from a lot of boring review work on the ships departments and everything, though I DO apologize for the delay, I got distracted from your distraction by Alex and something HE found out that seemed dreadfully boring and so I got him to take care of that one!" By the time her long-winded sentence was over, she'd gotten to the table that Rebecca was on and flopped down into a chair she'd grabbed on the way over.

Rebecca gave a wide smile at the captain's enthusiastic entrance, and then returned the gesture. Arms wide she smiled "Captain! Oh things are amazing. Please, please sit down. Settle down, settle." she motioned to the Captain. Well, somewhere on the captain. "There. there okay so what was found was a nebula. Yeah yeah, boring ole nebula? Nope. The composition of the nebula is more than just unusual I'd say it's damn near unique!" she sounded very excited, pacing around the tabletop before the looming presence of the Captain.

"The density, the chemical composition, the, umm.... thickness." she hesitated, but was amused none the less. "The best way to illustrate it is to just give you a PaDD, but I think the better, better way to think about it is.... if a regular nebula is a broth, this nebula is a chowder." she offered. "I've got the long, long range scanners pinned on it just to keep feeding the system data but this, this is quite the find."

"Hope that helps justify the walk down. Aside from, you know, visiting." she teased.

"Mmmmm.... Chowder! New England Clam Chowder, I can hope?" Cally licked her lips in hope, "I didn't like that Manhattan stuff and the sort we get on Betazed just isn't as good. A nebula full of clam chowder just sounds good!" She laughed at the thought of it, "But I guess that isn't what it is. I'm gonna stop you at the giving me the PADD, because I'm not sure I'd be able to decipher it. But in short, well, you're telling me that we can't see through this thing? And that you've literally never seen this before? And that it's edible?

"Captain, the soup was a metaphor." the diminutive officer sighed. "No, you cannot EAT the nebula." a pause, "Though, now that I've got your attention with the notion of food..." she giggled, "... the amazing part of the nebula is that we're detecting a star within it. A star... within the nebula."

"Normally, nebulas become stars, or stars become nebula. To have one inside the other is, well, unique." a pause, "And as for everything else you said, no we can't see through it, no we've never encountered anything like that before, no it isn't edible, and Manhattan Clam Chowder isn't actually a chowder because a chowder uses milk to thicken it up." a pause, "Again, we're on the topic... thick." at that, her serious features melted away and she giggled.

"Okay, okay." Cally nodded as she got her mind off of food, or at least tried to. She hadn't had lunch yet and now she knew what she was going to want to have, "So a star within a nebula, but the nebula still exists. That means that the nebula is really really super thick. That definitely sounds intriguing... Do we have anything about the makeup of it?"

Rebecca decided to have a little fun with the looming Captain. "Oh, we found carrots, celery, some diced potatoes." she teased, holding the moment before she relented, "Okay okay, so actually, actually no. Very little." a pause, "Ha ha, funny. But no we've gotten SOME compositional data from the nebula but nothing concrete. What we have doesn't make any sense either, since it's not traditional nebular mass readings. It's more..... substantial. There's some organic compounds in the readings too. I'm having a mass diagnostic run on the sensors when they return that result, though. It's highly, highly, HIGHLY unlikely."

"Honestly I think the computer is just confused at what it's seeing, so it returns a nonsense result."

"And I suppose that you'd like to go see this freak of nature?" Calypso asked, then grinned before any answer was given, "Well, you're getting your wish! We're on our way there already, because I've got nothing better to do right now until I get through what all everyone brought to me from Trarim and well, we're going to have to go visit this place called Tial in the near future, that one should be fun as well!"

"Well, I don't think 'Freak of Nature' is a proper term, but yes." Rebecca offered, and then smiled, "Oh that's fantastic, thank you. I mean, the scientific community appreciates the time and resources yadda yadda." she smiled wide.

"Tial? Sounds intriguing. Looking forward to seeing new frontiers."

"New frontiers indeed!" Cally agreed, "That's basically everything we're going to come across out here, new species, new planets, cultures, discoveries galore. Hell, you've discovered a new type of nebula! I hope you're ready to write something up for some of the major journals, Rebecca, because your name is going to be up there with some of the greats."

"Oh great, gonna have a plaque and a trophy bigger than me." she giggled. "But it really is an amazing opportunity." she beamed, she looked so energetic and adorable. Two little inches of joy. "So many things and places and people and cultures. Oh this is going to be incredible!" she smiled wide. "I mean yeah, dream come true kinda stuff for most scientists. For me, do you have any idea how fantastic it is to just.... get back into the job? Get back into the field? I was worried I was going to be resigned as a lab experiment myself for the rest of my life, until I got this posting option. I'm just glad I got the response before folks checked the personnel list. Lucky me." she smiled.

"This isn't just a career defining moment. This is a new beginning." she finally calmed down, "Phew... okay, a little too psyched up. Gimme a minute..." deep breath, deep breath...

"Truth be told, if you've been bugging Personnel about getting back onto a starship? Welllll..." Cally bit her lip for a moment, "Chimera isn't just a starship, no matter how much she looks like one. She's..." Cally paused for a moment, then shrugged, "She doesn't have the reputation of the best and shiniest ship in the Fleet. We're one of the dumping grounds of Starfleet personnel, including myself. It wouldn't surprise me if someone did check the personnel list and made the offer intentionally." She shrugged, "I'm not going to complain at all myself!"

Rebecca considered what she just heard. A ship of misfits. A dumping ground. "Well, you know what, that doesn't matter to me. I'm just, you know, I'm just glad to get back in the race. Mind you, it's not a race I can win alone but, you know, Starfleet isn't about winning alone." she rationalized, and gave a nod.

"Besides, I know for a FACT you aren't complaining." she giggled.

A hand fluttered to Calypso's chest, "Did I say I was complaining? I'm not complaining in the slightest! Well, not too much anyways... I'm finding that the people other Captains just wanted to get rid of have a variety of skills that are most certainly going to be useful! Sure, there is some dead weight, but we got rid of a lot of them in the first few months. I'm not going to mention our first Chief Engineer's name, although I will say that she's not very happy where she's at right now. Meanwhile," Cally grinned, "I've got some rather unique senior staff that definitely keep me entertained and happy!"

Rebecca giggled, "Like I said, I know for a FACT you aren't complaining." she composed herself for a moment, "And yeah, I get what you're saying. We're the outliers. The misfits. The question marks... and I appreciate you signing me on." she offered upwards to the looming presence of her captain.

"And yeah, anyone you aren't mentioning I'm not asking. Though I guess you'd find it hilarious for me to try to twist your arm to get you to talk." a giggle. "And, well hey, entertained and happy? Is that what you call dumping me down your flight jacket?"

"Keeps me happy and entertained." Cally didn't hold back her smile, but extended a finger, "You can try to twist my finger, but I wouldn't pull it. Besides, I don't hear you complain when I put you in there. Except maybe that trip to sickbay... That was a bit um... unexpected?"

The bright crimson of Rebecca's blush showed up nicely against the soft blue of her science department outfit. "T.. that's... I didn't want to jeopardize my commission by.... you know... saying No to the captain on the moment we met." Rebecca started. "And..." she sighed. "... it was nice." she said softly, but not so softly that Cally wouldn't hear. She didn't want to bring the Sickbay trip back up. Heading 'South of the Border' was the primary memory of that trip. Nevermind actually seeing the doctor. Rebecca tried to push the pointing finger away from her, but she couldn't even budge it. "Alright alright, point made. Put that away."

Cally withdrew the finger, then nodded, "But no, you won't get your pips taken away for arguing with me or disagreeing, I promise." She raised a hand as if taking an oath, "But back to the point of my visit... Since we're on our way there, how soon do you think you could put together a presentation for everyone?"

"That's, that's comforting. Thank you." she said up to Cally, relieved, "Oh, a presentation? Ummm, ten? Ten minutes?" she guessed. "Honestly I'm used to writing things for OTHER people to present, so I kinda think in outlines anyway. Giving a presentation myself? Been a bit, out of practice." she admitted.

"Ten minutes? Pshhhh!" Cally waved that away, "Take a few hours, it might take me that long to round up the rest of the remaining senior staff. Like herding cats, well, cats that actually behave. But there's no rush, trust me! Make it all pretty-like and take your time!"

"I can do that. Plenty of time to go over all the latest data too. Thank you captain." Rebecca offered, before she paused for a moment. "Ummm, so, can I ask you a question? A personal question." she hesitated. "Happy and Entertained? Should I expect further trips down your flight suit in the future?"

"Hmm..." Calypso tapped her cheek gently in thought, taking into account what had been said before, "Well, I know that carrying you while in standard uniform is much easier between the girls, but I do have lots of pockets in my flight suit. I know you said you sorta liked it in there." She bit her lip slightly, "If you'd rather not be there in the future, I can.." She sighed, "Behave. I don't really like behaving mind you, but I can do it if I need to."

Rebecca shook her head, "Oh no no, I ... I mean I know the kind of burden having someone like me on the ship can have. so... so if it's easier to accommodate then, then there's no need to look for another solution. I'll just, well, learn to appreciate the lengths others go through for me." that blush of hers was almost burned in, "So, if it's EASIER for you, which I guess would mean it'd be easier for anyone else... then... you know, why break what's already fixed, right?"

"If I'm going your way, definitely easier." Calypso confirmed, "But it really doesn't solve the problems for you for when I'm NOT available to pick you up one way or the other." She mused, "But you aren't a burden on the ship, Rebecca, that's the grandest thing about the Fleet, we're all-inclusive! If we have to take extraordinary measures to help you get around, we do that."

Rebecca shrugged a bit, "Well in that case then, the flight jacket transit doesn't sound SO terrible." she teased, but she had a smile. "As for when you're not heading my way, I can coordinate with Engineering to work on the rapid transit tube system. I mean either that or we get a few more volunteers you trust to start wearing flight jackets." she giggled.

"But, thank you." she put a hand on Cally's enormous hand.

"Thank me for what?" Cally was honestly confused, but graced it with a smile, "No need to thank me for anything, seriously, I should be the one to thank YOU. But, I'll let you get around to what you need to be doing and I'll get everyone rounded up in a bit."

Rebecca mistook Cally's confusion for modesty, which only made the diminutive officer smile. "Well then, I'll see you... and the girls... later I suppose." she said with a giggle before returning to the task at hand. That anomalous data wouldn't sort itself afterall.