JP: FltCpt Diego Herrera & Lt(jg) Richard Matthews, "What Have I Created?" (part 1)

[Diego Herrera]

((Zakdorn IV, Prak Zel, Vigilant Crew's temporary base))

::For those who still had work to do during shore leave, but couldn't get back onboard the ship. A simple mobile base had been set up in one of the empty warehouse structures of Prak Zel. A company, whose name Richard had no hope of pronouncing, had donated the space in thanks. Not thanks for serving their planet or saving their Stratigo but thanks for the extreme damages that a competitor company had taken in the fire fight.::

::A newly opened restaurant hadn't fared too well during the Suliban incursion. The financial loss would probably end up sinking the smaller business, which Richard had come to learn was a small ma and pa styled establishment. The son that inherited the venue had just opened the new place; their grand opening slated for next week, well it had been. Didn't look like it would be happening anytime soon. Which was a shame really, Richard did so dislike it when brand name chains took out the little guys.::

Matthews: Ensign Chelka how goes monitor duty, picking up any chatter

?

Chelka: Getting nothing but regular communications sir.

Matthews: Carry on then Ensign. ::Turning his attention to a man in blue.:: Miz, any luck with those other files?

Miz: Still running them through the key you provided sir. Nothing new yet.

Matthews: Kay, sorry, carry on.

::Making his rounds to check in on the various stations sat up; Baby Astrometrics and Baby Tactical to name a few, Richard made his way over to Baby Sickbay. Baby Sickbay was actually a separate room to the rest of the mobile base. Complaints about the smell for one thing, and that the autopsy work Richard was doing on the Suliban soldiers made some of the other officers squeamish, conspired to banish Richard from the main room to a smaller side room. He'd been told that during regular business time Baby Sickbay was actually a break room.::

::His first order of business had been finding the portable replicator (the guy who handed over the keys to the place had told him where it was stashed). After that was setting up shop and starting in on the medical side of things. With their CMO on leave and the Vigilant's doctors busy taking care of Velana. Well if it came down between the choice of doing all the paperwork or subbing for medical. Anyone who didn't know that he would happily load the paper work off on to Grant and Revorn must have been really, really new!::

Matthews: Computer, activate work program Matt's shuffle, but play audio on low volume. I'm expecting one of the higher ups to drop in for a report. Rather not end up ignoring them you know?

Computer: Acknowledged.

::The low haunting tones of the song began to play. Richard briefly considered changing the track to a more upbeat one. Considering the nature of today's task and all, but decided against it. The sullen tones of the singer set the mood perfectly and contrary to what people thought. Richard was not in the happiest of mindsets at the moment. Some depressing music and a replicator set to dispense soft drinks was just what the doctor ordered.::

::Diego had just entered the makeshift scientific and medical facility when the speakers began to very subtly play a complete dirge of a song. It wasn’t that he minded slow songs, or even sad songs, but this? Either someone was very depressed and he was going to find them in an industrial sized vat of ice cream, or it was someone’s idea of a joke to stitch him up by having the galaxy’s most boring music play the second he stepped in… kind of like a theme tune.::

::When it turned out the officer he was looking for wasn’t in the front end of the building, he decided to head out to what passed for a makeshift sickbay. Sure enough, Matthews was there. He’d tasked him a while back with looking over the Suliban data again (he’d managed to decrypt it, so it seemed logical to get him to take the next step and copy his findings to the intelligence department) and he was looking for the latest update on his findings. The Spaniard greeted him with a perplexed look.::

Herrera: So what’s the deal? Are you trying to depress your colleagues into working harder or something?

::No that was what the whip was for, was what Richard would have said, had he not looked up to see that it was Captain Herrera addressing him. Luckily he did glance up from his work, digging around in the open chest cavity of the third Suliban operative they had on ice, or he might just have put his foot in his mouth there.::

Matthews: Uh, sorry sir?

::Nice save!::

Herrera: ::Pointing up at the speakers:: The funeral march. It’s grey and cold enough outside without bringing it in here too…

Matthews: ::Shrugging.:: I could throw on the macarena if you’d prefer.

::And now back to our regularly scheduled sarcastic program.::

::Diego shook his head at the scientist and rolled his eyes. It was odd to think that the last time he’d really been able to spend any time talking with him had been a year ago, in the Nebula Bar on DS6. He’d seen him pretty much every day to talk to about work stuff, and they got on fine, it was just one of those things, really. He knew that Richard was pretty laid back himself which, of course, meant that some aspects of protocol could be dropped immediately. Looking carefully around for a clean surface to perch on, Diego decided that the desk that had been brought in, stacked high with PADDs and in the part of the room that was set up as a mini-office (but still missing walls to separate it from the rest of sickbay) was his best bet. Within a few seconds he was perched on the edge of it.::

::He picked up one of the PADDs to take a look at it and scrolled down to the bottom.::

Herrera: Hm… interesting. Did you know that your aide has started signing reports with “Hollie Grant, the real Chief of Science”?

Matthews: Hollie has expressed a desire to get her commission. Who knows, she very well could be the next CSO. With how long it’s been taking to replace Solor, she just may be an ensign in time to take the job.

Herrera: Doesn’t look like she has her head around this delegation thing. Although it does beg the question… how much paperwork do you actually do?

::He wasn’t even sure he wanted to know the answer to the question now that he’d asked it.::

Matthews: ::Richard blinked before shooting the captain his best confused look.:: I’m supposed to do paper work?

Herrera: You’re supposed to do a lot of things, but I’ve clocked the name of nearly everyone in the department at the bottom of official paperwork. Hollie might struggle with delegation, but you’ve got it sussed, that’s for sure.

::He was ribbing him rather than complaining about the standard to which he was performing his duties. His facial expression was less than serious as a result.::

::Richard snorted, turning back to what he’d been doing before the captain had came in, commandeering Richard’s desk as the new command chair. (He made a quick mental note to refer to the desk as Baby Command Chair from then on, in private of course)::

Matthews: What brings you by sir?

Herrera: I figured I’d drop in and check how you’re getting on with that Suliban data?

Matthews: Oh, thought it would be Zerxes or someone.

::Diego shrugged. He could have sent A’ern, but then he didn’t really see his first officer as a slave. He had been quite happy to take the walk to the temporary facility in person. It got him out of his hotel room, for one thing.::

Herrera: Disappointed?

Matthews: Just the littlest bit.

::The captain stared at the science officer.::

Herrera: Well, being as this is kind of an important issue, I figured it wouldn’t hurt for me to get the report right from the horse’s mouth…

Matthews: ::Blinking in surprise.:: Did you just call me an equine?

::The Spaniard smirked and shook his head.::

Herrera: No, I am not calling you a horse. If you were then you’d have problems operating the consoles with your little hooves.

::He bunched his hand into a fist and mimed out an attempt to use a hoof to work a console.::

::The captain, ladies and gentlemen. Richard felt embarrassed, but for himself or Herrera? He didn’t rightly know.::

Matthews: Yeah, I guess I’d have to set up my station to be voice operated?  

Herrera: ::Chuckling:: Yeah, you would. See, normally I like to just look at people disapprovingly, give them shifts they hate doing and put my feet up on stuff. Today, I figured we could maybe use a little bit of ‘not so serious’ after what we just found out. Anyway, what do you have? Turn up anything new?

::He was hoping, in part, that there would be nothing, or at least nothing that would implicate anyone important back on Vulcan. On the flip side of that line of thinking, it would have been fantastic if they could have found something that led them directly to the person who had sent the message to the Suliban. Then they could track them down or put them under surveillance… anything that might give them a better clue about what was going on.::

Matthews: We’re still working on decrypting new files found amongst the data that’s already been looked at. Seems there’s another key that we’re missing. It’s slow going on that front, but I have a good feeling that when we run it through the Vigilant’s computers, we’ll actually get some results.

::Peeling off the gloves that were covered in Suliban innards. Richard walked around the desk (Baby Command Chair) and tapped out a command on the laptop he’d sat up there.::

Matthews: Don’t worry sir, I won’t leave you empty handed, or pawed, or hoved. Now while I couldn’t get anywhere with decrypting the other files, yet, the autopsy did turn up something interesting.

::Completely in favour of a sidestep onto his home turf, Diego quite eagerly took the bait.::

Herrera: Oh? What did you find?

Matthews: Well, from the start I, like I’m sure most everyone else did too. Assumed the Suliban attacking us were part of the cabal. But I can’t find any evidence of genetic tampering in these guys. I thought maybe they were second generation cabal- well that is I mean I figured they were descendants from the Suliban that underwent the genetic modifications.

::Richard shook his head. No such luck, save for the usual genetic anomalies that all living beings showed (no one was perfect after all) these guys were not genetically altered in anyway.::

Herrera: ::Looking at the information on the monitor:: That’s significant, for sure. It rules out at least a couple of things, including some potential motivations for why a Vulcan would be trying to destabilise relations between the Federation and Zakdorn. Alright, well it looks like you’ve been through what you can with a fine tooth comb. Not bad at all. That’s the kind of work I expect from my chief of science.

TBC

A joint post by

Fleet Captain Diego Herrera

Commanding Officer

USS Vigilant

NCC-75515

Deputy Commandant: UFOP: SB118 Academy

EC: Captain At Large

and

Lt. Jg. Richard Matthews MD

Acting CSO

USS Vigilant

NCC-75515