Lt. Cmdr Robin Hopper: Show Me What You’ve Got
Robin Hopper
((Physics Lab, Science Deck – USS Kitty Hawk))
Kivik: Alright, last thing I wanted to share… It took some doing – but I’ve had a few probes and science teams on shuttles monitoring the nebula over the last few days, since the recommended traffic restrictions were put in place.
Robin set her PADD down on top of the terminal in front of her, exchanging the device for a chai tea latté and taking a sip. It had been a busy couple of days since her first meeting with Veers and Kivik in the SRC. They were still operating with less information than she’d like – but they were getting there.
After deducing that the subspace wakes left by traveling starships’ warp fields might have been the source of (or at least a contributing factor to) all the benamite-induced anomalies occurring throughout the sector, they’d managed to implement some restrictions on flight paths and the use of warp drives in local space.
Hopper: I’ve already heard some positive feedback from some of the mining crews – I take it you’ve got something a bit more concrete?
Kivik: ::Half-smiling / half-grimacing:: Weeeelll, yes and no.
The Kitty Hawk’s Chief Science Officer tapped away at a console and brought up a holographic representation of the nebula. Subspace anomalies detected by Amity’s and the Kitty Hawk’s sensor sweeps were peppered throughout the purple cloud, identified with red tags.
Kivik: Here we see how things looked a few days ago. ::Tapping again:: And here’s where we’re at today.
Robin squinted, taking in the visual data and quickly processing what it all meant.
Hopper: It looks to me like the overall spread and number of events is down.
Kivik: Correct.
Hopper: ::Slightly irritated:: But now we have more concentrated, and less stable events taking place along the redirected traffic routes. So we’ve only really managed to shift the problem.
Kivik: Indeed. Instead of quite a few little anomalies, we now have fewer larger anomalies – and, what’s more – we’ve spotted at least three instances in which subspace rifts have converged.
Robin groaned.
Hopper: So, they’re packed together and feeding off each other.
Kivik: Something like that.
Apparently this problem was going to be more difficult to combat than she’d initially hoped. But the data was still useful, if annoying.
Kivik: I don’t suppose your recent promotion has provided you with any additional threads to manipulate? Perhaps reduce the traffic any further?
Hopper: Threads to what? ::Thinking:: Oh! Pulling a few strings. I understand. ::Chuckling:: And no. I already used just about all the caché I had with Starfleet Science to make this happen as-is.
Kivik: Is that the phrase? ::Brow ridges crinkling:: I could have sworn it was “threads”. ::Shrugging:: Well, at this rate, we may be looking at another potential incident at some point in the near future if we aren’t careful.
Hopper: ::Sigh:: At least that would probably give us more power to act…
She sipped at her chai again, only to be interrupted by the sound of her combadge pinging her.
Veers: =/\= Veers to Lieutenant Hopper. =/\=
Hopper: =/\= ::Cheerily:: Go for Hopper. ::Thinking:: Oh shoot! Am I late for our rendezvous, Ensign? =/\=
Robin stood, quickly, and began moving towards the turbolift at the end of the science sections’ hall before she realized with a start that she’d left her PADD at the terminal in her haste. Turning back, she found Kivik standing there, PADD in nir outstretched hand.
Kivik: ::Chuckling:: =/\= Don’t worry, Ensign Veers. I’ll have Lieutenant Commander Hopper back to you momentarily. =/\=
Robin tsk’d and rolled her eyes in conjunction with a slight shake of her head.
Veers: =/\= Oh, my apologies, Commander Hopper, first off, congratulations, but we’ve got the initial data back from the simulations that Sirn and I were running, if you’ve got the time to come take a look .=/\=
Robin grabbed the PADD from Kivik and shook it at nem as she started speaking, before eventually turning around and making her way to the turbolift that would get her to a transporter.
Hopper: =/\= Nothing to apologize for, Cara. I’m still getting used to it myself, honestly. One of the many reasons I prefer good old-fashioned names to ranks... ::Shrugging:: Anyways, I will be right over! Give me twenty minutes or so? =/\=
Veers: =/\= Sounds good, see you then, Veers out. =/\=
As the comm line closed, Robin stepped into the lift and turned around, taking one more look into the Galaxy Class’ science labs. She held the door for a moment, as Kivik walked up, hands tucked behind nir back and a pleased smile on nir face.
Hopper: It’s just a pip, you know.
Kivi: Take it from an outsider – those pips are worth more than all the gold-pressed latinum in the universe. Don’t take them for granted.
Hopper: Hmm.
The door slid shut.
((Twenty Minutes Or So Later – Stellar Cartography, SRC, Amity Outpost))
As the door slid open, Robin tossed her now empty cup into the nearest receptacle.
Hopper: ::To the device:: Recycle.
As a little light show evidenced the process of deconstructing the matter of her cup into base components, to be re-used in later matter synthesis, Robin stepped through the doors and into the Stellar Cartography lab.
Hopper: Mr. Sirn, Ms. Veers. Tell me we’ve made some progress?
Veers/Sirn: Response
Hopper: Well, our adjustments to warp travel haven’t exactly mitigated the issue. Not in the ways we’d hoped, anyhow – and they won’t be sustainable long-term. We need a different solution, so I hope your simulations have uncovered something we can use…
She stepped forward, crossing her arms and peering at the preliminary simulation outcomes. They’d run through quite a few scenarios, it seemed – a few that might have yielded favorable results. But that was hardly conclusive. They were going to have to isolate the most feasible simulations and run through them, analyze the data themselves, and form evidence-based conclusions in order to propose recommendations for action.
Veers/Sirn: Response
Hopper: Show me – and feel free to slow things down. I want us to talk through what we’ve found, make sure we aren’t missing anything important.
Veers/Sirn: Response
TBC
