LTJG Nolen Hobart — Contemplating the Looking Glass
Isaac Bresnick
((Chief Medical Officer’s Quarters, Deck 2, USS Arrow))
Lieutenant Junior Grade Hobart didn’t bother with the chime. He rushed into Lieutenant Junior Grade Ohnari’s quarters with Lieutenant Jacin at his heels. They found her there, lounging on her couch, as if it was just some lazy afternoon. He knew he couldn’t mask the concern in his mind, not from these two, but he did his best to wipe it from his face.
Hobart: ::forced smile:: Nice digs. Comfortable?
She slowly, and somewhat unsteadily rose to greet them and offered a weak smile of her own.
Ohnari: Clerical error. I'm fixing it tomorrow.
Jacin: Nice pajamas. :beat as she looked at the quarters: It’s I think what you would call homely.
Hobart: ::shaking his head:: Clerical error in your favor, collect a window. ::beat:: You OK now?
Banter accomplished, on to business.
Ohnari: ::nodding slightly:: So… uh… you two get an incredibly terrifying, but forceful cry for help that nearly blew out your eardrums from the inside too?
They both nodded. Nolen looked off in contemplation of the kind of thing that could blow your eardrums out from the inside, but quickly pulled himself back to the conversation.
Jacin: A psionic cry for help. If I’m right we all received the ‘cry’ differently. Whether that’s by design or accident I’m not sure.
Hobart: We saw some stuff, but not the same thing, and we’re trying to collect as much information as we can. Did you see anything?
Ohnari: No pictures for me. Just....feeling.
Talia shuddered, and Ayemet looked on in concern. Nolen put on his best sympathetic face as the Science Chief gave him a look.
Hobart: ::nodding:: Feelings, man, I hate those. The worst. I try not to have them.
Jacin: Are you okay Lieutenant? Do you need to go to sickbay?
Ohnari: Response
Jacin: Very well… We have to act on this. I don’t believe it’s a shared hallucination. Someone out there needs help.
Nolen couldn’t help but sigh. There was always somebody who needed help out there, and it always seemed to fall to Starfleet to help them. And this kind of help seemed dangerous. Nolen instantly started looking for speedbumps to put in their path.
Hobart: We’ve got to go to the Captain on this.
No takers.
Jacin: :motioning to Ohnari’s computer: If I may?
Ohnari: Response
Ayemet moved over to Ohnari’s personal computer and sat down. Nolen tried, with modest success, to look entirely uninterested in what might be on there from the last time Talia used it. Lieutenant Jacin began tapping out instructions, and soon a waterfall of text flowed down the screen. She gestured for the two junior Lieutenants to join her.
Jacin: What do you both know of the mirror universe?
Hobart: ::confident nod:: Facial hair.
Ohnari: Response
Nolen looked briefly at the computer terminal’s screen and then decided he had no idea where to begin on the wall of tiny text that Lieutenant Jacin had summoned. Clearly, she detected his confusion and began to explain the relevant bits of their (limited) knowledge of the other side of the “looking glass.”
Jacin: Response
Hobart: So, this mirror telepath… is probably evil?
Jacin/Ohnari: Response
Hobart: Okay… supposing it’s safe, how do we find them?
Jacin/Ohnari: Response
TAGS/TBC
———
Lieutenant Junior Grade Nolen Hobart
Engineering Officer
USS Arrow (NCC-69829)
A240001NH3