Lieutenant Drex - My favourite fatal mission is...

[Drex Drex]

((Temporary Offices, Deck 118, Deep Space 224))

After the introductions and the unexpected appointment of new roles, the conversation gradually eased into lighter territory. Adea steered them toward safer waters: the reasons that had drawn each of them into the sciences, the small personal turns in their careers, a few carefully rationed comments about the yet-unnamed starship being prepared for them.

Stapledon: A challenge is good. After all, someone has to erase the "here be dragons" labels from the old star charts.

Adea: Such a shame that it cost so many lives.

Drex: I hope they’ll leave us alone, from now on... :: He commented with a brief, troubled glance toward Adea ::

Stapledon: I can understand danger having been found. Still though, what would you say was the most rewarding or interesting of the missions this crew has been on so far?

The captain frowned.

Adea: I can’t speak for all three missions, but I suppose the madness of the Killipaartalik Nebula was quite scientifically interesting, although we still haven’t solved the mystery of what caused the hysteria.

A faint frown creased Drex’s features. For all the missions he’d served, under Oddas, Nicholotti, and now Adea, the Killipart Nebula was the one memory he refused to revisit, let alone repeat.

Drex : Mh... :: He drew in a long, quiet breath, keeping the rest of his thoughts firmly to himself. ::

Stapledon: Oh wow, that sounds like it was quite the adventure.

Adea: It was; a nebula that drove many to violent thoughts and aggressive acts. But I wasn’t there for the mission before, Drex, could you give us a run down?

Drex: With all due respect, I can’t agree with that enthusiasm for the Killipart Nebula. ::A quiet breath escaped him, eyes narrowing at the memory.:: Others are welcome to dissect it. If there’s an assignment going, I’d far prefer working on Nifal IV and the recovered populations.

Stapledon:  I am sorry.

Adea: Oh, I had read the report, but this seems quite a bit deeper than that.

Stapledon:  The usual culprits like viruses, bacteria, were ruled out?

The Denobulan shook his head.

Drex: The planet was used, he may still be used, for all we know, by some unknown culture as a kind of... zoo. They kept people from different eras of Earth’s history in captivity. We rescued more than five hundred individuals. Some from the nineteenth century, others far older, Neolithic, even.

Adea:  Response

Stapledon:  Oh I see.

Drex: Their technology drained the entire ship of power, leaving us dead in the water. But Commander Falt had a brilliant idea: feed fossil fuels directly into the thrusters, and burn our way out. He lifted us just high enough to break free of their grasp.

Adea:  Response

Stapledon:  Something like that...

Drex: I’m just glad we got those people out.

Adea:  Response

As the memory resurfaced, Drex’s voice tapered off, the last words thinning into silence. His gaze drifted, somewhere past the office wall, past the starbase, back to that impossible world and the weeks that followed. The Eagle’s corridors packed beyond capacity, improvised shelters in cargo bays, people from centuries apart trying to make sense of lights, doors, consoles... and of their own place in a future they had never asked for. When he finally spoke again, his tone was quieter, touched with something between concern and hope.

Drex: Those first days after... We were packed so tightly aboard the Eagle you could barely move. ::He exhaled slowly, shaking his head once:: I just hope they all manage to settle into this century without too much difficulty.

Adea / Stapledon:  Response

Drex: ::clearing his throat, pulling himself out of the memory:: Speaking of settling into this century... I completed my report on the Gatwa anomaly, well, as complete as it can be, considering we lost all the data collected by the Eagle. Should I expect a full debrief with Command, or will DS224 handle the review?

Adea / Stapledon:  Response

Drex: Did the scientists on Proust offer any interesting explanations or do we justify the strange anomaly as a cruel joke by CloQ?

Adea / Stapledon:  Response



TAGS / TBC

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Lieutenant Drex

Science Officer

USS Eagle

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