Something on your mind (Part 1)

Posted on Tue Oct 11th, 2016 @ 12:59am by Captain Rueben Gregnol
Edited on on Tue Oct 11th, 2016 @ 12:59am

Mission: Mission 2 - Contagion
Location: Deck 8 Astrophysics Lab and Standard Lab
Timeline: MD 03 20:00
2091 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure

Rueben banged on the door of the bedroom. He was going to rouse his Chief Scientist if he had to kick through the door which he'd be more than happy to do. He needed to search the labs in case Talon had stumbled into there sick.

"Robert!" He called knowing that would annoy him enough to get him up.

Finn rolled over in bed, his eyes doing their best to not be forced open. He had a headache and a touch of nausea like he was hung over, but he hadn't even had anything to drink last night. He just figured it was his inner ear still adjusting to the slight differences in gravity and air pressure on board the ship. He'd always been a bit touchy about things like that, but this seemed more pronounced than usual. He made a mental note to confirm the environmental settings in his cabin later.

That was a secondary problem, though. At the moment there was some complete ass pounding on his door and calling him 'Robert.' No one called him Robert except for his grandmother. And this did not sound like his grandmother. He grabbed a shirt to toss on with his shorts as he stumbled his way toward the door. There couldn't be enough coffee for him to put up with this happily. He opened the door and growled, "What?" before noticing it was the captain..."sir," he amended.

"Took you long enough." Rueben growled back. "We need to search the Labs so you better get dressed." He said quickly. He didn't want to be doing this but he wanted his department heads to help with the search. It was a an easy request it would just take a little bit of time and if the Captain was honest he wasn't a hundred percent sure where the Labs were.

"The labs?" Finn looked puzzled stepping back into his quarters to get dressed. His own moodiness and the captain's tone already forgotten with a challenge placed before him. "What...all of them? There's more than a dozen main labs alone. I know there are smaller specialty ones, too. Most of them are all still sealed though. Do we need to search them all? What are we looking for? That might help me narrow down which labs to start with." He wished he had time for a shave, or at least a shower, but it looked like it was going to be one of those days.

"A person... Talon is missing and people are sick we need a doctor." Rueben said impatiently as he waited for him to catch up. He wanted to search them all.

"Shit," he paused for just a moment thinking about himself. He wasn't sick. He just hadn't slept well. His environmental controls were off...that's all. He pulled a shirt on as he looked for the shoe to match the one sitting by his couch. "Okay," he spotted it under the coffee table and snagged it, his own head throbbing a bit when he bent over to grab it. "We should start with the life science labs. He'd have access to those as a doctor. Then we'll see if any of the other labs have been unlocked recently." He stood, more or less dressed then thought better of how he'd just spoken. "Sorry, sir. That would be my suggestion, but it's your call."

"I am following your lead." Rueben said quickly as he turned back having let the younger man have some privacy to dress. It sounded like a solid plan to him especially as he hadn't actually looked at any of the labs. "After you."

"Right," Finn headed left down the corridor. "I chose quarters here as it was closest to the largest concentration of labs. We can start with the bio lab," he pointed down the way. "It's not far, and it's been at least opened. I was using some of the equipment there to help date the artifacts we found in that little treasure chest of yours."

"As you wish though you have chosen small crewmen quarters." Rueben said with a roll of his eyes. He didn't understand why people were protective of there departments and wanted to be so close especially as anyone who caused issues was chucked off the ship.

They walked into the lab, and Finn did a quick scan. "Nothing looks out of place, but we'll need to check around a bit more thoroughly." He bent down to get a better look under the bench tables. "If you wouldn't mind starting over there," he pointed, "with the storage lockers."

Rueben didn't say anything just started opening the huge storage lockers. He opened the first one and found it full of bare shelves, but the second one held a few items from the storage hold they had found. Maybe if they could sell a few items they could do the ship up a little and outfit it. "Nothing!" he called.

"Me either," Finn straightened from where he'd been checking some of the larger cabinets. It sounded like Talon might not want to be found, so he was checking just about anywhere large enough to hold the man. "You've checked the medical lab already?" he wondered out loud. "It's technically a lab, but it's more under the purview of medical. It's sort of a...shared resource, and he would definitely have access to it." He doubted that was a viable hiding place, though. There were other staff members for medical, and a limited space. The science department was woefully understaffed, and had multiple labs basically laying fallow.

Rueben raised an eyebrow. That was a given that the Medical lab had been searched especially as Mott had been looking for medical equipment to look into the sickness.

"Yes... Mott was looking for equipment there I am sure that he would have mentioned Talon on there." Rueben assured letting out a sneeze and a string of expletives in Russian at the sneeze. He couldn't be getting sick either.

"Mott," Finn spat it out. Just the word turned his stomach. At least he hoped that's all it was. "I wouldn't trust him to find his ass with both hands and a map, but I'll cross that off the list. Astrometrics is nearby. That's probably a good one to search since it's generally kept pretty dark so your eyes can become more light sensitive. It'd be easy to hide in all that dimness, though. Let's hit that one next." He started for the door then asked, "Do we know why he disappeared? It might help to figure out where he ran to if we knew what he was running from."

"He was looking as to why you astrometrics officer is at deaths door." Rueben said still surprised that this ship had a newest concept on but the previous owner had some strange ideas on.

"If he's got astrometrics on his mind already," Finn mused, "then that would be a place he might end up. Come on, sir. There's a ladder just outside this lab. Astrometrics is one deck below us." Finn led the way out into the corridor. He started to climb down the ladder. "This is faster than going all the way down to the turbo lift." His head had begun to ache again. It was coming in waves, but the tide seemed to be moving in fast. He began to rethink taking ladders from here on in today.

"Why is there another way to access that compartment?" Rueben wondered thinking that maybe Talon did have astrometrics on his mind, it would be nice if Talon realised that Dixaho would be a much better choice than his current one.

"Oh, the ladders?" Finn stepped off on the correct deck. "Most ships have them. These older ships didn't have turbolifts every time you turn around, so they just made it faster to go up or down just a level or two. The newer ships, they're mostly behind the bulkheads. Those ships usually have families, so they don't want kids falling down them."

They reached Astrometrics, and the door slid open...well, the left half of it did. Finn made a mental note to mention it to Engineering. They entered the dimly lit laboratory. "Give yourself a moment for your eyes to adjust." A thought struck him, "We should get the internal sensors working again."

Rueben frowned a little. "I meant more along the lines of why isn't it on the schematics." Rueben didn't have the heart to tell the younger man would he actually knew about ships. Most people just knew him currently as this cool and aloof presence that appeared randomly to inspect work or person. "It is very new in here." He finally settled on.

"Oh," Finn's brow knit. "Not sure why it wouldn't be on the schematics. Maybe it was part of a refit, and we don't have the updated schematic. This class was in service for decades. Lots of stuff was probably changed. if we have a slightly out of date schematic, that could do it." His eyes had adjusted by that point, so Finn began looking around the lab. The equipment wasn't the most current, but it was surprisingly passable. Representations of the nearby stars twinkled gently in the holographic tank at the center of the lab. It wasn't enough light to really brighten the room, but it helped. And the dimness actually felt good to Finn's poor, aching eyes.

"She's had many refits since she was Starfleet. Maybe I could get Engineering to create new schematics." Rueben mused icily as he ran a hand along the holographic display watching the shadows the created.

Finn nodded. The captain was clearly upset about something, but Finn was scientist, not a counselor. "That would probably come in handy. If we ever needed to do emergency repairs or something, I'd hate to find any big surprises if I had to pull up a deck plate for some repair or such. I bet most of the crew would agree."

"Do you know much about your fellow crew members?" The Captain wondered finally as he started to move around checking the darkness for the missing Doctor.

"Mott's an ass. The Betazoid twins seem like good people. Beyond that, I haven't spent more than a few minutes with most of the crew except you. Other than Doctor Ass, though, everyone's seemed nice, competent, friendly. Have they been with you long?"

“You are the Doctor need to sort out whatever your issues are out.” Rueben said bluntly as he knocked his leg on his shoulder. "Twins... Oh Jeassaho and Leiddem." Rueben realised that he was speaking of the Kea siblings. “They aren’t twins just siblings. I’ve known Jeassaho awhile.” He said hoping to leave it like that but not many people did they usually wanted to know more.

"Bolians don't like me," Finn shrugged. "Never have. I didn't do a damned thing to him...yet. You saw him. The first words out of his mouth to me were attacks. I don't know what the problem is, and I didn't start it, but I can damn well end it." He knew he sounded sulky; he hated that about himself, but it happened a lot when he was really working on a good grudge. It probably wasn't the best position to take with his boss, though. He decided to change the subject. "Jeassaho was very nice to me the other night. I've not been feeling all that well, and she was very warm and comforting. Leiddem, though...well, Jeassaho didn't seem to have much use for him, so she gave him to me. He seems to now be questioning my ownership." He shrugged again, trying not to laugh, "Slaves...what can you do, right? I'll see if his sister has any suggestions."

Rueben raised an eyebrow at the other man’s outburst. It was beyond normal the atmosphere between the pair but he had seen in before Bolians and redheads. Maybe Mott felt the same about Dixoho, it made him feel a little uneasy that the young woman had been left in his care now. He would have to go back and check on her as soon as possible. “Jeassaho is someone special.” Rueben murmured finally as he felt his jealousy rise for a moment. It was all he could say, the button had been pressed.

OFF::

Rueben Gregnol
Captain
SS Mary Rose

Robert "Finn" Bek
Science Chief
SS Mary Rose