A Curious Development...

Posted on Sat Feb 1st, 2020 @ 9:58pm by Captain Alexander Zandusky

590 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Episode 103 - In The Darkest Days...
Location: Science Lab 5, Starbase 400
Timeline: MD02 - 2000 hours

[ON]

Davik stood in front of the newly sterilized mobile sample cabinets. Five of them were now full of quarantined and self-contained samples. After a moment of visual inspected of the nearly a hundred isolation capsules now resting in the mobile cabinets, his thoughts were interrupted by another officer; one who had just entered the science lab, "Excuse me. Mister....?"

Davik turned to find a middle-aged Trill standing, imperiously, near him. He had a PADD in his left hand and as Davik turned, the other man stopped speaking as he looked around the lab, at many samples that were now quarantined, and several others that were no longer viable. He took a deep breath, "What's happened here?"

The Trill scientist began walking around the room, checking samples, making notes on his PADD and muttering to himself.

Davik put his hands behind his back as he watched the man walk around the entirety of the the Exotic Samples area of the lab and responded, "The Biology Lab experienced a failure of containment force fields. The failure was linked to a power fluctuation by operations staff, but they have not been able to isolate the cause." Davik walked to a specimen table, one that he hadn't gotten around to transferring, while speaking, "Commander Coleman asked me to check on this lab and to take whatever measure I felt were necessary to secure the longevity and viability of the samples here."

Davik recognized the man in front of him. As a matter of responsibility he familiarized himself with the most senior members of the Sciences Department on Starbase 400 on the several day journey to the station. Commander Gelias Toleg, head of the Astrobiology division. He was an unjoined Trill, aged 45, who had turned down a number of assignments where he would be running his own Science Department, or research program, to remain the head of Astrobiology on Starbase 400.

The Trill scientist wheeled on Davik, "You didn't think to consult the person who runs this lab before you decided to tamper with sensitive experiments and samples?" He was visibly frustrated and angry. "I'm going to have to put you on report, Lieutenant...?"

Davik cocked his head slightly, this was not how he expected his first meeting with one of his new subordinates to go. "I am Lieutenant Junior Grade Davik Matthews, recently assigned as the Assistant Chief Science Officer of Starbase 400."

Toleg looked indignant for just a second before composing himself, "My apologies, sir. I've been working on some of these samples for nearly a year and my worry got the best of me."

Davik nodded and replied, "I also apologize for my part in that worry. However, I did check the handling notes for each sample before transferring them to isolation capsules. I had programmed the computer to send inventory updates to each member of the department who had one, or more, of their experiments transferred. As well as messages to those who experiments had been deemed too contaminated to salvage."

Toleg looked around and found a small cart with 3 or 4 samples that had been put in disposal containers, "Is that all that was lost in here?"

Davik nodded, "Indeed. It is all that was lost in this lab." He picked up the PADD he'd been keeping inventory on and added, "If you are able to assist me with the rest of the isolation and quarantining, it would be done sooner."

Toleg straightened himself and smiled, "I would, at that, sir."

Davik watched the other man for a moment before continuing his work.

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