First Time Meeting

Posted on Sun Dec 9th, 2012 @ 7:44pm by Admiral Deela T'Lar & Lieutenant Vid-Lotilija

1,796 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 80 - Outpost
Location: Vadm T'Lar's Office
Timeline: Before The Party

Now that they were back, Deela wanted to meet some of the new crewmembers. The first one on her list was the Chief Science Officer.

"Vice Admiral T'Lar to Lieutenant Vid-Lotilija. Please meet me in my office at your convenience." She closed the comm and read Vid-Lotilija's bio while she waited to hear from her.

Vid-Lotilija was still shaken by last mission. Right now she was honestly questioning a wisdom of returning to duty. It was evident that Starfleet really don't believe her that she don't remember anything. Tests they gave her showed she have a knowledge needed to return to duty and it was a proof for them that she must be able and capable.

Hearing the call Vid-Lotilija stood up from roaming through her belongings and putting few of the pictures down to the table, went to the terminal and tapped the comm. "On my way, I'll be with you as soon as possible." She tapped few buttons and checked for the position of the office and after few moments, exit the quarters, look left and right and after a shrug. "Computer, show me the way to Admiral T'Lar's Office." Following yellow line reached the office in something over 10 minutes, checking chrono she thought 'This place is huge!'

Deela stood up and went to the door. When it opened, she was surprised to see Vid-Lotilija there, "Hi, come on in and have a seat." She sat down and waited for Vid-Lotilija to do the same, "Thank you for coming to promptly. I thought while we had some time, that I'd get to know some of the new crewmembers on the base. So how are you doing?"

"Hard to say, it actually depends on what you are asking. It takes time to form connections and get to know people, so being aboard for just a few days I believe I'm doing fine. Being me, that's another story; trust me, it's not easy being in my skin!" She furrowed her brow and shrugged. "I'm slowly getting used to be in my skin."

"Good. I'm glad to hear that." She sat back into her chair, "I've been reading your Starfleet record. You've had quite a rough life, haven't you?"

"I did. Life is hard, it's full of risks. That's why it's worth living. Part of my life I do remember, don't seem so rough as the part I don't, Ma'am. In a way I can't say it was so bad all together." She shook her head shrugging. "Do I make any sense?"

"Yes you do." She paused for a moment, "I noticed that we have something in common. We've both buried our husbands. My husband was killed by the Gorn. By the time I got to him, it was too late. He said a few words to me then died in my arms. I was also engaged to a man but he was also killed. I have to say that I respect you. I don't know how you are able to hold it together. Losing the loves of my life, was bad enough but you've lost even more, your family. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't see my kids."

Vid-Lotilija trembled. Strange thought suddenly crossed her mind. 'What if I did that, well my mind did that to protect me? As long as I don't remember them truly I will not miss them so much.' Noticing worried look from a hybrid woman Vid-Lotilija chuckled. "I'm sorry, you made me think of something unusual. I don't actually miss them, you know."

"Oh? No, I didn't know that." She didn't see that coming.

"I do miss my oldest son, but he can come if he wants and we can and do talk. Those I can't visit or who can't visit me are my children I had during the time I don't remember." She was shaking her head, still mulling the thought in her mind.

"I wasn't aware that you have some memory loss. Have you tried to do something to remember that time? Maybe a mind meld, hypnosis or something?"

"E v e r y t h i n g!" Vid-Lotilija said that slowly to make point of of the point. "Since I'm here on probation, here as here in Starfleet, my memory loss was very suspicious to everyone; Starfleet Medical, Central Command and of course Intelligence. They all probed me, tested, checked, interrogated. Nothing helped." She chuckled. "Believe it or not I actually had fun. It was interesting watching all those people trying to do something. But you wanted to hear what happened, right?"

"I don't really remember what happened, but here I have a log from the accident." She gave Admiral a data crystal and waited for her to check it on her terminal.

(Log)

Vid-Lotilija uploaded to padd everything she could find about this new cloaking and reading it she went to holodeck. Apparently there was very little new information on the technology and its usage since she was reading about it last time in Romulan Science journal her husband was subscribed to. Back in days she was completely uninterested in the idea and technology and now she regretted it.

After working on the idea and updating the knowledge from the databanks with what she still remembered adding the information discussed by her “brain trust”, she finally had something substantial to start testing. She spent several hours trying to get more information when realized she may not do much on her own.

Vid-Lotilija returned to her quarters and ordered heavy meal.

'I did it again! Why am I eating so wrong? Why can’t I think of food in regular intervals to can eat less?'

Despite knowing how bad it is for her, Vid-Lotilija still eat everything she ordered and it soon wore on her making her lay down for just a minute or two... or few... hours.

She awoke with a start.

"Of course, how else it would be such advantage if not to first hide the number of ships and second, give them a chance to regenerate and repair. Did they solve the problem of seeing outside the conduit? Can they control the time inside it?" She took off the clothes she wore and sweat in and took fast sonic shower, then getting clean uniform went to Holosuite. It was obvious somebody was using it in the meantime, but her program was available and ready and she run it again.

After several unsuccessful attempts she managed to create artificial wormhole and get inside. The success and the beauty of the place together made her scream of joy.

'So I actually may be right.'

"Computer, make a log of this test and add the explanation: What you’re looking at is the inside of the artificial wormhole. It’s small and short and from everything I could gather, that’s what we’re dealing with."

She made few changes in the test and moved through the wormhole to see how long it is and will it stay stable and how long.

"My main question was how and why it would be useful and still not dangerous as a technology for Romulan ships. We always used the idea that the wormholes were used to “power” the phase shift cloaking device. But having those two power devices on same ship would be very dangerous."

Again small change and the wormhole ended, she tested a possibility to enter same corridor again, but despite all attempts it would not let from neither sides and soon collapsed.

"So what if this is what we’re dealing with, not the power source, but wormhole as a conduit for which is needed huge amount of energy just to open it? Inside you can hide long enough to make small repairs and regenerate the shields or replace shield emitters. It’s even better than being just hidden as standard cloaking provided it. What if; ..." She shuddered. "...if they found how to control the time inside and can spend more time inside then it passed in real space, so can make much more repairs before returning to fight?

'I have to talk to somebody about this, to lot of people actually.'

She called for an arch and mindlessly still thinking of her find walked out the ship. Vid-Lotilija realized her mistake the moment she was pulled away from the ship. For a few moments she felt great, floating through the wormhole, but then her hands and face started to burn and she tried to scream. Skin on her hands was white, dry and started to peel, after all she was walking the open space, and then her lungs started to hurt so bad... safeties turned on within seconds, but those seconds were far too long. Last that she heard before losing consciousness was computer alarm.

'Thank you, Creator, for small mercies.'

(End of Log)

"When I awoke from coma after the surgeries I didn't remember anything of my life since I left Federation after my University time on Regulus." Vid-Lotilija shrugged.

Deela sat there for a moment, thinking about what she just learned, "I don't know what to say. It's very interesting though. This is definitely one for the books."

"Thank you." Vid-Lotilija didn't really know what to say about it. "The research is interesting, to be honest. I have quite a number of logs, but also a problem understanding some of them. See, the part of knowledge I used is coming is from my life in Romulan space; knowledge I don't have now. But I plan to seek my personal logs and seek the answers. On the other hand, who knows, I may just wake up one day remembering everything." She shrugged smiling.

"You never know. It could happen. I wish you luck." Deela observed her for a moment, "I don't know if you heard but I'm throwing a little party today. I sent you an invite. It'll be a good way to get to know some of the crewmembers."

"Thank you for invitation, it'll be great to meet people...especially in less formal way. This mission literally jump on me from a shadow, I was so completely unprepared that it was over before I figured out what is going on." Vid-Lotilija knew that this type of honesty was not so good with your commanding officer, but she was taught her whole life, at least the part she remembered, to always say what is on her mind. "the only officer I met was Commander Coleman who greeted me few hours before the briefing."

"Well then, what a better way to get to know everyone but at a gathering, right?" She stood up, "Looking forward to seeing you there. I guess that's all. You're dismissed."

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