Space Egg

Posted on Mon Feb 21st, 2022 @ 3:22pm by Lieutenant Commander Finnley Keating VII & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko & Senior Chief Petty Officer Mason Malone

Mission: With Gleaming Eyes
Location: Finn's Quarters
Timeline: 2100 MD3
2894 words - 5.8 OF Standard Post Measure

After assembling the dampening field in the mines, Finn beamed back to the Athena. Her normally brisk pace was replaced with a slower stroll as she walked towards her quarters. The couch looked to be a welcomed reprieve as she entered her somewhat sparsely decorated living space and Finn sank into it with a longing desire for peace, but peace didn’t come. Thoughts rotated through her mind. Theories about the orb they had discovered and worries about her friends that had caught the virus on the planet. Where did the strange power device come from? What was its real purpose? Would her friends survive the deadly virus? All questions with zero answers.

Finn lazed around. She tried listening to music or reading a book, yet nothing quelled the constant questions tugging at her mind. Not even a serving of her family’s favorite fish tacos that Finn kept programmed into the replicator. With a sigh of frustration, she picked up a padd on the side table and pulled up all of the data from their exploration earlier that day. She’d find the answers here, she was sure of it. The only problem being the immense amount of data that they had collected. It would take weeks to work through it herself.

“Keating to Leiko,” Finn reached out to her friend on the surface. "I don't suppose you feel well enough to peruse some data do you?" He was likely supposed to be resting, but one could read and rest at the same time right?

Xavier watched as Jerant napped quietly in the corner. He couldn't help but wonder how the other man appeared to be so calm when inside Xavier's head was a hurricane of emotions and anguish. He wondered for the umpteenth time that day if his telepathic senses would return, and if so, to what degree? Would he ever be the same again? And how long would he have to stay on this planet, in this shuttle, cooped up like a lab rat just waiting for the experiment to end, or death? At this point whichever one came sooner. He wasn't good when he had nothing to do and even worse when he was trapped inside a metal box.

He was just contemplating joining Jerant, when Finn's voice came over the intercom, like an angel of mercy. "Yes! Please, give me something to do," he replied with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, which at this point was a lot.

Finn raised an eyebrow at the curiously excited response from the ops officer. Was he really that bored? "Hmmm, now that I think about it, I'm not sure. You should probably be resting, you sound a little off. I can handle this on my own. You just focus on getting better." Luckily Xavier couldn't see the wide grin on her face as she teased him.

Xavier groaned. "Don't test me Keating," he said in mock anger. "You have no idea how hard it is being trapped down here. What do you need?"

She chuckled before sending some files down to the shuttle where Xavier was residing. "See if you can sift through some of those files and find anything of interest. Long story short, we found this power orb in the mines. It generates a significant amount of energy and it looks like it's using a combination of the power they're tapping from the core and elements related to those space cows we ran into a while back. I'm looking for anything that might clue us in on where the orb came from. Did they invent it themselves or did it come from somewhere else? And what is it really intended for? I assume the Cardassians know about it, but why didn't they mention it?" Finn spewed out a whole list of questions before pausing.

"You know, now that I think about it, we could probably use one of the investigations officers to help us through this too. I'm gonna see if Mason is free to join in." Finn announced before sending a message to Senior Chief Petty Officer Malone. He had a different background and might notice something that she or Xavier wouldn't. However, it was after their shift, and based on their last non-work encounter, Finn wasn't sure he would accept an invitation to her quarters to read through piles of reports.

Having nothing much else to do, Mason answered the request and took a quick jog down. "You needed help with something?" He asked as he was let inside. "This is just work, right?"

Xavier smiled as Finn sent over the information, it was like all of his birthdays had come at once. He scrolled through the data, barely listening to what Finn was saying about Mason. An orb that was drawing power from the core but also generating its own power. Somehow it was related to the space cows and the Cardassians, not to mention the poor Metis people and this bloody illness. There was enough raw data here to keep him busy for a while, and it couldn't have been timed better, he really needed the distraction.

It was only Mason's words that cause Xavier to pause and take notice. "Just work?" He repeated the words in a tone of pure accusation. "What else would it be? Are you two...you know?"

"No!" Mason answered, perhaps just a little too quickly and a little too forcefully. "No... we're not," he added, sighing softly to himself. "Hi Finn... feeling any better?"

"I'm fine, luckily I never caught the virus. Not so lucky for our friend down on the surface," she pointed her thumb in the general direction of the planet, referring to their friend who was still stuck on the surface. "And no Xavier. Mason & I are just friends. I'm pretty sure I've given up on finding anything more than that on this ship," Finn chuckled, still somewhat embarrassed by her previous after-work engagement with Mason.

"Anyway," Finn shrugged and gestured towards the couches and table in the center of the living area. The coffee table stood covered in a random assortment of treats ranging from potato chips to pop rocks, an ancient family favorite. "Make yourself at home! I made snacks," she smiled and plopped into her chair. "I was trying to just chill out after a long day, but it was impossible with that unsolved mystery still rattling my brain. So I thought maybe we could work together to figure out what that orb down there is really for."

"I thought Fenn had the hots for ya," Mason drawled, shaking his head. "and I meant Xavier sorry... Xav are you feeling any better?" He too flopped down in a chair. "I thought that we established it was some kind of explosive without something to ignite it?"

"Katayo Fenn has the hots for everyone," Xavier said as he rolled his eyes. "He's pretty much the walking embodiment of lust. If you just ignore him he quickly gets bored and moves on," Xavier added, knowing full well that the young Trill didn't really get bored that quickly. "And thank you Mason, I'm surviving the best way I can."

Xavier pressed some more buttons and pulled up all the data analysis of the orb that Finn and her team had found at the mining site. "An explosive?" Xavier repeated. "I don't think so, the power readings are too erratic. Normally, explosives need precise calculations, cause they tend to... y'know explode. No, I think we need to think completely out of the box for this thing, it defies standard definition, but it must be something. Finn have you tried cross-referencing the radiation from the mine with a similar known power source?"

"I haven't, but let me run an analysis and see what we come up with," Finn set up an algorithm as Xavier had suggested and let it run in the background. She scooped up a handful of popcorn before leaning back into the chair and continuing to look at the other data they had available.

"On the subject of Fenn," she continued the conversation between bits of popcorn, "I couldn't care less if he 'has the hots' for me or not. For one thing, I never date anyone within my own department. Even if he wasn't in engineering, his lack of discipline or dedication to anything outside of the pursuit of whatever fancies his latest interest is appalling. Not really the type I typically go for. What about you two? Anything interesting in the love department for you guys these days?"

Mason shook his head. "Still hoping Kevan comes around. I get that he feels he likes girls, but that's a far cry from the signals he keeps giving me. I'm at a loss at the moment though...it's frustrating."

"Maybe you should try dating Fenn. At least he knows what he likes, which is everything," Finn laughed.

Giving a choked laugh, Mason shook his head. "No," he replied firmly, and said nothing more about it. "What about you Xavier? Any luck with anyone?"

Xavier smiled. "Tey comes across as shallow, hell he loves people to think he's shallow for some reason, but he has hidden qualities, I just wish he'd let people see them more. And tell me to mind my own business Mason but I think you need to stop running after Kev and wait for him to come to you. If he does have feelings for you, you're only going to push him away by coming on so strong."

Xavier thought about the question directed to himself. He turned to look at the other Betazoid, sleeping in the aft of the shuttle. He turned back to face the screen at the two people watching him. "No, no luck with anyone. Though I am too busy dying to worry about my love life at this point in time." And as if on cue, he started coughing and had to have a gulp of water to settle himself. "See?" He asked, slightly red in the face.

Mason shrugged. "After that botched dinner, I haven't really spoken to him. He knows how I feel and I'm not in the habit of pressing matters. But I can't just bury how I feel." Concern creased his brow as he watched the man recover himself. "Yeah you focus on staying alive.. anyway..." He gestured to Finn to take the lead. "The orb?"

"This radiation analysis should be done in just a minute. So far I'm not getting anything more than what we discovered in the mines. The radiation pattern looks to be a combination of what you would expect given the input, the mined core materials, and something similar to that space cow goo. We'll have more details here soon," Finn eyed the center table once more for something to nibble on. "Sorry Xav, I should've asked sooner. Do you want anything?" She pointed towards the assortment of goodies that he could see from his viewscreen on the surface. "I can have anything you want beamed down."

Xavier shook his head. "We have a working replicator, in fact, if I eat any more I'm going to need an entirely new set of uniforms made." He was happy for the change of subject, work was the distraction he needed. Contemplating ones own mortality really was a tiring exercise. "The space cows really were something weren't they," he said, thinking back to their previous mission. "I have never seen space dwelling creatures like them before and probably won't again. The joys of space travel, every day is something unique..." He trailed off, lost in his own thoughts, then, as if hit by a bolt of lightning, he started tapping at the computer terminal, bringing up records from their last mission. "Finn, check the radiation analysis, does it match in any way to the background radiation that was surrounding the space cows?"

"Oh right, I keep forgetting that you're too good for the medical shelter so you set up camp in the shuttle," Finn teased. "The radiation isn't quite the same. The signatures are similar, but from what I'm seeing, this would have a longer decay rate." Her hand rested gently on her chin, deep in concentration, before a curious thought came to mind. "I didn't see any baby space cows when we last encountered them, did you?"

"If there are any, they were well hidden," Mason pointed out, "though there's still a great deal we don't know about them, do we? And they ate that stuff on those rings right? Generating some kind of field in return?" He scratched his head in thought. "What kind of field was it again? What if they're trying to recreate that here, but in an artificial way?"

Xavier's mind was racing. "Wait, recreate ... Finn, you don't think? Is that what we're seeing here?"

"Could it...could it possibly be..." Finn looked at Xavier with apprehensive amazement. "A baby space cow egg? There are some biological markers, but I'm not science or medical. We'd probably need to get someone to confirm."

Xavier's fingers flew over the controls as he stifled another cough. "It makes sense, the energy the space cows were giving off when we encountered their herd could indicate that they require equal or more amount of energy to gestate their eggs. The power from the planet's core would supply the Cardassians with the energy they needed for such a task. Can we get the science lab to look over this data, if we're right, we have a host of new issues to deal with."

"Wait a minute! Are you saying we have a potential baby cow here?" Mason asked, " shouldn't we return it to it's ah...parents..then?"

"We need to confirm our theory first, then we can think about returning it, if that's even possible," Xavier said.

"Let's see what NVeid is doing this time of night..." Finn said to no one in particular as she sent a message to the Romulan hybrid.

The Romulan's face appeared on the screen, his expression thoughtful. "Information available so far suggests that this is biological," he offered, but whether it's an egg I can't say with absolute certainty. If it is an egg, we need to make sure it's vital. There's no use in returning an unfertilized egg to a parent."

"How would we tell if it's vital?" Finn's asked with an apparent lack of medical knowledge.

"By taking scans. Either there is something alive in there or there isn't, if this is indeed an egg." The surgeon smiled patiently. "Your scans, did you notice any specific patterns? Something akin to a heartbeat?"

"There were electrical pulses, but I just discounted it as part of the power feed that was occurring from the planet's core to the...what are we calling this now? Baby space egg? That seems so impersonal. How about Benedict?" Finn thought it was a clever name, considering the delectable breakfast dish that was made with eggs. Though perhaps a bit morbid considering what the Cardassian's or Metis's ultimate plan might be involving the creature.

"Did you guys see any other patterns from Benedict?" She looked to Xavier and Mason.

"You named the egg?" Xavier asked with a look of pure shock on his face. "You know that's going to make it harder if we can't save this thing right?"

"We are going to save this thing. I mean, Benedict. We are going to save Benedict," Finn replied in a serious tone.

"Assuming there is something to save," Mason answered, "we've not exactly provided a suitable environment for it did we? We have to be realistic, if we'd known from the get go this was an egg, we would've treated it differently."

"Where is it now?" Nveid asked, as he glanced around the room. As he was displayed on a monitor however, he couldn't see the whole room, and he couldn't see Xavier.

"It's still in the mine Doctor," Xavier answered. "If Benedict is a baby space cow, we have three things to figure out; how to keep it alive, how to move it safely and return it back to its kind, and the security implications this will cause with the Cardassians and Metis. We also need to let the Captain and Commander know."

"Maybe we should talk to the Captain about going down there again and taking some medical scans too," Finn added. "Plus we can look specifically at what would be needed to move Benedict. If it's even possible." There was a short pause as she grabbed another snack from the center table. "Do you think the Captain is still up?"

"Possibly, but I think this can still wait until morning to tell him," Mason suggested, looking directly at the two screens. "Agreed?" he asked of the Betazoid OPS chief down planet.

"Agreed," Xavier said. "Keep me informed. I'll work on trying to move this thing whilst keeping it connected to some kind of high power source, hopefully I don't blow us all up."

"Sounds good," Finn agreed. "I'll inform the Captain in the morning and see if we can't get some more scans of Benedict then too. Thanks for the help Xav, and don't work too hard. I'm sure you could do with some rest too. Same to you NVeid. Have a good night!"