How to Make an Omelette

Posted on Sat Aug 13th, 2022 @ 1:58am by Lieutenant Alexis Ryan & Lieutenant Myra Sh'rillil
Edited on on Sun Aug 14th, 2022 @ 1:15pm

Mission: Scylla and Charybdis
Location: Science Offices
Timeline: MD03
1990 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

"Myles, bring me that last set of projections again. Actually..."

Stood with her weight propped against the heels of both hands, bent over her preferred work station in the heart of Athena's slowly awakening Science hub, Alexis frowned as she amended her last orders.

"...bring me the last few sets. I need to isolate this before we try any sort of sensitive data transfer."

It was, of course, a lot of what writing code was, especially something this delicate. Getting the framework down, running it through simulations, extracting the necessary data to refine and optimise. It wasn't glamorous, and it certainly wasn't exciting in the traditional sense, but there was satisfaction that favoured a certain kind of personality. Alex had realised at a young age that any task that required intense, dedicated fixation was the best remedy for restlessness and agitation. A much younger version of herself had been known to have a tendency to fly off the handle, to dig both hands into the grit and grime of absolute risk for no other reason than to take the edge off the sensation of feeling trapped. Military life had given her the discipline to channel that energy more productively.

That didn't mean to say that she loved this part of the process much, though.

Pulling up the schematics Kane had supplied his team with, Ryan frowned at the intricacies of the the Avalon's operating system and felt the tiniest twinge of envy that she hadn't been part of whatever team had worked on it. She'd been proud enough of recent pursuits but if this was what Starfleet was capable of producing, Ryan could definitely see a future where Research and Development reaffirmed its temptation to lure her away from active starship duty. It was a lot to take in, however, and she had roughly half an hour before she was expected to knock heads with Operations and Engineering to finalise their plan for preservation and salvage. They were expecting a secure means of extracting the stricken ship's logs, and a decently-researched summary of how the heck the Avalon's sensors worked.

She wasn't close to having either ready.

Myra lifted her head from the station she was sitting at and looked around. She smiled slightly at the science officer’s order and slowly got up, stretching. They’d been at this for a while now, and while she was glad to help, she’d been craving pancakes for the past three hours. She chuckled slightly to herself, some silly image of a cartoon pancake running across her mind, chased by a syrup bottle. She made her way to where Myles had worked for several hours and picked up the P.A.D.D. checking to make sure it contained the required information.

She made her way to Ryan, fingers expertly bringing up the required projections. “Myles has been gone for at least an hour.” She handed her fellow officer the P.A.D.D. with a smile. “I do believe everything is in here though.”

For a moment, Alex stared at the Andorian from beneath a furrowed brow. To say that it was unlike the Science Chief to lose track of the pulse of a situation so easily was mostly accurate, save for a sporadic tendency to become so absorbed in a problem that she forgot to clock-out at the end of a duty shift. In this case, that was partially at fault, though the bulk of the responsibility would rest in the culture of the Science Department and the swiftly-approaching reality check that was in store for the staff, who were apparently very used to a casual sense of anonymity. Crewmen did not just leave an active project without permission, no matter when their shift was due to end. Not on Alexis Ryan's watch.

She took the PADD from Myra with a vague sense of dissatisfaction that had nothing to do with the Operations officer and averted her annoyance to scan the data. Whatever the projections told her, it wasn't what Alex wanted to see, and the PADD ended up landing with a clatter against a work station, tossed aside whilst the Lieutenant marshalled her composure with a protracted inhalation of air.

Alex raised her eyebrows at the younger woman.

"Any luck deciphering the sensor schematics?" In a perfect world, she would have had a team of specialists scouring the information they'd been provided to build an adequate picture of what the Avalon was capable of. Ryan was fast coming to the conclusion that, aside from outliers like Bailey, her staff consisted mostly of personnel with very limited experience outside the current, orthodox sensor suite. Borrowing Sh'rillil had been Kane's suggestion. "We'll need to give Bailey something to work with once we get there." Actually activating Avalon's systems was not a given, of course, but if the ship was in any way functional without the need for disassembly, assigning a skeleton crew to drag her clear was at least an option. Ryan had already told Leah to pack her bags.

Myra nodded slightly, antennae leaning slightly towards the science officer. Curiosity was attempting to push itself in the forefront, threatening to muddle in her present task. She forced herself to glance towards her work station, reigning herself on track, and leaving the lieutenant’s work to her. “Actually, yes.” She looked back at her team leader. “I’m nowhere near finished, but I am making significant progress.” She smiled slightly. “I can show you what I have so far, but I doubt it will be of any use until I’ve completed.”

As someone with her own checkered past, Alexis had skimmed through the Andorian's service record with only a faintly quirked eyebrow. As a Starfleet officer, she understood why the other woman's transgressions so early in her intended career had created the ripples they had, but as a former-Maquis, Alexis would have been remiss to ignore the fact that innovation formed the basis of all necessary progress. Eagerness could be tempered; a willingness to push beyond the status quo was not as easily imparted.

"Give me a general gist," she offered with a faint smile. "Engineering will be responsible for extracting the hardware if it comes to it, but if there's any chance we might have to make use of the Avalon's systems, I don't want any surprises that we could have avoided."

Myra nodded. It was one of the things she loved about fleet life. Things were rarely left to chance or hopeful thinking. People trained and prepared for as many possibilities as possible. In her limited experience, this was why Starfleet was the best; people knew how to act when missions went sideways. “At first I tried following standard procedure for this type of system. It is, after all, fleet code… or so I thought.” She frowned and bit her lower lip lightly. “Ok, so… it's still somewhat the kind of code we’d expect, but not entirely. A bit like someone was making waffles, but realized they didn’t have any all purpose flour left, so they used buckwheat instead. It’ll work, but it tastes a little funny.” She paused for a moment, trying to ascertain if her colleague followed her train of thought.

“A lot of what I’ve been seeing is, well… buckwheat. It's a sensor suit all right, but not how we usually make them.” She looked back towards her work station for a moment, as if looking at it helped bring back details. “Whoever has been building this, they are either about to create the newest fad in culinary dishes, or they’re about to return their chef’s apron.” She frowned at herself, realizing just how unhelpful her answer had actually been.

“I used a few tricks I learned working on data analysis, and it has helped give me a general idea. Whatever that suit is built to do, it’ll do it much much better than anything we currently have. Or it’ll make you a bad omelet. Not sure yet. It seems to be using particle bouncing in ways I didn’t think we could.” She shook her head. “Or I’m reading way too much in what little I’ve managed to decipher so far, and I’m speaking nonsense.” She shook her head again. “I’d much rather wait until I get a full image of everything.”

Ryan, somewhat stunned into silence, took a moment to decide if there had been anything in the Andorian's summary that sounded remotely like scientifically-backed extrapolation. Quite a lot of it had sounded like lunch, which only served to remind the Chief that she'd been at this long enough to have skipped at least one meal. Possibly two. Frowning faintly, Alex considered the necessity of impatience at this point and slowly released her exasperation as a silent, resigned sigh.

"Keep at it then, but..." Alex screwed her eyes shut for a moment and then relaxed her expression. "Let's not include any omelette-making in our official reports."

“Hum… of course.” The andorian frowned, her antenna leaning forward, reaching at the science officer. “I don’t believe I’ve ever used such colorful language in a report. They are meant to be dry and to the point.” She nodded to herself. She’d expected the food analogies had been a bit much, but… it was often easier for her to think of things as recipes or gymnastic routines.

Myra shrugged lightly and headed back to her station and looked down at her work. Now that she thought about it, an omelet would be pretty nice right about now. She glanced back at the other woman in the room and sighed. She should probably at least finish up with this part before she headed out. She touched a few keys on the terminal and looked at the numbers. Or maybe pancakes. Both? Omelet pancake?

Myra grumbled to herself. She’d never be able to concentrate properly now. “I think I’m gonna grab a quick bite. I’ll be back in a few.” She turned and started towards the door but stopped. She turned her head back. “Want me to bring you back something?”

Ryan's first impulse was annoyance. In her earlier years, that might have been her first reaction too but age and experience had tempered the scientist and taught her to breathe through initial provocation. A glance at the chronometer garnered a secondary frown and, once again, Alex realised just how long they'd been at it.

"Actually, let's take this to the messhall." Picking up a PADD, Ryan tapped at her console and immediately the holo-projection faded. "Maybe some coffee will clear up some of these inconsistencies."

Myra paused for a moment, seemingly waiting on the science officer. In reality she was a little surprised. In the short time she’d been working in the lab, Ryan had not struck her as the kind to fraternize with others much. But then again, it had been less than a day. Myra frowned and chastised herself for making assumptions about others. This was neither how she’d been raised, or how she’d chosen to live her life. Assumptions are the termites of relationships after all.

Myra looked back at her co-worker and smiled. “I’m sure it’ll perk you right up! I personally prefer tea, but I have to admit the smell of brewing coffee is heavenly.” She stepped outside the room and waited for Ryan at the door.

The only deviation Alexis made was to let the crewman on front desk duty know where to find her, which was technically unnecessary since she'd been officially off-duty well over an hour ago. Tucking her PADD under her arm, the Science Chief cast a final glance over her department, which gave the appearance of function and efficiency at least on a surface level, and then offered Myra a faint smile.

"After you."