Patrolling the Labs

Posted on Tue Nov 8th, 2022 @ 12:14am by Lieutenant Commander Thy'lissa Shan & Senior Chief Petty Officer Mason Malone

Mission: Scylla and Charybdis
Location: USS Avalon - Near the Labs
Timeline: MD-04 (after Labs Away Team)
800 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Pushing aside the minor discomfort of the strange environmental buzzing still afflicting the back of her mind, Thy'lissa had elected to 'escort' the security officer doing a quick survey of the deck outside of the main labs. Joining him had a number of benefits: making sure he had a partner to keep him safe if anything strange went down, but also it meant escaping the potential minefield that was the Chief Science Officer versus the Chief Intelligence Officer. As much as it would be entertaining, she was also the ranking officer present and that would mean she'd have to play 'mother'.

"Do you have siblings, Chief Malone?" she asked, making conversation while they moved. "The two Lieutenants...they remind me a little of my sisters. Bickering a lot, despite having much in common."

Mason smiled knowingly, without looking up. "Yes ma'am," he answered as he moved, taking sweeps with his tricorder. "I am the youngest of five, I have four older sisters." Now, he looked up, briefly. "Do you?" He knew Andorians were often an only child, though there were exceptions. His gaze returned as something caught his attention and he gestured ahead to indicate their direction.

"Two younger. And an older brother," she replied. "My parents sought gene therapy at an earlier life stage. They were quite fortunate." Her eyes traced around in the dim light of the semi-dead starship, wishing her antennae would work a little more normally. "My sisters were very similar in temperament, and quite passionate about sharing their views. Not unlike our colleagues in the other room."

"My oldest sister raised all of us." He chuckled. "With three Sisters, should i sympathize with your brother?" He watched her for a moment, then looked back at his readings. "There's something odd up ahead, but I'm not sure what I'm reading." He paused. "You're second officer right? But, what is your area of expertise? What do you do, when not in charge?"

"Slowly..." she noted, allowing him to cautiously advance. "I'm an Engineer," she added, in response to his other ice-breaking question. "Specialist in propulsion systems and field theory. So while I can fix your toaster, it might end up flying away with your bread in the end."

Acknowledging her approval with a minute nod, Mason slowly advanced, keeping his phaser on hand as he switched between looking at his readings, and what might be up ahead. He chuckled lightly at her statement even though he felt the tension of a possible situation up ahead. Experience told him to be careful. "What made you switch to command?" he asked, lowering his voice a little, just in case.

"The Captain," she answered. "I was assistant chief engineer on the Lakota. We served together for several years - he asked me to come with him when he was promoted." She palmed her own phaser, peering into the corridor ahead and checking her own tricorder. "Strange. If I had to guess, I'd say we're looking at the outside of a containment field. But...it's out-of-phase with the rest of the ship. Centered somewhere a few decks away."

"Then we should investigate it," Mason suggested, "they'll be busy back there for a while yet... I wonder why it was erected and what it's keeping inside. How can it be out of phase though?" He turned his head to look at her, studying her for a moment. "Exciting, isn't it?" He smiled, wondering if perhaps conversing in Andorian might help break some tension. He sure could use the brush up, so he decided to switch. "Do you think we'll be able to get inside?"

Thy'lissa waved a hand. "It's centralised near the Bridge. The Commander's away team should have a better idea than we do," she said. "As I said, it's out-of-phase with normal matter, so in theory it shouldn't affect any of us negatively. Strange that someone would set something like that up though." She pondered that for a moment. "Something for Lieutenant Ryan to decipher. Shall we return to the labs?"

Though he was insanely curious to investigate the mentioned containment field, but their finding did need to be reported back to the group. Still his hesitation was clear when he answered with a short 'yes ma'am' before turning back towards where they'd come from.

The ship around them shuddered hard.

"That felt like an impact..." Thy'lissa gasped, holding onto the nearest wall for stability. "Come on, let's get back to the others and find out what's going on."

Mason cursed under his breath as he lost his footing and ended up landing hard on his hands and knees, a painful jolt shooting up his arms. He scrambled back to his feet and nodded, waiting for her to find her footing then preceding her as they moved back.