USS Vesta

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Revenge of the Nerds: Life Science Edition!

Posted on Wed Jul 29th, 2020 @ 12:08pm by Lieutenant Commander Nolan Marc & Lieutenant Asahi Kita

Mission: When the Bough Bounces
Location: Deck 10, Aft ("Ten Assward")
Timeline: MD-2
Tags: Nolan, Asahi
1368 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

It was yet another epic adventure in the life of a Starfleet science officer!

So far today, the astrometrics lab had successfully recorded the monumental finding that there were twenty particles of space dust per cubic meter in this area of the interstellar void. What this meant was subject of debate between orbital engineers and planetary geologists, mostly due to the fact that Vesta was in the middle of nowhere and there was nothing to do from a purely scientific perspective.

Then, not ten minutes ago, stellar cartography had gotten a request from the helm to verify charts for a heading that would take the ship to Sirius Station.

Now, ordinarily, a ship like the Vesta pulling into a Federation space station would be a matter of routine. Except, it seemed that the schedule had then arriving there in a matter of hours, which suggested there was a more specific purpose to the visit.

That was when the ship's rumor mill kicked into high gear.

The word on the playground was that there was a VIP coming on board. Rashane had heard it from Billy Corgan, whose mom worked with a woman whose husband was in the Operations division. Now, ordinarily, Nolan wouldn't have given this a second thought -- other than his first thought being to look up the records on Sirius Station to see what kind of toy stores and holo-suites might be there -- but then word started circulating that the VIP coming aboard was a Federation scientist.

And those were two words that would always get Nolan's attention.

But the question remained, just who was this mysterious mystery scientist? And why was Nolan only hearing about this through the rumor mill and not from Captain Darrow? For the answers to these questions and more! the boy would have to venture into the very heart of the Vesta rumor mill.

Ten Assward.

Plus, it was dinner time according to the ship's internal chronometer and Ten Assward was where Nolan usually ventured when he wasn't dining with Taran or the other children aboard the ship. There were always people here, which was a large draw for the Miri's Planet survivor. Gliding through the doors, sliding on the wheels recessed into the non-standard children's footwear that he wore with the uniform, the Okinawa Only was a flurry of motion as he slid on his heels over to one of the replicators.

"Computer, uh," the boy began, pausing there as he seemed out of breath. Was it normal for people to be out of breath striding into Ten Assward? Probably not, but Nolan moved at about ninety kilometers per hour. "Computer, I, uh, want pizza," the tawny-haired boy decided finally.

When in doubt, pizza out.

[ "There are two hundred forty-seven different entries for pizza." ]

"Pepperoni and mushroom," the boy uttered. That was his default for pizza. It was, like, standard pizza. "BIG SLICE!" the boy added, shifting into a decidedly not-inside-voice as he threw his hands up to give the replicator a visual with the gesture of just how big he was intending. "Like, New York pizza big slice," the boy clarified.

Then he paused. What did he want to drink? "And a bottle of ramune, original flavor, one degree centigrade," he amended, giving a firm and exaggerated motion of a nod as he did.

As the tray materialized with his healthy and nutritious dinner, which he was likely going to barely touch and then consume his body weight in Cheetos later, the boy set to the task of identifying a good source of information for fleshing out this mysterious mystery of mystical proportions!

And then his eyes fell upon Asahi. He was someone who seemed like he actually listened during briefings and those meetings where Commodore Minawara said a bunch of boring stuff that Nolan tended to tune out. If anyone knew what was really going on, it was probably Asahi.

"Is anyone sitting here?"

No, he didn't wait for an answer.

Instead, plopping down next to the Intel officer, Nolan put both legs in the chair so that he was standing on his knees in the seat and was closer to eye level with the man.

Getting information out of Asahi was going to requite poise. It was going to require polish. It was going to require that Nolan be subtle.

"So, so, like, what's..." the boy began, stuttering and then starting again as his brain seemed to be at least two steps in front of his tongue at all times. "Like, people are saying that there's this... this, like, scientist that's, like, he's... he's coming aboard at Sirius Station."

No, that was not much in the way of hello. This was, however, probably pretty normal in terms of a Nolan hello. "Is it an astrophysicist? Is it Sturk from the Vulcan Science Academy? It's Sturk isn't it? Or... or... or a... a planetary geologist! Is that it? Temporal mechanics?" the boy asked, his arms gesturing wildly as he added, "I'M SO EXCITED, WHAT KIND OF SCIENTIST IS IT!?"

For a moment, Asahi had an amused expression playing in his eyes as he continued to chew on the bite of khoresht-eh curry he had in his mouth. Then came the pause between Nolan's excitement and Asahi swallowing said curry, followed by a chuckle. "Doc Bathory? He's Denobulan," came the neutral reply. Which of course was not what Nolan was asking, but Asahi learned that he had to at least try to get that through to the young-minded scientist, especially when he was being so Nolan-style formal.

The boy's head came up at the drop of the name "Doc." His large, expressive eyes betrayed his anticipation. It was a Ph.D? What would their field be? Was it another cosmologist? Please let it be a cosmologist.

When Asahi noticed there were Mirans aboard and in high-ranking positions, he had his doubts. But now seeing Nolan and Jack was just part of the charm of the ship.

"He's a... age scientist, I think. Trying to figure out how to slow the affects of aging, so no. Not a Vulcan. That sounds like probably the least-Vulcan science ever."

At this point, Nolan was half-way out of his chair and very nearly on top of the table. With each word, Asahi seemed to draw the small boy in closer. Closer. Until...

"Ano... nani sore?"

Head craned to one side, the Okinawa boy just blinked over at the lieutenant -- who he was practically on top of at this junction in the conversation, such as it was. As the boy's mind seemed to slowly process this new information, the boy just blinked a second time as he echoed "Age... scientist?"

How did those two things even go in the same sentence?

Retreating back into the chair that he was perched upon like a frog, the tawny haired boy just uttered, "You mean, like, life sciences?"

"I... believe so." Aging had to do with life, after all. As far as Asahi was concerned, there was nothing wrong here. Matter of fact, there was so little wrong here that Asahi didn't see any need for him to pay more attention to much other than 'that's a Denobulan, he's not in Starfleet, and we're just escorting him somewhere harmless.' Which typically either meant the ship was going to crash into something or nothing of consequence was going to occur. But it did mean Asahi's position was going to be on the back burner, which meant he could catch up.

Which meant that it was Nolan who would have had to know all the information. Not him. "Unless the science of aging is suddenly something for archaeology, which it could I dunno, I think you're dealing with a scientist who studies life."

The Okinawa boy just blinked. Folding his arms down on the table, the boy hung his head for a moment. Then, flipping his hair from out of his eyes, looked back at Asahi. And very bluntly replied...

"Well, that's bullshit."

 

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