Herding Goats
Posted on Friday 13 July 2018 @ 16:54 by Lieutenant JG Saren Barel & Captain John "Apollo" Barstow, M.D.
Mission:
Lost Souls
Location: USS Merlin Science Lab / Stellar Catography
Timeline: MD3 - 0900 Hours
1863 words - 3.7 OF Standard Post Measure
As he took the turbolift to deck five, Saren found himself reflecting on the meeting, which he was rather intrigued by. His fellow officers were an interesting group. He wondered if he would get along with any of them. To date it had been a difficult task to get along with his crew mates, primarily due to differences both with race and culture. He stepped out of his thoughts as the turbolift doors opened. He left and headed to the science labs.
He was rather disturbed by the state of the labs. There were few lights on and there didn't seem to be any crew present. That assumption was proven wrong as a voice called out.
"Do you need help?"
Saren turned and saw a human Ensign in a blue uniform. He was holding a bio case.
"I am Lieutenant Saren Barel, the new Chief Science Officer", Saren replied.
The Ensign looked him over curiously.
"Is there a problem Ensign?" Saren asked.
The Ensign shook his head and stammered, "Uh, no sir. You are just the first Romulan I have ever met. I am Ensign Tom Edwards."
Saren looked apprehensive as the man stuck out his hand. He still was quite comfortable with the human greeting custom of shaking hands, but he extended his and shook the Ensign's for as long as was considered socially acceptable.
"Where is the rest of the staff?" Saren asked.
Edwards chuckled and answered, "It is just you and me sir. Starfleet has sent more engineers than scientists, with this being a recovery mission and all."
"I suppose that is logical", Saren said. "So tell me, what are you working on?"
"Inventory sir", Edwards replied. "Not a lot. I hope you aren't planning on doing any gene analysis or DNA modelling as we do not have the proteins for creating a live simulation."
"No, I am researching goats", Saren said, somewhat sarcastically.
"Goats sir?" Edwards replied quizzically.
"No worries Ensign. I don't believe I will be starting a farm. Please continue conducting the inventory and then create the appropriate requisitions for the XO for us to have a fully supplied science lab."
"Yes, sir", Edwards replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise", Saren said. He wondered if the Ensign was being genuine or if he was just being polite. Only time will tell. Still, Saren smiled briefly before going into his office.
It took a few moments for his console to come on and he then said, "Computer, is my last query completed?"
"Affirmative. Displaying results."
Saren had requested the computer do a search on all references to the word goat and capra in all known languages in its databanks. Two stuck out to him. He was very pleased.
"Computer, load the following parameters into the stellar cartography system and bring online", he said, highlighting two results from his search.
"Unable to comply", the computer responded.
"Why not?" Saren asked.
"Power has not been restored to the stellar cartography lab."
Saren sighed and then tapped his commbadge, "Lieutenant Barel to Engineering."
After a moment a voice replied, "Go ahead."
"I need power in the stellar cartography lab", Saren said.
"I'm sorry sir, the lab has low priority right now."
"I am conducting research requested specifically by the Captain and I need to show him the results and I need the lab to do that."
"Sir, we have restoration priority orders directly from Starfleet Engineering."
Saren sighed and then asked, "Can you get me power for an hour?"
After a few moments, the response was, "Please give us thirty minutes and we can get it for an hour, only."
"Thank you", Saren said a bit curtly.
{30 Minutes Later}
Saren stepped into the stellar cartography lab, which still smelt a bit musty and activated his queries. The projection system flickered a few times and then displayed the star sectors he wanted.
Smiling, Saren tapped his commbadge.
"Lieutenant Barel to Captain Barstow, would you be able to join me in stellar cartography. I think I may have some answers regarding the goat you wanted me to track down.
John stood in his ready room looking over the thick layers of dust covering everything. The maintenance crews had offered to clean it but Barstow had told them it was low priority. So, with wet rags and bucket in hand he was trying to figure out where to start when he heard the science chiefs voice, "on my way, Lieutenant," he called and grabbed the crushed velvet command jacket with his fighter pilot name patch on it and hurried out.
Before long he was walking through the doors to stellar cartography, his combat boots echoing as he went from carpet to hard floor, "Lieutenant?" he called.
“Captain”, Saren said in return, having a hard time not saluting like he used to do in the Imperial Navy. He simply nodded before continuing.
“I did a linguistic search on both the word Capra and goat. Capra is indeed the Latin word for goat. I then researched references to goat. Beyond the simple use of a goat as an agricultural animal, the goat and similar creatures have some religious symbolism. Originally, I didn’t think there was a connection to anything scientific, but I was wrong.”
He gave pause in case the Captain had anything to say.
John just nodded, impressed that the new science officer already had information for him, "alright, whatchya got, Lieutenant?" he asked.
“When humans organized stars into representations of their gods and various creatures into constellations, two had connections to goats”, he said. “The first is the constellation Auriga. Part of the constellation was referred to either as the shepard or goat-herd.There is another reference to Capella, the goat-star, which is the brightest star in the Auriga constellation. Of the stars in the system, seven have planets. Amongst the top stars that are easily seen, the closest is 86 light years away. The furthest is 3032 light years away.
Saren highlighted all the stars in the display.
“The second constellation that has references to goat is the constellation, Capricornus, which references Aegipan, a spirit in the Greek mythology Panes; the name means all-goat”, Saren continued. “Of the stars in the system, 5 of the stars have planets. We can see more stars from this constellation. Of the easily seen stars, the closest is 29 light years away. The furthest is 2835 light years away. I am running another diagnostic and repair attempt on the navigation system’s computer banks, to see if I can get more information. I know some tricks used by the Romulan Navy that could help. Engineering’s work does impact the attempt, so I can not give you an estimated time of completion.”
Once again, Saren highlighted the stars with the projection system to bring them forward.
"It is interesting to note that there are other galaxies that have formed in the area defined by this constellation. They are just at a distance that we have only have visual records on. My great grand children would be dead, if I had any, by the time a probe came anywhere close to where the other galaxies begin."
Barstow just nodded as he listened, "Well, I'm impressed with what you have gotten in such a short time," the CO replied with a smile. "It hadn't occurred to me to look at ancient myth, to be honest, nice work so far," he added, "I know we hadn't had a chance to meet properly yet, but, I have read your file, you were RIN correct? Merlin was running a course researching a Lazarus star in Romulan space on its way to her deep space assignment on the other side. Have you ever heard of a phenomena like what happened here before?"
"What was yesterday's myth can often turn into today's science", Saren answered. "I was indeed in the Romulan Navy for twenty years, ten as an engineer and ten as a scientist. I still dabble in engineering, but the sciences keep me rather occupied. As far as the phenomena that has been described with this ship, there are numerous reports of ships disappearing in space and then coming back. Most have occurred due to time-space fluctuations of various sorts and/or dimensional shifts or rifts. In the Romulan Navy, when incidents like this happen, they are hushed up quickly and only those with the appropriate clearance can see the files. I was never one of those individuals. As far as how it relates to the Lazarus star the Merlin was investigating, without knowing the specific star and date of original loss of contact, I can not give you any intelligent theories."
He paused in thought.
"If I have the specific star and date, we might be able to see if there was any reported activity, as it is possible that a star, re-igniting like a Lazarus star does could cause a temporal or dimensional rift. I would lean towards a temporal rift as there have been multiple uses of a star's gravitational force to move a ship backwards and forwards through time since Captain Kirk's bold slingshot maneuver as the phrase was coined. A dimensional rift can not be dismissed though."
John nodded, "Commander Tillatix should be able to give you that, get with her. However, for now, I'd like one of the docs to be present when you do," he said, wanting to be sure that she didn't have any issues with having to relive events, "and aye, my next stop is to talk with TI, which I'm less than enthused about..."
"I will indeed touch base with her", Saren replied. "Do you have all the data you need, limited such that it is, for your discussions with the Temporal Investigations division?"
Apollo nodded, "for now, though they probably have already seen the conversation and have more answers than we," he replied with a sigh, "Lieutenant, I'm sorry I'm sorry I didn't welcome you aboard properly, but, I'm glad to have you," he added and extended his hand, "welcome to the Merlin, such as she is right now, Lieutenant Barel."
Saren looked at the Captain's hand, hesitating briefly, and then shook it.
"I apologize Captain", Saren said. "Even though I have been in Starfleet a few years, I still find the custom of shaking hands awkward. Romulans are not so open to touch with people they have just met. I thank you for your welcome and I am not worried about the delayed introduction; duty comes first."
"No need to apologize, Lieutenant," Barstow replied with a smile, "I need to get back to the Bridge, so, I'll leave you to it. However, there is a new Bridge module we'll be getting, kind of a pilot test for it. I'd like you to look it over, I think you'll like the quarter deck," he explained with a smirk, "let me know what you'd like added to it.'
"Very well Captain", Saren said. "As soon as I am done speaking with Commander Tillatix, I will take a look at it."
---
LTJG Saren Barel
Chief Science Officer
USS Merlin
Commander John "Apollo" Barstow
Commanding Officer
USS Merlin
Commander, Task Group 47-A "Musketeers
Task Force 47
