Lazarus Star and Goats

Posted on Sunday 22 July 2018 @ 16:37 by Lieutenant JG Saren Barel & Commander Save'ena (Sav) Tillatix

Mission: Shoreleave
Location: USS Merlin - Tillatix Quarters
Timeline: MD03 - 1030 hours
1522 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Sav was laying across her couch in her room and reading on latest sensor enhancements for runabouts. While boring or not worth while to some, to her, it made for interesting lateral thinking for when she merged with a craft to fly it. She turned the page and heard her room's door chime announce itself.

She got up and went to the door. Making sure her silk pj's were presentable, she opened the door and smiled to the first noted 'Terran' on the other side. "Greetings and Salutations, come on in."

"Greetings Commander", Saren replied. "Have I come at a bad time?"

Sav churred lightly and said, "You're fine, Lt. Barrel. I am on light duty, hence the P.J.s. Come on in." She led the way to her table in her kitchenette. She grabbed her crystalline-ceramic tea set and put it down on the table. Now that she was able to get a better look at him, she realizes he was not Terran. His smell was different, and he had pointed ears. She tilted her head and asked, "You're not terran, different smell, and you have pointed ears. *sniff* Similar to Vulcan, but not, different diet. May I ask what race you are, if you don't mind?"

Saren looked at Sav wondering how she rose to her current rank with such limited racial knowledge.

"I am of the Romulan race", Saren replied politely.

"Romulan, thank you." Sav looked him over, then snorted out in humor, "Humanoids of similarities to Terrans all look the same to me until I get to know them. Now that you are in the quiet of my quarters, I can tell your heart is in a different spot, besides your smell being of not Terranic origins. I met some Vulcans at the Academy, and their smell is slightly different than yours, but very similar, thus you are of similar origins as a Vulcan, but your dietary smell is different. So, now I know you're Romulan, and good to know. Now, I can make many varieties of tea, and coffees, with my tea set. What would you like?"

"I do not need refreshment", Saren replied. "I do thank you for the offer however. I am here to ask you about something that the Captain believes might be a delicate subject for you. I tried to see if there was someone who might have more experience interacting with non-Romulans to accompany, but I could not. So, I apologize if my mannerisms seem too direct?"

Sav churred gently as she listened to Saren. She grinned as she replied, "Actually, I think I would like some direct mannerisms for a change. Too many cultures seem to beat about the bush and not say what they mean. As far as being 'non-Romulan', I am also non-Terran, non-Andorian, etc." She reach out and a Tea Cup beside the couch came over to the table and settled into her hand. She took a sip, then said, "Okay, readeh fer broachin' the delicate subject. Lay ita on me.... oh, An asa Ah'm off dutah right now, puhlease, call me Sav."

"Very well", Saren replied. "The last known mission that was assigned to the Merlin was exploring a system with a Lazarus star. I am not sure your knowledge of these types of stars, but after the re-ignite, their gravity field takes quite some time to stabilize. I am sure that you as a helmsman are aware of how are star's gravity can be used to manipulate courses and sometimes will impact even time and space. So, I wanted to know, were you on duty when the Merlin was transported out of the system? Also, do you know what the state of the star was?"

Sav listened intently, her ears focused on Saren to show that. She nodded during the gravity part of his explanation. She took a sip of tea, then stated, "You have your two questions backwards. I was helmsman for the information gathering part of the Lazarus star, but that was not when the Merlin was ensnared by the entity that took umbrage to us. So, I will answer the second question first.

"On the Lazarus type Star itself, I was keeping the ship at Fifty KKlicks station keeping, and controlling ship inertial and gravity systems to keep the worst of the effects at bay. We were in station keeping for two hours before Engineering let us know we needed to orbit to give the engines a rest. I orbited us for another hour while the probes finished gathering their data. However, when done, the Engineers found out the Merlin had been affected by the star too much and we were stuck there. I requested to perform a slingshot affect to gain speed to get us out. I wrapped us around three times, inching closer to the needed shift point and launched us out of there. On the way out, we gathered up the probes waiting for us. The last data burst happened at that time, I think, for a mission update, and that is where Commander Melody Jones sent out the info of the Past Merlin found and exploded, as well as very light sensor readings of a planet not found with slight traces of crew DNA being found in the area. It was then, in doing these intricate searches out system of the star that we found a Class M planet a couple of systems over, with a mix of humanoid life on it. We left the Lazarus star and headed towards the found Class M planet at 7 light years away. Ready for the first question?"

Saren cocked his head. He knew the area of the star, both because he had researched after the mission and because it was near Romulan space and was part of the Romulan stellar banks. One thing for sure, there were no Class M planets in that region of space.

Sav tilted her head and continued. "It took us a couple of weeks to get there as repairs were made to the Merlin. Now, to tell the truth, I did now know the Merlin had been transported out of system. Here is my knowledge of the event. I had been at the helm in orbit, rather standard, when the shuttle left the ship. I was relieved of duty and went down to catch a nap, just as I said during the briefing. That is when I first saw people disappearing as Melody called for red alert and emergency stations. I grabbed the three kitlings and headed to sickbay. After getting the quarantine unit and the Cyrostasis pod ready, I tied into ship sensors and found we were diving through the atmosphere and into the ocean. Now I know that the atmosphere and ocean were 431.43 light years from our original location. So, between the red alert and the tie in to sensors, about 3.74 minutes, the Merlin was moved. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if the Merlin being moved had triggered the red alert as the sensors and navicomputer would have immediately sounded something amiss. So, I would say, check at the time just before the red alert to see what the main computer and aux computers tied to sensors, internal and external, to get an idea of maybe how it happened. And, just maybe, a position of some of the crew and where they were moved to. Remember, the sensors were doing full intricate life scans... so, at this side as well, there might be telltales of crew whereabouts if they were removed after translocation." Sav took a sip, then asked, "Did this help?"

"Yes and no", Saren answered. "The planet you mentioned doesn't exist in current data records of the Federation, Romulans, or Klingons. And unfortunately, the Merlin's internal and external sensor readings are currently not available, given the state of the computers. This information does give me enough to do some research however. Thank you for sharing this with me however. I know from experience that reliving certain events in our past does not always make the day easy."

Sav churred gently at the final words of Saren. She replied, "Thank you. It sure doesn't as Ah found out verah intimately at t'e Starbase. Now, ona Planet, it wasn't ina records, and why weah were surprised tah find it, ayuh. The astroscis thought it wasa due tah Lazarus Star flareup intahferrin with whatevah fields had been hidin it. Ah would think t'e entity that transported us hada kept it hidden, but the star interfered with it's fields." She mouthed something, then blushed and said, "Sorry fer mah speech changing back and forth from Terran to Apollonia slang. It's due to the docs removing a beacon transponder from my brain and how they did it pressed against my speech centers. It's getting better, but, still there."

"Very well Commander", Saren replied taking in the information. "I shall leave you to your day Commander..."

He nodded and left heading for the lab.

OFF:

Lt. Commander Save'ena Amilia Tillatix
Chief Flight Control Officer
Bridge Command Specialist
USS Merlin

LTJG Saren Barel
Chief Science Officer
USS Merlin