[Vimyridge] SD941029.14 Going over the Data Lt Cmdr Lox, Lt Nix

[Jennifer Giles]

<<This is a backlog from before the away was preparing to leave that I just
realized wasn't sent>>

Justin had retired to his quarters for a short sleep break while Sciences
went over the data he had flagged for them.  He had set his alarm for 3
hours of sleep.  This was his minimum needed to keep going. He's pay for
it later, but right now, even 3 hours felt too long.

He kept mulling over how the ferrous oxide could have ended up in the
star, and what had that cargo hauler been doing so near the star.  Could
this all have been some sort of accident?  Some mining accident... or was
it deliberate, and they had left the ship to break up to hide the
evidence?  These were questions that needed answers, and he had no idea
how to answer them.

Kylee starred at the screen, looking at the location of the asteroids, her
brow furrowed in thought. She tapped her comm badge as she sat back,
needing to speak with Lox about sending a probe to the site to search for
signs of any ships moving through the area. "Commander, you still have
those extra probes out there?" she asked.

"Probes are still out there, planned course should have them... one near
the north solar pole, and the other two making their way towards the
equator on the far side." Justin replied as he changed uniforms, having
fallen asleep in the one he had been wearing earlier.

Kylee nodded, running a hand along her face, already back to her schedule
of not sleeping for more than an hour at a time. "Can you send one to a
different area if I give you the coordinates?" she asks, climbing to her
feet and beginning to pace back and forth. "I can send them to you, or
meet you somewhere.."


"Meet me in engineering in... 10 minutes.  I'll have one of the probes
ready to change target loaction by then." He replied.

"On my way," she said, looking around and grabbing her uniform top,
pulling it on over her tank top as she walks to the door. She grabs her
PADD as she walks by the table, examining it to make sure that she all the
necessary information.


Justin finished changing his uniform and headed for Engineering.  A few
minutes later, he walked into Engineering.

Kylee finished setting her uniform in place, lifting a hand up to cover her
mouth as she yawns as she makes her way through the hallway to the
turbolift and
to engineering. Taking the short ride down to the deck that Engineering was
located on, she steps out, walking absently as she studies the PADD in her
hand.


"Probes are ready to new course entries.  Where are we sending them?" Justin
asked as he saw her.

Kylee glanced up as she stepped through the door, looking over at Justin.
"We're looking for any signs of a ship in that asteroid field.." she stated,
making her way over to him and offering her PADD to him. "I think that's
the source of the ferrous oxide."


"Could it be the one that we saw break up?" Justin said as he entered the
information into the computer.

Kylee blinked, looking as though she'd been hit by a ton of bricks. "I..
wow.. perhaps I should get more sleep.." she said, running her hand
through her hair. "It might be.. but why let the ship get destroyed if
it's needed?"

"One of two reasons... first, t wasn't' supposed to break up.. so it was an
accident.  The second... to hide the evidence.  Had we not been scanning for
anything and everything, which most Federation crews would not have done,
we would never have noticed it." Justin replied.  "I'm hoping for the
former, but the mathematical probabilities suggest the latter."

Kylee nodded, looking at the computer screen. "I wonder.. do you think it
might be a trick to throw us off. Or perhaps that ship was damaged and
needed to be destroyed.." she suggested.


"We don't have enough information to answer any of those questions.  The
ship, by design, did have a way to transmit a distress call, and it
didn't.  That much we know.  Why it didn't, we don't know.."

Kylee sighed, looking thoroughly worn out from all of this. "Hopefully the
probes will give us the information we need, because I'm growing tired of
just adding more questions with no answers," she said, the frustration
evident in her voice.


"Such is life on the 'Ridge.  When I was head of Sciences... I added
nearly 200 kiloquads of questions for research... and almost no answers."
Justin said "I prefer Engineering.. have a question, build the answer.
Probes will be at the asteroid field in ... 25 minutes."

Kylee arched her brow at that, looking over at him. "You were in charge of
the Science dept?" she asked, nodding slowly as he mentioned the arrival
time of the asteroids. "Hopefully they'll be able to find something.."

"Yep.  Started in sciences... Was promoted to Acting Lt. and put in charge
of the USS-Audax's Science section.  When the Engineering position opened
up, I shifted over, since by science specialty was basically engineering
anyway.  Been here ever since."  Justin grinned "Built a shuttle called
the Giskard.  It made these probes look like children's toys... but it was
all cutting edge tech. When the Xelucian war broke out.. our first victory
was because I used it's cutting edge tech as a anti-matter bomb.  Took
everything it had to punch their shields, then detonated taking out a
large section of their ship."  He was still saddened by the loss, but
happy that it proved so effective as a weapon.

Kylee nodded slowly, wincing slightly as he mentioned having to blow up
the shuttle, since it sounded as though he had been really proud of that
ship. "Have you ever thought of building another shuttle like that?" she
asked.


"Because Starfleet won't let me.  The Captain, being bound by regulations,
can't let me build another either.  As it was, she stretched the rules to
the limit, to let me build the first one.  As much as I want to build
another one, it isn't going to happen.. and I won't push the matter.  I've
just have to stay within the bounds of the rules and regulations, but
within them.. this is the most advances Galaxy class ship on the line.
Every upgrade Starfleet has allowed for this ship has been done and taken
as far as they will allow.  That includes bio-neural gel-packs and
computer core components.  I've also been adding the holoemitters in the
corridors and common areas, based on Starfleet's newest specs for the EMH
Mk 2.  Currently we are just ahead of the regulations.. and this war has
slowed things down so it may be a while before it is fully operational."

"Oh.. that would be a good reason to not build another one.." she said, a
slight smirk upon her lips. "This ship is definitely more advanced then
the ones I've been on.. but, it's not hard to be more advanced than a bird
of prey," she said, covering her mouth as she yawned again. She glanced to
the screen, clearly anxious for the results of the probes. "How soon will
we begin to get the readings we need?"

"20 minutes, at least." Justin replied.

Kylee nodded, looking around. "I have a bit more data to go over in my
lab. Will you let me know what information we get from the asteroid
field?" she asked.

"I'll have the computer sent it as soon as it starts arriving." Justin
replied as he made some adjustments to the data on his PADD.  "I've got
the probes scanning for any ion trails from impulse style engines while
they are enroute.  Maybe we can detect something that way."

-------------------------------------------
Respectfully submitted by

Lt Cmdr Justin Lox
Engineering

Lt Kyle Nix
Science
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