Not wanting to interject Gareb forwards the not terribly exciting scan results to the captains chair.
Gareb begins conducting a scan. "One moment Captain."
[dice=Reason+Science (16)]2d20
[dice=Sensors+Security (14)]1d20
Tobin shakes his head to Jalla's request, and says, "I know we are all still reeling a bit from the surprise with the Breen, but let's not jump too far ahead until we're sure it's not just techn--"
He looks up, however, as the doctor appears on the screen. "--ical. Doctor, glad to see it's nothing serious. We'll link you through our comms as soon as we dock, and we will be happy to join you for dinner."
Softer, after a quick glance to the display on his chair to read the data that his first officer just forwarded, he asides to Jalla, "Stand down from alert." Then, to Cunningham, he adds, "Take us in."
Docking initiated, sir.
Assuming no complications, docking is a fairly simple process and (like much of the previous few months) Eliza completes the task with minimal effort.
With Captain Dell's permission, Eliza completes the docking and takes a lift down to Sick Bay to assist with transferring the wounded. As she works, she chats with Dr. Hagen.
So, this Dr. Nostrum cured some sort of plague, right? What do you know about it? Was it super contagious or something?
"Captain I think it would be best for one of the two of us to be on the Bastion at any time in case something unexpected shows up. The crew have been performing well but if there's more to the technical malfunctions ahead one of us in the chair would be prudent I feel."
Tobin looks thoughtful for a moment, but nods, "Agreed."
Cunningham easily brings the ship into dock and connects the tether that allows the station and ship to share systems.
"Are you volunteering to stay on board during the dinner, then, Commander th'Chiaqis?" He looks curious, as he asks, but it's a casual curiosity. Is this just duty, or does he not like such social events?
"In either case, I would like the rest of the command staff at the dinner." Softer he adds - so his first officer can speak up before it's official, "My thought is shore leave for the crew in shifts, leaving enough of a skeleton crew at any one time to respond to emergencies. With the Breen joining the Dominion, this may be the only break we get for a while. With a warning to stick together in groups if they visit the Orion ship?"
It's a first officer's duty to oversee crew assignments, so his tone is more as if he's making suggestions when it comes to the specifics. Trusting his first officer's judgement on the final call.
"I think it would be prudent, it's not exactly the front lines but it is still best to be cautious. If you relay my apologies it would be appreciated. I'll use opportunity to get on adjusting the shifts." He nods in approval of having people go over to the Orion ship, the Syndicate would have spies there, they'd make note of the actions being taken. They might ferret out a vice or two from some non discerning crewman but better to send the message that Starfleet and one of it's newest Captains wasn't afraid of them.
Tobin nods, smiling some, and says regarding the apologies, "I'll pass them on."
Then, to the other command staff, "Let's get ready for dinner."
After you transport the wounded to the receiving area and get everything squared away, Captain Jenner welcomes you (minus Gareb) to dinner on a curved observation room with windows looking out into space. The design of the station overall is warmer than most starships, with occasional wood accents, and the observation room is no different. The dining table is a single long piece of some sort of hardwood, and the chairs too are carved wood and quite beautiful. The lighting is subdued.
"I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of querying your personnel files to check for allergies and replicator preferences in order to prepare for the evening. Our chefs for the evening are all patients, and almost all of the food was cultivated here on the station. We have extensive aquaculture, agriculture, and hydroponic programs as part of our treatment regimens. Each course should be one of your favorites. I hope you won't mind if we talk shop, but with Project Escalante coming online, we really do need your help. Of course you know that Project Escalante is our new outreach program. I'm afraid it may be mostly a public relations grab to broadcast everything we are doing to the entire Federation, but I intend to make it as educational as possible. Let me introduce you to some of my staff: Lt. Commander Kinski Reid (Russian/Scottish human)is the science officer in charge of content for Escalante, Commander Valno Oskari (Tellarite) is my chief engineer who has graced us with his presence even though he would rather be fixing the communications array, Dr. T'Vril (Vulcan female, obviously) is working on a new iteration of the EMH."
Clad in her dress uniform, Eliza gamely picks at her meal. Growing up on a starship, she found that fresh food had an unusual and unpredictable taste, as opposed to the comforting consistency of replicated cusiene. She avoided fresh food whenever possible, but eats enough to avoid offense.
She’s on her best behavior greeting the senior staff warmly and making small talk when prompted, but doesn’t lead any conversations. She’s trying to avoid drawing attention to herself. People who sign up for PR missions tend to get a little fanboy about the Enterprise and she’d prefer to not to be grilled about that.
Tobin smiles to Captain Jenner at the mention of the customized dishes, "Thank you, I'm sure we all appreciate the effort." He inclines his head with a smile to each crewmember as they are introduced, "It is a pleasure to meet you all."
Then, because not every one of them will have read their files, he does his own introductions, "This is Lieutenant Commander Hill, our chief engineer. Doctor Hagen, chief medical officer. Lieutenant zg'Qjaqir, chief of security. And Lieutenant Cunningham, flight control." then, he adds, "I'm afraid Commander th'Chiaqis - my second-in-command and science officer - couldn't make it, but he sends his regrets."
Sitting down, he smiles even more when dinner is served. "I haven't had unreplicated lasagna since the war started, thank you. This has been one of my favourite foods through four lifetimes now."
Back on topic, he says, "We'll be glad to help with that project in any way we can."
"I'm not actually all that familiar with her work. I do know someone on the station who is working on a cure for Teplan, but I'm not sure how her research is going."
That's cool. Teplan is pretty nasty. I guess I can just look up any records on this plague if I'm that curious.
And then she did.
Jalla digs in heartily to a bowl of particularly spicy qrchik (a pickled cabbage soup). The idea of being recorded wasn't particularly concerning to her, she'd been a heartwarming background element of a lot of vids. Additionally, though none of her past challenges to Ushaan had been broadcast far and wide, they hadn't exactly been low profile.
"Dr. T'vril, may I ask what deficiencies you are currently addressing in the medical program? In my experience, it is more than serviceable within its niche."
And much easier to overrule than a real officer if it attempts to overcautiously relieve you of duty.
At the dinner, Pegira was served an odd combination: Ulan Soup, a vegetarian Vulcan soup, and Ra'taj, a Klingon alcoholic coffee-like beverage.
"Tell me Captain Jenner, what sorts of research are you working on here?"
Dr. T'vril responds, "I'm not actually trying to fix the EMH, which has proven itself most effective at handling emergency situations and at bolstering the medical crew of Starships during crises. I am working to expand the range of the medical hologram, and of holograms in general, to assist medical researchers. I have chosen to base the Medical Research Hologram on Dr. Elizabeth Nostrum, Dr. Jenner's grandmother. As Dr. Nostrum did her most significant work here on the station, I am doing my work here. The Nostrum hologram will serve as an interactive interface with the medical archives here on the station, as well as a research assistant."
Captain Jenner chimes in, "Dr. T'vril originally came to us to study the effects of holographic therapy on patients suffering from PTSD. As you know, Dr. Hagen, if a trauma patient makes it to a sickbay, they are highly likely to survive. This means that while we do still engage in the standard projects with prosthetic replacement of limbs, organs, eyes, ears, antenna, etc, much of our current work is in treating the psychological consequences of the war."
And Commander Oskari (Tellarite) snorts in, "And what neither of them will tell you is that you may know T'vril better by her nickname, Dr. Creepy. He real predilections are for reviving the dead, holographically, of course."
Jalla's eyebrows and antennae rise in alarmed unison at Oskari's revelations. "Reviving the dead?"
At the commander's words, Chief Hill finally leans forward, his eyebrows raised. Holographic revival of the dead? What a preposterous notion. Yet they seemed serious. What is going on here?
T'vril responds, "Our engineer has a flair for the lurid. My work deals frequently with simulating deceased historic personages for the purposes of interacting with them about topics their writings or recordings did not include. My first project was using the teachings of Surak to create a holographic simulation of the philosopher in order to engage in dialogues. I have since expanded that program to include several other philosophers from other Federation cultures."
"How far can you really extrapolate such things? There are libraries of reasonable debate concerning competing interpretations of great thinkers - Do you have any reason to suspect your simulations will have greater fidelity to authorial intent?"
"Interesting. So it sounds like the work here is almost entirely related to mental trauma. While it's not my particular field, I do find it to be fascinating work. Perhaps I could take a peek at your research while we're here?"
Tobin nods with a smile, and says, "That is interesting." He nods to Jalla's question, glancing back to the Vulcan with curiosity as he eats.
To zh'Qjaqir's question. T'vril "Of course we cannot assure 100% fidelity, but the simulations are simply a tool. And the database for the simulations are able to include those libraries of debate, so they can account for variations and disagreement, presenting possibilities rather than certitudes. The goal is not to find concrete answers, but to facilitate the thinking of those using the tool."
To the Dr.'s assertion: Dr. Jenner "Don't mistake me, Dr. Hagen. We still engage in our fair share of old fashioned frontier medicine, curing rare diseases, developing vaccines. Organ and limb replacement. The universe is full of infinite variety in infinite combinations of ways to attack humanoid immune systems. But I'd be happy to share what I'm working on with you."
"I'd be very interested to try and find some concrete answers of my own, if you're open to sharing your data with me as well, T'vril," Hill interjects.
"Of course, Commander Hill, at your earliest convenience. I believe, though, that your immediate attention will be necessary to attend to our communications issues.
With dinner concluded, Eliza heads over to the Orion ship for shore leave...and maybe some intelligence gathering?
After dinner, Pegira will follow Dr. Jenner into the lab to take a look at her research notes. As they walked, Pegira asked "Dr. Jenner, if you don't mind my asking, what got you interested in studying mental disorders? I know that there is a Human tradition of Psychiatric study, but most of the people who study the field tend to come from among my species, as our natural empathic abilities tend to help us understand and treat the underlying causes of such issues."
On the Safe Bet
Eliza makes her way through the station to Dock 4, where she finds two station security officers keeping an eye on people visiting the Orions, and on Orions visiting the station. Each of them is armed with a type 2 phaser, and one of them is monitoring a security panel that is actively scanning people passing through.
An Orion man with no hair and a long white mustache stands just inside the ship, "Starfleet, shake off the tedium with a visit to the Safe Bet. We've got everything your heart desires just this way..."
Walking onto the ship, Eliza finds an Orion speakeasy complete with tables, drinks (real alcohol and synthehol), a trio of Orion girls singing on a low stage. Beyond the bar, there is a small casino, and of course, from there there are doors to more private pursuits.
Eliza orders a synthehol rum and coke and keeps her eyes out for someone interesting to talk to, especially an off-duty Orion crew member.
Zh'Qjaqir and Dell follow T'Vril to her lair, or rather her lab.
The lighting in the lab rises as you enter. "Computer, continue program Nostrum 5." In the holoroom, a woman in old fashioned red officer's jacket materializes. The family resemblance to Dr. Jenner is striking. The women could be sisters. The Nostrum hologram is wide mouthed and singing opera, in Italian.
After dinner, Pegira will follow Dr. Jenner into the lab to take a look at her research notes. As they walked, Pegira asked "Dr. Jenner, if you don't mind my asking, what got you interested in studying mental disorders? I know that there is a Human tradition of Psychiatric study, but most of the people who study the field tend to come from among my species, as our natural empathic abilities tend to help us understand and treat the underlying causes of such issues."
Dr. Jenner replies, "My specialization is really in exo-medical studies, what we would once have called alien medicine. As ship's doctor for a Trill captain, I'm sure you can understand the limits of Federation medical training across species. 100 years ago, it was fine for a doctor not to understand Vulcan or Klingon anatomy, but with modern crews composed of such diverse individuals, it is important to train doctors more broadly. The shift to psychological research is by necessity. Treating so many psychological cases with the war has forced us to adapt. Having a telepath onstaff would be useful, but at the moment there are no Betazoid doctors assigned to the station. We do have a two Vulcan doctors, but it can be dangerous for them to mind meld with too many traumatized individuals since they retain those memories even after the mind meld is terminated.
At this point, you arrive at a large sliding door, like you might see on a cargo bay. As the door opens,
"But I am especially interested in your take on my personal research project. I won't tell you anything about it, so as not to bias you."
She leads the way into the lab, a space as large as a shuttlebay, with windows looking out onto the Bastion and even its own shuttle sized external door. You each go through a level 3 sterilization, as though you were performing surgery.
In the center of the lab is a broken white sphere, 3 meters in diameter, now broken into three unequal pieces.
Dell smiles as he sees Nostrum's hologram, and steps to look at it from the side, "Excellent likeness. She shouldn't be in uniform, though. Not when she's singing. She only wore that on duty. Which, admittedly, was often. Off-duty she was more casual. Still professional, but more relaxed."
The hologram steps from the holodeck like area and approaches Dell. Her demeanor changes as she ceases the song and becomes more business like"Good evening, Captain. Please state the nature of your medical consultation."
While this is clearly a pre-programmed routine, it seems to Dell particularly cold for the Doctor, who was always warm and disarming.
"I will, of course, be more than happy to offer my opinion on your research, as well as a pair of fresh eyes, which can sometimes be useful."
With so many senior officers off the ship Gareb takes the opportunity to see how the junior officers would get on running their departments including a 'junior officer staff meeting' for the temporary department heads. It would be good for them to get used to giving the reports, given the war they might end up here under more unfortunate circumstances at a future point.
"I will, of course, be more than happy to offer my opinion on your research, as well as a pair of fresh eyes, which can sometimes be useful."
"My lab is your lab, Dr. Hagen. This ruin here is going to define my legacy." She motions to the strange broken sphere.
The lowest level of the station houses a large shuttle bay which holds a variety of shuttlecraft and runabouts, worker bees, work pods, including a runabout sized ship that Hill doesn't recognize, with a pointed bow and flared stern.
Below the shuttle bay is the massive subspace communications array.
Commander Oskari dons an EV suit and says, "I'll take a work pod in case we need unusual tools or to do some heavy lifting. You can stick with the EV suit and walk or fly as you prefer. We just recently finished installing the modules for the Escalante Project, and something there is just not working. Probably those idiots at Mars Station. Don't spend enough time in the field to understand how things might interact with a station this old."
With so many senior officers off the ship Gareb takes the opportunity to see how the junior officers would get on running their departments including a 'junior officer staff meeting' for the temporary department heads. It would be good for them to get used to giving the reports, given the war they might end up here under more unfortunate circumstances at a future point.
I'm not sure if Gareth has ever taught middle school, but that must be something like running a staff meeting with only the junior department heads. Some of them lack confidence, some of them are overconfident. They are all competent Starfleet officers, but they don't have much experience.
Eliza orders a synthehol rum and coke and keeps her eyes out for someone interesting to talk to, especially an off-duty Orion crew member.
The Orion bartender places the drink on a cocktail napkin and flashes a smile at Cunningham. "A Cobra Libre, classic Earther drink. What brings you in today, star fleet."
At almost the same time as the drink arrives, an attractive Orion man slides onto a stool beside Eliza. He wears pants that might be monomolecular in thickness and a vest with no shirt. His green chest is quite shapely. Like many Orion males, he is bald and clean shaven.
"What she has I will have," He says to the bartender.