"Why Is It That Nothing Ever Goes As Planned?"
(Previous Post: "Last Goodbyes")
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Stardate: 60325.1935
Setting: USS ANUBIS, Bridge
The report of the transporter chief hung in the air like a cloud that no one could see but that everyone could feel. As risky as the plan created by the Intelligence Operative had been the Shillian scientist had never expected it to end this way having long ago learned to expect the impossible from Lieutenant Commander Enaii. More than once the blonde haired woman had proven that the odds could be beaten and the head of the Science Department had been given no reason to believe that this time would be any different. Maybe if she had the scientist might have run a few more computer scenarios on the transport sequence and identified what had went wrong before it did, but now all of this sort of thinking had been made irrelevant since the transport had already taken place leading to the atoms of the Intel Operative to be scattered across the atmosphere of the planet.
"What happened?" The Captain asked fighting back her anger at not only having lost a member of her crew but in having lost a wife and the mother of her daughter.
"Uncertain Captain," the Chief Science Officer replied, "it looks like the interference barrier around SURIAL III affected the pattern dispersion more than we had accounted for. There was no way for the pattern to be recuperated and reassembled once it came in contact with the atmosphere. Sensors did detect a slight increase in the electro-magnetic polarity of the field but I cannot tell you if it caused us to lose the pattern or if it was caused by our trying to beam through it. I'm sorry Captain, there was nothing anyone could have done different, we simply did not have enough time to properly research all of the possible outcomes and prepare adequate countermeasures to offset any problems we might encounter."
The Captain glared around the bridge as if searching for someone to blame for what had happened but as the Commanding Officer met the eyes of her senior staff present she saw nothing but sorrow and support for their loss. Regardless of what Captain Rikar wanted there had been no one for her to blame, not that it would have made any difference in the outcome. The family of the USS ANUBIS had lost one of its members and there had been nothing anyone could do to change this.
The Shillian scientist had wanted to say something to help the Captain deal with her loss but the Shillian woman found herself unable to come up with anything, the emptiness left by the death of Lieutenant Commander Enaii being almost more than the Chief Science Officer could handle herself. As demanding as the Intelligence Liaison Officer had been, the scientist had long learned to look upon the Operative with great respect and admiration. It was because of this admiration that the shape-shifting alien did not immediately abandon all hope and continued to scan the atmosphere of SURIAL III for any sign that might indicate that their initial sensor readings had been erroneous.
"She knew the risks," the Executive Officer said, doing her best to ease the pain of their Commanding Officer but there had been no doubts in the minds of those present on the Bridge that the First Officer had never been a Counsellor. As if having sensed that this had been the perfect time for her to make her entrance into the room, Ensign Mei stepped onto the command deck the expression on her face relaying to all that she had heard the news and had come to see if her skills and expertise could come in handy.
Silently the Counsellor made her way to the command pit and stood next to the Captain offering a shoulder and a sounding board should the Commanding Officer require one. For a moment the Captain glanced at the Ensign now standing next to her but no words were exchanged, instead Captain Rikar simply returned to her seat and gazed at the image of the planet being displayed on the view screen.
The Shillian scientist lost track of the position of the Counsellor and the rest of the officers on the bridge as something strange happening on her console caught her fullest attention. Since well before the transport had been initiated the Chief Science Officer had been monitoring the specific dynamic and interference frequency of the field surrounding the planet and had noted that the readings had not changed more than a few fractions of a point, so it had come as a great surprise when the scientist noted a radical and global change in that same field.
"Is there a problem?" The Executive Officer asked having noticed the expression of complete bafflement now appearing on the face of the Shillian woman, a look that seemed as much out of place as the sensor readings that had triggered it.
"I am not sure Commander," the Chief Science Officer replied while trying unsuccessfully to identify the reason for this change. "I would not call it a problem, but I am still at a loss to identify the cause of what has happened and to clearly explain the implications that it may have on us in both a personal and professional level."
"Lieutenant Commander Maya," the Executive Officer said in a controlled huff, "this is not the time for you to speak so much without saying anything. Now if you would be so kind, tell us what you have discovered."
The Shillian woman wished for an instant that she had not been the overly vocal person that she was and quickly attempted to place her confusion aside so as to give the First Officer what she had requested. "Without trying to find some sort of explanation that would not fit within the boundaries of recognized science, all that I can say is that something has changed the polarity interference of the electro-magnetic field around SURIAL III making it entirely coherent and predictable. In other words we should have no problems using our sensors to scan the surface of the planet and our transporters to beam down from this point on."
As she made her report the Shillian woman noticed that the Captain had stood from her chair and turned to look at the science station located at the back of the bridge, a weak smile having replaced the angered expression that had been there only moments prior. "She did it," the Captain said in a soft voice before doing an about turn to see the image of the planet on the main view screen, "she did it. The plan had been to allow us to beam to the surface and that is exactly what we can now do."
Without having any proofs as to the involvement of the Intelligence Liaison Officer in this unexplainable change in the electromagnetic field of the planet the Shillian scientist had not been ready to endorse the explanation submitted by their Commanding Officer, but the fact remained that the Chief Science Officer did not have any proof to the contrary either. Whatever had caused this change in the interference field it had opened the proverbial door to them being able to beam as many people down to the planet and actively search and rescue the crew of the MERCURY as well as those officers of the ANUBIS currently on the planet.
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Jessica Solarik { maya_992003@yahoo.com }
Lieutenant Commander Maya
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
"To see the world in a grain of sand, 2005 post #370
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)
