Science Fair

Posted on Wed Feb 16th, 2011 @ 7:14pm by Ensign Matthew Lessly & Vice Admiral Iluvar

Mission: Episode 1.4 - "Confusion in the Cluster"
Location: Science Lab One, USS Pandora
Timeline: Backpost

*Backpost*

ON: [[Science Lab One, USS Pandora]]

Having just finished moving himself into his quarters, which were far more cramped than he had expected, Matt made his way to the main science lab in hopes of finding the Chief Science Officer. He hadn't reported in to the Captain yet but, due to rumors that had been flying about subspace, he wasn't entirely sure what to expect from him. In this case, he figured, it would be best to report to the department head before the captain so he could get a better feel for the ship first.

Sonya (PNPC) looked up from the test results that were scrolling across her display when she heard the sound of the lab door sliding open. She watched a young man in sciences teal enter the room and begin looking around for something or someone. While she hadn't exactly been expecting anyone to drop by for a visit, she had a feeling it would be awkward if she just left him standing there without at least saying hello. "Is there something I can help you with, ensign," she asked.

Matt looked at the woman, who he guessed to be slightly older than her was, and gave a thankful smile. The first encounters were always the hardest for him and so he was glad that she had made the first move. "I was looking for the Chief Science Officer?" Matt responded. "Ensign..."

"...Masterson," Sonya replied, smiling a little as she realized that he was probably a new addition to the department, "and I'm the assistant chief. I take it you were looking to check in?" She'd heard or seen something about some new transfers into the department, but with the tests she was running, she hadn't really been able to give it much thought. Unfortunately, that left her at just as much of a disadvantage with the young man who had walked into her lab as he was with her.

"Yeah." Matt replied, taking note of how nice Ensign Masterson seemed to be. "I just transferred in from Research Base Cochrane and was wanting to talk to someone in the department before I saw the captain," he continued, looking around and examining the labs equipment slightly.

"Well, I'm not quite sure where Lieutenant Rylen (NPC) is at the moment. You kinda caught me in the middle of a test," Sonya admitted, deactivating the visual on her workstation and rising to her feet, "but let me be the first to welcome you aboard." She smiled and held out a hand of greeting toward the young man.

Matt looked at the hand for the briefest of moments, small enough that he was probably the only one of the two of them to notice, before reaching out and grasping it with his own. "Thank you very much."

As their hands released from each other, Matt took a quick glance over Sonya's shoulder and asked, "Anything interesting?"

Sonya looked back over her shoulder at the blank screen she had been staring at moments before and sighed. "Sadly, no," she replied, "we think we might have found a bug in one of the lab arrays, but operations has been busy monitoring the cargo transfer to take a look, so the chief asked me if I could run a few diagnostics. So far...nothing."

Matt frowned slightly, he was hoping that maybe it was something interesting that he could use to help make a good first impression. He shrugged it off and continued talking with the Ensign. "Too bad about the bug. I'm sure the computer will find whatever's wrong with it though." After a moment of silence, Matt looked at the ground slightly, not sure if it was yet appropriate to ask something like this, but decided to ask anyway... in a round about way. "So... I've heard some interesting things about the Pandora. Are any of them true?"

If there was one constant in the universe, it was that rumors always traveled at warp ten. There was no other way to explain how they could spread such a broad distance so quickly. "What have you heard," Sonya asked, wary of what answer she might receive.

"Well..." Matt responded, not quite sure what to say or how to say it, "I've heard that the Captain has a bit of a temper, chewed out the son of some high ranking admiral, and got himself busted back down to captain and relegated to errand boy for the flag staff." he said, knowing the moment it came out that he probably just made a fool of himself, even if the rumors were true.

A small smile tugged at the corners of Sonya's mouth as she listened to the young man's response. Despite her best efforts to keep a straight face, she was certain that it must have looked as if she were making fun of him. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly, "It's just that...well..." She paused a moment to regain her composure. "I've never known Captain Iluvar to have a temper," she continued, "As far as I know...well, I don't really suppose it's my place to say..."

Matt was relieved by the first part of Sonya's response, but quickly became worried at the second part. "Say... what?" he asked, unsure if he wanted to know the answer.

Sonya let out a small sigh. On the one hand, it didn't seem very respectful toward the captain for her to be telling the story over and over again. That would be just as bad as everyone who was passing around the rumors...especially since she didn't really have the whole story herself. On the other hand, she felt as if she needed to set the record straight, at least as best as she could.

"Look...it doesn't matter," she said, shaking her head, "You shouldn't believe everything you hear anyway. Captain Iluvar has gotten us out of some pretty sticky situations in the past and he's always had the best interests of this crew and the Federation at heart. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who can say they're proud to have served under him."

Matt looked down towards his feet again, hoping he hadn't overstepped and gotten on the "naughty list" three hours after coming aboard. Not wanting to push the issue in any way, he nodded slightly and tried to think of a topic he could change the subject to without seeming overly random or intentional. "So... I take it you've been on the Pandora a while then?" he asked. *Shoot,* he thought to himself, *that wasn't the right question to ask. Now she'll think I'm still probing for information.*

The look on the ensign's face told Sonya that he was getting a little nervous. For all she knew, he probably thought his question about the rumors was going to get him drummed out of Starfleet. Well, maybe not from me, she thought to herself, but if he starts asking the wrong people, he could...

"Yeah...ever since the captain took command," she replied with what she hoped was a kind smile, "Before that, I served under him aboard the USS Tethys."

Matt nodded and returned the smile, though he didn't entirely meet her eyes when he looked up. "That must have been a while ago if it was on a different ship." Matt answered, impressed. "Who knows, maybe I'll be here that long too." he said, hoping maybe it would score him some brownie points with Sonya.

"You'd be a lucky man, indeed," Sonya said, turning back to her workstation and reactivating the screen where the test results continued to scroll across, "I hate to cut it short, but I really should be getting back to these test results. It was nice to meet you..." She paused, another amused smile flashing across her face. They had been talking all this time and she still didn't know what his name was.

Matt gave a silent sigh of relief. It was nice being able to meet someone he'd be working with, but it was also a little stressful. "Nice to meet you, too." he said, taking another look around the room before heading towards the door. *Let's hope my next introduction goes a little better.* he thought to himself just as he made it through the doors and into the hallway.

OFF:

A Post by:

Ensign Sonya Masterson (NPC)
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Pandora
Played by: Captain Iluvar

&

Ensign Matt Lessly
Science Officer
USS Pandora