Mission 2.2 The Constant of C

[Catrin Maddux]

[Sick Bay 1-Sterilization Station]
Caleb looked at himself in the mirror at the medical sink. He had splashed water on his face earlier and pep talked himself to death internally. Though he had been cleared to come back, he felt an uneasiness. He had to tell himself this was a new slate. This time it would be like new.

"Come on... let's do this... this is no different than the time when you were stuck in that godforsaken jungle." As Caleb thought this he heard his tricorder go off that signaled someone needed help in sick bay.He then put his hair into a neat ponytail and began to steralize himself to greet the patient who needed help.

[Sick Bay]

Caleb was lucky the ship didn't have many other telepaths. His thoughts were broadcasting loud and clear. Cat couldn't be sure that it was his fault though, or whatever weirdness had been going on in her mind for the last month or so. She still had been unable to entirely control her emotive abilities, both receiving and projecting, and as such had kept herself scarce. Her activities mainly restricted to patient appointments and the administrative duties of being Chief Medical Officer. She didn't quite feel she deserved the title, but she was trying her best to make sure items were requisitioned and things ran smoothly.

The counselor sat down, and awaited Dr. Brighton. She waved off a fluttering Ferengi nurse under the pretense she was just there to visit with her good friend from the Academy. Her fists clenched unconsciously, in a demonstration of nervous anxiety.

[Caleb Brighton]

[Sick Bay]

Caleb was lucky the ship didn't have many other telepaths. His thoughts were broadcasting loud and clear. Cat couldn't be sure that it was his fault though, or whatever weirdness had been going on in her mind for the last month or so. She still had been unable to entirely control her emotive abilities, both receiving and projecting, and as such had kept herself scarce. Her activities mainly restricted to patient appointments and the administrative duties of being Chief Medical Officer. She didn't quite feel she deserved the title, but she was trying her best to make sure items were requisitioned and things ran smoothly.

The counselor sat down, and awaited Dr. Brighton. She waved off a fluttering Ferengi nurse under the pretense she was just there to visit with her good friend from the Academy. Her fists clenched unconsciously, in a demonstration of nervous anxiety.

[Sick Bay]

After checking to make sure things were in order, he headed toward one of the private exam rooms. The message he received was his patient was waiting in room A in order to see him. He headed toward that room ready, switching his PADD over to the medical records so he could have easy access to his patient's records. When he walked in, he noticed it was his commanding officer Catrin. He then saluted her and stated"Good Morning Leftennat Maddux...I thought our meeting was later this morning and in your office." Caleb said sounding confused.

[Savar Dorran]

 Savar peered at the warp dynamics simulations of the 'Warp Twelve Crossword Reflection'-- the warp dynamics of the new drive. The design was more than interesting. He recalled data from the return of Voyager and its Warp 10 flights. They had encountered a number of interesting issues there, not least becoming... lizards... but also in terms of subspace dynamics. The problem with the mathematics of warp travel is that it lead to a exponential function, and Tom Paris had proved it. There was only so far traditional subspace transit could take you, and only so many misleading terms that Savar could stand. Warp Ten was not 'one higher than 9', it was merely a lay-term for infinitely higher than everything. It was non-quantifiable. Warp travel was achieved by stretching space in a bubble around your vessel. The greater the stretching, the 'smaller' the bubble. The 'smaller' the bubble the greater the subspace compression, which is where you ran into issues involving quantum physics of matter being force to exist in a dual state as energy as the subspace sheer stretched your ship to every point in the universe at once, or crushed you out of existence entirely. Normal warp travel was very roughly analogous to an object being pushed through a vacuum tube by compressed air behind. But at the same time there was no push and no pull only the movement of the universe around the ship... more like a vacuum tube being moved past an object...

It was at that point that Savar shook the thoughts out of his head before his analogies traversed to warp 10 on their own... If anyone without at least one degree in warp theory asked him how the damn thing worked he'd shout 'Magic' at them till they went away. Simply put, warp 12 would represent an order of magnitude involving many decimal points past warp 9.9, so many it would require a x10 to the power of x for readability. But it wasn't exceeding infinite velocity as many assumed being higher than 10 would mean.

[Engineering]

The Engineers doors opened, D'Vid stepped in to a busy, positive energy engineering room. A lieutenant officer gone to greet D'Vid. "2nd Petty Officer D'Vid reporting to duty," D'Vid said to an attention.

The Klingon male name Targ stared down at the PO. "I don't recall seeing or hearing your name, Petty Officer," he replied in a gruff rough voice. The Klingon was suspicious of the new comer.

"I have my transfer here on the Data Padd, Lieutenant," D'Vid said, holding out his padd. Is it possible there was a mix up. Great two moons of old El-Aurian don't be messed up with Temporal Agency, he thought to himself.

The broad muscle Starfleet Klingon took the padd, took a look at it and read it. His bushy brows frowned between his eyes. "Stay here," the rough looking Engineering said to D'Vid. He held his right hand up to signal to stay his spot. Sir," the Lieutenant moved toward to the Chief of Engineering "New transfer. Records share he's not in records."

D'Vid was confused he was able to drop off his duffle bag at his shared quarters, but he was not coming up on the records in the Engineering. He had wondered the Klingon was testing the El-Aurian. He stood there waiting upon his doom.

Savar was stirred from his mental considerations by Lt. Targ speaking to him. He gazed through him for a moment as he filed his thoughts in a more orderly fashion and the mundane area of his brain dedicated to processing the things people said caught up with the klingon in front of him. "Ah, yes." said Savar nodding as he made heads and tails of what had been said to him, and absentmindedly took the padd. He blinked and ran a hand through his hair "Yes, yes; thank you Lieutenant, I'll handle it. If you could evaluate Petty Officer Vadel's status report on the pylon integrity reinforcements and check in with the deflector techs, it'd be a load off my plate." He smiled very slightly, his eyes alive with the thoughts of the technological conundrums this crew, this ship, was taking on.

Targ grunted and bowed his head moment, which Savar knew from experience was more respectful than it seemed and walked towards D'Vid and extended a hand in greeting, his curious resting expression of mild amusement and neutrality settling onto his features. "Mr... D'Vid is it? Welcome aboard. Given the gravity of our mission I would doubt you'd ended up here by accident, no doubt it was merely a filing error." He nodded, careful to sound certain rather than hopeful "I'm Savar Dorran, Chief of Engineering here on the Athena. May I inquire as to any engineering specialism you may possess?" He cocked his head to one side very slightly, his eyebrow raising curiously.

After the newcomer's reply Savar's commbadge chirped and he held up a hand in apology as he tapped it and responded.

"Mr. Dorran. How goes the prep of the testbed engine? Are we going to be on schedule for our launch in thirty two minutes?" She inquired flatly, though somehow she managed to make it sound inquisitive and maybe even a little anxious (in her own sort of... bland way).

=A="Everything has been green so far and we're just finishing our fourth round of prelaunch checks. We'll be ready in 10 minutes captain. Gives us a nice twenty-two minute window for any mishap and mayhem to be battened down."=A= he paused as Targ handed him another padd and retrieved the first one Savar glanced at it before continuing =A="In fact Captain, the final check on the main deflector is complete, and control is now back in the hands of the bridge. You can bring it back online at your leisure- before the test of course. The computer should keep its power levels balanced during the restart sequence."=A= As he finished Savar glanced over his shoulder at the even further modified core of the Athena and sighed. Borg-originated modifications always made things green. Green didn't fit well with the Starfleet aesthetic.

[Leonard T. Scott]

Katheryn smiled as she listened only pausing occasionally to take a bite of her food and when he mentioned his promotion and how he hoped to succeed and not replace Commander Torngate again she understood where he was coming from. If she was ever promoted higher then that's what she wanted to achieve too follow on from whoever had the job first. " Apart from here and Columbus I've never felt more comfortable anywhere else until now and yes I did Congratulations " she replied sincerely " I understand where your coming from too and I'm sure you'll achieve that".

Leo smiled a bit. It had been a while since he had.

"Thank you," he replied. "I don't mean to dump on you right away, but this promotion is a little bittersweet for me. I can't really talk to Cat, our counselor about it because it's about her and me. We've had a bit of a spat every since I made a decision she didn't entirely agree with while we were fighting that gods forsaken cube. Ive explain to her multiple times that I was looking out for everyone's interests, not just my own....."

He kinda trailed off toward the end and took a bite of his sandwich before saying anything further.

[Katheryn Brighton]

Leo smiled a bit. It had been a while since he had.

"Thank you," he replied. "I don't mean to dump on you right away, but this promotion is a little bittersweet for me. I can't really talk to Cat, our counselor about it because it's about her and me. We've had a bit of a spat every since I made a decision she didn't entirely agree with while we were fighting that gods forsaken cube. Ive explain to her multiple times that I was looking out for everyone's interests, not just my own....."

He kinda trailed off toward the end and took a bite of his sandwich before saying anything further.

Mess Hall

Katheryn had continued to listen smiling when he did until he thanked her and everything came pouring out about how he felt about the promotion, the problems he was having with the Counselor and didn't mind being the one he was telling this too as she could only imagine how long he had been bottling everything up inside. When he trailed off she looked at him for a moment before offering a reassuring smile as she spoke to him. " Anytime and I don't mind at all Leo, if you want to talk and get this off your chest I'm happy to listen and I hope that you and Cat will work things out " she said meaning every word as he wasn't the only one who had done this to her before and always offered a friendly ear to those who needed it.

[Constance Lafayette]

{Bridge}

Constance was somewhat lost in thought, which was pretty par for the course. When she wasn't looking hawkishly at something or scowling sleightly, the bookwork was lost somewhere in her own mind. However, as of late that term was far more literal. She was checking general, ship wide, systems via her positronic brain implant. She couldn't pick up or access much without using the actual data port's physical connection but it was enough to occupy her in her rare moments of repose.

She'd kept this to herself- she was a private person and would rather others not press her on the matter. It'd feel... uncomfortable. She still wasn't entirely comfortable with her new prosthetic hand and synthetic eye either. They looked and felt real, even to her, but she knew subconsciously that they were not her own natural flesh and blood. It didn't really bother her- hers was more a cautious, quizzical, clinical interest.

"Acknowledged Mr. Doraran. Once our helmsman returns I'll make the necessary arrangements to begin the test." She said, almost pleasantly. She wouldn't say she would miss Mr. Torngate, but she had expected efficiency within the engineering department to drop by at least 6% and morale by an additional 2% but Mr. Dorran had a way with machines that was matched only by his skill at management so, in short, she surmised he'd be an... acceptable replacement.

"Mr. Carter. Your presence will be needed on the bridge for the ignition of the test engine. When it is convenient, please grace us with your presence." She said rather sweetly. Coming from someone else's mouth that would have sounded patronizing, playful, or even mean spirited but in Constance's more refined manner of speech it just came off as polite.

Then, turning to Race, she asked, "How goes it Mr. Warez? Have you composed yourself for the task ahead?"
She'd heard small talk was... a thing. She'd even read a particularly interesting data file on it recently and had decided it would improve morale if she attempted such things on occasion.
She was immediately regretting it.

[Leonard T. Scott]

Mess Hall

Katheryn had continued to listen smiling when he did until he thanked her and everything came pouring out about how he felt about the promotion, the problems he was having with the Counselor and didn't mind being the one he was telling this too as she could only imagine how long he had been bottling everything up inside. When he trailed off she looked at him for a moment before offering a reassuring smile as she spoke to him. " Anytime and I don't mind at all Leo, if you want to talk and get this off your chest I'm happy to listen and I hope that you and Cat will work things out " she said meaning every word as he wasn't the only one who had done this to her before and always offered a friendly ear to those who needed it.

{Mess Hall}

"Thanks," Leo replied. "It does feel good getting these thoughts of my chest to an actual person instead of the computer. I need to get to the bridge soon. We're testing out the new engine, so I need to be there unless you want to put your life in the hands of an enlisted Cardie."

He chuckled a bit knowing that the term was antiquated. He said it with no malice or ill-will intended. He did value the newest addition to his department.

He took his last bite and arose from his chair and waited for Katheryn to respond.

[Catrin Maddux]

[Sick Bay]

After checking to make sure things were in order, he headed toward one of the private exam rooms. The message he received was his patient was waiting in room A in order to see him. He headed toward that room ready, switching his PADD over to the medical records so he could have easy access to his patient's records. When he walked in, he noticed it was his commanding officer Catrin. He then saluted her and stated"Good Morning Leftennat Maddux...I thought our meeting was later this morning and in your office." Caleb said sounding confused.

[Sick Bay - Exam Room 1]

"Don't give me any of that. 'Leftenant' stuff, Brightstar. We've been friends since the Academy." Cat tsked her tongue at him, and crossed her legs at the ankles.

"I have been rather lax, however, as your superior and your friend. Welcome back, Caleb. I have to say, you're looking good. Much more relaxed." The counselor was good at small talk, and used it to tiptoe around the real reason for meeting in Sick Bay instead of her office.

"Been settling back in alright? If you've still got a sweet tooth, Ash makes some pretty amazing pastries and cookies." She leaned forward, hands folded on her lap. Despite skirting her intentions, she was truly interested in the Doctor's answers and well-being.

[Caleb Brighton]

[Sick Bay - Exam Room 1]

"Don't give me any of that. 'Leftenant' stuff, Brightstar. We've been friends since the Academy." Cat tsked her tongue at him, and crossed her legs at the ankles.

"I have been rather lax, however, as your superior and your friend. Welcome back, Caleb. I have to say, you're looking good. Much more relaxed." The counselor was good at small talk, and used it to tiptoe around the real reason for meeting in Sick Bay instead of her office.

"Been settling back in alright? If you've still got a sweet tooth, Ash makes some pretty amazing pastries and cookies." She leaned forward, hands folded on her lap. Despite skirting her intentions, she was truly interested in the Doctor's answers and well-being.

Caleb chuckled when Cat called him her classic nickname. He hadn't realized how much he missed it until then. "I'm very much happy to be back. As much as I love the jungle times, I missed it here.Though I must say I may not have been in the right state of mind. However, that's in the past and I'm here now."Caleb began "Oh trust me I still have a sweet tooth. I think I may need to take you up on that after my shift. I've been dying for a good cookie since... well you know."Caleb hoped his subtle hint at his Star Fleet readjustment. It was a solid month before he even realized just how different he had become.
"Be honest with me Catnip... are you my first patient of the day?" Caleb said sensing that her intentions were merely for a meeting.

[Catrin Maddux]

Caleb chuckled when Cat called him her classic nickname. He hadn't realized how much he missed it until then. "I'm very much happy to be back. As much as I love the jungle times, I missed it here.Though I must say I may not have been in the right state of mind. However, that's in the past and I'm here now."Caleb began "Oh trust me I still have a sweet tooth. I think I may need to take you up on that after my shift. I've been dying for a good cookie since... well you know."Caleb hoped his subtle hint at his Star Fleet readjustment. It was a solid month before he even realized just how different he had become.
"Be honest with me Catnip... are you my first patient of the day?" Caleb said sensing that her intentions were merely for a meeting.

[Sick Bay - Exam Room 1]

"Very astute, Doctor. Observation is a handy tool in the physician's skill set." Cat winked at him, before settling down to business. Her whole demeanor changed subtly, a little stiffer and less open.

"Before I tell you, I want your word that this stays between you and I." She looked into his eyes earnestly, more than a little anxious. She dug a thumb nail into her palm, the pain granting her a little extra control. Caleb was an old friend, and she wasn't asking him for anything too far outside of his usual duties. Still, if anyone suspected she could have a mental deficiency, she'd lose more than she wanted to admit.

[Caleb Brighton]

[Sick Bay - Exam Room 1]

"Very astute, Doctor. Observation is a handy tool in the physician's skill set." Cat winked at him, before settling down to business. Her whole demeanor changed subtly, a little stiffer and less open.

"Before I tell you, I want your word that this stays between you and I." She looked into his eyes earnestly, more than a little anxious. She dug a thumb nail into her palm, the pain granting her a little extra control. Caleb was an old friend, and she wasn't asking him for anything too far outside of his usual duties. Still, if anyone suspected she could have a mental deficiency, she'd lose more than she wanted to admit.

[Sick Bay Exam Room 1]

"You have my word. There is such a thing as Doctor Patient Confidentiality." Caleb said as he closed the door and flicked the Do Not Disturb Light on on the outside of the room.
"Now is this strictly off the books?"Caleb asked. He wasn't even going to bring up any of her records if this was going to be off the books.

[Catrin Maddux]

[Sick Bay Exam Room 1]

"You have my word. There is such a thing as Doctor Patient Confidentiality." Caleb said as he closed the door and flicked the Do Not Disturb Light on on the outside of the room.
"Now is this strictly off the books?"Caleb asked. He wasn't even going to bring up any of her records if this was going to be off the books.

[Sick Bay - Exam Room 1]

"Entirely off the record, please. It's really just ruling out possibilities." Cat stood and paced the small room, arms folded behind her back.

"I guess I should start at the beginning. I've never really put it too much out there, but I am half Betazoid although I was raised human. Part of me didn't want to acknowledge it, but I've always been different." She sighed and continued her agitated pacing, arms clenched a little tighter.

"It's just, for the past month or so, ever since the incident with the Borg, my emphatic abilities have become more difficult to control. I've been moody, lashing out. I can't tune out others thoughts the way I used to. By the way, don't go with the tuna sandwich. Tuna is awful." She shook her head, annoyed at the outside thoughts seeping in.

"It's affecting my focus, my relationship. I just want to be sure it's not something physically wrong with me, before I go seeking other help." The counselor spun on her heels and faced Caleb. The sleeves of her uniform hid the angry red marks from grasping her arms too tightly.

"Can you help me?" Her tone was pleading, but her eyes still danced with nervous energy.

[D'Vid]

Savar peered at the warp dynamics simulations of the 'Warp Twelve Crossword Reflection'-- the warp dynamics of the new drive. The design was more than interesting. He recalled data from the return of Voyager and its Warp 10 flights. They had encountered a number of interesting issues there, not least becoming... lizards... but also in terms of subspace dynamics. The problem with the mathematics of warp travel is that it lead to a exponential function, and Tom Paris had proved it. There was only so far traditional subspace transit could take you, and only so many misleading terms that Savar could stand. Warp Ten was not 'one higher than 9', it was merely a lay-term for infinitely higher than everything. It was non-quantifiable. Warp travel was achieved by stretching space in a bubble around your vessel. The greater the stretching, the 'smaller' the bubble. The 'smaller' the bubble the greater the subspace compression, which is where you ran into issues involving quantum physics of matter being force to exist in a dual state as energy as the subspace sheer stretched your ship to every point in the universe at once, or crushed you out of existence entirely. Normal warp travel was very roughly analogous to an object being pushed through a vacuum tube by compressed air behind. But at the same time there was no push and no pull only the movement of the universe around the ship... more like a vacuum tube being moved past an object...

It was at that point that Savar shook the thoughts out of his head before his analogies traversed to warp 10 on their own... If anyone without at least one degree in warp theory asked him how the damn thing worked he'd shout 'Magic' at them till they went away. Simply put, warp 12 would represent an order of magnitude involving many decimal points past warp 9.9, so many it would require a x10 to the power of x for readability. But it wasn't exceeding infinite velocity as many assumed being higher than 10 would mean.

Savar was stirred from his mental considerations by Lt. Targ speaking to him. He gazed through him for a moment as he filed his thoughts in a more orderly fashion and the mundane area of his brain dedicated to processing the things people said caught up with the klingon in front of him. "Ah, yes." said Savar nodding as he made heads and tails of what had been said to him, and absentmindedly took the padd. He blinked and ran a hand through his hair "Yes, yes; thank you Lieutenant, I'll handle it. If you could evaluate Petty Officer Vadel's status report on the pylon integrity reinforcements and check in with the deflector techs, it'd be a load off my plate." He smiled very slightly, his eyes alive with the thoughts of the technological conundrums this crew, this ship, was taking on.

Targ grunted and bowed his head moment, which Savar knew from experience was more respectful than it seemed and walked towards D'Vid and extended a hand in greeting, his curious resting expression of mild amusement and neutrality settling onto his features. "Mr... D'Vid is it? Welcome aboard. Given the gravity of our mission I would doubt you'd ended up here by accident, no doubt it was merely a filing error." He nodded, careful to sound certain rather than hopeful "I'm Savar Dorran, Chief of Engineering here on the Athena. May I inquire as to any engineering specialism you may possess?" He cocked his head to one side very slightly, his eyebrow raising curiously.

After the newcomer's reply Savar's commbadge chirped and he held up a hand in apology as he tapped it and responded.

=A="Everything has been green so far and we're just finishing our fourth round of prelaunch checks. We'll be ready in 10 minutes captain. Gives us a nice twenty-two minute window for any mishap and mayhem to be battened down."=A= he paused as Targ handed him another padd and retrieved the first one Savar glanced at it before continuing =A="In fact Captain, the final check on the main deflector is complete, and control is now back in the hands of the bridge. You can bring it back online at your leisure- before the test of course. The computer should keep its power levels balanced during the restart sequence."=A= As he finished Savar glanced over his shoulder at the even further modified core of the Athena and sighed. Borg-originated modifications always made things green. Green didn't fit well with the Starfleet aesthetic.

D'Vid was standing there with his hands behind his back. He stood there listening on everything that was going on. He could had hear the buffers humming away to the warp drive. To bad he wished he had the ears to hear the coils and the dilithium crystals sing together.

When it was clear to speak, "Sir I am a specialist in warp drives. I know Transwarp theory and tech to the Slip Streaming and others," he replied. He was thinking there was more then I know you need to know...As Time shifting streaming and Temporal warps to opening and folding  bubbles in space. However he was unable to give future information on what he knew and taught. It was like being a Q that knows but won't say nothing. It was like when he was in the 20th century when the world was under the fear of Nuclear attack. He knew there was going to be a future in that time. It was just like that period. It was holding a secret. That what El-Aurians was able to do.

"And I would  you like to know I am capable to do other duties sir. I am well known cleaning cooking hoods in Science Labs," he said with a smile. That was a joke of an old friend but he had to toss in a humor. He was nervous being here. It was starting all over. The starting all over was okay, but he was not on the Discovery to long, but records showed he was there longer he wasn't.

His relative sure dropped him in few years later when he was supposed to be with the Borg. He had travelled in time, saw the future and saw great places, he gone back in time in Earth and he was here Discovery and now he was on the USS Athena. By his records it was not long ago that El-Aurian was destroyed. Now his people have a new planet where they all bring their race back. All he knew that Q was going to be involved and they be extinct again. He learned that from the future. Not even his closest El-Aurians know that.

Nobody knows all that, all they know he was to serve on the USS Discovery and he was transfer to the USS Athena. The real story of his past was classified only high ranking officers can see. It was all wrote up by relative who was a Temporal Agency in the future.

So it was quiet interesting he was on a ship that was going to be one of the first starships to travel beyond warp 10. This was going to be interesting cause he was here. But he was going to play along to pretend this is the first time which he knew the future. It will be his FIRST experience doing it. That was worth to live in. He was in the present. That was the greatest present one could can have.

[Katheryn Brighton]

{Mess Hall}

"Thanks," Leo replied. "It does feel good getting these thoughts of my chest to an actual person instead of the computer. I need to get to the bridge soon. We're testing out the new engine, so I need to be there unless you want to put your life in the hands of an enlisted Cardie."

He chuckled a bit knowing that the term was antiquated. He said it with no malice or ill-will intended. He did value the newest addition to his department.

He took his last bite and arose from his chair and waited for Katheryn to respond.

Mess Hall

"I'm glad I could help and I know what you mean there's only so much you can say to a computer " she replied thinking of her last personal log and maybe one day she would be brave enough to actually talk about what she was feeling but that didn't matter right now as she was happy that she had been there for Leo. When he then mentioned about needing to get to the Bridge, the testing of the new engines and his quip about the Cardassian, she grinned slightly knowing it was meant in jest and looked up as he prepared to leave. " I don't blame you for wanting to get up there, I heard about the new engines and it sounds fascinating" She said " I should really get going too and check in at the Brig " she added as she too stood up from the table then picked up her tray and PADD.

[Leonard T. Scott]

Mess Hall

"I'm glad I could help and I know what you mean there's only so much you can say to a computer " she replied thinking of her last personal log and maybe one day she would be brave enough to actually talk about what she was feeling but that didn't matter right now as she was happy that she had been there for Leo. When he then mentioned about needing to get to the Bridge, the testing of the new engines and his quip about the Cardassian, she grinned slightly knowing it was meant in jest and looked up as he prepared to leave. " I don't blame you for wanting to get up there, I heard about the new engines and it sounds fascinating" She said " I should really get going too and check in at the Brig " she added as she too stood up from the table then picked up her tray and PADD.

(Mess Hall)

Leo surprised even himself by giving Kathryn a hug. He typically didn't do that, but it seemed appropriate. Once he released the embrace, he departed for the bridge.