Bearers of Strange News
Posted on Sun Mar 24th, 2024 @ 9:47am by Lieutenant Commander Sofia Nikedoros & Lieutenant Gunnar Arnason & Captain Min Seong
1,350 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Pressure
Location: Captain's Office
Timeline: after 'Sanity Check'
Two officers strode purposefully into the reception area outside the Captain's office, one a head taller than other and with a bearing that if not for the medical blue he was wearing might have suggested he was her bodyguard. It had occurred to Sofia that Gunnar hadn't met the new Captain yet, and given how the circumstances, she'd decided it would be best to accompany him. Both for moral support and to provide corroboration, since he hadn't been wrong about how their conclusions might sound.
The Counselor offered a short but polite nod to the yeoman on duty. "We need to speak to the Captain. It regards Captain Mahone's disappearance."
The young petty officer who sat behind what would normally be Davna's desk nodded mechanically, before making the call to Min, "Ma'am, you've got Lieutenant Commander Nikedoros and uh- " he looked over at Gunnar expectantly.
"LT Arnason," he supplied with a nod.
"Lieutenant Arnason here to see you about Captain Mahone?"
There was a momentary pause, before the doors to the Captain's office slid open, revealing Min standing in the doorway. She looked between the two officers. "Couldn't wait. I've got tea finally, if you two would prefer to sit and chat?"
"That might be best," Sofia replied, given that the information might be better contained to senior staff for the time being. She headed into the Captain's office with Gunnar following close behind, and took a seat. "Tea would be appreciated. Tsai tou vounou with lemon for me." She cast a glance upwards toward Gunnar, accompanied by a small tip of her head toward a chair.
"Coffee, black, would be appreciated," he said, taking the hint that he should also sit before he was tempted to start pacing again.
Min gave a curt nod, already on her way over to the replicator. While it only took a few moments for her to get a mug of tea for Sofia, it took a few more to obtain the coffee for Gunnar. "... Did Luka not drink coffee..." she muttered under her breath, looking over her shoulder and gesturing for the pair to sit. "Please, sit. I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to stand later."
"We haven't had the opportunity to meet formally," Sofia began as Min replicated their drinks. "I'm the Chief Counselor, Sofia Nikedoros, and this is Gunnar Arnason, currently Acting CMO." She could almost hear Gunnar thinking 'Again', but that was a discussion for another day; the matter at hand was far more pressing.
Trio of mugs carefully balanced in her hands, Min returned to the middle table, sitting herself in the unoccupied seat. As she handed the drinks, she gave a small smile. "I was aiming to come see the both of you in your-" She paused, but only for the briefest of moments. "Workspaces? Workspaces. But, this is as good a time as any. Min Seong. But please, before this gets away from us - what did you want to discuss?"
Sofia looked to Gunnar, giving a small nod to indicate he should explain. She'd known what the results implied, but only because of experience and hearing the term bandied about.
Taking a breath, Gunnar tried to order his thoughts - the kind of gush of information he'd unleashed on Nikedoros would not be helpful, and also not be the kind of first impression he wanted to make with the new CO. "As you probably know, Captain Mahone has been missing and his last known location, his quarters, were found in disarray with blood spatter that proved to be a mix of his and some indeterminate species. The Captain had pets, which were also absent, but have since been recovered. The last one returned with dried blood in her fur. It was sampled and analyzed, indicating again a mix - Captain Mahone's and this time another man, who has been identified as Starfleet officer, deceased over a year ago."
"I..." He paused, took a steadying sip of coffee. "I'm aware of cases where individuals have been declared dead but survived, so I requested his records and they confirm that that status could not be in error. The blood was then subjected to more detailed analysis, resulting in evidence of variations in quantum signature. Which indicates origin in an alternate quantum reality."
Min sat in silence as the words fell from Gunnar's lips. The more she thought, the more her lips thinned, and the less tea she decided she wanted to drink. "Alternate. Quantum. Reality," she repeated neutrally. "Alternate... quantum... reality..." This was not unheard of, not in their line of work. In fact, Min had made it a point to avoid situations such as this. She already had enough trouble. But it did seem that Haumea would indeed attract all kinds of trouble. Maybe she should have started scanning for a Q before entering the system... "That is quite the theory."
After another beat of silence, Min sat upright. "Have you had anyone else analyze this data to see if we can pinpoint specifics?"
"It's more than a theory," Sofia explained. "The Lieutenant and I both have some prior experience with this sort of thing."
"Which is why I had results cross-checked by medical and science labs," Gunnar put in. As badly as he'd wanted to determine what had happened to Luka, he'd very much hoped these results would prove to be in error. However, they had only been doubly confirmed. "As to pinpointing specifics, I'm not a quantum physicist, but as I understand the theory on alternate realities, there are theoretically an infinite number, but only so many 'proximate enough' to ours for crossovers. There's a science team rescanning the Captain's quarters in hopes of picking up signatures, but no one here has expertise in this area." He paused a moment, eyes shifting to Nikedoros.
She gave a fractional nod, understanding the unvoiced 'over to you'. The request was one Gunnar could have made, but she was the senior officer (and the one who would be more comfortable pushing back if the answer was 'no'). "No one on the Starfleet side," she amended. "The Bray Foundation has a more extensive scientific presence on the colony, as well as greater resources. However, engaging them would require permission to share this information with civilians."
"It would." Min confirmed. "And if I had someone to contact for this, we could avoid that whole thought. But I would rather have someone with the experience on colony than someone without it. They may catch things an outside eye would not." She seemed resolute in that fact. "I wish I could say these sorts of things were less common than they are. Who else knows about this right now? Have you informed the Lieutenant Colonel yet?"
"I imagine some of the techs who did the analysis may have some idea of the implications of their findings," Sofia replied honestly. "But we felt the information should come first to you, so Lt. Col. Bradley has not yet been informed."
Min fell silent, perhaps for longer than she intended to. As the seconds ticked by, she sipped her tea. "We should tell him before we loop in any civilian input," she decided. "But if we have potential alternate realities involved, we may want to make sure we have all the defenses we can. Who's to say they won't try again?"
Her eyes narrowed, and she gave the pair a look. "There haven't... been any other random disappearances recently, correct?"
The two exchanged a glance. As if by mutual agreement, Nikedoros straightened slightly, returning her attention to the Captain to answer. "None that we know of since Mahone disappeared, and no unresolved missing persons cases prior. However, there was an ...anomaly... during a cavern collapse. Everyone was recovered within a matter of hours, but afterward we could find no trace of the creatures we'd encountered."
The soft mumble of Korean frustration was breathed out at Min's next sigh, and she rubbed her temples. "We'll loop in the Lieutenant Colonel then. I'm sure he's going to have his thoughts on all of this."
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