Scientific Expansion
Posted on Fri May 30th, 2025 @ 8:37am by Rear Admiral Othello Matthews & Captain Luka Mahone & Captain Min Seong
1,599 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
What Lies Ahead, Between, and Behind
Location: Various Ships
Timeline: Many moons before Luka’s disappearance
Holograms must have been part of a technological hyperfixation for a pile of engineers. That was always what Luka thought when he was in meetings with some member of the brass. Some part of him wished for a return to the viewscreens and non-visual meetings of olde, where he would only have to worry about some minor part of his person looking correct.
“Captain Mahone?” the image of Min Seong, Captain of the USS Benzaiten, flickered but still showed her mild amusement. “Do adults grow more on Haumea or is this a trick of the camera?”
Luka gave the woman a rather thin-lipped expression, shifting his weight between the chair he was half propped up in and the large malamute he was attempting to keep at bay. “Trick of the camera, Min. We can catch up later, but I believe the Admiral had something he wanted to bring up?”
The nearby holographic image of Rear Admiral Othello Matthews, who had seen a fair amount of Lugh’s antics, gave a chuckle at the sight of the dog’s nose peering over the table. “Captains, I wanted to connect you two - or, reconnect you two so to speak. The Benzaiten is in a perfect course to your colony, Captain Mahone. I was hoping to take the opportunity to bring in a scientific mind to assist with Haumea’s… concerning reports.”
Luka’s expression fell, almost forgetting for a moment that Lugh was ready to leap up and take him down. Almost. “No!” He pointed a finger at the dog, who gave him a side-eyed sigh. His gaze then immediately went back to the duo. “I mean! Yes, yes Sir. Though I will say we have yet to have a whole colony disappear on us. So far.”
“Yes, so far,” the Admirals gaze turned stern, despite the ear he saw hovering in the air near Luka's projected form, "But I would like to make sure it continues to remain where it is, along with everyone else in it. Colonial Relations has their eye on this colony because of its location and it's potential." He cleared his throat, eyes darting down to the snout of a malamute monster.
Luka looked to his right, and Lugh met his gaze, tail wagging against the floor he was sitting on. With a small sigh, the Captain returned to the conversation. "Our last major issue was caused by those within the colony - and while completely odd, it was something that was easily taken care of."
The Admiral rose his brow. "But the number of actual mysteries outweigh the not-so-mysterious in the area. Would you agree, Captain Mahone?"
"I... would."
Admiral Matthews gestured over to Min. "And that is why I reached out to Captain Seong. Someone more accustomed to the odd and currently unexplained would assist greatly in your endeavors. Someone more... Starfleet-oriented." There was a pause. "I know there are companies and scientists who are there to help, but I do not want to rely on our Civilian efforts when we can also contribute more to the cause."
"Apologies, I don't mean to interrupt this convincing," Min piped in, though not with the same tone that her compatriots were utilizing. "Who is the adorable creature that comes with that nose, Luka? They very clearly want attention."
Luka's already furrowed brow was complimented with a deep frown as he gave Lugh a mildly annoyed side-eye. Was he really annoyed? No, it was always fun to talk about his four-legged companions with friends. But Lugh had a way of making professional moments seem much less professional. "Oh, his name is Lugh-" And before he could elaborate, the named dog took the moment to hop up into Luka's lap, tongue lolling out as the pair toppled to the ground.
Stifling a giggle, Min went on, tone slowly returning to a much more serious one as she felt the stern gaze of the Admiral lightyears away. "He's precious. I'll enjoy meeting him. But the Admiral did say that you were having issues with retrieving a Chief of Science - although I am aware of a file for one that has been making rounds. Perhaps I could come help get a potential new recruit settled in before they decide to - what was it you said, Admiral?"
"Run away screaming at the sight of tachyon readings and mineral-munching stuffed animals," the Admiral droned, "I have never seen anything quite like it. Your Colony seems to go through Department heads like water."
"They-Lugh, go sit." By this point, Luka had righted himself and was back in the chair. The now-satisfied malamute took his happy tail wagging a few feet away, where he sat down and observed his owner as if he had not done a thing wrong. Luka's lips pressed together and his eyes narrowed, but the expression only lasted moments. "They had various reasons, Admiral. I fully believe one was bored and another simply decided to not set foot on the colony once they saw our marine detachment."
"Regardless of the reasoning, Captain Seong does not scare off nearly as easily. Her expertise may be helpful to your endeavors-ah!" He held up a finger as he saw the Haumean Captain's mouth open. "I highly doubt it would be as much of an inconvenience as you are about to say it might be."
Min gave a nod of agreement. "We are on our way through that area. I have a package we have to deliver to the Sol System. I can be dropped off on the way." She tilted her head to one side. "I do seem to recall a message from you recently where you were urging me to visit." She ignored the frown she received from Luka. "Giving me an objective simply gives me more of an excuse to come visit."
Any protest out of Luka would have fallen on two sets of deaf ears. And he would have been lying if he said he did not want another pile of scientists with eyes on whatever was going on within this colony. If there was something to be found, anyways. "Alright, alright." He waved a hand, ignoring the glint in his dog's eyes. "But you have to be careful. We've almost lost kids to whatever is going on here. I don't want to lose one of Starfleet's diplomatic and scientific experts just because they wanted to poke at whatever's here."
Admiral Matthews quirked his brow. "Excellent. I thought this would take at least another hour of conversation and convincing. This colony must be wearing that doctor attitude of yours down." He winked to Min. "Please, make sure to give Captain Mahone your best effort."
"Of course, Admiral. It would be disrespectful to give anything less." She added a little wave as the image of the Admiral disappeared from view. Her smile deepened, and she turned to Luka. "Please send me everything. Including what you have on the shuttlecraft you all found awhile back."
Luka's hand hovered over the console, head tilting to one side. Lugh followed in suit. "How do you know about that?"
"Oh, as if I decided to not be educated in the subject matter." Min waved a hand dismissively.
"So educated you dug into files I don't even think I have authorization to look at anymore?"
Min's head swayed from side to side a couple times, and she made a small 'eeehhhhh' noise. "We'll just say I have the authorization on it. Or maybe I came across it."
The comment hung still in the air. The Haumean Captain had all but froze in place, hand hovering over the console. Another couple of beats of Lugh's happily wagging tail brought him out of his frozen state. "Please tell me you got it from some shady method that should have-by all rights-not happened because we should have better security than we did instead of some Intel officer you've got planted in our colony, masquerading as like... the Command Center receptionist."
"Like, a spy?" Min's brows rose. "I hadn't thought about doing that, not to you anyway. No, I happened upon an Intel Officer who got to talking with me over a few drinks and she happened to mention it. And then proceeded to tell me how much of it she should not have mentioned."
"You wouldn't have happened to-"
"Report her to Intel HQ to make sure she did not leak more information she should not have?" Min left the question hanging. "Captain Mahone, please. Let me see. Share as much as you would like, but I would quite like to see everything. The Admiral will not say it, but he truly is afraid Haumea will go the way of its predecessor." She held up a finger at Luka's attempt to protest. "And I quote 'Weird things are an indicator of something more serious.' Even you can't deny that."
Another moment, then came the sigh that Luka held in his gut. "I can't. Nor will I attempt to, even if I could. Fine." His hand tapped away at the console. "You'll have as much as I can give by the end of the day. Just give me time to gather it all. We have... had a lot happen..."
"I can wait. For most of it. I want to talk to you about one, very important thing first." Min bounced in her seat. "Captain Mahone, could you tell me about this Daucin I keep hearing about?"
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