The Hall of Sciences - Proving A Point

Posted on Thu May 17th, 2018 @ 1:16pm by Captain Michelle Bartlett & Commander Rostra Tang & Lieutenant Commander Shaille Levine

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/4

As the guards gathered around them, Shaille tensed ever so slightly, only relaxing as she realised that they were basically forming something resembling an honour guard around the trio. They were ushered from the Vizier's chambers back out into the outdoors and along the path toward yet another building. As they walked, Shaille cast a glance at Rostra. "I don't know about you, but I've not really done much with this kind of stuff since 'Intro to Interstellar Sciences' at the Academy. I vaguely remember Hubble's law, but not in specific details..."

Before the Rostra's could reply, they were hustled into another hall. What this one lacked in austerity, it certainly made up for with creativity. The walls were lined with framed prints of constellations and star charts and every where one looked there were book cases filled with volumes of books and all manner of equipment one could possibly imagine.

One of the guards stepped forward, his sword scraping the scabbard as he withdrew it, holding it in front of him, blade pointed down, as he spoke. "I bring you our guests. The Vizier, as emissary of his Imperiousness, has decreed that you should cooperate with them in any and every request they have." There was a resounding click as the guards surrounding the trio saluted them ceremoniously before the previously unsheathed sword was returned to it's scabbard and within a moment they retreated to the sidelines.

Shaille watched the reactions of the small team of scientists that had gathered as the group entered the hall. She caught the almost imperceptible eye rolls and groans of frustration, but chose to ignore them. As the guards moved away, she stepped forward, next to Rostra and smiled. "I am Lieutenant Shaille Levine, from the Starship Wellington, and these are my superior officers, Rostra Tang." She tried to keep her body language as relaxed as possible as she spoke. The last thing she really wanted was to be setting them off side now before she even had a chance to speak.

"Welcome to the Hall of Sciences. I am Superior Chegal and it will be my pleasure to assist you in any way you require."

The monotone of the delivery made Shaille believe that this interaction was anything but pleasurable. With another smile, Shaille nodded at Superior Chegal. "Sir, the pleasure is entirely ours, believe me. When we spoke to the Vizier, he indicated that we might be able to find a scientist to speak with here about a star chart comparison?"

"That would be me. I am the most senior scientist with astronomical influence," Chegal replied, still seeming rather bored with this intrusion on his time.

"Great!" Shaille replied, still forcing a smile on her face. "So, what we really need is to do is access your most recent manually recorded star charts... and then compare them to current star charts."

The Superior tweaked one eye, almost very imperceptibly. "Star charts? Really? Now, perhaps you could tell me why you wish to access such information?"

Shaille glanced at Rostra, who nodded slightly, giving her the encouragement to continue. "We have a kind of crazy theory that your planet has been out of alignment with reality for a number of years. Your Vizier intimated that you chart the stars, and I think if we compare your most recent manually notated star charts to current star positions, we might be able to work out if any time at all has passed for you."

The Superior momentatarily lost his bored decorum. "Lost time you say? Really? Fascinating concept, truly fascinating.. how much time are we talking? A year or two?" He looked across at them, motioning for them to follow him. "Come, come, the star records are in my office. I will have my assitant bring you refreshments. Would you care for a steeped beverage?"

Rostra was rather pleased with how Shaille took charge there for a moment. She'd have to have a chat with her later regarding this, though she'd be certain to preface that it was a nice chat, since most people always seemed to assume the worst when a higher ranked officer says the words 'I'd like to chat with you'.

"Unfortunately, Superior Chegal, we may be talking about a bit more than just a few years. Though if theories are correct, the lapse in time would be all but..."

"... unnoticed from your perspective, hence our needing to consult your charts." Rostra stated as she followed the group into his office. "I'd love something to drink, thank you."

"And I apologize ahead of time for any potential difficulty. The shift in my focus between my bodies is involuntary." she paused to bring both of her forms into the Superior's field of view. "As a Dalacari, I'm a binary lifeform. Two bodies..."

"... with one mind between them." Rostra immediately regretted not bringing a PaDD along with them. "Pardon me for a moment?" and the pair each took a step back.

"Rostra Tang to Valeria Mordin." she said as each form tapped their respective comm badge. Valeria's reply of acknowledgement came through loud and clear.

"Could you prepare a PaDD with the most recent stellar records and readings for this region and send it to my location please?" the Dalacari requested, and the Ts'usugi on the other end of the conversation expressed her compliance. A few moments later, appearing in a sea of sparkles and light, was a PaDD. Rostra expressed her appreciation before closing off the comm conversation.

"There we go. I'd lose my h... hair, if it wasn't firmly rooted." Don't think about the beheading. Don't think about the beheading. Do...

Too late.

As the star charts arrived on PADD from the Wellington, Shaille left the Rostra's holding the PADD as she turned back to the superior. "Sir Superior, we have the most recent star charts from our ship, I am going to ask that before looking at them you make your own determination on the length of time that may have passed. When you looked for yourself I will ask that Rostra's provide you with our records, but I think it best if you make your own informed decisions first," Shaille said calmly, wanting to leave him with a sense of control over a situation that he may have felt to be escalating out of his league.

As Chegal nodded vaguely, seemingly now preoccupied by a combination of the mystery at hand and the magic he had just witnessed, he motioned for them to join him at a large table in what appeared to be some kind of meeting area surrounded by equipment. He sat momentarily, vocalizing at a mile a moment as an assistant hurried into the room, placing cups and a pot of rather pungent smelling liquid in front of them. Picking up the pot, he poured the deep amber coloured liquid into the cups of both the Rostra's, then Shaille and then himself before setting the pot down, picking up the cup and taking a deep drink. "Aaah, now that hits the spot!" he exclaimed as he jumped to his feet. "Sit, relax, please, let me go look at our records. I am sure I will be back with you in no time at all!" His final words were faded as he hurried away from the small area they had been secluded in.

Rostra found a pair of chairs that seemed decently comfortable. "Please, take your time. Double check all your calculations." she encouraged accurate science, no matter the when or where. She accepted the drinks with a pair of smiles, but took a sniff of one of them and decided that the warm drinks would serve better as hand warmers. "He seemed excited." she commented to Shaille as they were left alone. "I want to say, you're handling yourself very well."

Shaille picked up a cup, holding it up and sniffing it carefully, wondering if it would be deemed inappropriate to scan the liquid with a tricorder. She looked across at Rostra, a little taken aback by the compliment. "The pointy end of the sword offers good encouragement to be on best behaviour," she replied quickly, glancing around. "This entire civilisation, I don't know, it just doesn't feel right. Honestly, I'll be a lot happier once we get back to the ship."

Almost on queue, their commbadges beeped. "Wellington to Away team. Status report when you're able, please." came Michelle's voice.

"I'll share a thought with you in a moment." Rostra said, before she tapped her comm badges. It was weird to see the pair of them move in sync, even the silent one went through the motion. "This is Rostra. We've established peaceful contact with the locals. We met with the advisory to the..."

"... governing reagent but have not yet met with them directly. Currently we're in the hospitality of their leading scientific authority, and we're trying to see if anything..."

"... planetside can shed some light on what happened. They mentioned they were in a conflict with the Koldarens, and that a fleet of their ships were enroute to ..."

"... deal a final assault to their homeworld, and then the next thing they knew the fleet was gone and it was just us. I think they suspect we saved them." Rostra surmised.

"Also, managed to find the name of the planet for the records. They call this world Ren'nahr."




As Rostra spoke, Shaille stood up and moved to the nearest wall, glancing at the assortment of books for a moment before she picked one up and opened it, glancing over the meticulously hand written records within. While she didn't understand the language, the precision with which they had been recorded was nothing short of impressive. She put the book back carefully before selecting another and opening it. The sound of footfalls behind her, making her turn to see Superior Chegal rushing toward them, glasses askew on his face as he juggled a large bundle of maps and books that were teetering precariously in his arms. Moving quickly, Shaille crossed the room and grabbed a stack of books that were about to fall, placing them on the table, making sure they were well clear of the still full cups of liquid.

"How did you come to know of the missing time?" Chegal asked, peering over the top of his glasses at Shaille and then at Rostra.

"Actually, we weren't completely sure, it was just a theory. We suspect the planet was out of phase, which is why it seemed to appear out of no where." Shaille replied, stepping back from his books.

"And you know nothing of the destruction of the Kolderan fleet?" Chegal demanded, one fuzzy eyebrow raising as he glanced between them.

Shaille shook her head. "There were no ships in orbit when the planet appeared." From the corner of her eye she caught a flurry of movement outside the chamber doors and quietly moved around the table, picking up her cup as though she were going to take a sip then moving to position herself between Rostra and the doors.

As the doors opened and a dozen guards walked in, surrounding the room in stony silence, Shaille resisted the urge to reach for her phaser, instead setting her cup down on the table.

"Can you explain why your ship attacked one of our vessels?" One of the guards, presumably one of the senior guards from his insignia, stepped forward from the group.

"Uh..." Shaille looked back at Rostra, not at all liking the direction that this was now taking.

Each of Rostra's bioforms assumed a stance typical of a surrender. Hands empty, hands up, palms out. "I assure you there was no attack intended. The Federation's stance is never to attack first." she started, her other twin picking up a little sooner than normal due to... let's call it "Anxiety Around Angry Guards".

"If you would allow us to contact our ship I'm certain we could---"

"Silence!" The lead guard demanded, unsheathing his sword and holding it out in front of him. Within half a second the room was filled with the sound of scraping metal as the rest of the guards followed suit. "You will stand and you will return with us immediately to the Vizier where you will be executed for treason against Ren'nahr."

Rostra stood as demanded, "What of a trial? There are facts missing from this accusation." she voiced her concern, but the truth was things like "rights" and "privileges" may be alien concepts on this world.

Shaille held her hands out to the side slightly as she looked around the room. She still had her phaser in her holster, chances are they hadn't actually realised that it was actually a weapon, so at least that was in their favour, but at least for right here and now that wasn't a possibility. Even if she set the phaser beam to the widest possible setting there was no way she could take down enough of them to guarantee their safety.

"I'm not entirely sure they are all that interested in the right to a fair trial Commander," Shaille said quietly. "I suggest for now we just go peacefully. The Vizier might be more reasonable..." as her words trailed off it was quite clear there was no actual conviction or reassurance in her voice.


(OOC: DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN!!)

==========

Commander Rostra Tang
Executive Officer in a bit of a Pickle
USS Wellington

Captain Michelle Bartlett
Commanding Officer
USS Wellington

Lieutenant Shaille Levine
Tactical Officer
USS Wellington

Unknown Advisor to the Vizier
Reh'nari Imperium