Let the Reporting Begin

Posted on Sat Feb 16th, 2019 @ 8:31pm by Lieutenant Commander Shaille Levine & Commander Rostra Tang

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/5
Location: XO's Office

Walking into Rostra's office, Shaille smiled at the Dalacari sitting behind the desk. Setting half a dozen PADD's down on the desk, Shaille sank into the chair across from the first officer, drawing in a deep breath and exhaling slowly.

"I don't know about you, but I could right now quite happily go the entire rest of my career without ever seeing another one of these reality rifts," she said with a smirk. "Not to mention another Shalti."

Rostra had a pair of smiles on as Shaille entered the office, and the binary form rose in total to meet her as the security officer walked to her desk. "Oh, I don't know, seen one interspacial tear seen them all." the pair giggled at the joke, but then they quickly came back to a semi-serious look and shook their heads in the negative.

"Never again." a pause, "So, what do we have here. Ooooo, paperwork. I love paperwork." she said, and one could believe she meant it. "Please, take a sit." the one without a PaDD in her hands offered with a motion. "Get something to drink, if you want."

Ordering herself a coffee from the replicator, Shaille looked over at Rostra. "Can I grab you a tea while I'm here?" she asked.

"Please." the pair responded in unison. Then paused, "Oh, sorry, that was a bit too enthusiastic. Tells you how far behind I am on tea. Yes, please." this time, only one form responded.

Returning to the desk, Shaille sank into the previously offered seat, she sipped the coffee slowly, closing her eyes and sighing softly. "Caffeine good," she said with a quick smile. "The rift is closed, the Icarus is back where it belongs and as best we can tell, we're Shalti free. I've been back over the sensor data from where we ended up with Shalti on the ship. It bothers me that we still can't determine with any degree of accuracy how they actually got on board. The security risk it poses doesn't sit well with me."

Rostra took a moment to just sip a sip of tea, to let it course through her, to become one with her. Stress out, tea in. The galaxy was at peace. "I'm going to send everything we've learned about this whole mess over to the Dalacar Center for Advanced Calculation. They're an enormous data dump that..."

"... has about eight or ten or so networked Thinking Engines. I'm going to rent about three hours of calculation time off-peak hours and see if that little number..."

"... trust can come up with anything aside from 'they just appeared there'." she admitted with a nod. "Oh, I'd give a month's salary to have an Engine here. Just a little one..."

"... and I'd be happy. But maybe I'm just so used to how we do things back home. I'm sorry, I'm dominating the conversation." the pair turned their collective attention towards Shaille.

"How are things with you, Post Shalti?"

"The concept of networked thinking engines, it sounds fascinating," Shaille replied genuinely. "Post Shalti," she shrugged slightly, sipping her coffee again. "Focusing on the weaknesses we've discovered, going through sensor data," she smirked. "I'd be pretty happy to have a thinking machine of my own, so much data that needs to be analyzed, it will take years to get through it all. Once things have calmed down a little more though I want to start doing some more direct hand to hand combat and weapons training with some of the crew, I might even get the Marines in on it, they've got a pretty good skill set there that could be well passed on."

"Oh it's a marvel to watch. Feed them data and they can crunch it into projected outcomes almost as fast as the data gets to them. Really, the Department's..."

"... Thinking Engine Hub is about as close to an Artificial Intelligence as we're allowed to get to. And even then, I think it makes a few folks way up in the Empire a ..."

"... bit nervous. Though, personally I understand completely why they asked for the ban." she explained. "See, you want to train up the troops to bolster their skills, and..."

"... that's good. I may even sign up myself to brush up some self-defense, but back on Dalacar we don't do that. Our military is almost entirely mechanical. Drones, actually." whichever one wasn't speaking was sipping tea.

"Our air force, our navy, our ground forces. All drones. Controlled by Thinking Engines that pretty much adapt as the fight goes on. Scary to watch, really." she said.

"And that's why there's the ban. Imagine if all those drones were controlled by a Thinking Engine that just kinda... Woke Up... one day? Nope." she firmly shook her heads. "Nope nope."

"But, refresher hand to hand courses? I'm in. Just go gentle. It's... it's been a few thousand years since we were predators. I'm sure the reflexes are there."

"Behind the tea." ... "And the pastries." ... "And the plush pillows."

Shaille laughed and shook her head. "I don't know, the tea, the pastries and the plush pillows sound pretty tempting too," she said with an easy smile. "Though right now I'd settle for a bikini, a warm beach and a tall drink with a little umbrella, or even just a day or two in bed, maybe even with a little sleep!"

To that, Rostra motioned with both her tea cups, "See, Dalacari are comfort creatures by nature. So yeah, pillows and cushions." she giggled. "Though, still have to be careful. If I lounge for too much, I'll lose my figure, and do you know how hard it is to maintain these physiques?" she mentioned with a giggle.

"And do you know how hard it is for me to mention myself in the plural? For your benefit?" she giggled again. "Though, in all seriousness, there's a beach out there with my..."

"... name on it that has oceans that don't conform to standard ISO density. Though, if I visit them, then I do it alone because the gravity on those worlds would..."

"... be too intense for my new friends. A creature of comfort from a one point three gee world, forever doomed to float with buoyancy assist in a one point ohh gee universe." she said with all the drama she could muster, before smiling.

"Though, I'm in for drinks. Just have to moderate. Do you know how painful it is being half hungover?"

Contemplating that final question for a moment, Shaille finally laughed openly. "I don't know if being a twin the way you are would mean that half a hangover means you only have to deal with half of the hell or if it ends up being twice as bad, but if it's the latter I strongly recommend you stay away from Aldebaran Whiskey." She shuddered, just thinking about it giving her the ghost of a hangover headache.

"But don't get me wrong, I actually have absolutely zero intention of getting IN the water. I just want the sun and the sand and the ability to be lazy and not have to think about what's creeping in the corners. You know I'm STILL dealing with call outs where people are seeing Shalti in their closets. I'm seriously tempted to get Engineering and Medical to team up and distribute some valium through the environmental controls or something!"

Rostra smiled, "That certainly sounds like fun. Though, I do love the water." she mused, then shook her head, "Oh trust me, one of the downsides of being a Dalacari is..."

"...everyone tries to see how they can mess with my physiology, and NOT in the playful flirty way." she shivered a bit, "Sorry, just... no." a pause, "And no, I remember Aldebaran..."

"... Whiskey, and it's at the very top of my No list. Hell, I'll data a Klingon before doing that again." she giggled, "But yes, paperwork first, research request second, and..."

"... then little fruity drinks with umbrellas." a pause, "Maybe some exotic meat snacks. Oh there was a faire that would come to the city when I was a little girl, and ..."

"... they sold these little cubes of beef covered in, I think it was a caramel glaze I don't know but Dia it was the best. Probably terrible for me, but still." the pair said in series with a smile on each face, just remembering.

Then she returned to the here and now, "Oh, Ummmm, I mean. Well done, report received. Carry on." and she giggled at her attempt to be professional. "I'm glad we weathered that storm with, relatively, minimal damage. Please keep me informed..."

"... on anything you come across regarding how the Shalti just up and dropped in on us like they did, please."

Shaille laughed, unable to help herself. "Commander, it has been a pleasure. We should do drinks, soon, just us girls. I'd love to hear more about the Dalacari when we're not facing an alternate reality alien threat," she said genuinely. "But, as always, thank you for your time."

Rising from her seat, Shaille made her way to the door and disappeared into the corridor beyond. Now that she was off duty, there was definitely other things she could be doing with her time.

=/\=

Commander Rostra Tang
Executive Officer
USS Wellington

Lieutenant Shaille Levine
Chief Security Officer
USS Wellington