Sunny Daze I

 Episode Name:  Sunny Daze I

   Written By:  shaft

         Cast:  Alarcon, Givens, Medes, Nilee, Shaft and Zian.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Shaft

     Aired On:  Mon Jan 13 01:20:03 2003

     Stardate:  52922.1

Time: Sun Jan 12 21:23:44 2003

Stardate: 52921.7

Scene: The sun of the Fimdari system has started to destabilize due to the nearby presence of a recently emergent subspace anomaly. The anomaly itself has been designated SA-Dulcais-2-F1, which is simply a concession to the presence of a second Anomaly in the Dulcais Sector, the more noted one near station 419. At first, this Anomaly presented few problems to the Andorians of Fimdari. Concerned with rebuilding from the Dominion Occupation, they had little time to concern themselves with what they figured would be a short lived phenomenon. However, when the anomaly itself remained months later, and they had the time and resources to dedicate to the exploration, a craft was sent out to begin gathering data.

From that point on, the Anomaly has been reacting negatively with the Fimdari sun, leaching energy direct from its core, promoting solar flares and irregularities to the reactions of the massive hydrogen furnace. Tides have begun to shift on Fimdari, glaciers are cracking and tectonic activity is starting to threaten civilian installations on the ground. Ones already ravaged by war. The Excelsior Class USS Merimac has been assigned to the anomaly and a resolution to these problems. As yet, they have been unsuccessful. That is why the Merimac came to 419 and called upon their crew for an additional detachment of scientists and Engineers to aid in their endeavor.

The crew are greeted by Commander Kasa, a Bolian male of the milquetoast variety. He brings them directly to the ward room of the Merimac's captain, Captain Davenport, a non-nonsense human woman with coffee colored skin and pictures of her kids in her office. The Science officers and Engineers are showed to the table while Kasa and Davenport take their seats at the head of the table.

-- ACTION --

Sliding into one of the chairs situated around the table, Medes sets her PADD rather precisely on the table before her and rubs a hand over her shorn skull, directing her attention to the captain and waiting patiently.

Alarcon likewise takes a seat around the table, folding her hands neatly before her, crossing her legs at the ankles. Her PADD is set slightly to the right of her twined fingers, and her attention is focussed on the captain as if Davenport were in fact a strict Academy lecturer. She is the model of the attentive brainiac student.

Zian pulls out a chair and takes her seat, PADD at the ready so that she can jot down important notes from the meeting. Or doodle. Whichever strikes her fancy. She seems unusually quiet and reserved, turning her attention quite intently on the command officers of the Merimac, seemingly glad to have some concrete problem to focus her attention upon.

Nilee follows the group of officers into the ward room, bringing up the rear of the group. As he reaches an emtpy seat near the middle of the large conference table, he quietly slides in, pulling himself up to the table, he gently folds his hands on top of the table in front of him, waiting for Captain to speak.

Givens sits down in another chair with her PADD in front of her, crossing her legs at the knees, also focusing on the command staff of the Merimac.

Captain Davenport examines the 419 crew for a long moment before shifting in her seat to regard Kasa. "Looks like were ready, Commander. Your briefing." Kasa nods politely to his captain and rises from his seat, his little clicker for his visual reports in hand. Science Officers do so love their visual aids. Almost as much as they love talking about their visual aids! Which he undertakes with characterstic Bolian joi de vive. "Ladies, gentlemen, it's /really/ very fascinating. Ehm. The anomaly emerged after the allied fleet cleared the system of the Cardassian and Dominion fleet that had blockaded the system. The final battles were fought, as you can see in my notes -- they should be on your PADDs now -- ehm. Around the moon. Of Fimdari. Here. And around the planet. Here. But! Ehm. One of the Cardassian vessels attempted to escape and was destroyed... here. At perihelion of a slingshot attempt to gain speed. Boom." He presses his little clicker. Sure enough. Boom. He presses it again to show a visual of the subspace anomaly, looking like most anomalies do. For all the world like a big gaseous neural synapse. Data streams by, unreadably fast. But it's there. "It's really played a dickens with our sensors-- with most of our technology, to be perfectly honest. We get too close and it starts leaching off of us. So our data is incomplete. Our most recent attempts have been involved in coming up with a way to shield a shuttle for closer scanning. Or. The Merimac. Anything, really." He scratches at his bisected nose for a moment. "I'd settle for an EVA suit with a cat in it at this point. Ehm. Any questions? At this point?" He looks to Alarcon at that expectantly. She'll have questions he can talk about!

Hey. Shielding a shuttle. That, that Medes understands, and she sets in to the data that's been transferred to her PADD, deferring to Alarcon for this, for the moment, it would seem. That's indicated by a sideward glance and a clearing of her throat. These are the sciency bits. Mine is the science that makes things go zoom, not the science that understands why suns might go boom.

And Alarcon takes the bait, laden with tasty scientific morsels as it was. She'd even attempted to scrutinize the data as they streamed so quickly past... not that she was necessarily successful. But her brow furrowed in a thoughtful manner, and now she raises a slender finger. "If I may, Commander? I understand the difficulties in shielding and the havoc being played with your instrumentation, but to shift the focus for but a moment--" here, she clears her throat in an appropriately nerdy manner before continuing, "--what sorts of steps have been undertaken on the planet's surface in regard to, ah, all of the tectonic, glacial, tidal and other environmental problems the inhabitants are experiencing? If I'm jumping ahead, excuse me."

Zian looks over to the Asst. Science Officer attentively as she begins to enumerate her questions, nodding her head slightly. This is all rather outside of her field of specialty, so she'll just listen in till she finds something useful to contribute.

Nilee pauses as one hand slips down to pull his PADD off his belt, and he slides it along the table until its within his field of view, activating the corresponding data, he pauses as Alarcon asks the first question, and as she's answered, he puts one of his own onto the table, "Do we know what caused the Cardassian vessel to loose structural integrity in its escape attempt? From what it looks like from my point of view, their attempt shouldn't have caused that kind of damage, unless they had gaping holes in their hull..." he shrugs, "And at that point, perhaps they did... do we have scans from the vessel that persued them?"

Givens scans her PADD as the data flows by. Medes does the science of making thing zoom, others understand why suns might go boom (she has to giggle at that unscientific termonology), she concentrates more on planets reactions to suns that go boom. She scans her PADD for the Planetary data... waiting for know since the discussion seems to be concetrating out of her expertise for the moment.

. o O Medes is a little out of her element at this point, but seems more confident as she listens to the Scientists speak. She's concentrating on the shuttle data.

Kasa shifts his face into a few contortions of attentive interest as Alarcon leads him in and out of her tangents. He offers a momentarily uncertain little tilt of his head before he blinks and smiles and nods and generally makes motions of understanding and assent. "Oh. Well that's... that's very forward thinking of you, Lieutenant. Ehm. One moment." He plucks up his PADD and moves his lips a bit before pointing his clicker blindly at the wall. Doink. Up comes an image of Starfleet Blue and Yellowshirts on the ground alongside the ADF, evacuating a village which rests beneath a looming glacier. "This. Is. Indicative. Of our -- ehm -- attempts at safekeeping the people of Fimdari. That's the K'lia village, there. That's K'lia glacier. One of the largest /on/ Fimdari. Fascinating in its own right, it has strata and core samples that go back over ten /million/ years." Sidetracked. "Well. We've been mostly moving people to more stable locations along the equator. Or. You know. Elsewhere. We've been shoring up buildings and such by structural improvements and so forth, and letting out tectonic pressure at key points by promoting controlled earthquakes and such. In short? Running about like chicken little. Thanks for asking!" He grins at that and turns to Nilee, blinking vapidly for a moment or two. "Oh. No. Your Thomas Paine was there. As were a few other vessels from Sector fleet. But the pursuing craft were Sabers. And they were mainly interested in blowing things up. So when it blew up, they didn't ask any questions. Like. Why did it blow up?" He glances back to the screen for a moment. "We're not really sure why it blew up. Looks like a warp core breach to me." The Bolian flips back his presentation to squint at the explosion image. "Yep. Warp core. See?" He pokes the screen, indicating the blue expanding ring. "Plasma."

"Is it possible or likely that the anomaly destabilized the warp core, or could have further done so if it were already damaged? I'm not... very familiar with these phenomenon on a practical level, but we did have a somewhat similar problem with a merchant vessel approaching the anomaly near 419 just recently." Medes leans back in her chair for a moment and scratches her nose. "It might be useful. Then agian, I might be reaching, here."

Alarcon grins in response to all the answers and info she's received in relation to both her own questions and those of others, and looks down to make some quick notations on her PADD, nodding a little as the briefing continues around her. At Medes' question, she pauses in her note-taking and glances first at Medes, sidelong, then back at Kasa, watching him intently.

Zian frowns at the displays thoughtfully, her elbow propped on the tabletop and her chin resting on her fist as she gently gnaws at her lower lip, trying to make heads or tails of the data being presented. Finally, she sighs, shaking her head and leaning back. "Prythra's really the one who needs to see this. This sort of thing is right up his alley. He knows what makes these things tick." Ok, so that wasn't really very helpful or enlightening... it's the best she can do. "Do we have any way of knowing whether the anomaly, or at least, some signs that might on hindsight indicate the beginnings of it, were already in place when the explosion happened, acting as a catalyst, or if it only appeared after the explosion? Perhaps the Cardassians were working on developing some sort of new weaponry, or warp drive, or... or something."

Nilee keeps his hands folded between himself and his PADD, listening intently as his question is answered and another is asked, once he has the opportunity to ask again, he continues along his own line of questioning, "If they were having problems with their warp core, it is unlikely they would have attempted such a high risk maneuver." He states before continuing, "They would have more likely tried to find shelter in the Kuiper Belt, or Oort Cloud until they could repair their warp drive to retreat." He pauses once more, taking a breath before finishing, "Perhaps they triggered their warp core explsion as a final... gambit? If they weren't going to win the battle, they were going to try and cause as much damage as they could. Perhaps they devised some way of forming this anomaly previously, we know the Dominion had a presence here even after the planet's liberation." He nods to Zian's question as well, thinking along the same lines.

Givens studies the graphics intently... "Just knowing that there was a warp core breach by itself may not be the whole story. The next question would would be -why- the warp core breached, which makes Medes' question a good one." She tilts her head a little as she asks the question, a little out of her field. "If the anomely did de-stabilize the warp core, then we may be left with the same question of what to do about it. or maybe the Cardassians were responsible for this, or even caused it delibertly as Nilee sugests.

"Ah. Ehm. Um. Heh." Kasa turns about at Medes question, poking at his PADD rapidly. . o O (Stupid. Should have. Question. Expected!) He holds up a hand as Zian starts speaking, waves it once or twice as she continues speaking, and gestures away from himself when she concludes speaking. . o O (Stupid! Ah. Smart! Me!) He turns back about with a wide smile and looks between the crew. You didn't see me fumble. It's all in your minds. "Okay. We have no conclusive evidence to suggest that the anomaly existed previous to the explosion, but there is /some/ evidence to suggest the anomaly was predicate to it. In that. It's here now. And wasn't then. That we know of. But. It's theoretically possible that a nascent -- and by that I mean wow, nascent -- anomaly could have been forming when the Cardassians flew by. And. You know. Boom." He makes the 'boom' gesture with his hands and glances between Nilee and Givens. "Oh. Cardassians aren't suicidal. They're homicidal! That's sort of silly, I think. Jem'Hadar? Maybe they'd do that as sort of a 'never get me alive, pippers!' kind of gesture. But. You're right. The belt or the cloud would be better places to run and hide. Still. We can't put ourselves on th bridge of the Cardassian craft. Unless you have a time machine in your pocket I don't know of?" He pauses to laugh here, thinking himself very clever, and winds up trailing off with a soft 'hmm'. Ahem. "Ehm. Well. As the Ensign says. Whatever caused it, it's here now, and its eating a sun. Which is bad. We should probably stop that."

Alarcon turns politely to face Zian as she poses her own questions, but flushes, slightly, at the implication that her boss should really be here in her stead. In lieu of having papers to awkwardly shuffle, she settles instead for clearing her throat and returning her attention to Kasa, slightly adjusting the angle at which her PADD is sitting before her. Luckily, Kasa'a ramble is more than enough to occupy her, and the colour fades from her cheeks as she quickly takes some more notes. Smiling up at the commander in a moderately geeky way once more, she coughs, slightly, looks down at her PADD, back up at Kasa, back down at her PADD, makes some notes, uncrosses and recrosses her ankles, quietly clears her throat again.

"Yes, well. Lt. Alarcon, if I could borrow you for a moment, and Commander Kasa, if we could consult, here. I'm going to need some help with the interpretation of what sensor data we have, since this isn't at all my field, and I did note that it was your specialty, wasn't it, Lt?" This, of course, is directed to Alarcon by Medes, with a glance down at her PADD. "But... I'm willing to give a shot to reconfiguring the shields on a shuttle so that we can try to get closer and get some better readings? Ensign Givens, if you and Ensign Nilee would work on the possible consequences of an abrupt flare-up in the anomaly -- and if I'm off on what might possibly happen if we get too close, please substitute in place of 'flare-up' what you think most likely to happen, I admit this isn't my strong point by a long shot -- on the planet's surface, perhaps we could forward that to the Starfleet officers on the planet's surface, so they can be prepared for any potential backlash of us getting closer?"

Alarcon turns politely to face Zian as she poses her own questions, but flushes, slightly, at the implication that her boss should really be here in her stead. In lieu of having papers to awkwardly shuffle, she settles instead for clearing her throat and returning her attention to Kasa, slightly adjusting the angle at which her PADD is sitting before her. Luckily, Kasa's ramble is more than enough to occupy her, and the colour fades from her cheeks as she quickly takes some more notes. Smiling up at the commander in a moderately geeky way once more, she coughs, slightly, looks down at her PADD, back up at Kasa, back down at her PADD, makes some notes, uncrosses and recrosses her ankles, quietly clears her throat again. At Medes' address, she looks up, clears her throat a zillionth time. "Ah, certainly." A nod in the affirmative. "It is, indeed. One of. Those." A minor amount of fidgeting later, she makes another quick notation on her PADD and straightens up in an official manner.

Zian winces as she notices Alarcon's reaction to her words. "Er. That... ahh, that wasn't what I meant, Lieutenant." she mumbles, her own cheeks coloring, looking the very epitome of the officer who wants nothing more than to to just crawl under the table and hide.

Nilee hesitates slightly before nodding his head towards Medes in response to her statement, "We'll get on that, sir." He shoots a quick glance over at Givens to make sure she doesn't have anything to add or ask.

. o O Zian thinks "Yeah, Elly. Way to go. Let's get on the bad side of the new Assistant Science Officer the very first time you work with her. Brilliant. Dammit, woman, get Prythra -out- of your head! So -what- if he'd be up on the table dancing with the anomaly and getting to know it on an intimate, first name basis? He's not here. *Focus*."

Givens nods to Medes as she is given the asssignment, "Aye, sir." She looks to Nilee allowing him to take the lead for the moment...

Kasa bounces on his feet for a moment or two before setting his clicker down and commencing to rub his hands together. Rubby rub rub. "Goody! Ensigns, you can have access to my labs and all of my technical data and my so forth and such? I'll bring the Lieutenants, here, down there with you. And we'll run little models of shuttlecraft with what we know of the Anomaly until we get it all straightened out." Oblivious to social tensions, he just smiles about the room and once more bounces on his boots. Isn't science /fun/, kids? The Captain who had, at best, tolerated all of this, lifts her chin from her palm and offers a yawn. "Well. I'll be on the bridge, Commander. You keep me appraised of your progress. We'll be in Fimdari within the hour. Dismissed, people." Begin the general dissembly.

What, labs? Labs? You mean you're not just going to go try it out? What is this... 'lab' you speak of? Medes looks nonplussed for all of half a second before gathering up her PADD and making to follow Kasa. The Captain's given a brief nod and a "Sir," as they depart. Hooray for dissembly to, y'know. Do. Stuff.

Nilee seems to take the complete opposite reaction to Kasa's statement as Medes, labs, labs are good, they are your friend. He smiles slightly as he pushes his seat back and gathers up his PADD, sliding it into his belt. Standing quickly, he follows the group out.

Givens stands and smiles, slipping her PADD into her belt, next to her tricorder. She also stands quickly, following the rest of the group out.

Like any good exploratory Excelsior Class Vessel, the Merimac is ever so nicely appointed where Science Labs are concerned. Especially Astrometrics. Oh, the Astrometrics. There's a bevy of blue shirts modelling this and hypothesizing that. When the commander enters, they go right on doing what they're doing. He clears his throat, geek semaphore for 'Hey!', and waits for the attention of his people. "Everyone, this is Lieutenants Junior Grade Medes and Alarcon from Station 419 and their team. Lieutenant Junior Grade Zian, and Ensigns Nilee and Givens. We'll be needing the lab, so if you could all just sort of clear out, that would be just fine." They begin shutting down their projects and filtering out of the room. One Trill officer, a Lieutenant, does so only after staring -- now, make that glaring -- at Nilee. Kasa, oblivious, gestures about the labs. "Have to!"

"Well. Alarcon, if you'd lead on this, I'd be obliged. You'll need to set up what we know with the sensor data and such before I can start fiddling with shield configurations." Medes taps at her PADD a few times and nods to the Zian/Nilee/Givens team, as if seconding Kasa's 'have to.' Glavin?

Upon stepping through the door, Alarcon feels at home. During the trip to the lab, she shot Zian a sympathetic sort of apology-accepted look, but now... now she is in her element, and oblivious to much. She seems to stand up straighter here, basking in the blue-shirted glory before her. As the other sciency types scatter appropriately, she starts going through some of the data on her PADD. "Certainly, Lieutenant. Commander?" A sidelong look at Kasa, and she starts calling up the appropriate sensor reports and measurements, with the click and the scroll and the data... data... daaaaaataaaaaaa. Ahem. She commences peering closely at the information and making notes and calculations as she goes along, pensively. "I see what you mean about the incomplete nature of your readings... is this everything you have? Hmmm. I must agree that better readings are a priority. What have you gleaned from what you have, so far?" As she speaks, she is rapidly making calculations of her own, as mentioned, and cross-referencing her own interpretations with what's been provided. And frowning in a scientific manner. A lot.

Ahh, a lab. Zian is now at home. Though she may not know much about what the others have been talking about, she /can/ do research on it! Just give her a computer terminal... She gives Alarcon a grateful grin, glad to have /that/ misunderstanding out of the way, and then makes her way to the first available computer terminal, ready to begin work. All she needs is... well, someone to tell her what the hell she's looking for. What's a social science officer know about anomalies, unstable stars, and planetary repercussions?

Nilee does... just about the only thing he can do in this situation without getting himself either in a lot of trouble, or in a flat out ethics debate, he just smiles, and gives the other Trill a look that can only say 'Nice to see you too'. He isn't cold, just frustrated, and mildly annoyed at that kind of reception. Looking away as the Trill passes out of his field of view, he looks towards Givens and Zian as he approaches a station, and activates it, pulling up what little sensor data is currently available from previous attempts, "First off, let's see what the results have been from previous close passes to the anomaly... if you have any thoughts, don't hesitate to get them out as well..." he nods his head towards both Givens and Zian collectively.

Givens gives Nilee a quick symphathetic look as the other Trill passes by... then she peers over Nilee's sholder at the computer terminal, "Well, no thoughts, let's just pull up what there is already and then we can go from there.

Repsectively, the gathered data is thus:

Of concern to Medes and Alarcon, the anomaly drains any and all energy sources that near it. Causing it to grow, causing it to drain more energy, causing it to grow. You see where this is going. Strangely, the energy intake seems to bear no direct corrolation to growth of the anomaly, nor the signatures emitted by it. Energy goes in, but it doesn't necessarily evidence itself as growth, or emit out again. As you near the Anomaly, your systems slowly drain down to crippling levels. It doesn't /actually/ drain everything a ship has, but it drains. A lot. Standard forcefields have yielded no effect. The current working theory is a means of cloaking the energy signature of the approaching craft. Or, to use a less treaty breaching term, evidencing no energy signature for consumption. (And that's how they're putting it, too.) Tricky to the extreme.

Of concern to Zian, Nilee, and Givens, recent passes of the anomaly netted precisely that. The closer you get, the deader you become. Of note: It does not drain bioenergy, although Empaths and Telepaths that near the Anomaly do state they begin to feel a bit tired, particularly those with projective empathy and telepathy. IE: Those that project energy, rather than retain it or receive it.

GAME: Medes spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Systems Engineering (Shields) skill vs a difficulty of Difficult and Succeeds!

Medes rubs a hand across her face once the data's returned, mumbling, "Prophets. All right. So... it's more difficult than I thought. Hm." She steps away for a few moments, tapping at her PADD. There's a lot of mutterings about 'inverse polarity' and 'refraction' and 'reflection' and 'diffusing the energy signature' and something about a 'di-linear fluctuation configuration,' but at the end of it, she turns around and nods, displaying the screen of her PADD to Alarcon. "There. All right. I think I've got something, here, but it's not going to be perfect. We're going to need, ah... a rabbit, my father would have said. A more tasty target for the anomaly to drain juice from. It'll have to overbear our signal and emit a similar signature."

GAME: Alarcon spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Space Sciences (Subspace Field Dynamics) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Astrophysics) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

<PROVE> Nilee has the advantage of Scientific Genius at 3.

<CONTEST> Zian contests her Computer (Research) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

Alarcon remains in deep thought over her calculations, and those provided by Kasa. Brow furrowed, she looks from one set of elaborate data to another, and doesn't even appear to hear anything at all that Medes has said. She makes more notes. But it is obvious she hasn't been entirely oblivious when she straightens up again, runs a hand back through her hair (messing it up a bit, as no heavy science can leave the hair unmussed--it's a fundamental law of the universe), and announces, "We can do it. Er, I mean I can. I mean, I -believe- that I can. Because I think that with everything--" she waves a hand vaguely in the direction of the science all about you "--with everything we have here, and from, ah, from what... from what the Commander's data say..." (Remember, it's important to treat data as a plural noun when your geek credentials are at stake.) "...well, I believe I can make us a probe-rabbit." A moment passes, and she clears her throat. "That is to say... I believe I can--we can--modify a probe to emit a particular, ehm, harmonic that will, shall we say, subvert the signatures from a forcefield. I know that the forcefields haven't been working, but since our aim is to... ah... evidence no energy signature for the anomaly to consume, well... I think that we can use a modified probe to hide... er, disguise... er, subvert the signatures of this one, in this particular case, regarding this singular anomaly. Not, say, on a grand scale, but suitable for our purposes." Geek ramble completed, she would now push her glasses back up on the bridge of her nose if she actually wore glasses. Instead, she makes a few more frowny notations and looks to Medes, then Kasa, then quickly back to Medes.

Zian's brow furrows as she bends to her task, calling up various pieces of data and studying it thoroughly. "Wow. This thing's... hungry." She observes aloud, but mostly to herself. "It drains energy... almost any kind of energy. But... what does it /do/ with all that energy? It doesn't seem to be growing, or releasing it as an emission... Energy can't just disappear, can it?" She frowns, rubbing at the bridge of her nose, as if trying to stave off a headache, or exhaustion. "I don't like the sound of this..." Straightening up, she turns to report to Kasa and Medes, "Commander, Lieutenant? I just wanted to be sure you are aware that I... may be of limited use on this mission, as we approach the anomaly. Reports indicate that telepaths and empaths are somehow affected by the energy drain, as well as ship's systems. Fatigue seems to be the most prevalent symptom. I can attempt to shield my mind, but unfortunately, that has never been one of my strengths."

Nilee hmms quietly to himself as he taps quickly at the console in front of him, running several calulations almost faster than he can keep up with, he nods to himself as the results pop up on the screen in front of him from his simulation, saying aloud, though to no one in particular, just letting anyone know who may be listening, "Well, by the looks of it, every time we approach this anomaly, it's going to cause... well, cause hell for those on Fimdari. Basically, each time a vessel approaches the anomaly, the drain on the sun decreases... which forces the sun to start regulating its temperature, going up and down between 375000 degrees farenheit. There's numerous results of this, none of which are good for Fimdari, all of which increase the stress on the planet itself. There won't be much we can do from what I can tell, other than warn Fimdari to expect increased tidal and seismic activity upon our approach, or we find a way to get our results without an approach, which would be much more favourable."

GAME: Givens spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Givens (claiming advantage) contests her Planetary Sciences (Geology) skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Fails!

Givens looks back and forth between the computer screen and her PADD, trying to see how best to protect the planet, she says quietly as she works to no one in particular... "I can see that Fimdari has never been of that much concernm to the Federation... a full planetary shield grid installed... I'm woprking on the best course of action to protect the planet from these effects. I can't come up with anything yet...

Kasa blinks owlishly back and forth between Medes and Alarcon, occasionally leaning over their shoulders, clucking his tongue appreciatively, murmuring encouragements, explaining the odd bit of eronious data, that sort of thing. He folds his arms across his chest for a moment, shifts on his feet, laces his hands at his back, and generally stays out of the way by being as large an inconvenience as he can manage. Once everyone's got their conclusions in, the Bolian Commander rises up on his toes and drops back down to his feet with a beaming smile. "Theoretical science! My favorite kind! Nicely theorized, everyone, nicely theorized. Ensign Givens, you just keep plugging away over there and we'll get you some coffee. Ensign Nilee, that's just. Well. Bad. I was going to say great, then I realized how bad that is, and so while I compliment your findings, I'm just going to have to not like them very much." He wheels about for a moment before zeroing in on Alarcon and Medes again. Right! "I knew having a shuttle specialist and the likes of you you and Nilee here would make for quick like a bunny work. Well. Neat." He glances to Medes. "Want to go make a mess in one of my shuttles? And then make a mess of a probe? We'll need both. And you can do that while we bring Givens her coffee." He then turns about and bobbles over to Zian, peering over her shoulder. "Perhaps you need some coffee, too?"

(Needless to say: Kasa doesn't get out much.)

"Sir, I don't make messes in shuttles, but I'd be more than glad to modify one," replies Medes with a slight tilt to the side of her head, having registered all of the incoming data and filed it neatly on her PADD for later reference. (The magnitude of this geekery is clearly starting to be absorbed. Geekery by osmosis?) "Which is to say: lead the way. Oh. And coffee? Coffee would also be appreciated, if that can be managed." Because all Engineers drink coffee. It's in the handbook.

(Medes also grins at this, mind you. It's a joke, see.)

Alarcon raises a slim finger once more and starts to say something in reply, then shakes her head and looks back at her data, grinning. "I'm more than happy to muck about with the probe, should Lieutenant Medes prefer to work on the shuttlecraft," she relates, instead of whatever else she was about to say. This, too, is a funny joke! Ha ha! With a look that clearly indicates that she knows Medes would rather chew off her own limb than let someone else do the shuttlecraft work if at all possible, she makes a final calculation on her PADD before turning away from the various displays. "As the Lieutenant noted, please lead the way, Commander."

<CONTEST> Nilee (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Astrophysics) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Zian laughs lightly at the offer of coffee. "Actually, if your replicators make a tolerable raktajino, i'd be much indebted to you, sir."

Nilee continues busily working at his console, he looks up briefly towards Givens, "I'm referencing what they came up with for their shuttle and probe idea... I'm sending you what the results will be between the planet and the sun. You should be receiving some specific parameters on what we can expect right now..."

<CONTEST> Givens (claiming advantage) contests her Planetary Sciences (Geology) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

GAME: Medes spends a courage point.

<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Material Engineering (Vehicular) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

<CONTEST> Medes (claiming advantage) contests her Systems Engineering (Shields) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

GAME: Alarcon spends a courage point.

Givens is burried somewhere between the computer screen and her PADD, still trying to figure out the planet's angle on this... after a small pause she reacts to the suggestion of coffee... "Coffee, not much of a drinker myself. For me a good caffeniated soda like Quintanemo, or terran Mountain Dew is good... or nothing. Ah, sounds good, Nilee, thanks. Ah, with more specific parameters, and cross-referencing with previous events, we should probably wait till teams stabilize the glacier around K'lia. Otherwise the town is toast. Lt. Ghorev is on the ground there and reports requiring an additional two hours. We can once more vent off a considerable amount of tectonic pressure around the equator (there isn't much sentient life down there) to ease the geothermic pressures and such. There isn't much we can do about the tides, other than timeing it during the low tides of the effected face of the planet.

<CONTEST> Alarcon (claiming advantage) contests her Space Sciences (Subspace Field Dynamics) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

The Bolian Commander makes good use of himself, running drinks to the researchers and keeping the lab team going with infusions of caffeine and the occasional enthusiastic and optomistic outpouring of smiles and support. On occasion, he steps into the gap to crutch one of the officers up at a rough point, or advises when asked on points of reference regarding some triviality concerning the Anomaly. Towards the end of their time frame, he excuses himself to check in on Alarcon and Medes in the shuttle bay, and a very rare glimpse of his calm and serious side is evidenced when he glances out the massive forcefield and into space, his gaze settling on Fimdari. Despite all appearances, there's a calm head under all of his fussing. And it's just as scared as the rest of them.

Apparently Balin hid some sort of curse-restriction device in Medes' second pip, because she's surprisingly free of invectives, for all that she's doing difficult work on a shuttlecraft. She stops often for infusions of coffee and jumja tea, gulping down the liquid before hurrying back to her work. She ends up sequestering herself for a long time, sitting in the pilot's chair for a while and recalibrating and modulating and bifurcati... no, wait, leave the bifurcation to the Bolian. After this, it's a long, serious period of ripping out shuttle-guts, which, for all its difficulty, seems to take her mind off of the seriousness of the situation. Thea's at home with a plasma torch and a hydraulic wrench in either hand, perfectly content to rip out a machine's guts and put them back in backwards (but better).

Alarcon is deeply involved in her probe-modification. Her particular bit of the montage should have a professional-sounding 1950's-era voiceover crowing about 'Science! Technology! Industry!' and the like. She looks appropriately pensive, occasionally asking brainy little questions of the Commander and consulting now and again with Lieutenant Medes. Things akin to jeweler's tools, albeit more sciency-looking and snazzier, are used to mess with the delicate interior workings of the probe she's been given to mutilate--er, modify. Occasionally, a bit is removed with a cranky look, but eventually, she seems to actually be effecting some kind of positive changes in the device. Often, she runs tests on the signature emitted by the device, scanning its emissions and recalibrating as necessary.

Zian helps out whereever she's needed, but mostly, Zian sticks to her computer terminal, continuing to try and make sense of the data it contains... and dosing herself heavily with Klingon coffee, as she does so. No silly ol' anomaly's gonna make -her- all drowsy and useless! RAR!

Nilee works hard at his console, with surprising ease considering how fast his fingers are working on the console. He regathers all the information that has been recorded on the anomaly at first, making sure he hasn't missed anything. After he goes over all the information in scrutinizing detail, in a way only a science officer can, he compiles it all, forming the beginnings of a theory, it's not much of one yet, but he works on it. After he takes a break, and downs a couple cups of coffee (he makes an effort not to drink and work at the same time) he gathers his thoughts and returns to work, beginning a solar system analysis, going over the orbits and cross-refferencing the orbits of the anomaly, the various inner planets, as well as the natural satellite(s) of Fimdari, in the hopes of finding a favourable alignment.

Givens is very involved in easeing planetary tectonic stresses... at times working at a computer terminal, and at times working on her PADD, and making use of the coffe when needed, but more with sodas. She is to busy to be anything other than professional (of course she would be anyway, but still...)

And so the Merimac eases away, making its gradual orbit around the beleaguered planet of Fimdari. Preparations made, but results uncertain.

-- CUT --