To the Frontier

Posted on Sun Jan 5th, 2014 @ 3:00pm by Captain James Warrington & Commander Worth Maxwell VIII & Lieutenant Oswald Goodshire

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: USS Ptolemy

* * * USS Ptolemy * * *

Warrington sat in his Office with his XO holding a cup of black coffee in his hands. “I don’t know whether to be annoyed or not that the rift was gone when we arrived. Hell two weeks of flying after a faint warp trail should have led to more than what we found.”

Worth shrugged slightly, then stood to refresh his tea. “To use the vernacular, them’s the breaks. Instability can be so..unstable.” He laughed as he returned to his seat. “Even so, it turned out to be fortuitous. It allowed us to rendezvous with our new Chief of Science sooner than expected.”

“Well that is true. How has the Lieutenant settled in?” John asked. He’d not yet had time to meet the new Officer properly due to the reports he’d been dealing with on their findings.

“He’s just beamed over and getting settled in as far as I know,” Worth answered. “I left word for him to join us here as soon as he’s done so. In the meantime, the crew is handling preparations for the Delta Quadrant.”

“Ah excellent. I have to say I’m quite excited to do some old fashioned exploring. Sounds a bit corny but it feels like we are following Kirk, Janeway and many others instead of just the usual stuff that ships do these days.”

“I couldn’t agree more. We’re due to arrive at the entrance to the wormhole in one hour and then it’s smooth sailing.” Worth passed a padd to James. “Here’s the progress report on our flight officer. She’s coming along nicely, despite her penchant for smart remarks.”

As the pair momentarily went quiet, allowing James to glance over the report, the door opened, admitting a tall, dark-haired man. "Afternoon, or whatever hour it is for you, Sirs. I'm Oz... Um, Lt. Oswald Goodshire, your newest science officer." It was obvious Oz wasn't a newly-minted officer - he wasn't young and he wasn't as nervous as some green officers tended to be around their Captain and Commander. Then again, he'd just gotten his position on the ship wrong. "Uh, Chief Science Officer, I mean," he added, smiling.

“I thought for a moment you were trying to get out of the job already Lieutenant. Grab yourself a drink from the replicator if you want and take a seat.” He turned back towards his XO. “So we have pretty much free reign to go wherever we want to. From what I hear though we’ve been granted a planet somewhere nearby and although we don’t want to stick too many ships in, the regions around that particular race’s borders could be good for some exploring.”

“In certain areas, yes. The rebel activity closer in to Ozum could be a problem though,” Worth informed him. He waited till Oswald sat down. “Welcome aboard, Lieutenant. I’m Worth Maxwell, your XO.”

“Good to meet you, sir. I’m Oswald... yeah, I covered that already, didn’t I?” He was a typical scientist: a touch flighty in the way that many too-smart-for-their-own-health people can be. “We will be stopping at SB900, correct? As you might know, I’ve been given the task of examining a sentience applicant.”

“Actually, 900 is going to become our home base.” His comment piqued Worth’s curiosity. “A sentience applicant? Do tell.”

“The papers were filed a month or so ago. Apparently the Chief of Security on the ‘base has a pet spider that can now... talk. And think for itself. It counts Admiral Wegener as one of its friends. He penned a recommendation letter for the creature, said that she’s definitely sentient.” The entomologist’s excitement over such a discovery bubbled up and he had to curb his enthusiasm, “Allegedly.”

James sat there slightly miffed. “Well leave it up to the Delta Quadrant to provide us with a talking spider. I hope that it’s not going to cause us any problems?”

“A talking spider? I don’t see how it would cause us any problems. I’ve read that it has caused problems for the Chief that owns it,” Oswald answered with a shake of his head.

That got a laugh from Worth. “I can certainly see why, especially if the creature’s not used to Fleet protocol. How long has the spider been sentient? Allegedly?”

“Ah... allegedly... almost a year. From the reports, it appears that it was stolen and, as a pet, it has no protection against that sort of thing. Not that being a sentient being would protect it from being kid... spider? napped.” Oz shrugged.

“Well if the spider is sentient then that certainly is a problem. I’d imagine there would be more than this one collector who would want such a thing in a collection,” James said. “Also… does it have a name?" This kinda stuff used to be made up. These days anything can happen he thought.

“It’s named Ignatius J. Reilly and wants to use the last name Zeferino going forward. The CSEC’s last name is Zeferino.” Oswald seemed amused by this.

“Well that's a posh name and a half right there,” Warrington said jokingly, “And I would know with a name like Warrington.”

“It sounds like your time on 900, at least initially, will be interesting,” Worth added. “I’m curious now. I’d like to meet this Ignatius J. Reilly Zeferino. Does it plan to hyphenate?” He managed to keep a straight face with the question.

Unsure whether the man was joking or not, Oz paused, torn between cracking a smile and laughing and remaining deadpan. "Ah... Reilly-Zeferino? That is... um. Huge, for a spider. I mean... That's, what? Almost three letters per leg? If it were male, I would say he's compensating for being a little thing. I wonder if it's like the spider in Charlotte's Web, you know? The one that spelled out letters in her web? Charlotte." He paused then added, "So many questions."

“And thankfully a lot of time for answers I’m sure. To bring us back to home… what are we doing with this massive piece of metal we currently sit in?” Warrington asked.

“We should be entering the wormhole in five minutes. Once through, we are scheduled to dock at 900. Lt. Goodshire will begin his work with the spider and we’ll meet with station command. We are scheduled for a few days’ layover for refitting, then departure.” Worth did a mental check to make sure he’d covered the list. “And I’ll be finishing up some project with Ensign Natinde and sending them back to command.”

James nodded as his XO walked through what was happening. “Sounds like a solid plan for a while. I’m looking forward to getting a walk around the promenade there while we refit. I haven’t had much time with the changes in my command. Have we got any information on the new planet we’ve been offered? Could be something in nearby systems worth looking into.”

Worth handed a padd to James and to Oswald. “Everything we know, courtesy of Lt. Commander Kh’ali, 900’s chief diplomat, is there. She is but one of the unusual things you’ll find out here. The Chief Diplomat is a Klingon.”

“Klingon?” Oz’s eyebrows did a strange little dance. “A Klingon as Chief Diplomat. And a talking spider. Man, this station has everything!” He grinned.

“And then some,” Worth added. “The CO is El-Aurian, the XO is Betazoid and married to the Second Officer, who is Vulcan. The list goes on. And on. Welcome to the frontier gentlemen.”

“Don’t forget Section 31 sticking their noses in and planting the odd bombs inside hospitals. This is sure the best place to be,” James added to his XO’s oddities as he read down the padd. “It looks like there's a planet about a day's travel from where these guys live, well outside of their borders but they’ve listed it as part of their empire… yet it's uninhabited from our records.”

“It might be worth a look,” Worth answered. “I understand the Ozum delegation, with the exception of the Ambassador, will still be on 900 when we arrive.”

“I think then it could be worth us asking about it, discretely of course. See if theres anything interesting about it. If not I’ll ask the CO where he wants us,” James stated. “Worth would you be able to help with the prodding?”

“I’ll do my best,” Worth answered. “And Lt. Goodshire, if you require my assistance with your project, just call. Will there be anything else Captain?”

“Nope. That’s all by my books. Unless theres anything else you're both free to go. I’m going to the bridge to stare at its new curves,” James joked. Being an engineer he appreciated the machinery and aesthetics quite a bit and the new layout was certainly curvy.

“In that case, I’m off. See you gentlemen later.” Worth rose and departed the office.

"I'm with you. Captain, while you check out the bridge, I'll be in my new labs," Oswald stood with Worth and followed him out.

*******************
Captain James Warrington
Commander Worth Maxwell
Lt. Oswald Goodshire
USS Ptolemy