Clean up on Aisle Science

Posted on Tue Oct 28th, 2025 @ 3:08am by Captain Taliserra Tigran & Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph. D & Lieutenant JG Asher Kane & Ensign Nicola Cross

1,441 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: A marathon not a sprint
Location: Science Labs
Timeline: Md09

ON:

Anthony and the Engineers and operations crew had finally gotten the bridge Science stations working again, and he finally had some time for the labs. Of course, the rest of the science team had probably been working in the labs hard for a while, it was expected that a scientist would know how to clean the labs better than those people who worked on physical repairs of the ship, both great and small. It was likely that the labs may still need some of the Structure repairs by the Engineers, but putting things away and seeing what experiments need to be started over because of the destruction, and if any, those which can be continued. He turned the corner and the door to his office area whooshed to about half open and stopped. Tapping on his padd he added that to the list for the Engineers as he made his way to the door of the first Lab. This door opened properly and he called out as he entered so he did surprise anyone that was in there working. "Hello anyone there?"

Ensign Cross looked up from what remained of her last science experiment... shards of glass littered the room along with the decaying remnants of fire suppressant foam. "Hey boss." She called out when she saw him standing in the doorway.

"Ah Nicola." Anthony said in response that he knew she was a geologist and could see the glass and decaying remnants of the fire retardant. "What were you working on in here again? and do you think you can return to it if it was important, or were you almost finished?"

"Well, the specimen chamber can be fixed and all the tools replaced." Nicola replied. "But the fire destroyed the last of my specimens from Draconis IV, will take some doing to get some more.

"Yes, I expect ours isn't the only team that suffered quite badly due to the hard pounding that we have taken. It is disappointing that we lost the samples, but there are many repairs needed. Many of a higher need over the science labs at the moment, and I am sure specimens are probably well down the list, with Security being higher on the wish list at the moment. Of course I will do what I can but security and Engineering will have will take a lot of the repair time for now." Anthony, as he picked up a dust pan and brush from two different places on the floor as to where they should have been in the cupboard next to the door.

"I know the drill, holes in the hull and all that have priority." Nicola grabbed a few of the tools that were still laying around the room. "Oh I'm monitoring a couple of experiments Jenson and Anaris were doing, they're on their secondary roles right now helping with damage control."

"Good, good, so not everything was destroyed in our battle. That's something at least. Though I am sure the destruction is going to take a while for all the damage Control teams, and that is with each of the teams also cleaning up there own area once the DC team have declared them safe to enter. How are the experiments going by the way?" Anthony asked truly interested.

"Anaris' is easy enough, just add water every so often and record how it grows, Jenson's is a bit more complicated."

"Yeah, I wouldn't expect anything else from a Botanist's experiments like Anaris', but that helps with fresh fruit and vegetables that help improve the stocks for Sulu to make for us. A nice restaurant-cooked meal is better than always going to the replicator for nourishment. Any clue on how Jenson's experiments are going, or would it be easier to wait for him and Anaris to get released from their Damage Control duties?" Anthony said with a smile as he started to hear footsteps coming toward the room he and Nicola were in.

"Well provided we don't lose any more power to the science labs it will be fine." Nicola replied.

Kane walked in with a soft whistle as he looked around. He was glad it was all over...he had been worried about his son. And himself. There was no shame in saying that. "Looks like Security had their New Year's party in here," he commented lightly, looking at the others.

Anthony knew from how nervous he had been while they were being regularly shot at, and knew that for a father of a child, it had to be at least twice as nerve-wracking. He hoped his first question to Kane, as he came in, would be a helpful one. With a smile on his face, he asked, "How is Lucas Asher?"

"Better than I am," Asher admitted with a grin, shaking his head. "Kids are ridiculously resilient. He said he barely noticed anything going on and just kept his head down."

"You, Captain Tigran, and medical doctors would know that much better than I do. I understand they are more resilient than most adults would think they are, but make sure you get him to Lieutenant Wyse if anything out of the ordinary pops up, because you're needed to have your science head in the game rather than worrying about what to do otherwise. That said, how badly have your experiments been affected by the firefight?"

"Oh..." Asher grimaced slightly, shifting. It felt like a reprimand, the words, although he couldn't quite understand why. "Most were references, Sir," he said and moved to check. "Although I suspect that everything was suspended in the fight. Hopefully without any power fluctuations...if the temperature was kept steady, mine should have been fine. In theory."

"I suspect you're right, experiments that are using computer space were likely suspended when we went to Red Alert."

Asher nodded as he let out a breath, frowning. "Or power, when they took from non-essential systems...unfortunately, general sciences are...non-essential."

"Yeah, I am sure now that we aren't being fired on anymore, normal services should resume shortly. Anthony said with a smile.

"How is the rest of the ship?" Nicola asked. spending most of her time in and out of the labs she didn't see much of the rest of the ship.

"Returning to an aspect of normal. After the dogfight we were just in, I'd be surprised if there were any department that didn't need major repairs." Anthony said with a nervous chuckle.

"Guess we can't complain," Asher said with a quick nod, his eyes on the others.

"The way it felt on the bridge it was like we're lucky to be alive." Anthony added with a sigh.

"So...we do what we can now to clean up the pieces," Asher said with a slight frown, but there was determination there too.

"And by the time we get everything right again. We'll get shot at again." Nicola remarked with a chuckle.

Anthony laughed. He knew Nicola's statement was a result of nerves, as it was precisely what he was thinking, and he would never say he was afraid; Petrified, maybe, but not scared. After a deep breath, he said. "That is the issue with doing science on the frontier, and always has been. Someone or other is willing to shoot at you every minute of the day. Even as far back as the American Frontier, as civilisation pushed west from the eastern Colonies, they were still often shot at or chased by American First Nations people, in the hope of pushing them back home. This ship has a Captain and crew I trust to get us safely through almost everything, and when I don't anymore, it will be time to go back to a safe life on earth and plant some beans."

Asher looked at them before he nodded, looking down as he frowned. He cleared up some broken equipment, his fingers picking up the pieces. "It's a fine line, explorer or conqueror," he whispered, mostly to himself. He wasn't entirely sure if he felt comforted of the words about the American Frontier. To him it represented too many horrors, too many languages lost and cultures driven away. Perspective, he supposed. Or maybe this whole thing was unsettling. Had he come to this ship to place his son in danger, just because he didn't want to feel useless? He closed his eyes, swallowing. No. He had joined Starfleet because he believed in the Federation. And his son...well, he was safest with him.


OFF:

Lieutenant Anthony Edwards
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Jg Asher Kane
Science officer
[Pnpc Rowe]


Ensign Nicola Cross
Geologist
Written by Taliserra

 

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