Just The Facts

Posted on Wed Sep 28th, 2022 @ 5:24am by Ensign Ilan Ocara & Lieutenant Dr. Daniel Brasken

Mission: In-Between (S1:E3-S1:E4)
Location: Science Lab 3
Timeline: Mission Day 16 at 1100
2353 words - 4.7 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

So many eyes only projects, it was exhausting really.

Daniel mused to himself as he approached the science lab the computer reported that crewman Ocara was currently working in. Their file indicated research into the new genetics of their unexpected home and the doctor just couldn't pass up a first hand accounting of their findings. Stepping through the door as they hissed open and did a quick scan, right to left, of the room to find his target.

While the Vengeance was considered a prestigious posting, it was - like the majority of Imperial vessels - a warship. The science department consisted of three people, six if you counted the slaves. With the chief usually out doing all manner of her own experiments on the aliens who were unfortunately at the wrong place at the wrong time, Ilan often found herself alone in the labs. She didn't really mind, though. The chief was a bit creepy and too enthused by cutting aliens up into little bits for Ilan's taste. She sat at one of the stations wrapped in a blanket with a bowl of mixed nuts next to her on an inactive part of the console. Quiet, earworm-y music bopped through the room and she seemed both perfectly focused and incredibly bored all at once.

"Good evening." Daniel approached Ocara via a circuitous route to scan his eyes over any projects that may have data for him to review later. It was also a good way to make sure that he didn't startle or come off as aggressive. Scientists had a habit of getting lost in their work and missing things like doors opening. "Officer Ilan Ocara, correct?"

Despite Daniel's best efforts, the young woman did startle slightly at his voice and she spun around in her chair, stopping mid-chew and looking up at Daniel with her striking green eyes. "Ah." She finished chewing hastily and swallowed, unwrapping herself from her blanket and standing. "Sorry, sir. Computer, pause music." The music stopped immediately and Ilan smoothed out her uniform skirt. "Yes, I am. How can I help you?"

Daniel smiled slightly at her jump. Though he was making effort to avoid it that did not mean he didn't enjoy it still. "My apologies, I was trying not to startle you." He widened his smile into a soft gesture quickly and waved a hand. "Do please sit and be comfortable. I am here to talk shop, if you are up to it and I wont put you behind in some way." Daniel picked up a stool from another work area and brought it over to the side of Ilan's workstation to have a seat himself. "I believe you have been cataloging the new species we've been encountering at a genetic level?"

"Oh! Yes." Ilan gave a warm, bright smile as she settled back down in her seat. "Really not too many other projects to do around here. The chief keeps her experiments to herself and I busy myself poking at genetics and hypotheticals of the new species we have encountered. Was there something specific you were looking for, Doctor?" She paused and looked up at him. "Do you prefer doctor or sir?"

"Doctor, please. Until you are comfortable enough to use Daniel." He held up a finger almost in interruption to himself. "So long as we are just talking shop, of course. Should we suddenly be thrust into more active duties I would expect proper deference." Shifting the seat back slightly he leaned an elbow back on the edge of the workstation. "As what I'm specifically looking for, I cannot really say. Genetics are a hobby of mine. I know the Ocampa age rapidly in both physical and mental faculties, perhaps we can start there."

"I mean, I wouldn't mind calling you Daniel, I just didn't want to seem too forward." Ilan gave him a charming smile and wink. She didn't linger in the moment though, instead crossed her legs and looked back to her screen. "The Ocampa are really just quite strange. With a nine year life span yes, they mature at an alarming rate." She brought up the DNA structures from some of the Ocampa. The helix structure was strange, much more tightly coiled in some areas but much looser in others. "I've been trying to pick out exactly what parts of their DNA that it is linked to and if they are fiddled with, does the whole thing come crashing down or not."

"Hmmm..." Daniel moved his seat to get a better view of the display and leaned in to study the structure. "Computer. Isolate base pairs twenty-three thousand through twenty-nine thousand." The computer complied and the helix scrolled through the sequences to show the area indicated. "Interesting. There almost seems to be a repetition here, except at the end of the fifth repetition we have a change here." He leaned back and looked at the woman to see what she thought.

“Yeah, I’d noticed that too. It shows up every twenty-thousand or so, so there’s definitely a pattern to them. I’m just not sure the purpose quite yet, though I wouldn’t be surprised if it has something to do with their mental abilities.” She picked up the bowl of nuts and took one, offering it to Daniel for him to share if he wanted to. “I think the key to their aging will be in these tighter coils of DNA strands. I just have to pry them open little by little to figure it out. If I can maybe we can see about testing the usefulness of similar modifications on slaves.”

"Hmmm. That could certainly have some beneficial aspects for the slave population. Less resources while raising and training them if we can keep the mental growth on par. The trick is really stopping it once you unlock it, wouldn't it be?" Daniel got up and moved to the side of Ilan as he leaned in to view the screen easier. "This...doesn't look like a standard hydrogen bond in these tighter areas...or rather it looks like a web connecting multiple pairs at different rungs?"

“It’s some sort of super coil structure that I haven’t seen before. I’ve been in the process of trying to uncoil it in simulations, but it is very delicate and easy to break.” Ilan said with a slightly sour note in her voice at the fact it was fighting her. “And really I suppose turning it off would… depend on what you were wanting to use the slaves for.” She shrugged slightly and looked at Daniel. “Slaves assigned to hazardous tasks that would inevitably kill them anyways, for example, probably don’t really need the maturation process to be turned off. If it is like the Ocampa, they would be fully functional until just a few weeks before death.”

"True, but as you said. Depending on their use, re-training them would be a process. Last I knew we hadn't gotten far enough to program knowledge into DNA at that level." He leaned back from the monitor and looked down at Ilan, finally noticing the bowl and taking a few to snack on as he mused further. "Though I suppose it doesn't take much training to hold a phaser rifle, does it?"

“Have you met half the security department?” Ilan chuckled and shook her head. “If they can manage it, I’m sure we can figure it out.” She tapped her lower lip with her fingers. “I say that but damn the chief is scary. Wouldn’t want to cross her.”

"Leaders always should be more capable than their subordinates. Her competency proves nothing beyond precisely that." He took up a cashew and popped it into his mouth with a satisfied groan as he crunched it a few times. "And still, physical and political skills while certainly useful are hardly the triumph that we are capable of, eh?"

“It’s less about her competency, more about her brutality. Or did you miss the memo about how she skinned the slaves on the Lovarr?” Ilan asked with a smirk as he ate one of the nuts and seemed to have quite a positive reaction to it.

"I heard tales. Again though, brutality is easy." Daniel reached over and tapped on the screen, giving her a gentle smile while rather close before leaning back. "We can make our own brutes for example."

“Is brutality easy?” Ilan asked, her brows raised. “I don’t think that I could be that brutal. They were barely men.” She watched Daniel with interest then. “Breeding brutes and being the one to wield the knife personally are very different.”

"The physical act is, given the right tools. I suppose the mental toll would vary from person to person. Though for myself, that particular act wouldn't be much different than an invasive surgery if I looked at it the right way." He shrugged ever so slightly, not seeming bothered by the prospect.

“Much more into it than I am. Maybe you should take the Lieutenant out on a date. Compare notes.” Ilan laughed and picked up one of the nuts from the bowl to munch on. “Breeding brutes though. That I could get behind. I wonder if we could get clearance. We would have to run a lot of tests and simulations first before we even asked though.”

"While I'm sure some members of the empire would be saddened by the loss of breaking slaves, I personally would prefer not doubting loyalty all the time." Daniel took the last few nuts from the bowl and finished them off before responding to the first thought. "Perhaps I will, though it isn't like that is a pastime I have ever explored so my side would be all theory and conjecture. Probably not as interesting for our new Chief." He grinned at Ilan and gave a slight shrug.

"Maybe, maybe not. Who knows." Ilan smiled. "I like theories and conjecture, personally, its a learning experience and most of the time pondering 'what ifs' is amusing if nothing else." She smiled at him and set the now empty bowl off to the side once more. Her green eyes now looked over him with a more keen, carnal interest, though she was keeping it restrained. "So, is this little genetics project something you'd like to explore with me, Daniel?"

"Certainly seems worth our time and effort. We have some basic cloning techniques we can look into and I'll get a chamber setup with a few compartments for us to run real tests when the time comes." Daniel stepped back and stretched his arms over his head with a low groan. "I'll also make sure we have an easy way to work on the files together. Perhaps we will even have some cooperative evenings that include food more complicated than snacks."

"Well, I wouldn't say no to that." Ilan said with a purr and coy smile as she looked him up and down. Her smile became slightly amused though as she watched him stretch and listened to his groans. "Definitely sounds like you could use a massage, though."

"That an offer?" Daniel winked and chuckled slightly. "I've been standing most of the day doing physicals that people waited to the last minute to follow up on. I'll be alright but I am overdue for a good yoga session. Perhaps I can find a willing masseuse without something better to do with their evening."

“Well, I have been told I’m very good with my hands.” Ilan quipped, her eyebrows lifting as she offered a smirk. She was either calling him on his bluff or she would have an evening to look forward to. Either way it was a positive in her book.

"Evasive way to answer my question." Daniel's eyes scanned her face, fairly certain by her expression of her true intent of the comment. Still though, what fun would it be to simply take it at face value when he could force a more direct answer. "Though should you be offering, that is certainly good information to have. I still do not know if you are willing to play masseuse."

Ilan smirked at his response. He was toying with her a little, but that didn’t bother her. If the man wanted direct, she could be quite direct. She stood, stepping up to him and looking into his eyes as she brought her hands up, sliding them up his chest and to his shoulders, giving him a light squeeze just to the sides of his neck. “I’ll play masseuse for you, Daniel.” She purred, her eyes holding promise. “Your quarters or mine?”

"Why don't we go to yours. That'll give you the pleasure of kicking me out when you are tired of me." Daniel responded to her touch with one of his own, one arm going around her waist to her lower back and then pressing his thumb and middle finger on opposite sides of her spine and then pressing in. The affect of pressing her against himself was a nice bonus though the main goal was to then slide his fingers up along the muscles on either side of her spine until he returned the shoulder squeeze.

A soft chuckle escaped her lips followed by a soft, pleased sigh as his fingers ran up her toned back. She held his gaze, that smirk still tugging at her lips. "Works perfectly well for me. How does twenty-one hundred sound?"

"Perfectly acceptable." Daniel's hand dropped down and he tightened his arm around her waist, almost effortlessly picking her up to sit her on the desktop before smirking and wordlessly leaving the room.

Ilan laughed and watched him go, admiring his retreating body with an appraising eye. He'd do, and maybe he like so many others would like to talk. People liked to talk when they felt good. With a smile, she turned back to her work, though her thoughts were already distracted by what was to come later tonight.

It would be enjoyable, she had no doubt.

END