Back to the lab

Posted on 05 Sep 2025 @ 5:46pm by Ensign Mira Quinn
Edited on on 05 Sep 2025 @ 5:48pm

515 words; about a 3 minute read

=/\= Quarters =/\=

Leaving the Science Lab behind, Mira went directly to her quarters. The ship was on red alert, and this wasn't the time to start wandering around the ship.

Her quarters were empty when she got there. Vel must be on duty now.

She considered grabbing something to eat from the replicator, but she found she barely had the energy to do even that. She dropped into bed, without even taking off her boots.

"Computer, lights."

She closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to overtake her, but that didn't happen.

Instead, her mind couldn't stop thinking about the events of the past hour.

Her monitor, the line of buoys, the gravimetric wave, the explosion.

She opened her eyes, gazing at the ceiling. Seeing but not seeing. The wall panels around the room were still silently beeping red.

Something had caused the buoy to explode. The buoy wasn't that big. Its job was just to send out constant signals.

How did anybody put explosive material in it? And what kind of explosive material could cause such a shockwave?

She was missing something. She had to go back to the lab.

She got up, her exhaustion now forgotten. Straightening her uniform, she headed out.

She paused a second outside the lab, but then gathered her courage and triggered the door opening.

The lab was busy, but nobody paid her any attention. Everybody was busy at their task. A couple of officers were conferring quietly at the one end of the room, but everybody else was focused on the consoles in front of them.

Looking around, she headed for an empty console and sat down. She keyed up the last few moments before the explosion and started replaying it slowly.

The gravimetric energy readings. The explosion. She slowed down the sensor output even more.

There. A millisecond before the sensors registered the gravimetric readings, they registered something else. A phase variance.

She reran the sequence to make sure. Same result.

Sorvak noticed her and headed over. "What are you doing here, Ensign? I told you to get some rest."

She hurriedly got up. "Sir, I know, but I thought I saw something. Take a look." She stepped aside to let him have access to the console.

Sorvak leaned to take a look. Mira waited silently while he read through her data. He finally straightened up. "I'll update the Captain."

He then glanced at Mira. "And Ensign, you are confined to quarters for the next 48 hours. Don't go against my orders again."

"Sir, I realize-"

"Understood?"

Mira nodded. "Yes, sir. This won't happen again."

"Make sure it won't."

He stood silently, arms folded, watching her. Waiting.

Mira hesitated, her fingers still brushing the console. But the moment stretched, and she knew she didn't really have a choice. She stepped away. She could feel all eyes on her as she exited the lab

Once the door hissed shut behind her, she took a few more steps and then stopped.

First day on the job and she was already disobeying orders. She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath.

RSS Feed