En-Route Towards a Cool Nebula

Posted on 01 Jun 2020 @ 5:48pm by Lieutenant JG Charles McCullen & Lieutenant Commander Arjin Djinx

1,969 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Sentience
Location: USS Black Hawk, various.
Timeline: [Backpost] MD1, 1800 Hrs

Following his meeting with the captain about the course the USS Black Hawk was to take, Lieutenant Junior Grade Charlie McCullen had set out determined and focused on getting the job done, the captain has asked him to consult with the Chief Science Officer about the course he'd plotted and the time the science department would need at the nebula he'd picked.

Strike while the iron is hot, as the expression went and thus he made his way directly to the science suite, hoping to find the chief science officer there. In the turbolift ride, he'd starting going over in his head what he wanted to tell the man, the details he'd go into and the information he needed to provide. It was all fresh in his mind, having just explained it all to the captain, but he found himself characteristically getting nervous as the lift came to a stop and he stepped out onto deck thirteen and walked the short distance to the science section.

Standing outside the chief science officer's office, he felt like a schoolboy about to meet the principal. He knew, he reminded himself, that they were colleagues, both Starfleet officers and he had no need to be nervous, but the knowledge didn't help much. So it was with a trepidatious hand that he reached out and chimed the door.

Arjin closed his eyes when the chime went. Would it never stop today with people wanting to see him? "Come.", was all he said.

Charlie entered the room, unable to prevent the sheepish smile born of nervousness that crept over his features. "Excuse me, sir." He said, trying not to sound like a schoolboy, "do you have a minute? The captain wants me to review the... uh, the science portion of the flight plan for the shakedown cruise with you."

Seeing a red shirt when he was expecting a blue one startled him as was the very young face that was popping up out of it. But he made sure this did not show. Instead he waved to the seat opposite to his. "Yes the Captain asked me to get in touch with you also. Just had no time to do so yet. You must be Lt. McCullen then. Our new man sitting in the drivers seat. What can I get you to drink?"

"Yes commander, that's me." Charlie replied, sitting himself down in the offered chair. "I'll take black tea with a little milk, no sugar." The young lieutenant paused for a moment, developing the words he wanted in his brain before continuing, "I've got a flight plan all ready to go, we just need to talk about the details for, uh... for what you and the science department need."

Arjin returned with the black tea. And a green matcha tea for himself. "What I and the department need is places to work magic with the new scanners. Preferably places which we already scanned before for comparison reasons. Can be the expanse, can be a star, a planet. But above all we need a good old fabulous nebula." Sitting down he continued: " Did you incorporate all those in your ready to go flight plan?"

Charlie paused, going over the flight plan in his head and mentally checking off the things the science officer had listed and then smiled. "I think so, yes sir. I can show you the course I've plotted, uh... may I?" McCullen gestured to Arjin's desk terminal.

"By all means do. But lose the Sir part. You are a department head. It is either Arjin or Djinx or in matters of command: Commander.", he answered.

"Okay thanks," Charlie ducked his head, feeling both admonished and a little bit proud, "I'm Charlie, then." He turned the display to face him and brought up the flight plan he'd made, focusing in on the science part with the nebula and turning it back to Djinx. "The second, third and fourth locations on the flight plan might be useful for science... the second waypoint is a rock and ice asteroid belt, the third is a gas and dust nebula roughly two light-years across. Then we're going to a planetary system, here. There are two uninhabited M-class planets, a dozen moons and a G-type star."

Arjin looked at the display. The asteroid belt he knew of. There was enough footage to make comparisons. The planetary system was new to him. What he really wanted to see more of was the nebula. "Walk me through the location of this nebula. Where is it situated exactly?"

"Here," Charlie indicated the sector of space containing the nebula, "the closest edge of it is about four light years from the asteroid belt, here." He touched the map where the belt was, and then slid his finger over to show the nebula. "Between the Karemma system and the T-Rogoran system."

"Hm. Not the first of candidates I had in mind.", he spoke. "What kind of gases are present there? You know?", he asked turning to look at the young Lieutenant.

"Uh..." Charlie fumbled, he hadn't actually gone into the composition of the nebula, he'd simply found the biggest, coolest looking one that was roughly on the right course. "No sir, I have no idea... but, uh... if you have another nebula in mind, I'm sure we can make that work."

Arjin looked at the young Lieutenant. "Never mind. I'll look it up. The ones I had in mind are far away from the route that has been plotted. I suppose the Captain had a say in the route also. We will make it work. Any good scientist can work with what has been given to him. Any way looks like a cool nebula."

McCullen smiled, relaxing a little at Arjin's easy acceptance of the nebula, "that was pretty much the only thing I had to go on, I'm, uh... not really that good at science, but it looked about right and I figured it was big enough to include a lot of stuff."

"Uhu. If your a pilot, your Science can not be all that bad. If not you would not be able to plot a course.", he responded. "But I hear you. I can also plot a course but put me in the drivers seat and I can guarantee I can trash this ship." Arjin started to laugh despite of his late gloom mood. "So big enough to include a lot of stuff huh? Was that really your criteria?"

Charlie shrugged, finding a grin at Arjin's laugh, "it wasn't, uh... well, pretty much. The long range sensor readings from the station gave me the impression that it was varied enough to have enough stuff to test the sensors."

"We will see soon enough once we get there. What do you make of the ship? Like what you see so far?"

"The ship?" McCullen paused, having to think for a moment about his answer. "She's top-of-the-line, I couldn't ask for a better bird to fly. But..." he paused, suddenly unsure if he wanted to foist his opinions on someone he'd just met and thinking better of it. "It, uh..." he scrambled for a replacement line, "kinda makes me nervous."

Arjin heard the hesitation. And the answer was kinda weird. "Nervous? How so?"

"Uh..." Charlie fumbled while his brain came up with a suitable response. "Well... it's my first time being a department head and, uh... well..." The young lieutenant shook his head, deciding in the moment to give up whatever line he was chasing and just come out with it. "The people here... some of the people, are... well... jaded, I guess, and so much more experienced than me and older than me and I'm not really good with people in the first place, and I, uh... it's kinda hard to... to... well, to be a leader when everyone around me seems to knows what they're doing so much better than I do." He let it all out in a rush and then waited for the scornful condemnation he was afraid would be served back.

A bit taken aback from the long statement, Arjin kept quiet at first. He understood full where the young Lieutenant came from. Heck wasn't he doubting himself for the moment?
He stood and paced a bit. He wanted to brush it off with some common line and get done with it. But he did not want to be like his father and put the kid down.
So he stopped pacing and looked at the young man. "Yes. New beginnings and new responsibilities and the pressure that comes with them. I know how they feel. I had more of those in my lives than I care to remember. And it is normal to have some self doubt. As a scientist I would say doubting is good. But you may not let it overpower you nor make you freeze. You have graduated at Starfleet Academy, which is not a given for everyone. You got promoted form Ensign to Lieutenant. So you must have being doing things right. You got promoted to Department head. So someone must have seen something in you. Unless you got promoted because you have the right "Pedigree", accept it as how it is: acknowledgement of your talent. As to be able to be good with people. Keep in mind you can never do right by everyone. Just be who you are and stick to your principles. Be professional in what you say. Set the right example. And make sure you make people see why you ask something of them. It will be all right then.
Arjin frowned mentally at his reaction. Did he just give such a long speech to someone? That did not seem like him at all. Maybe there were sides of one of his former hosts he needed to explore some more after all.

Charlie let his shoulders relax, doing his best to take the advice for what it was. Doubt was an ever-present enemy, but hearing someone else put into words what he had hoped to be true, despite his doubts, helped. "Thanks, commander." He replied, feeling more than a little bashful, "and, uh... sorry, I didn't mean to dump that on you."

Arjin looked at the young Lieutenant. "You're welcome.", He said holding a stern expression but with happy light shining in his eyes. "As long as you are nit going to tell it everywhere. They might start to think I'm a Counselor instead of a Science Officer."

McCullen raised his finger to his lips in the universal sign of silence, reading the smile in Arjin's eyes. It put him a little more at ease with the man. "You're secret's safe with me, com... uh, Arjin. Is there, uh... anything else you need to know about our course, or the nebula?" He asked, attempting to gently nudge the conversation back towards the safer ground of work.

"One more thing. How much time do we have at each stop?"

"That's flexible, depending on how much time each department needs," Charlie replied, glad he was finally able to give an answer he was sure about. "There's no fixed schedule, aside from what the captain says."

Arjin nodded. "I will co-ordinate with the Captain them. Thanks for the info. I think that is all I need for now."

"You're welcome." Charlie smiled, wrinkling the bridge of his nose and giving him an even more boyish look than he already had, then pushed himself up out of the chair. "Let me know if you need to make any, uh... changes, to the flight plan."

Arjin watched as the boyish looking man rose to his feet. He stood also. "I am sure it won't be the case. But I know where to be if it should arise. Thank you for the info."

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