Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Side Sim - McHarrie’s Lab - Cobb comes for a tour

Posted by Lieutenant Commander John McHarrie (Medical (Consultant Researcher - Abell)) in Side Sim - McHarrie’s Lab - Cobb comes for a tour

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Side Sim - McHarrie’s Lab - Cobb comes for a tour
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻
He’d read everything he could lay his hands on, by fair means or by foul. But still the captain felt convinced that it was far from the full story where the Abell anomalies were concerned. He was also yet to receive the promised report from one Commander John McHarrie on his personal project. And so it was with a heady mix of interest, duty and anticipation, that Captain Zachariah Cobb arrived at the Abell laboratory and, much to his annoyance on his own bloody ship, rang the chime.

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

The outer door opened to permit entry upon instruction and the inner door would remain sealed until a few moments after the outer door had closed.

“Welcome, Captain,” John said. He was stood near a workbench wearing a white lab coat over his uniform.

“Please,” he said indicating with a mid to a series of hooks on which some spare lab coats hung.

On the workbench infront of him was a small blue corpse. It was bald, about 60 centimetres tall.

“It’s OK, this little critter is a holographic representation,” John offered and showed that he was wearing a pair of holo-control gloves. “The real one is contained.”

In one of the small containment cells lie the actual creature, identical to the hologram on the workbench and a pair of holographic hands floated mimicking McHarrie’s hand movements precisely.

“The holo-tech onboard is simply amazing,” John complimented.

-McHarrie

OOC: I LOVE what you’ve done with the place, Jim! :)

IC: With tentative steps, as of one walking barefoot upon crystalline shards, Zachariah Cobb entered the lab and allowed his mouth to hang open as he absorbed the scene. No stranger to advanced technology on bases, still he was surprised to find such an impressive collection of tools and equipment within the walls of his very own ship.

Slowly, Zachariah retrieved one of the indicated lab coats and slipped it on over his tunic, the two front edges not quite meeting over the expanse of his belly. Then, as if traversing a highwire with the entire expanse of the quadrant below, he approached John’s bench and leaned in for a closer look at the hologram.

“Remarkable,” he echoed McHarrie’s own praise of the technology on display, then, with a glance towards the containment unit added, “Is this one…particularly dangerous? What…does it do?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

“This one? No. A live one. Most certainly and I’m sure you’ll appreciate I’m not taking chances,” John said, “Both Section 31 and the Tal Shiar will tell you these things don’t exist, but they clearly do.”

“I want to find out what makes them tick to reduce the risk. In their normal habitat these things are ferral and destructive making them dangerous. Psychologically programmed they are focused and potentially deadly. No this one was programmed,” John said anticipating the CO’s question, “But the Captain of the ship it got loose on self-destructed his ship to stop this one… Allegedly.”

-McHarrie

“Is that right?” Zachariah replied, genuinely fascinated by McHarrie’s tale.

His bravery increasing, the captain straightened and began a slow pace around the lab, mindful not to place too great a distance between himself and the consultant. Just in case…

“Still, it’s a rather unique fascination for a man to have,” he mused aloud. “What is it about Abell anomalies that interests you so much, if you don’t mind me asking?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

“Starfleet is about exploration. Discovering strange, new worlds and boldly going where no-one has gone before. That is my fascination… The unknown,” John replied, “Many Abell anomalies turn out, after enough research and understanding, to be simply mis-understood. When we understand a danger, we can add mitigating controls to reduce the danger. And they all come from the unknown.”

“Aye, I suppose there’s truth in that, Commander,” the captain nodded. He’d expected to find this McHarrie chap an endless source of irritation and bother. But after spending some time with him, the seemingly amiable Welshman was quickly beginning to grow on Cobb.

“There is plenty of unknown to explore on our doorstep, The Briar Patch for example could house many peoples, but many threats too.”

-John

“Is that so?” Zachariah replied, rubbing a hand across his chin. “Listen, once this mission is over, I’d like you to work with Lt Remington, our man in Intelligence. So far these anomalies have been taking us wholly by surprise and I don’t like it. It’s no way to run a ship, being constantly on the back foot. But if you’re claiming some knowledge, or even suspicion, of where these things might be lurking, then perhaps we could get the jump on them for once, eh?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

“ALL of my resources are at your disposal, sir,” McHarrie replied, “Sadly, there are those that would seek to weaponise certain anomalies. You only have to look at what the Regulans did with Sparkle-Dancers or what the Remans did to this critter.”

-McHarrie

OOC: Is that thing what I think it is? :P

OOC: Yup :p

IC: “Sadly indeed, Mr McHarrie,” Cobb sighed. “But only the dead have seen the end of war, or so the saying goes. If I could envision the end of days without conflict I would be the happiest man that roamed the stars. But I can not blame those who are driven to seek advantage over their enemy.”

Damn, he sounded like Hampton. The old man laughed and once more moved over to the desk.

“What did the Remans do to this critter?” he whispered, conspiratorially.

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

“In their natural habitat, these creatures have a telepathic ability which they use instinctively as a defense. You forget you’ve seen it as soon as its out of sight. The Remans found they can… program them.”

-Jim

Cobb moved in closer then just as quickly pulled back, as if at any moment the thing could sit up, reach out and tear his thoughts right out of his head.
“Looks pretty harmless to me,” he shrugged. “Hard to believe it’s an Abell. Somehow I was imagining them to appear more threatening. Perhaps with more teeth.”

He laughed at his own obvious naivete. So much remained to be mastered where these anomalies were concerned.

“So what are you hoping to learn from it, Commander?” he continued to brim over with curious excitement.

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

“For a start, if it had been sterilised,” John said, “These things breed asexually. My Romulan contacts tell me that the program was shut down because they found that the programming passed from parent to child, albeit with some degradation. This meant that the children could not be reprogrammed. I only found this one which means if it had children, the managed evacuate with the ship’s crew and are still out there and laying eggs.”

John removed the tracking gloves and the hologram on the workbench vanished from existence.

He began leading the way to his office space.

“Tea? Coffee? Something stronger?” he asked.

-John