JL | Lt Lionza & LtJg Mallow & Ens Kharg | | CSci & EngO & SciO | "The Lionza Machine"

Posted on 241711.06 @ 11:03pm by Ensign Ayissa Kharg & Lieutenant Maria Lionza & Lieutenant Hober Mallow

Mission: Reconstruction and Refocus
Location: Various Locations

.:/ Engineering /:.

The excitement on the bridge had died down, and feeling unneeded Mallow retreated back to the warm glow of the core. The sensor modification he and Ellenna made while approaching the nebula seemed to be helping, so he took some pride in that. Mallow poked at his terminal and brought up Lionza's signal enhancer specifications, with the notes he made as he constructed the device, and downloaded them into a tablet. He figured with the time he had he would hunt down Lionza and propose a revised design of the device and possibly increase its range, efficiency and resolution. With tablet in hand he marched out of Main Engineering's looming entrance way happy to have a task at hand.

.:/ Quarters /:.

Dinner had started conversation flowing. Taking a sip of her wine Maria looking at Ayissa. "I've been promoted to chief. But as far as I am concerned I'll be running this department equally. Meaning on the day to day things we are all just scientists. With myself as chief I'll be doing the duty roster but besides that again we are all scientist and we'll continue to collaborate like we have been."

Giving a small nod of acceptance, Kharg twirled her glass of Bloodwine between her fingers. "I can't say as I really envy you," she chuckled lightly. "Especially on a ship of this caliber. But I'm sure it'll be just fine. There's plenty enough to keep us all busy and involved. Even after this current mystery is eventually cleared up."

"Good I am glad that.....that things have changed but the simple goal of science well continue to move forward." Maria said holding up her glass of Bajoran spring wine. "To science." She said simply.

"Science trumps rank and all that any time." The hybrid woman grinned, lifting her glass to gently clink against Maria's. "To further explanation and discovery."

.:/ Hallway /:.

Mallow had no luck finding the scientist in any of the science labs, a non-commissioner told him that he had not seen her for a while. Wasn't she the same duty shift rotation as me?. Consulting the computer revealed her location to be her quarters, and seeing as it wasn't that late he headed in there. He wanted to pass off this tablet and new plans while it was fresh in his mind. He reached the door and flicked his finger at the door to chime it.

"Unh......wonder who that could be?" Maria said setting her glass down and looking the chronometer. "Excuse me."

Lifting shoulders in a slight dismissive shrug, Ayissa took the opportunity to top off her glass.

Walking over to the door she pressed her palm to the bio-metric scanner that opened the door. "Lieutenant, ummm.......did we have an meeting that I missed?"

"Nothing scheduled no," Hober said extending his arm with the tablet, "your device can be improved but I need your input on a few areas." The engineer oblivious to what was socially considered rude or imposing to Humans approaching others after hours, Wadi culture being fairly lax with calling hours.

Taking the tablet. "Come in. I would like to have ensign Kharg's input as well." Maria said leading Mallow into her quarters. "Ayissa err....ensign Kharg if you could take a look lieutenant Mallow believes he can improve on our device."

"Hi, Hober." The Ensign in question greeted, forgoing the attempt at formality. Accepting the padd, she leaned back in her chair, peering at the information as she lifted wine to her lips once again.

Maria took her seat looking over the the modifications. "How much longer would the modifications take to complete the project?" Maria said impressed with the engineers work.

Mallow stopped short a few steps into her quarters and an uncomfortable feeling settled into his stomach. This was clearly not the time for this. Hober gave a smile and nod to Ayissa, and then looked to Maria, "This can wait, I didn't realize I was interrupting something." Hober said waggling his finger at the casual scene of dinner and wine in front of him.

"Lieutenant please take a seat would you care for a drink?" Maria said offering a chair. "This can't wait. We need to amplify our sensors while at the same time narrowing the scan if we need to." Maria said taking another sip of her wine before filling her glass back up.

"You probably need to eat supper anyways." Ayissa smirked, tilting her head at the empty seat next to her. "If you are anything like us. Work is often more important than food."

Hober's stomach agreed with a growl, "Very well," he said taking the offered seat.

Scrolling through the information, the Ensign nodded to herself, absorbing what was offered therein. "I can't add anything to this. It looks like it would refine the pre-existing design without losing any of the overall intent. Though I must say I am also impressed. This should make our lives significantly easier. At least in the collection aspect."

"There isn't much I did to it, and the pieces I left highlighted are where you can input your specifics," the engineer waddled his head before continuing, "I'd say once I get your part, I can build the Lionza machine take two in about two days."

Maria took a look making a few modifications in the highlighted areas. "Make these changes and as you say the Lionza Machine well be perfect."

Snorting in mild amusement at what had become the working title for the array, Kharg passed an empty glass towards their new compatriot. "Wine? We've got Spring or Blood. Well, unless you want something replicated."

Mallow shrugged unknowingly at both options, "Surprise me, I have not had either before."

Unable to hide the devious glee that lit up her eyes, Ayissa promptly reached for the bottle she had brought, and poured a couple mouthfuls into his glass. No sense in wasting much if he did not like it, after all.

"Despite the name, it's really quite good. But most people cannot handle the sheer sweetness of it." She informed, passing it over, gesturing at the few plates of various snackish foods already available. "Though I strongly suggest getting something else in you to pad the punch."

Hober lifted the glass to his nose and took a few sniffs, the smell of the wine completely alien to him. He plunged into the drink with a healthy mouthful and swished it around before swallowing, "It's not that swe---" Mallow coughed roughly before continuing, "eet."

Chuckling softly, the hybrid woman slid a plate of miniature meat pies in front of the Wadi, nabbing one for herself in the process. "Hey, you didn't quite choke. I'm impressed." She mused, popping the savory pastry into her mouth.

Maria took a sip of her wine. "Do the Wadi not drink?"

"We have a very social culture and do drink, however our preferred palate is quite distinct." Hober said tilting his glass towards Maria. He finished the remaining mouthful and reached for a pastry looking at it curiously, "Should I be warned about these in any way?"

"Nah, Maria picked the food. Nothing too out of the normal parameters." Ayissa replied, waving her free hand dismissively. "Heck, even I can't eat some of the stuff my dad used to make."

Adding more to her own cup, Kharg silently gestured towards Hober's, implicating if he wanted more. "What are your people's distinct palates lend towards?"

Hober took the pastry into his mouth and nodded in approval as he swallowed. Hober pushed his empty cup forwards, "Please, what do you call it, is actually very pleasant. Wadi food and drink tends to be very...I can't find the words for it, but for example we absolutely love Terran blue cheese."

"Funky?" Maria suggested. "Or maybe......maybe I don't know......" Maria said not knowing Earth food all that well. The foods grew up eating was mostly vegetables and fruit and very little meat. Very similar to that of Southeast Asian food from Earth.

"Pungent?" Ayissa added, reaching over to fill the Engineer's glass, and finishing off the bottle. "This is Bloodwine. One of the Klingon's favorite drinks. Can't say as I disagree, personally. Despite not having gotten much of my looks from him, definitely got quite a bit in the way of similar tastes as my father."

"Poignant and funky are apt." Hober said taking a sip of his replenished glass.

Standing up Maria opened a fresh Spring Wine bottle. For her Bloodline was a bit too much. Setting the bottle down before retaking her seat and pouring herself some more. "Interesting." Maria said, ".....even your proteins?"

"In a very sweeping statement yes, like any species, there is an eclectic mix of cultures." he said.

Hober looked down at his feet to ensure they were still touching the ground. Why wouldn't my feet be on the floor... Mallow looked from his feet to his glass, "...is Blood Wine have a high alcoholic concentration?"

"Quite high, comparatively." Ayissa answered, eyeing the Wadi over for a brief moment. Gently extricating the wine from his hand, she further shoved the plate of little meat pies practically into his chest. "I suggest you eat rather promptly if you don't want a killer hangover."

Mallow felt an unpleasantness gurgling to life in his stomach, "when converted to Human scale, strong fermented Wadi beverages tend to sit between a 2-5% alcoholic concentration."

"Do you need the bathroom?" Maria sensing that he wasn't feeling well.

"No, I need to leave." Mallow hiccuped and his hand shot to his mouth, followed by a quick and clumsy exit without another word.

Watching the hurried exit, Ayissa sighed lightly. "Probably should have given him the Springwine instead..."

"......possibly or not have given him any sprits at all." Maria said taking another sip of her drink. "I'll make sure a science mate delivers these to his quarters." Maria said with a small chuckle looking at the PaDDs that he left behind.

"Hopefully this does not put too large a dent in his modification schedule." Kharg frowned, looking down at the padds as well. "Perhaps I will return them in the morning. Make sure he is not suffering too greatly."

Shaking her head a little to clear it, the ensign fetched up a small, clear box from the center of the table. Within it was displayed a nebula, turning slowly, as if on a visit feed. "Anyway, this is what I wanted to show you..."

"Impressive. What am I looking at?" Maria's head fuzzy and foggy from both the booze and Jakk.

"This is a model of a nebula that my grandfather discovered, back in his day. Where a black hole had burned out, leaving behind a highly unstable, very small, wormhole in its place. They were unable to study it at great length at the time, and were not going to risk wasting lives or equipment for some unknown outcome. However, I believe this might give us some ever so slightly clearer idea of what we might be looking at now."

Her fingers glided over the edges of the case looking at the simplicity but also the complexity of it. "It's it's well it's beautiful and yes I believe it'll be extremely helpful. I have schedule a meeting with the captain and the XO tomorrow morning bring this with you."

"Certainly." Kharg agreed, watching the cube turn within her superior officer's hands for a moment. "If nothing else, it might provide a more relatable visual."

With the dinner over and handing off the PaDDs to a science mate to be delivered to a lieutenant Hallow. "Have a good night ensign.....and thank you."

"We'll have to do it again sometime." Ayissa grinned, gathering up the few things she had brought, ambling towards the door. "Perhaps with less weighty subjects. And less wine, maybe." She added before making her exit, and heading towards the warm welcome of her bed that awaited.

=/\=

Lieutenant Maria Lionza
Chief Science Officer
USS Enterprise

Lieutenant JG Hober Mallow
Engineering Officer
USS Enterprise

Ensign Ayissa Kharg
Science Officer
USS Enterprise