The Brainiac Arrives

Posted on Tue Jul 23rd, 2024 @ 4:46pm by Commander Cornelius 'Kit' Hanlon & Lieutenant August Hobbes
Edited on on Tue Jul 23rd, 2024 @ 9:49pm

2,297 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: To Boldly Go
Location: Mars Station
Timeline: Day 2 - before the crew board the Fenrir

[ON]

Commander Kit Hanlon's attention had gone from the PADD with the new Chief Science Officer's record, to the specs for the Fenrir's warp core, to just what most would call daydreaming. It had been a long couple of days since he had arrived here and his brain had clearly had a moment where it had decided to tune out everything else. His eyes lingered on the view...from here, he could see the Fenrir's nacelles. Not much else, but he knew she was there, being worked on, almost ready for a new crew and a new Captain to take charge and go out, continuing the work Starfleet had done for the Federation. The good work.

He blinked as he heard the chime, reaching for his coffee and finding it cold. He almost knocked it over with his hand as he stood, pulled back into the present. "Enter," he called out as he disposed of the cold coffee and the glass mug with its red handle.

August Hobbes had never been physically imposing; that was left to his older brother, Ven. At 5'10" and 150 pounds, with youthful features that conferred the idea of college student rather than teacher and scientist, and his glasses hooked into the collar of his uniform, he could easily be overlooked. Dressed neatly in a clean Starfleet uniform, he ran a hand through his tousled brown hair in a pointless attempt at appearing presentable and stepped forward. The door opened once he reached the outer range of the door's sensors and he continued into the room. "Commander," he said, his voice was a sort of husky tenor, devoid of accent, "I received word that you wanted to speak with me. I'm Lieutenant Hobbes."

"Ah, Lieutenant Hobbes," Kit smiled as he looked at the younger man, taking in his appearance for a moment. The glasses, something he hadn't seen anywhere except on the holodeck, the clean and neat uniform...the hair that seemed a bit impossible to tame. He could sympathise with that. "Please, take a seat. Can I get you anything to drink?"

Social niceties. He had had a succession of science cadets over his time on the Faraday and while he shepherded them through their practicals, they tried to civilize him. Never an easy task. And all that meant he had a ready answer. "Royal Blend tea with a splash of milk. Thank you, Sir."

Kit nodded, walking to the replicator. He got a new coffee for himself and the tea for August, carrying it over and putting it in front of him. "If it is too much of a splash for you of milk, get someone from Ops to recalibrate the one in your office and quarters to your liking," he advised and took a seat. Something about the man had made him soften his own voice. It was pure instinct, tied into his appearance more than anything else. "First time as a Chief, if I recall. Are you excited to be the one in charge of all the labs and projects?"

"Perhaps not in the way you mean." Hobbes accepted the cup of tea and held it balanced on his thigh while he considered how to frame his answer. "On the Faraday, I was the Assistant Chief for five years and while guidance was sometimes needed, the environment was ... largely collaborative. Certainly, most all the scientists had lines of research within their specialties but for the most part, we worked together on the mission-critical ones. I'm not as excited by the name on the door as the work itself." He paused a second, looking down and away, before returning his gaze to the commander. "In the sense that being the Chief means I can be involved in a wider variety of projects, yes." He nodded gently. "Yes, in that sense, very excited."

Kit looked at him with some amusement, although it was good natured. He could identify with the collaborative nature; Engineering was similar. "I suspect that our science department will be in the...same vein as any other ship. Being the Chief just means you get to report on what is happening, developments...and more meetings both with your own staff and the Command staff." He sipped his coffee in order to let that sink in. It was always a big move, from Assistant Chief to being the Chief. He had felt that acutely himself in his career. Although science was...a mystery to Kit. "Not all crew have arrived yet, so you will get the majority your people in over the next week."

"That's fine," Hobbes replied. "I'm teaching a seminar at the Academy on genetic engineering and another in mathematical physics. Both are relative short so I should be finished in time to meet them before departure. Most of the scientists I've met since joining Starfleet have been that way ... collaborative, I mean. The academy seems to weed out the territorial ones early on."

"Easy enough to go between here and Earth," Kit said as he gave a small nod. "I can see the appeal, especially if you have friends or family on the planet."

"I enjoy teaching," Hobbes said. "And the work. Probably most of my friends are scientists." He smiled and held up one finger as he considered what he had said, curling it in to rest his fist on his lips for a moment. "No, I take that back. They all are. And too, gives me a chance for a few long hikes before we ship out. I like to walk."

"It's good exercise," Kit said before he smiled, liking the honesty of the man before him. "This ship might not always discover new things for you to science with. Do you have projects to keep you and your team busy on...quieter missions? We don't know where we will be sent to or what we will be doing."

"There's always something," Hobbes said. He rattled off the things that came to mind from his own overcrowded schedule. "Individual research projects. Consultation requests. Advanced courses. Teaching requests. We can use the holodeck to prepare classroom presentations that can be used in any number of places. There's always something. My old boss, Waleski, had to institute a rule prioritizing ship missions over individual projects. It got that bad."

"Ah," Kit nodded, a small smile of understanding coming to him. "Consider that rule active here. Although I suspect you will have adequate time to...do your projects, between whatever the missions require."

"It's always been a rule as far as I'm concerned," Hobbes said quietly. "I was referring to the way most scientists I know get absorbed in what they're doing, sometimes to the exclusion of everything around them. And while most understood about mission-specific projects, there were one or two, among the Vulcans, who felt themselves more capable of prioritizing than the bridge." He smiled, nodding at the memory that surfaced in his mind. "I remember Avren. He calculated the length of time that it would take him to complete his personal project, compared it to the length of time it would take to complete his task for command, and made it clear that both could be accomplished in the given time frame; therefore, he prioritized the work according to his internal logic and the mission came second. Logic isn't always a universal truth; its often dependent on conditions."

Kit nodded as he watched the other man, considering it for a long moment. "Truth itself can be based on the narrator too," he said after a moment. He had read that somewhere, or heard it somewhere. The unreliable narrator. "I suggest you take the time to familiarise yourself with the people you will work with. Oh, and of course...get a medical. We all have to do it."

"Of course," Hobbes said and he meant that. A good working relationship with the other members of the team was fairly essential to getting anything done. "Small talk has never been one of my strengths but luckily ..." He smiled cheerfully. "We all speak the same language if you will. But now, other than the doctor, are there other appointments you consider standard to on-boarding?"

"Counselling of course," Kit said with a small smile that said the classic ah, yes one of those things we all must do. "And meeting the Captain, since you are a Chief. Apart from that, meet your department, check their duty rosters and shifts. And get yourself comfortable."

Hobbes' expression flattened somewhat at the idea of a counseling appointment. Soft sciences didn't hold much interest to him and too, they sometimes possessed telepathic abilities which they seemed incapable of resisting. "Yes, of course," he said quietly. Most of what was being mentioned, were things he'd already planned on doing ... except for counseling. Best, he thought, to get it over with then.

Kit looked at him for a moment before a small smile came to him. "Not fond of those, are you? Not many I know are. But it's useful for someone to challenge your thinking now and then," the smile stayed and he words almost seemed teasing. Clearly, he was parroting what other superior officers had told him through the year. "It'll be quick and painless. Can't say the same for the paperwork as a Chief though."

"More than its a soft science and its practitioners tend to prefer invasive techniques, often without permission," Hobbes said. His head cocked slightly to one side, he considered what the First Officer had said. "Science is all about challenges, you know. That's part of collaboration. Discussing, a theory. Its not valid until the results of an experiment can be independently replicated." He nodded. "I'm not afraid of challenges."

Kit recognised a familiar trait in what the other man said. "Proof of concept, prototype, implementation...checks..." he said, lightly. "The mantra of most Engineers. I never really thought how similar those things are, if you strip it down to the basics."

"I understand what you're saying though, proof isn't an acceptable term in science, it's just scientific evidence. You have to have evidence from empirical research and that's the only way to get a true experiment. And its been said that one experiment can destroy even the most carefully laid out hypothesis. Still, that's what I love about it. Science progresses best when observations force us to alter our preconceptions. Moving forward, a bit at a time, we build on the work of those before us." Hobbes smiled, dimpling slightly, "Like Isaac Newton once said, if I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Kit smiled at that, fascinated by the way he was. At the lack of any games, any politics. Some would have humoured him, but not this man. He liked that. "Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life," he quoted before he looked almost embarrassed. "My grandfather would always say that to me. I thought he was so clever until I got old enough to learn it was Marcus Aurelius. You are going to do well here, Lieutenant. We need your scientific mind."

"Thank you, Commander," Hobbes said, "and that's a good quote. I'll have to use it in my classes. For me, and with all respect to your grandfather, I went with Aristotle. All knowledge should be subject to examination and reason." He grinned, somewhat sheepishly. "I confess applying that to my interactions have saved me once or twice. Aristotle. Cool guy. And though he was wrong in some respects, his observations laid the foundations for embryology. He's considered by some to be the first scientist on Earth long before the term, scientist, was even in use."

"Really?" Kit looked surprised before he chuckled, giving a nod. "I didn't know that. It is amazing how far humanity has come, in such a relative short amount of time."

"It is," Hobbes said. "And so much more still left to learn. One of my instructors once said that a scientist will never be out of work. And I think I agree with that. Not enough hours in the day."

"At least that was a safe career choice then," Kit joked, because he could already tell that Hobbes would have been a scientist no matter what. And his service record and career spoke for itself. "If there is anything you ever need, Lieutenant...let me know and I will see what I can do. For science."

Hobbes nodded. "Pretty much everything goes through you," he said. "At least that's what the captain said when I reported in."

"She isn't wrong," Kit said with a nod, taking a slow and deep breath. As the First Officer, he was the liaison between everyone. It meant most requests came to his desk, not the Captain's. Some hated the paperwork and meetings, Kit had found himself enjoying aspects of it. Interacting with people was one of the things he liked. "I should let you get on with the rest of your day, Hobbes. I look forward to working with you once we set foot on the ship."

"As do I," Hobbes said. "With your permission then, I'll get on it."

"Of course," Kit met his eyes briefly before he stood. "You know where to find me if anything is needed?"

Hobbes nodded because that was one of those questions that didn't seem to have a polite answer. He rose from his seat and headed out into the ship. Now, he thought, to get medical over with and then I can ... finally ... see the labs

[OFF]

Lieutenant August Hobbies
Chief Science Officer

&

Commander Kit Hanlon
First Officer

 

RSS Feed