The Devil in the Details...

Posted on Sat Dec 31st, 2011 @ 4:30pm by Captain Nathan Cowell MD & Lieutenant JG Devok & Chief Petty Officer Trevor Sadler & Crewman Jordan Aviro

Mission: Crises and Consequences
Location: Various
Timeline: Following 'Heading for the Neutral Zone'

=Science Lab I, Deck 7, USS Arizona=

Lieutenant Junior Grade Devok had been aboard the USS Arizona a grand total of a week prior to her departure from dry-dock. He had only recently come from his first deep-space assignment aboard a Nova-class vessel, where he'd climbed his way up the ladder from a simple research analyst to the Assistant Chief Science Officer, even managing to garner a promotion for his work prior to getting the Assistant slot. Most of the crew he had worked with on his last ship had called him ambitious. The fact that he just happened to be Ferengi as well seemed to just give him a slight edge over the rest of the promotion hungry Ensigns around him. Indeed, the very reason Devok was so adamant about succeeding in his profession stemmed from the stigma that Ferengi were little more than latinum hungry trolls with no real ability to look past the profit in things. Devok was no slouch when it came to profit, but it didn't dominate his life either.

Lt. Devok had made a small fortune at the Academy, putting some of the other hustlers around him to shame. His fortune, however, had been based not on scamming people out of goods but rather in wagers regarding the many experiments run throughout his Academic year. For all his fiscal savvy, Devok was also one of the more accomplished students in his class. He'd gone so far as to wager his latinum against other student's minds, and more often than not, Devok had come out on top. The even more astounding thing about his success was his ability to do everything out in the open and legally. Even his instructors had placed bets on his theories and ideas in the hopes that he really would make some tangible contribution to science.

When the assignments had come open on the newly constructed Arizona, Devok had placed a bid for both the Chief and Assistant Chief slots, wagering that he would have a great deal of competition to contend with. His wager had been a little off. The former Chief Science Officer had been tapped for a First Officer position elsewhere, and few Science Officers that had been on the Prometheus-class variant of the Arizona had all been enlisted, leaving the two top slots more or less unspoken for. The Ferengi had basically been handed a completely new Science department to do with as he wished, and while Devok could hardly turn down such a huge opportunity for advancement, it did beg the question as to why no one really wanted the job.

"Lieutenant," the voice of Crewman Jordan Aviro, the Arizona's Laboratory technician, broke through Lt. Devok's meditations on his most recent career change, "The bridge has given us full use of the long range sensors. I thought you'd like to know."

The Ferengi looked up from the screen that he'd been hunkered over while reflection had taken hold of him, "Oh? Most outstanding. Do we know what sector of space we'll be heading to?"

"Rumor has it that we'll be heading for the Neutral Zone border, routine patrols. The way I heard it from a friend of mine that does bridge watch now and then, we don't even have an actual mission. We're just going to cruise along the border just in case something happens," Aviro said as if he was revealing an intimate secret that he wasn't supposed to divulge.

Devok knew the tone well, and had profited on numerous occasions because of it. The fact that he'd gotten the information second hand from someone that likely didn't have any real knowledge of what was happening didn't really matter. The fact of the matter was, they were heading to a region of space that, despite having been 'known' for many hundreds of years already, had never been explored in any great detail given the circumstances surrounding the region's history. It presented an opportunity for discovery that Devok just couldn't ignore.

"Who do we have working in Stellar Cartography right now?" Devok asked the man. Among the Crewman's duties, Aviro was in charge of ensuring that each department didn't usurp the critical facilities to the detriment of any other department under the umbrella of Science. The young man consulted the PADD that was practically an extension of his body to find out the answer to his department head's inquiry.

"It looks like no one has scheduled any lab time in Stellar Cartography today," the Crewman finally announced curtly.

"Good," the Lieutenant smirked, "I believe I'll make use of it then. See that no one decides they suddenly need it."

"As you wish, sir. Do you need any help?" Jordan asked.

"No, Mister Aviro, I believe I can conduct sensor sweeps just fine on my own. But thank you for asking," the Ferengi said with a smile before disappearing into the adjacent corridor.

=Stellar Cartography, Deck 11, USS Arizona=

Lieutenant Devok entered the Stellar Cartography compartment to find Chief Petty Officer Trevor Sadler hard at work conducting scans of space both near and far. His expertise, if Devok remembered it correctly, was in astrophysics, making Stellar Cartography his normal duty position. It also made his work that much easier since he had a ready made assistant that didn't need to be trained while he was assisting.

"Chief Sadler, what parts of the Neutral Zone have you already begun to scan?" the Ferengi inquired as he ambled into the compartment and settled down at one of the work stations set along the wall.

Trevor glanced over to the console Devok had decided to post himself up at and issued the slightest of frowns, "I wasn't aware that I needed to conduct scans in that area."

The comment wasn't as surprising as it should have been. The ship's commanding officer didn't seem overly liberal with his plans, adding credence to Crewman Aviro's earlier caution in informing him of what he'd learned. Devok had learned rather quickly in life that information was just another commodity to be bought, sold, and traded... even in the Federation.

"I have it on good authority that we're going to be spending a good deal of time along the Neutral Zone. If you would, direct the long range sensors to star systems in this area. I've been itching for a chance to run stellar density and decay models on the area since the Academy. Now is the perfect opportunity to start another grand thesis," Devok said with a hidden smirk, as he never bothered to turn toward the Petty Officer as he spoke.

"For a profit, of course..." the Chief said dryly, his disdain leaking through despite the fact that he was technically addressing his superior.

"Everything worth doing is worth doing for a profit, Mister Sadler. I, however, am not above doing things such as researching stellar densities simply for the profit of knowing more about the universe around me. And even then, there's always the potential to make a slip of latinum or two knowing more about an area than someone else," the Ferengi explained without seeming to have been the least bit offended by the comment.

"No offense, but I don't believe that the pursuit of scientific knowledge comes with a price tag," Trevor offered with no shortage of righteous indignation.

"I'm sure your ancestors would argue against that," Devok baited the man, knowing full well where the conversation was going. He had gone through the same discussion countless times since he'd entered Starfleet. His peers made basically the same argument time and time again. The Ferengi people were no capable of doing anything simply for the sake of the benefit of others, and that humanity was and had always been above the pursuit of profit. Unfortunately for every poor soul that encountered and attempted such arguments against Devok, they had been without the knowledge that the Ferengi had made a point of delving into the history of Earth to find that had the Ferengi people known humanity just a few centuries earlier, they would have found their philanthropic rivals... perhaps even their equals in the realm of selfishness and greed.

"Humanity isn't nearly as conceded and self-centered as your people are. We don't try to profit from other people's misfortunes and strife," Chief Sadler countered in a defensive tone.

"Perhaps not as you are now, but look back just a few hundred years. Your ancestors would have sold their own moogie just to make a profit. I've read accounts of some of your planet's most successful profiteers scam hundreds of thousands of hew-mons out of their profits just by telling them he could make them more profit if they gave it to him. He would have made even the most greedy of Ferengi proud to call him a business partner. You hew-mons tend to forget that you've been just as depraved, if not more so, than a great many of the people you look down upon today. Had you started life pure and righteous, perhaps the rest of us wouldn't think of you as being such hypocrites," Devok pointed out without a drop of emotion in his voice.

The fact that his department head was able to recount such things without even the slightest hint of animosity shocked the Chief Petty Officer. He'd argued his point about hundreds of topics, but never once had he been greeted with apathy and cold logic. Even Vulcans had shown more concern when defending their positions on topics than Devok had. Worst of all, everything he'd said was true. The bluster he'd had a moment ago had dwindled, so much so that Trevor didn't really know what to say about it other than that he likely shouldn't argue such semantics with his boss anymore.

"Which areas of the Neutral Zone should we start with?" the Chief decided that a subject change was most likely in order.

"I was thinking those systems that are right along the Neutral Zone would be the best ones to start with. Probably the Alpha Mensae, Epsilon Virginis, and Devron systems would be the closest systems to us, then, depending on which way we follow the Neutral Zone, we'll scan the various sectors until we've hit each of them in sensor range and wait for our pass of the sectors we didn't hit the first time. I would like to have a full map of the stellar composition of all the stars we can hit with our sensors. It might give us a better understanding of the decay rates of similar stars throughout the Federation," Devok explained.

"Right, I'll start with Alpha Mensae then," Chief Sadler remarked as he settled into the task laid out before him.

"Let me know if you find anything... odd," the Lieutenant said after a moment's hesitation trying to find the right word. Trevor just nodded, not entirely sure that he really understood the Ferengi's definition of 'odd'. After that, the room became comfortably silent as the two men fell into the routine of discovering the secrets of the universe one sensor sweep at a time.

=Two Days Later, Stellar Cartography, Deck 11, USS Arizona=

Lieutenant Devok yawned and slowly stretched cramped back muscles that were now revolting against the constant sedentary position he'd kept up for days now. He'd been so enamored by the prospect of looking into the Neutral Zone that he'd neglected almost every other bodily consideration. Such single-mindedness had in many cases been to his benefit, but with nothing truly ridding on him making any real shattering breakthroughs in the areas of stellar density mapping his body was finally protesting the abuse. Devok turned to where his research partner had been posted only to discover that he was now gone, more than likely to bed or some other function of nature that he himself had managed to shunt out for the sake of Science. In fact, the longer Devok held his attention away from his research, the more urgent his bodily functions became.

The Ferengi finally slid off the stool he'd been perched on and gave himself ample time to stretch and reconfigure to a standing posture, complete with all the cracks and pops of joints and bones that had grown too used to their positions. The discomfort was passing at best, and barely noticeable given that he really didn't bother to pay it much mind. His eyes were still glued to his scans; even if the computer could oversee the scans itself, Devok felt it a shame to let any discovery worth making rest solely in the hands of a computer. The young Lieutenant was about to shift his focus elsewhere when something on the screen grabbed his attention. A stellar object was acting... oddly...

Devok sat down in a rush, hoping to catch the anomaly before it disappeared. Whether it was actually a lucky thing or not, the anomaly wasn't just a brief happenstance lost to obscurity. The stellar mass was indeed showing signs of unusual fluctuations. Devok brought up the star charts and found the star in question was named Hobus, a small solar system nestled nearly at the trailing edge of the Arizona's powerful long range sensors. The system appeared to be empty, no planets in orbit seemed to hold life, nor did there appear to be any bases or stations in the immediate area. All these things added up to what Devok liked to think was some manner of unique discovery, and at the very least, something worth sharing. With the Arizona having no real mission of late, perhaps his commanding officer would be willing to edge a little closer to the Neutral Zone so that he and his team could take much more detailed scans of the star to see if it was something natural to the stellar object or if he truly had discovered something of note. And there was only one way to find out...

=Bridge, USS Arizona=

Lieutenant Devok strolled onto the bridge with a sense of purpose in his heart and a swiftness to his step. He was a Ferengi on a mission of importance, even if it was simply his opinion on the matter, and he wasn't going to be slowed down by anything...

"Who the fuck let a troll onto my ship?"

The voice that assaulted Devok's ears was harsh enough without having to even see the expression on the face of the person who had said it. While the specific insult that had been levied against him was pretty obscure and unfathomable to the Ferengi, the tone of disgust and disdain was evident. Devok made a mental note to investigate what a 'troll' actually was so he had a better frame of reference the next time he heard it. His eyes scanned the room until he found the most dower expression he could locate, that of a Rear Admiral. The Ferengi was suddenly at a loss... When did the Arizona take on a Flag Officer? Where was the ship's Captain? And why was the man sitting in the Captain's Chair referring to the Arizona as 'his'?

"I beg your pardon, Admiral, but I was hoping to speak with the Captain. Do you know where he might be?" the Lieutenant asked, not having ever actually reported to the ship's CO, Devok had no idea that the ship wasn't under the command of some lowly Captain, but by the Admiral himself.

"Well shit, son, I couldn't tell you. Hasn't been a Captain on this boat since I made Commodore. And since I ain't a Commodore anymore, we don't have one of those either. You'll have to settle for me. And who are you, since neither one of us seems to be acquainted," Nathan responded with a shrug.

Despite himself, Devok could feel his mouth sinking down. He'd never heard of an Admiral commanding a ship, he'd seen them commanding desks all over San Fransisco, but never a ship! Just what he'd suddenly found himself involved in was beyond his ability to process.

"Devok," he finally managed to muster through his shocked confusion, "Lieutenant Devok, the Chief Science Officer..."

"Nice to meet you, Devil. The name's Cowell... Admiral Cowell. My friends call me Doc, but you can call me sir," Nathan said in return.

"Of course..." Devok nodded dimly while he continued to process the information.

"Well, now that we've got that out of the way, what are you doing on my bridge? Shouldn't you be hiding under a bridge, dissecting goats or something?" Nathan asked, continuing to reference the troll insult he'd hurled a few moments before.

It took a moment for him to remember exactly what he was doing there. His sudden encounter with the ship's Admiral had thrown him for a loop that he was only just managing to recover from. He quickly sorted through the jumbled thoughts in his head before settling on the one word that brought him back to his purpose.

"Hobus!" the Ferengi declared rather bluntly, "I'm here about Hobus!"

"Look, what you do to hobos on your time is your own damn business. I ain't got time to listen to you talk about how you did whatever it is you trolls do..." Nathan said dismissively, appearing less and less interested in the Ferengi as he spoke.

"The Hobus system, it's a solar system in the Devron sector of Romulan space," Devok clarified, hoping this would at least garner some measure of interest.

"Hobus, eh? What's so special about Hobus then, Devil?" Nathan demanded.

"Sensors have picked up some strange fluctuations in her mass. Since we have no real frame of reference regarding the phenomenon, I was hoping I could prevail upon you to perhaps get a little closer to the Neutral Zone as we continue along our course. As it is, the sensors are just barely reaching the system, and I would very much like to see if this is a naturally occurring incident, or sensor ghosts that we're picking up because of our extreme range. Oh... and it's Devok, not Devil..." the Science Officer said, interjecting the last sentence more as an afterthought after realizing Adm. Cowell had gotten his name wrong.

"Yeah, Devil, that's what I said... and why would I care about a star acting funny?" Nathan inquired, oblivious to his continued nomenclature error.

"It may be a phenomenon that has yet to be observed by modern science. I would hate to miss the chance to make a discovery of that kind of magnitude because we weren't close enough to make sure it was legitimate," Devok remarked, hoping the Admiral would be at least remotely sympathetic to his cause.

Nathan sat back in his chair for a moment as he mulled it over, "How close is closer?"

"No more than perhaps two AUs away from the border..." Devok said with a toothy grin.

"You want me to get within three hundred billion kilometers of the Neutral Zone? Do you know how much attention that would get us?" the elder officer grumbled.

"Only for a few hours... I should be able to conduct all the verification scans I need in no more than four hours," the Ferengi promised.

Nathan glanced over to his First Officer, who appeared to have been ignoring their entire conversation up to the part about getting near the border. Stace gave the old man a shrug, which in turn made the Admiral shrug, "I'll think about it..."

"Please let me know as soon as you decide, Admiral. I would dearly love the chance to uncover this new mystery of the natural world," Devok said as he started to bow slightly as if to sweeten the pot with a little prostration.

The frown that tarnished Nathan's already dower features seemed to indicate to the Science Officer that he was about to get his answer, and that it would be in the negative. He braced himself for the rejection, only to hear, "Fine! Go back under your bridge and do your science crap. You've got four hours... Akron, take us to a distance of three hundred billion kilometers from the Neutral Zone and hold there until the four hours have elapsed. Not as if we were doing anything else important out here anyway."

"Thank you, Admiral!" Devok said in a grateful tone, hoping to slink away before the Admiral set any conditions to his research.

"Don't thank me, just get the hell off my bridge," Nathan groused unhappily, "And don't get us sucked into some alternate reality, you hear me?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Admiral," Devok said, not entirely sure why the man had even brought it up. He didn't ask nor did he desire clarification; Devok had what he'd come to the bridge for and he was most certainly happy to depart with such an easy condition to adhere to. Had he tried, he might have been able to find a way to do the very thing he'd been warned against, but he wasn't in the mood to screw up a good thing since there wasn't much profit in disappointing his new boss the first day out.

When the Ferengi was safely inside the turbolift, Nathan turned to his First Officer, "Seriously, who let the troll out from under his bridge?"

"Don't look at me," Stace said with a snicker, "I didn't even know the ship came with it's own trolls."

Nathan grumbled something about inept personnelists as he stormed into the confines of his Ready Room, all the while the bridge crew that had served with the old man previous snickered at the humorous conversation they'd known better than to laugh about before he'd left.