Can't Make an Omelette (Part 1)

Posted on Wed Aug 10, 2016 @ 4:42pm by Commander Caleb Ryan & Ensign Jessica Mayhew & Civilian 'Key Holder' Yolanthe Ibalin
Edited on on Wed Aug 10, 2016 @ 4:43pm

856 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Interlude - Day 2
Location: The Promenade
Timeline: MD02 2100

[ON]

"You're going to get us both into trouble," Olan Zen said to his companion, who was trying to furtively fix a small device to the edge of the mezzanine that made up the second level of the
Promenade

"Shh! Keep your eyes open." Ikeda Takahiro didn't look away from his fiddling. The thing had to be anchored against the recoil.

The Trill shifted anxiously from foot to foot. The Promenade was busy at this time in the evening. They were going to get caught. "Tak, this is ridiculous. It’s going to make things worse."

"Someone's got to send those bigots a message," the young human man muttered. "Not it my name."

"And if you egg everyone coming out of the Dilithium Chamber? How does that make you any better than the kids who egged the Box yesterday?"

"That's easy."

Takahiro made one last adjustment with his wrench and stood up. Then he took a padd out of his holdall and connected to the device he had made, using it to adjust the targeting camera. A yellow reticule came up on the door of the Dilithium Chamber. A Human came out. The reticule went red. A Farian went past. The reticule blinked off him and picked up another Human. This one also walked past the bar. The reticule blinked off again. It was set to only target people coming out. Perfect. "Because I am an engineer."

"You're an idiot," Olin shot back. "One egging is bad enough. You didn't need to build something that does it at eight rounds a minute."

"Of course I did. I want to make an impression," Takahiro replied.

"Oh, believe me, that will happen. Have you smelt these eggs? What sort of--" He broke off as a pair of Starfleet security officers ambled past.

They tried to look innocent, and the two yellow collared aliens proceded past. When they were out of earshot, Olan continued, "What sort of eggs are they anyway?"

"They're 'Owan eggs." Takahiro made some final adjustments to his targeting sight. "And the smell is a bonus. Won't smell any worse than the bigots down--"

“Well, gentlemen, what seems to be going on here?” came a woman’s voice from behind them. Jessica Mayhew eyed the pair of aliens questioningly and then her blue gaze drifted to the device attached to the mezzanine. “And what is that?” she asked, with a more serious frown. She glanced back at her companion, a larger male Human petty officer with brown hair. “What do you make of that, Travis?”

The large Human stepped up, leaning in between the two males -- looming -- to get a better look. “Dunno, Jess,” he said. “Looks kind of suspicious.”

"It's a prototype," Olan said quickly. "For a species selective immunization delivery system for airborne inoculants." His Ph.D. was in medical instrumentation and Taki had scabbed most of the bits for it from the lab at the Border Research Facility where they were grad students.

“Airborne inoculants?” Jessica asked, arching a blonde eyebrow. “Shouldn’t you be testing something like that in a lab, then?” she asked. “You have a permit to test that out here in public?”

Travis reached out and took the padd from Takahiro. “Why do you need targeting trajectories for releasing airborne inoculants?” he asked. “This is pretty complicated for just spraying immunizations into the air. Wouldn’t it be easier to simply engineer the inoculants for species-specific proteins and allow general release?” Obviously the big officer wasn’t just some dumb phaser pusher.

Olan silently cursed Starfleet’s insistence on cross-disciplinary electives. "We have lab tested it. But the lab can't replicate a high volume environment like this one, and mathematical models only take you so far. You, uh, have to field test, eventually."

Beside him Takahiro nodded his enthusiastic agreement. "And targeting particular populations just increases efficiency," he added.

“Right…” Jessica said, taking the control panel from Travis. Her thumb hit something on the screen.

TARGET ACQUIRED flashed on the panel. The camera view came up and it appeared to be recording as Lieutenant Commander Caleb Ryan emerged from lunch at the Dilithium Chamber.

“Um...what’s it doing?” Jessica asked Olan and Takahiro.

"Oh," said both young men together. "Shit!"

Then Taki and Olan tried to grab for the remote, fumbling it onto the floor. The device whirred once, there was a click and a whuff of compressed air, and a brown-purple egg the size of a second grader’s fist soared across the open air of the Promenade.

Jessica watched the screen in horror as a greenish-purple splotch appeared on Lieutenant Commander Ryan’s chest and he took an involuntary step back at the impact. He looked up, staring straight at them.

“Oh, that’s not good, Jess…” Travis said as Caleb -- and several nearby citizens -- started gagging on the stench.

[TBC]

Olan Zen & Ikeda Takahiro
Post-grad researchers
Border Research Institute
NPCs by Notty

Ensign Jessica Mayhew
Security Officer
NPC Caleb Ryan

Petty Officer 2nd Class Travis Nottingham
Security Officer
NPC Caleb Ryan

Lieutenant Commander Caleb Ryan
Chief of Security/Tactical

 

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