A Long Term Project

Posted on Sun Mar 2nd, 2025 by Lieutenant Commander Freya Preston & Allyson Bancroft

1,105 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: M01 - The Hooke
Location: Crew Mess, USS Hooke
Timeline: Present

Allyson sat at the computer terminal in her science office reviewing her notes and making certain everything from her case study had made it when she transferred it via subspace from the Eisenhower. It had been days earlier, but this had been her first opportunity to look it over. Once satisfied she began creating directories so that she could continue her project into how the now extinct alien race she'd been working with had lived its life.

Freya leaned into the bulkhead with her arms crossed watching as the civilian scientist worked at the computer terminal. She'd been standing there for a little while, having come down to the science offices simply to check on how everyone was doing when she'd noticed Sam's wife inside. "Hey," She finally said and made her way off the bulkhead. Freya had met Allyson yesterday and they spent some time talking.

Allyson heard Freya behind her and rotated her head slightly so that she could see Freya out of the corner of her eye. "Hey," She said. "I'm almost done then we can go get some lunch." Allyson made her last directory before saving all her work and nodding. "Okay let's go."

"Finally transferring your files?" Freya asked as they left the science lab for the turbo lift.

Allyson shook her head, "I transferred the files yesterday afternoon. I was only making sure all my files made it in the transfer, it was a large data package." She answered as she stepped onto the turbo lift. "Deck two." She ordered. The trip only took a few seconds before the turbo lift doors opened and let the two of them out. "Were you being nosy again?"

The Exec turned bright pink, "Nah," She said in denial. Freya was the first to enter the crew mess and since it was lunch time many of the tables were filled up. "One mess for the entire crew," She said under her breath. "We're going to have to get used to this at some point."

"I don't know," Allyson said as she went to the counter and grabbed her plate. Today it was a meal buffet for everyone to pick and choose what they wanted. "It beats using the replicators in our quarters." Allyson could cook if she really needed to, but it wasn't her cup of tea so to speak.

"I guess," Freya said as she followed behind the other woman. She filled her plate with an assortment of things that looked good before the two of them found a place to sit and eat. Freya had her fork in her hand, "So what is this mysterious project you're working on anyway?"

Allyson looked at Freya and realized that her potential friend was also a scientist. That, perhaps, was why she got along with the other woman so well. She took a bite from her plate while trying to figure out how to best explain it, "Have you ever heard of the D'Arsay?"

Freya tried to think for a moment, the name sounded familiar. She tapped the base of her chin with the bottom edge of her fork, "The name sounds familiar but I'm afraid not."

Allyson nodded in understanding, "Did you ever hear about that one time the Enterprise-D was taken over by some ancient computer archive?" She asked the second question, "The D'Arsay are the ancient race that were responsible for creating the archive that caused that mess."

Freya's eyes grew wide as she immediately realized what Allyson was talking about, "Ohh," She answered. "I didn't know the name of the race responsible. So you're studying them?" The question was rhetorical, "Please tell me the ship's not going to get transformed into some strange alien temple thing?"

Allyson laughed, "No, no." She shook her head, "I simply have historical records not one of their strange artifacts or archives. The ship is perfectly safe. We don't have to worry about anything wildly crazy happening on that front," She answered and took a few more bites of her food. "I started the project a few months ago, however, I never got very far into it because the facilities on the Eisenhower weren't really cut out for it."

Freya listened as she ate her food, "The scientific systems on this ship are probably far superior to the Eisenhower," She pointed out. "You'll have to let me know how it goes."

"Oh, of course," Allyson told her. She nodded while answering the other woman. "I haven't really found much in my research because information is so limited about them. They died out millions of years ago, and besides the archives that have been located there is little known about them. But, that's part of what I do and being able to do these sorts of projects are nice sometimes."

Freya understood that, the scientist in her missed being able to do those sorts of long term projects. She was now in red rather than teal though, so she assumed this meant her chances of doing long term scientific projects were probably pretty low. She finished eating and took a drink before leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed, "Is it something you would want help with?"

Allyson thought about the question for a moment, and thought perhaps it wouldn't be a bad thing to have a partner in crime so to speak. She grinned, "If you want to help me with this then by all means."

Freya was excited, "It'll have to come after any duties I need to perform of course, but I'll help in any way I can."

Allyson understood, "I presumed that would be the case." She finished eating the last little bit that she had left and pushed herself away from the table. "I can show you what I've got so far if you've got time, or at least show you where everything's saved?"

Freya grinned, "I would like that. I only have time for you to show me where everything's at, I have some reports to work on for the Captain. With it being our first mission and all, I have to make sure everything is in order on that front first."

"I understand, let's go." Allyson said.

Freya gave a single nod before getting out of the chair and collecting the dishes off the table. She finally had something to do besides take care of her daughter and do work as the ship's Exec. This made her more than just a little excited as she put the dishes where they belonged then followed Allyson out of the mess hall.

 

RSS Feed