Post by Lieutenant Collins on Feb 15, 2012 14:14:42 GMT -5
"Chief Scientist's Log (and Acting Executive Officer), Stardate 69124.89
I have always liked science because there is an order to the universe. Our ancestors called that order gods, or spirits, or ten-thousand other names that explained away the rising and setting of the sun. Today, we know the actual names of the phenomena that causes the ebb and flow of the universe, yet still it continues to amaze us. The possibility of discovery waits at every turn, whether it be concealed by a nebula or dug beneath the dirt of an alien world, it is all there for us to find. If anything, it is this boundless possibility that first excited me toward science.
Sometimes the most exciting thing is not knowing, but sometimes it also the worst thing. Starfleet has ordered us to discontinue the search for Captain Shran, but I can't. He is my captain and the mystery that surrounds his disappearance is deeper than any challenge I have yet tackled. So against, orders of Starfleet I have continued to work on a device that will allow me to detect variances in the fabric of dimensional space. It is like looking for the ripples on a pond's surface to see where a fish may be hiding. The device, which I have dubbed the "Super Shran Sleuth," works better than expected... and therein lies the problem.
Apparently, the fabric of our dimensional space-pond is being rippled all the time by extra-dimensional forces. In fact, it may be more apt to use the analogy of an ocean, since I have discovered that the walls of our dimension are constantly shifting and crashing like the waves of the Atlantic. My device is too sensitive. it detects every little movement. So the question is how can you pinpoint a small ripple among a storm of waves? The more I think about it, the more I keep coming back to the same solution, I need a point of reference. The question then becomes, how do you establish a point of reference among the dark void of the dimensional ocean. There are no buoys, no markers, no lighthouses to guide me, but there is one thing that may work. The answer was in my hands for only the briefest of moments before it as ripped away, Shran's comm-badge.
The Captain left his comm-badge buried in masonry for more than 600 years, because he knew that in the future that masonry would still be there. He was always a history buff, and he knew what structures were going to survive into the modern time and which ones wouldn't. He left that badge for us to find, and to use. Captain Shran must have realized the same thing that I have realized. If I am to find him I will need to use the biometric and trans-dimensional data he stored in his badge. It may even provide me with the elusive warp signature of his Romulan-built ship. If I combine that data with my machine, I may be able to pinpoint his location in space-time. We may even be able to pull him back to us. I have theory on that as well.
The only problem remains is, how did I get that comm-badge? Starfleet has it locked up tight. They no doubt have scientists going over it with a fine tooth comb, but it has been weeks since we discovered it and we still have yet to hear anything back. I can't allow this problem to go unsolved, I can't allow Captain Shran to stay stranded in trans-dimensional space much longer. I need that badge and if not the badge, at the very least, the data that it contains. We need our captain back.
it is not that I have any particular problem with Commander Grace, mind you. She is a capable officer, but she is no Thy'lek Shran. Worst of all, she made me the executive officer. I never wanted power, nor have I ever wanted the responsibility of command. The paperwork alone is cutting severely into my laboratory time. We need Shran. The Aryes feels empty without him, like a molecule of hydrogen missing one of its neutrons. One way or another, I will get the data I require, and this ship will have its captain back.
Computer, end recording."
I have always liked science because there is an order to the universe. Our ancestors called that order gods, or spirits, or ten-thousand other names that explained away the rising and setting of the sun. Today, we know the actual names of the phenomena that causes the ebb and flow of the universe, yet still it continues to amaze us. The possibility of discovery waits at every turn, whether it be concealed by a nebula or dug beneath the dirt of an alien world, it is all there for us to find. If anything, it is this boundless possibility that first excited me toward science.
Sometimes the most exciting thing is not knowing, but sometimes it also the worst thing. Starfleet has ordered us to discontinue the search for Captain Shran, but I can't. He is my captain and the mystery that surrounds his disappearance is deeper than any challenge I have yet tackled. So against, orders of Starfleet I have continued to work on a device that will allow me to detect variances in the fabric of dimensional space. It is like looking for the ripples on a pond's surface to see where a fish may be hiding. The device, which I have dubbed the "Super Shran Sleuth," works better than expected... and therein lies the problem.
Apparently, the fabric of our dimensional space-pond is being rippled all the time by extra-dimensional forces. In fact, it may be more apt to use the analogy of an ocean, since I have discovered that the walls of our dimension are constantly shifting and crashing like the waves of the Atlantic. My device is too sensitive. it detects every little movement. So the question is how can you pinpoint a small ripple among a storm of waves? The more I think about it, the more I keep coming back to the same solution, I need a point of reference. The question then becomes, how do you establish a point of reference among the dark void of the dimensional ocean. There are no buoys, no markers, no lighthouses to guide me, but there is one thing that may work. The answer was in my hands for only the briefest of moments before it as ripped away, Shran's comm-badge.
The Captain left his comm-badge buried in masonry for more than 600 years, because he knew that in the future that masonry would still be there. He was always a history buff, and he knew what structures were going to survive into the modern time and which ones wouldn't. He left that badge for us to find, and to use. Captain Shran must have realized the same thing that I have realized. If I am to find him I will need to use the biometric and trans-dimensional data he stored in his badge. It may even provide me with the elusive warp signature of his Romulan-built ship. If I combine that data with my machine, I may be able to pinpoint his location in space-time. We may even be able to pull him back to us. I have theory on that as well.
The only problem remains is, how did I get that comm-badge? Starfleet has it locked up tight. They no doubt have scientists going over it with a fine tooth comb, but it has been weeks since we discovered it and we still have yet to hear anything back. I can't allow this problem to go unsolved, I can't allow Captain Shran to stay stranded in trans-dimensional space much longer. I need that badge and if not the badge, at the very least, the data that it contains. We need our captain back.
it is not that I have any particular problem with Commander Grace, mind you. She is a capable officer, but she is no Thy'lek Shran. Worst of all, she made me the executive officer. I never wanted power, nor have I ever wanted the responsibility of command. The paperwork alone is cutting severely into my laboratory time. We need Shran. The Aryes feels empty without him, like a molecule of hydrogen missing one of its neutrons. One way or another, I will get the data I require, and this ship will have its captain back.
Computer, end recording."