Get cracking

Posted on Tue Jul 28th, 2026 @ 11:04pm by Ensign Sayori Nakai & Lieutenant (J.G.) Oakham Khen Ziren

792 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Astrometrics
Timeline: Same time as "Hurt"

"hello!" Ziren walked into the specialized science lab, glancing around in wonder. "Oh wow...this place looks amazing!" The young hybrid woman approached the sole Trill officer who was working at one of the consoles.

"I'm Lieutenant Oakham-Khen, Ziren" she proceeded apologetically, "I'm here to lend a hand on behalf of security. And uh...I haven't been here long."

Sayori looked up from the console she was working on and nodded a greeting. "Ensign Nakai. Sayori. I'm working on monitoring Xurbam and his runabouts, trying to cut through the interference and all that. You any good with that kind of thing? I could really use a hand."

"Well, I'm here to help," Ziren smiled, "so I can try....I know a little about isolation life signs, thanks to father Zirvell." She hesitated as she approached a console. "But I've never used astrometrics for it... I assume you want Xurbam's signature isolated? Or do you want to try and lock out the shuttles."

The Ensign directed Ziren to the station next to hers. "Right now, I'm trying to cut through the interference Xurbam's ability is causing, in order to better allow targetting and tracking of the runabouts," she explained. "Which, to be honest, is proving to be a lot trickier than I expected at first. Any lockouts would probably be pretty easy for him to override, given that he apparently absorbed the knowledge and abilities of the crew he killed."

She hung her head and sighed. "This is not the kind of mission I signed up for," Sayori admitted. "First, spending weeks in a cramped shuttle, and now this? Not how I imagined life in Starfleet. But then my mother and her twin would laugh at me if I said that," she added with a hollow chuckle. "Always expect the unexpected, and so on." With a few commands, some data showed on the main screen. "This is what I've got so far. Any ideas?"

"This is exactly what we signed up for," the hybrid security officer smiled, "do we know the frequency of the interference? Maybe we can neutralise it by bombarding it with an opposing frequency? It's all waves right, which we can amplify or nullify?" She activated one of the adjacent consoles and called up the jammed signals. "Weeks in a shuttle? Why...that must've been... trying?"

"Got it all on the display," Sayori replied with a smile. "Trying is one word for it. Good thing I'm not overly sensitive to stink. Rations got boring pretty quick, too. And, of course, with no way to avoid each other and no privacy outside the head, people got on each others' nerves pretty soon."

"I can imagine," Ziren agreed, wrinkling her nose at the very idea. "At least you all got out without getting into a fistfight huh." She briefly looked away to concentrate on adjusting some settings. "I got the scanner to search for a counter frequency."

"Barely," the Ensign replied with a chuckle. "I've tried quite a few already, nothing seems to have fully worked. I think the interference pattern is multi-layered. The frequency is consistent, but the amplitude shifts all the time, with no discernable pattern."

"And then the disturbance was gone," Ziren marveled in obvious surprise as she 'grabbed' the readings and 'threw' them to the larger display. "See that? It's like it all suddenly ceased somehow."

Sayori frowned. "Okay, that is bizarre. Did you do anything? Or was that more likely to be at the source?"

Ziren shook her head. "It was at the source according to our sensors. Bridge feedback now says the threat is neutralised. The shuttle is coming home."

"Well then," Sayori replied with a shrug. "Nothing else left for us to do then, at least nothing urgent. Although I would love to figure out how this interference worked in the first place."

"We could connect to the Pike and retrieve their security and sensor logs and go from there? I'm sure we can get Kuzos to authorise a release of them for our project?"

"Sounds like a plan." The young scientist smiled. "I like the way you think, Lieutenant."

The young hybrid woman smiled shyly, clearly not used to being paid a compliment. "Alright. I'll get with him and then I'll get back to you. Sounds like a fun project."

Sayori nodded enthusiastically. "Please, do. It may hold some very interesting secrets that I am sure we can find uses for."

"Alright. Ill get back to you then, and we can work on it. I'm sure Kuzos will grand me the time but best be sure about it. If it's a go I'll meet you here next shift."

"Excellent. I'll see you then!" Sayori nodded. This was going to be a fascinating project indeed.

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