Cream of the Cr(Ops)

"Sir.  I have something for you." She extended the PADD she was carrying.  "All of the scientists and civilians have been given quarters... and the crew complaints about sharing the Arcadia facilities have been taken care of."

"Thanks, Lieutenant." He scrolled through the PADD a bit absentmindedly, raised an eyebrow at a couple of the items.  "I'm curious... how did you handle Ensign Devereaux?"

Eve smiled in her usual gentle way.  "I had a nice heart-to-heart with the Ensign.  And I explained to her that if I heard one complaint from any of the crew about her smoking, that I would be forced to have her submit to a... what's the phrase... stop-smoking seminar? With mandatory attendance."

"Amazing," April said with a shake of the head, personally astounded how anyone could pollute the insides of their bodies with such substances, whether addictive or no (as mingobya reportedly wasn't).  "And she's not going to declare war over sharing Stellar Cartography?"

Eve laughed.  "Oh, she is still fairly upset over the invasion of her precious department.  But I think she'll get over it." She glanced at April and winked.  "Especially after I said that if I heard any rumblings, I would chaperone."

"You?" April made an amused sound, half-smiling.  "Forgive me for saying, Lieutenant, but you wouldn't hurt a fly."

"I know that, Captain.  You know that.  However, I don't think that Ensign Devereaux knows that.  And that's all that really matters."

"Ah.  Of course." April stopped and slapped the PADD in his palm a few times, looking around the bridge, a habit when mentally scrutinizing the shipboard landscape.  "Why don't you come to my ready room; we have some other matters to discuss."

Eve nodded.  "Of course, Sir." She followed Captain April to his ready room.  Watching as he made his way inside, she waited to see what his other matters were.

"Have a seat." April motioned to the chair in front of his desk.

Eve sat in the offered chair, crossing her legs as she sat.  Folding her hands in her lap, she cast her full attention the Captain of the Arcadia.

"First I wanted you to know, you're doing an excellent job." April circled the desk to his terminal.  "Please, keep it up." He set the PADD next to a pile neatly arranged there, frowned leaning over the desk, tapped a few buttons.

"Thank you, Sir.  You know I will do my best to keep doing so." Eve knew well enough to accept a compliment when she heard it... even though she never let it 'go to her head', as her mother would have admonished.

"That's what I like about you, Eve; I—" He paused, looked at her.  "I'm sorry... you don't have a problem with my addressing you personally on duty, do you?"

"Of course not, Sir.  I think if anyone on this ship has earned the honor, it's you." She giggled slightly at her attempt at a joke.  She did that often... finding that humor made life aboard a Starship more enjoyable for everyone.

April nodded, satisfied.  "Thank you again." He went to pull out his chair, hesitated glancing at the replicator.  "Can I get you anything? Binzwalla maybe?"

"Thank you, Sir.  You must have telepathy." Binzwalla was her favorite drink... the tangy, Bartokian herbal tea.  Besides, it was considered impolite to refuse refreshment offered when you were a guest.

"Some have thought so," April joked.  "I called you in here for a variety of reasons." He went to the replicator, paused for a fraction of a second – how did she like her tea? He realized this was one thing he didn't know about her yet.  Rather than voicing a command to the device, he activated the touch-pad, fingers dancing over the interface, and called up replicator records from the times she'd ordered it personally, and selected that blend.  The cup materialized and he brought it to her.  It might have looked odd to an outsider: The captain waiting on a member of his own crew.  "Hope you like it," he said with a grin and went back to his chair.  "Now, I know you can't tell a lie.  Correct?" He pulled out his chair and sat.

Eve took a sip from the mug in her hands.  Excellent.  "I do.  Thank you, Sir." She took another drink and answered his second question.  "No, I can't.  It is physically impossible for Bartokians to lie."

After a slow, pensive nod, weighing something on his mind, he said, "Neria.  I want your assessment of her." He folded his hands on top of the desk.  "How is she doing?"

Eve took another drink.  She pondered the question for a moment.  "Neria is one of the hardest working people I have ever encountered.  She takes the most menial tasks and treats them as if the survival of the ship depended on them.  Most importantly, she never once complained about a single one." She smiled warmly at the Captain.  "What is the Terran expression... she's a... something off a block."

April had to smile and laughed in his own subdued way, a laugh that wasn't really a laugh, but no less amused.  "'Chip off the ol' block', is the expression you're looking for." He shifted in his chair, glanced at his terminal again.  "I'm afraid she gets most of it from her mother." He unfolded his hands, folded them again.  "What I'm trying to say is... I'd like to move her on to bigger and better things... but I'm not quite sure she's ready."

Eve nodded at the Captain's assessment.  "She's coming along... but she does have a way to go yet.  She mainly just needs experience.  And I'm sure you'd agree that while what she's doing now isn't very exciting... it prepares you for the more important things you'll do later." She took another drink.  "I will keep you appraised on her progress, at regular intervals."

"Alright." April made a face, recalling an instance in his own youth when he had to reorganize the inventory of Starbase 62... the entire starbase.  It did, indeed, prepare him for later... the next time he felt tempted to call the base commander a bloated wart-hog.  He unfolded his hands again and punched up the messages on his terminal.  "Next item.  When we cross that singularity, God only knows what kind of havoc it's going to wreak across the board."

"Understandably so.  Especially considering we have no idea what will be waiting for us on the other side." Eve finished her binzwalla and rose from her seat, placing the empty mug in the replicator.  Returning to her seat, she said, "Do you have any ideas on how to minimize the havoc?"

"I do, but..." April sighed.  "It could be risky, and I'd like to avoid any unnecessary risk.  Actually, I was hoping you might have some ideas." He punched a few more buttons and flipped the terminal towards Eve.  A schematic of the Nonallix system, the blue giant and its neighboring singularity, appeared; the singularity, even in a diagram, writhed like it was alive.  "Regardless of Doctor Muniz's claims, and Lieutenant Havercroft's confidence in her piloting skills, I have to anticipate the possible worst.  The gravimetrics are going to be... well, scary, to put it frankly.  This has to go perfect.  PERFECT.  One wrong move... one wrong push of a button, one crewman in your department panicking and jumping the gun, routing power to the wrong system at the wrong time, hell, anything, any one of a thousand things that could go wrong... and we're trapped in a subspace layer.  Or worse, reduced to so many subatomic particles.  Now I don't doubt your abilities, Eve... but you run the largest department on the ship.  I'd like to have some sort of... I hate to say, 'failsafe'?, installed... just in case."

Eve pondered the problems.  "A backup plan would be the most logical solution.  Here is a suggestion.  For the actual jump... we keep personnel to a bare minimum.  Especially in the key areas.  And only the most qualified."

"That... may not be enough."

Eve cocked her head.  "Sir?"

April picked up the PADD she'd given him, typed the transfer code for uploading it into his terminal, then downloaded some different information and handed it back to her.

"The Enterprise-D?" Eve said, glancing over it.  "Lieutenant Barclay? I don't understand..."

"The only problem with minimizing operational interaction is that we need eyes watching every corner of the system when we do this.  If we didn't need every man, woman and otherbeing at their posts, then the Ops department might be a lot smaller.  But your suggestion impinges on what I was considering."

"And what would that be, Sir?"

"I was thinking holograms.  Each tied directly into the main processor, able to instruct the others via the computer to react to major variances requiring split-second decisions.  But, two problems with that: One, quantum oscillations IN the singularity will distort our perceptions of spacetime, possibly the computer's as well.  We might program it to compensate, but... Two, the computer might be TOO efficient, and in the time it takes to ensure our safety, we could all suffer biocellular disruption.  The cure defeating itself." He jerked his chin at the PADD.  "I'm sure you've heard of the Cytherians." To that, Eve nodded.  "Thirteen years ago, the Enterprise made first contact with them.  They encountered a phenomenon along the way similar to what we'll face.  The only way they were able to navigate the quantum distortions was through a direct neural interface with the ship's computer."

He watched Eve absorb the troubling implications.  Neural interfacing was possible – that was one of the things the Federation had learned from the Cytherians.  The Cytherians didn't share the technology – they were far more advanced than the Federation, and had their own version of the Prime Directive as well – but they did share some insights.  From that Federation scientists had gleaned theories.  'In theory' it allowed one to pilot a ship by thought, after hooking their brain into the ship.  The drawback: It meant transferring one's higher brain functions into the computer, thus 'becoming' the ship... but there was no way to 'unplug' them once it was done, without killing them.  In addition, Eve learned as she scanned through the PADD, this Barclay had to have his I.Q. 'jacked up' by the Cytherians just to be able to handle it and facilitate the journey – which, incidentally, consisted of a subspace warp, rife with 'quantum oscillations' like the Captain described.

"You see the problem," April said.

"I believe I do, Sir."

"Now we have to find a way to solve it – if it can be solved.  And..." He glanced at his wrist-chronometer.  "Quickly.  Before we go to Nonallix.  The new XO's due anytime, plus Doc Kwyn's back – remember him? I have to meet with both soon.  Why don't you take this up with Sciences; see what they think, if there's a way we can modify our systems, utilize the holoemitters maybe, see if we can't pull something together on this.  Get all the help you need.  Don't be afraid to ask questions.  Check our crew files; see if... I don't know, someone, Quarton maybe, can do this if we need it.  But they have to understand the risks, that it's only a backup, a last resort, to cover what we can't account for.  If Proteus was still here I'd have him do it, but he isn't.  Find out what you can.  Get with that new XO if you have to."

"I understand, Sir." Eve rose from her chair.  "If there's nothing further, I will get right on it."

April nodded.  "Good girl.  On your way."

Eve smiled again.  "Thank you for the tea, Captain."