May all your troubles soon be gone, oh Christmas lights keep shining on

Posted on Wed Dec 23rd, 2020 @ 11:36pm by Ensign Elegy Nascimento & Lieutenant Darru

Mission: Mission 4 - Eden
Location: Deck F - Science Lab
Timeline: Day 151 Year 0 Time 01:30
2366 words - 4.7 OF Standard Post Measure

It was quieter than Darru has expected since there escape from the wormhole and the Vrav finally leaving them alone. Sovar was still indisposed and it left an almost never-ending need to keep things running to his standards. Captain Leroux had not instructed him to take charge but he felt it was his prerogative as the next best candidate to keep the wheels in motion. “Good Evening Ensign.” He greeted knowing it would be a surprise with it being so late but he had felt the approach to check on everyone was a logical step and he had seen the requests for assistance some type of hydroponic issue.

On this night, Darru had discovered Atantis' only functional science lab to be mostly empty, aside from the pet rock in its cage on the wall and Ensign Elegy Nascimento at the workstation. That suited Elegy just fine most nights, given so few of the computer consoles were operational. Elegy had dimmed the lights, letting the multicoloured glows from the sensor displays paint a fractal pattern of light and shadows across his face and eyewear. Elegy replied to Darru's greeting with, "Good morning, Lieutenant," because he had only been awake for a few hours, and was still nursing his first iced coffee. Knowing that it would be fruitless to ask Darru how he was feeling, Elegy asked, "Was your shift satisfyingly efficient?"

"I believe we worked to a level that Leiutentant Sovar will find satisfaction with. You have projects to work on?" He replied recognising the man's attempt to ask him a question in a Vulcan way when he had been attempting to think on a way to ask a question in a human way. "You had changed the light level in the lab does it help you work?" He wondered looking around at the almost soothing level of lighting compared to the brightness that was normally there. He would never admit it but he missed sunshine on his skin. It had been too long since it had happened.

When Darru asked Elegy about the overhead lights, Elegy scrunched up his nose and squinted at him in confusion. "Huh?" was all Elegy verbalized. Two heartbeats later, Elegy looked around the compartment and he breathed out an, "Ah," once he recognized that it truly was darker in the lab at this hour. "I believe the dimmer lighting is a default setting for non-essential areas of the ship, Lieutenant," Elegy said, thinking back on something he'd read in a manual when the crew had first launched from Earth. "It's meant to align with the circadian rhythm of the senior staff," Elegy remarked, casting a quick glance to the darker corners of the science lab for a moment.

"I kind of like it," Elegy said, sounding surprised at his own admission. He offered a tight smile to Darru and he straightened his glasses. "Helps me focus. I've been assigned a share of the wormhole sensor readings to catalogue and analyze. Back at STC, I wrote a couple of papers about subspace ecology. I'm curious about how well our findings from the wormhole will match up with what we think we know about subspace."

Elegy took a sip of his coffee, and quickly continued even when it looked like Darru was about to speak. "When the computer is hung up on analysis, I've been preparing a proposal for why the Cultural Anthropology Lab should be the next science lab we rebuild in a relatively resource-neutral manner," Elegy said and then he took a deep breath. "And then I also received a rather... esoteric assignment today."

Darru watched him carefully as he came to the realisation that the room was significantly darker than it was in the day time. It might be perfect for the circadian rhythm of the senior staff but it did not mean he could not change it. He just inclined his head in his direction around it, if he was happy with the lower setting who was he to judge. He was working and was working well that was all that mattered. Sovar might not think so but Darru was a little more open to the humans and their viewpoints. He was using them as a personal project, it was fascinating.

Cultural Anthropology? Now that would be an understatement interesting opportunity to delve more into his personal project now he had stopped analysing the crew gene pool it left him with time. “And what exactly does your proposal propose Ensign?” he wondered moving to a stool to sit down to get as comfortable as a Vulcan could.

Pivoting on his stool to better face Darru, Elegy held up one index finger to count off the reasons. "This crew was assembled for the purpose of diplomacy and cultural anthropology when we launched to parlay with the Xindi," Elegy said as his first argument, and then he held up a second finger. "Our... special relationship with Clan Ud of the Vrav puts us in a unique opportunity to document what we know of them -- especially as they claim their species is beyond endangered. We owe it to them." --Elegy held up a third finger-- "It's gonna be a long road, getting from here to there, which means we're going to meet even more cultures well beyond the reach of Earth and Vulcan." --Elegy held up a fourth finger, and he swallowed-- "Controversial, yet brave: a cultural anthropology lab doesn't need the specialized equipment of the physical sciences. We could... repurpose control panels, monitors and subprocessors... from the quarters of our crewmates who died."

"You could almost be Vulcan with your logical approach to those rationalisations." Darru finally surmised when the man stopped listing things off that made his lab suggestion logical but needed. "The Vrav will survive. They got their device and they were given the choice to settle on a planet not far from where we were that was suitable for them after the device scrambled their navigation system." It had been a bold move but he respected the Captain for her compassion despite how much the ship had lost. "It is controversial but you are not the first person to suggest that scavenger approach."

Elegy held his hands up by his sides, as if they were balancing two weights a scale. "Logic... Opportunistic... A rose by any other name," he remarked sardonically. "As for Clan Ud," Elegy said sadly, "the individuals have survived. We've left them in a much better position than we found them. But as for where we found them... can any colony of Vrav survive for generations without the genetic diversity of at least ten thousand colonists?" As much as Elegy was disagreeing with Darru's assertion that the Vrav would survive, Elegy spoke in a tone that suggested he knew Darru would agree with him. "A genetic predisposition for terminal diseases will run rampant in such an isolated population. Eventually."

Darru levelled him with a look that spoke volumes. It was well known now after his project that his real specialisation was genetics so he really did know that but there was unique situation where a group as small as they believed the Vrav to be. “We do not know how big or how small the Vrav population is for all we know they have that many on that ship they followed us with.” Darru pointed out. “Maybe a founder effect will occur. The possibilities for them are not as dire as I believe you think. The variation in gene frequency between the original vrav population and this new colony may also trigger the two groups to diverge significantly over the course of many generations. Clan Ud is strong and they have technology that surpasses ours with what they did to Sloan to unwork what had been done to him.” He was sure that they would survive. They were so strong compared to other species he had seen.

Elegy’s body language revealed how fully Darru’s analysis had absorbed his attentions. Elegy was leaning forward, as if Darru’s curiosity and admiration for Clan Ud had a gravitational pull of its own. Given their different working shifts, Elegy’s interactions with Darru had been occasional and spread out over time. The stresses of Atlantis becoming lost, and hunted by Clan Ud, had layered tension in to their previous conversations — without the luxury of pure exploration.

Looking right at Darru, Elegy was wide-eyed like a child listening to a bedtime story. Elegy said, "I hope you're right about that."

Darru shrugged. "Unlike a lot of Vulcan's I do not believe in always having to be correct but I do like to hope that they are okay. They deserve to live after the fight they put up even if it was against us and our accident of taking their supplies." It was a simple error that the ship had tried over and over to put right before having to result in drastic action to stop them following them. "Species that are willing to fight to the death deserve a right to live. It goes back to the history of most species that the fit survive."

"That rings some bells for the final assignment of the night," Elegy said, shifting his weight on his stool as he spoke. "We need to fight evolution. I've been asked to engineer a mechanism to guarantee the meek will inherit the Earth." --Elegy popped an eyebrow and he couldn't help but smirk-- "We have a species aboard this ship that likes to fight a little too much..."

Darru looked at the man one way then another not understanding what he was saying at all but nodded. It was a human gesture that he was picking up in his study and his attempts to blend in better like forgoing robes and wearing the uniform. “You all like to fight compared to Vulcans.”

"You all?" Elegy echoed Darru's words back at him, practically scoffing with incredulity. The way he elongated his vowels, there was clearly a vein of offence running through what Elegy had to say, but the spark of amusement hadn't left his eyes. "Are you saying Humans are just here to fight?" he asked.

"Compared to Vulcans... yes," Darru said simply. He did not think he was mincing his words but it was hard to tell sometimes with so many humans speaking so many different languages. He would need to check with O'Connery.

The confirmation from Darru sparked a flare of intrigue in Elegy. Steepling his fingers, Elegy leaned a whisper closer to the Vulcan. Elegy smirked back at Darru with a curious expression, as his eyebrows rose up his forehead. "Would you say," Elegy asked, "the Vulcans need protection from the Humans in the crew?"

Darru almost smirked at the man with the ways his lips twisted for a moment before he shook the expression and the need to almost prove to the man how much smarter he was. That would never build him trusts or friendships when they were all together for however long. “Oh no Ensign. There are many reasons why I and the others were sent and the need for no protection was one of them.” The human could take what he needed from that or not but Darru did not need protection though sometimes he did wonder if they were rubbing off on him more than he cared to admit.

Sweeping his arms out in a posture of openness, Elegy said, "I would agree. The Vulcans in our crew have nothing to worry about from the Humans." --Elegy spun one of his hands in the air in an expression of therefore-- "Which means my new assignment is not about protecting Vulcans from Humans. It's the turnips. Our turnips in the Hydroponics Bay were murdered, and they were meant to play a key role in Christmas dinner."

Darru raised an eyebrow as he listened to what was being said about the parsnips being murdered. That was very much not something that could be overlooked. Food from the hydroponic bays was not unlimited. They required careful tendering and re seeding to make sure that things never ran low. Something crewman Jones was working wonders with in the Vulcans opinion especially for someone barely out of his human teenage years. They had been lucky when areas had been radiated that the hydroponic bay had been left unscathed. It was one of the few lucky things that happened in the last six months. “How?” He asked simply. It was

In an expression landing somewhere between schadenfreude and dismay, Elegy’s eyebrows rose up his forehead. "Beauregard," was all the answer Elegy offered at first. He rubbed one side of his beard and he frowned as he thought about the vegetal massacre he'd witnessed. "The Beauregard Weeper plant has reached puberty," Elegy said. "While they're going through their growth spurt, they want to eat absolutely everything else in the hydroponics bay. Ornery bugger." --Elegy cocked his head to one side, as something softened behind his sapphire eyes-- "Mind you, I'm sure I was worse as a teenager."

Darru frowned as he thought carefully on the words he used trying to work out what ornery bugger meant. He had no idea what had crossed someone's mind when they had considered bringing a carnivorous plant onboard as a gift. "How do you wish to handle that development?" Darru wondered defaulted to the younger man. Plants were not his area of expertise at all, why pretend they were when the plant could eat them all.

Shrugging helplessly, Elegy said, "Chef needs our harvest of vegetables for Christmas dinner tomorrow. That doesn't leave me with much time to space-engineer a solution." --Elegy smirked lopsidedly and he clapped his hands together-- "I'm going to find me a MACO with a phase pistol that works. We're going to stay up all night, like kids waiting for Santa Claus, and we're going to protect those veggies as if our lives depended on it."