Figuring out our new friends

Posted on Sun May 11th, 2025 @ 8:07am by Consul Andrinn Orin & Nicholas Mathias

Mission: Season 6: Echoes of the Zynari
Location: DIplomatic Suites-Deck Two
Timeline: MD4, 1500hrs
1151 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON:]

Andrinn Orin had been through more surprises over the last few days than he ever cared to admit to and he knew that everyone wanted answers. Before he wished to meet up with Commander Rin or bothering Lieutenant N'Vok down in sciences, Andrinn wanted to see if he could get some ideas with an old friend about what the pranks could possibly mean and put something together culturally before setting up a meeting with Rin.

So, Andrinn called Nick down from one of the Anthropology labs to have a chat about how to maybe talk to these aliens. The meeting with the senior staff had come out with several ideas about how to talk to the aliens and some of them would be moving forward. But, while everyone worked on those ideas, Andrinn wanted to look back to see if there was something that they might have missed due to looking for ways to stop the new aliens.

The door chime to Andrinn's office rang through and Andrinn said, "Enter." Nick Mathias stood there on the other side of the door as it slid opened and walked into Andrinn's office. Andrinn looked up and smiled as his friend walked through the door. He got out of his chair and walked over to hug his friend. The embrace lasted for only a few moments, but it was nice to see Nick again.

After the two men got out of their embrace, Nick said, "You asked for some help on something? Some ideas you wanted to work through that I could be useful?"

Andrinn shook his head and replied, "Yeah, we had the senior staff meeting and something that was discussed was how to talk to the aliens. However, something that I thought about and was discussed was how the pranks could have been a means to communication. I thought that since you're an Anthropologist and Archeologist, you could be useful in figuring out if the pranks truly are forms of communication and what they might be telling us if they are."

Nick thought about it for a moment before taking a seat on the other side of Andrinn's desk. Anyone could tell he was intrigued about the prospect of figuring something...anything out about how to communicate with these aliens. Even if it wasn't something fully fleshed out, if it could help, Nick and Andrinn both wanted to be useful in some way.

Nick looked at Andrinn and asked, "Have you gotten any of the data complied yet about the pranks that have happened thus far?" Shaking his head, Andrinn replied, "Nothing yet. I knew that the pranks were happening for a few days, but I wasn't exactly sure when they were happening."

Nick shook his head slightly and thought about the next few courses of action. He pointed to Andrinn's computer terminal and asked, "Might I be so bold to ask if I could use your interface to begin this little journey?" Andrinn waved at the terminal and replied, "Have at it Nick. If you've got an idea where to start, I'm all for it."

Nick twirled the interface around and turned it on. Nick began punching in a few commands before saying, "Computer, go back approximately a week and compile a list of all the pranks or issues that the crew have endured, as well as anything unusual logged by the computer. Even if it was flagged as insignificant, please add it to the list."

The computer replied in her usual voice, "WORKING. PLEASE WAIT FOR THE DATA TO BE COMPILED." Lines of data came across the terminal and it was almost too much and too quick for the two men to handle. But, they were able to get bits and pieces of the data as it flew by, including stuff that Andrinn had heard and seen in Sickbay the last few days, as well as several things throughout the entire ship.

Both men remained silent as the data kept pouring in, only letting out some 'yeahs' and 'I remember that' from time to time. Even chuckling when they saw some of the information that was coming in from across the ship, including the incident from earlier this morning when Andrinn had to dance his way out of being stuck in a turbolift.

It took a few minutes for the data to finally be done compiling, but it was well worth the information that they gathered. Even a few Ensigns had collected some data on the mysterious happenings all throughout the ship. Nick and Andrinn just shared looks of both confusion and laughter that both men had to hold back a little bit. Signing replicators, turoblift redirects, mismatched uniform colors, among other things were some of the top of the list as the incidents came about.

But, nothing was instantly recognizable to either men about any sort of communication that might be derived from that information. At the moment, it was just that. A random set of information that could mean one thing. But, it could also mean another.

Andrinn was the first one to speak when he said, "Yeah, I see several different pranks being played on several people throughout the ship. But, there's nothing like everyone in the Science department being pranked with singing replicators or the security officers being thrown from one deck to another via the turbolifts."

But, as soon as Andrinn said something about singing replicators, Nick jumped forward in his seat and brought up the information about which songs were being played by the singing replicators and to whom they were being sung to. As Nick compiled the information, he looked up at Andrinn and asked, "What kind of song and dance did you have to perform to get off the turoblift?"

Andrinn had to think back for a moment and replied, "It wasn't anything in particular. It was an interpertive dance that the computer requested of me before it would release me. Before that, it was messing with the universal translator in the Diplomatic Suites, causing the people to talk in Shakespearian sonnets and Klingon Opera."

Nick snapped his fingers and replied, "I think I know what's happening, but it's going to take a little bit of research before I can give you all my data. I think I should have it before you meet with anyone, if you have anymore meetings to speak of."

Andrinn nodded softly and replied, "Alright. Just get that data to met ASAP and we'll take it from there. Thank you old friend for all the help."

Nick chuckled before replying, "Anything for you, my friend!" Without another word, Nick transferred all of the data to a PADD and headed out to continue his work. Andrinn just shook his head before getting back to some paperwork from before the meeting.

[OFF:]

Consul Andrinn Orin
Chief Diplomatic Officer
USS Elysium

&

Nicholas Mathias
Alien Archeology/Anthropology Officer
USS Elysium