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Star Trek: Iliad

T’Vara was astute enough to suspect that P’rmess’ words had a double meaning, but the exact nature of her innuendo escaped the Vulcan. For instance, her reference to missing Commander Zasha — T’Vara didn’t think that had much to do with the mission at hand, but had the two become friends in the short time they’d known each other? She considered the Caitian-hybrid carefully as she spoke, her head tilted, but ultimately came to the conclusion that she’d simply have to take her words at face value.

“I believe so as well,” she agreed. “The ensign is fascinating. Her capabilities are quite impressive. Were you able to observe her course-corrections yesterday from Engineering? I believe she was calculating irregularities in the ship’s engines and inertial dampeners, and compensating for them in real-time. We haven’t had an opportunity for a real conversation yet, but if she is joining us today, perhaps we will have a chance to get to know her.”

It looked like the captain and Commander Stephens were still speaking, which meant that they wouldn’t be departing for another minute or two yet. T’Vara didn’t mind the idea of using that time to continue speaking with Chief P’rmess, so she moved to take a seat on one of the resupply crates the engineer had already scanned.

“We have access to resources that would not be available to the station security team, and an emotional distance from the situation, so it is possible we will be able to spot something they have overlooked. We may also just be able to get a more detailed report in person. So far, all we know is that a pair of Vulcan men were able to clear several checkpoint before eventually cutting their way into shielding controls and accessing the vault, and that one of them has been identified as a former member of the Maquis and current member of Starfleet, albeit one who has been missing in action for some time.”

The Vulcan paused for a moment, tilting her head again and considering. Laying the information out like that again had sparked a thought. The Romulan Star Empire had been known to employ sleeper agents and brainwashing techniques, and both the Dominion and the Cardassian Union had been known to replace individuals with doppelgangers (quite well known, in the Dominion’s case!). Even Starfleet was rumoured to use similar technologies for undercover work. Could Lt. Nakkaan’s unexplained disappearance have been a kidnapping, to enable such a plot? It seemed far-fetched, but perhaps no more far-fetched than the remnants of the Maquis managing to learn of such a secret piece of technology…

She was bumping up against the limits of speculation again. This wasn’t a puzzle that could be solved without data. The lieutenant decided to keep that line of thought to herself, for now. Instead, she looked back to P'rmess, and moved on.

"I imagine being hands-on is a useful trait, as an engineer?" She asked. "I have found that I prefer field work to most other kinds of research. There is something... tangibly different about having the opportunity to see something first hand, rather than reading about it later."
 
Seeing that T'Vara sat down and the men was still waiting to board the shuttle, P'rmess returned to helping with the near by incoming inventory. But she kept up the conversation too.

"Vulcan, but maybe Romulan or some other altered by a secret organisation. Then there are rumours about other realities... I am sure that most of the war weary people would think about the inherent dangers of such a device, but the main function could be useful for anyone wanting a new world to live happily ever after. Or even just repairing their home planet." the Kzinti-Caitian hibrid was not keeping her thoughts to herself. She rather not keep thinking about it later.

"Yes, however the claws and fur is sometimes in the way, but on the other hand, I found out that some people quite like those in close proximity. Reading about it is one thing, experiencing and personalizing it is always better, if not that stimulating for the mind, just for the body. But with holographic and synthetic technology anything could be made real..."
 
Whether it was an after thought or just a last minute decision, Ensign Leata was summoned to the shuttle bay. She was certain if it was her piloting skills or her analytical prowess that was needed, or perhaps both. She would learn of her role in the away mission soon enough and was content to look around at the assembled crew selected for the mission. Hearing her rank and name between the soft purrs of the acting Chief Engineer, Ensign Leata approached P'rmess and Lieutenant T'Vara. She had an odd fascination with the bio-synthetic tale and was quite interested in the programming as her eyes followed the tip right into the engineer's hand. It seemed so natural and while she had many questions, her etiquette sub-routine was flashing warnings that she should hold them for now.

While it was bio-mechanically possible for Leata to blush, she did not do so in reaction to T'Vara's praise of her performance yesterday. She had not had much interaction with Vulcan's though more than once she was told they were the Federation species most likely to relate to an android such as herself. She was objectively pleased that the Lieutenant found her work impressive, but she didn't know why it would not have been expected given her computational specifications. "That would be most welcome Lieutenant." She said in the way of joining their conversation. For Leata, piloting a starship in less than optimal conditions was still significantly less challenging than making conversation with the variety of sentient races onboard the Odyssey.

She was quiet through the various speculations of possible motives and responsible parties. Her positronic brain calculating probabilities for each partially formed hypothesis but none, with the given data, were high enough to rise above mere possibilities at this point. Of course her analysis would be in the background as she listened and gave occasional head nods which she had been told gave most species an assurance that she was engaged in their conversation, which she was with approximately 7.6% of her BiOS and significantly less of her processing power.

Feeling it was probably time for her to say something to be considered marginally in the conversation she added her own observation. "I find all data to be useful in its own way, whether I was present or not, however first hand observation offers the opportunity for follow up that after action reports often lack." She had not had much opportunity to 'solve' crimes so to speak in her past experiences so the novelty of their given mission appealed to her programming in a way she would struggle to explain.

Leata turned as P'rmess responded, once again her eyes distracted by the tail. "Few sentient species I have encountered have such fur as the Kzinti-Caitian. A feature often attributed to lower beasts or domesticated pets." Leata paused for a moment as her etiquette subroutine interrupted her line of thinking with several cautionary messages. "That was not meant to be...offensive Chief P'rmess, just an observation. Many species find fur, quite soothing and pleasurable to touch." She stopped short of asking to indulge in such a first hand observation. "But I have not determined that through any field research, so it might be a matter to be explored when time allows if you are so inclined." Somehow her etiquette subroutine wasn't satisfied with her response but she lacked data to come to a conclusion one way or the other and once again found herself distracted by the tail.
 
Stephans was the first to approach Nellis directly though he had sort of watched and waved to P'Mress, he smiled for a moment thinking about the acting chief engineer, nodding in agreement at basically everything Stephens was saying. "While I do agree with you Stephens that P'rmess is remarkable and I do not wish to lose her to another ship, we have been on active duty for less than 24 hours." It had only been 20. "We have also been within federation space, and at all clear conditions for the entirety of that time. So we have yet to see anyone under code red stress. I have no doubt that P'rmess and in fact everyone here will rise to the occasion, but let's finish a day or two before we start handing out promotions."

"The truth is at this time none of us have any say over our crew manifest. We were supposed to be getting a new first, or third officer when we arrive on world, we have heard nothing back from Starfleet about that particular communication, and to top it off we just lost our previous first officer seeing as you are now the executive officer onboard the ship. While I would love to put my foot down and halt the merry-go-round we have half a crew onboard this ship."

"But... I will put a note down that at the nearest possible moment when things are stable that P'mress should be our chief engineer. It's just a sad state of affairs that this ship was not launched in a stable state. Logistical issues are going to remain a concern." He was trying to pay some attention to the conversation across the room between P'rmess and T'Vara. He smiled and shrugged for a moment. "Honestly I am just excited that we are getting underway with our first away mission."

"Everyone aboard!" He called out to the four gathered and patted the side of the Athena. "Leata, while you take the helm, we should have a conversation you were not present for the classified meeting yesterday, and now that you are also an acting department head, it would be good to fill you in on the details of our mission." Nellis would give a quick debrief of the situation at hand.
 
Stephens nodded. "Fair enough, Sir. And as acting First Officer, unless our new XO is transporting aboard immediately, request permission to remain aboard?" This was all before Nellis had started to brief Leata, and now he was standing there, noting down in his mind gaps in the information he was not privy to beforehand, and now he was simply waiting for the Captain to finish before answering his request to remain aboard.
 
"You want to stay on board?" Nellis stopped everything to look at Stephens for a moment. "It's the first away mission... the ship is running scans in orbit, there is far more to do on the planet... than up here." Well there was overseeing the transfer of materials, but he was taking a large chunk of the more capable crew down planetside. While regulations were normally set up that it would be correct for one of them to stay behind, it was honestly kind of a shock that Stephens would want the bridge. "I suppose... there is no harm in staying aboard..."
 
"You know what, you're right Sir. The danger is minimal, and it never hurts to have more than one set of expert eyes on the situation." Stephens did want to come down to the planet anyway, even if it was a Federation world, it was still their first away mission. "To our first away mission, then. The beginning of our Odyssey."
 
Nellis let out a groan P'rmess had said the same line yesterday, and it always brought back childhood jokes that he thought died a long time ago. Only to remember that this was a new Odyssey and that meant that the old jokes were still new again. "Glad to have you with us, Stephens." Nellis smiled as he turned his attention towards the others, now more ready to field their questions as they got ready to head down planetside.
 
"While Kzinti and Caitian characteristics and culture is just as different these times as Romulans and Vulcans, deep down we are all beasts... but do differ as much as a mountain lion and a house cat. Can not speak about any of the pure blooded or even the one or two other mix like myself, but I do not take offense if I am called a beast or a pet... in intimate situations. Which would be any exploration on our part when we do not have to keep our mind on the rules and regulations, Ensign." P'rmess replied to Leata, both encouraging and reprimanding her - and herself too, as the engineer's hands was itching to discover what made the rare replicant's body and positronic brain twitch. There was enough differences and similarities to the A500 synthetics to make it interesting.

"Let us get onboarRrd with the Captain's plan for now. Any other plans have to wait until ourRr shift is overRr..." she purred and leading the way made sure that her behind and tail swayed just enough for attention, but would not be considered indecent or look too silly.

If inside the shuttle they stood close enough, P'rmess would make sure that her tail was in reach for the Ensign, but would brush against the Lieutenant, of course accidentally. Both women seemed like cold and aloof, but maybe it was more about the stereotype of their races than what lay under the uniform. In times like this that her tail was just a bionical one was both acurse and a blessing. It would be very different to the sensitivity of a touch, for one, but there was a lot of truth in it why she called the inbuilt tool the sonic screwdriver...
 
P'rmess' reaction to Leata's somewhat clumsy observation was puzzling to the often literal android. She did detect a hint of reprimand but assumed it was well hidden due to the fact that an Ensign outranked a CPO in Star Fleet even if only nominally. Normally the differences in experience would make such a rank structure seem ludicrous but Leata did have extensive experience, just not in Star Fleet. The encouraging side of the conversation was much more promising and the android definitely stored the idea of further exploration of the acting Chief Engineer on her to do list.

"Aye Sir." Leata made a brief stand at attention, shoulders back tits out, as one of her more colorful drill instructors had suggested to her back at the Academy. She slipped easily into the pilots seat and began the pre-flight check list. Even though her internal files contained the complete pre-flight instructions, she dutifully used the PADD to record each of her checks to comply with Star Fleet regulations on such things. It took a little extra time, but probably less than it might to try and explain the uselessness of the PADD in her case. It was often easier with biologicals to comply to expectations than to use reason and logic. She wondered what their Vulcan science officer might think of that, perhaps once they had gotten to know each other better.

Though Leata had primarily been focused on the conversation between P'rmess and T'vara, she was actually quite capable of following each conversation within the room as long as it was within her auditory threshold which was quite extensive compared to most biologicals. It was something in her file as some with Star Fleet intelligence considered it a security threat, though others saw the obvious opportunities as well. In any event, it was not that challenging to take in the Captain's briefing, perform the pre-flight, and the occasional glance and P'rmess' tail which seemed to make itself known on a regular and intriguing basis. The Ensign resisted the temptation to demonstrate her own reflexes by capturing the tip when is strayed her way. She wondered if it was unconscious on the feline's part, or a deliberate method of staying on the android's mind. Based on the Captain's earlier conversations with Lt. Cmdr Stephens, the teasing CPO would likely be the ship's Chief Engineer soon enough, if they weren't all replace by more seasoned officers before they left orbit.

"Ready Captain." She reported once she had completed her pre-flight and prepared to close the hatch and fire up the engines. She absolutely had to ignore P'rmess' tail when she was flying. Not that she couldn't manage both, but she didn't want to make her new captain question her focus even if she did excel at multi-tasking.
 
Not wanting to feel useless on the shuttle after she transferred her scans to the everyday operations team, P'rmess pulled up the service logs of the shuttle on her PADD slowly going over them. While it was a new ship, most of the stuff was retrofit. And that meant that a shuttle could have deemed new even if some parts had a history. Of course it was checked out more than once even before they put it together and into service on the Odyssey, but there was no harm in knowing what could go wrong... Seeing that she was more at home with life support, at least that would be set up right, if a little bit warm. Most of the people would like that better than being cold, anyway. Upping the scrubbing of carbon from the air, and with a slightly higher oxygen content the whole group could breath easier. Well, except Leata, but she had to research how that Ensign worked more... Making sure the nitrogen and trace elements was at their safe minimums too, P'rmess went over the fire detection and retention system next. It was supposed to be a short trip, so water and waste management with the replicators could wait.
 
“Ensign,” T’Vara nodded simply in acknowledgement as Leata joined them, before turning her attention back to her conversation with P’rmess. Though her understated response didn’t really show it, the Vulcan was pleased that she’d been right about the synthetic ensign joining them. She hadn’t simply been making conversation — she really did find the ensign fascinating, and was looking forward to the opportunity to get to understand her a little better.

As the conversation moved on, it became apparent to the science officer that the other two women found each other fascinating, as well — though perhaps not in quite the same sense that she had meant it. The Vulcan didn’t smile at the pair’s exchange, but she did raise an eyebrow as the ensign inadvertently compared the engineer to a domesticated animal, and watched with a slightly amused tilt of her head as P’rmess responded with some less-than-subtle flirting. She was beginning to understand what she’d missed in the engineer’s words earlier. The concept wasn’t altogether foreign to the Vulcan after her years amongst humans and the Federation’s other species at the Academy, but it wasn’t something that came readily to her, either. Vulcan personal relationships didn’t look much like that.

In any case, Captain Nellis called for the group to board the Athena before T’Vara found herself in the position of needing to respond. She rose smoothly from her crate, tugged her uniform back into position, and followed behind P’rmess to join her crewmates. The aft section of the shuttle proved a little crowded with the full group, and the Vulcan found herself forced to move past the chief on her way to the cockpit. P’rmess, coincidentally, chose that moment to move herself, and the two brushed against each other for a moment before T’Vara caught her felinoid crewmember gently by the arm to ensure she wouldn’t fall.

“Apologies, Chief,” the Vulcan said softly. She held P’rmess for a moment longer to ensure she was steady, then released her and continued on, sliding into the co-pilot seat beside Ensign Leata.

“I have undertaken some basic training as a shuttle operator,” T’Vara informed the ensign, as she tapped to activate her console. “Please tell me if there is anything I can do to assist you.” It seemed unlikely, given what she had observed of the android’s capabilities, but it seemed logical to offer — and a co-pilot was standard procedure.

Once the pre-flight checks were complete and the Captain’s initial briefing for Leata was complete, T’Vara turned in her chair to address Nellis. “Do you have a plan in mind for when we arrive, Captain? Any particular objectives you require each of us to see to?”
 
Stephens raised his eyebrows when T'Vara slipped into the copilot's seat. He'd flown more shuttles than just 'basic training' provided, but he decided not to pull rank here and instead sat down at the auxiliary station on the port side. "You know, ladies," he said, addressing T'Vara, Leata and P'rmess, "if you find yourself in need of test subjects for your...experimentation, I volunteer." He smirked before turning around in his chair and coordinating with Leata as she performed the preflight check. "Hey Chief, did you check on our cargo?", he asked P'rmess, referring to the extra scanning equipment in the Athena's cargo hold. "We should have it online before we launch. Maybe it'll pick up some protomatter from Genesis."
 
Leaving flirting for later, P'rmess sighed - which sounded more of a meow than anything - and went to check what she could do with the packed up equipment in the cargo space. "Definitely nothing until we deploy them prRroperRrly into space orRr at the station." she replied before disappearing in the back. After all, they still could deploy a probe manually chucking it out of the door, if needed and they can't use the transporters.

Not that there was anything stronger than the full suire of sensors on the Odyssey, or even the Athena, but they still gave more options for localised exploring. Like overpowered scientific tricorders with all the add ons. And some of them could even move like drones, or fully automated. Maybe there was even enough of them to set up a proper swarm...

But of course they was not that lucky. What she found in the back was more along the old stationary set ups that resembled in their working their state of the art tricorders. At least the one she had appropriated for herself. After all, they was still in the process of receiving materials, that could not be replicated. Not that anyone replicated anything that they already had in the stores... But some deckhand did pack stuff that they could use.
 
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As T'Vara slid easily into the co-pilots seat, Leata gave a quick nod of acknowledgement as she completed the pre-flight. "Thank you Lieutenant, completing your pre-flight checks should be more than adequate. I do not anticipate any difficulties with the short flight to the station, but the requirement of a co-pilot assumes preparation for the unexpected." The android's protocol subroutine noted that in the context of piloting the shuttle, she as the pilot was in command of the higher ranked officer in the co-pilot seat. She took no sense of satisfaction from it, just noting it for the record in case the unexpected did occur. Based on her experience with Vulcan's she didn't think the Chief Science Officer would question her orders in an emergency, but with some races and genders it might be more of a challenge. But the probability of an emergency was, based on Leata's knowledge of the situation, just under 3.7%. It was never zero in space, but given the nature of their mission one had to factor in the unexpected.

While Leata indeed did not breath easier with the acting Chief Engineer's adjustments, she did note the price settings for both oxygen and temperature. Such information might prove useful if she chose to explore socialization with the chief as to set her quarters to a similar environment. Leata was to a large extent equally comfortable in a sauna or the cold vacuum of space, though the extreme cold could slow her reflexes somewhat. Though primarily focused on preparation for flight, she had a background subroutine working on the social encounter with the chief engineer. She was certain the were undertones to the conversation that she didn't fully comprehend and unlike the multi-vector calculations required in piloting a shuttle or a star ship, there were no hard and fast rules in such subtle wordplay among sentient beings. She could only approximate probabilities at what was intended, but she was having trouble believing her own assessment of what P'rmess might mean. Given the potential fallout of an mis-understanding, she ran multiple check sum calculations to try and ensure she wasn't way off base.

In contrast the the verbal puzzle P'rmess set out for Leata to decipher, Lt. Commander Stephens' approach was rather straightforward. Leata's reaction was equally straightforward. "Thank you for volunteering Lieutenant Commander, test subjects are always appreciated. With the Chief Science Officer's permission, meet me at the science lab at 1900 hours." She looked at T'Vara for her ascent or denial of the idea. Leata wasn't really sure exactly what she had in mind, but it she was always interested in learning more about interactions with humans and other races found more prevalent in the Federation. They were so different than Ferengi who she found very predictable, but she never knew quite what to expect with humans, though Star Fleet had a certain mold they expected of all officers regardless of the racial tendencies. She had yet to see Star Fleet work that magic on a Ferengi, that would be an interesting experiment. It would be interesting to see if the Second Officer was as predictable as his demeanor suggested.
 
Stephens' reaction to Leata's response was, perhaps, unexpected on her part. He began laughing, and for a while he couldn't stop. "Oh, Leata. You're just like Data, so literal and so predictable," he said, wiping tears from his eyes after he recovered. "Let's just say that I was being just about as straightforward as P'rmess was being, and my words were just as full of double meanings as hers were." Clearing his throat, he announced, "Preflight checks out, all power levels nominal. We are go for launch." He tapped his combadge. "Stephens to Flight Control, open shuttlebay doors." Turning to Leata, he said, "Ensign, take us out. And here's something you should know about Humans: sometimes, we like to indulge in the same sort of pleasures as your Ferengi friends. We're just more subtle in seeking them out."
 
T’Vara’s initial reaction to Lt. Commander Stephens picking up the tail-end of the women’s conversation was simply to raise a solitary, amused eyebrow. She would have left it at that, in favor of focusing on her prelaunch duties as co-pilot, but she couldn’t seem to avoid being drawn back into the conversation.

“Some of you are more subtle, at any rate,” the Vulcan noted archly, eyebrow still raised as she glanced over her shoulder at the laughing second officer. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the Captain, too, before she turned back to the android at the shuttle’s helm.

“I believe he was making a crude suggestion, Ensign,” she said frankly to Leata, her other eyebrow now raised as well. “I would not concern yourself with it.” For a moment she looked back to her console, tapping away a few times before adding, “If you do wish to engage in such ‘experimentation’, however, please leave the science lab out of it. Use the holodeck, or your personal quarters.”

An idle part of the science officer wondered if the android was interested in such ‘experimentation’, or capable of being so. Purely out of scientific curiosity, of course. The Vulcan glanced sidelong at the ensign for a moment, before returning to her own console. It didn't seem like the right moment to broach such questions.
 
Nellis sat at the helm of the Athena, listening as his senior staff piled aboard the shuttle. While it was certainly large enough for them all to be comfortable with all the chatter going around and over his head there was a slight feeling of claustrophobia, which was a strange sensation for Nellis. A shuttle was too small, but a planet was too large? growing up moving from ship to ship, the Odyssey he had grown up on had given him a comfortable sense of scale. The Sovern Odyssey B was like that in many ways, but without the families and day cares, and child facilities he had grown up with before the war.

The young captain silenced his nerves for the moment, knowing they would be a lot worse once they got down planet side. Of the crew present T'Vara would know about Nellis's agoraphobia and while he was anxious to get underway with the crews first away mission he was glad that the rank of captain would normally demand his presence on the ship rather than on any planet they came across. As his senior staff flirted, and made banter he turned on the shuttles engines and started the process of leaving the ships docking bay behind, letting auto pilot take over.

"Children, don't make me turn this car around." Nellis was a bit giddy getting to use that line and be a bit joking trying to ease his own tensions. The crew was taking a deep fascination in Leata and their android body and while there were many questions about her functionality, that even Nellis would have liked answers for. His eyes did drift back towards P'rmess, he had spent last night flirting, or perhaps failing to flirt with her, and despite his best efforts he was still glancing towards her. As a captain he needed to try and keep things professional especially in times like now, but his green eyes kept looking at her despite his best efforts to keep his focus anywhere else.

T'Vara had asked what their objectives for this trip were and Nellis breathed out a sigh giving himself something he could focus on. "The Odyssey in orbit will be trying to find the path that our thieves used to leave this sector of space, while we head down to the planet we are going to be joining with ground's investigation team, giving a fresh set of eyes on the crime scene, we will also be meeting some crew down aboard the ship. I'm sure that there will be some papers that need to be signed for transferring materials, but our biggest priority is trying to see if we can get anything from the personnel interviews, or files left behind by our thieves. Any hint about where they could be going and how quickly. If they are traveling at cloak they have to be going under warp 6 to remain invisible, so we have to be able to get as many clues as we can to see where they have taken the device, and what their intention with it was."
 
She would be grinning if her facial structure and culture would be that similar to humans, but in P'rmess case she was acting nonchalant and seemingly uninterested - unless someone was able to read her pheromone levels or the waving of her tail. In that case she was almost rudely interested in the conversation and reactions of the other members of the staff. Thankful to the small space of the shuttle, she would not be seen crazy when she got into the personal space of whoever she could while everyone did their job as she returned from the cargo in the back.

Sliding closer than anyone would need on a starship or a planet, maybe as close as in a crawlway in the bowels of a ship or a building, P'rmess would try to get an impression from everyone with her sensitive nose while offering a tantalizing closeness of fur and balancing tail - which in her case was even more deliberate than automatic.

While she would have to move more carefully around Leata and T'Vara for now - as they sat in the front for most of the trip down - P'rmess sneaked across front of Commander Stephens and almost sat in the lap of the captain when she was sure nobody was watching clearly. All in the name of trying to get to a console or other, before finding her place where she perched gingerly.

It would work best if there was only four seat in the front, as she could act lost in the consoles and her perceived job while showing her interest and checking out theirs trying to not be under foot while being under foot, so to speak.

At the end she would hang in an empty place more than to go back to a seat in the back, she could hold herself more safe with her claws than any chair without safety harness or a place for her tail. Even if she had no problem sitting on the lifelike cybernetic appendage usually.
 
With the engines alive and the shuttle underway, there was little more T’Vara needed to do — unless or until something went wrong, at least. Rather than take the moment to relax, she started to run a short series of scans with the shuttle’s sensors. It was unlikely that she’d detect anything along their flight path which wouldn’t be picked up by the Odyssey's more powerful sensors, but the attempt cost her very little. In a way, remaining focused on their mission was more relaxing for the Vulcan than the short stretch of downtime would be, anyway.

Which is not to say that T’Vara was not paying attention to the social interactions inside the shuttle. She noticed the subtle strain in the Captain’s voice beneath his joke, and his quiet relief when her questions gave him something to focus on. She had an idea or two of what could be causing that, but she kept it to herself; the best thing she could do for her friend was to stay focused on their task. She noticed, too, the way P’rmess was slowly moving throughout the vessel, and a subtle shift in her scent. Her sense of smell was nowhere near as powerful as the engineer’s, but as Vulcan, it was still noticeably more sensitive than a human’s. Of course, she didn’t know what the change signified; she had no real familiarity with Kziniti or Caitian biology. It was simply a curiosity.

As her first scan ran, T’Vara glanced back towards the rest of the crew. “I will of course assist however you require, Captain, but I believe that my time would most productively be spent examining the crime scene or searching through those files. I suspect that Chief P’rmess feels similarly.”

The Vulcan nodded to their acting chief engineer, then turned her attention towards Commander Stephens. “You have greater field experience than I do, Commander. Do you have any recommendations?”
 
Stephens would watch Chief P'rmess with a barely-concealed look of amusement as she made just about as much effort to conceal the fact she was damn near grinding against everyone aboard the shuttle. But he didn't really do much in the way of responding to this, aside from give her a small look at the amusement he was thus far concealing, before addressing the Captain and Lt. T'Vara. "Granted, I learned much from Professor O'Brien, but my field experience has been sorely lacking in crime scenes. However, I'm sure that I'll be of some help." He wondered if the mysterious lack of First Officer would prompt a promotion soon. I should at least start wearing a red uniform, he thought to himself as the shuttle continued its descent, the entry into the planet's atmosphere causing the craft to vibrate slightly. "Lieutenant, as far as recommendations are concerned, I think it's best to stay on your guard. We haven't ruled out the possibility that someone on the surface was in on this--besides the actual thieves, that is. Captain, as acting First Officer, I strongly suggest we carry phasers at all times when on the surface. The possible traitor could become desperate, and desperate people sometimes resort to violence."
 
Ensign Leata's eyes flicked nearly imperceptibly between the many displays and instruments of the pilots station. She was monitoring the essential flight functions such as power output on a 3:1 ratio to the less essential ones such as tactical. Even so, she was taking meaningful note of even the most trivial readings at a rate of once every 23.5 milliseconds. She had estimated a biological pilot would be hard pressed to do the same once every 43.7 seconds. Still vision was a primitive way for a complex machine like a shuttle to communicate with an android. She had requested several times in flight school for a wireless data connection to the many Federation systems she interacted with, but her requests had been consistently denied. Hearing the acting first officer's mention of violence, she bumped her rate for tactical to 7.83 milliseconds, just in case.

The landing was uneventful however, and Leata had plenty of bandwidth to observe many subtle behavioral aspects of the crew in the close quarters of the shuttle. But even she couldn't estimate how much the collected data she simply didn't understand. She could make accurate predictions of Ferengi behavior nearly 2/3 of the time, their Rules of Acquisition made them fairly predictable creatures. But the various Federation races were much less so. While Leata could not smell per se, she could do spectroscopic analysis of the air with calibrated precision. She could readily detect pheromone changes in the air, but what did it all mean? Some of it was in the various medical journals available in the ship's library, but the subtleties of daily application were more complex. She would have to study these interactions before she could perform a reasonable hypothesis.

As the shuttle came to rest, she went through the power down procedures. With a look towards the Captain, she reached for the sidearm normally stowed conveniently for the shuttle pilot. She verified the appropriate stun setting but waited for the Captain's ascent to the Acting First Officer's suggestion. She inhaled sharply, almost a sniff, wondering if the threat of danger was perceptible by the pheromone make up. Of course it was nearly impossible to sort the various species reactions to stimuli in such a mixed race sampling. "Will we be practicing the buddy system, Sir?" She asked, as she scanned the group. She didn't have favorites such as many biologicals, but she did find an interest in the pairings that might result.
 
Nellis struggled for a moment as he felt P'rmess almost fall into his lap. He felt his entire body freeze, wanting to reach out, to run his hand through her fur, and touch her. She was toying with him, she had to be especially after how their conversations had ended the night before. but she felt so warm even just passing close to him as she did, and she smelled rather good too, he filed that under information a captain wasn't supposed to know, and he tried to set his mind back into a professional manner as she found her spot in the shuttle. Letting Leata take back the con, even if there wasn't much to do when it came to piloting into atmosphere, they only really had a few minutes to wait, already he could see atmosphere outside of the window.

Atmosphere, blue sky, clouds, and then down towards a city, past where the people lived, and towards the Daystrum Institute of Science and Technology. He nodded at T'Vara. "You're probably right, you and P'rmess will go to the crime scene, and conduct whatever investigations you see fit, Stephans I would rather like your help conducting interviews with people. Leata, you would honestly be an asset to either team. " She mentioned practicing the buddy system, and he guessed that was more or less his intention. Her advanced settings and eyes might help him and Stevans spot a lie, or her advanced sensors might pick up on something in the crime scene, five people and two teams meant he could let her decide where she felt her skills were most suited.

"This is the most advanced science facility in the federation, while they had one security breach I doubt that they want us coming in and firing from the hip. Station security will aleady have weapons, and most people will be on lock down, we are too likely to break something important, especially since we are going into the vaults where the good stuff is stored." If they had kept a copy of the genesis device down there who knew what else what they could have? firing a phaser in the wrong room could set off something even worse.

"No weapons for now." It wasn't that it was an unsound suggestion, but there were a lot of regulations about bringing about weapons, and they weren't on the frontier. Nellis wanted to make a good first impression, and for now they weren't at war.
 
"Aye, sir," Stephens said when he heard Nellis' final word on bringing weapons, but he did grab a tricorder from an equipment locker, opening it to test it for a moment before closing it and sliding it neatly into the holster on his uniform. "I just hope that one of the security officers...hmm. Maybe I'm just being paranoid." He shrugged and, once the shuttle was on the ground, led the way out of the hatch, rolling up his sleeves much like his favorite Academy professor did, back when he served aboard DS9.

"So, Captain, where to first?", Stephens asked Nellis, stretching slightly now that he was out in the fresh air. Sure, he was comfortable on a starship, even felt like he could live in space, but there was nothing that compared to being on a planet, especially a Class-M. "And, is there gonna be a welcoming committee?", he added, looking around for people approaching the shuttle.
 
"I am not good with politics and authorRrity, but can follow rrules... I think it would be good for me to focus on the area and the technology at the site itself. I would be no use of checking out the securrity rrecords, but can look afterr the environment sensors and settings..." P'rmess tried to at least sound professional and focus on the job at hand, but there was no way to hide her excitement. While she was no detective, she was used to finding out the problems of engineering. But being here at DIST, she felt like being on the land of plenty and wonder, jet, not being able to just start fondling whatever she wanted...

"Lieutenant T'Vara, please, lead the way, they do react to Vulcan scientists better than ... well, someone like me." P'rmess did not wanted to elaborate much, but it was mostly about her insecurity of being in the spotlight.
 
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