Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade James Rowe (Scientist) in Side Sim: The Morning After (Lower Stellar Cartography)
James Rowe entered Lower Stellar Cartography a couple of hours before his duty shift was set to start. He crossed the room to one of the workstations and within a few keystrokes had the projection he’d been working on yesterday pulled up… a few more keystrokes overlaid the information that Khiryn had sought him out to deliver. The room was quiet at this hour, its usual bustle replaced by the low, ever-present hum of the Athena’s systems. Rowe kept it intentionally dim, allowing the holographic projection dominating its center to provide most of the illumination. Suspended in the air, hundreds of stars shimmered against the darkness while faint sensor overlays drifted lazily between them in translucent layers of blue, amber, and white. Every few seconds one of the highlighted anomalies pulsed softly before fading again, as though the projection itself were breathing.

Around the perimeter, inactive workstations stood ready, their displays dark save for the occasional status indicator. The only movement came from the slow rotation of the stellar map as it continuously adjusted perspective, allowing different relationships between the overlaid datasets to emerge. What had begun as three separate streams of telemetry now occupied the same three-dimensional space, inviting comparison rather than demanding it.

In the silence, the room encouraged an uncommon kind of patience. There were no alarms to answer, no hurried conversations to keep pace with, only the quiet invitation to observe… and perhaps, if one looked long enough, to finally notice something that had been there all along.

James moved across the room and took a seat on the edge of a workstation. As he nursed his morning Asaam, he just allowed himself to observe the projection.

• Rowe

Khiryn walked into the Stellar Cartography Lab and was startled to see that it was already occupied. His eyes widened even further when he saw that it was displaying the very datasets he’d been studying well into the night.

He squinted into the room’s dim lighting, and he saw that the figure inside was none other than Lt James Rowe. “Damn… not only did you have the same idea I did… but you got here earlier.” He smiled and shook his head as he walked in. Ensign Donivas’s eyes scanned the display to see if James had gleaned any additional insights while he’d been asleep.

“I want to apologize again for interrupting you last night.” A bit of heat reached Khiryn’s face, and he hoped it was dark enough in the lab to hide it. “I swear I am normally more aware of my surroundings. I spent most of my off time looking into it last night… and when I found that correlation, I really wanted to talk to you about it.” He didn’t look at James, and instead kept his eyes on the display as he spoke.

OOC: I didn’t see a description on the Mythology Specs (other than it being 2 decks tall), but are we thinking it looks something like https://www.deviantart.com/auctor-lucan/art/Stellar-Cartography-Star-Trek-Theurgy-763538210 ?

Ensign Khiryn Donivas - Science Officer - U.S.S. Athena