Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in McHarrie’s Lab - Cobb comes for a tour
<snip>

Posted by Lieutenant Commander John McHarrie (Medical (Consultant Researcher - Abell)) in Side Sim - McHarrie’s Lab - Cobb comes for a tour

Posted by Captain Zachariah Cobb (Commanding Officer) in Side Sim - McHarrie’s Lab - Cobb comes for a tour

“For a start, if it had been sterilised,” John said, “These things breed asexually. My Romulan contacts tell me that the program was shut down because they found that the programming passed from parent to child, albeit with some degradation. This meant that the children could not be reprogrammed. I only found this one which means if it had children, the managed evacuate with the ship’s crew and are still out there and laying eggs.”

John removed the tracking gloves and the hologram on the workbench vanished from existence.

He began leading the way to his office space.

“Tea? Coffee? Something stronger?” he asked.

-John

For a moment the captain seemed reluctant to leave the main lab area, still absorbing the myriad wonders on display as he was. But the promise of refreshment was sufficient to distract him and he soon caught up with McHarrie.

“Ah, well if you’re offering, Commander, then it would be rude to turn down the offer of something stronger, if you please?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

Looking around the office area, it was clear that John had made an effort to make the space his own by adding a few personal items. Of note there was a photo of John taken as a child aboard the Viking’s bridge. By the curtain hung around the name plate it was the Viking’s naming ceremony. He was stood infront of two officers that looked exactly like John looked now

“How much stronger?” he asked with a grin as he opened the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a sealed bottle of Romulan ale in one hand and a bottle of scotch in the other.

-McHarrie

The Welshman’s grin was reflected in Zachariah’s own as he nodded appreciatively towards the scotch. “You have good taste, Mr McHarrie,” he commented, moving towards a vacant seat but then pausing momentarily to study the photograph.

“You were on the Viking?” he asked. Then, his voice lowered, he leaned in and added, “I’ve heard rumours that she’s something of an anomaly herself.”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

“She is certainly not your typical ship,” John replied, “She has… issues but to say she is an anomaly is taking it too far. She should be mothballed or fully refitted in a dry dock, but the amount of interest and attention the rumours about her have generated keeps various intelligence agencies eye focused away from the ball.”

“You think she’s a distraction then?” Cobb’s eyebrows raised to his hairline at the notion. “From what?”

“That, I do not know, and frankly for the sake of personal safety, I’d rather not know,” John replied, “Manipulation is one of S31’s specialities.”

Turning to glance once more at the photograph, he considered it curious just how alike the McHarrie clan appeared. Good genes indeed. “Your family seems to have a long history with her, Mr McHarrie,” he commented before moving away and settling into the vacant chair. “Do they also have a long history with the ARU? Or are you forging a new path in that regard?”

“My uncle and my father,” John offered, “They are both 31. I do not know why they got posted to the Viking.”

John replicated two glasses and poured the Romulan Ale.

“Like the Viking, there are many rumours about me. And like the Viking some are true and some are not,” The Welshman said before sipping his drinks, “Spend time around the subject of rumours and you quickly get to know which ones are true and which are nothing but sheep exhaust.”

Cobb reached for the drink and offered it the appropriate measure of silent, respectful study before downing a third of the glass in one swallow. “Ah, that hits the spot,” he remarked, wiping his beard with the back of a hand. “Thank you, Commander.”

John paused as he remember how last time he had used that phrase the universal translator had mis-translated it into a word less colourful or descriptive of his choice of words.

“I am a member of YOUR crew on YOUR ship. There are no grey areas or room for dispute on that despite what others may say or think. I am only here to do a job for you as long as you want or need me here.”

-McHarrie

The captain reclined comfortably in the chair, before studying the Consultant closely from across the desk.
“I don’t care much for rumours, Mr McHarrie. Why, if you lend an ear to the scuttlebutt on this ship you’ll think me practically betrothed to our Chief Medic while using her to access medical-grade alcohol in the same breath!” He chuckled at the ridiculousness of the notion. “I take people as I find ‘em and offer the benefit of full trust until they give me reason to remove it.”

“I am grateful for that,” John answered

He drained another third of the glass, more slowly this time, savouring the unique flavour.

“To be frank, Commander, if I allowed myself concern over the past transgressions of the men and women on this crew then I’d barely find a moment for sleep. Everyone here has a past wrapped in shadow. Myself included, or some would claim. But as long as it remains in the shadow where I don’t have to look at it then I have enough to worry about out in the open.”

He sat forward and locked blue eyes onto the Welshman’s own, his expression signalling the importance of the words to come.
“But if ever your past causes problems for this ship or her crew, well then we’ll have a problem, Mr McHarrie. Do I make myself clear?”

• Captain Zachariah Cobb

“My past lives and thrives in the shadows, but dare not interfere with ARU. Doing so would draw too much attention to themselves,” John said maintaining eye contact firmly with the Captain.

“I want my career to be my own. Not the product of some puppeteer that it once was,” John added.

-John