Pilot Episode, Act I

"I......" Hamilton sighs. "Yes, thank you, Liaision Officer Oobadek. I do apologize. I realize my question may have pried into your personal medical history, not to mention it reflects a level of cultural insensitivity on my part. So again, my apologies. I meant no offense."

She looks at his tendrils extremely briefly, trying to figure out how mad he is, and then realizes she's projecting poorly again.

Blakeney's facial expression upon hearing this statement is, briefly, like a sculpture entitled, Complete and Utter Shock.It's a fleeting indiscretion, however, and he quickly schools his face into something closer to neutrality, albeit still bearing a slight frown.

He looks away from the chief engineer to his captain.Cursed with a highly expressive fair complexion, Blakeney's face goes a little pink as the captain recites the litany of reports she's read that blatantly contradict everything Lt. Edison just said. He had, of course, forwarded most of those reports to the captain himself.

He swallows and decides that it's safer not to look at either Edison or the captain directly, finding a point in the middle distance on which to fix his eyes.

Avery swallows something stuck in her throat, forced to backpedal. "Well, not everything has been sorted out, and there are some unknown factors which we're anticipating to present themselves as we enter the Tangle...but it'll get us where we need to for the time being. Plus: I know how to fix the damn thing." She uses a candid tone with that last remark.

Blakeney surprises himself by speaking up.

"If I may, captain? Lt. Edison has spent so much time learning the workings of the uncertainty drive and coming up with quick fixes whenever it malfunctions, she has probably forgotten that, to most of us, the system is really quite opaque and unpredictable. She seems to have developed an almost unconscious ability to diagnose and correct the drive's glitches."

He finally manages to make his mouth stop spewing and is careful not to look at Avery's face, which he's certain will be livid.

"Well," says the captain with a note of cheer in her voice. "I'm certainly glad we're sticking up for one another."

She leans back in her chair, hands folded in her lap. She looks very casual. Comfortable, even. "Lt. Edison? Would you agree with Lt. Blakeney's assessment of your particular connection with our ship's drive core?"

Avery gives Blakeney a perplexed look during his explanation, not entirely sure what he is trying to ultimately accomplish. She can't hold the position for long with McCurry questioning her.

"I...suppose so? It's not like I can talk to it, just repair it and adjust accordingly based on probable factors I've identified." She discusses the matter like it's no big deal, not understanding why she's being asked such elementary questions regarding her primary job detail.

"Speaking from the standpoint of ship security, I would suggest that Lt. Edison start cataloging the various issues and anomalies that come up with the uncertainty drive and the steps she's found to be effective in overcoming or circumventing them. It's a little unnerving to think that there's only one person on the ship who really knows what to do when something goes wrong with the alien tech that not only provides our propulsion but keeps us all from going Tangle crazy."

Clearing his throat, Danny says, "Actually, I've been compiling a list of issues from the various reports already." Addressing Avery hurriedly, he says, "I was planning to forward it to you as soon as I finished-- Why don't I just forward it to you right now."

He punches a few buttons on his PADD. "Done." He smiles at the engineer. "I could tell from the reports that you'd been pretty busy just dealing with the engine, so I thought it might help you out if I gave you a head start on the documentation."

A sudden realization seems to cross his mind and his gaze jerks toward McCurry. "I hope that's okay, captain. I didn't use time that should have been spent on my other duties. It was sort of a get-ahead-of-things project I did in some spare time."

McCurry actually laughs in response. "Lieutenant, if I have to personally approve every tangent my senior staff goes off on, I won't have any time to do my own job. Or eat. Or sleep. Maybe even breathe," she says, and waves her hand as though erasing something. "I applaud your initiative. Please keep Lt. Iron Eyes in the loop on these issues. In fact, make them available to all senior staff as a general rule, please."

She turns then to Edison. "Lieutenant, you are hereby returned to active duty. It is simply too dangerous to be undertaking a mission such as this with our primary expert on the uncertainty drive on the sidelines. We will discuss our earlier conversation when the time is appropriate, and make a determination on whether your assignment will continue."

She smiles tightly. "Welcome back."

Edgar's hackles shoot up at the adulteration of his scientific name for the disease. He pushes his chair back in indignation, his facial expression has The Nerve! written all over it.

"Excuse me Lieutenant, but with all due respect, the effect is called Entanglement Psychosis, and not Tangle Crazy, as you put it. I put a lot of thought into naming it. It's not like it's some kind of jig!"

The security chief is briefly startled by Edgar's outburst, but that quickly - and visibly - turns to anger. Her eyes flash and she is about to speak when the calm voice of Dr. T'Shen beats her to it.

"Dr. Mitsk is quite correct about the official name of the condition. I have often heard humans refer to it as 'Tangle Crazy,' which is both much less descriptively accurate and trivializing of the effects on the patient.

"However, I have noted a habit among humans of applying trivializing labels to things that they find frightening. My study of human psychology suggests that this is an attempt to gain a feeling of power over the thing that scares them."

She addresses Iron Eyes. "Lieutenant, it is entirely logical to feel trepidation about our impending exposure to the Tangle. If your use of the slang term for Entanglement Psychosis is an indicator of that trepidation, I would be gratified to share the latest literature on the early symptoms. Being armed with knowledge is the best defense against health-related fears."

Iron Eyes is staring at the doctor with an expression that suggests she has no idea where to begin to respond.

"Thank you, Dr. T'Shen, everyone. Entanglement psychosis is a real thing, and nothing to take lightly," says the captain.

As she opens her mouth to continue, she looks around as if realizing for the first time that the First Officer and Liaison Officer are not present. "Are they not back in the room yet?" she says, mostly to herself, but audible to the rest of the room, some small amount of irritation showing in her tone.

She turns to Blakeney and says, "Lieutenant, if you wouldn't mind tracking down our wayward officers for me, please? I'd like to wrap this meeting up before the entire mission window passes us by."

"Yes, sir." Blakeney rises from his chair and leaves the conference room. The camera follows him out into the hall, where he finds the liaison and first officer standing rather awkwardly beside the comm panel. Danny looks from one to the other, curiously.

He clears his throat slightly. "If you're finished out here, the captain would like you to rejoin the meeting."

Oobadek returns to the conference room and takes his previous seat. "I've requested the algorithms from our Institute, which is our central science and technology headquarters. I have not yet received a reply."

Hamilton sits stiffly after Oobadek.

Apologies for the delay, Captain McCurry. I set the message up with secondary Federation encryptions. The return message will come directly to your PADD and engineering, as well as Liaison Officer Oobadek's office, so he knows it arrived successfully.

Am I wrong to assume the Uncertainty Drive has been discussed? If this is the case, what other preparations do you need completed on the bridge?

McCurry nods in response to Hamilton.

"The drive has been discussed, yes. This seems an appropriate time to start on particular tasks. When the Inphirian Institute sends along the algorithms, I'd like Officer Oobadek and Lt. Edison to work on making certain we can coordinate tracking data with drive function. Lt. Commander Hamilton, I believe you have a background in navigational system code? Please take care of that side of things."

She taps her lower lip with a finger, mouth twisting slightly in thought. She turns to Blakeney. "Lieutenant, you've had leisure to familiarize yourself with the crew roster. Who would be a good choice to assist Hamilton?"

Blakeney brightens. "Yes, sir. Lieutenant Hargrove in Helm and Navigation and Lieutenant Hwang in Science both have significant in navigational system code, but I think I'd recommend Lieutenant Hironaka in Security. His coding background is less extensive, but he would bring a security perspective that I think Commander Hamilton would find beneficial."

"Excellent. Please inform Lt. Hironaka of his additional assignment and have him report to the Lt. Commander," says McCurry.

She continues to tap at her lower lip. "Until the algorithms are available, Counselor Mitsk, Officer Oobadek and I will discuss appropriate protocols for working with the Inphirians in an official capacity." She glances at Pleiades, "So that we can make certain we're following the rules," she says with a faint twinkle in her eyes. She turns back to Blakeney. "Please coordinate between the technical team and the protocol team, to make sure we're sharing information appropriately."

Her attention turns to Dr. T'Shen. "Please make certain that our medical facilities are properly ready to deal with any cases of entanglement psychosis. Have appropriate sedatives available, just in case. I'm hoping we won't need anything of the sort, but being prepared is rarely a bad thing."

The doctor inclines her head. "Certainly, captain. The sickbay will be fully prepared."

She turns to address Edgar. "Dr. Mitsk, I would like to speak with you at your earliest convenience about human psychology. As a Vulcan, I naturally have little direct experience with emotion. But as a physician to a largely human crew, I would like to be conversant with it in order to provide the support necessary to my patients. I believe your professional expertise will be invaluable to me."

A closed lipped smile begrudgingly appears on Edgar's face.

"Certainly Dr T'Shen. I'd be happy to discuss human psychology both in general and how it pertains to Tangle exposure. I have a some literature in the form of charts....cheat sheets if you will....showing human baseline behavior versus post Tangle exposure behavior. You might find these reference sheets useful."