Statistically Unlikely

Posted on Wed Jan 25th, 2023 @ 3:45pm by Lieutenant JG Marcel Knowles
Edited on on Sun Jan 29th, 2023 @ 10:25pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Mission 2: Rendezvous At Starbase 10
Location: Starbase 10
Timeline: M2 MD01 (2268.6.03) 0000

Aboard Starbase 10 awaiting the arrival of the USS Midway, his latest posting, the junior grade lieutenant, Marcel Knowles sat alone in a small nook of a recreational section of the starbase. The table in front of him was small, but suitable for having some much needed alone time. Given that he was not on duty, and wouldn't be for some time, a vodka cranberry on the rocks sat on the table in front of him. In his hands was a portable display device pertaining information that had been disconcerting to Marcel ever since he started noticing the pattern and it had made Federation news.

There's got to be something here he thought to himself. The facts were clear as midday on Vulcan. "Four" he muttered to himself. There had been four Constitution class starships lost within two years time, and though the causes varied, it still caused Marcel to ponder if there was some sort of Achilles heel, a vulnerability with its design.

He was not a structural engineer nor did he spend his free time designing starships for fun, but the USS Midway, his next assignment was of course a Constitution class. This was both exciting and alarming given the somewhat fresh loss of four sister ships. What is the statistical probability of four starships of the same class being lost within twenty-four months? The short answer to that question was not very damn likely.

However, these were the starships that the Federation liked sending out deeper and further than any other Federation starships they had. The missions tended to be longer and they really packed the crew in them. He did not have the answers, he did not have any leads. There was nothing that connected all four incidents other than starship class, but even then, more starships had been lost in those two years that weren't Constitution classes. If anything, this all may have just been fate as awful as that was to think about.

Marcel placed the data device down on the table for the time being, switching it out for his vodka cranberry and contemplated his new assignment, pushing aside his concerns about any potential issues. The Enterprise was still out there at least as were others. Surely that meant something, positives for the Federation and Starfleet.

He wanted to know about where he was going besides that it was a newer Constitution class starship. He sat his drink aside once more, but this time used the device to sort through other data, information about the Midway's crew manifest. He knew what his own assignment was - environmental control officer which came with some serious responsibilities and quite a bit of time on the bridge station. He would of course put some elbow grease into engineering and crawl around the chutes as needed, lending a hand wherever he could.

Skimming through the information, a few things stood out. One, the Captain was not all that much older than he was. In fact, the crew as a whole seemed relatively young save for a few individuals like the Chief Medical Officer who's personnel file made him look interesting, he reminded Marcel of a History teacher that he had in high school. The personnel officer wan an Andorian, Marcel had never served on a ship with an Andorian before.

Captain Faust had a service record of being a science officer and later a navigator. Marcel wondered if that was any indication that the two could bond over mathematics, statistics or probabilities perhaps? Even with an Andorian aboard, Marcel suspected that the strangest one he would have to get used to was the Chief Science Officer who doubled as the First Officer. She was British.

Both command officers had a background in the sciences, and the Chief Medical Officer of course was thrown into that mix as well. I feel like I need to brush up on my biology he thought to himself with a small smirk on his face. He was not bad at science, he just did not pursue it to that extent that they clearly had.

Marcel was overall impressed and looking forward to meeting his new shipmates, all of them. Though that would be a while still. He had heard murmurs that while on their shakedown, the Midway had to respond to something. That was just the sort of thing to happen, but there were worse places to have a layover than Starbase 10. In the meantime, this would give him plenty of time to study, and study he would do.

 

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