Train and then get out.

Posted on Fri Feb 7th, 2025 @ 11:10am by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Inara Senn

Mission: Training Cruise
Location: Inara Senn's lab

Inara was focused on other things when the annoyance, Cadet Bellor, walked in. She had spent an hour preparing the cadet's itinerary. "Cadet. Your itinerary is on my desk there." She was analyzing centuries old sleeper ship cargo records. "Go to each division, do what you want to do, then get out." It was that simple, she was cycling her through her entire department with tasks Starfleet wanted, then she wanted her out of her hair fast.

Iliana picked up the PaDD and gave it a quick glance. "Very well. Good day lieutenant" Iliana said and walked out.

"Good Riddance to bad rubbish." Inara mentioned as the child left. "And Starfleet will push these punks to the center chair, our fleet will be commanded by useless smug morons." She sat down. "Perhaps I should leave Starfleet, if these arrogant pricks are who they want wearing the uniform, I dread for the future of the Federation. Or maybe... we should form a new Starfleet without the arrogance and the foolishness? People think I am a fool anyway for pointing out the obvious." Inara continued to vent. "They could have named it Blue Squad for Green Squad, but no. They sent this spoiled girl here with enough cloud and backing behind her to turn my foot into a crepe. Oh, when this thing is over with, I am certainly going to go public on fool squad being dragged out of its grave, and Starfleet Command making the same old mistakes." She put a wine glass on her desk and poured an amount in it. "To the Federation Starfleet... may it rest in peace."

The door opened once again, and Shran walked in. "Inara, good. I wanted to speak with you, get an update on how things are going with your cadet. I just spoke with Deanna. She seems to be of a favorable opinion of the three she has worked with, though she believes I should definitely get your impression of Cadet Belor, and I agree. So, do you find the cadet adequate?"

"Yes, she is adequate. I've sent her to learn everything Starfleet wants her to know from all of my departments and when she's done, she gets to go back to Starfleet Academy like a good cadet." Inara mentioned. "And when you next speak to Starfleet Command, do tell them I am truly grateful for this opportunity." She looked at one particular ship in her research. "Hmm... A crew... All experts in hypothetical quantum physics... all pariahs from early social networks... Captain, do you know the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?"

"Sounds a little hands off. I would've expected you to have been the most hands on of all the people working with the cadets. Is this because of your dislike of Red Squad from your experience with them?" Shran responded. He considered her question, "Actually yes. A hypothesis is a proposed explanation or educated guess that can be tested through research, while a theory is a well-established explanation supported by a large body of evidence, often resulting from multiple tested hypotheses, that explains a phenomenon in the natural world; essentially, a hypothesis is a tentative idea that needs to be verified, whereas a theory is a well-supported concept that has been extensively tested and accepted by the scientific community. Why do you ask?"

"I am not fond of this Cardassian. I attempted to show her what we're dealing with out here, so she could have the tools necessary to save her own ass, and maybe her squad." Inara mentioned. She then brought up a file. "Abraham Issac Wells. Expert in Quantum Physics, Quantum Theory, you name it. He wrote his dissertation on quantum tunneling to allow a vessel to cheat distance and appear at distant points in space and time." She noted. "It was revolutionary at the time... unfortunately. it was hypothesis, and it was also the early part of Earth's twenty-first century. He was planning on using CERN to simulate a quantum tunneling effect on a localized level." Inara chuckled. "The Leaders at the time were convinced by Quasi-Science and sleight of hand through public opinion that Dr. Wells intended to create a black hole and destroy the world. Wells got on social media and called these leaders 'ignorant peons.' The leaders deflected this insult using some remarkable social posturing to the equality and equity crowd. Convincing the fools he was racist. And then he was... 'Cancelled.'" Inara mentioned. "I hate twentieth and twenty-first century Earth. Promise me if we ever go back in time, we will immediately leave those savages to their nuclear based enlightenment. So, to speak." Inara shook her head. "And why should I care. I want to show this child what is really out there, Captain, as the Academy has done a remarkable job of showing these cadets the basics."

"Hmm" Shran sighed aloud. "I understand your dislike of aspects of humanity from that point in time. We've gone back in time before, and I hold firm that the Temporal Prime Directive applies, and we leave any time period as quickly as possible. I don't care for time travel. Too many variables that have to be considered to avoid altering the timeline. And then you have the meetings with Temporals Investigations...absolutely horrible." Shran placed his hands behind his back. "Every cadet learns the basics. These cadets, they are special. I know you don't like hearing that, but it is true. They are special, and they are being given an opportunity to showcase their abilities aboard our ship. Very few cadets get that sort of opportunity. Most cadets serve aboard the Republic as you may recall, which is useful, but the Republic is an Excelsior class ship. It is updated of course, gone through multiple refits to make it as modern as possible, but it is vastly inferior to ships like the Washington. I understand you concerns Inara, I really do. I know that your concerns are based, at least in part, to poor personal experiences with the old Red Squad. I would just emphasize and reiterate with you, these cadets are not the same cadets that you dealt with, nor is this version of Red Squad the same as the one you dealt with years ago. Allow them to function as you would any other colleague, and judge them based on their successes and failures, not on the sins of the past which they have no right being held to."

"Very well. At least this ship smells better than the Republic." Inara mentioned and continued. "So, after Wells got cancelled, he ended up an intellectual pariah, and those were common in this period. His hypotheses were dismissed because of ideology." Inara mentioned. "So, he went corporate. He managed to get in touch with dozens of also disgraced scientists who questioned the system, and they got corporate backing to purchase several DY-200 Sleeper Ships. They called themselves the Ex-Systems Corporation. Then one day a vague terrorist attack resulted in most of ExSys' executives were killed and the sleeper ships launched covertly from launch facilities in French Guiana the very same day. Wells and his colleagues disappeared on these ships." She mentioned. "And these weren't any scientists. Experts in various fields. All disgraced for playing God or being too ahead of their time. The twenty first century. If you're smart, you're being 'privileged,' if you're a moron, you should really be a brain surgeon because incompetence is equality." She punched up a holographic star chart. "I found where these ships went, including one very interesting world with our simian friends on it."

Shran looked at the information. "Interesting. I am guessing you wish to take a closer look into some of these planets, follow up on that Simian encounter. I think that can be arranged" he said with a smirk. "But first, we have a training cruise to complete. And as much as you might dislike it Inara, I require you to assist with these cadets, make sure they are up to the tasks that serving in this uniform requires, for better and worse."

"One thing when we do. These people tricked a bunch of rich stockbrokers into believing they were going to live in luxury on an alien world and betrayed them. We should be cautious."

"Considering how our last encounter with some of those people's work, caution seems quite advisable." Shran turned to exit, "But first Inara, we have our experiment with these cadets. I require proper data to be gathered regarding them."