Denobulan Family Reunion

Posted on Sat Oct 3rd, 2026 @ 8:23pm by Lieutenant Sornax & Lieutenant Delix

1,475 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Echoes in the Triangle
Location: Engineering Laboratories | Deck 7 | USS Arcadia

ON:

Delix looked up at the sound of the lab door opening. He was on Engineering Lab duty today, partly because Sab was pissed off about the little freak from Science, Poe. His brows lifted when he saw a fellow Denobulan enter. The man was the same rank as he and wearing science blue. He held back a growl at the uniform colour. "Well, isn't this a Denobulan Family Reunion. What can I do for Science?"

Sornax had planned to visit Engineering and hoped to catch Commander Walker. But seeing he was also the First Officer, he shouldn’t have been surprised to find the Assistant Chief instead. While Poe had warned him that he was not welcome in Engineering, he had not expected to receive a cold welcome himself. Folding his arms, he paused where he was, at a work table. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant, did I arrive at a bad time? Perhaps I can wait for Commander Walker to assist me.”

"Sab's on the bridge. Not a bad time. On the upside at least you're not worm boy. So, what can I help you with?"

"Excuse me, worm boy?" Sornax did not often rise to anger, but the level of contempt coming from Delix was beginning to test him. The Denobulan picked up a PADD that was sitting on the desk and tapped in some information before moving to intercept his fellow Denobulan, coming to a stop in front of him, staring him down. "Tell me, Mister Delix, do you talk to all the department heads this way? Furthermore, do you enjoy talking down to your fellow officers as well? Because right now, this is a piss poor first experience for me when it comes to the future of working with Engineering."

Delix studied him quietly. "I'm not talking down to you at all. You came in and I asked what I can do for your department. As for worm boy I was referring to your Mr. Poe." He shrugged. "I'm not a fan of his. My boss however is so you can tell him my ban on him in engineering has been lifted, for now."

“it’s all in the way you approach things Mister Delix, that is all. Something to consider in the future is all. You know, as the two Denobulan on this ship I figured we’d have stories to share. It’s not often that more than one of us are on a Starship together.”

Deciding it was time to shift the tone of the conversation and try to make peace, he offered the PADD to the engineer. “I wanted to inquire about two projects that my department could use the assistance of Engineering with. The first one is for the biophysics lab. We have a new exobiology specialist on board and I know she’s very excited to get to work. If possible, we need the containment fields strengthened, at least to be as strong as the maximum bio containment field sickbay has.”

Delix looked at the information. "This shouldn't be a problem. Ella, she's got experience with this and could lead this and finish it but we will need two to three days to get everything ready and your Exobi needs to be out of the area for a day so that the installs will be done then she needs to help us test it." He looked at the second one. "This... will take a while, the second item is doable but we need these resources for the engine room now. We could begin work on it but...it will take time."

“I can promise you that the Ensign will be out of your teams way when it comes time. I can easily put her in another lab or have her pay a visit to medical to see to their own research they want to partner with us on.” Making a mental note to give Ganira the heads up, he was about to explain the second project but Delix was already looking it over. “The power that would need to be rerouted to the lab for the project shouldn’t be too much I would think. The more interesting work will be routing in the data from the sensors as it gets it from the probes and convert it into a visual representation that can be seen in the helmet while also dressing it to the holoprojector on the work table. But, it could revolutionize how we interact with and process data.”

Del scratched his chin. "This sounds like a fun challenge. Here's a question for you. If it's in the helmet how far do you want it to involve the senses? I mean do you want just to see the data or do you want a converter that could convert the data in sound and sensation?"

“Can we include sound? I’m going to assume you mean through data sonification? As for sensation, if we can route a tactile response through some gloves that would be ingenious. I’ll just need to make modifications to the computer program I wrote for both ideas. Unless of course you’d like to do it yourself.” Sornax replied, pleasantly surprised to see how Del was taking to the idea.

"That might all be possible!" He said excitedly. "Oh Ella will love this! I'll jump in if you don't mind. I like your approach. If you give me a day I can work with Ella and we'll get it all done for you in terms of some diagrams and ideas."

Sornax was still processing the shift in conversation, clearly Delix just needed someone to speak his language in order to connect with them. The Denobulan tucked away that bit of information to his memory and offered a smile at the enthusiastic response. “I know it’s a diversion from your current priorities and would take time to build out, but I look forward to seeing the ideas you come up with. Please make sure that Ella and her team tackle that containment field upgrade in the science lab first though. And Lieutenant? Thank you.”

He waved the thanks away. "It's my job, and when I get fun projects that makes it more fun. Ella will be by after lunch to get started on that and I'll see you tomorrow afternoon with the sketches. As for the diversion it's not. We've got the engines ready and upgraded so it's just regular maintenance now and a few smaller and somewhat annoying issues to fix. By the way is that replicator in your office giving you any more problems? Veklen fixed it last week but he never followed up."

“I understand the feeling about getting a project or making a discovery that brings you and the department excitement. It’s why we’re here after all isn’t it? To make new discoveries and make the push to better ourselves.” Sornax offered a nod to the question about the replicator in his office. “Indeed, I appreciate you having your team see to it before I arrived. I had it replicate kilm steak for lunch yesterday while I was working, and it was a passable replication. It just couldn’t get the chimichurri sauce quite right. Not your teams fault, I imagine it has a difficult time replicating the flavor profile of the Denobulan pepper flakes just right for that proper kick.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll take your word for it. I haven't had Denobulan food in a while, real I mean. It all tastes okay to me."

“I know the feeling. I haven’t been back to Denobula in some time. Last time I was there my mother was trying to get me married off.” the scientist said with a chuckle. “Look, if you ever want to eat so-so replicated Denobulan food or have a drink, let me know. Would be nice to have a few friends onboard the ship. If you have no other questions about my proposals though, I’m going to excuse myself. I have plenty of rounds to make today.”

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow with the specs."

“I’ll see you tomorrow then Lieutenant. Good meeting you. And then you again for clearing the air about my department and Mr. Poe. Have a good rest of your shift.” And with that, Sornax turned and left the engineering lab. At first he thought this conversation was going to be a shitty one given how things started, but in the end he was pleasantly surprised. Here was hoping it meant going forward that the two departments could work hand in hand and not have any more issues. As he disappeared down the hall he crossed his fingers and smiled.

OFF:

Lieutenant Sornax
Chief Science Officer
&
Lieutenant Delix (played by Lt. Commander Walker)
Assistant Chief Engineer

 

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