Gorn in 60 Seconds

Posted on Thu Jul 14th, 2022 @ 8:07pm by Captain Björn Kodak & Lieutenant Gar'rath & Lieutenant Mothim-Ril

Mission: Echoes and Effigies
Location: Science Lab
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 1245

[Science Lab]
[USS Sojourner]
[MD 1: 1245 Hours]

Mothim's solid blue eyes scanned back and forth along the lines of the text on the console, reading the output of this console almost as quickly as it printed. Every console was occupied as such, with every member of their science team doing their best to expedite any findings. This was a yellow alert. Something in the stellar nursery had frightened the command staff into calling an alert, and that was enough to make Mothim want to get the scans done and get out of here as fast as possible. Besides; if any department had a good chance at figuring out what was going on, it would be the science department.

So why didn't they have any extra resources to deal with this yet?

The normally cheerful Aurelian let out a little chuff, fluffing up the feathers around his neck in annoyance. His shift technically ended about an hour ago, and although the Aurelian had been pulling overtime anyway, it had been in the comfort of his quarters where he didn't have to wear this god-awful uniform. Really. His productivity would probably be about two percent higher if they didn't force him to wearing this sort of clothing, so unnatural to his culture and to his physiology. But a situation like this required stronger computing resources than his PADD. It required the actual use of the Science Lab, for as long as he could suffer to be awake in it. Truthfully, it was the itchy uniform alone that made the friendly scientist so impatient about the resources. How long had it been - a whole twenty minutes since he had sent in the latest request?

The form of a rather large reptilian came into view as the door to the science lab slid open with the typical swish of the hydraulics that always accompanied the motion. The massive saurian held a PaDD in one hand as he ducked under the doorway to allow for his rather exaggerated height to make the clearance. Once inside, his eyes scanned the room in a subconsciously predatory manner before settling on the one creature that stood out to him more than the rest. Having located his target, the Gorn made his way over to the feathered officer with an inscrutable look on his face.

"I came to address the multiple requests for resources I've received from my assistant originating in your department, Lieutenant," Gar'rath intoned in his deep voice.

"Yes. That." The Aurelian turned to face the reptile. Despite Gar'rath's height, Mothim stood about a foot taller - and weighed about a third as much. The scientist smoothed out his feathers before addressing the other officer. "Good of you to come. I hope you are doing well. Anyway - right now the science department is being limited by the resources allotted to us. And considering we can't leave until this research is done I thought, you know? Let's get some more sensors and more power up. That way we can get out of here as soon as possible, right?" The Aurelian curled up the edge of his beak in a slight smile, which was an expression that he had picked up from living so long among humans.

The gesture seemed lost on the Gorn as he pulled his head back slightly before answering the request that had been offhandedly made, "If it we that simple, I would have already done so. The issue at hand isn't one of efficiency expediency... if only it were. The issue we are running into is one of finite resources being needed across the board. You would like power and sensor nodes freed up for scientific endeavors, while the tactical department wishes those same resources to be allocated to keep an eye out for potential threats while we scan this anomaly we are facing down. Both requests are of equal priority, from where I'm standing, and unless you can provide a guaranteed completion window that would satisfy the other party involved, I wouldn't be able to surrender control of the requested sensor nodes for your use. As for power..."

Gar'rath looked down at the PaDD he carried with him, "I'm afraid there isn't any to spare anywhere. Two auxiliary power generators had to be taken offline to conduct emergency maintenance. Every other method this ship has to generate and distribute energy is being pushed just beyond the limit of what I would otherwise be comfortable with allowing. If even one relay overloads, we'll be reduced to half our operational capacity. Not something I would much appreciate, as I'm sure you wouldn't either. So... Can you justify your request, Lieutenant?"

Before Mothim could reply, the doors to the lab swished open once more. This time, they admitted another hulking form, also verdantly scaled. A second Gar'rath stood before the pair, his mouth half-open, a razor-sharp maw of teeth catching the light. His expression was one of Gornish surprise as he regarded the first Gar'rath in the lab. "What the hell," he growled, stepping closer to the avian and his reptile companion. "I came down here to discuss the resource request and you've what? Saved me the trouble by making a holographic version of me?!" The Gorn seemed most displeased at this. "I did not give my permission to be recreated in such a way."

Tactical department. Mothim ruffled the feathers of his chin, a Aurelian version of a scoff. Of course the tactical department wanted more resources; but unless this was a life or death situation, since when did the needs of those warmongers outweigh the needs of science? This was a Starfleet ship, not a Klingon one, and they were only at yellow alert. But before Mothim had the chance to respond, another Gar'rath stepped in.

What earlier displeasure Mothim had faded away at the sheer scientific curiosity of what was going on, even despite the second Gorn's displeasure. "Fascinating." His solid blue eyes blinked. He glanced over at the original Gar'rath. "This - you didn't make a copy of yourself did you? I must admit, I could see the allure. Having two of myself could mean double the time for experiments, but then again it would require better communication than this-" he motioned towards the angry Gorn, "-and probably better technology than we have access to. The alternative, that you didn't make him, well... that has even more implications." Mothim approached this with stubborn scientific logic, even as the couple other scientists in the rooms turned to gawk.

Gar'rath turned to the large avian, "You can examine the corpse once I kill this... thing..." The Gorn dropped the PaDD he was holding onto a nearby workstation and lunged violently toward the imposter, the burst of speed generated by his powerful muscles betraying expectations as to what such a bulky saurian might be capable of. His maw opened threateningly as his hands reached out, claws ready to rend flesh and crush bones.

The other saurian reacted quickly, opting to evade rather than engage. With a powerful swing of his tail, the other Gar'rath pivoted on his hind claws, using his momentum to twist himself around and out of the way. This caused his doppleganger to fly right past him, headed directly for the door, which happily opened at the Gorn's approach. "First I find you using an unauthorized duplicate of me," he gestured with a claw at Mothim, "and now you make him attack me?! I am informing the Captain of this, little birdy. And when I do," Gar'rath growled, "it will be very dire for you indeed. Computer," he stared out at the other Gorn, "end program." He blinked with irritation and disbelief as the first Gar'rath failed to disappear. "Be gone, duplicate!" he yelled.

"We don't have any evidence to prove that either of you are duplicates. Or, that either of you are the real ones. Who knows? Maybe there is a third of you on the ship here too, and maybe you're both duplicates." The Aurelian shrugged. "But I doubt violence is the answer." Maybe medbay would be better at this examination than Mothim... after all, Gar'rath was a humanoid crew member and medbay had the tools for thorough exams on that. The scientist glanced over at his computer and noticed, with annoyance, that his calculation program had shut down. That was probably the Gorn's vague "end program" command. Oh well. This seemed more interesting than any anomalies related to the stellar nursery... then again... huh... maybe the two were related. After all, it did seem convenient timing. Was this something specific to reptiles? Or was there a duplicate Mothim somewhere too? Hopefully, the scientist mused, a duplicate with a better disposition than Gar'rath's here.

Gar'rath, having missed his intended target, continued out of the lab, cutting a sharp turn to land him in front of one of many access panels that housed emergency equipment beneath, not the least of which was a phaser. Removing the cover took almost no effort, and the weapon beneath came free of the holder without issue. Once armed, the Gorn stormed back to the lab as the fake and the science officer were trading words. The feral hiss of weapons fire lanced through the space, ending with a rather angry beam making contact with the midpoint of the false Gorn's back.

"You talk too much..." Gar'rath growled in displeasure at the rather flippant imposter.

The beam careened into the second Gar'rath's back, sending the Gorn to his knees for a moment. He shook his head and turned, roaring at the first Gar'rath even as he rose back to his feet. Whatever setting the weapon had been on wasn't, apparently, enough to subdue the imposter. Instead of continuing to escalate the encounter, however, this version of Gar'rath gathered his strength and sprang into the doorway, taking a left and sprinting down the hallway with all the speed his reptilian body could muster. He disappeared around the bend, leaving Mothim and the original Gar'rath behind to debate what they'd just experienced. The whole encounter had only taken but a minute but much confusion ensued as a result.


=/\= A joint post by... =/\=

Lieutenant Mothim
Chief Science Officer

and

Lieutenant Gar'rath
Chief Operations Officer

and

Imposter Gar'rath (NPC'd by Kodak)