In the lab

[WesleyMustDie 0]

A stony silence filled the science lab where Adina and Hartman were working. Every so often, Hartman would glance over at Adina as if to ask her something and flinch. He'd been nervous since entering the lab a few hours ago, and now he was downright scared of her. "Ma'am?" he said tentatively, looking as though he dreaded her response.

 

"What did you do THIS time, Hartman?" Adina asked, clearly tired of dealing with him. "Delete the entire science database?" She walked over to him and crossed her arms, glaring at him harshly. "Well?"

 

"No, ma'am, I--" Hartman swallowed nervously.

 

"I don't have all day, Hartman." The threat was clear in Adina's tone and expression. She didn't like Hartman and knew he was dead scared of her.

 

"I think-I think I found something useful in the databanks," Hartman stammered, deliberately not looking directly at Adina.

 

"Well did you or did you not?" Adina demanded. "Never mind, just show me what you found."

 

Hartman turns quickly to the console, almost falling off his chair in the process. He taps at its surface for a moment, bringing up what appears to be a discarded file. "It wasn't in your database, so I couldn't..." He trails off rather than finishing the thought.

 

"Couldn't delete it?" Adina snapped, glancing over the data. After a moment she looks back up at Hartman, who shrinks back like he's afraid that she'll hurt him. "A sensor log?"

 

"Is that what it is? I didn't recognize it, but I thought you would." Hartman relaxed a little, no longer completely convinced Adina was ready to kill him.

 

Her bad mood forgotten for a moment, Adina set to work on deciphering the sensor log so that Hartman could help her sort out the information. Hartman edged closer to look at the data. Adina ignored him, focusing instead on what she was doing. A few minutes later, she'd translated the sensor data so that anyone could read it and stepped back so Hartman could see.

 

Hartman studied the information for a minute and looked up. "Ummm...maybe it isn't useful after all. It's just basic sensor information on the UFP ships we encountered a little while ago at People's Head. Except..."

 

Adina stayed back, forcing Hartman to come to his own conclusions. "Except?"

 

"Except for this spike in bio-emissions!" Hartman said triumphantly, tapping the console to indicate what he meant.

 

"Which means?" Adina prompted, trying to sound civil.

 

"Which means...bioweaponry?" Hartman guessed.

 

"Sure took you long enough to figure it out. Good work."

 

"Wha...?" Hartman was used to Adina's death threats and hadn't been expecting a compliment. "I mean, thank you, ma'am."

 

"Now maybe we can get some work done."