Commander Park jogged down the lane, her heart beating on a runaway pattern.  Her blue athletic shoes pounded the pavement under her feet as she pushed herself through the empty streets of New York City.  The sun had broken over the horizon, rays reaching across the cityscape.  Park pushed her pace as sweat dripped from her brow and the burn echoed through her muscles.  She checked her watch.  Thirty minutes down.  Thirty to go.  She pulled a long sip from the tube connected to her backpack’s water reservoir.  She could do this.  She needed to do this.  Putting her mind and body to work was necessary. Park pushed on.

William Prentice worked his way through the defense on the basketball court, dribbling left, then right.  Another dodge, and he passed the ball to his teammate.  He found an empty lane and cut through the opposition’s traffic, finding himself open.  He watched the ball fly his way, snagging it with a grunt as his feet put him in position for the shot.  It arced towards the hoop, a satisfying swish of the net reaching his ears.  He started to hustle back, but slowed to a stop. Lieutenant Ada Josephs, the ship’s chief medical officer, stood just off the court, her arms crossed with an amused look.  He accepted a towel from the bench and walked towards her.  “Computer, end program.”  The court, crowd, and teams vanished into the traditional yellow lines of the holodeck.  “I’m guessing something’s come up.”

She nodded, still amused.  “Lieutenant Eseri thinks she’s got something worth checking out. Wants someone to verify it.  You’re XO, so you’re first up.”  As the door to the corridor opened, she handed him a fresh uniform. “Change in the bridge head – Eseri sounded urgent.”

“That’s…something.”  Prentice stood on Nova’s bridge, watching the viewscreen.  A surface scan of a nearby planet was displayed.  He turned to the science chief, “Looks within acceptable limits. What are your concerns, Lieutenant?”

Eseri’s face was a mix of emotions.  Her antennae circled slowly in contemplation, and Prentice waited.  Putting pressure and pressing the young Andorian had proven disastrous in the first days of her assignment.  She tapped the console, “There’s an odd climate reading that’s not resolving.  You can see here that the computer has worked out a reliable scenario for the various seasons, approximating temperature changes and sunlight estimates.  The problem is…this.”  The screen zoomed in on the ‘spring’ season.  A blinking yellow indicator stuck out, and she explained, “There’s a jump in hurricane activity that it’s predicting – but it’s unable to approximate…well, anything.  It’s having a hard time estimating how long the hurricanes last, and that’s giving it problems with determining where they might go, how they might impact, and well…everything you need to know about those kinds of storms is pretty important.”

Prentice walked towards her and leaned on the railing behind her station. “That’s pretty impressive, Lieutenant.”  He frowned, “Is it normally that good at understanding that kind of stuff?”

She nodded slowly, her eyes shining with worry.  “They gave us some of the best sensor systems they could pack into the Nova, sir. Usually, the extended investigation wouldn’t have such an unusual marker.  It’s either an error in the interpretation or my refining of the data itself.  We’ll have to get closer to get a clearer picture.  Sir.”

He stared at her screen for another minute.  Without the marker, it was a good possibility for a colonial science expedition.  That was what the Nova and Perseverance had been assigned to do in the rimward.  He checked his clock, “Commander’s run should be done in a few.  Put together a briefing within the hour.  Good work, Lieutenant.”

Her smile widened at the compliment, but then retreated, and her face returned to normal. “Thank you, sir.”