Posted by Cadet Aili McMorran (Scientist) in CSO’s Office: Cadet McMorran reporting for Duty

Posted by Lieutenant Garth (Chief Science Officer) in CSO’s Office: Cadet McMorran reporting for Duty

Posted by Cadet Aili McMorran (Scientist) in COS’s Office Cadet McMorran reporting for Duty
This was the appointment Aili had been looking forward to. Getting to know those she would be working with at her station was a big moment for the Cadet and she was keen to make the best possible impression. As the doors to the science lab slid open she stepped through with a wide smile on her face. Immediately recognising the Tellarite she saw as her new commanding officer, Garth, she announced herself: “Cadet McMorran reporting for duty sir”.

(Cadet McMorran, Science)

Although it was located on deck one, the flagship science lab was starkly different from the other areas of the ship’s premiere deck. Whereas the bridge, observation lounge, and captain’s ready room were kept neat and tidy, Garth’s workspace was a scrapyard of miscellaneous metal parts, half-constructed analysis equipment, and seemingly unattended bubbling test tubes and beakers. Walking through the space would require some careful maneuvering as to not knock anything from their precarious perches at the edges of the long, low tables that lined the room.

Lieutenant Junior Grade Garth was easy to spot, because he was frantically rushing back and forth across the room, stooped over as if he were continuously reaching for something on the ground. It was a sight to behold this stout, round man in a lab coat wheezing through his swine-like nose as he chased whatever was evading him. Around him, pieces of equipment clattered over or rolled off their respective tables as his hurried movements left no time for caution.

The older man straightened, catching his breath and then spotted Cadet McMorran standing in the entrance to his lab with his small, beady eyes. “Shut that door!” he shouted, “And help me catch this spidrin!” Aili could probably make out a fuzzy, black, multi-legged creature scurrying across the floor of the lab towards her. The arachnid was about the size of a dinner plate, but despite its formidable size, Aili could see that it didn’t appear to have fangs or claws. It was almost a combination between a spider and a teddy bear.

(Lt. Garth, CSO)

The chaos of the scene before her blew the grin from Aili’s face. Looking quite the deer in headlights, she spun on her heel and lashed out for the door control. It took a couple of jabs but eventually the control was excited and the doors sealed shut. Turning back to the chaos hurtling towards her, the Cadet was forced to improvise.

Aili hated improvising. At least she hated improvising for real, as opposed to her usual practice of anticipating likely scenarios and premeditating her responses. Right away, in that moment, she knew that particular approach to life wasn’t going to take her far on a starship.

Rapidly scanning her surroundings, while keeping track of the beastie coming her way, Aili clocked an empty looking large container with its lid detatched sitting on the workbench beside her. Praying that it didn’t contain anything critical or valuable, and that she would avoid squashing the creature with a missed swing, she grabbed the box and brought it down over the creature as it approached her feet. Dropping to the floor, her weight pressed down on the container. Looking up in utter befuddlement, the Cadet made eye contact with her new boss. This was… not exactly the first impression she’d had in mind. She did well though? Didn’t she? She did! Did she?

Struggling to find the words to meet the moment, all she could say was: “Lieutenant…”

(Cadet McMorran, Science)

OOC: Hi Ben! Happy anniversary and I hope you’re well. Aha, caught out on the acronym! Style question: I’ve removed the OOC stuff from the previous posts but left both in the previous messages section. As a thread like this continues, should we continue like that (if I’m at all right about that) or begin to remove the earlier messages which don’t provide immediate context for the new post?

“Hold that down!” Garth barked as he teetered over to a lab station, haphazardly pouring a combination of a couple chemicals bubbling in assorted test tubes into a beaker. He swirled the liquid, which turned from purple to clear as the chemicals were mixed. He approached the cadet and the container she held down cautiously.

His voice lowered as he drew near and bent over with a groan. “On my mark, lift the container just enough for me to splash this solution inside. Then close it again quickly. Understand?”

Garth brought the beaker close to the edge of the container, preparing for when McMorran lifted it. “Ready… set.... mark!”

If McMorran lifted the container as instructed, Garth would splash the chemical concoction underneath the lid. As she resealed the opening, there was a sound of sizzling as the chemical hissed against the metal for a few seconds.

(Lt. Garth, CSO)

OOC: You’re one step ahead of me! Usually, OOC information is left in the case of threads with more than two people. It can be deleted if it’s not important and everyone involved has read it of course. But, you’re referring to what we call “snipping” which is deleting older posts to keep the words on the page that we have to scroll through limited. I’ll demonstrate it once we have a little bit more length to the thread! You don’t want to snip threads down too much, usually at around 7 posts is when you start snipping, so we’ll come back to it!

In STF, you can write in between the paragraphs of another character. Usually, these inserts aren’t meant to drastically change what comes after them, to maintain chronological order. But you can type between my sentences above to respond to Garth’s “Understand?” question before he starts the count. Give it a try! For formatting, it’s just important that there are no arrows (>) in front of your inserted line of text OR the lines of text directly before and after it.

Ben