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 CSO’s Office: Cadet McMorran reporting for Duty
Posted by… suppressed (3) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

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?”
(Lt. Garth, CSO)

“Understood.”
(Cadet McMorran, Science)

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.
(Lt. Garth, CSO)

Aili removed her full weight from the container and cautiously but firmly titled it towards herself, creating the opening Garth had requested.

“What on Earth even is this thing?”, she thought to herself, “Or not on Earth…”
(Cadet McMorran, Science)

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)

Returning her full weight to depressing the box, McMorran listened to the strange sounds emanating from the scene beneath her. “Is this an ordinary day in the lab, sir?”, she asked through a mix of bemusement, concern and mild amusement.
(Cadet McMorran, Science)

OOC: Gotcha! :)

Garth took a minute to catch his breath, wheezing a bit with his hands on his knees. Then he gave McMorran a look at her question, then motioned for her to remove the container.

Squinting a little, Aili quickly jumped to her feet, bringing the container with her.

If she did so, she would reveal the tranquilized creature passed out from the fumes the chemical had released. Garth pinched his nose closed with one hand and waved away the remaining vapors with the other. Then he scooped up the arachnid and hobbled back to the station he had been working at, placing it in a cage.

“What a careless scientist”, Aili thought.

“No,” he said finally, “it’s not. I got this specimen as a loan from the Vulcan Science Academy, I’m examining the properties of its silk, which is apparently even sturdier than other that of similar species.” He paused before offering a pained, “Thank you for your assistance, Cadet.”

“Just doing my job! I think…”, Aili responded, only half jokingly.

“McMorran, you said?” He asked quickly to move on. He swiped a PaDD across the station and used it to motion to a stool across from him that she could take if she wanted. “What’s your specialty?”

(Lt. Garth)

OOC: I appreciate the attention to detail, but you don’t need to put the sign off after every individual segment when posting between the paragraphs! The site’s formatting makes it pretty clear that they’re from different posters (at least until they become older posts).

Aili stepped around the station to the stool but rather than sitting she stood taut with her hands behind her back. She didn’t want to needlessly prolong her introductions, choosing instead to strike a more professional note after a rather candid first impression. “My primary areas of expertise are interstellar phenomena as well as high energy signals and transmissions.”. Deciding to again counterbalance her to-the-point delivery, she added: “I don’t think I’ll be much help with whatever you’re working with in that cage”.

Garth waved a hand dismissively. “The spidrin is my personal project, I won’t require your assistance.” The irony of this statement was probably lost on Garth. But he looked up from his PaDD with a raised, bushy eyebrow. “Energy signals and transmissions, you say? Intriguing…”

Closely watching Garth’s activities as she spoke to get a better sense of his project, she continued: “Of course, I’m fully qualified in all the standard Academy courses you’d expect. Will this be my primary workspace, sir? Looking at the ship’s specifications I noticed the presence of several general purpose science labs, and Stellar Cartography will be invaluable in applying my primary expertise.” She cracked a smile. “I’ve been looking forwards to seeing what the facilities there can do.”

(Cadet McMorran, Science)

OOC: Yeah! I noticed how unnecessary that was after posting! Doh!

“Nooooo,” Garth said a bit too forcefully, “This is science lab one, my personal workspace. You’re not to enter this lab without my permission and direct observation. And even then, you aren’t to touch anything without instruction. You’ll complete your shifts in the other labs, and you’ll likely spend time in all of them on a rotating schedule. Just to make sure that ‘full qualification’ translates to practical application on a starship.” Garth was blunt, but his voice was grumpy, rather than cruel.

The tellarite man leaned forward to inspect McMorran critically. “I require all cadets under my command to complete a personal project of academic rigor, to be presented to me before their graduation. Work on this project is to be done on your own time, not during shiftwork. You’re free to use the stellar cartography lab as much as you’d like for the purposes of this project if that’s the area you’d like to focus on.”

(Lt. Garth, CSO)

OOC: Great job so far! I’m really enjoying getting to know your character! Usually, we’d prefer for you to wait to jump into the main sim thread until your intro thread with me is complete, but you’re obviously catching on quickly! If you have any questions of something in the main sim thread in the meantime, please message me on discord, you can find me in the STF discord members as Zenbe10.

This thread is starting to get longer, so we can practice snipping! I’ve demonstrated what that looks like by snipping your first post in this thread. I’ve deleted the text of it and the corresponding “posted by…” line from my reply and instead replaced it with (snip). Give it a shot by snipping my first post in the thread! The formatting here can be a little strange, so don’t worry if it takes a couple tries to figure it out.

Ben