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 Lieutenant Garth (Chief Science Officer) in CSO’s Office: Cadet McMorran reporting for Duty
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“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

“I… see sir. Well I’ll make sure I know the way around the decks as well as I do the hills back home and I’ll begin planning a project for you. You can expect me to put in a fair few requests for time in Astrometrics… if such management is in your purview, that is.” Aili hoped she had made a positive impression both professionally and personally but wasn’t altogether sure the latter was especially possible with Garth. “If that’ll be all Lieutenant, I believe I have an appointment with the ship’s councilor.”

(Cadet McMorran, Science)

OOC: Thanks for your guidance! I haven’t yet decided whether I love to love Garth or love to hate him! Fingers crossed I got the snipping right here, I’m about to find out :D Forgive my keen postings, I’m stuck inside with nothing much but studying (outside exercise might be banned altogether here in a minute…) so all avenues of procrastination are being frequented… quite frequently!

Garth waved a hand dismissively as the door to the lab opened behind him. NEnsign Selik, a young vulcan man with a blue tunic, walked toward them. Looking back, Garth grunted in approval. “Ensign Selik, perfect timing. Cadet McMorran was just asking about her shift schedule and reserving lab time for personal use.”

Selik nodded in understanding and presented McMorran with a PaDD that displayed the information she would need to start her duties. “Anything you need, just feel free to come find me,” the vulcan stated simply.

“Thank you sir”, Aili responded to the Vulcan. She hated herself for thinking it but she had to acknowledge, before turning to hear out Garth, that the Ensign was rather handsome.

“If that’ll all,” Garth grumbled as he stood from the stool and turned his attention back to the creature snoozing in the cage, “you’re dismissed, cadet. Go be a Starfleet officer.” His eyes narrowed as he inspected the specimen, obviously already concerned with another matter entirely.

(Lt. Garth, CSO)

OOC:
In this post I used an NE or “Nameless Ensign”. NEs often have names, but they’re basically minor background crew that are usually pretty expendable and have minimal impact on the story (think classic red shirts). You can create NEs as you like in side sims (which you are welcome to start if you wanted!) but for main sim threads NEs will likely be only the GMs, unless you ask for special permission. When someone posts about an NE, that character is still considered “theirs”, so you wouldn’t control Selik, for instance. Since I introduced him, I’m his writer. Does that make sense?

Ben

“Yes sir, thank you sir”, Aili announced, as if to the room itself. She nodded at Selik, before turning and making her way to the lab doors. She made it most of the way before catching her foot on the base of a container sitting along her path. Stumbling, she caught a worksurface, steadied herself, straightened up and left the lab without looking back. The burning feeling of embarrasement was something she was unfamiliar with. Aili usually didn’t care much for the opinions of those who would be so needlessly judgmental in the first place. That was a rather academic view of things however, and the feeling that she’d made a fool of herself on front of Selik overtook her as she made her way to the turbolift.

(Cadet McMorran, Science)

OOC: Yes, I’ve seen them around while catching up on the sim. :) I see, that’s a sensible mechanism then.
Jamie