Posted by Lieutenant Garth (Chief Science Officer) in Side Sim - Cadet McMorran’s Presentation in Stellar Cartography

Posted by Cadet Aili McMorran (Scientist) in Side Sim - Cadet McMorran’s Presentation in Stellar Cartography

Posted by Commander Maxwell Harkness (Executive Officer) in Side Sim - Cadet McMorran’s Presentation in Stellar Cartography
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

The swoosh of the lab doors sliding open echoed through the space as Garth and Selik entered. McMorran spun around as they approached the central platform. She was nervous to present, especially with the unexpected arrival of the ensign, but was equally keen to get on with it. “Lieutenant Garth, Ensign Selik”, she nodded to each of the men. Then came Garth’s latter words and the near stopping of Aili’s heart. “You… you did? I see.” Spinning away she folded in on herself in every which way. She bit her lips, folded her eyes shut and pressed clenched fists to her chest. Why oh why would he do that? A moment of thought revealed several motivations for his distribution of invitations, not least the lieutanant’s personality. She leaned against a console to steady herself, mentally preparing for the heightened task she now faced. Public speaking wasn’t something that terrified Aili, she simply hadn’t anticipated or prepared for a presentation so public.

Cadets Trenton and Ryan enter Stellar Cartography together and take positions to either side of the door. With a general invite going out to the entire crew it was determined that a minimal security compliment would be necessary to maintain crew safety. When word had gone out, Trenton was first to respond and volunteered for the extra shift. Begrudgingly Ryan also volunteered so as not to be shown up by the newer cadet. Trenton smiled and gave a subtle nod of greeting to McMorran before continuing to scan the room to take a rough stock of how many people could fit into the room while internally planning what to do should too many people arrive.

• Cadet Ashlyn Trenton, Security

McMorran returned Trenton’s nod politely. At least you’ve met some of these people and gotten to know them a little. The thought provided some much needed relief; the fewer first impressions she would simultaneously be making the better. Ryan, on the other hand, was unkown to Aili but she smiled to him politely nonetheless.

As Max walked through the doors of Stellar Cartography, he pulled a blueberry out of the packet he was carrying and popped into his mouth. Nodding to the Cadets and Lt Garth, he moved towards the back of the room, and leaned against the wall. Ready to hear the Cadets presentation.

Cmdr. Harkness - XO

When the commander entered, Aili was struck by what she felt. Rather than boosting her nervousness, his presence sparked a mode of ambition. She was dead set on not only making a positive impression, but outright impressing him. This was as good a chance as any to be noticed by the higher-ups and she was damned if she was going to let it pass her by. If she’d had the time to reflect on her feelings, she would have been taken aback by her flaring careerist instincts, quite contrary to what she would have expected from herself on the basis of her past self-examination.

A few more cadets Aili recognised from around the decks poured into the lap and sat themselves on the back benches. The lab being fairly well filled up, McMorran turned to Garth, indicating with her eyes that she was considering the completeness of the arrivals. “Shall I begin Lieutenant?”

Cadet Aili McMorran - Science

OOC: Others can feel free to post between the above paragraphs if you want to add your character to the audience!

Lieutenant Garth pivoted awkwardly on his stool to look over either shoulder, then released a grunt of approval at the level of attendance. He clasped both hands around the head of his cane before using it as a gavel, raising it a couple inches off the ground before slamming it back into the bulkhead, creating a THUD THUD THUD meant to quiet the scattered conversation throughout the lab.

The tellarite’s beady eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he extended a stubby-fingered hand in McMorran’s direction, palm up. “Cadet McMorran, please proceed.” His gaze lingered on her for a moment, his expression some combination of ‘don’t mess this up’ and ‘make me proud’.

(Lt. Garth, CSO)

OOC: Sorry for the lengthiness! :D

An acknowledging nod came Garth’s way from McMorran. Still finding his manner largely cryptic, she thought she could make out some encouragement in his eyes. Her department head had been a positive figure during her time on the Challenger and she was hoping to make him proud. The cadet took a deep breath as she turned to face the audience at large. “Thank you for coming everyone!”, she announced, her eyes darting briefly to Garth as the uttered the last word. “This is a project I’ve been working on industriously and I’m proud of the outcome, so your interest means a lot to me.” As she spoke loudly, making sure she projected her words to the cadets at the back of the room, her gaze travelled a circuitous path meeting the eyes of each audience member. Her eyebrows were raised and her lips curled into a smile as best she could while she spoke, all with the goal of expressing her appreciation.

“Now, this is what I’ve been looking at.” She turned to the side and pressed a single control on the console. Overhead and all around, the display panned through simulated space, stars swirling across the great screen, until it arrived at the image of a pale blue nebula. “Now, we’re all familiar with at least the existence of gravitational waves from our academy physics classes. In the field of stellar cartography”, she gestured to highlight the lab they were situated in, “they are extremely useful in the detection of objects which would be difficult to locate through other means, especially those a great distance away. However, while we have sophisticated instruments capable of detecting them and telling us about the nature of the source, identifying the position of sources has remained more challenging.” The cadet again pressed a control. The image of the nebula displayed a brief flash before she continued. “When these waves pass through gas clouds or nebulae, it has recently been found that they stimulate some photon emission, emissions which are highly directionalised. It is my proposal that these emissions, specifically from reflecting nebulae like this one, constitute measurable signals which should allow us to better pinpoint the positions of distant supernovae, black holes and more.”

The cadet went on from her introduction to delve into the more intricate details of her theory and of the work she had done. She explained how she had modified one of the ship’s detectors, with the aid of the transporter chief, to detect the pertanent signals. Half an hour she spoke for with visualisations flashing across the display, towards the end of which she revealed that she had in fact made a detection within a few days of activating her detector and that she believed she had used it to identify and locate a new black hole in the Gamma Quadrant. She stressed, however, that this would require review and further investigation. “Thank you for listening everyone!”, she declared with raised hands pressed together as she completed the presentation. “Is there anything else you’d like to know?”, she asked, smiling at the audience. Her eyes gravitated to Garth despite her attempts to avoid unnecessarily encouraging questioning from him, as if he would be deterred from persistence by the behaviour of her eyeballs.

Cadet Aili McMorran - Science