[snip]

Within another hour or two the team had the probes setup for launch, both for those to J17 and those to the further away nebula to collect the helium feeding organisms.

After not hearing from Engineering with the span of a couple of hours, a message chimed in from the bridge to the engineering comm, =^=Itri to Engineering and Ensign Baptiste, what is the status on those probes? They must be ready before we reach our destination. =^=

Itri, XO

=^=Engineering, Hobbes here,=^= Katie said after tapping her communicator. =^=We’re making our final adjustments now on the passive probe and are starting preparations on a more comprehensive active probe. I’m estimating that the passive probe will be ready in a few minutes.=^=

She turned to Kaden.

“Mister Buchanan. Call it when you’re ready.”

Kaden then responded, =/\=The probe is ready to go. I have added the needed changes to make this probe passive to obtain the data we are looking for. I have also ran a number of simulations and I believe we are not going to interrupt anything to not break any Starfleet regulations=/\= He then shut the final panel on the probe and loaded it up. He awaited the final order to launch the probe.

Ensign Buchanan Eng Officer

LtJg Katherine (Katie) Hobbes, Chief Engineer

=^=Very good Ensign Buchanan. Hold them in place till we reach our destination and then we will coordinate their launch.=^=

The news that engineering had their probes set up and ready to launch made her feel more at ease, and she felt more confident they would be able to gather the data they needed for Dr. Stacey to refine the prosthetics.

Itri, XO

=/\=They are now ready to be launched. I will await further orders on the launch before doing so. Just say the order and it will be completed=/\= Kaden responded to the Commander. He was excited to see what sort of information would come back from this.

Ensign Baptiste went over to one of the work stations and started the interface sequence for the workstation to the probe. He wanted to be ready to start analyzing the data it would send as soon as possible. He was anxious for the lunch of the probes.

Kaden then looked up to the medical ensign and said, “If you need any help with the analyzing of the data from an engineering standpoint, I am ready and willing once the probes are launched and the data starts coming in.” Kaden wanted to make sure he was being as helpful as he could without being too excited to see what the results were.

Ensign Buchanan Eng Officer

With all things set they were as ready to launch as they would be!

GM CockRoach