Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Kiama Naim ((A) Chief Science Officer) in Deck Four- A Garden in the Works

Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Deck Four- A Garden in the Works

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Kiama Naim ((A) Chief Science Officer) in Deck Four- A Garden in the Works
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Faye carefully laid the tube in a snaking pattern, knowing well in advance what would be planted there. Turning at the hips, she planted on hand and nodded, rather pleased with herself. “I’m happy with the progress. Most the hardscaping is in place. Now it’s about building up the levels to create height. I still have some arbours and other small things to install, but the rest will be soil distribution and planting.”

She smirked. “That wife of yours even helped me start some seedlings. There’s a good chance she’ll even get to plant the seedlings with me and get to see the results.” Faye held up her index finger to her lips. “But shhhh! don’t tell her. I wouldn’t want to jinx it knowing her black thumb history.”

~Faye Calloway, Data Specialist & Gardening Enthusiast

“Jasmine?” Max asked, looking confused slightly. “Jasmine helped you plant some seeds? Well I don’t think you have too much to worry about,” he smiled, and began to walk a path around the room inspecting elements of the system on his check sheet. “She’s an absolute machine when it comes to the anatomy of a person and she has a passion for whatever she chooses to involve herself in, she’s better than she says when it comes to plants though. I’m just glad she got out of the sick bay for a while.” Max laughed, but in his head he decided he would have to check the last time he changed the pot plant in their quarters for a new live one of the same variety. He never told Jasmine he swapped the dying plant out, just swapped it. So far, she thought they had had that same plant since they got married.

Lt Cmdr Wynter, CE

“I don’t know if you should thank me just yet, but yeah, we were chatting in sickbay and we decided to change things up. I don’t exactly have a lot of hobbies except for this,” she said, gesturing to the in-progress garden.

Moving over to what she was created as a terraced sort of hill, she hopped up over the front of the retaining wall and climbed a couple terrace levels. Crouching carefully, Calloway looked over at Wynter and nodded. “The inner drainage system was installed earlier and seems good to go. Once we get the soil in, I wanted to test it though, before I start planting. I was thinking of a timed watering cycle test, unless you would prefer something else. If anything is wrong, I don’t want to make more work for any of us.”

~Faye Calloway, Data Specialist

It was then that another person entered what would soon be the ship’s arboretum. Yet instead of walking up the Calloway and Wynter, Naim stayed close to the door. In fact, she stayed right next to the door, leaning against the wall and watching the two of them while trying not to draw attention to herself. She didn’t know either of them very well yet, but she’d taken an instant liking to both of them and it filled her with happiness to see Faye working on something she clearly enjoyed deeply.

~Lt.jg. Naim, aCSO

Calloway spied the scientist and gave her a nod, gesturing for her to venture closer. “Don’t worry, I do’t bit and neither do any fo the bed. Can’t promise the same for future plants, but I promise to put up signs,” she joked.

~Faye Calloway, Data Specialist

Naim returned the nod and smiled at Calloway as he pushed herself off the wall. “Good to know,” she replied with a wink, making her way towards the two of them. Once she was standing next to them, she said, “Commander, Lieutenant,” before asking, “What are your next steps going to be?” Her gaze wandered around the room, trying to take in as much as possible. Even though there was still some work to do, she could easily imagine what the arboretum would look like once it was finished and just thinking of it brought a smile to face.

~Lt.jg. Naim, aCSO

“Well, Faye wants to do a test of the watering system which isn’t going to be a problem. We have plenty of designs for irrigation and watering needs based from other systems so what I want to focus more on is the plan for what goes where.” Max lowered the PaDD and tucked it under his arm, then gestured to the ceiling. “We can adjust the amount of UV light depending on what goes where, specifically angled for best results. I can have a computer controlled system that adjust lighting on specific plants based on size and environment, so if you have a plan of what you want where, I can start having the computer assign a lighting plan as a starting point. What do you think Lieutenant?” Max asked Naim and looked at Faye as well, he was just an Engineer, as long as this place made something edible he would secretly consider it useful.

Lt Cmdr Wynter, CE

“It sounds good to me,” Naim replied with maybe a hint of uncertainty detectable in her voice. Chuckling softly, she added with a slightly sheepish expression, “While I am a biologist, plants have never been my forte. If you want an expert opinion, Lieutenant Calloway is the person to ask. Unless you have questions about nervous systems.” Looking at Wynter and then at Calloway, she continued, “Seriously though, I know enough about plants that I’d say adjustable UV light sounds like a idea. Have you planned yet what you’d like to plant were?”

~Lt.jg. Naim, aCSO

She nodded and carefully rose to her feet, balancing on the edge of the stone retaining wall that held the tier she was standing on. Gesturing over to Naim’s left, Faye smiled. “So basically, much of this will be pathways lined with beds. I will eventually have more hardscaping and larger shrubs and even small trees that will create quiet spaces. In the middle we’re looking at more open, formal styled beds and over there”-she gestured the area to the CSO’s right-“will be beds for food production. At least that’s what I’ve had in my head as I started all this.”

Looking at each direction Faye pointed out, Kiama saw the arboretum come to life in front of her mind’s eye as she listened to Faye’s description. A soft, moonstruck smile on her face.

Carefully, Faye stepped down to the next tier ledge and then hopped off over the last two to the ground, flexing her knees enough to cushion the shock. “All in all, I’m looking forward to seeing how it comes along.”

~Faye Calloway, Data Specialist

After blinking a couple of times, Kiama turned and looked at Faye again. “Me too,” she said softly. After one more look around she continued, “I’m happy to help in whichever way I can. Just let me know what you need.” While she wasn’t exactly a gardener herself, she had always enjoyed being outside and surrounded by nature. It was one of the things she was missing serving on a starship. Also, Faye’s passion for this project was contagious. In a good way.

~Lt.jg. Naim, aCSO

“Seeing as we are producing something useful in here,” Max grinned, his comment pointing out a typical view that inedible planets were a waste of time to some people’s opinions, although they looked nice sometimes, “what would the chance be of securing a small plot to grow chillies, specifically. I might even get the Science dept involved in a quest to make the galaxies hottest chilli.”

Lt Cmdr Wynter, CE