Posted by Ensign Kalani Kāne (Scientist) in Kane meets the Captain

Posted by Captain Dante Knight (Commanding Officer) in Kane meets the Captain

Posted by Lieutenant Natasha Daye (Doctor) in Kane meets the Captain
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Kalani walked up to the Captain’s office and rang the door chime. It was not exactly customary for one to meet with the new CO when arriving on a ship but Kalani was not exactly ordinary. She did not arrive with a simple duffle bag sporting a slightly disheveled uniform and jet-lagged eyes from several days of traveling. Kane was arriving with numerous bags, bowls, cages, and aquariums. The main reason she was standing outside this door was to get one, Mr. Dante Knight, to approve her request. His okay would supersede all others. His permission would allow her to nudge Alindor to complete the designs she needed through engineering. His endorsements would allow her to bring back items on all away missions. Of all the people that Kalani needed to back her, Dante was the most important. Smoothing down her shirt she waited for him to grant her access to his office. “You got this. I mean if you could get Drudoc to sign off then you could sell beachfront property in the middle of a desert,” she gave herself a small pep-talk.

Ensign Kalani Kane, science

The door opened, and through it Kane would see the ships Captain, red uniform, shaped beard and dark hair, standing in front of the wall console that could be used for larger communication’s and was simply easier to see than the small console at his desk. The man seemed, from his posture, agitated. A large cup of coffee rested in one hand, and the other rested on his waist in the time honored ‘Oh no you didn’t just say that’ pose.

“What do you mean that the Starbase has no more transparent aluminium in stock? You have to get your industrial replicators to make some? I had that requisition in a week ago!” The tone of his voice stated that he wasn’t impressed, and he looked around at the person at the door. Young, blue uniform of the science division, darker skinned and slightly exotic, and an Ensign. That made his eyebrow rose slightly but he gave her what passed as a welcome smirk, and pointed at the replicator and then the chair in front of his desk and turned back to the view screen.

Kalani worked hard not to let the surprise show on her face. Years of living with a father in the diplomatic corp had taught her a poker face even if she had no idea how to actually play that game. She had always just assumed it was Yahtzee with cards which could explain why she was so bad at it. Nodding she walked over to the replicator. Since her back was to the man, he would not see her concentrating on eavesdropping. Please don’t link that with me, she thought as she whispered a request for coffee as to not disturb the Captian’s conversation and to not miss a word being said.

=/\= The transparent aluminium was requisition a couple of hours ago Sir =/\= the man on the screen told him, a big looking Caitian from the Stations Supply section. =/\= It was urgent apparently for scientific reasons. I’m sorry Captain, your order was deemed to be not a primary request =/\=

Think Kane think. Why would the man need that much transparent aluminum. she asked herself taking a seat and letting her eyes drift around the room but her hearing trained exactly on him.

With a sigh, and a shake of his had, Dante turned of the screen and muttered to himself. “And your mother has hairballs” was all that Kane would hear as he turned to her, finished his coffee and moved back to his chair. “I’m sorry for the wait, the Supply section seems to have assigned my order of Transparent Aluminium and UV lights to another place, but moving on. “How may I help you Ensign?” he asked her.

Captain Knight
CO

“If I may be so bold,” she asked looking at him. “Why do you need transparent aluminum and UV lights,” Kalani asked sincerely. Her list of supplies was exact but maybe she could spare some of her stockpiles if it would get her in good with the new CO. The man, while clearly agitated, was still being pleasant. That state might change if she was indeed the reason he did not get what he had requested. Kane would tread lightly in this subject. Like a swimmer amid a sea of jellyfish. She would swim slowly and avoid any invisible stingers that could reach out at any minute and slap her across the face.

Lt. Kalani Kane, Science

The Captain sighed and moved to the replicator, and moments later had another coffee that he walked back to his chair with. “Ensign, have you ever had a child that continually tried to escape? Someone with so much free will and inexplicable will to explore and create mayhem that in order to ensure that nobody is disturbed, and nothing important eaten. Sometimes, creating a play pen that might satisfy said child might be the only thing left to do, and I am sure it might improve relations with my Fiancee. Having a 70 kilogram, two meter long monitor lizard join you in bed after a long day because he is cold isn’t the most alluring way to spend an evening, especially when he’s cottoned on the ‘red ball on a string from the ceiling’ trick and won’t chase it now.”

“Whoa whoa whoa are you telling me you have a fully matured Varanus salvator. On this ship,” she said staring at him in disbelief. “And he is yours. Like yours yours and not mine as in the science departments.” Kalani did not even blink at the comment about the fiancee or the fact the creature seemed to like to play with a ball.

I’ve died and gone to heaven. If this guy is actually letting the critter in bed with him then I have got it made. He has to be an animal lover and maybe I can finagle visits to my lab under controlled circumstances that is. He is a top predator so it is not like you can let him just go swimming with the fishes Kalani but this is good news, she monologed to herself.

“I was going to commission a holding pen for him, especially after the incident where, well, never mind about that. But by the looks of things, my supplies have been taken by some person doing scientific experiments on weird creatures and my Lizard wasn’t a priority. If I get my hands on that insane scientist, I am going to introduce him to Bruce, stick a red ball on his rear end and tell him to run. Now, what was it you wanted exactly?”

Captain Knight

Danger Kalani Robinson Danger, the warning klaxon went off in her mind bringing Kalani back to reality. “Something that could make both our lives a bit easier. As you now from my dossier I am an evolutionary biologist. My specialty is climatic changes in ecosystems. I have a small series of longitudinal experiments that show the progression of adding even a simple bacterium to a stable system. People worry all the time about the Prime Directive and interfering with sentient cultures. My focus is more like a Biological Prime Directive. Yes, the transporters filter out things like phaser blasts but human hosts have caused more First contact issues than words. Look at Influenza. Across time memorial and space that disease and variants of it have infected civilizations across planets and across light years. Most cultures have a form of it with varying amounts of contagiousness. Now I am not suggesting we turn the Saracen into a floating pathogenic lab. I am suggesting you allow me to have some lab space where I can continue my studies of how Vulcan desert grass can purify the air in arid environments where technology has outpaced the ability for a climate to adapt. Few of my specimens are cute and cuddly. They are mostly slime molds and other basic life forms. If you do have some available space I can probably repurpose what I own in tanks and terrariums and help create a magical place for your lizard to explore. Asian water monitors are notorious for wanting to pretend they are alligators and swish about any open standing water.” Hoping she might be hooking him, Kalani continued. “I can probably create an environment that would give him native grasses and substrates to make him think he is on the reptile version of Risa.”

While it was not her initial thought to create a habitat for a single creature, the lizard in question would be the largest organism in her lab. It might yield a lot of information as long as he was kept isolated. Entering her megapolis terrarium would be like letting Godzilla loose on Tokoya.

Ensign Kalani Kāne

Listening to the woman talk about her experiments, mold and sludge, as well as being able to make room for Bruce in whatever scheme she had planned, Dante suddenly felt the little lightbulb go off in his mind. “You took my supplies?” He asked her, taking a seat and lifting his coffee to his lips while eyeing her with a look that might have been suspicion, or might have been just one step short of being humored. It was hard to tell.

“Took is such a strong word. I prefer to think of it like appropriating supplies which,” she held up a finger, “were all work related. I needed some supplies. Time was of the essence so to be fair I asked your chief of engineering for a bit of help in getting the stuff I requisitioned. Lt. Alindor was very efficient and I am sure can help me create a vivarium that will have every herptologist and lizard lover envious for the next ten parsecs.”

“Who exactly are you, Ensign? I assume you are part of my crew?” he asked her, from all her waffling on she still hadn’t actually told him who she was, “and how much space are we talking here? You realize that a Varanus Salvator of Bruce’s size and temperament isn’t something to be taken lightly?

Captain Knight, CO

“Sorry sir, I am Ensign Kalani Kane from the sciences division. I just transferred from the Ark Angel under Captian Drudoc. I guess I am looking for a space that is about twenty feet by forty feet. I don’t need any specialized equipment but square footage,” she laughed. “I can do with less if you don’t have it but those specs would be ideal.”

Ensign Kalani Kane science

“Is that all?” Dante asked, with a slight smile while he brought up the ships schematics and her file alongside it. “What kind of safe guards is this, facility going to have in case you create some kind of biological monstrosity?” he said, sitting back in her chair as he eyed both of the items on the console.

“None of my animals are deadly except to each other. I am also not going to do anything to change the name of your ship from the Saracen to the USS Island of Dr. Moreaux,” she laughed. “I can assure you that nothing I have should kill someone if it got out barring some weird allergy to turtles or fish.

“You are bringing creatures on board my vessel, you understand that this vessel is not foremost a science ship so many of your chances to add to your collection might be limited? Have they been cleared of any infectious diseases? I’m going to be most disappointed if Bruce catches Klingon Herpes if he eat.. uhh.. interacts with any of your specimens.” He smirked and looked at Kalani from his reports, her file was most satisfactory and held good notations from her previous Captain, if her penchant for chatter and going off topic had been noted.

Captain Knight, CO

“Not any more disappointed than the critter he just ate,” she shot back with a smile. “As to my collection of samples to add to my experiment,” Kalani began to explain, “I am not picky. “Rodent, random blades of grass, flying insect, pollen, seeds, or spores it doesn’t really matter. Sure I would be on cloud nine to actually choose my sample but I try to replicate the transportation of foreign material into a stable ecosystem. The replicators do a wonderful job of sterilizing us as we land and return from other places. This means that ninety percent of what I bring on board the ship will have to come via shuttles. This does severely limit my ability to collect things and the space I need to house my samples. That also then brings us back around to lab space,” she smiled at him. “So got any free hangar bays you are not currently using? It has been my dream to build a fully working coral reef system but the issue with that is height and not width. Water, as you know, has an insane amount of pressure per square inch. To replicate a working tropical system I would need a minimum of 60 feet vertically. The only way to get that is knocking out a few walls.”

Dante almost choked on his coffee, almost. He gently placed the cup back down and scratched absently at the light beard that framed his mouth and chin, eyed the specs and then looked at Kalani again and shook his head slightly. “Lets just see about this Terrarium come Vivarium first, shall we? Coral Reefs might be slightly harder to do in an area where we can open the hangar doors and vent everything to space, plus it might be hard then for you to collect things in shuttles, we would need more of, a submarine we drop off and pick up again wouldn’t we?” While his tone was absolutely matter of fact, it was rather clear that Dante was teasing and converting a shuttle bay into a coral reef was not really going to be a thing on his Battlecruiser, unless maybe they decided to go to war with the Xindi Aquatics and have a spear fishing competition. That thought made Dane smile slightly.

While most of what she was saying was meant in a joking manner, the core of what she just said had a nugget of truth. One day she would find a captian that would knock out some wall and floor panels. Whether Dante was that captian remained to be seen. At least now she had somewhere to negoiate. If she had walked in and asked for enough room for ten cages, Dante could easily countered the request with a closet. Setting the bar at empy hangar gave them a jumping off point so to speak.

Ensign Kalani Kane, science

“I think one of the Supply labs has a storage closet thats free” he said, flicking over the specs before pausing over something that suddenly became interesting, well two things actually as his other window began to ‘ping’ with mission reports from the Ark Angel which Kalani was recently aboard.

“Okey Ensign, listen. I have a solution to your issue. The Science Labs are on Deck 4, and we generally use the Storage bays on that Deck for Science Lab storage. I am going to authorize the use of one of these Storage Bays, of the size you indicated, for your experiments.” Dante looked at her and smiled.

“On the Condition” he said, holding up a hand, “That Lieutenant Graham, your Department Head, gives his approval for the use of the facility and the use of your time” he reminded her, “You ARE a Science Officer aboard the U.S.S. Saracen, Ensign Kane, and not a private Scientist, so these experiments, while I believe have merit, are of a personal nature and need to be approved by your Department Head. On that Condition, I will authorize the use of the storage bay, understood?”

Now, Dante leaned forwards and looked at her carefully and back at the screen. “But I beleive there may be a slight problem” he said, and turned around the screen for her to view. On it was a list of creatures she had brought aboard the Saracen, and one, marked in red, was a Fennec Fox. Dante then pointed at the opposite sid of the screen. “The Ark Angel was recently in the Corvega III System while you were a member of the crew” he told her, then sat back in his seat.

“You may not be aware, miss Kane, that shortly after your departure the system experienced a Leishmaniasis epidemic among the canine populations. I understand from the Ark Angels reports that you brought aboard a number of specimens of various things from that planet? And you did so by shuttle, not transporter that would filter out viruses? In any case Miss Kane, the reports arrived two days ago that the Epidemic has broken out. I have no need to tell you that Leishmaniasis is contractable by humans, and I greatly hope you have not had this little guy being handled by too many people in your travels. Now it may be nothing, but I want that creature, and yourself, checked by Medical and get a clearance, in the meantime I want it and anything in your specimen list that may carry this disease quarantined. Once cleared, they are free to exit quarantine and do what you do.”

Captain Knight, CO