Departmental Admin (part 1)

Posted on Fri Oct 16th, 2020 @ 3:06pm by Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jackson & Lieutenant JG Ronnie Wolfe & Ensign Maria Delgado & Lieutenant Aenar Torek

1,085 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Eye of the Storm

ON

He adjusted the plate one more time, just to make sure. Aenar knew it was displacement activity - waiting on his subordinate officers to come and meet him properly for the first time was proving to be a nerve-wracking experience. The Bajoran had arranged a breakfast meeting as a way of introducing himself to his team, and to find out more about their work and projects.

Aenar adjusted the plate again as he eyed up the coffee, tea and fruit juices he had had prepared for them.

Ronnie was the first to arrive. She left Elsa with the holonanny. Now that she was back with her family, she was looking forward to doing a little work. She walked in and smiled at the new Chief. "Hi. Nice to officially meet you. I'm Ronnie Lancaster. Well, Wolfe, officially." She extended her hand. "Welcome to the Calypso."

'Thank you Lieutenant, I'm glad to say the welcome has been warm, despite the situation the Calypso found herself in as I arrived.' He took her hand and shook it, before giving her the traditional Bajoran greeting, 'Please, help yourself to the food and drink, if you wish.'

"Thanks." She went over to the table to see what there was. She put a few items on a plate, got a drink and went back to the table.

Lizzie and Maria came in together. "Hi!" the blonde said cheerfully. "You must be the new boss. I'm Elizabeth Jackson. I manage the arboretum."

"And I am Maria," sad the Latina.

'A pleasure to meet you both,' replied Aenar with a smile and his customary greeting. 'Help yourself to what's on the table. I hope there is something that you'll find to enjoy there. And then please take a seat and make yourselves comfortable.' He fidgeted with his hands for a moment, a nervous habit he had never managed to shake. 'I think,' he said eventually, 'you're the longest-serving Science Officers aboard ship, from what I can work out.'

"Lizzie and I have been here from the first launch, along with the Commodore and Colonel Raine. Except that Sam with the head of science then. She wasn't promoted until the former captain had to leave.

Lizzie nodded. "Sam designed the arbortum, too."

'I had no idea she designed the arboretum,' replied Aenar in surprise. 'I thought she was an archaeologist though?' He took a seat, 'however, this meeting is about you and your projects, I can follow anything incidental up later.' He turned to Lizzie first, 'so, your work at the arboretum takes up most of your time? Do you often try out new specimens there?'

"We have a workroom where we experiment with hybrids," the botanist said. "If we like what we get, we move it to an area in the upper arboretum to see how it grows. We're working to see if we can create more robust food sources for colonists."

'That sounds like a worthwhile trial - have you had many successes so far, or is it too early to tell?'

"We've been here for a decade." It didn't seem that long, but Lizzie had looked it up the other day when going over orders for the arboretum. "We have a 20% success rate with initial experiments so far. Of that 20%, 80% are viable."

'That's a decent success rate,' Aenar paused as he took a sip of his drink, 'do you have any ideas how you'd increase it? Or is that impossible without additional equipment, time or input?'

"We'd need more space, and we're fortunate enough to have a larger-than normal one for a starship," she said. "The other option is to take out all the trees and make the entire arboretum experimental, but that will take away from one of the purposes of having the place to begin with. So, I think we're basically good where we are--unless you have other ideas."

'I'm not here to change things drastically. The Caly has a reputation for being a good berth for science officers, and that's down to the work here. However, if you want more space, I can ask to see what they can do for us?'

Lizzie raised an eyebrow. "We can talk about options. Maybe medical wants to use some plants, too. That could require another workroom."

'Good, while we're heading for some R-and-R I'll write up a proposal and see what they make of it, if you'd like to give some input?' Aenar made some notes on his PADD as he spoke.

"Sure. I'll be happy to give you some suggestions." Lizzie grinned. "I'm always full of suggestions."

Ronnie looked at the botanist and chuckled. "She definitely is."

'Good - I'm always open to suggestions, so the more the merrier as far as I'm concerned,' Aenar flashed a grin at his officers. He was beginning to relax and enjoy himself, 'and Ensign Delgado, you're the resident archaeologist, no?'

"Second to the Commodore," Maria grinned. "I am an archaeologist, sí. If the site involves caves or ancient cities, she is usually the one to go, but I do all the secondary work, and some of the general science, so I keep busy enough." She didn't mind letting Sam do much of the primary archaeological work as she had more experience and insight. It also gave Maria time to look into how the different sites fit into the greater listing of archaeological sites. It allowed her to publish several papers comparing different colonization techniques.

'So long as your work keeps you happy - as I'm an archaeologist by training, I don't want to crowd the space if the Commodore is also heavily involved. There'll be plenty else for me to do I'm sure,' Aenar smiled kindly at the Ensign.

"I'm fine doing the computer work," she said. "There are many ways to be an archaeologist. As for the Commodore, she only gets involved if it's her specialty. Most of the time she stays on the ship."

'That's good - again I'm happy you're enjoying your current project, which is?'

"I'm doing comparison analyses between the ancient cultures we find and modern society. And helping map the location of said ancient cultures," Maria replied. She enjoyed the organizational work as much as she enjoyed field work.

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Aenar Torek
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant JG Ronnie Lancaster
Assistant Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant JG Elizabeth Jackson
Botanist

Ensign Maria Delgado
Archaeologist

 

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