Switching Things Up

Posted on 14 Nov 2018 @ 4:40pm by Commander Marisa Wyatt & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

764 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD -174, 1000 hours

[ON]

It took Marisa a day to find time when both she and the Captain were free, but finally she was on her way to see the Captain, with some of Heinu's candy in a bag.

She rang the door chime and waited.

A couple seconds passed then Lirha's distinctive light voice sounded from the other side of the entrance to her office. "Yes, enter," came her reply, which automatically unlocked the door and allowed it to swish open. Behind her desk, the Orion captain was sipping a steaming mug of hot chocolate while browsing through some files at her LCARS terminal.

"Hi," Marisa said, putting a small bag with some of the Lorandan Plos Heinu gave her on the desk. "Do you have a minute?"

The captain looked from her screen to the new arrival and greeted the CSO when she entered. "Hello, Marisa. Yes, have a seat." Lirha finished entering a series of notes into her terminal's keypad then tapped the large button on the side to turn the screen back. "For me?" she asked, looking at the bag.

"Yes. It's something one of the scientists on the ship made, and kind of the reason I'm here," Marisa said.

"What..." Lirha looked closely at the bag, then picked it up to inspect the treats further, "...is it? Food?"

"Yes. Candied Lorandan Plos. Try one. They're quite good," Marisa said. "Petty Officer Heinu Reteif made them. He's a botanist."

The captain didn't know what she was looking at and instead gave a simple smile of appreciation for the gift. "I will," she replied before setting them aside and wondering what the visit was about. "What can I help you with?"

"Petty Officer Reteif is a phytosociologist who dabbles in horticulture," Marisa said. "To facilitate his specialty, I'd like to switch one of the labs to hydroponics."

"Hm. Hydroponics?" Lirha looked more closely at the bag then decided to open it and inspect one of the pieces. "Well, a section the botany lab could be adapted for a more water-based growing environment. Reteif is an experienced botanist if I recall."

"He is," Marisa replied. "I think he could do good things with a hydroponics area."

Lirha regarded the half-Vulcan with a curious expression. "An area how large?" she asked, wondering what the specifics of the proposed accommodation might be.

Marisa couldn't help smiling. "As large as I can get without compromising the needs of the ship."

The captain's green hands reached out and she picked up a nearby PADD. With a few delicate taps into the control pad, Lirha brought up a small schematic of the starship's internal laboratory configuration. "Well, we already have four multi-purpose labs on Deck 3 along with our medical lab," she mused to herself. "Perhaps you can make temporary accommodations in the planetary development lab down on Deck 4?" she suggested.

Marisa thought about the lab for a moment. "Yes, that could work." She was pretty sure Heinu would be able to do something with it.

"It's located near the geology and botany labs and is linked with all other ship-wide scientific instrumentation. Depending on the mission objective, it can be re-configured for a variety of scientific purposes," Lirha added. "With help from Ops, you can probably have it up and running in two weeks?" she proposed.

"That would work well," Marisa said. "And it would still give Heinu time to get the lab organized before we arrive."

"Good. Well, I have no objections. We have a long transit period which means plenty of time for research for you and your colleagues," Lirha approved. "I assume you talked to Commander Blake already and she is in agreement?"

"Not yet. I wanted to be sure it was okay with you first. Then I'll go down the chain of command."

"Very well. But up the chain of command next time, yes?" the captain corrected with a subtle reminder. "If she approves, I'll leave it to the two of you to coordinate with Ops." She reached for her mug of hot chocolate then took a long sip before setting it back down and licking the foam from her upper lip.

"Yes, ma'am," Marisa replied. "If there's nothing else, I'll leave you to your cocoa."

The captain arched a light-hearted eyebrow to the half-Vulcan. "Nothing else, unless you have any more requests? I am at your service. Dismissed," she said.

"No, ma'am." Marisa bowed to the Captain and took her leave.


[OFF]

Lieutenant Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

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CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

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