Explore Wet New Worlds

Posted on Tue Jan 31st, 2017 @ 4:49am by Ensign Theodore Vega & Lieutenant Ryan North

Episode: Fishing Expedition
Location: Science Lab
Timeline: MD 0

Ryan dropped the PADD back on science lab desk. Truthfully, he still wasn't sure exactly how they had accomplished the rescue of the De Salle's crew. Well, that wasn't entirely true. He understood a good deal of the science involved. He had just not expected it to work out so well for them all in the end. There was some minor damage to the ship's transporter systems but not something that their operations department and engineering departments couldn't work out for themselves in the end. He knew that Jean would want his notes and contribution to the paper he intended on writing ASAP.

There was sound of a door opening as his only staff member entered the science lab. Theo walked through the door, clutching a pair of transporter test units, each easily half his height. Hearing movement, he carefully tried to peer around them. "Oh, sir. I didn't expect you to be here." Ryan bounded up from his seat as soon as Theo came into the lab. He hurried over and took one of the canisters from him.

"How did you make it all the way down here without hurting yourself, you can barely see around those things."

"Mostly I just looked at the ceiling to make sure I was going straight," Theo said, "and relying on the politeness and quick reactions of my crewmates."

"You should have asked for help," Ryan said, setting down the canister near the diagnostic table. "I used to be a stupid MACO, I'm used to carring unwielding things around... I swear if my late husband were around he would have made some sort of off color joke."

"It was just some cleanup, sir, nothing worth bothering you over," Theo assured him. "These are the custom test units we had left over."

Ryan waved that comment away. "I thought I made it clear Theo that I wasn't above doing any of the cleaning up around here. Anyways, I'm glad that you are here, I sent off that DNA Assessment of the Flora and Fauna to Starfleet Command, they were pretty impressed with it. But aside from that Lt. Reynard is chomping at the bit to get this paper written and I could use your help."

"Sure thing," Theo replied. "Hopefully not with a section on gleaning up boiled algae, though."
"Well, we can probably leave that part out. I've also placed a commendation in your record for your help," Ryan nodded.

"It really wasn't much work at all," Theo said. "Just coming up with the substitute biomatter."

"Don't be modest," Ryan said, gesturing towards a chair near the workstation that he had been on when Theo first arrived in the room. He took a seat on the other side of the desk and started typing in commands. "We never would have gotten it done without your help. Speaking of help, I was wondering if you would like to get your feet wet on some away mission work... literally."

"I'm a biologist, sir," Theo said. "If I wanted to stay on the ship my entire life, I would have been an astrophysicist."

"This is Verona IV," Ryan said turning the display so that Theo could see it. "It's covered by 98% water and home to the N'Taluons. They just recently achieved warp 5 speeds last year. The Federation made contact with them six months ago. As far as species go they are pretty much standard humanoids, blue skin, gills and lungs, and some other minor traits that the report failed to mention. The Federation has been working with them on creating a research base on Verona IV."

"Standard bio-assay outpost or something like that?" Theo ventured. "Catalogue local life while looking harmless and doing cultural outreach?"

"Ah," Ryan said, holding up a finger. He tapped in another command and the screen shifted away from the mostly blue planet to show a series of wildlife, none of which he had ever seen before. "The marine life has been charted as having massive bioelectric outputs. And by massive, I mean... well I don't know what to compare it too because there really isn't anything to compare it too."  

Studying some of the images and accompanying data, Theo shook his head. "That's got to be a unit conversion error, right? Trying to generate that kind of current in a biological substrate doesn't seem possible."

"That's what we thought at first," Ryan nodded. "But a team from the Normandy verified the same readings. That's part of the reason that we are going to go to Verona IV. It will be you, me, and Ensign Krylore. I tried to tell command that I doubt we would need protecting but they didn't seem to believe me. I even pointed out that I was a former MACO and they still insisted that we take a security officer along."

"Well, I certainly won't complain about someone to lift heavy sample containers," Theo said, leaving off other reasons not to complain that may or may not have involved muscles. "98% water cover? Not many beaches then, I guess."

"Maybe one or two," Ryan said, with a shrug. "Most of their cities are built on massive floating platforms. The research station is located 2 kilometers away from their capital city."

"Platform and station don't sound very sandy," Theo replied. "Maybe we'll just have to bring some with us."

"I can't see how that can possibly go wrong, how much do you think that we could fit into the cargo bay on the runabout?" Ryan asked. "But don't worry, I made sure that I we will have plenty of time off. There's this great little resort they have near the equator that offers a lot of interesting things. After we finish our work of course."

"And assuming you can drag me away from giant electric life-forms." Theo frowned. "Hopefully not too aggressive giant electric life-forms?"

"They haven't shown aggressive tendencies towards our probes," Ryan admitted, with a shrug of his shoulders. "However, that might all change when we get into close proximity with them. I'm still getting the final updates from command but we should have everything ironed out in a few days. Do you know much about this Ensign Krylore they're sending with us?"

"Nooope," Theo said, slowly shaking his head. "I know him but I can't really think of anything relevant, unless you want him to teach the aliens to play soccer."

"He plays soccer?" Ryan asked.

"Yeah, he was on one of the other academy teams," Theo said. "Sadly, it's not as applicable to the mission as beach volleyball would have been."

"I'm sure we could make do," Ryan said, with a shrug. "I've been wanting to spend more time with him. His species is fascinating from both a biological and cultural standpoint."

Theo crossed his arms and gave Ryan a frown. "He is not a science experiment."

"I wasn't saying he was," Ryan replied, with a raised eyebrow. "From my interactions with him on here he seems more than happy to expand on his species culture. I'm not a total idiot Theo, I won't ask anything that that's way out of line. You seem pretty... protective of him."

"Protective? I'm not protective," Theo said. "I'm just culturally sensitive to the needs of individuals from atypical species."

Ryan surpressed a smile. "Theo calm down. Is Vex a friend of yours? I apologize if you thought I was being insenstive towards your friend."

Uh oh. Theo realized that maybe indirectly calling his boss insenstive was a bad idea. "No, you're fine, I'm just overreacting. Yes, we are friends."

"That's great, at least you two will get to spend some time together," Ryan said. "Anyways, I can't wait to get this mission started. It looks to be something very promising. We shove off at 0500 tomorrow morning, any questions?"

"No, sir," Theo said. "I'll get all the data Starfleet has on the planet put together. Would you like me to put together a summary for Vex? Or pack any equipment that they might not have on site?"

"Sure, I can handle that," Ryan said, with a nod. "I'll see you in the morning."

OFF:

Lt jg Ryan North
Chief Science Officer, USS Highlander

Ensign Theo Reyes
Xenobiology, USS Highlander
PNPC Reynard