Getting the Picture

Posted on Tue Apr 22nd, 2014 @ 4:53pm by Ensign Gregory Mason & Captain Tim Williams

Episode: Orphans
Location: USS Highlander - Astrometrics Lab
Timeline: MD08 0942hrs

ON:

The doors to the astrometrics lab opened almost before Tim started to turn to head inside, and once again Tim wondered whether his ship had grown accustomed to him to the point of being able to predict which doors to open before he had even gotten there. The captain found Gregory within, who he had noticed was absent from the bridge during their take-off; likely studying the space around the ship to try and get a feel for where they were going, Tim had decided. The old engineer had felt the subtle shift in the vibration of the deckplates that indicated the ship had gone to warp whilst he was in the turbo-lift, and so guessed that the ensign had probably pointed the astrometrics sensors to scan their course ahead.

"Morning Greg," he said, as the doors to the chamber closed behind him, and he approached the central array of work consoles.

Gregory cast a glance over his shoulder at the sound of the captain's voice. A part of him wondered if perhaps Williams had come looking for him again. This was Gregory's first departure as a department head and, although he had given a lot of thought to whether or not manning the bridge science station was really the best place for him to be, he hadn't exactly been sure to check with anyone else before acting on it. Still, the young science officer was not nearly as startled by the older man's entrance and that certainly had to count for something. "Captain," Gregory responded, turning his body to better acknowledging Williams' presence.

"How much do you know about terraforming?" the captain said, as he approached one of the consoles and started tapping in commands to redirect the long range sensors slightly, and interface them with some of Starfleet's subspace telescopic arrays. His casual attitude was there as ever, but he was clearly going straight to work.

"To be honest, I've spent more time looking at the stars than I have the ground beneath my feet," Gregory confessed. Half a heartbeat passed before the young science officer realized it could have sounded as if he knew nothing about the subject at all. While it was true Gregory knew a lot about astronomy and stellar cartography, he supposed any captain might not have been thrilled if their Chief Science Officer didn't at least know something about terraforming. Quickly, he added, "...but we covered a fair bit at the Academy. Minor short-term adjustments, major long-term projects..."

"Well, your task - for the next few days at least - is to learn as much as you can about this place." Tim tapped a couple more controls, and the holographic systems materialised a single planet in the space between them and the door, though it kept the rest of the lighting at normal levels, unlike in Tim's previous demonstration. The viewscreen at the rear of the astrometrics lab showed a map of the region of space near the Cardassian and Talarian borders, with a single system high-lighted in circular brackets - a small amount of data scrolling down to the left of it, along with the name Dreyas.

Gregory studied the three-dimensional image a moment. There were several areas of the planet's surface that didn't seem quite in line with what one might have expected. Whether that had more to do with the holographic imaging system or the source data, though, Gregory wasn't quite sure. "Planning a vacation already, captain," the young science officer ventured.

"We're going to be taking some colonists there," Tim said, as he pulled up some of the data that he had come down here wanting to look at in regards to the planet on one of the control console screens. "Starfleet began terraforming new colony worlds after the Dominion War to help account for refugees and the like. This one they started on around ten years ago."

"That would explain it, then," Gregory mused to himself.

"Explain what?" Tim asked, seeing that the scientist had been studying the holographic image as he'd brought it up. "Seen anything interesting already?"

"This region here..." Gregory began, stepping around the hovering image before them. He pointed to one of the unusual renderings he'd noticed earlier near the eastern edge of a smaller continent. "I'm not an expert in planetary biomes or anything, but this just looks a little too perfect for natural development," he explained, "...but if they started ten years ago, then we're looking at a long-term terraforming project which probably means these are extrapolated renderings and not real-time data."

Tim nodded at that. "We're a bit too far out to receive any real-time data from the satellites left to monitor the terraforming. They were designed to transmit their data short-range; a Starfleet ship heads out about once a year to collect the data. We'll probably be able to get readings with our own sensors before we can link up with the monitoring satellites."

The young science officer pondered the slowly rotating planet before them another moment. A part of him wondered what might happen if they made the trip all the way out there only to discover the terraforming process wasn't actually finished. It had to be a rather remote possibility, given the attention to detail that was often characteristic of the Federation Terraforming and Colonisation Agency. In fact, the only department in Starfleet that seemed to have even more patience than terraforming was the Department of Temporal Investigations, not that Gregory had ever actually run into anyone from DTI. Still, there were stories...

"Well, I've got what I needed," Tim said, disturbing Gregory's thoughts. He downloaded the information he had wanted to bring up to a small PADD, before turning away from the console. "There's a staff briefing at eleven. You going to be good with this to brief the rest of the staff?"

The idea of having to present this material to the rest of the senior staff was enough to bring Gregory back to their present conversation. He may not have been an expert in the field of terraforming science, but as Chief Science Officer, he was the closest the Highlander had on hand. With their first mission briefing only a little over an hour away, Gregory certainly didn't have all that much time to prepare. They would no doubt be expecting an overview of the project itself as well as an explanation of what they should expect to deal with upon arrival. However, the captain seemed confident enough that Gregory knew what he was doing and that had to count for something.

"I think so, sir," the young science officer replied.

"See you there, then," the captain said, with a smile and a slight nod, before leaving the lab.