Ecological Action

Posted on 23 Jun 2013 @ 2:35am by Ensign Natalie Chevalier

2,619 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Maenad Panne's Office
Timeline: MD11 - 1600 hours

ON:

It had been a busy, with new people coming in and out of her office ever since she'd returned from the comet survey. In her office by the window, Maenad stood with her hands on the ledge, leaning forward. She thought about how just a few centimetres away was the cold vacuum of space and how in here there was life. Here she could live, there would she die. Her green eyes looked over the leaves of one her small plants that sat on the windowledge beside, then she reached out and gently touched one between her thumb and forefinger. It was strange, she thought, and suddenly she found herself missing Liyar.

Vaikreyan, the name of his pet plant, somehow channelled thoughts and responded to them. It wasn't sentient, but it felt like it was. Maenad couldn't remember how it worked, but a tiny smirk formed at the corners of her mouth as she recounted the time he tried to get her talk to it; she'd thought he was crazy. It had only been a day since she had seen him, but, somehow, it felt like forever.

A young woman by the name of Natalie Chevalier was coming to see her next. She wondered whether she was only French by name. Without any shame, she hoped that she wasn't. It could make the feeling of being away from home a little easier, she hoped. Maenad was feeling rather alien lately, like she didn't belong. She was apparently an ecologist, too, which meant that she would probably share Maenad's discomfort with the mission too. Her file said she was incredibly smart, it was filled with glowing commendations from professor after professor (all who'd lamented that she wasn't staying in academia), and she had quite the list of accomplishments for a young woman.

When the chime sounded, Maenad expected that it was her. She lifted the PADD with Chevalier's file from where she'd left it on the windowsill, and turned around. She looked down her chest and legs to make sure that she wasn't wrinkled, and she straightened her skirt. After fixing some hair by an ear, Maenad called, "Come in," from where she she stood by the window. Her long arms held the PADD over her lap and she tried her best to seem pleasant.

Service aboard a ship was a change for Nat. She had been on the Venture only for a few days, and treated somewhere between a visiting dignitary and an irrelevant underling, never as a full crew member. Before that, her service in the Planetary Sciences Division had, understandably, mainly been based on planetary bases. As such, the routine of shipboard life, a life spent encased in metal and illuminated by artificial lighting, a clean, sterile, bubble like existence so removed from the earth and wind and rocks and trees of her early life, was already proving to be an adjustment.

As the doors opened on her, they revealed a short, slender young woman whose close cropped brown hair was slightly dishevelled. She wore a single Ensign's pip on a Sciences uniform, the top a little creased, the bottoms of her trousers still flecked with soil from the arboretum on the Venture. Her sleeves were rolled up her arms, and she hastily began tugging them down and just about straightening out her less than immaculate presentation.

Entering with a polite, slightly apprehensive smile, she nodded a greeting and asked hopefully, "Lt. Panne? I'm Ensign Natalie Chevalier."

Maenad smiled. One of the first people in Starfleet to pronounce her name properly, she thought. This young woman was already onto a good start and they hadn't even begun talking. "Yes," she greeted, "welcome. Please," Maenad gestured to the sofa by the window, "let us sit down." As Natalie came closer Maenad offered her hand for a shake, realising that she was nearly a full head taller than her. Maenad led the way over to sit, and nodded to the empty cushioned chair, indicating that that was for Natalie. Maenad sat herself on the side of the couch closest to the ensign, and crossed her legs.

"I'm Maenad Panne," she introduced herself. "But, I think you already knew that." She glanced at her PADD even though she didn't need to, then met the woman's dark eyes. She looked very young, thought Maenad. But so did most of the department. Her assistant chief was probably the youngest person on the ship aside from Cadet Mor'an, Maenad had to remind herself. "You're coming the Venture?" The question was rhetorical. "What was your assignment there?"

Nat could not help but smile at the accent - thicker and much purer her own - but the realization that her Department Head was 'Old' French brought its own little worries. While studying on Earth she'd encountered a certain amount of snobbery from such towards her colonial, New French origins, sniggers at the crude bastardisations of phrase and particular cultural differences. Comforting it might be to share an accent; but regrettable if that very closeness were a source of any difficulty.

She accepted Lt. Panne's hand - her own small by comparison, and to a flash of embarrassed she noticed the fingernails still tinged green from the arboretum; mercifully, the biofilter protocols when she came aboard had at least taken care of any soil deposits - and followed her to the chair, where she sat down, her eyes intently searching the Lieutenant's face to try to discern what kind of woman she was. As was Nat's wont, she had not been sitting five seconds before she was fidgeting about, one knee bouncing up and down to some inaudible beat, her hands twisting tight in her lap as she discreetly scraped at her chlorophyll-stained nails.

"I was on temporary assignment with the Venture after my last posting ended quicker than expected," she began to explain. "A new government was elected to run the colony on Kuthus IV, and they did not appreciate the environmental impact study the Planetary Sciences Division had given the previous administration. The new government was backed by the mining consortium, and so ... our position there became untenable." She shrugged with wry amusement at the situation.

"So while I was waiting around to be reassigned, they stationed me to the Venture. A much bigger ship, of course, I'm not too sure anyone really noticed little me underfoot. I spent most of my town in the arboretum, the hydroponics lab, and the secondary biosciences unit." She clucked with irritation; she had regarded the time she'd spent on the Venture as something of a wasted opportunity. She was not about to see her posting to the Galileo go the same way. "So you can imagine my relief at being transferred to a more specialised ship."

Maenad nodded to all that was said. Another environmentalist brought a certain joy to her; nobody else on this ship seemed to care much for protecting nature's wonders. For a supposed science ship, thought Maenad, it surprised the hell out of her. "Then," she began a bit softly, "I'm afraid you might find the nature of our mission troublesome, Miss Chevalier," Maenad said. "We are surveying this system to have its resources harvested." She let the weight of her statement affect the young woman before going on. "I'm not too thrilled about it," her tone softened. "In fact, I'm not at all happy about it. It sickens me, but, at the moment, it is our job. How do you feel about that?"

Nat frowned. She'd read the mission profile she'd been given, but the full nature of the survey had not been revealed to her until now. She considered this. It was hard to find it entirely surprising, though, given Starfleet's track record in such matters. She remembered with distaste her wide eyed idealism as a young girl, even a teenager, towards the Federation: only later had she begun to realize that there was more than one side to the mission of expansion and exploration.

Nonetheless, she began her response guardedly: much as she already sensed that she and Lt. Panne were of one mind, she hadn't got on well thus far in her career by flying a carefree green flag; in fact, it was a contributing factor to her being shunted around the Planetary Sciences Division instead of landing a permanent observation mission.

"It doesn't make me feel quite as excited as I was about this mission when I came aboard, I'll admit. But nor does it completely shock me. Perhaps, if a compelling environmental impact study ... would they consider scaling back certain operations, or at least proceeding with input from Planetary Sciences?"

Healthfully cryptic, thought Maenad. "It doesn't look like they will. But, maybe if we get someone as expert as you, with your background as an accomplished environmentalist, to organise a report on the destruction of natural environments, these ones in particular, they could be swayed." Maenad doubted it, but it was worth a try. "Speaking of the environment," she smiled, "it looks like you've just been in the woods, playing with dirt." She noticed the earth on her fingernails and green on parts of her hands and clothes. It was hard to miss, what with her fidgeting drawing Maenad's eyes to her legs and hands.

Nat quickly balled her hands into fists in embarrassment, squirming round and tucking one foot underneath her. She laughed nervously.

"Not quite, Lieutenant. I spent a lot of my time on the Venture in the arboretum, and I wanted to - well, this sounds crazy, but - to say goodbye?" She squeezed the air out between her teeth as she spoke, watching Panne's reaction: she hoped she'd understand. "They let me bring one plant with me - it made it through biofilters, so there's nothing to worry about, of course - but the others, I just wanted to spend a few minutes with them before I had to leave."

Maenad smiled. She decided that she liked her. "I would like to put you in charge of the the day-to-day operations of the arboretum," she announced. "Do you think you're up for that?"

Nat immediately nodded with enthusiasm. She never felt comfortable in the metal and polymer environs of a starship, but among the greenery and earth - however artificial - she could truly express herself.

"I'd really like that opportunity, Lieutenant. It would give me something to do, rather than just sit around filing hopeless reports that get ignored," she said, demonstrating her taste for action once more. "Do you have any interesting specimens or varieties?"

"We have some nameless specimens from the M-class moons we explored a few days ago. But, we mostly have specimens from Earth; oaks, maples, birch. Some firs. Flowerbeds of many kinds, rosebushes, daisies, geraniums, many different types of plants," Maenad wasn't very good with plant names, she just liked being around them. "You would know more of them by name than me. It will all be under your jurisdiction as soon as you leave here today," she smiled.

Nat nodded, but the lack of enthusiasm in her voice was hard to disguise. In her experience, Earth had some of the least interesting flora in the galaxy; she had been hoping for a little more variety on a specialist scientific vessel. But then, perhaps the Galileo didn't have time for flower picking excursions.

"Well, I look forward to investigating the arboretum further," she said. "Especially the specimens you've gathered from this system. How is the survey going, your misgivings notwithstanding?"

"Well enough, I suppose," Maenad replied. Today was the last day for them, and they'd all been wrapped up. What lied ahead, she didn't know. "They've been completed as of a few hours ago. There were a lot of interesting sights. My favourite was a frozen moon I got to EV, and the gas giant with two M-class moons was a first for me. I've never seen an M-class moon before, much less two." Maenad smiled. "But, tell me a bit about yourself."

Nat was leaning forward on the edge of her seat as Lt. Panne spoke, her interest piqued by the vivid description of the surveying that she, sadly, had missed out on owing to the Venture keeping her waiting on her transfer. The abrupt segue to the comparatively boring subject of her own resume - she could have talked about M-class moons all day - threw her, but she detected in Panne's tone a sign that everything had not gone as anticipated. Perhaps it's best not to pry. Yet.

Leaning back, she pulled a foot up to the edge of her seat and started picking some mud off with her thumb. "What would you like to know, Lieutenant?" she began, before skipping ahead anyway: she was never the most patient.

"I'm from New France colony," she said, eyes flickering upwards to see how the Terran-born Frenchwoman took that news. "I thought about the academic route after the Academy - I know you taught for a while; I'm familiar with a few of your papers - but I decided I'd rather work in the field for a while at least. I wanted to get out and about: and their response was to post me to a solitary research base. So when I couldn't take it any more, I got moved to Kuthus, and then they kicked me out - and now I'm here. Hoping for a bit of a longer stay this time."

"Oh," Maenad's eyebrows went up. "Academia is a tough route. At times, it feels like being on a solitary research base," she admitted. All that research and writing kept you away from people for weeks on end. With nothing but literature and data to keep you company, and your own thoughts, it was easy to go stir-crazy. "Once you've settled in, I suggest you acquaint yourself with Miss Cho, the assistant chief. Mister Petrov can abridge you on the status of the arboretum; he's the acting head of it right now, but he's also a geologist, so he might be grateful to give it up." Though, she mused, he probably wouldn't be.

Nat nodded. "I'll be sure to speak with Lieutenant Cho, although it may have to be tomorrow: I've only been aboard a few hours and already I'm up to my ears in appointments and evaluations. As for Mr. Petrov ... I look forward to seeing what kind of state he's left the arboretum in for me," she said in tones that were already proprietary. "I'm sure he'll be glad to get back to his rocks," she said with the faintest flicker of a sneer: she'd had too many run-ins with geologists during her mining impact study.

Maenad nodded. "I'm sure he will." She scratched behind her ear and adjusted her seating. "Well, Miss Chevalier, you probably want to get settled in. I won't keep you any longer, unless you have any questions before you go?"

Nat nodded. She had to see Mr. Kiwosk and Dr. Carlisle: the busy schedule she was keeping was quite a stark change from wandering listlessly amidst the greenery in the arboretum. "I can't think of anything right now, Lieutenant. But I did want to say how excited I am to be working with you." She gave a rueful smile. "Perhaps in time, we'll have a mission to work on that sits easier with the both of us.

[OFF]

Ensign Natalie Chevalier
Ecologist
Planetary Sciences Division
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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