A tale of two geeks

Posted on 20 Jan 2015 @ 3:56pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class David Emerson & Ensign Jaana Voutilainen
Edited on on 23 Feb 2015 @ 11:33am

938 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Astrometrics Lab
Timeline: MD 42 - 14.00 hours

ON:

With the ship docked at the starbase and almost the entire science staff on shoreleave, David finally had some time to work on a pet project without interrupting any ongoing departmental projects.

Slipping into the Astrometrics lab, David began pulling up several star systems in the nearby region of space. He was interested more in the planets and their orbits relative to their sun then the actual system itself. David was looking into the possibility that there was more then just gravity at play in the shaping of a planet's development, and he needed more data points as he began to develop a possible new theory.

It didn't take long before he was engrossed in the readouts he was getting, and didn't hear the lab doors open behind him.

"Is there anything I can help you find?" Jaana asked. She didn't know the man sitting in her lab, and she'd gotten to know most of the crew who worked in Astrometrics by now.

David glanced up at the sound of an unfamiliar voice, turning slowly he recognized the women as one of the Astrometrics specialists aboard. She was the one with a twin sister if he recalled correctly. "Just doing some off hours research Ma'am. I needed the Astrometrics system to get some detailed scans of several planets for a project I'm working on."

She walked towards the console, being curious about his project. "What exactly are you researching, if I may ask? It looks interesting."

David waited while she came up close near the console he was working at. "Our current understanding of planetary development suggests that gravity, along with the planet's proximity to a star have a large effect on the development of the planet. But what I've been noticing during the past few years is that in a lot of cases, planets are developing outside what our current models suggest should happen. This region of space I happen to have three star systems close enough together that I can study them in some detail."

"I am aware of the principles of planetary development," she said with a chuckle. "It's just a little bit foggy at the moment." she had spend most of the morning in bed, trying to sleep off the awful headache she had. Not that it had helped a bit.

Walking to one of the other consoles she said. "Take your time, I just need to write something down."

"I shouldn't be much longer. What's your project?"

Jaana started up her station with her preferences and her latest journal entries. "I'm researching the differences between the heliopauses from the five first members to the Federation, and comparing how and when they were discovered." She explained. "I spend hours last night staring at the point where the heliopause of the Andorian system and heliopause of the Vulcan system have the least amount of distance between them. Those are neighbouring systems." She added as a extra explanation, not knowing what he did knew about Astronomy. "Anyway there is something with it, but I can't exactly tell what. Then just now it hit me, and I just need to see if I'm correct." After writing her new thought on the matter down she looked up again and saw he was looking at her. "Sorry, I'm rambling again, am I?"

"Something about the heliopause distance that affects both systems? Like a linkage of some sort?" David knew enough about star systems and how the dynamics of the star and the solar wind affected the geological formation of planets, but the actual dynamics he'd not studied in great detail.

"Exactly" she said in surprise, not having expected his geology knowledge reaching to space. "The stellar winds in that area contain other particles then all the other heliopauses." She said while typing her latest idea in the computer.

"You think perhaps there are some commonalities in Vulcan & Andorian evolution brought on by these particles?" David asked as as he leaned in closer. The research was interesting but also the women sitting in front of him as well. He'd caught a few glances at her while they were talking, careful not let his eyes linger longer long enough he'd be caught staring, but long enough to notice how attractive she was. ~And smart too,~ he noted.

Being glad she found someone that actually knew where she was talking about she took a bold step and asked, "Would you be interest to have a cup of coffee?" Her courage quickly dissipated after asking it so she quickly continued. "to discuss this further of course."

"I would love a cup of coffee. It's Jaana right?" David asked, trying to recall from memory her name. Her last, rather hasty suggestion this was business brought a smile to his face. "And we can discuss this, or anything else for that matter if you'd like."

Jaana smiled and blushed a little. "I heard there's a good Betazoid coffee place on the station; I'll meet you there after my shift?"

"I know the one. When's your shift finished?"

"At three," she answered.

"Couple of hours." David paused. "You wouldn't mind if I parked myself here till then would you? Time on the array is hard to get and the more scans I can complete, the better. Come meet me here maybe?"

"I will," she said and stood up. "See you in a while?" and she walked to the door. Wait, did I just ask him out on a date? she asked herself in shock.


OFF:

Ensign Jaana Voutilainen
Stellar Cartographer
USS Galileo

&&

PO3 David Emerson
Science Officer
USS Galileo

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