Building Science Up

Posted on 31 Jan 2015 @ 8:51pm by Commander Norvi Stace & Lieutenant JG Zane Neptune
Edited on on 03 Feb 2015 @ 3:48am

991 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 4 - CSO's Office
Timeline: MD 38 - 1400hrs

ON:

"Commander?" The enormous man standing in the doorway of the room was enough to scare anyone who might not be paying complete attention. Zane wasn't so much tall as he was muscular to the point of intimidating. "I'm Lieutenant Neptune. I'm checking in."

Stace spun around and caught sight of Zane just before he spoke. She wasn't easily intimidated and the fact that he barred almost the entire door with his stature was secondary to his presence. She caught her breath and then relaxed immediately.

"Lieutenant. You startled me there for a moment. Please, come in. Would you care for a drink?"

"Lemon water?" He smiled and sat down next to her. "I didn't mean to scare you. I have gotten the same reaction from others, so don't worry. I promise I won't bite."

Stace stood up and brushed down the front of her uniform, smiling down at him. "You didn't scare me, don't worry. But let me get you that water." She wandered over to the replicator and replicated both Zane's water and a coffee for herself. She returned to her desk and placed the water before him, taking her usual seat behind the desk. "What can I do for you, Lieutenant? How have you settled in?"

"I think I'm adapting well. All I really needed to feel at home was the holodeck to keep my workouts going. Otherwise, I like to spend time doing astronomy research. I just thought I'd swing through to meet you, since I'm in the department."

"That's very nice of you," Stace replied with a smile. "So, what's your backstory, Lieutenant? I like to get a handle on who will be working in our labs and you can never really ascertain someone's character through a Starfleet report, I don't think." Stace was happy that her extended Science family was growing, and space now, on the little eight-decked ship, was becoming a premium. The size of this man alone was going to cause a few elbow jostling squabbles. But she knew her existing crew would fold Zane in as one of their own before long.

"I'm a three time Mr. Olympia, the pinnacle of bodybuilding. I've loved stars all my life and when the competition got stiffer than I could compete with I decided to join Starfleet." Zane wasn't sure how much she really wanted but decided that was a good start. "I tend to accomplish what I set out to do."

"That's not necessarily an admirable nor beneficial quality to possess, in Science, I mean," Stace replied with a smile. "Sometimes the investigation is far more worthy than to be directed by an ultimate goal. You can lose your way if you just set out to achieve what you want. Life can offer you so much more outside of your own thoughts."

"The goal is study, ma'am, up close. That leaves room for a long time, I still think." He took the break to shovel in a couple more fork fulls of food.

"Well, as long as you do good work and further our mission here on the Gally then you can't go wrong."

"I look forward to seeing how else I can contribute, too," Zane said. "While science is the reason I'm here, I'm sure I will find neat little things that I hadn't expected from Starfleet. I hadn't thought I'd be interested in teaching until I was, either."

"That's the path of life," Stace remarked almost poetically. "And trust me, I should know. You do have to go out and look for the life you deserve. But sometimes you can stumble in the dark to grasp on to something - or someone- to find that that was what you were meant to be striving for your whole life." She flashed a smile at him but then continued. "As a Joined member of my species, I sometimes have a wider experience and lackluster wisdom when it comes to forging a life for yourself. I've done it several times over."

"You also have experiences to draw on that others don't." Zane was feeling like he could fit in more than he'd initially thought. There were more varied personalities on the Galileo than he'd run into at the Academy. Zane chalked that up to the cadets being fairly worried about studies and not showing their individuality but he was only guessing. "Is there anything specific you'd like me to work at while I'm on board? Something you need that might be helpful to the overall department?"

"Not for the moment," Stace replied with a smile. "Just get yourself settled and report in on your first duty shift. We'll see how the department is shaping up and assign you your first duties then." She paused and then relaxed a little. "Any research work you intend to conduct should go through Lieutenant Commander Kohl. He's my right-hand man around here and picks up the slack when it comes to my Second Officer responsibilities and I'm pulling double shift bridge duties. It might be best to check in with him also if you have the time."

Zane gave a thumbs up and a smile. He didn't think that was very "Starfleet-like" but he didn't want to just give a boring "no problem."

"Bridge duty doesn't sound all that much fun, at least not at this stage of my career."

"Well, when you're as old as I am in starting out your second command career within the Fleet, these little things actually pepper my enthusiasm for the job. I actually can't wait." She paused and then offered a genuine smile. "If there's nothing else then you can get back to settling in, Lieutenant."

"It was nice meeting you," Zane said. "I look forward to working with you in the future."

OFF:

Lieutenant Commander Norvi Stace
Chief Science Officer & Second Officer
USS Galileo

AND

Lieutenant JG Zane Neptune
Science Officer
USS Galileo

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