The Gardener
Posted on 21 Apr 2015 @ 8:40pm by Lieutenant Benice Gyce Ph.D. & Ensign Arandon Khnailmnae Ph.D.
Edited on on 21 Apr 2015 @ 10:19pm
1,477 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Galileo - Botany Lab
Timeline: MD -2: 1030 Hours
[ON]
Gyce entered the botany lab, dressed in her tan cargos and matching shemagh around her neck. She did not want to impose someone elses space, for her home project. It made since, as such, to consult an expect and assigned personnel of botany.
As such, she scanned the room and once she found her quarry, she limped every hurriedly over to the young man.
"I hope I'm not intruding," Gyce began politely.
Arandon had simply come to the lab to grab some seed packets to begin planting, carefully avoiding Mister Van Zyl's duty shift just to sneak in. Turning around, he was captured by the woman's desert trek attire, but recovered quick after making a few rapid, shifty scans of her outfit. "No not at all." He said, half mumbling.
"I'm Benice Gyce," the Bajoran went one to explain as she held her hand out to shake his. "I thought I might talk to the curator about space, protocol, and the like for growing some plants from my home."
Arandon considered the list of concerns for a moment but came up with little to tell Ms. Benice. "Well as long as it meets Starfleet's list of non-prohibited plants and animals I don't think there's a problem. As long as you're on a long term assignment you can set up a garden however large you like, you might need to get the supplies and assistance from operations though. If what you're growing is larger than a ficus, then when they get to be a certain size I presume you'd like to move them to the arboretum." Arandon explained, caught up in the protocol and not noticing the woman's outstretched hand.
"Possibly. Depends on if I can get the juma seeds to grow into a bush first," Gyce admitted. "A few more years after that, they become small trees. But given my job, I'm not sure if I can keep as much time as I'd like to devote to their constant grooming and upkeep."
"Jumja... jumja..." Arandon mussed, bringing his hand to rest in front of his face. He did not recognize the colloquial name, but it was somehow familiar to him, bringing forth images of a colorful food. "Is it Bajoran? Perhaps refined into something colorful?" He asked, trying to articulate his association and his logic that it would be something Bajoran based on the woman's heritage. If it was unknown to him, it was usually something from the outreaches of the Federation or from some minor world whose catalogues were not covered in his course syllabuses.
"Very much so," Gyce answered animatedly. "The leaves of the fruit we use to make sweet teas. The fruit we use to make frozen other nice forms of sweet treats. The vineyard I once lived on actually used them in our family's wine. And if you can get the tree to grow in a cooler climate, the sap of the bark is actually very nice on pancakes."
Arandon smiled. "Interesting." His face almost blanked for a moment but retained the imprint of the smile as he considered everything Gyce had said. "I take it, it will take years to grow then? Or are you even growing them for that purpose?" He asked, tilting his head slightly and pondering the implications.
"About five years to reach a tree classification," Gyce answered. "I'd like help in growing some seeds from my family's vineyard, if only to grow something the entire crew might enjoy."
"I never studied horticulture...." Arandon started, looking off to the side. "At least not in depth." He added, recalling his earlier conversation with K'os and the malformation of bean crops due to soil salination. "And certainly nothing as intensive as viticulture." He said, his eyes widening at the prospect.
"I've some books on how to grow jumja bushes and trees if you'd like," Gyce offered. "I never really completed my caste training, unfortunately. My family was sent to an internment before I could grow my first bush."
There were two particularly unpleasant aspects to that last sentence. One was the prospect of hereditary job placement, usually linked to religious establishments. The other, was the ghastly truth of the Cardassian Occupation. "And so you became... well I don't think we like using the term but by your fashion choices; a soldier?" Arandon said, brushing over the unpleasant bits. His people had 'castes' though he used the term loosely, though among his particular sect, they were chosen by priests and were not hereditary in a very Platonic system of evaluations.
Gyce tapped her bum leg with the tip of her cane. "Detective. I don't have the physical ability to do much soldier duties."
It was a curious sight to see a cane in the 24th century, Arandon didn't pry however, if she had a cane and it was permanent enough to dictate her career path it was something especially virulent and aggressive and certainly not a simple broken bone. "An interesting posting then, being assigned to a science vessel with a crew of ninety. Is the crime rate really so high?" He asked, a bit playfully.
"Very," Gyce answered just as playfully. "Truthfully though, I have other skills that contribute here. Demolitions, sniper. Analytical and gorilla tactics. So you might say I'm a brainy security officer, which is not all too common."
Starfleet encompassed the 'best of the best' but there were many ways to be intelligent, Arandon knew that from childhood. Certainly-like so many things on the Galileo according to Arandon- Gyce's assignment was a gross misallocation of resources. That she had other skills perhaps relevant to the sometimes dangerous nature of traversing the unknown (or so Arandon had heard), made her one less item on his mental stock list of the Galileo.
"A tactician then? Interesting." Arandon said, perhaps a bit judgmentally considering his own pacifistic, religious based philosophy.
"I learned to become one, when I joined Starfleet Academy," Gyce confirmed. "But I much rather prefer solving the mysteries of sentient nature."
Arandon smiled. "My mysteries lie elsewhere, if indeed I have any." He added, smiling brighter. "Not a lot of botanical mysteries these days."
"Not true," Gyce countered hopefully. "There are new new plants the Federation discovered that carry unique healing properties."
"Well maybe I'll get to see them, so what exactly do you need? I presume you have seeds, so do you need pots, soil, a watering can?" Arandon said the last part with a smile.
"Space. And maybe someone to help tend to them when I can't," Gyce answered almost instantly.
"I suppose that's fine," Arandon said, he knew where he could make space to grow the samples while they matured to a certain stage. Then they could be presumably transplanted to the Arboretum to grow to their full size. He would have to read up on the growing of Jumja though. "You have seeds I take it?"
"Oh yes," Gyce admitted with a huge, joyous grin. "My aunt sent them to me, when she took over management of the family land, a few years ago. Even managed to unearth one of my family's wine vaults. That's another story though."
The Bajoran handed Arandon the seeds almost hesitantly. One of the few things she possessed that once belonged to her parents.
Arandon sensed the importance, or rather, the emotional connection Gyce had to these seeds and he received them with as much reverence as was possible for 'mere' seeds. Turning away from her as he cupped them in his hand, he opened a stasis container to hold the seeds until he could research their cultivation. "Do you have any texts you could recommend on their care?" Arandon said as he sealed the container.
"Vedek Kane Bront's book. The Life Cycle of the Jumja Tree. It's in every vineyard keeper's library, back home," Gyce suggested almost instantly.
"And in every Starfleet computer hopefully." Arandon said, looking back at Gyce with a smile. As he finished sealing the container, he turned his full body to Gyce and nodded. "I'll see if I can find a copy in the Federation database, once I've looked over the basic care, I'll call you and we can start potting or planting, I presume you'd want to be there." Arandon said, treating these seeds like they were children.
"I thank you greatly, Ensign." Gyce bowed her head in parting.
Arandon nodded. "You are welcome." He would require several days of reading up on the subject of Jumja cultivation but hopefully what he could find in the database would be sufficient to not kill the trees in their infancy. Ms. Benice's reverence for the seeds made it imperative that he get this right, and he intended to do so.
[OFF]
Lieutenant JG Benice Gyce
Security Investigations Officer
USS Galileo
&
Ensign Arandon Khnailmnae
Botanist
USS Galileo
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