Welcome to the Cavalier

Posted on Sat Apr 24th, 2021 @ 12:08am by Lieutenant Leah Bailey & Commander Taeler Santu M.D. & Lieutenant Xavier Leiko & Lieutenant Ausra Danton & Ensign George Paxton

Mission: By Artemis' Bow
Location: Transporter room 1, USS Cavalier
Timeline: MD03 - 1200Hrs
1342 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

The blue shimmer and the familiar hum of the transporters ebbed away as the light filling their eyes made way for a small transporter room on the Nova-class Cavelier. Taeler was the first to step off the PADD and reach out her hand to the officer awaiting their arrival, "Good morning, I'm Commander Taeler, XO of the Athena," she looked over her shoulder to indicate the other officers that had joined her, "Lieutenants Danton and Leiko, Chief Science and Operations respectively, Lieutenant Bailey, science officer, and Ensign Paxton, Engineer." She turned back to the person that had come out to welcome them, "permission to come aboard, sir."

"Oh you don't need to do all that formality with me, Commander," the kindly-looking professor replied with a broad grin. Quill Summers was tall and gangly, with a somewhat stereotypical scientist sort of look about him. He did appear particularly pleased to see that the team had joined him, practically gushing with excitement about sharing ideas and revelations. "Professor Quill Summers at your service. Scientific lead on this mission. Captain Ramirez sends his best wishes on your arrival and asked me to bring you all up to speed on current events." He motioned to the door. "Shall we?"

Xavier nodded as he stepped down from the transporter pad and followed the group into the hallway. "I am looking forward to seeing these creatures up close, they sound fascinating."

Nodding in silent acknowledgment of Quill's request to move on, George followed Xavier off of the pad and out of the room. This was less of an engineering trip and more of a science mission, but that was ok in his book. He was happy to just meekly follow along and observe or help out where needed. Plus, in line with Xavier's sentiments, George was interested in learning more about the sea cows.

Ausra followed along after closing her mouth, her words lost on an introduction that didn't occur . "How long have you been studying the space cows. I mean pilgrims?"

"Cows-?" Quill started, confused. Shaking his head he began the journey through to the science labs. "We've been here in the system a few days, but my work started a few years ago. Been a fascination of mine, you see. Creatures that can survive - and thrive - in the cold void of space...so fascinating! Wouldn't you agree?"

"Absolutely," Ausra said a little breathlessly and barely holding onto her emotions before they burst out like school girl at her first concert. "I've never seen anything like them. I could just sit and observe them for decades and they're not even my field of expertise."

Santu nodded, it was certainly an intriguing phenomenon, "One hundred per cent." She wondered what exactly they'd hoped to gain from studying them so closely, "Are the new conservation acts making your work more difficult?" she wondered just how restricted the research of these creatures was.

"Difficult? No. It's actually quite nice to have a much clearer set of expectations this time! And Captain Ramirez and his crew have been very accommodating." Quill ushered them into the science labs, which were far better equipped than the ones on Athena. "Feel free to take a look at some of the initial data for yourselves, some of the samples we've collected are quite exciting! Did you know that just one of these creatures can excrete more bodily waste than the entirety of Tycho City?" he grinned.

George's eyes widened with the comment. Gross, he thought, as he looked around the lab. The science lab wasn't a place he had spent much time in back on the Athena, but he had seen it enough to know that this one was far superior. "What's this for?" George's curiosity piqued as he pointed towards a device that looked as if it was the product of both a tiny warp core and a microscope bundled together. Data streamed across the screen next to it, but he wasn't sure what it indicated or how it related to the sea cows.

"Wow," Ausra said leaning over to take a look. "What is their procreation rate? Are they like rabbits with this kind of metabolism?" Ausra asked paying no attention to how the others viewed their digestive waste news.

"That's what I thought!" Quill remarked, agreeing with her line of thought. "But their metabolism is actually quite slow by comparison to most creatures we've encountered. They're obviously not like many humanoid creatures. More like whales, I suppose? But they seem to be able to reduce their metabolic functions for the long journeys between galaxies."

"Fascinating," Ausra replied. She had the look of a doe-eyed school girl who had just seen her first crush.

Xavier couldn't help but smile at George's internal disgust at the excretion comment. He made his way over to one of the consoles that was pulling in sensor data. The Cavalier was running every type of scan possible, some of which Xavier had no idea of. He pressed a few buttons to pull up the power readouts and as expected, the Operations department had directed a huge portion of the ship's energy to the sensors, exactly as he would have done on a scientific mission. "Professor, I believe you'd be able to get a better resolution on the scans if the ship used the deflector dish to boost power to the sensors."

"Indeed? I'm afraid I'm not very technical. Perhaps you could make the adjustments?" the Professor suggested.

Xavier smiled, "and I'm not very scientific so we balance each other out. Once I get the go ahead from the Cavalier's Ops Officer I will make the necessary adjustments, I'd hate to break their ship on my first visit."

The doors to the science lab opened to reveal a tall, muscular Starfleet officer. He bore Commander's pips, as well as a traditional Bajoran earring. Behind a five-o'clock shadow he grinned at the new arrivals.

"Ah, Professor Summers is already putting you to work?" he asked. "Commander Jeron Boaz, the Cavalier's XO." He spied Taeler in the middle of the group. "You must be my counterpart, then? Good to have you aboard."

It was weird to spot another Bajoran in Starfleet. They had only joined the Federation recently and even though her own trajectory hadn't been so out of the ordinary it was still a surprise. Whether it was a good one always remained to be seen, "Commander Taeler Santu, pleasure to meet you, good to be here. You have a nice ship, interesting assignment." She noticed the D'ja pagh, it made her conscious of her own decision to do away with it upon returning to Bajor, absentmindedly she scratched her ear.

"We get by here. Little ship like this one, everyone's practically family. You all should join us for an officers' get-together later," Boaz suggested.

"After we catch everyone up on the research, of course!" Professor Summers added with a grin.

"Commander Jeron," Xavier said as he stepped forward. He couldn't help but notice the black, grey, and red uniform that clung to the muscular body of the Bajoran, he disregarded the mental image as soon as it formed. "Lieutenant Xavier Leiko, Chief of Ops. I was just saying to the Professor that we should be able to boost sensor efficiency if the Cavalier used the deflector dish to boost power."

"Oh yes, of course. Let's get you set up in deflector control." Jeron gave a little nod, then glanced around the rest of the assembled crew. "Good to have you all with us."

"Mind if I tag along?" Paxton looked at Xavier and Jeron. It was the most logical task for an engineer to help with and he would prefer to be useful. There wasn't much he could do sitting in the lab surrounded by unfamiliar equipment with a bunch of scientists.

"I'm counting on it Ensign," Xavier said. "You get to do all the work while I take all the credit," he added with a smile. He turned to the Commander, "After you Sir."