Rear Admiral Quinn Reynolds - Welcome to...
Quinn Reynolds
||Captain's log, stardate 239707.11
The Gorkon has arrived at the Bratax System, an uninhabited star system just outside the borders of Federation space. Our mission was originally assigned to the USS Hawking, but an issue with their M/ARA has seen them docked at Iana Station for repairs. We're to visit the asteroid Trueno, where the Ferengi company BetaGen has created a kind of zoological reserve for the long extinct. Actual dinosaurs. It hardly seems believable, but there it is.
They intend to open it to the public and the Federation has... concerns for its citizens. We're to inspect and ensure it reaches Federation standards for safety, animal welfare, employment rights and conditions, scientific standards... anything and everything one could think of, and a few things more besides. It's going to take some time, and we've been offered the grand tour to let us get acquainted with the park and its facilities.
To that end, I've split the staff into four teams. Lieutenant Commander Adeas and Duyzer, as well as Ensign Bavo are inspecting what's been described as a kind of "petting zoo", evidently complete with souvenir stalls. It all sounds quite adorable, though I hope it's as safe and kind to the animals as it seems in the brochures.
Lieutenant Commander Neathler will be taking the laboratory tour, accompanied by Lieutenants Thornton, Loxley and Fortune. It's where the majority of their research takes place, as well as the incubation of the young animals, and I hope that I'll be able to find the time to pay it a visit myself at some point.
Lieutenant ch'Ranni is to view the aquatic facilities, along with Lieutenants sh'Qynallahr, Colquhoun and Kerensky. There are facilities above and below water, viewing platforms and evidently even some rides. Research and entertainment, though it remains to be seen how harmonious that combination is.
Myself, Commander Marshall and Ensigns Cayne and Sleeford have been given the use of one of the park's buggies to explore large herbivore enclosure. I can't deny that I'm looking forward to the chance to get off-road and explore.||
((Herbivore Paddocks, Asteroid Trueno, Bratax System))
Quinn leaned against the driver's side door of the all-terrain buggy, squinting up at the sky through her sunglasses. The planetary rock that was Bratax IV was hanging there in the pale blue sky, an odd and subtle shade of purple and grey, drifting behind gossamer wisps of clouds. It was a fine day, warm and bright without being obnoxiously hot, a breeze stirring the grasses of the plains, the leaves of low bushes rustling a white noise. She could smell some kind of bloom, floral with a sharp citrus tang, but despite her enthusiasm for botany, she couldn't place the scent. No doubt another creation of BetaGen's labs, an ancient plant resurrected like the animals that roamed among them.
The asteroid itself was an incredible feat of engineering, terraformed and habitable, gravity generators buried deep underground not just to simulate a typical environment, but to keep the atmosphere close and captured. It was a little thick to cater for the wildlife, but not uncomfortably so. And all of that was before one considered the marvel of the work that was being done, researching the genetics of animals that had roamed the planets of the Alpha and Beta quadrants millions of years ago.
Reynolds: Just so we're clear; the first person who tries to take the driver's seat and isn't me gets demoted.
Marshall/Cayne/Sleeford: Response
One finger hooked over the bridge of her sunglasses to nudge them down her nose, Quinn peered across at the rest of her team, a small, wry smile curling at one corner of her mouth. Apart from her biking escapades with Jo, it wasn't often she got to be hands-on with any kind of vehicle, be it ground-based or intended for the stars. The buggy was parked outside one of the ranger garages, and they were waiting for news that they were cleared to go inside the herbivore paddock, and she could see the massive fences that bordered it in the distance.
Reynolds: Being an Admiral has to come with some perks.
Marshall/Cayne/Sleeford: Response
A head popped out from the rear of the buggy, an untidy mop of mousy hair, inquisitive brown eyes and a face generously dusted with freckles. The young teenager bore a resemblance to the Admiral, a fact that never failed to amuse Quinn, given mother and son shared no DNA whatsoever.
D. Reynolds: How much longer is this going to take, Mum?
Reynolds: How long is a piece of string?
In a picture-perfect emulation of his other adopted parent, the youth rolled his eyes so hard the orbs almost performed a full 360. Somewhere out there, Quinn was quite sure, Walter was glowing with pride. Dylan peered at the other Starfleet officers, flashing a quick grin at Jo, and then dropped back down on the seat of the buggy, the suspension barely bouncing with his weight.
Marshall/Cayne/Sleeford: Response
Commanding Officer
USS Gorkon
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