Ens. Gnai - Ambitious Plans For Shore Leave
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Lich
May 8, 2024, 3:21:05 PMMay 8
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(( Captain’s Ready Room – Deck 1, USS Artemis-A ))
The tapping from Captain MacKenzie was not as threatening as she intended it to be, for Gnai had little experience with being tapped at in a hostile manner. Her interrogation continued, pressing on about how Gnai felt regarding future missions, and Gnai kept trucking forwards unimpressively. As an ensign, fresh out of the Academy, it hadn't had the time to work on its tact when addressing a commanding officer. No, it assumed that candor would be appreciated by its captain during such interrogations...
MacKenzie: Mm... hmm. No, you’re right, Ensign - I would also have to assume that they were unconcerned about whether prisoners could see the stars. What would you prefer our next mission to be?
Gnai: Hopefully the next mission is to some very interesting pulsar. Or neutron star. And there are no hostiles. Or senators to assassinate.
Something nice and calm would be great. A chance for exploration, and scientific discovery. A chance to learn how to work on the ship without having to dodge an explosion or falling girders on a hostile alien world. Sure, they had shore leave for it to settle in, but a quiet little mission afterwards would be even better.
As much as it dreamed for something like this, Gnai knew that it was unlikely. Not only because of what the others had told it about how Missions In General worked on the Artemis (chaotic, much like the last one), but also because it just had a feeling like nothing would ever be simple here on this ship. Gut feelings were useful, but it would wait until it had enough data points to be statistically significant before it gave up on hoping for one peaceful mission.
MacKenzie: Mmm hmmmm... Well, I can’t make any promises about what assignment Starfleet will give us next, or what we might encounter along the way...
She couldn't, but she would know before the rest of the crew. Presumably. In most cases. When the mission wasn't caused by rogue elements like CloQ tampering with everyone's day.
But even with its lack of tact, a bit of common sense caught up to Gnai. Mentioning that might not be wise. Better to just bob along and agree with her.
Gnai: ::bobbing lightly up and down:: Correct. Those were just wishes for future missions, not predictions... ::pause:: It can't hurt to dream for exploration. That is one of Starfleet's principles.
The captain shrugged, just briefly.
MacKenzie: What I can tell you is that I believe you are a curious, inquisitive being, and I think those are good attributes for a scientist to have.
Gnai was mildly surprised by this. The captain was hard for it to read, as with many humanoids, but it hadn't expected to get praised by her following all the various questions that she had grilled it with.
Gnai: ::extended pause:: Thank you, sir!
MacKenzie: Do you have any plans for your time in this part of the quadrant? I’m sure there are lots of intriguing things that have caught your interest...
The mood of the conversation had shifted, once again. And this time, it was far more pleasant, much to Gnai's delight. It could talk once more about what it was interested in, and not need to answer for the oddities of Galadoran society, or its naïveté.
Gnai: Well, since the Artemis is docked at Deep Space 9 ::beat:: the wormhole is an obvious object of interest. To see it in person has been a dream.
MacKenzie: Response
Yes, it had mentioned that already, it knew. But it was just... so fascinating! Besides the wormhole, what else was there to see... Gnai thought for a moment, before recalling a very exciting trip it had been on in its penultimate year at the Academy. One of its professors had invited it along to the annual Alpha Astronomical Society conference, where it had presented a small poster on rogue exoasteroids (following up on measurements of a particularly interesting one that had passed through the Sol system during its studies there, providing a perfect observation opportunity... it was plenty prepared to talk anyone's ear off if they ever brought up the subject). That had been thrilling all on its own, but the best part had been all the various talks and colloquia that it had sat in on!
Gnai: ::tentatively:: There are also the Badlands... There was the most interesting conference talk last year on how gravity anomalies within spouts in that region impact Langmuir waves within the plasma, by Dr. Sarish from the Bajoran Center for Science. It would be interesting to observe the plasmons generated from this phenomenon...
As with most of what it had said thus far to the Captain, this was yet another far-fetched dream.
MacKenzie: Response
The captain was right, of course. Traveling that far afield alone, just to chase down a measurement or two? Might not be the wisest. And that was assuming that the Badlands were safe... Even now, who knew what lurked in the ion storms that plagued that region?
Gnai: Hm. Yes. That makes sense... Perhaps just the wormhole then. That should be plenty interesting to fill free time on this shore leave. oO What with the housekeeping that came with transferring to a ship... Oo ::pause:: Have you ever been through the wormhole, sir?
MacKenzie: Response
Tags/TBC :)
--
The tapping from Captain MacKenzie was not as threatening as she intended it to be, for Gnai had little experience with being tapped at in a hostile manner. Her interrogation continued, pressing on about how Gnai felt regarding future missions, and Gnai kept trucking forwards unimpressively. As an ensign, fresh out of the Academy, it hadn't had the time to work on its tact when addressing a commanding officer. No, it assumed that candor would be appreciated by its captain during such interrogations...
MacKenzie: Mm... hmm. No, you’re right, Ensign - I would also have to assume that they were unconcerned about whether prisoners could see the stars. What would you prefer our next mission to be?
Gnai: Hopefully the next mission is to some very interesting pulsar. Or neutron star. And there are no hostiles. Or senators to assassinate.
Something nice and calm would be great. A chance for exploration, and scientific discovery. A chance to learn how to work on the ship without having to dodge an explosion or falling girders on a hostile alien world. Sure, they had shore leave for it to settle in, but a quiet little mission afterwards would be even better.
As much as it dreamed for something like this, Gnai knew that it was unlikely. Not only because of what the others had told it about how Missions In General worked on the Artemis (chaotic, much like the last one), but also because it just had a feeling like nothing would ever be simple here on this ship. Gut feelings were useful, but it would wait until it had enough data points to be statistically significant before it gave up on hoping for one peaceful mission.
MacKenzie: Mmm hmmmm... Well, I can’t make any promises about what assignment Starfleet will give us next, or what we might encounter along the way...
She couldn't, but she would know before the rest of the crew. Presumably. In most cases. When the mission wasn't caused by rogue elements like CloQ tampering with everyone's day.
But even with its lack of tact, a bit of common sense caught up to Gnai. Mentioning that might not be wise. Better to just bob along and agree with her.
Gnai: ::bobbing lightly up and down:: Correct. Those were just wishes for future missions, not predictions... ::pause:: It can't hurt to dream for exploration. That is one of Starfleet's principles.
The captain shrugged, just briefly.
MacKenzie: What I can tell you is that I believe you are a curious, inquisitive being, and I think those are good attributes for a scientist to have.
Gnai was mildly surprised by this. The captain was hard for it to read, as with many humanoids, but it hadn't expected to get praised by her following all the various questions that she had grilled it with.
Gnai: ::extended pause:: Thank you, sir!
MacKenzie: Do you have any plans for your time in this part of the quadrant? I’m sure there are lots of intriguing things that have caught your interest...
The mood of the conversation had shifted, once again. And this time, it was far more pleasant, much to Gnai's delight. It could talk once more about what it was interested in, and not need to answer for the oddities of Galadoran society, or its naïveté.
Gnai: Well, since the Artemis is docked at Deep Space 9 ::beat:: the wormhole is an obvious object of interest. To see it in person has been a dream.
MacKenzie: Response
Yes, it had mentioned that already, it knew. But it was just... so fascinating! Besides the wormhole, what else was there to see... Gnai thought for a moment, before recalling a very exciting trip it had been on in its penultimate year at the Academy. One of its professors had invited it along to the annual Alpha Astronomical Society conference, where it had presented a small poster on rogue exoasteroids (following up on measurements of a particularly interesting one that had passed through the Sol system during its studies there, providing a perfect observation opportunity... it was plenty prepared to talk anyone's ear off if they ever brought up the subject). That had been thrilling all on its own, but the best part had been all the various talks and colloquia that it had sat in on!
Gnai: ::tentatively:: There are also the Badlands... There was the most interesting conference talk last year on how gravity anomalies within spouts in that region impact Langmuir waves within the plasma, by Dr. Sarish from the Bajoran Center for Science. It would be interesting to observe the plasmons generated from this phenomenon...
As with most of what it had said thus far to the Captain, this was yet another far-fetched dream.
MacKenzie: Response
The captain was right, of course. Traveling that far afield alone, just to chase down a measurement or two? Might not be the wisest. And that was assuming that the Badlands were safe... Even now, who knew what lurked in the ion storms that plagued that region?
Gnai: Hm. Yes. That makes sense... Perhaps just the wormhole then. That should be plenty interesting to fill free time on this shore leave. oO What with the housekeeping that came with transferring to a ship... Oo ::pause:: Have you ever been through the wormhole, sir?
MacKenzie: Response
Tags/TBC :)
((OOC: Sorry that this has been a bit slow! Thank you for your patience!! I may have gotten myself distracted trying to find papers related to some of what Gnai is saying...))
Ensign Gnai
Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
A240102G11
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