LtCmdr Jovenan – A cool rock? Aww, thank you! How did you know I like those?
Jovenan
((Geology lab, Deck 9, USS Artemis))
It was good to be back to work. Of course, they had in some sense been at work during the entire stay on Callis I, bound by the procedures and hierarchies of Starfleet. The unforgiving planet was full of risks, so getting stranded there was merely a business trip for them, as the experts in those. However, every special occasion, both good and bad, needed the everyday labouring to counterbalance it. As mind-numbingly boring some days could be at worst, few could have sustained the pace, without a pause, of running from killer-plant planet to the front lines of a planetary war to stopping a coup to surviving in the hostile wilderness for a week. Not for years.
And Jovenan’s seemingly mundane, everyday toil wasn’t boring at all. There had variation to it; she could spend a week in the astrometrics analysing the prevalence of methods for planetary formation, then a few days peer reviewing papers, followed by a couple of days on the bridge and a month slicing rocks at the geology lab. It would have been wrong to say it wasn’t stressful at times, it was just… different kind of stress. The kind that kept one motivated, without burning one out in a matter of a week. She could do that. Especially when she could just pop out to a leisure planet for a quick rest, or spend an evening with Vitor or one of her friends. The options for that had been somewhat more limited while trapped in a cave. Unless you counted explaining the plot of an entire novel series to K’Wara. Wonder if they wanted to read it now? After all, Jovenan had barely touched the plot lines of the other characters besides the handful she had found most interesting.
Jaran: Excuse me, sir?
Hm? Jovenan turned her head, moving the rest of her body as little as she could, leaning against a desk with a computer display integrated into it. Seeing that she had a visitor from another department, she paused the simulation the computer had been running – it could wait for her – and stood up, turning entirely towards Doctor Jaran. It had been a while since she had worked with them, or even had an opportunity for a talk, so seeing them coming all the way to the Science Centre to meet her was unexpected.
Jovenan: Ah, Doctor, hello! Is there something I can do for you?
The Doctor walked across the room and extended their arms. Jovenan raised an eyebrow, accepting a rock – a yellow, rather hard but porous rock, special in its own right – and what looked like a branch from a tree. Assuming it wasn’t some kind of Bajoran cultural ritual or a personal gift for her, she guessed the objects were samples they wanted to be studied for some reason.
Jaran: I wanted to bring you a couple of samples, for lack of a better term, that made their way back from Calls in my pocket. The rock is from a formation that my team landed near. The twig came from a tree in roughly the same area. I'm sorry it's a little worse for wear; Fuzzball was snacking on it.
Jovenan’s eyes widened.
Jovenan: Oh! That’s marvellous! I didn’t have time to gather anything at all, so these might be the very few natural samples we got from there. Thank you!
Moving fast, almost hurriedly, she retrieved a small sample container and placed the twig in it. It would be a task for the botanists to study the tree sample as extensively as they could, as it would certainly provide insight into the flora on the planet and its evolutionary development. Perhaps they could even consider comparing it to the carcasses of the Dark Things they – unintentionally – brought with them. Plants and animals weren’t all that dissimilar DNA wise, after all. Maybe they could even isolate the saliva of the, um, Fuzzball. Jovenan had heard a bit about the small creature the other team had been carrying for a while. She could sympathise with having to leave it behind, since she had also fallen victim to the rule of not bringing unknown animals with them aboard the ship. She could only imagine Wormie was living its best life somewhere out there.
Jovenan: I’ll see to it that the stick gets delivered to the botanists. Meanwhile, this rock… ::turns the rock in her hands:: I could have a look into it right away.
Jaran: I'd be happy to tell you what little I know, but I'll admit this isn't really my area of expertise.
Shooting a smile to the Doctor, Jovenan placed the rock to a dish on the table and swiped her hands against her uniform. Some of the dust remaining from moving the previous, heavier and more brittle samples still lingered in the air, but it was being filtered out as they spoke. The cleanness standards were different between the labs, and she figured the Doctor might find them unsatisfactory compared to the constantly pristine medical facilities – there were science labs with even higher standards, if they wanted to one-up each other for some reason – but Jovenan could assure that the scientific equipment and the scientists’ health and safety were treated with utmost care, even here.
Jovenan: That’s okay, anything you can tell me would help. Such as, what kind of formations did you see, what other physical features were there in the area, did you observe chemical or physical properties of note?
Jaran: Response
Jovenan nodded. No wonder the Doctor had chosen these samples for keeping and further research, although she would have also understood hesitance in keeping them in one’s person all the way until they’d find the way back to the ship and into the space. She was grateful that they did, however, since it gave her the opportunity to have a look.
Jovenan: Fascinating. If my memory serves me right, stones with somewhat similar properties have been found at least on Delphi Ardu IV. The composition is very different, though. ::smiles:: Let’s see if we can replicate it.
Jaran: Response
Taking the dish, Jovenan brought the sample to a scanner. Doctor Jaran wouldn’t have been able to scan the rock on the planet, seeing that they didn’t have functional tricorders down there, so it was important to have a virtual image of the rock’s composition before they’d start exposing it to anything that could harm it. While the device was doing its work, Jovenan turned to the Doctor.
Jovenan: So, geology isn’t your field? Did you do a biology degree first, like some of your colleagues, or did you go straight for a medical degree?
Jaran: Response
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Lieutenant Commander Jovenan
Chief Science Officer
USS Artemis-A
E239911J11