Ensign Amelia Semara - Containers and Containment

[Max]

(( USS Khitomer, Earth Orbit - Deck 12, Main Engineering ))

Dewitt: I don’t know Ensign… It’s just so much to do before we can leave the space dock again… They want to remove the deflector dish… The deflector dish, Ensign. ::speeding up:: Do you know what that means? How many ODN relays have to be reconnected and checked? How many systems have to be integrated with their additions? ::throwing arms:: It’s just… If we want to leave in time and be operational to survive another encounter with the Lattice Alliance, we have to pull triple-shifts…

Truth be told, Amelia hadn't the slightest idea.

That's probably why Commander Dewitt was the one reviewing the design plans for the new life sciences lab, and she didn't just get carte blanche to do whatever she wanted.  Not that she wanted that kind of power - the reminder of the limits of her meagre knowledge was just one of those fun humbling things life throws at you every once in a while.

But triple shifts?  The man was going to get married!  If he was going to survive, he needed to get off the ship.  At least for a bit.  She couldn't order him, but she could sure make it sound as inviting as possible.

Semara: I was plannin' a visit to Yosemite, soon as this has sign-off.  Gorgeous in winter, I hear.  Might find a coupla' folks to come with, if you'd be interested in joinin'?

Amelia let a little happy smile slip - she could see (and feel) he was getting through to the man.

Dewitt: Okay… ::looking down at the PADD and waving it:: Let’s go somewhere more… ::beat:: less chaotic to go through this. ::holding up container with the other hand:: … and this.

Semara: :: A bigger smile. :: Sounds like a plan.  I'll keep it as quick as I can.

She dropped in behind the Commander to follow him back towards the office, quietly peering around his shoulder to witness the man do the nigh-unthinkable.

He trusted someone else with his ship.

Dewitt: Crewman, please continue to disconnect the deflector ODN relays. I already disconnected one to three, four and five have yet to be done.

The Vulcan crewman flatly nodded.  Amelia smiled.  She never knew why, but the flatness of Vulcans just made her smile.

Dewitt: Oh, and crewman… I dropped the decoupler into the hatch by accident - Please retrieve it…

Amelia's lips tightened to suppress a smile.  She wasn't certain what was more amusing: the Commander's downplayed embarrassment or the Vulcan's unimpressed response.  She remained dutifully quiet.  Better to save the Commander's feelings as best she could.  They just met, after all.

Dewitt: Delegation is a key to being a department head, Ensign. Look up to me of an example of what will happen, when you’re not that good at it. ::tired smile::

Semara: And here I thought not lettin' all that power turn you into a megalomaniac was the key...  

:: A huge grin. :: But aye, sir.  I'll do what you say, not what you do.

Okay, that was snark - typically frowned upon by high society - but it was snark with a point.  oO Maybe take your own advice.  You'll feel better! Oo

Apparently it paid off, because she earned a chuckle for her comment.  She chuckled softly, happy he took it as it was meant.  She stepped through the threshold into the office.

Dewitt: Take a seat, Ensign. Anything to drink?

Now there was a nice thing: a superior officer asking if she wanted something to drink.

Semara: Iced tea, please, sir!  Just a dash a' sugar.

The Chief Engineer nodded and replicated the beverages. As he delivered them to the table, his eyes glanced at the container of food. He had not eaten for several hours and only now realized. He let himself fall into his chair and pulled Semara’s PADD towards him.

Amelia smiled brightly upon receiving the lightly sweetened beverage, and sipped.  Not a perfect recipe, but still satisfyingly cold and tea-like.

Amelia: Thank you!

Dewitt: Okay… Walk me through the interesting parts for the Chief Engineer.

She caught him glancing at the container.  As if she couldn't already feel the man's hunger.  Easily one of the simplest empathic reads in the universe.  She remained standing, wordlessly opened the container, sending the scent of warm corn spilling out into the room, and pushed it closer to the commander.  They were individually wrapped in wax paper so they'd stay clean with dirty fingers.

The little maneuver complete, she finally sat down.  She'd do most of the talking to make sure he had time to eat without having to talk with his mouth full.

Semara: I'll start with the easy stuff.  I'd suggest skimmin' the bit about all the scientific kit we'll be loading.  There's a few fun bits about the layout, but you can skim that too.  Basic idea is Khitomer's not that big, so the main lab area is basically a couple big lab benches with spots to plug in the toys when you need 'em, and then a bunch of clever cabinets to keep 'em when ya don't.  Can do just about whatever you want, but only a couple things at a time.

Dewitt: Response

Semara: Where things get interestin' is environmental and containment.  Prolly goes without sayin', but we want to keep whatever specimens we have comfy, but we need to keep ourselves safe.  The simpler bit is a coupl'a modular containment kits - it's a bit of newer tech but folks love it in the field.  Used 'em all the time last assignment.  It's not really much more than a fancy terrarium/aquarium/enclosure with a low-power replicator system.  It can work independently of the ship, but if we hook it up to the environmental system, we can house just about anything that'll fit for weeks.  Can even pressurize the things quite a lot if we find somethin' that likes livin' in superdense gas.  Just gotta be careful how many times and how quickly you do somethin' like that.

Now there was a fun idea.  Maybe they'd find some strange extremophile microbe inside a gas giant.  Such things had been theorized, but not studied.

Dewitt: Response

Semara: It's not really meant for anythin' you think might be dangerous.  For that, I laid out a hazmat room.  This is where things get interestin'...  There's pretty comprehensive rules on how to build these things, but I went a couple steps further.  Again, Khitomer is small, so the room just barely has space for two crew in full hazmat and tools, after you subtract the space taken up by the de-con airlock.  The room operates on negative air pressure relative to the rest of the ship, and vents to hard vacuum, so it has to be next to the exterior hull.  If you like bein' paranoid, you can even have a jettison-on-powerloss system, but I didn't feel comfortable punchin' a hole in the hull for that.

Dewitt: Response

Semara: There's two ways to go about settin' up environmental for the room so nothin' gets out.  The one with the perfect record is to have a completely independent air system.  You might notice I don't recommend that, though... If you look at the numbers, the install count of that system is lower than a powerloss-activated triple-shutoff check filter by two orders of magnitude.  They're much smaller, much simpler, don't require special modification of the power conduits, and the newest models haven't had any incidents that resulted in crew injury.  In short, they're much simpler, and better tested.

Now this was a piece of research she was especially proud of.  It would have been easy to get tripped up on the "perfect" numbers and completely miss the story hiding underneath.

Dewitt: Response

Semara: :: A wry grin :: I like studyin' animals.  But I also like not havin' my insides liquified by whatever hemorrhagic disease a specimen might be carryin'.  So yeah, I do my homework.  :: Beat :: How is it, by the way? :: Gesturing at the container with a smile ::

Dewitt: Response

TAG/TBC...

Ensign Amelia Magnolia Semara

Science Officer

USS Khitomer - NCC-62400

A239710MA0