Posted by Cadet K’sang Duras (Scientist) in CSO’s Office: Cadet Duras Checking In

Posted by Lieutenant Garth (Chief Science Officer) in CSO’s Office: Cadet Duras Checking In

Posted by Cadet K’sang Duras (Scientist) in CSO’s Office: Cadet Duras Checking In
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

The door to science lab one opened automatically at K’sang’s touch, sliding aside to reveal a room filled with a dense grey cloud of smog that started to spill out into the hallway. It was so thick that you couldn’t even see your hand if you stuck it out in front of you. From within the smoke, a raspy harsh coughing could be heard some unspecified distance into the lab, the hacking of an older man. Between fits of coughing, a gravely voice yelled out: “Turn on (cough) the exhaust fan! Along (cough) the wall to your (cough) right (cough) of the door!”

Although it was located on deck one, the flagship science lab was starkly different from the other areas of the ship’s premiere deck. Whereas the bridge, observation lounge, and captain’s ready room were kept neat and tidy, Garth’s workspace was a scrapyard of miscellaneous metal parts, half-constructed analysis equipment, and seemingly unattended bubbling test tubes and beakers. Walking through the space would require some careful maneuvering as to not knock anything from their precarious perches at the edges of the long, low tables that lined the room, especially now that the room was filled with smog.

(Lt. Garth, CSO)

OOC: Hi Dustin! So happy to have you aboard! Great first post, I like the character details you’re incorporating already, that’s awesome! I saw that you’re working on a character biography too, which is great! I have a couple pointers to get you oriented!

1. I changed the title of this thread to “CSO’s Office: Cadet Duras Checking In”. Because there are always several threads going at a time on each ship, thread titles should include the location, followed by the purpose. Sometimes this will also include labels regarding “sims” or simulations, be they main sim threads where the GM (game master) is involved, or player-directed side-sims! I saw that you did this with your CNS and Medical threads already, which is great! Although i would recommend including your character’s name in the title of threads because we have a lot of check in threads going on right now and it helps us all keep which is which straight!

2. At the end of each post, we include a character signature to indicate the end of our writing and to identify the speaker/actor for other players. Mine is (Lt. Garth, CSO) as an example. The character signature should include your character’s rank, name, and department! So yours might looks like (Cadet Duras, Science).

3. Last little thing: the head of the science department is called the “Chief Science Officer” or CSO. I saw you mention the “COS” in your post above, which in STF means the Chief of Security. It’s a tiny difference and is quite confusing if you ask me, but that’s the abbreviations we use to differentiate the departments!

I gave you a little bit of a scenario to solve… see if you can find that exhaust switch! Looking forward to writing with you!

Ben Z.

OOC: Thanks! Yeah I noticed things as I delved further into posting, i’ll get the hang of it soon enough.

IC:

“qaStaH nuq jay’” K’sang covered his mouth and nose with the crook of his elbow as thoughts of composition began to run though his head: Carbon Monoxide, Dioxin, and various Sulfides. After steeling his resolve, he entered the lab he tapped his comm badge, “Caustic smoke detected =cough= lab one!”
Already his eyes had begun to water, making what little vision he had even worse, between coughs he managed to add “Run a level five diagno=cough= nostic and = cough= notify Sickbay of potential Medical Emergency =cough= if Class Alpha fire is detected!” Feeling along the wall as best as he could, he tried to find the access control panel as stumbled over what he could only guess was part of a probe solar panel “What kind of qu’valth =cough= chooses to live in a Targ sty?” he added irritably.

(Cadet K’sang)

As K’sang entered the room, the smoke was definitely uncomfortable to inhale. But it didn’t burn necessarily, and there was no heat to the room or smell of burning. Likely this wasn’t a fire, but a chemical reaction gone awry. Given that there was someone else in the room who was still breathing and may have been trying to navigate the space for some time, it wasn’t likely that the smog was especially toxic. That being said, it would probably be a good idea to tell sickbay about the incident afterwards just in case.

“Computer!” The voice barked frantically from across the room. “Cancel (cough) that order! We don’t need (cough) sick bay (cough) you just need to (cough*) hit that damn exhaust!” K’sang could probably find the panel easy enough by feeling along the wall, and operating it was a simple press of a button.

If K’sang activated the exhaust, the room would be filled with a loud whirring as the fan turned on, quickly sucking the smog our and replacing it with fresh air. As visibility returned, K’sang would see Garth, a stout tellarite man with aging complexion and balding head, wiping condensation from his goggles.

(Lt. Garth, CSO)

OOC: Great post once again! Writing in STF is collaborative, so it’s a balance between respecting other people’s characters actions and still moving the story along. In this case, I used “if” to indicate what might happen if K’sang takes the expected actions to move the plot forward. But theoretically, you’re allowed to change the direction if you’d like! One small thing: when using alien language, I’d recommend also including the English translation in parentheses. The universal translator is always on in starships I believe, and even if it’s not, Garth (for example) might know klingon even when I (Ben) do not. It would save me the chore of looking it up in a translator if that’s the case!

Ben

OOC: Its not quite seamless yet, but i think i’m starting to get the formalities down. Shouldn’t be long before the rest falls into place. As for the Klingon: qustah nuq jay roughly translates to WTF and qu’valth is a klingon animal that is known for being particularly stubborn.

IC:

“Got it!” K’sang said as the smoke began to clear, the Cadet began picking up parts he had previously knocked over. “Is this… a peripheral interface? It looks like the resolution scanner port might be a little..” he cleared his throat, “bent.”

Garth shambled over to K’sang with a scowl, watching him fix the mess he had created. “And what if it is?” Garth snapped defensively.

Calamity aside, K’sang placed the housing back on top of a stack and rose to attention. “Cadet K’sang Duras reporting for duty”

(K’sang, Cadet)

As K’sang stood up and the smog continued to clear, Garth got his first good look at the cadet. His bushy eyebrows raised in surprise and the lieutenant was stunned for a moment before he spoke again. “Right. Yes, Cadet Duras. Right. I was told to expect you.” Garth was obviously a bit uncomfortable in the presence of the much larger man. “I must admit I was surprised when I read that you were coming aboard, considering your record states you were born in the Klingon Empire. Have you become a citizen of the Federation?”

“No, not yet anyway.” he replied, “This is an internship of sorts, depending on how useful I am in both my duties. As well as my standing among crew mates, I may have the option of becoming one in the future.”
-Ksang, Cadet

Garth crossed his arms. “From glancing over your academy report from DS7 I understand you specialize in xenobiology, yes? What merits have you earned in the field?”

(Lt. Garth, CSO)

OOC: STF is a lot about just getting used to things, and that’s what the academy’s for! You’re doing great so far, and I’m glad to see you taking initiative with some of the other threads! What I’ve demonstrated above is that you can respond between paragraphs of other people’s posts. In fact, sometimes paragraphs are intended to have a response inserted before the next. See if you can answer Garth’s first question before the paragraph with his second. This way, it maintains the normal chronological order of the conversation while letting things move forward more quickly. Usually, responses inserted between paragraphs shouldn’t DRASTICALLY alter the situation/conversation, as to not make the paragraph afterwards nonsensicle. Hope that makes sense! To do this, make sure that the inserted line and the line both above and below it have no arrows (>) in your response!

Ben

Clasping his hands behind his back, K’sang placed his feet shoulder width apart and stood at parade rest, “My specialty is synthesizing and manipulating biological devices and systems with artificial recreation in particular. In short, I study species strengths and find practical applications to use in fabrication of equipment to improve quality of life. A good comparative might be an earth creature known as a Starfish and its early role what we now know as Dermal Re-generators. My temporary assignment on DS7 included studying space matter, false vacuums, and metaphasic radiation in the Briar Patch to develop a new transit system in an attempt to not only prevent overheating in impulse manifolds, but to also improve transportation speeds. The end result in theory will allow for more efficient mapping as well as the possibility of more than two inhabitable planets, possibly one that naturally resists the radiation flooding from supernova elements… or genetic fire walling that could be administered for more efficient radiation resistance without leading to cellular degradation.”

-K’sang, Cadet

Garth watched K’sang closely as the cadet reported his accolades. “I see,” he said after the cadet had finished, not exactly indicating whether or not he was impressed. The tellarite hobbled over to a stool and plopped down before rummaging through a pile or miscellaneous parts before pulling out a PaDD. “I require each cadet under my command to complete a project of academic rigor during their time on the Challenger, to be presented to be prior to graduation. I assume you’ll want to complete your capstone in the field of xenobiology, yes?”

(Lt. Garth, CSO)

OOC: This thread is getting a bit long! When threads get too wordy, it becomes difficult to scroll through all of the previous text to get to the more recent posts. To manage this, we “snip” threads, in which we delete the more ancient posts from the reply. I have snipped the first post in this thread, see if you can snip the next post (aka Garth’s first post). To do this, delete the text and the corresponding “posted by” line and replace it with a (snip) indicator.

One other thing real quick: I’ve noticed that your sign-off doesn’t include your character’s department. That infomration can be very helpful for other writers to understand your character’s role on the ship. So I’d suggest using “K’sang, Science Cadet” as the full sign-off for your posts. Also, when posting between paragraphs you only need to include the sign-off for the last paragraph, because the site presents recent replies in tiers anyways.

Ben