Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aili McMorran (Chief Science Officer) in Check In - Cadet T’Mor to CSO’s Office, Reporting for Duty

Posted by Cadet T’Mor (Scientist) in Check In - Cadet T’Mor to CSO’s Office, Reporting for Duty

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Aili McMorran (Chief Science Officer) in Check In - Cadet T’Mor to CSO’s Office, Reporting for Duty
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Shortly after arriving, T’Mor consulted her P.A.D.D. Under her notes was a checklist of the things she was told to do. It did make her a bit nervous to think about the bearings first impressions have on how people perceive you. “No,” she thought to herself. Calming down, distancing herself from the anxiety. She reminded herself, “No one will take you seriously if you don’t act like you are in control.”

So, standing up tall, she went directly to report for duty. Finding the quickest route on her P.A.D.D., she stopped for nothing. After again gaining control over the mixture of excitement and anxiety, she calmly opened the door. Expecting to be noticed upon arriving, through perhaps not wanting to be, she said nothing at first.

The doors parted to reveal the primary science lab, its whites and greys gleaming with cleanliness. Worksurfaces intended for scientific equipment and apparatus lay bare, give or take a handful of PaDDs scattered here and there. Instead, what drew T’Mor’s attention was a large digital display spanning nearly the entire left hand wall of the lab. Across its surface equations and numbers had been neatly written, apparently by hand, and graphical simulations of stars and nebulae danced in the far corner. An additional, holographic display of a blue star hovered over the lab’s central workstation. As the cadet looked on, the head of a young woman sporting a bob of curly ginger hair poked out from behind it.

“Ah! Cadet T’Mor I presume?” the head inquired in a vivid Scottish accent. The image of the star blinked out of existence, revealing the CSO in full. “I’m Lieutenant McMorran. Welcome aboard the Challenger. Please, join me.” She gestured to a white desk nestled behind her at the back of the lab. An open seat waited invitingly as she made her own way to the chair on the far side of the desk and lowered herself into it.

Lt. J.G. Aili McMorran - CSO

OOC: Welcome to STF and to the Challenger! I’m Jamie and in this thread I’ll help you get started by giving you some pointers as to how the club works. :)
First of all, I’ve marked this section as OOC (out of character). This just allows us to speak out of character without any confusion. I see you’ve already written up a bit of a bio which is great, and you’ve nailed the past tense, 3rd person writing style first time! One note: we always ‘sign off’ our posts with a label briefly identifying our character and position, as I’ve done above. This helps keep it clear who’s posting where, especially in longer, slightly messier threads. Your’s would look something like: “Cadet T’Mor: Science”. You can tweak it to your heart’s content, so long as it gets the information across!

” Lieutenant McMorran, we meet at last,”

She sat down in the other chair, perfect posture with hands in her lap. Her small brown eyes once fixed rarely broke away from her commanding officer.

“I reviewed the crew roster beforehand. As I understand it you are the head of the Science Department.”

While her energetic demeanor was not typically associated with intelligence, at least from a Vulcan standpoint, none the less she was the Head of the Science department. Judging from the simulation she had appeared to be running, and the handwritten mathematics, she was quite intelligent.

“That’s right. I’m glad to meet you, as well.” McMorran nodded with a friendly smile. If she were honest, she found the situation rather intimidating. As a fresh-faced head of department, T’Mor was her first cadet and was not only over a decade her senior, but Vulcan. Her eyes did narrow slightly through her friendly expression, however, as she was surprised by the apparent… energy and enthusiasm of the cadet. This was not what she had expected when she had read of the slightly older Vulcan in the crew manifest.

“I am honored to have been accepted to join the Challenger. To me it is very remarkable, as this is my first time on a Federation Starship. The technology here is beyond adequate.” T’Mor scanned the room with her eyes for a brief moment before returning her attention to the Lieutenant.

Talking about this made her a bit excited, but again, she had to quell that as well.

-Cadet T’Mor, Science Dept.

McMorran was sat with her back firmly against her seat as she examined the cadet with intense inquisitiveness. It was a vital first step in any professional relationship, in the view of the CSO, to find the best mode of communication with a given colleague. Reckoning that the cadet’s notable excitement presented an opportunity, she drew on that in her response. She grinned. “It is a wonderful ship cadet but have no doubt, you are here because you earned it. The bridge, just along the corridor from here, is the place that never fails to impress me. As science officers, we should always be prepared to be drafted there or elsewhere to aide with ship’s operations.” She allowed her grin to spread into somewhat of a smirk. “We’re vital here cadet. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

The lieutenant cleared her throat and adopted a slightly more serious tone. “Of course, for most of us our fields of research and expertise are our first passion. You are a botanist, correct?” McMorran leaned forward and rested folded hands on the desk, visibly interested in hearing about the cadet’s expertise and passions.

Lt. J.G. Aili McMorran - CSO

OOC: I’m enjoying getting to know T’Mor already! We’re clearly lucky to have you here. Note that above, I inserted the first section of my response amongst your post. Often, simply inserting pieces of dialogue in this way is valuable. Just ensuring that you’re aware of that as an option, one you will find increasingly useful as time goes on. :) - Jamie

“Yes, indeed,” T’Mor replied.

“Thus far I have focused my studies on plant nutrition, growing methods, and hybridization.”

She could have left it at that. But she knew from experience curiosity always demands a why. And intelligent minds are naturally curious. So she pieced together her response ahead of time, be sure to leave out any implications of abnormality.

“This ‘passion’ as you call it, came from a desire in my childhood, as I grew up in a somewhat rural community. Growing our own food supply was important. In our region poor soil limited what we could grow for generations. However, with the help of hybridized plants and soil supplements, we began to prosper. Therefore, as I am a product of such discoveries, I have felt a moral duty to help further that field.”

And while this was not a lie, it was a good story. The truth in its entirety rarely is, but humans love a good story.

-Cadet T’Mor, Science Dept.

The gaze of the CSO was firmly locked on T’Mor as she shared her personal ‘history’. Of course, McMorran thought, what sort of heartfelt motivation and poetic recollections were you expecting from a Vulcan? Truth be told, she hadn’t had the chance to interact with all that many Vulcans in her time. Her new cadet, she considered, was an opportunity to change that.

“Well”, she responded, “that sounds like a…” Don’t say logical, that’s reductive. “A sensible career choice.” Her inexperience with the species led the CSO to assume that any quirks T’Mor displayed when compared to the average Vulcan, in her mind, were the result of her own ignorance, rather than T’Mor’s real personality.

“And your specialisations? What sort of work is your preference? What do you hope to make of your time here?” McMorran asked in rapid succession while, without breaking eye contact, she shut off a small desktop display which T’Mor could just catch had been displaying her personnel file.

Lt. J.G. Aili McMorran - CSO

T’Mor adjusted herself to be me forward in her seat, but still maintaining posture. She noticed her profile, and it made her slightly relieved. One of the things about being around other species, many of them were not even half as judgemental as her former Vulcan instructors. While it was difficult to accept praise, it did serve to bolster her reputation as an intelligent and dedicated student of her science. A reputation that her sister had managed to gain as a much younger child on Vulcan.

What made T’Mor even more confident was the opportunity to talk more about her interest.

“I am sure you are aware that most of my research conducted so far has been limited to controlled laboratory settings. While such research is valuable, and in no way am I opposed to participating, my goal in coming aboard is to conduct field research. By traveling to the natural habit of plant-life, more can be observed about their behavior and interactions with environment. Things like weather, soil quality, and symbiotic relationships can be better understood. This information can then be applied to hybridization, thus creating not only more robust plant-life, but a better understanding of the behavior of hybrids. There is also the opportunity for the discovery of new plant-life, which would be of great benefit to the field and could be exceptional personal accomplishment.”

At this point T’Mor had loss her perfect posture, leaning inward. She spoke in a higher tone, eyes wide with what could only be excitement, though her expression remain unchanged. She could have gone on and on about the theories of environmental effects on hybridized plant life, symbiosis, debates about ecological impacts, understanding gene compatibility and study of naturally occurring hybrids. But she had to stop herself, losing control even a little was too much.

OOC: Feel free to indicate some action that snaps her out of her potential rant. Something small, you don’t have to interrupt her yourself if it isn’t in character. But do what you want and you don’t have to.

-Cadet T’Mor, Science Dept.

As T’Mor was beginning to feel the need to conclude, without warning, a slim set of side doors the Vulcan had not yet noticed hissed open and the figure of a young Trill woman tumbled backwards into the lab, followed by a small avalanche of boxes and equipment. McMorran sighed in resigned exasperation before whispering to T’Mor. “I am so sorry about this.” The whisper rose to an assertive boom along with the CSO’s rise to her feet. “NEnsign Seezra. Are you alright?”

A response came as the short Trill of about the same age as McMorran wobbled to her feet, rapidly pulling her shoulder length black hair aside from her face. “Aye, ma’am. I’m okay.” She doubled over as she brushed away dust and grime from her uniform as best she could.

“NEnsign, I did ask not to be disturbed while meeting with our new colleague here.”

Seezra stuttered the beginning of her response as she straightened up and looked the CSO head-on with widened eyes. Anyone with a passing appreciation for beauty would have found the Trill striking. “I.. I’m sorry Lieutenant. It’s just that I think some of my tools have gotten lost among Lieutenant Garth’s…”

At this point T’Mor had already gotten up from her from her seat and was handing the NEnsign some of the boxes and equipment off of the floor.

“His junk, yes.” McMorran looked down at T’Mor. “The former CSO left quite a bit lying around this place… We’ll find it for you later Seezra. In the meantime, this is Cadet T’Mor. She was just sharing with me how she hopes to apply her talents in the field of botany here. NEnsign Seezra is a geologist. I expect you’ll encounter each other plenty in the labs.” Glancing between the NEnsign and the cadet, Aili anticipated their interaction. From what little she had come to know of T’Mor, she felt confident projecting that her and Seezra would constitute somewhat of a clash of personalities. Come their shared lab time, which Aili would ensure came to pass, she planned on keeping a close eye on how each of the women dealt with the relationship.

Lt. J.G. Aili McMorran - CSO

OOC: I’ve introduced here an NE (or NEnsign, as I’ve written, all short for Nameless Ensign). These are the NPC characters who fill out the crew. A new one can be created whenever a character is needed, redshirt style. Essentially, the writer who creates an NE then roleplays/controls that character as I’ve done here. More generally, in side-sims such as this (a thread which is not part of the main-sim run by the GM), player(s) take charge of running the world. Naturally, it’s not the done thing to use that to interfere with the main-sim in any way (or to blow up the ship…).

Also, I’ve planted a seed for possible future side-sims here! :)

T’Mor looked up at her name being mentioned. She stood with the remaining boxes under her arm, and held out her free hand for a handshake.

“Yes, hello,” she said cordially,

“I look forward to working with you, NEnsign.”

Yes, every Vulcan cultural instinct might suggest NEnsign Seezra was nothing more than a klutzy fool. But it was still T’Mor’s choice, as a matter of principle, not to judge one’s intelligence or usefulness simple by their lack of coordination. Still, she could see it getting irritating if it interfered with their research. Geology and Botany do overlap in certain areas, so it was best to assume they would work together at some point.

-Cadet T’Mor, Science Dept.