[open] The Lay of the Lands

[Ensign Rose Digby]

"Deck 5, please," Rose said as she stepped into the turbolift on the Bridge. She almost expected the lift to say "no", but instead it hummed pleasantly as always, just short of saying "glad to be of service" like the lifts in the 20th Century novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Within a few moments, Rose emerged onto Deck 5. Walking down the corridors to Astrometrics, getting lost a few times because of taking the wrong turn, Ensign Digby had enough time to ponder her task. That didn't make her any surer, perhaps because she kept reminding herself that it'd be alright.

When she entered Astrometrics, the specialist wasn't there but Crewman Vortek, a Vulcan, was. "Hello there, Crewman," Rose said somewhat hesitantly.
"Ensign," acknowledged Vortek. "Logic dictates the Captain sent you down because we're in the Delta Quadrant. Correct?"
"Er...," said Rose. "Well, er... sort of, yes. She asked me to utilise the Astrometrics scanners as the repairs are taking place. So, er..."
"You want me to use them, Ensign?" asked Vortek.
"Well..." she said. "Yes."

Vortek's hands moved over the console, and the readings came in a few moments later. There were a few systems near, one of which looked promising. Four planets... it looked like...

"That's at least class L," said Ensign Digby, then hesitantly added. "Isn't it?" Crewman Vortek nodded. "Within a day at most on Warp Speed," he said. "It would be logical to go closer and get more reliable readings." Rose found Vortek's logic unnerving. It was far too perfect for her. He didn't understand why she was afraid to fail. Or did he? Perhaps he was judging her by his Vulcan standards. Everybody expected so much of her, so much she might not be able to deliver.

Rose tapped her commbadge. "Digby to Bridge?" she started hesitantly. "Er... the readings may be unreliable, but if we're right, we've found four planets in a system nearby that are at least Class L." Please, let them be Class L, not gas giants! She almost expected the latter.

Tag: Any

[Lt. JG Lisa Huygens]

// "Rose?" she said over the comm. "This is Lieutenant Huygens. Good job. I'll tell the Captain once she returns from the Ready Room. In the meantime, see if you two can get us more information." //

[Ensign Rose Digby]

Lieutenant Huygens responded to Rose's message pretty soon. // "Rose? This is Lieutenant Huygens. Good job. I'll tell the Captain once she returns from the Ready Room. In the meantime, see if you two can get us more information." //

Great. Now if she'd messed things up, the Captain would know about it. Besides, it wasn't really her good job, was it? Crewman Vortek had done the hard work, she'd only been here using her common sense. She still wasn't sure, but she did not want to question Lieutenant Huygens's orders again like she had before. It made her look silly. She tapped her commbadge.

"Er... acknowledge?" she said. Rosemary Merrill Digby, she reprimanded herself using her full name. That just sounded stupid! "And you give me too much credit. Crewman Vortek did the lion's share of the work. Although for the more detailed work, I'm not sure we could..." She stopped in midsentence. "Do you think another officer could come down here and help us?"

// "Knowing him, I don't believe Vortek would take so much credit. Lieutenant Denali should be free. I'll see what I can do for you, Ensign." //

"Right," said Rose. "Back to work, Crewman." As they worked, she waited for Ryanna to come in, if she would come at all.

Tag: Ryanna (once called by Lisa)/Any

[Ryanna Denali]

Ryanna calmly made her way to the astrometrics lab. It was one of the places she spent a lot of time in. Being a stellar cartographer, astrometrics came in quite handy. The doors opened with their regular hiss. "Hello ensign, crewmen." Ry acknowledged them both. Stepping behind one of the consoles Ryanna looked at the current information. Hmm...

Oh yeah! Ry tapped her badge. "Lieutenant Denali to Lieutenant Huygens, I'm in astrometrics now." Ryanna reported, almost forgetting, but thankfully remembered. "Four planets, class L, the fourth looks like it has two moons..." Ry commented as her hands seemed to fly across the console. "Wait. We're in the Delta Quadrant? When did that..." Ry remembered the ship shaking. "nevermind."

Wait. Right here. Evidence of an unstable wormhole... That must be it considering the name. Lieutenant Denali put the planets up on the screen than began to try and map out the region of space they were currently in with the information they had. "What exactly are we looking for?"

Tag: Digby/Lisa

[Cadet Zackery Syda]

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Answered Zack, politely as he strode into astrometrics. He was already up to date on where they were and the why. It just so happened that Zack had been in the mess hall previously, studying one of his subjects.

And ya know, the mess hall had the best view for spacial anomalies, what, with having the most windows than any room on the ship. When the ship was in danger he went to the main science lab to see and hear what was going on. It didn't exactly take too long to find out.

PADD in hand he looked at the officers in the room. "May I?" He inquired holding up the PADD.

Tag: Any

[Lt. JG Lisa Huygens]

// "Acknowledge." //

[Ensign Rose Digby]

Crewman Vortek was in the middle of some calculations to readjust the scanners, with Rose looking over his shoulder, trying to keep up. As a Planetary Researcher, the macrolevel of systems was not what Rose was most knowledgeable about, but she had taken a fair few classes in other fields so she knew the basics. Nothing special, really. Then she heard the doors hiss and Lieutenant Denali entered, greeting them both.

Rose turned to look at Lieutenant Denali and smiled. "Hello, Lieutenant," she said. "I'm glad you could come."
"Lieutenant," said Vortek. "It is a pleasure."

Lieutenant Denali walked over to a free console and started checking the data. "Four planets, class L, the fourth looks like it has two moons..." she said. Rose felt relief that her assessment at least had a semblance of truth in it. She wouldn't have wanted to find out what had happened if she was wrong. "Wait, we're in the Delta Quadrant? When did that..." Ryanna wondered aloud. "Yes, we're ehm..." Rose started, but Ryanna said "never mind".
"Oh," said Rose, barely audible and a bit timidly, as she had just tried to answer what had turned out to be a rhetorical question. "I'll just stop talking now."

"What exactly are we looking for?" asked Lieutenant Denali, but before Rose could answer, she heard the hiss of the doors and a familiar-sounding voice behind her. "That's what I'd like to know." It was Zackery Syda, a fourth-year Cadet of around Rose's age who was on fieldwork training with the Orion when they, well, ended up in the Delta Quadrant. Rose knew him, but she hadn't worked with him much. I don't know why, really, she thought. He seems to be a nice guy.

"Oh," she said, turning towards the door and smiling at Cadet Syda. "Hello Mr Syda! We're looking for inhabited planets." She stepped towards him, motioning him to come and help them. "Please, come in. Are you here to help us?"

He held up a PADD and asked: "May I?" Rose nodded. "Sure."

Tag: Zack/Ryanna/Any

[Cadet Zackery Syda]

The prospect of looking for inhabited worlds put a smile on Zackery's face; so did the permission Ensign Digby gave allowing him to work with them. "Thank you ensign." Zack said respectfully as he went to a console. He jotted down a few things as he stood next to Ensign Digby. In someways the ensign reminded Zack just a little bit of his twin sister. She always second guessed herself growing up, even in Starfleet. It seemed he had held her hand in the academy days as well as grade school. Now they were a long ways off.

"We're in the Delta Quadrant. Isn't it great?!" Zack said, maybe a bit too enthusiastically, trying to make small talk. Sure they were a long ways from home now, and he'd miss his family, but this opportunity was far beyond anything the academy could teach him. And hey...maybe they'd find a Borg debris field! Who knew?

Tag: Any

[Ensign Rose Digby]

Zack smiled and thanked her, calling her by her rank. If I ever get to know him better, I'm going to ask him to call me Rose, she thought. I know it's protocol, but he's almost my age! I feel old when he calls me Ensign. "I guess," she said to him, "I have to thank you."

Smalltalk was no problem for her like talking about her duties was. Rose was friendly and really liked to talk to people. And Zack was bare months younger than her. "We're in the Delta Quadrant. Isn't it great?!" he said enthusiastically. Rose smiled. She felt the same way, remembering how she punched buttons on the Bridge. "I know," she said eagerly. "It's great! Although..." She stopped. She shouldn't bother Zack with the topic of her parents, whom she missed very much. "Well," she said with mixed feelings. "It's a long way away from home. But hey," she spoke more enthusiastically now, "adventure's never just around the corner of your doorpost!"

Rose's hands danced over the console. "Er... this button," she thought aloud, "and then... that one." The scanners scanned for water on the planet with the moons. "Looks like it could be a class M, don't you think?" she asked Cadet Syda. "If it is, we should, maybe..." She hesitated to say they should inform the Bridge, for fear of it being just a class L. "Er... like... inform the Bridge?"

Tag: Zack/Ryanna/Any

[Ryanna Denali]

Cadet Syda had walked in to help. Ry decided to let Ensign Digby handle his qury, mainly since she'd have been off duty if not called by Lisa. Besides, Ensign Digy was more than capable to welcome another officer into the working circle. It was impossible to mess something like that up. The two then started talking...work and quadrant related. Good thing. Ryanna was going to jump in, in a moment however Astrometric sensors picked something up. "Computer, isolate grid two five one." The computer isolated the grid by bringing it full up on the large screen. "Is that a ship?"

Tag: Either

[Ensign Rose Digby]

Rose looked at the screen with a little surprise. "Well, yes!" she said, enthusiastic about their discovery. "Er... I think we should let the Bridge know, just to make sure they don't, you know, miss it." She could no longer think of an excuse to hold off committing herself to findings in the eye of the Bridge crew, so she tapped her commbadge. "Digby to Bridge," she said. "Cadet Syda and I think that the fourth planet in the system might be a Class-M planet." She stopped. "And, er... just in case you didn't know, there's a ship in grid two five one."

She looked at Zack. "Well," she said enthusiastically. "Isn't it exciting? It seems like we're going to make first contact!"

Tag: Bridge/Ryanna/Zack/Any

[Commander Christian Hughes]

// "Hughes to Astrometrics," he replied. "Good job, you four. Seeing as you are now done with the hard work, Ensign, why don't you and Cadet Syda take a break in the Mess Hall? You've both done extremely well." //

[Ensign Rose Digby]

// "Hughes to Astrometrics"// came the voice of the First Officer over the comm. Oh my god, what have I done wrong? thought Rose, alarmed. // "Good job, you four. Seeing as you are now done with the hard work, Ensign, why don't you and Cadet Syda take a break in the Mess Hall? You've both done extremely well." // A smile broke on Rose's face. Despite the fact that she didn't know whether she deserved them, being congratulated by the Commander made her feel good. "Thank you all," she said to the rest. "I couldn't have done this on my own."

The idea to take a break together with Cadet Syda appealed to Rose, who had now decided she wanted to get to know and maybe make friends with him. She was also glad to have a break after what she saw as a difficult task. Smiling, she looked at Cadet Syda. "I think that's a good idea," she said sweetly. "Do you want to come with me?" She was standing next to him now, ready to take a step towards the door.

Tag: Zack

[Cadet Zackery Syda]

Zack started to really get wrapped up in the work. More so when Lieutenant Denali picked up a ship. It was amazing. Checking the logs it was one they never encountered before. What I wouldn't give to be on the bridge right now!

It would help to further the studies, but the new comer might not being jotted down on a datapadd; traits, movements, tech, etc. then tossed into the base for further study. From what the sensors could tell the ship looking interesting from a operations point of view. Then the voice of Commander Hughes came over the comm, which Zack almost missed hearing due to his mind reeling so fast with this new news.

A drink? But there was so much to go over. Then again, if you left and came back there would be more work to get lost in... The idea of more work was appealing. Zack looked at Ensign Digby and smiled.

"Do you want to come with me?"

"Sure," Zack replied stepping away from the station. "Pardon me Lieutenant." Zack then gestured to the door, allowing Ensign Digby to step through first. He then decided to throw in for encouragement: "and you could have done it on your own."

Tag: Rose

[Ensign Rose Digby]

Rose noticed Zack motioning towards the door to get her to go through it first. That's so sweet! she thought. He's such a gentleman. You don't see somebody who acts that way towards women much these days. He also encouraged her by saying that she could do that on her own. "You really think so?" she asked.

She stepped through the door and went to the Mess Hall, waiting a few times to make sure she didn't get too far ahead of Zack.

End Rose- move to Mess Hall