A Day in the Lab

[James Ramort]

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

It was 8am exactly and the Lab was beginning to be more crowded than normal. Shift Change from Gamma to Alpha had already been taken care of half an hour ago but there were multiple heads from Beta around too. Today's experiment would need as many hands to help out with as possible after all.

The entire Department had been excited to get started on this for many days now. Multiple had traded shifts and assignments for the opportunity to work on it.

It all started when Discoveries Scanners picked up a strange asteroid flying through the interstellar medium. It confused their sensors and reported unknown material configurations. They had decided to petition the captain to pull it into an unused Cargo Bay and he eventually agreed.

Closer Inspections had revealed it to be composed of various metals forming strange but complex three-dimensional matrixes, catching the scanners energy beams and dispersing them through its structure, therein preventing any feedback from it.

If they could adapt these formations in other materials they might be able to boost passive shielding and cloaking abilities in all ships and probes using them. The potential was astonishing and if realised all their names would go down in History.

That is, if they could manage to replicate it.

[James Ramort]

[Lt. Emily Hayes]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Turbolift -> Science Lab 2]

Metals and chemical analysis weren't really her forte.

People, Societies and their History though, that was more like it.
Spending long hours carefully excavating long forgotten traces of cultures long gone or working out the intricate details of a new people, vibrant with the myriad shades of life brought forth by intelligent people creating a life for themselves.

Finding these was what she had joined the Fleet for. But Science duties wasn't always about the great mysteries inherent in the studies of Alien Civilisations, sometimes the cosmos provided for their own mysteries.

She wasn't as gripped by the material mystery of how to recreate such structures but even she had to admit its potential.

In any way, it was well worth it to sacrifice a few hours of sleep for and get to the Lab a bit earlier.

[James Ramort]

[Lt. Emily Hayes]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

As the doors to the Lab opened, many voices greeted her. Nearly a dozen Scientists in Cyan Uniforms were running all over the Lab, connecting equipment and calibrating sensors. The entire Team was up and working as hard as they could. Not wanting to stay behind she grabbed a Computing Unit and started to attach it to one of the reaction control chambers.

----

[Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

Lab 1 was empty, everyone was up and about over the strange metal.
He was just happy to finally have some time for his plants. With everyone gone, he could finally get started on a new test series on his brand-new Andorian Polar Cacti. He also enjoyed the Silence. His only compatriot today, the slight humming of the ODN and Plasma Conduits in the Walls. A regular beeping from the primary console, notifying him the primary stack of Lab Computers had been rerouted to assist with the Experiment ongoing.

Just the right atmosphere to set up his new plantlings.

[James Ramort]

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

Seeing the Lab now fully populated with everyone signed up, it would be time for the Project Pep Talk. It was a duty still feeling somewhat strange to him but for past projects it had gone a long way to rise everyones spirit before the long hours ahead of them and even softened the potential drop if an experiment sometimes fell through.

"Everyone, please gather round for a second!"

His short demand was quickly followed by many hands putting down tricorders scanning chambers, hands letting go of terminals controlling monitoring tasks and putting down some much-needed cups of coffee.

Taking a look through the faces of his colleagues assembled before him, Ramort began:

"First of all, thank you all for joining us today. I know many of you aren't from the Material Science Division normally, but I think I speak for Ensign Kedan and Crewman M'ura when I say we appreciate all your help."

The Benzite and Caitian in question, both nodding in agreement.

"Now with that out of the Way I would like to remind you of the previous assigned teams. Lieutenant Hayes, Ensign Fadin you work with Ensign Kedan, Officer Backer Lieutenant Umiga you work withCrewman M'ura, Officer Tondelier and Ensign T'lel you work with me. I wish us all the best of luck and remember that this is a team effort. Do not hesitate to ask for assistance from any other team. Now please disperse into your teams and lets get this rocks secret cracked open!"

[James Ramort]

[[Vinod Rajagopalan]]
[[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]]

The replicator in the storage section had provided him with a great coffee, just the right drink to consume while taking care of his new planting array. He had assembled a new rack to hold the precious seedlings for the last two days, while the rest of the team had been busy hauling large metal parts in the lab next doors.
The new rack was outfitted with independent sensors for each seedling, capable of controlling soil moisture and adjusting UV exposure. Truly a work of fine botanist craftsmanship, if Vinod could be so bolt as to claim so himself. [[Ensign Kedan]]
[[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]]

The particle chamber was set up, the whole apparatus of chemical probes, sensors and matter buffers to keep everything as sterile as possible had been checked by him and his team for the last 20 minutes, in addition to the system check performed by the computer.
It was his first time leading a team of his own and he wanted to make sure everything worked by the book.

[James Ramort]

[[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]]
[[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]]

The Asteroid had been transported to the adjacent storage bay for easy access and to retrieve sample material. Split in half by a strong cutting laser they had to replicated just to use it on this piece of cosmic material.

His team and he headed into the storage section to retrieve a new piece of material. It had to be small enough to fit into the chambers but retain enough complexity to yield meaningful results.

In the end Ensign T'lel pick a piece with a volume of 2 cubic centimetres for their first round of experiments and Ramort approved of the selection. It would fit without problems into the chamber.

As the laser cut the metal, a plume of sparks erupted into the air, kicking the air vents into action as the Life support systems tried to protect the ship from what it figured to be an open fire.

"I have to override these settings later. Next time we end up covered in foam if the system remains this eager."

Ramort mumbled to himself. The mental picture of three Officers covered from head to toe in flame retardant foam nonetheless leaving a smile on his face though.

[James Ramort]

[Crwm. M'ura]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

His team was loading the tanks with an assortment of chemicals. Acids to be vaporized. Bases to automatically clean trays and neutralize any remaining assets. Salts to filter gaseous releases from the experiment, and some radioactive isotopes to map the structure of certain potential subspace structures. They had it all.

They had assembled a beautiful Frankenstein of a contraption here. Once everything was loaded up, most of the manual work would be carried out automatically. They would be able to focus on controlling the processes and analysing the data completely.

In his previous life as a daystrom material consultant he had seen prototypes of similar concepts but never had the option to see one in person. They still were not ready for standartisation and general rollout but he was happy the daystrom board had agreed to his proposal to release the plans for an early version and test them in a live enviroment.

Slotting in the last of the sealed flasks with concentrated hydrochloride acid he looked over to see Ramorts team coming out of storage, A tablet with multiple small metal slabs in their hands.

[T'Rea]

[[Vinod Rajagopalan]]
[[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]]
The replicator in the storage section had provided him with a great coffee, just the right drink to consume while taking care of his new planting array. He had assembled a new rack to hold the precious seedlings for the last two days, while the rest of the team had been busy hauling large metal parts in the lab next doors.
The new rack was outfitted with independent sensors for each seedling, capable of controlling soil moisture and adjusting UV exposure. Truly a work of fine botanist craftsmanship, if Vinod could be so bolt as to claim so himself.

[Crwm. V'letr S't'kal T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]
There was a quiet hiss from the labs primary entrance as T'Rea slipped into the space. She had worked the preceding gamma shift and afterwards returned to her assigned quarters for rest and meditation. But when neither had come easily... she had hoped she might find Lab 1 empty, given the excitement over the recently retrieved the asteroid but she couldn't exactly just turn back around a leave without so much as a hello to Ensign Rajagopalan. She peered curiously at the benchtop were he was working, "May I enquire as to the nature of your experiment with Andorian polar cacti?" she asked. She had only been newly assigned to the ship, and had yet to familiarize herself with the full list of the department's ongoing work.

[James Ramort]

[Crwm. V'letr S't'kal T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]
There was a quiet hiss from the labs primary entrance as T'Rea slipped into the space. She had worked the preceding gamma shift and afterwards returned to her assigned quarters for rest and meditation. But when neither had come easily... she had hoped she might find Lab 1 empty, given the excitement over the recently retrieved the asteroid but she couldn't exactly just turn back around a leave without so much as a hello to Ensign Rajagopalan. She peered curiously at the benchtop were he was working, "May I enquire as to the nature of your experiment with Andorian polar cacti?" she asked. She had only been newly assigned to the ship, and had yet to familiarize herself with the full list of the department's ongoing work.

[Ensign Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

Vinod had attached the rack to a metal frame. Three levels or racks holding a total of 21 Plants now. Each sprouting a small tree of cables and pipes to regulate soil moisture and attach a varying degree of sensors. Some even intertwined carefully with the roots of the flora now held in their positions for the forseeable future.

Just as teh last rack clicked into position he heard the doors to the Lab open. Curios as to who would be here at this hour and while the rest of the Science Staff was busy with their big experiment he looked up from his work. It could be someone from another department after all that needed help with something. Even if he dreaded leaving his project, as the only available pair of hands he would have no choice but to be of service.

All the greater was his relief to see Crewman V'letr S't'kal T'Rea slip into the Room and take her own station. Focusing back on his project her question took him yet again with a bit of surprise. The rest of the Deparment were of course interested in his work just as he took interest in what they were doing but he had assumed their interest being so thoroughly ensnared by the asteroid that none of them paid much attention at this moment to his ongoing work.

"I am working on a series of soil compability and envirmental resiliance studies. The Andorian cactii are some of the most resiliant once I have ever seen. Maybe we can one day use them in biosphere stabilisation or even low level terraforming effort after the initial pioneer plant phase?"

Considering for a second:

"Do you want to join me, I could use some hands with preparing some nutrient solutions to simulate various stages of the terraforming process."

[T'Rea]

[[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]]
[[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]]

The Asteroid had been transported to the adjacent storage bay for easy access and to retrieve sample material. Split in half by a strong cutting laser they had to replicated just to use it on this piece of cosmic material.

His team and he headed into the storage section to retrieve a new piece of material. It had to be small enough to fit into the chambers but retain enough complexity to yield meaningful results.

In the end Ensign T'lel pick a piece with a volume of 2 cubic centimetres for their first round of experiments and Ramort approved of the selection. It would fit without problems into the chamber.

As the laser cut the metal, a plume of sparks erupted into the air, kicking the air vents into action as the Life support systems tried to protect the ship from what it figured to be an open fire.

"I have to override these settings later. Next time we end up covered in foam if the system remains this eager."

Ramort mumbled to himself. The mental picture of three Officers covered from head to toe in flame retardant foam nonetheless leaving a smile on his face though.

[Ensign T'lel]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

"We wouldn't want that!" T'lel piped up eagerly. She was nearly vibrating with excitement as the the laser continued on it's preprogrammed path to excise the selected 2cm³, even if the residual smell that the environmental controls couldn't entirely contain was disturbing her sensitive nose.

The metallic structure of the astroid was far too complex and imperfect for basic x-ray crystallography to be of much use, but thankfully, the Discovery was equipped with a state of the art tool for performing large-scale atomic electron tomography (AET). Unfortunately with a sample nearly at the limit of what could fit inside the scanning chamber it was going to take ages to collect the complete dataset, and even longer for the computers to process it (she was certain Tondelier would find a way to accelerate that part slightly, but even still...)

"Lt. Ramort, do you think once we get everything set and running with this piece in the AET we could maybe come back and take some littler cross sections pieces via focused ion beam milling? We could stick them in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and have a look--you know, a little sneak peak before the full AET results come in?" She asked hopefully.

[T'Rea]

[Ensign Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

All the greater was his relief to see Crewman V'letr S't'kal T'Rea slip into the Room and take her own station. Focusing back on his project her question took him yet again with a bit of surprise. The rest of the Deparment were of course interested in his work just as he took interest in what they were doing but he had assumed their interest being so thoroughly ensnared by the asteroid that none of them paid much attention at this moment to his ongoing work.

"I am working on a series of soil compability and envirmental resiliance studies. The Andorian cactii are some of the most resiliant once I have ever seen. Maybe we can one day use them in biosphere stabilisation or even low level terraforming effort after the initial pioneer plant phase?"

Considering for a second:

"Do you want to join me, I could use some hands with preparing some nutrient solutions to simulate various stages of the terraforming process."

[Crwm. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

T'Rea had posed her question as much as a courtesy as anything, but now her interest was well and truly piqued. "I would be happy to help," after all it was exactly the kind of familiar activity she had come here looking for (and as far as she knew there we no specific regulations against working while technically off-duty.)

She pulled up a chair and sat down at the work bench besides the human, "My partner has also used Andorian cactii for work related to environmental resilience." She surprised herself with the ease with which she mentioned Turak, entirely unprompted. Perhaps she was more tired than she had thought, "They are indeed well suited to these kinds of investigations. What are your assumed initial conditions of the soil conditions and atmosphere of the theoretical stabilization or terraforming effort? Are you assuming work to take place under under artificial biospheres or without?"

[James Ramort]

[Ensign T'lel]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

"We wouldn't want that!" T'lel piped up eagerly. She was nearly vibrating with excitement as the the laser continued on it's preprogrammed path to excise the selected 2cm³, even if the residual smell that the environmental controls couldn't entirely contain was disturbing her sensitive nose.

The metallic structure of the astroid was far too complex and imperfect for basic x-ray crystallography to be of much use, but thankfully, the Discovery was equipped with a state of the art tool for performing large-scale atomic electron tomography (AET). Unfortunately with a sample nearly at the limit of what could fit inside the scanning chamber it was going to take ages to collect the complete dataset, and even longer for the computers to process it (she was certain Tondelier would find a way to accelerate that part slightly, but even still...)

"Lt. Ramort, do you think once we get everything set and running with this piece in the AET we could maybe come back and take some littler cross sections pieces via focused ion beam milling? We could stick them in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and have a look--you know, a little sneak peak before the full AET results come in?" She asked hopefully.

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

"That sounds like a great idea Ensign. I will add it to the list of tasks to do for us. At this pace we will be able to keep the entire department busy for the forseeable future. "

As the beam finished cutting he reenterd the main room. The machine now fully assembled in the rooms heart looked like nothing he had ever seen. Odd chambers were linked by pipes, conduits and computers. Blinking lights broke through strings of cables. And yet there was some kind of system to it. A street for their probe lead thorugh the machine, even if it wasn't a straight one.

"Are we all set up. Is the device ready for startup?", he asked the room. Hoping to grab everyones attention again for another second before they had to return to their respective tasks.

[Crwm. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

T'Rea had posed her question as much as a courtesy as anything, but now her interest was well and truly piqued. "I would be happy to help," after all it was exactly the kind of familiar activity she had come here looking for (and as far as she knew there we no specific regulations against working while technically off-duty.)

She pulled up a chair and sat down at the work bench besides the human, "My partner has also used Andorian cactii for work related to environmental resilience." She surprised herself with the ease with which she mentioned Turak, entirely unprompted. Perhaps she was more tired than she had thought, "They are indeed well suited to these kinds of investigations. What are your assumed initial conditions of the soil conditions and atmosphere of the theoretical stabilization or terraforming effort? Are you assuming work to take place under under artificial biospheres or without?"

[Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

"I hope to get results from this series for both cases, actually. Ideally, we can find a strain of the species that can resist being seeded almost blindly into the open biosphere while it still is spun up. If that does not work, we might have to look into seedlings being pre-grown in a controlled development and then planting them into the open. So I am using rack one and two to simulate various states of malnutrition and in incompatible mineral compositions in the ground. The second rack though will work with initially high degrees of optimised nutritional solutions and then be reduced in concentration drastically over the next couple of days."

His hands beginning to work on steering minerals powders into water to create different solutions in beakers lined up before him, the question why she was here of duty not even came to his mind.

[T'Rea]

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]
"That sounds like a great idea Ensign. I will add it to the list of tasks to do for us. At this pace we will be able to keep the entire department busy for the forseeable future. "

[Ensign T'lel]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]
T'lel chuckled at his last comment and made a bit of a show of taking out her PADD and literally adding it to she, Ramort, and Tondelier's shared list. Tondelier rolled her eyes, but T'lel also saw the amused smirk in the corner of the data scientist's mouth.

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]
As the beam finished cutting he reenterd the main room. The machine now fully assembled in the rooms heart looked like nothing he had ever seen. Odd chambers were linked by pipes, conduits and computers. Blinking lights broke through strings of cables. And yet there was some kind of system to it. A street for their probe lead thorugh the machine, even if it wasn't a straight one.
"Are we all set up. Is the device ready for startup?", he asked the room. Hoping to grab everyones attention again for another second before they had to return to their respective tasks.

[Officer Sam Backer]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]
With a meaningful nudge from Lt. Umiga and a nod from Crewman M'ura, it was Sam who spoke up on behalf of their group, "All the required chemicals are primed and loaded. M'ura double checked the concentrations and everything," the human confirmed to Ramort with a confident nod. Handling chemicals was not exactly Sam's area of expertise, but they couldn't wait to get their hands on the datasets the device would produce and do a proper statistical analysis on the myriad of output parameters.

[James Ramort]

[Ensign T'lel]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]
T'lel chuckled at his last comment and made a bit of a show of taking out her PADD and literally adding it to she, Ramort, and Tondelier's shared list. Tondelier rolled her eyes, but T'lel also saw the amused smirk in the corner of the data scientist's mouth.

[Officer Sam Backer]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]
With a meaningful nudge from Lt. Umiga and a nod from Crewman M'ura, it was Sam who spoke up on behalf of their group, "All the required chemicals are primed and loaded. M'ura double checked the concentrations and everything," the human confirmed to Ramort with a confident nod. Handling chemicals was not exactly Sam's area of expertise, but they couldn't wait to get their hands on the datasets the device would produce and do a proper statistical analysis on the myriad of output parameters.

[Lt. Jg. James Ramort]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 2]

After the piece of cosmically crafter alloy had been inserted into the main chamber via a small tray, Ramort addressed the assembled Scientists.

"Perfect. Everyone, please stand back from the main reaction chamber.
Computer, intiate Boot up sequence and start program. Testrun - 1."

"Programm running. Reaction chamber initialising.
5%
20%
40%
65%
90%
Online!"

A bright red plasma beam charged up and hit the metal. Only to be deflected meaninglessly and painting the armoured glass of the chamber in its signature hue. All computer first only a failure of feedback before their energy meter simply jumped beyond the scale.

"Crap!"

[T'Rea]

[Ensign Vinod Rajagopalan]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

"I hope to get results from this series for both cases, actually. Ideally, we can find a strain of the species that can resist being seeded almost blindly into the open biosphere while it still is spun up. If that does not work, we might have to look into seedlings being pre-grown in a controlled development and then planting them into the open. So I am using rack one and two to simulate various states of malnutrition and in incompatible mineral compositions in the ground. The second rack though will work with initially high degrees of optimised nutritional solutions and then be reduced in concentration drastically over the next couple of days."

His hands beginning to work on steering minerals powders into water to create different solutions in beakers lined up before him, the question why she was here of duty not even came to his mind.

[Crwm. T'Rea]
[USS Discovery | Deck 10 | Science Lab 1]

T'Rea nodded her approval of his experimental design and found herself automatically help weighting out different concentrations of his selected nutrients. "I read your most recent publication while on the transport ship that brought me to the Discovery, since your field of study seemed closest to my own when I reviewed the the crew roster," she told him after a few minutes of working together in content silence. The paper, 'Lichen on an Icy Moon: Ecophysiological Study of Glyphis on Rhea' had been well organized and offered genuinely new (and well grounded) insight. "I was particularly interested in the new subclass of lichenicolous fungus you documented and reported on. I had not known that Rhea possessed such a unique microhabit to enable it."

Perhaps other newly arrived crewmembers would try to form a more personal connection with their coworkers, but T'Rea had not attempted to intentionally pursue such connections outside of her own family for some time now.