Season 1, Mission 07: Inquisition

[ThomasRiker]

John smiled as he heard what Masters said he once again looked at the service record and looking over all the notes from the previous positions he has hand even in the first few months the Churchill was commissioned.

"What I am going to ask you could help you gain other positions but if you're not ready for it I would have to know as it's not an easy task" Finished Brown leaning forward looking at the Lieutenant
"As you are aware Lieutenant Thomson, was transferred to the U.S.S Discovery and took my former position of Chief Tactical/Security officer with this move I am willing to place you as Assistant Chief Tactical/Security Officer of the U.S.S Churchill on a trial basis with this position you would have to be in charge of most away teams. You will be conducting reviews of the armories and looking into internal security as you would report to me. Would you be able to perform this task" Asked Brown

"I would greatly appreciate the position. I feel that I can handle the added responsibility. I will remind you sir that I have tan security for a sort while  on the shop. I would gladly lead away teams, I just sincerely hope they don't get to the level of our last one" he said to his superior. He was glad to get some added reasonability. He was a capable soldier, he wanted to be a capable officer as well.

[Dustin J. Guidry]

After 5 hours of non stop building, the new air-ponics bay was finally online. Now that guidry had finished the bay and had everything in the places to his liking, he went over to the console and looked up the files he was told about. It was an attempt to grow a plant that was found on Ledonia III. they were very hard to keep alive, let alone grow. But the data showed that the one plant, would keep the entire air system in the room clean. Guidry figured this must have been what rush was trying to do, either that are to simply try and test his skill as a botanist. He had the entire potting area for the plant ready, and the seedling was waiting in a pod. He opened the pod to find it very weak, most likely dieing. After only a few seconds of looking at it he was able to figure out why. The fungus that grew on the plant, that it also feed off of was dieing and had none left. The plant was starving to death, he took a few scans of what little fungus they had left with a medical tri-corder. He had adapted the tri-corder to meet his new need as head botanist of the ship.But he knew that he would need to make the fungus, and the only place that could do this was the sickbay lab.

He took a quick walk out of the bay, and into the turbo-lift, and called for sickbay. He stepped out of the lift, and into sickbay very quickly. He looked around to find the first person that would be able to help him. There was a young girl sitting at a stool, and humming to herself.

"Excuse me crewman, I need 3 grams more of this fungus. Are you familiar with the process in doing this?" he asked not knowing all of the new ships crew still.

[TLaina Mandlin]

After 5 hours of non stop building, the new air-ponics bay was finally online. Now that guidry had finished the bay and had everything in the places to his liking, he went over to the console and looked up the files he was told about. It was an attempt to grow a plant that was found on Ledonia III. they were very hard to keep alive, let alone grow. But the data showed that the one plant, would keep the entire air system in the room clean. Guidry figured this must have been what rush was trying to do, either that are to simply try and test his skill as a botanist. He had the entire potting area for the plant ready, and the seedling was waiting in a pod. He opened the pod to find it very weak, most likely dieing. After only a few seconds of looking at it he was able to figure out why. The fungus that grew on the plant, that it also feed off of was dieing and had none left. The plant was starving to death, he took a few scans of what little fungus they had left with a medical tri-corder. He had adapted the tri-corder to meet his new need as head botanist of the ship.But he knew that he would need to make the fungus, and the only place that could do this was the sickbay lab.

He took a quick walk out of the bay, and into the turbo-lift, and called for sickbay. He stepped out of the lift, and into sickbay very quickly. He looked around to find the first person that would be able to help him. There was a young girl sitting at a stool, and humming to herself.

"Excuse me crewman, I need 3 grams more of this fungus. Are you familiar with the process in doing this?" he asked not knowing all of the new ships crew still.

Half way into her work she was interrupted by a young man around the same age as one of her sisters and smiled sweetly to him as she placed her PADD on the table and stood up towering over him. Leaning back T'Laina would crack her back and look at Dustin for moment before leaning in towards him to look at what he had and giggled softly she would speak to him

"Yes, I know of this process."

Eying the young lad T'Laina hummed to herself as she walked across the room to a counter and would take out a pair of gloves and slide them on to her hands. Shoving her hair out of her face T'Laina would lean the front of part of her body on the counter and keep humming and then look over her shoulder back at the Dustin and sway a bit before speaking once more

"Leave it on this counter and I will take a look at what I can do sir and by the way next time you have a request ask for T'Laina and don' be so fracking forward about it."

Starting at a chart T'Laina would bit her lip and start to think about the fungus that Dustin was giving to her.

[John Brown]

"I would greatly appreciate the position. I feel that I can handle the added responsibility. I will remind you sir that I have tan security for a sort while  on the shop. I would gladly lead away teams, I just sincerely hope they don't get to the level of our last one" he said to his superior. He was glad to get some added reasonability. He was a capable soldier, he wanted to be a capable officer as well.

John smiled as he knew the officer in front of him was young but he knew with experience would grow to a fine officer of the Churchill. Turning his computer terminal he pressed a button command and within moments the Computer Beeped

~ Computer Security Access Brown, John Lieutenant Commander Chief Tactical/Security Officer Delta-Seven-Four-Nine-Eight-Bravo~

~Computer: Security Access Granted~

~Computer update Lieutenant J.G Tobais Masters Security Clearance to Level 7 add condition of full override of Department Head to be enabled~

~Computer: Acknowledged~

"I am putting my full faith in you have a Level 7 Security Clearance which is Department Head Level. Do not abuse this and I added a condition that I can override anything you do to the computer. do you understand?"Finished John looking at the officer

[T'Ra Jones]

T'Ra awoke long before her alarm was due to go off. It was one of those nights where she couldn't fall asleep. She had spent two hours just lying on top of her bed staring at the blank ceiling above. Tired of doing nothing, T'Ra slipped out of bed and slowly sauntered over to where some of her most prized possessions lay. In the far corner of her room was a old tattered box, something her father had given her after she had successfully completed kahs-wan. T'Ra rummaged through various objects and other mementos until she found what she was looking for. With great satisfaction, she pulled out her Robin Hood book and plopped it down onto her lap. She read contently for about half an hour before she grew tired of that as well.

Although she was still off duty for several hours still, T'Ra stood up and changed into a fresh, clean uniform. With one last look in the mirror, she straightened her com badge and tucked her hair behind her ears, satisfied with how she appeared.

"Computer," T'Ra inquired, "where is crewman Guidry?"

The computer hummed as it thought before finally spitting out its answer. "Crewman Guidry is currently located in sickbay." That's odd, she thought, why would he be in sickbay?

"Thank you, computer," she replied, walking over to the replicator. "Bagel with cream cheese and two slices of pastrami in the middle. Please." It was one of her dad's favorite things to eat. Her dad used to make it all the time for her. Once the food materialized, T'Ra grabbed it and headed straight for the turbolift. Stepping inside, she said, "Sickbay." She finished eating while the turbolift was moving and then brushed off her uniform, trying to make sure she got all of the crumbs off. The doors slid open and T'Ra stepped out.

Still not sure why Guidry was in sickbay, T'Ra quickened her pace and arrived at sickbay soon after. When she arrived, she found Guidry standing by the counter and T'Laina humming whilst wearing gloves. T'Ra pondered this situation for several seconds, but after not coming to a logical solution, she decided to speak up.

"Guidry, T'Laina, how are you two doing? What have I missed?" Turning towards the crewman, T'Ra brushed off a couple crumbs she had missed and then spoke. "What brings you to sickbay, Guidry?"

[Inzjana]

Inzjana had spent the better part of the last two days in Science Lab One looking over the data of the probe that was sent in to the wormhole. Of course, being highly intelligent, she well understood what a wormhole was and how to generate one, what she was really looking at, a part from studying the particle and energy emissions - after all it was one thing to be know exactly the mechanics of a wormhole, but to receive such detailed scans of one was another matter - was studying the brief glimpse the probe gave of the other side just before it was destroyed by the sudden influx of mass and energy.

Although at present, Inzjana was in her quarters playing her Vulcan lyre and singing to herself a tune she really did find most agreeable, as Vulcans would say and that was Ode to Joy by Friedrich Schiller, but was more famously known as the final movement in Ludwig Van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Anyone listening in might find it odd that a Vulcan was playing such a song that was an ode to an emotional state, but Inzjana just liked it and that was all to it.

After her second run through, Inzjana recorded it and then saved it to her personal library of songs she had performed, then went and had a shower and something to eat before retreating back to Science Lab One.

In Science Lab One, Inzjana went in to her personal office that was through a door off to the left of the entry way and sat on the couch with her PADD and opened her notes, when the computer terminal beeped at her stating that a heavily encrypted message from Starfleet Intelligence on Epsilon Eridani 2 had been sent to her...

[Dustin J. Guidry]

T'Ra awoke long before her alarm was due to go off. It was one of those nights where she couldn't fall asleep. She had spent two hours just lying on top of her bed staring at the blank ceiling above. Tired of doing nothing, T'Ra slipped out of bed and slowly sauntered over to where some of her most prized possessions lay. In the far corner of her room was a old tattered box, something her father had given her after she had successfully completed kahs-wan. T'Ra rummaged through various objects and other mementos until she found what she was looking for. With great satisfaction, she pulled out her Robin Hood book and plopped it down onto her lap. She read contently for about half an hour before she grew tired of that as well.

Although she was still off duty for several hours still, T'Ra stood up and changed into a fresh, clean uniform. With one last look in the mirror, she straightened her com badge and tucked her hair behind her ears, satisfied with how she appeared.

"Computer," T'Ra inquired, "where is crewman Guidry?"

The computer hummed as it thought before finally spitting out its answer. "Crewman Guidry is currently located in sickbay." That's odd, she thought, why would he be in sickbay?

"Thank you, computer," she replied, walking over to the replicator. "Bagel with cream cheese and two slices of pastrami in the middle. Please." It was one of her dad's favorite things to eat. Her dad used to make it all the time for her. Once the food materialized, T'Ra grabbed it and headed straight for the turbolift. Stepping inside, she said, "Sickbay." She finished eating while the turbolift was moving and then brushed off her uniform, trying to make sure she got all of the crumbs off. The doors slid open and T'Ra stepped out.

Still not sure why Guidry was in sickbay, T'Ra quickened her pace and arrived at sickbay soon after. When she arrived, she found Guidry standing by the counter and T'Laina humming whilst wearing gloves. T'Ra pondered this situation for several seconds, but after not coming to a logical solution, she decided to speak up.

"Guidry, T'Laina, how are you two doing? What have I missed?" Turning towards the crewman, T'Ra brushed off a couple crumbs she had missed and then spoke. "What brings you to sickbay, Guidry?"

Dustin was standing there waiting for the women to finish, when he saw jones had walked into the sickbay. He gave her a scan over with his eyes but found nothing wrong. The she spoke to him asking what he was doing here, while second before he had heard that the medical crewman was saying something as well.

"I had to intention on being forward, crewman T'Laina. The fungus that you are now attempting to replicate, belongs to a plant that the former head botanist of the ship and myself have been working on for a month. The fungus itself is a critical part of the plants life support system and I have very little time to waist, which is why I cut rite to the chase."

He turned and looked jones over one more time with a quick scan.

"Good morning Ensign Jones. With ensign rush being transferred to DS5, his duties of head botanist of the Churchill have fallen to me. In the past battle however the bay took somewhat heavy damage and most of the plants were destroyed except for one from Ledonia III. The plant what part of a study that rush was doing for the past month and now has been given to me as well. But with out the fungus that it needs, its dieing and is currently in a critical state."

Dustin knew that jones being a scientist didn't mean that she knew everything threw out the field, but of her being vulcan he would not make the mistake to under estimate her.

Are you injured Ensign Jones? he asked thinking his implant may be malfunctioning.

[ThomasRiker]

John smiled as he knew the officer in front of him was young but he knew with experience would grow to a fine officer of the Churchill. Turning his computer terminal he pressed a button command and within moments the Computer Beeped

~ Computer Security Access Brown, John Lieutenant Commander Chief Tactical/Security Officer Delta-Seven-Four-Nine-Eight-Bravo~

~Computer: Security Access Granted~

~Computer update Lieutenant J.G Tobais Masters Security Clearance to Level 7 add condition of full override of Department Head to be enabled~

~Computer: Acknowledged~

"I am putting my full faith in you have a Level 7 Security Clearance which is Department Head Level. Do not abuse this and I added a condition that I can override anything you do to the computer. do you understand?"Finished John looking at the officer

Masters sat there feeling surprised at the faith Commander Brown was putting in him. He had somewhat expected the number two spot with Reece gone, but it was a surprise to be given such a high level of access. "Thank you sir, I am honored" he said to the Commander. "I won't let you down" he added quickly. He wondered what preempted the move, but not enough to voice it.

[TLaina Mandlin]

Dustin was standing there waiting for the women to finish, when he saw jones had walked into the sickbay. He gave her a scan over with his eyes but found nothing wrong. The she spoke to him asking what he was doing here, while second before he had heard that the medical crewman was saying something as well.

"I had to intention on being forward, crewman T'Laina. The fungus that you are now attempting to replicate, belongs to a plant that the former head botanist of the ship and myself have been working on for a month. The fungus itself is a critical part of the plants life support system and I have very little time to waist, which is why I cut rite to the chase."

Eying the woman who just walked into the sickbay T'Laina eyes would light up as T'ra walked over to Dustin and herself.  Smiling at the young women she would go back to work ignoring them trying to finish this so she could be left alone. Perking her ears up T'Laina would look at Dustin then at T'ra and blink as she would watch them briefly for a moment before turning back to her work. Rolling her eyes T'Laina sighed figures love is everywhere she thought to herself as she scooped up her tools and started walking across the room and speaking quickly

"Don't mind me I'm just going to finish this up and you both can be on your way."

Shoving her hair out of her face T'Laina would ignore the pain in her chest as she watched Dustin out of the corner of her eye before heading into the medical office to finish this project. Placing her tools on the desk, she slid into a chair and crossed her legs over each other and started to walk faster then normal trying her best to replicate the fungus. Smiling T'Laina would hum to herself as the work was just getting done.

[T'Ra Jones]

Dustin was standing there waiting for the women to finish, when he saw Jones had walked into the sickbay. He gave her a scan over with his eyes but found nothing wrong. The she spoke to him asking what he was doing here, while second before he had heard that the medical crewman was saying something as well.

"I had to intention on being forward, crewman T'Laina. The fungus that you are now attempting to replicate, belongs to a plant that the former head botanist of the ship and myself have been working on for a month. The fungus itself is a critical part of the plants life support system and I have very little time to waist, which is why I cut rite to the chase."

He turned and looked Jones over one more time with a quick scan.

"Good morning Ensign Jones. With ensign rush being transferred to DS5, his duties of head botanist of the Churchill have fallen to me. In the past battle however the bay took somewhat heavy damage and most of the plants were destroyed except for one from Ledonia III. The plant what part of a study that rush was doing for the past month and now has been given to me as well. But without the fungus that it needs, its dieing and is currently in a critical state."

Dustin knew that jones being a scientist didn't mean that she knew everything threw out the field, but of her being vulcan he would not make the mistake to underestimate her.

Are you injured Ensign Jones? he asked thinking his implant may be malfunctioning.

Guidry briefly turned his head as if to answer her question but was then immediately distracted by something T'Laina had said. T'Ra watched as the two crewmen talked, and she listened to Guidry's little spiel in amusement, an eyebrow raised. She could hear almost every word of their conversation even though she didn't mean to. Guidry mentioned working on a plant from Ledonia III. From what T'Ra could understand, it was the only plant that survived the damage done to the plant bay and that it fed off of a fungus.

When he had finished his little spiel, the crewman turned his head back towards T'Ra, looking her over as if to see if there was something wrong. At last he spoke to her, explaining the very basics of what he was doing and why he was in sickbay.

"Ah, I see," T'Ra replied, "so you are working with a plant from Ledonia III. Intriguing. Although I received a typical Vulcan education, my father, who is human, had a major influence on what I learned. Plants were not something he talked a lot about. He focused mainly on languages, as well as Earth's culture and history. However, from what I have heard you say so far, it is my understanding that this plant you are working with is hard to keep alive. My question in that aspect is why this plant was the only one in the plant bay to survive when it is so hard to keep it alive in the first place?"

His next question was almost a bit odd, not the fact that it was asked but rather his choice of words. T'Ra found his straightforward manner of speaking unusual for most humans that she spoke to. Perhaps the fact that he was in the science field could explain this, but she did not believe that to be so.

"I'm fine," T'Ra replied, automatically looking at her palm. This brought back memories of the last time she had seen Buehler when she was still at the academy. She had cut her hand and had gone to see him in the sickbay there. She missed him, which lead her to missing her brother as well. Deep in thought and with all those negative thoughts running through her mind, T'Ra frowned momentarily. She looked back at Guidry and upon seeing him, she remembered that she wasn't alone anymore.

Eying the woman who just walked into the sickbay T'Laina eyes would light up as T'ra walked over to Dustin and herself.  Smiling at the young women she would go back to work ignoring them trying to finish this so she could be left alone. Perking her ears up T'Laina would look at Dustin then at T'ra and blink as she would watch them briefly for a moment before turning back to her work. Rolling her eyes T'Laina sighed figures love is everywhere she thought to herself as she scooped up her tools and started walking across the room and speaking quickly

"Don't mind me I'm just going to finish this up and you both can be on your way."

Shoving her hair out of her face T'Laina would ignore the pain in her chest as she watched Dustin out of the corner of her eye before heading into the medical office to finish this project. Placing her tools on the desk, she slid into a chair and crossed her legs over each other and started to walk faster then normal trying her best to replicate the fungus. Smiling T'Laina would hum to herself as the work was just getting done.

T'Ra heard T'Laina mutter something with a slight edge in her voice. She looked sad for a moment, so T'Ra walked over to her to formally introduce herself and thank her for taking care of Inzjana when T'Ra had been in sickbay last.

"Hello, T'Laina," T'Ra said. "I'd like to formally introduce myself. I'm ensign T'Ra Jones. I'd also like to thank you for the help you gave Inzjana and me before."

[John Brown]

Masters sat there feeling surprised at the faith Commander Brown was putting in him. He had somewhat expected the number two spot with Reece gone, but it was a surprise to be given such a high level of access. "Thank you sir, I am honored" he said to the Commander. "I won't let you down" he added quickly. He wondered what preempted the move, but not enough to voice it.

John then leaned back in his chair then placed his hands onto a padd he placed there earlier in the day detailing orders from Federation Security reading a few lines he looked over at Masters.

"We have been assigned quite a interesting mission to say at least mostly Federation Internal Security Handles these matters but it was left to us to short though the mess of it all" Finished John passing the Lieutenant the padd showing the orders to began the investigation into a High ranking Starfleet Admiral

"We need to find evidence of a mole within our own branch we will be heading Planet side soon but we will be going under cover for this one as this is a high level situation most of the crew would be given shore leave. What are your thoughts on the situation?" asked John

[TLaina Mandlin]

T'Ra heard T'Laina mutter something with a slight edge in her voice. She looked sad for a moment, so T'Ra walked over to her to formally introduce herself and thank her for taking care of Inzjana when T'Ra had been in sickbay last.

"Hello, T'Laina," T'Ra said. "I'd like to formally introduce myself. I'm ensign T'Ra Jones. I'd also like to thank you for the help you gave Inzjana and me before."

Wandering back out of the office T'Laina would catch the last bit the young women said and smile at her. Placing the dish of the fungus in Dustin's empty hands she would speak to him softly.

"All set, I hope it helps and if you need more let me know."

Turning towards the women T'Laina would smile some more and nodded her hand before speaking to the woman

"It is not a problem my duty is to help anybody in there time of need and we all needed that night. "

Frowning a bit T'Laina shoved her hair out of her face trying to not think about that night and what happened. Peeling off the gloves throwing them T'Laina would smile at the young couple once more before throwing her gloves into a empty hole in the counter. Sitting down at her desk T'Laina picked up her PADD once more to start work that she missed out on when she was helping the plant people.

[Dustin J. Guidry]

Dustin took the fungus from TLaina, he looked it over and gave it a quick scan.

"Impresive work crewman TLaina."

Then looked looked over at jones as she began to speak, and he listened to every thing that she was saying. He questions where very good, something that someone in an advanced class may ask.

"Well plant is dieing but only because its starving to death, the other aspects of this plant are highly adaptive if given some time. If the fungus it self that is weak and dies easy. Which at this time is the only known weakness of this plant."

Dustin was finally ready to head back tot he bay, with all the things that he needed to begin his project.

The air-ponics bay is up and running, I made only a few number of changes to it. If you wish to accompany me, there is a few other things I must decide on what to grow. I could use another person to help weigh in on the pros and cons of each idea i have."

With that being said he walked out of the sickbay and took the turbo-lift back to the air-ponis bay. He walked inside of the bay, and all was still as he had left it.

"With science lab 3, just in the next room I think it would be easy to have someone build a door. But until then I had two consoles brought into this room."

One of the stations was a common wall mounted station, that tapped into the main consoles in lab3. The work station seemed average to anyone who might just be passing buy. But in truth it was a project of his from his early days at the academy. The work table was almost twice the size of any found in an air-ponics bay. It had tools that's were placed on tables and carts threw out the bay, some from all fields in star fleet. Science, Medical, Engineering. All of these tools how ever have been are were in the process of being altered to service the need of a biologist.

He walked over to the work station, and set the fungus down on the scanning pad. He walked over to the shelf, and very care fully picked up the plant from Ledonia III. He sat them both side by side. He began to run a few scans on the plant itself, it was still dieing and to weak to attempt to grab the fungus it self. He put on a pair of gloves, this would help himself as well of the plant from hurting each other. He used a small pair of tongs and placed some of the fungus in the pot along the side of the plants roots.

"This process will take ad least half an hours to the plant to respond under normal health, but with the state it is in it may take up to two hours. Which gives time to over look the list of what is available to plant. If you would care to join me of course."

[Taras Cadenza]

As Taras approached his console on the bridge, relieving the young crewman, one thing dwelled over his mind.

Krol's condition.

He still had the occasion flashback to the massive breakdown his friend had, and they never really talked about it since.

The young Cadenza regarded himself as a people person, and outside of a mission or a duty shift, would happily give up his time to help anyone in need.

However, he wasn't sure if Krol was in need.

A most intriguing dilemma... I aught to talk to him. When I'm free. Hmm.

Disjointed thoughts. Another symptom of minor distractions. Taras brushed his forehead with his sleeve. Random disjointed thoughts were something that he definitely didn't need.

I should have had that tea. he thought to himself.

[T'Ra Jones]

Dustin took the fungus from TLaina, he looked it over and gave it a quick scan.

"Impressive work crewman T'Laina."

Then looked looked over at jones as she began to speak, and he listened to everything that she was saying. Her questions were very good, something that someone in an advanced class may ask.

"Well, the plant is dying but only because its starving to death, the other aspects of this plant are highly adaptive if given some time. It is the fungus itself that is weak and dies easy. Which at this time is the only known weakness of this plant."

Dustin was finally ready to head back to the bay, with all the things that he needed to begin his project.

The air-ponics bay is up and running, I made only a few number of changes to it. If you wish to accompany me, there is a few other things I must decide on what to grow. I could use another person to help weigh in on the pros and cons of each idea i have."

With that being said he walked out of the sickbay and took the turbo-lift back to the air-ponis bay. He walked inside of the bay, and all was still as he had left it.

"With science lab 3, just in the next room I think it would be easy to have someone build a door. But until then I had two consoles brought into this room."

One of the stations was a common wall mounted station, that tapped into the main consoles in lab3. The work station seemed average to anyone who might just be passing buy. But in truth it was a project of his from his early days at the academy. The work table was almost twice the size of any found in an air-ponics bay. It had tools that were placed on tables and carts threw out the bay, some from all fields in star fleet. Science, Medical, Engineering. All of these tools, however, have been are were in the process of being altered to service the need of a biologist.

He walked over to the work station, and set the fungus down on the scanning pad. He walked over to the shelf, and very carefully picked up the plant from Ledonia III. He sat them both side by side. He began to run a few scans on the plant itself, it was still dying and too weak to attempt to grab the fungus itself. He put on a pair of gloves, this would help himself as well of the plant from hurting each other. He used a small pair of tongs and placed some of the fungus in the pot along the side of the plants roots.

"This process will take at least half an hours to the plant to respond under normal health, but with the state it is in it may take up to two hours. Which gives time to look over the list of what is available to plant. If you would care to join me of course."

Before T'Laina could reply to T'Ra, Guidry spoke up, thanking her for the fungus. The crewman then turned back to face T'Ra so that he could elaborate and give more facts about the plant. "Fascinating," T'Ra remarked. "The plant isn't dying because it's weak itself, but because it does not have enough food. Why then, would such a highly adaptable plant feed off a fungus that is weak and dies easily?" She paused as if to let him reply but continued rambling before he had the chance. "Perhaps the plant's ancestors found it highly necessary to feed off a weak source of food despite the risks. There must be something or some nutrient in the fungus that cannot be found anywhere else. Thus, evolution and natural selection could explain why the fungus is still the primary source of food for this plant. However, this still leaves my question unanswered. Evolution has also led this plant to be highly adaptable, so why isn't it more adaptable in its choice of food as well?"

Her rambling was interrupted when the crewman asked her if she'd like to join him in airponics. "Of course, Guidry. I would be than glad to accompany you for I am in need of something to do. I don't know which plants you have in mind for growing. Back when I was at the Academy, I enjoyed growing tomatoes, but I altered their DNA to make things more interesting."

As Guidry left sickbay, T'Ra gave T'Laina an apologetic look. "I'm sorry," she said to T'Laina. "It appears that I must get going. It was nice to officially meet you and I look forward to talking to you again." With that said, T'Ra turned back around and hurried to catch up with the crewman, who was already almost at the turbolift.

The two of them stepped onto the turbolift and the door slid silently shut. T'Ra stood on one side while Guidry stood on the other. Not daring to look at him during the short ride for fear of unintentionally displaying an emotion, T'Ra focused on the doors of the turbolift instead. She was already deep in thought when Guidry gave the computer their destination, but she assumed that he had said airponics. The doors swished open and they walked to airponics.

The airponics bay felt quite empty save for the two lone consoles. The room was furnished minimally otherwise. T'Ra saw mostly shelving, which made sense logically because the airponics bay had sustained heavy damage in the last battle and had just begun to function somewhat normally again. She heard Guidry's remark about wanting a door connecting this room and the science lab next door, and she was amused. "Indeed," she conceeded, "having a door that connected the two adjacent rooms would be most useful and would increase efficiency.

The crewman walked over to the workstation and carefully picked up the plant from a shelf. He used tongs to place some of the fungus by the roots of the plant. "I would be happy to join you on your project," she told Guidry. "I did follow you here, did I not?" T'Ra almost let out a laugh.