Cabins and Cottages and Chaos, Oh My!

Posted on Sun Mar 15, 2020 @ 5:22am by Lieutenant Alanna Wells & Captain Maritza Soran & Commander Caleb Ryan

900 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Et In Arcadia Ego
Location: Soran's Office
Timeline: MD Whenver the Cabin post is

ON

When Caleb and Alanna returned to DS5 with their respective shuttles, they both headed to the command center to talk with Soran about Pangaea. Alanna hoped the captain would be amenable to Commander Ryan's request, because she had plans of her own. Well, more wishes than plans, but it amounted to the same thing. Mostly.

Maritza saw the pair heading across Ops and frowned. She didn't normally get a visitation from anyone in pairs unless there was a serious problem. She wondered who it would be this time. The Cardassians? More than likely. RaddonCorp? She wouldn't bet against it.

She put aside her padd and paged the duty yeoman, asking them to bring in some chairs.

"Commander, Doctor," she said as they entered. "What's happened?"

Alanna glanced at Commander Ryan, then at the captain. "Well...Commander Ryan is building a cabin on Pangaea a few kilometers from the colony. My concern is that if one of the other groups finds out, they'll want to build anywhere they like."

“Got caught, sir,” Caleb said with a wry smile. “Was just lookin’ for a place with no neighbors ta worry about, an’ enough space ta maybe have a paddock an’ stables.”

"Oh, for the love of..." Maritza put her head in her hand for a moment. Sometimes she wondered about her XO. For someone with such a decorated record he could really...do something stupid. "Did Daniel Riviera teach you nothing?"

“Yes. Do it in private,” Caleb said, only slightly glib. “The location’s remote. Ah’m not bringin’ in anythin’. Buildin’ it all by hand, with local resources, Captain,” he assured Maritza. “If anyone clocked me, it looks like nothin’ more than a shuttle prob’ly goin’ on some survey mission. Ah was careful,” he assured.

She shook her head. "How am I supposed to keep the likes of Raddon sticking to the rules if I can't get my XO to do so? It's not as if we haven't loosened the development rules now the colony is established.”

"The way I see it," Alanna said, "we can either move the cabin to the edge of the colony, or find a justification for the site so the Cardassians and Ferengi don't demand the same right." She wasn't so sure about the Romulans and Klingons, but they didn't have the penchant -- so far -- for going against the rules.

Maritza's instinct was to have it ripped down. She'd denied Geral the same privilege, after all. But that wasn't going to solve the problem, not really. And given all that had happened to his family, was it really so bad to let him have an actual place to make into a home? "Can we justify it, under the current regs?" Alanna was better versed in it than she was.

"Only for research purposes," Alanna replied. "I've been thinking about it on the way back from Pangaea. If he uses no advanced technology, builds the cabin with his hands the old-fashioned way, has no replicator and no computer, except for communications, we might be able to justify it. To show that the old ways can still be viable for colonization."

"That's thin," Maritza muttered. She looked up at Caleb. "Do you meet the criteria? The resources were local, what about the tools?"

“Replicated on station an’ brought down with me,” Caleb admitted. “Don’t know anythin’ about forgin’. But everythin’ else was done by mah own hands, all the buildin’”

"It's still thin." Soran gave him an annoyed glare. "But we've got to open up for wider development sooner or later." She drummed her fingers on the table. Then she looked at Ryan. "Since I've already already inflicted you on the kindergartners of this station, I'm condemning you to thirty days hard bureaucracy. You and Dr. Wells can run up a planning and development policy for Pangaea. Make sure this doesn't happen again, but those who choose to settle have some options beyond Federation prefabs." Geral wanted to build her a cabin on a lake, after all. "We can write this misadventure off as feasibility testing."

Alanna already had some ideas about what she wanted to do, and what areas she thought could be opened up--and that included Commander Ryan's cabin. She would go over the maps and come up with a more concrete idea to pass by the commander.

Caleb nodded. “Yes, sir,” he replied, looking over at Alanna. “Sorry this had ta inconvenience you, Captain,” he apologized.

"Bullshit," Soran pointed out. "This is the second time in recent months you've put your own impulses in front of what's best for this station. I’d expect that sort of acting out from someone your daughter's age. If I ever get a reliable counsellor with high enough clearance, they will be your first stop, you understand?"

The science officer stifled a laugh. She had to agree with the captain. The commander was not in the least sorry.

Caleb frowned. The threat didn’t sit well. He didn’t appreciate people poking into his past. “Good luck with that,” he told her, standing. “If we’re through…”

"I'll send you my preliminary ideas in a day or two," the science officer said to the commander.

Maritza gave Ryan a 'do not test me' look. "Carry on, Commander."

[OFF]


Commander Caleb Ryan
Executive Officer

Commander Maritza Soran
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Alanna Wells
Chief Science Officer

 

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