Post by Captain_Quintus on Apr 4, 2016 5:38:41 GMT
Postby DeMcGowan » Mon Oct 05, 2009 12:09 pm
It had been an interesting start to an unexpected leave. Throwing on her interior design hat and helping Dr. Nidari pick out colors for sickbay had been enjoyable, as had shopping for some items to spruce it up still further. Because she hadn't had anything planned for a leave she didn't know she was going to get it had been quite helpful to have the extra time to knock up the aquarium for the sickbay wall.
Since Le-Gran had allowed her, the last two times in fact, to splurge during the refit orders she had plenty of her standard budget left to order the supplies for the aquarium from the starbase instead of dipping into her own well. Knowing Dr. Nidari wanted to “warm up” the sickbay atmosphere she used some synthetic wood (much sturdier than the real thing and in a nice honey-maple tone that complemented Nidari's color choices) for the framing. Considering as strong as she needed to build it to withstand the possible pounding the Aquarius could take, she would not have been able to use real wood and and the Aquarius itself didn't have the synthetic in stock.
Building it strong was a necessity, they couldn't have sickbay flooded in a deluge every time some idiot species took a potshot at the Aquarius. Just because it was built well didn't mean it couldn't deliver its intended decorative purpose however, and Deirdre integrated a dual lighting scheme into the design: the first to help highlight the water during the standard “daylight” hours of sickbay and the second to light up the fish and create a nice soothing atmosphere during the night.
She also etched the Aquarius zodiac sign into the bottom third of the front-facing transparent aluminum in sets of four on each of the three panels, therefore tying the earthly number to the divine and creating the happy union of them both with the number seven. Though it did amuse her because Aquarius is technically an Air sign even though it is the “Water Carrier.” Deirdre also “carved” (though thanks to the sturdy nature of the synthetic wood it took a laser to do it) “Aquarius” in Greek into the top-center wood frame, then in the opposite two carved in the symbol of Saturn, the traditional ruler of Aquarius.
It was all a great amusement to her, putting all of this astrology nonsense into one of the most technologically modern rooms aboard a ship that traveled amongst the stars. However it looked damn good and that's all that mattered.
As far as the actual aquarium bits and pieces Deirdre spared no expense in the oxygenation and filtration units, marine environment sensors and even an automatic feeding mechanism. Though that last bit did have a manual override in case Dr. Nidari or her staff wanted to take a more active approach in the care of their new sickbay occupants.
Once it was installed, which would wait until the work on that section of wall was complete, she could put in the decorative bits inside as well as the various little habitat additions to make the fish at home. Then, depending on whether Nidari chose salt or freshwater fish she could put in the proper water and the fish could go in.
Overall she was very pleased with both unexpected events: Nidari's request and the leave. Sean had his modeling work, Bitsi was the queen of gossip in her off time (and to Deirdre's frustration occasionally on her work time), Jadyn enjoyed creating holodeck environments, but for quite a while Deirdre was left without a hobby to occupy her (infrequent) spare time. She was finding that custom designing anything from starships to aquariums, and making them both flush with sound engineering and an appealing aesthetic, was her “thing.”
She couldn't wait to see sickbay finished with the aquarium in place to see Dr. Nidari's reaction. She was also anticipating what Moretti's reaction would be, as this was certainly out of the ordinary, unique, and unexpected: all things Deirdre had found to cause Moretti to start twitching. Thinking of the possible facial expressions on both of the women, she smiled while applying the final coat of gloss to the synthetic wood.
It had been an interesting start to an unexpected leave. Throwing on her interior design hat and helping Dr. Nidari pick out colors for sickbay had been enjoyable, as had shopping for some items to spruce it up still further. Because she hadn't had anything planned for a leave she didn't know she was going to get it had been quite helpful to have the extra time to knock up the aquarium for the sickbay wall.
Since Le-Gran had allowed her, the last two times in fact, to splurge during the refit orders she had plenty of her standard budget left to order the supplies for the aquarium from the starbase instead of dipping into her own well. Knowing Dr. Nidari wanted to “warm up” the sickbay atmosphere she used some synthetic wood (much sturdier than the real thing and in a nice honey-maple tone that complemented Nidari's color choices) for the framing. Considering as strong as she needed to build it to withstand the possible pounding the Aquarius could take, she would not have been able to use real wood and and the Aquarius itself didn't have the synthetic in stock.
Building it strong was a necessity, they couldn't have sickbay flooded in a deluge every time some idiot species took a potshot at the Aquarius. Just because it was built well didn't mean it couldn't deliver its intended decorative purpose however, and Deirdre integrated a dual lighting scheme into the design: the first to help highlight the water during the standard “daylight” hours of sickbay and the second to light up the fish and create a nice soothing atmosphere during the night.
She also etched the Aquarius zodiac sign into the bottom third of the front-facing transparent aluminum in sets of four on each of the three panels, therefore tying the earthly number to the divine and creating the happy union of them both with the number seven. Though it did amuse her because Aquarius is technically an Air sign even though it is the “Water Carrier.” Deirdre also “carved” (though thanks to the sturdy nature of the synthetic wood it took a laser to do it) “Aquarius” in Greek into the top-center wood frame, then in the opposite two carved in the symbol of Saturn, the traditional ruler of Aquarius.
It was all a great amusement to her, putting all of this astrology nonsense into one of the most technologically modern rooms aboard a ship that traveled amongst the stars. However it looked damn good and that's all that mattered.
As far as the actual aquarium bits and pieces Deirdre spared no expense in the oxygenation and filtration units, marine environment sensors and even an automatic feeding mechanism. Though that last bit did have a manual override in case Dr. Nidari or her staff wanted to take a more active approach in the care of their new sickbay occupants.
Once it was installed, which would wait until the work on that section of wall was complete, she could put in the decorative bits inside as well as the various little habitat additions to make the fish at home. Then, depending on whether Nidari chose salt or freshwater fish she could put in the proper water and the fish could go in.
Overall she was very pleased with both unexpected events: Nidari's request and the leave. Sean had his modeling work, Bitsi was the queen of gossip in her off time (and to Deirdre's frustration occasionally on her work time), Jadyn enjoyed creating holodeck environments, but for quite a while Deirdre was left without a hobby to occupy her (infrequent) spare time. She was finding that custom designing anything from starships to aquariums, and making them both flush with sound engineering and an appealing aesthetic, was her “thing.”
She couldn't wait to see sickbay finished with the aquarium in place to see Dr. Nidari's reaction. She was also anticipating what Moretti's reaction would be, as this was certainly out of the ordinary, unique, and unexpected: all things Deirdre had found to cause Moretti to start twitching. Thinking of the possible facial expressions on both of the women, she smiled while applying the final coat of gloss to the synthetic wood.