[10:05][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"Aaaah, Madame Ambassador, good to see you back here. Have the doors been fixed?
[10:07][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"It would seem so. I even got a friend to double check things and stress test as it were, they’re good at that, heh.
[10:08]Kee’ren@photi nods. "Well, as long as the greenhouse gets operational, we should have no problem with this agricultural project. What the about the tools and seeds? Have they arrived?
[10:10][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“They’re in there,” she nodded, “That’s the easy bit, we’re about ready to start the whole thing. Although…” she looked around, "We’re going to be quite busy.
[10:12][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"As I understood, we are not actually in a hurry. And given we are only two this time, I suppose we can’t cover it all in one go either way.
[10:15][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“Slow is smooth and smooth is fast,” she nodded along and smiled, "But yes, we won’t get /everything/ done in the one day. We’ll still get a good amount done, I’m sure.
[10:18][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"Understood. I am trying to think if there is anything we can still do before digging into actual work. My wife is definitely spreading the word around so we might get visitors or even volunteers.
[10:20][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"Oh that would be wonderful! Even just one pair of hands will make our lives that much easier and we will have much more time at the end of the day to celebrate. Besides, I made a whole batch of +
[10:21][Local]Alice@dragonforz:cookies as a morale boost," she thumbed to the H
[10:21][Local]Kee’ren@photi:“Excellent.”, he purr-chuckles. "And don’t worry. Once my relatives from Cait and Macadarna come for a visit, there will be plenty of extra paws to help.
[10:23][Local]Alice@dragonforz:exclaimed, "Oh, even better! When can we expect them to arrive?
[10:24][Local]Kee’ren@photi:“In about…”, he counts on his paw digits. "I believe that would account for two of Earth’s standard weeks.
[10:28][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"By then we should have everything ready to go. Right now though… hmm… it won’t hurt to scan for weeds and other things that might be harmful to our efforts… and then… +
[10:29][Local]Alice@dragonforz:the irrigation system. That needs checking. I trust your expertise when it comes to that thing.
[10:30][Local]Kee’ren@photi:“I hope that irrigation is simpler than EPS power distribution system on old Ambassador class.”, he smiles and takes an older model tricorder out of his inner pocket and flips it open. "Weeds,you say
[10:33][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"As silly as it sounds, weeds could be the single biggest problem. At least it’s a bit easier than the old days.
[10:34][Local]Kee’ren@photi:“Truth be told, they are more resilient than Borg adaptation.”, he says with a slight concern. "Though… one thing I noticed is that it is beneficial to keep them cut like grass, and not completely+
[10:34][Local]Kee’ren@photi:++pulled out. At least if you have regular, open-air plantation. Weeds tend to keep soil more moisted.
[10:36]Kee’ren@photi activates his tricorder and points it to the greenhouse as he enters in. "Let’s see…
[10:36][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“As long as they don’t consume too many of the nutrients in the soil for the crops,” she chuckled, "Very well, let’s do that, check the spread and concentration.
[10:40][Local]Kee’ren@photi🙁I will climb on the roof of this thing to pretend we are inside… We could use those greenhouses on colony instance
[10:40][Local]Alice@dragonforz🙁that’s also a good idea
[10:42][Emotes]Kee’ren@photi:rolls 12 (1-100
[10:43][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"Tsk, tsk, tsk. This bed has weeds in early stage. Well rooted but not growing out yet.
[10:43][Local]Alice@dragonforz🙁oof now those are Alice rolls XD
[10:44][Local]Kee’ren@photi🙁LOL
[10:45][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"It’s good that you caught them, would have been very easy to skim over and then it would have been a pain in the backside, heh.
[10:47]Kee’ren@photi reaches into his inner pocket for a small flashlight-like device and presses it against his tricorder. "I think low-intensity, high frequency UV emission will do the trick. It is close to surface+
[10:47][Local]Kee’ren@photi:++so I think I can “burn” it without damaging the soil too much. And before the seeds arrive of course.
[10:51][Local]Alice@dragonforz:looked at Kee’ren with the instrument, “Uh, sure. That device is coming in handy quite often isn’t it? Don’t lose it, or go too far away,” she chuckled
[10:53][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"Oh, it is something I developed on my own. It is a electromagnetic counterpart to sonic screwdriver. But instead of sound, it emits light. But only in visual spectrum and bit deeper into UV on one+
[10:53][Local]Kee’ren@photi:side and infrared on the other end of spectrum.", he says as he adjusts the device via tricorder
[10:57][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"That’s amazing. Can you adjust which wavelengths it admits?
[10:57][Local]Alice@dragonforz:emits* (wow I forgot how to spell
[11:01][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"I can. I can’t run it through every wavelength since the circuit is a bit old, but I can adjust within step of roughly 10 nanometers of wavelengths apart.
[11:03][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“It’s going to be useful again, we’ll surely find out soon enough,” she nodded, "So how does the rest of the area look?
[11:03][Emotes]Kee’ren@photi:rolls 22 (1-100
[11:03][Local]Kee’ren@photi🙁Ah crap xD
[11:04]Kee’ren@photi shakes his head as he points the device against the bed, crossing over it as if scanning. "Well, tricorder says that this bed to left of me is also weedy a bit. It’s going to be a long afternoon.
[11:05][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“Hmmmm… it’s a shame you didn’t make another of those e-m screwdrivers,” she chuckle
[11:06][Local]Kee’ren@photi:“Hmmm.”, he smiles mischevously. "It was handmade back when I served on USS Boston. It can be easily replicated, but there are far better devices. It’s just that… this one is non-demanding on+
[11:07][Local]Kee’ren@photi:replicator resources.
[11:08][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“I’m all about handmade things and not replicating anything. I think we’d do well in the survival test. I could have used your expertise a few months ago,” she sighe
[11:10]Kee’ren@photi looks to her as he continues ‘phasing’ with EM device across ‘infected’ soil. "What happened?
[11:12][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"The bloomin’ Tal Shiar. Turns out I knew too much and they’d rather I didn’t. Of course, I’m not just going to let them. But you know what they’re like…
[11:13][Local]Kee’ren@photi:“Evasive and pervasive.”, he whispers and nods
[11:13][Emotes]Kee’ren@photi:rolls 66 (1-100
[11:13][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"You know it.
[11:14][Local]Kee’ren@photi:“Only too well, Ambassador. I’ve had my fair share with them. Romulans, Imperial or Republic, are fine. But Tal Shiar… tsk, tsk, tsk.”, he clicks his tongue. "Okay these two flower beds are free of
[11:15][Local]Kee’ren@photi:+weed, for now.
[11:16][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“Hopefully that other was the source and it’s all sorted now,” she nodded, "And yes… they are sneaky. It’s a game of wits sometimes. Diplomacy, intel, it’s all a big game.
[11:17][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"They are like weed, the Tal Shiar. We can’t seem to root them out permanently.
[11:20][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“I hate how accurate that is. It’s… so accurate,” she clenched her fists for a moment, "They’ve done things that can’t be forgiven. Kindness, to them, in this instance, is weakness.
[11:23]Kee’ren@photi finishes another flower bed and adjusts his ‘EM screwdriver’, then looks to Alice. "Ambassador, you cannot blame yourself for not doing enough. That is precisely what they are counting on. They are
[11:24][Local]Kee’ren@photi:+unfortunately, expert psychologists, even more so than… radically conservative Cardassians.
[11:26][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"That’s also true. My last assignment was overseeing a Cardassian election and /of course/ there’s some background tomfoolery but we were very hands off and I didn’t have to do much. +
[11:26][Local]Alice@dragonforz:It sorted itself out in the end.
[11:28][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"I think while both Tal Shiar and True Way are both xenophobic and power hungry, the Cardassians are at least trying to consolidate themselves internally, albeit at the expense of others.+
[11:28][Local]Kee’ren@photi:++Tal Shiar, however, are sticking to that dogma of… what was it called… ‘unlimited conquest’, I think. So consolidation outwards.
[11:29][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"At the end of the day, the Cardassians are simply less delusional. Most of them anyway.
[11:30][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"I think that rediscovery of their Oralian Way movement helped them a lot.
[11:35][Local]Alice@dragonforz:"They read the room. I mean, all of these ‘we can go our own way’ kinds of movements end up having shortcomings. They overestimate themselves, maybe a bit of, again, delusion, but in the end they +
[11:35][Local]Alice@dragonforz:get the hard truth.
[11:36][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"Except the Tal Shiar Romulans.
[11:36]Kee’ren@photi scans the environment with a tricorder
[11:36][Emotes]Kee’ren@photi:rolls 73 (1-100
[11:40][Local]Kee’ren@photi:"I think I weeded out most of it… for today, that is. But as for irrigation, I will have to bring a bit more tools.
[11:43][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“You did well,” she smiled, “I suppose it really started to dig in over at that first area but at least it didn’t take over the whole thing…” she looked to the plumbing, "I suppose we should give +
[11:43][Local]Alice@dragonforz:it a test run.
[11:44][Emotes]Alice@dragonforz:rolls 21 (1-100
[11:46]Kee’ren@photi closes one of the valves as the water starts sprinkling all over the greenhouse but not where it was intended, causing Kee to get soaked. “Well, that did not go well at all.”, he purr-chuckles
[11:49][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“Oh dear, I was afraid that would happen,” she also got caught in the splash radius, "Never mind, I’ll get some absorbent sheets and maybe you can use your magic screwdriver for the rest.
[11:50][Local]Kee’ren@photi:“Oh, don’t worry. It is just water. Bettar that than EPS coolant.”, he smiles. "But how about we leave that for tomorrow? I think we’ve… covered enough ground for one day.
[11:54][Local]Alice@dragonforz:nodded, "Hmm, yes. It sounds like it’s going to be more annoying than I’d have hoped. No wonder why I was able to negotiate a good price for the whole plot outright. But it is agriculture, stuff is +
[11:55][Local]Alice@dragonforz:constantly being used and strained, there’s no way around it. So yes, let’s come back to it with a clear mind and more time in the day. And we can go eat cookies, heh.
[11:57][Local]Kee’ren@photi:“Cookies and tea sound nice.”, he nods and closes his tricorder and EM device, placing it back into his inner pockets.
[11:58][Local]Alice@dragonforz:“I’m glad you agree,” she smiled.
