Rows of grow-lamps bathed Botany Bay 4 in a pale, artificial sunrise. Long shadows cast from seedlings arranged in tight, labeled trays. Young trees, about four weeks along, stood staked in polymer planters. Their trunks were no thicker than a finger. Condensation clung to the curved bay windows that gave a view to the stars beyond. The temperature held steady at 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity was high. A quiet irrigation system hissed in the background.

Ensign Caaral Topaz-Smythe braced a seed tray full of scarlet-leaved plants against his chest, moving towards a set of cargo containers in the room’s center. He slid the tray into a cargo pod’s cradle and locked it down. Sweat darkened the collar of his uniform. Dirt caked along his forearms where his sleeves were rolled up. The room was full of plants of various types and colors. They ranged from a few days, to a few weeks old. Many were grown specifically to replenish Campor III. Many forests there had been burned down to the bedrock.

Red-gold seedlings shimmered beneath the overhead lights. A set of thorned vines were lined up alongside squat berry bushes. Caaral took a moment to study the green buds where new berries were already sprouting. The Trill-Human hybrid knelt and wrapped his forearms around separate 3 gallon pots. He pressed them against his ribcage as he stood and lifted, carrying them towards a taller storage container.

A set of unique, metallic looking stalks caught his eye. He figured he could load those plants alongside the young trees. Caaral’s honey brown eyes turned back towards the rows of seedling trays waiting to be loaded. Shades ranging from dark bluish-green to golden-turquoise rose towards the lamps above. Some large leaves were striated with bright colors like orange and pink. Colorful flowers waited to be loaded on the other side of the room. These were pollinators designed to draw insects and small flying critters that help spread pollen between plants.

The young Ensign took a sigh of relief as he grabbed two large pots, uniquely alien crystalline-metallic goldenrod shoots rising from them like bamboo. This sure beat working on the team rounding up insects for this mission.

The doors opened and Joshua entered into the bay. He took in the various plant life and containers. “I’m not late, am I?” Joshua frowned, his voice carrying through the bay. It was good to see someone take an interest in plants. He thought he was the biggest plant nerd on the station. I’ll have to reapply next year, he chuckled to himself.

Closing the gap between the ensign and himself, he offered a hand, “Joshua Bryant. I didn’t think anyone was as enthusiastic as I was about plant life.”

“Chief Bryant! It’s great to meet you.” The Trill hybrid’s voice rise excitedly. “Caaral Topaz-Smythe.”

“Pleasure,” Joshua nodded. “Where are you at, in terms of the overall plan?”

“Well let’s see. I just finished loading some grasses, shrubs and bushes. I need some help with the trees.”

“All right then, let’s get these guys to their new home!” Joshua picked up an inventory PADD. “Euphorbia scarsa… Looking as beautiful as ever.” He entered a few commands into the PADD. “I’ve placed a hazard tag on them, since they like to be… defensive when messed with. What about…” he consulted the available storage bins, “container C26-44?”

“We can definitely move them there. That container is wide enough to hold these specimens.” Caaral walked among the containers until he found C26-44. With a tap on a control panel, the container shifted open with a hiss. “I’m thinking they might be best by themselves.”

Joshua nodded, “Agreed, they aren’t known to play well with others.” Joshua looked at the PADD. “What about the… arnka catalpa?” He wrinkled his brow, “I haven’t heard of that one before. It’s heading to Evora.” Joshua studied the plant’s data on the PADD. “Is there anything else going there?”

Caaral thought for a moment. “Arnka Ca”, his eyes widened in a moment of recognition. “Oh! The bristle berries.”

The ensign pointed towards a set of leafy stalks rising from 3 gallon pots like snake plants. Clusters of fuzzy fruit gathered on barely noticeable stalks that formed rings up and down the plant.

Joshua followed his gaze, “I can see why they’re preferred for rejuvenation efforts. Their propagation rate is… vigorous, that’s one way to put it.” He consulted the PADD, “According to this, these are weeks old.” Joshua whistled, “That’s gonna be a big tree.” He made a mental note to do a deeper dive of these.

Caaral picked up a PADD from a table. “Most of what I loaded is heading to Campor III. We’ll get ahead if you load the Evora shipments and I handle the Campor stuff. What do you think?”

“Yeah, that’s a great idea. The sooner we get these loaded, the sooner they can get to their new homes.”

“Whoever finishes first can shift to help the other. Here’s the manifest of what’s heading to Evora.” Caaral handed Joshua the tablet. “It starts with the abula sans-verdance, those spindly white plants in the corner, to the vorax arbor taking up the center of the room.”

The latter were a set of thin tree saprolings with brown-olive leaves and cracked, black bark.

“Ah yes… vorax arbor,” Joshua said, consulting the PADD to strategize his work. “I had an instructor that terrorized students with those. Hers were a lot bigger than these little guys, of course. Their enzymatic bladders can get pretty big if you cultivate it correctly.” He chuckled, “I’ve got my finger caught in one of the vacuous chambers a few times.”

Joshua picked up two of the containers holding the abula sans-verdance. The plant’s signature perfume invaded his nose. It wasn’t unpleasant, but sudden. The plant produced a pheromone that attracted animals, which it used to spread its seeds. He found an empty container and logged them into it on the PADD.

“I haven’t heard of Evora much. What have you heard about that colony?” Caaral grabbed another seedling trays of red gold seedlings.

“Not much, unfortunately,” Joshua replied, placing the remaining abula sans-verdance into the container. “FNN only had the initial damage reports. It was quite surprising too, since it’s nestled between Starbases 47, 18, and 310. The Evora trusted too much in that and paid the price,” he frowned. Joshua was silent a moment, picked up the vorax arbor, and spoke again, “I’ve been there once. It’s a beautiful place. It’s no Deneva, but it has its own charm.” He consulted his PADD, “I’m thinking J48-16 for these, but it also has the lunamenta ursanthus in it.”

“Those have such beautiful flowers”, Caaral exclaimed. “Like little glowing Earth bear heads, right?”

Joshua considered this and chuckled, “I’ve never thought of them that way, but that does make sense. I always thought it was due to their hibernation phase.”

“That’s too bad about Evora though. From what I heard, the Vaadwaur attack was pretty widespread. Even a handful of starbases couldn’t prevent that. Sadly.” He slid the tray of scarlet seedlings into another large container. “I think I’m going to pot up some more of these duneberry seedlings. There are still two rows of them under the grow lights.”

“Great idea!,” Joshua picked up the plants. “I think they’d appreciate their hardiness.” He paused, “All right… being a fellow plant lover, what’s your favorite plant you’ve encountered?”

“Right away, the spiked gourds of Q’onos come to mind.” Caaral stared into the distance, excitedly wide-eyed as he spoke. “They’re long one and a half meter long gourds… Bright red with green, yellow and orange spotting. Their seeds form in spiked pods protruding from every direction of the oval squash. When the gourds dry, the spikes each turn into a thorny seed. They’re so Klingon! These aren’t small spikes either. And since the seeds are on the outside, they cook surprisingly well.”

Joshua smiled, “A more aggressive plant. I can’t count how many times I poked my fingers with those spikes,” he stopped working in the dirt a moment to shiver at the memory. “I did not miss that particular unit in Xeno-Vegetation.” He worked more seedlings into their transfer flats. “I have an Aurous carnivorous I brought with me when I came on board.” Joshua frowned, “It was touch and go there for a bit, but I was able to develop a nutrient dense formula to revive it.” He sighed in reflection of those first few days aboard the station. “I couldn’t bear not seeing its beautiful and vibrant colored leaves again.”

“Those plants are so tricky to care for”, Caaral said happily as he walked through the pile of cargo in the center of the room. “The right kind of soil is very important too.” He moved towards a raised bed. Small, leafy plants similar to wild cabbage formed small heads of bushy green growth.  Next to them were two smaller rows of young berry plants. “Tell me. Have you seen the luscious forests on Mellstoxx III?” The ensign prepared a waiting 24 row seedling tray for the new arrivals by taking soil from the raised bed and smoothing it along the tray’s receptacles.

“I haven’t made it down there yet. Seems like one disaster after another around here,” he chuckled. “I spend a fair amount of time at the arboretum. I took a date there once to see the florescentia nocturna, at one of the rare times it blooms.” Joshua frowned, “I tried to impress her, but she didn’t seem as excited as I was,” he shrugged. “It’s hard to tell with Vulcans though.”

“A Vulcan? I bet she really appreciated it. Something like that could definitely be stimulating.” The Trill hybrid’s delicate fingers slid under each plant, carefully lifting them from the soil like a lever.

“I’ve been thinking about volunteering for an ecological survey”, Caaral added. “I bet I could get you assigned to the team. One interesting project is along the Veldorne River Delta.” His fingers slipped under the soil to poke under the berry seedling’s root ball. With a tender touch, he lifted the plant and set it into the tray.

“Yeah, that sounds fun,” Joshua secured a tray of seedlings for travel and carried it to a transport container. “I honestly haven’t done a deep eco survey since grad school.” He secured the tray in the container, “I went to the Ignaus Colony in the Paulson Nebula with Commander Dawa Vlček. Joshua paused at the memory, “I’m not sure I would have made it there and back without her piloting skill.”

Caaral’s eyes widened once again. “You know the Commander? I ran into her while shopping. She offered to run me out to study Gomthree.” He failed to mention the snafu with the Torothan goats.

“Take her up on it,” Joshua pointed at Caaral with his digging tool. “She’s a good pilot you can trust,” he continued working in the dirt. “We’ve done a couple of runs in the Paulson Nebula. I should probably see if she’s up for more adventure,” Joshua chuckled, “Who am I kidding? She’s always up for more adventure.” He paused, “Is there a specific survey you’re thinking of joining? Or any one that takes you down to the surface?”

“I’m really thinking of the Veldorne assignment”. That river snakes through a fertile delta. A lot of openings I see involve studying crustaceans that live along the delta. But it also includes studying the underwater plant life they feast on. The team is examining their habitat from the flora along the river’s shores to the water’s microbiology. Have you spent much time studying underwater plants?”

“Ah, quite the opposite,” he worked around the base of a plant, lifted it out of its pot, and moved it to a transport container. “I’ve worked mostly with hardier, more drought resistant plants. Have you had the chance to work on any surveys planetside?”

“I really haven’t. Most Fourth Fleet officers spent some time at the Academy campus on the surface below though. I’ll never forget how beautiful it was there. The Veldorne River’s within a more remote stretch of the planet.” Caaral pushed down on each seedling’s roots as he popped them down into the planting multi-tray. “Scientists study it every few years to track its fickle populations. Something as small as a slight temperature shift can have a major impact on the river’s ecosystem. Conservation is important.”

The ensign finished loading the tray. He lifted it and walked, searching container labels as he moved through them. “So what got you into Starfleet? Why did you enlist?”

“My father, mostly. He was a botanist who was instrumental in helping with the drought on Cygnia Minor,” Joshua paused in thought. “I grew up around plants and ended up getting my doctorate in botany. I knew there was more to life than my dusty piece of rock in space.” He shrugged, “I wasn’t interested in serving on a ship or commanding a bridge. I’m happiest here playing the dirt,” Joshua smiled, “What about you?”

Caaral chuckled as he spoke. “I can relate. My parents were both officers. Growing up, my dad always gave me toys of old starships and Dominion era fighter models. He probably wanted me to be a pilot. But my mother was a Science officer.”

The ensign grabbed a set of potted, silver-leafed plants and walked to load them underneath the last tray. “I just grew up with this urge to explore the galaxy and solve mysteries.” He scratched his spotted neck. “What do you normally do for fun here on the starbase?”

“It depends on the day, honestly,” Joshua smiled. “I’m always working on something in the lab or the arboretum. The Downtime bar is a fun place for a strong drink and watch cadets get thrown out. If my wanderlust gets the better of me, I sign up for humanitarian missions in the Nebula. Generally that’s just work… elsewhere.” He chuckled, “All right!” He dusted off his hands on his work pants; there was no sense in wearing uniforms for plant work. “I think this finishes up Evora.” He placed the last plant in its transport container and marked the shipment off on his PADD. “How are you doing? Should we see how they’re doing in Bay 5 or 6?”

The Ensign also loaded the last tray, sealing the container with a tapped command. “We might as well start with Bay 5, then move to 6.” Caaral clapped and rubbed his hands together to brush off the soil.”

The pair began to walk towards the door. “I’m sure they’ll be glad to have our help”, the Trill hybrid added.

The door whisked open, only to shut behind them.