[center][i]Addressing: [@Tortoise][@ShiningSector][@Randomness][@MST3K 4ever][/i][/center]

Elm was getting nervous but tried her hardest not to let it show since this was really not the right moment for that. Originally she was just planning to take her two assistants and two or three men from the security team and wander around in the surrounding forests for a couple of hours before ambassador Lunarius and her team finish the first negotiations with the local aliens. But now it seemed that she had suddenly become a leader of a large expedition involving a number of senior personnel, something she hardly had the right skills for. But Nick seemed confident in her abilities and she decided to try and do her best.

She was relieved when tactical officer Ve’Tame also volunteered to join the survey party. That way she could leave the military stuff to a much more competent person and just focus on the scientific part. She hadn’t had a chance to get to know him better yet and he seemed very intimidating, but Elm knew Nick and was sure that he would only pick the best for the Prize crew senior staff, so she wasn’t worried. [color=82ca9d]“I am glad to have you accompany us, Lieutenant,”[/color] she replied to him. [color=82ca9d]“By the way, it would be ‘doctor’ Lan’thar, but I really just go by Elm.”[/color] She really wasn’t the type to dwell on titles and ranks, but since almost everyone here was either a high-ranking I.S.A. officer or had a degree in a scientific area (or both things at once), she didn’t want to look incompetent.

She nodded when doctor Daniels spoke, glad that they would have him around in (hopefully very unlikely) case that a medical emergency occurred. 

It wasn’t a surprise that doctor Pearson also wanted to join the expedition. [color=82ca9d]“We are glad to have you,”[/color] Elm replied to her. There were never enough science people in a party like this. To be honest, Elm would expect Robin to be the leader of such expedition, since her expertise was much wider than just Elm’s focus on botany. She really hoped that Nick hadn’t given her command just because she spoke up first.

Dozens of things were already running through her head, mostly about what equipment to bring, how to plan the route, what would be the best approach to collect samples and scan for data to gain the most knowledge about this strange planet. [color=82ca9d]“With your permission, Captain, I would also like to contact the ship's biology and geology department in case they would like to send their representatives to join the survey group,”[/color] she said to Nick and then turned to Geu’Rach. [color=82ca9d]“I think it would be beneficial to have a short meeting of the group members before embarking on the expedition to plan the route and decide who will be going, what equipment to bring and how many security personnel we will need.”[/color]