Posted by Ensign Demil Lis (Scientist) in CSO’s Office - Ensign Lis - Check in

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade V’alura Belmont (Chief Science Officer) in CSO’s Office - Ensign Lis - Check in

Posted by Ensign Demil Lis (Scientist) in CSO’s Office - Ensign Lis - Check in
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻
Shortly after the Ark Angel docked at Starbase 243, a young trill ensign in a sciences uniform beamed aboard. He had neatly combed short brown hair, pale skin, and the characteristic dark spots common to all Trills. Though he held himself composed, his eyes were flashing with giddy excitement. He looked too young to be out of the academy, but here he was. The first thing he did was hurry through the corridors to reach the Chief Science Officer’s office. He pressed the small console to ring the doorbell. “Ma’am? Ensign Demil Lis, reporting for duty!”

occ: do not feel required to write as much as me! Also, remember to sign off your posts with your characte’rs rank and name (don’t worry it takes a while to get used to and I still forget to at times myself!)

ic: V’alura glanced up from her not literal (there was no literal mountain of paperwork in this age of digital files) but what she will still still call a literal mountain (because even though she can’t see the seemingly-endless line of data files she could imagine it) of non-physical pile of paper work to call, “Come on in!” And smile when she saw who was gracing her doorway in these chaotic times.

“Hello! You must be our fresh-faced JO straight from our academy’s loving womb. Come on in and take a seat.” There were no shortage of chairs in her office. There were in fact several dozen chairs in her office. Chairs of varying size, shape and ergonomic design crowded what was normally a spacious office for the Chief Science Officer of the Ark Angel. Since engineering and science were hard at work repairing system damage from the Thought-Drive, all non-essential furniture (the chairs) had to be pushed somewhere else. Since no one wanted to waste time carting chairs to various storage rooms (which were already filling up with other non-essential furniture) V’alura sacrificed her office space to at least make sure her scientists could keep their time-tested chairs safe. As a fellow scientist, she knew that one’s chair was a sacred thing. They may be able to make any chair imaginable under the sun and moon but no computer could make a worn-in chair perfect for those long work days. At least, not yet.

One day she will crack the code.

V’alura gazed at her very literal sea of chairs and added, “Any chair you like. Don’t matter which.” Once her little JO was settled into a chair, V’alura pushed aside her PaDD and smiled at the young man before her, “Hello! You must be our new Ensign Demil Lis. It’s nice to have you aboard. I’m V’alura Belmont, formerly Ensign Belmont and now Lieutenant Junior Grade Belmont. But for now just call me V’alura.”

The office, even in its current state of chair chaos, was caught between Chief Science Officers. The room itself was long, and rectangular, curved slightly with the shape of the ship and extended to either side of the door. A large window lay across from the front door and below it an empty flowerbed (though it was hard to tell because V’alura kept spare computer parts there). The right side of the room was a dedicated lab complete with table, sink, emergency kits and various consoles and portable consoles in various states of disrepair and condition. To the left was V’alura’s desk settled against the right-side wall and the under a glass window that revealed the science suit on the other side. There was a replicator set into the wall behind the desk, next to it a framed vintage movie poster.

Her desk held her personal console, and a dozen PaDDs, and the remains of what might have been last night’s dinner. She honestly wasn’t sure because time had no meaning since the successful completion and use of the Thought-Drive. No, V’alura decided, staring at the sticky, yet somehow still dry-looking food, that was in fact last night’s dinner. Which would make it the last time she actually ate. V’alura looked away from that sad reminder of her very busy life to smile beautifically at her new JO. “So how are you settling in?”

Lt. Jgr. Belmont
Demil sat in a centrally located chair. “I’ve only just arrived from Starbase 243, and I’d only been there a day. I look forward to serving and learning under you, though. What would you like me to do first?”
The young trill was full of barely contained youthful energy. He appeared no more than twenty years old, and his blue uniform was impeccable. A single shining silver pip rested on his collar, and his combadge was equally shiny, in contrast to the disarray of the room.

Ens. Demil Lis

V’alura smiled at Ensign, the old saying about bright eyes and bushy tails popping to mind. “Don’t worry, we’ll get there soon enough! Believe me there is plenty to be doing. But first, we’re gonna have a nice little chit-chat. Anything I can get you from the replicator before we start? Some water or tea? A little snack? I think I’m going to make a little something for myself.” She stood and ordered a tall glass of ice tea and a couple finger sandwiches before looking to Demil to see if he wanted anything too.

Lt. Jg. Belmont

He thinks for a second. “Some Vulcan Spice Tea and a small bowl of Lida would be wonderful, thank you!”
Ens. Lis
ooc: Sorry about the wait.

“Coming right up,” V’alura made the order and carried their food, utensils, and drinks to her desk. She sipped her tea and ate a few finger sandwiches, giving Lis time to eat a few bites of his own food. With their stomachs at least a little satiated, they could move on to all the important questions. “So tell me Ensign, what was your specialty at the Academy?”

Lt. Jg. Belmont

Demil enjoys his tea and the fruit from his homeworld. “I specialize in linguistics, but I also have a minor in genetics and one in anthropology. I have some training in emergency field medicine, as well.”
Ens. Lis

V’alura nodded, “Quite the spread! I’m impressed.” It was quite a lot for someone so young. It showed dedication and excellent work ethic, two qualities V’alura admired. It would be nice too, to have someone to fill in across a variety of areas. “What brought you to Starfleet, Demil? I hope you don’t mind me calling you that.” She added, “And you can call me V’alura.”

Lt. Jg. Belmont
Demil flushed at the compliment. “Thank you.” When she asked about his reason for joining Starfleet, he thought back to that night, near his 13th birthday, when he was about to start 10th grade. He hadn’t been entirely sure whether he was looking forward to it, as his age, so much junior to his peers, had been the cause of much teasing and bullying his freshman year. That night, he had left his bustling home, always filled with music and noise, in favor of the peace and quiet of the nearby forest, to clear his mind. He had been laying on his back, staring up at the star-speckled sky, when he had witnessed a star going nova. The stunning sight had enraptured the young Trill, causing him to decide, right then, that he wanted to spend his life exploring the vastness of space. He looked back to his superior officer. “I’d wanted, since the age of 13, to explore and witness the magnificence of space. Eventually, I fell into my scientific niche, and focused on linguistic and cultural studies, rather than stellar phenomena.” When she suggests the informal form of address, he replied “Oh, I don’t think I could, Ma’am.”

A love of space. V’alura knew that love well. Everyday she got to look out into the black and think to herself, what wonders will we find today? And everyday she got to head into the science labs to study and learn about everything they found out there. The new En was going to fit right in. “There’s no pressure if you don’t want to.” V’alura assured him. “I tend to be real informal about things but refer to me however you feel most comfortable with and I’ll return the same courtesy to you.” V’alura lived most of her life as a civilian, and referring to someone by rank all the time felt stuffy to her. But it is what it is, and now that she’s the CSO she’ll have to get used to many new things.

“Alright, what next.” She reviewed her mental interview notes, “What next. . . ah, that’s it. So.” She smiled and motioned toward the window looking out into one of the science labs, “There’s always something going on in the labs. A good chunk of it relates to our current mission, but our teams consist of enlisted and civilian scientists. There will be plenty of opportunities in-between missions or during down time to begin new research or continue past experiments. So. . .

“What sort of projects or research would you create or pursue?”

Lt. Jg. Belmont

icc: here’s your chance for a creative response and flex those Star Trek Science Writing muscles! And if you need help or have any questions feel free to reach out to me