Posted by Lieutenant Commander Sifeda Itri (Executive Officer) in Side Sim: Alt. Timeline Itri DH Check-In [Tag CSO]

Posted by Lieutenant V’alura Belmont (Chief Science Officer) in Side Sim: Alt. Timeline Itri DH Check-In [Tag CSO]

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Sifeda Itri (Executive Officer) in Side Sim: Alt. Timeline Itri DH Check-In [Tag CSO]
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
The next name on her list was Lieutenant V’alura Belmont, Chief Science Officer. She was middle age, there wasn’t much about her education in her profile, but Sifeda couldn’t help but notice her unusual Auburn hair and striking blue eyes. Traits she inherited from her human genes no doubt. Sifeda tapped her comm badge and said, =^=Lieutenant Belmont, this is Commander Itri will you please meet me conference room on Deck 1?=^=

Itri, XO

=^=Sure thing, I’ll be along in two shakes of a dog’s tail=^=

Not long later, V’alura arrived in the conference room. She was in uniform, and her hair pulled back into a bun at the top of her head. Upon her face was light make-up in a natural style that brought out her eyes and downplayed the green blush in her cheeks. “I hope I’m not in trouble,” V’alura said with a grin as she took a seat across from the XO. V’alura appeared calm and relaxed, as though she were at a formal party than a meeting. “What can I do for you?” There was a subtle twang in her speech, something similar to an American Western accent.

Sifeda always seemed to notice human traits and behaviors, especially in beings that were half-human like herself. Maybe because she always honed in on her own and instead of trying to enhance them she focused on minimizing them. It wasn’t that she didn’t like humans, her mother was human afterall and she had loved her dearly. However, being married to a Klingon she’d been conditioned to not let too much of her humanity overtake her personality else she might be perceived as weak.
“Not at all. I just wanted an opportunity to meet you. I’d missed it before but I see you have a PhD in Artificial Intelligence. Quite impressive. What have you done with that?”

“Oh what haven’t I done?” V’alura said with a grin, before settling into her full, real answer. “Well, for starters my PhD thesis was on ship automation. Basically I designed the framework and theory for an AI that take complete control of a ship in emergency situations. Such as if the entire crew were knocked out or otherwise disabled. Or in situations where our mortal reflexes and a delay in decision making could lead to disaster. I’ve continued to work upon my thesis, chipping away at it bit by bit. All in all it may be a decade before research and development reaches the live testing phase but the work is promising and Starfleet Command has given me their full support.

“Take control as in operating each station on the bridge as well as maintaining and controlling the ship’s propulsion and warp capabilities? What margin of time, in preliminary testing, would a delay need to occur for the automation of the ship to detect that a delayed action would cause a disaster?”

“As in total control. From helm to propulsion and life support and everything in between. As for the time, faster than you can blink. Our ships are already highly keyed into the vitals and locations of all the crew. Mind you all of the testing has been performed only in simulations. The time between the loss of control by the crew and when the computer would kick in was incredibly quick, too fast to measure in regular, conventional means. And in roughly 50-62% of tested scenarios the computer made the correct calls to remove itself and the crew from danger.

“Mind you these were ‘perfect world’ scenarios where potential outcomes were limited but it more than proved the potential was there. It’s all a matter of . . .[she trails off into a short ramble full of technical jargon full of math, probability, statistics and pinch of computer engineering before finally realizing she’s perhaps gone into too much detail] Sorry, I get excited when talking about my thesis. It was five hundred pages total. It’s published through Starfleet if you ever wanna give it a read. In short my thesis proved it was possible and now I’m working to make that possibility a reality.”

“I’m also developing a medical diagnosis A.I that can predict the patterns of disease and infection progression in patients. I started this research with the assistance of Lt JG Segal, a doctor serving aboard the USS Ogawa. We’ve completed phase one of the research with promising results! Phase two has begun and Starfleet Medical have been very accommodating.

“This is interesting. Have you also consulted with Dr. Stacey about your research? Also, I am not a medical expert but I thought this type of technology already existed. Are you creating something to enhance it?”

V’alura’s eyes lit up, happy that Itri was so knowledgeable and curious about her work. “Oh, yes! A.I have been apart of medical field for centuries now, however, I developed a new advancement in the field. Artificial intelligence can diagnosis disease and can detect symptoms and make predictions but what I developed goes far beyond that. I developed an A.I. that can predict the progression of disease, informing doctors of what to expect in their sick patients. The A.I. is trained over millions of simulations using existing medical databases or integrating into new databases to study each disease and from there extrapolate the progression of disease!

“This A.I. . . . [And once again she slips off on another ramble filled with an equal amount of math, technical jargon, medical studies and so much data. It seems she forgets who she is talking to when going onto these rambles but finally she pulls it all together.] And I’m sure Dr. Stacy would love to hear about it and really I began to work with Dr. Segal after he reached out to me, but I think it’s just fascinating don’t you?” And she smiles.

“I’ve upgraded our ship’s computer response times. I’ve developed new simulation software that has increased simulation performance and accuracy. I’ve developed my own holodeck program and directly library. Like, the one that Starfleet gives to all her ships is fine and dandy but mine is better. After all, I make the best holodeck programs in the galaxy. You can read the initial published paper in the Starfleet Medical Journal” She said with brilliant smile as if they havn’t been talking for almost half an hour now after two of her rambles.

“Just curious, what makes yours better?” she asked with an inquisitive expression on her face.

“A PhD of artificial intelligence, a computer engineer with a degree in applied mechanics, plus my masters of drama. . .” V’alura trailed off with a confident smirk, “I would say all those come together for a perfect storm of holodeck programing genius. You know before I enlisted with Starfleet I was a professional actress. Not to brag, but all my experience performing certainly gives me an edge when creating story-based programs.”

If the XO paid any attention to ship scuttlebutt or asked around, she would hear that V’alura was well liked (especially amongst her scientists) with mother hen tendencies and preference for informal address and communication.

Lt JG Belmont, CSO

ooc: V’alura’s education is listed in her profile and it is all publicly available knowledge! Hope that helps.

As she reviewed the previous ship’s mission, she saw they the crew of the Ark Angel had encountered a blob creature that seemed to have wreaked its havoc on the ship. This was something surely the science department had a hand in resolving. “What can you tell me about the last mission, the one that involved this..... blob creature? What would you say was the most defining role for the science department in helping resolve that issue?”

Itri, XO

V’alura gave the answer a moment’s thought, before giving her confident answer. “My department studied a blob sample and were the first to discover the nature of the blob and that the Warrens was actually the whole organism. We determined that the blob creatures were able to phase through time and space. This information was crucial going forward in the mission. After the capture of a smaller blob creature we determined its intelligence and were the first to actually communicate with the organism through the blob we captured. Through it we were able to learn even more about the organism as a whole.”

Lt JG Belmont, CSO

“So the creature was able to phase through time and space? How was this information used? Was it to communicate with the bigger blob? If we still have a sample I would love to stop by the science lab to take a peek at it.” The blob creature fascinated her because she had a passion for science. If she was not XO she would want a job in the science department.

Itri, XO

“I know right?” V’alura laughed, happy by the XO’s curiosity. She had a feeling the two of them will get along just fine. “In short we always were interacting with the larger blob entity. Each little blob were always connected to it, like the blood in our veins.” V’alura sighed, “Unfortunately we lost the sample when the blob entity either erased itself after accidentally absorbing a poisonous plant.. Can a being that exists through all of space and time really die? Perhaps someone somewhere will find it again. I certainly hope it’s still okay.