Posted by Lieutenant Commander Amari Brooks (Executive Officer) in Science Labs

Posted by Civilian Melaia Reez (Scientist) in Science Labs

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Amari Brooks (Executive Officer) in Science Labs
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Mel shook her head slightly, sending her curls waving to and fro. “There’s no way to know without a direct attempt at communication. Hence my dilemma. I don’t want to cause them harm or distress, and yet, I’m not sure how else to test my hypothesis except to just… try.”

~Melaia Reez

“I think as long as you control the intensity of your psychic output it should do no harm. I can monitor their physiological reactions and let you know if they are in distress.” T’Pris offered.

T’Pris Psychobiologist

The doors opened and hallway light gave way to the silhouette of a small, slender woman. The XO stepped into the room. “Pardon the intrusion. T’Pris, there is an urgent subspace message coming in from Vulcan. I’ve had it patched through to the small conference room down the hall,” she said as the Vulcan left.

The doors closed and Amari smiled at the woman in the lab. “Melaia Reez, isn’t it? I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure. I am Lt. Commander Amari Brooks,” she said extended her hand as an introduction. She smiled brightly. “And these must be your gastropods I read about in the last mission debrief.”

-Lt. Cmdr. Amari Brooks, XO

Rising to her feet, the relatively tall Betazoid took the XO’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “Well, it might be a stretch to call them mine, but I do feel rather protective of them as a fairly new mother myself.” She cast her glance over at the new little family and smiled. “They also pose an interesting mystery I’m trying to figure out.”

~Melaia Reez, Scientist

Amari took an immediate liking to the Betazoid scientist standing before her. Melaia was familiar in some way though she knew she had never met her before. “There’s nothing that changes a woman so profoundly as motherhood. I understand completely.” She released Melaia’s hand and turned her attention back to the creatures before them. “I would love to hear all about this mystery, Mrs. Reez, if I’m not imposing on your time that is.”

-Lt. Cmdr. Brooks, XO

Mel realized it was going to be an oft repeated cringe for awhile, at least until people got to know her better. “Please, it’s Melaia or Mel. Not Mrs. Reez,” she said seriously, though she tried not to seem too offended. She once again felt that strange nostalgia and desire to be i uniform. It was just… easier. You had a rank and a position and there was not fussing about with how you fit into anything.”

She turned slightly at the hips and gestured to the enclosure. “Come, pull up a chair and sit with me,” Reez said, moving to sit back in the chair she had just vacated.

The two larger gastropods were huddling in close proximity, but not touching and the three young ones were partly hidden underneath the fronds of a ferny looking plant. she had simulated to be close to what was on their native environment. She had gotten the info from the research team’s notes and done her best to add to the enclosure anything that had been at the lake where the gastropods were from.

“So, these are a gastropod-like family. We didn’t know they were aboard fro quite awhile, but then several of us who are psi-positive began picking up on emotions. Distress, panic, even anger. The female and a clutch of three eggs were found in a jeffries tube, nesting amongst a plasma manifold. That attributed to some our odd power issue. The distressed feelings came from both the female, who was getting weaker by the second, and from the male who was in Primary Sickbay looking for his mate.” She looked at Amari and smiled. “When we reunited them and got the environmental conditions right, their physical status improved and then we witnessed an electrical exchange when they touched. They are, in the very least empathic projectors and that means a level of sentience. But I suspect that they might actually be touch telepaths. I have a hypothesis that they might in fact be communicative outside their species, since we were able to pick up their emotions.” She smiled deeper. “Right now they are content. Happy.”

~Melaia Reez