Truths and Half Lies

Posted on Fri Jan 26th, 2018 @ 9:31am by Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn & Lieutenant Xander Oroyo DSci

881 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Cloud Surfing
Location: Main Science Lab
Timeline: After "Getting Back on the Road"

Xander was still working in the lab after the captain had left. He was re-calibrating the sensor systems to meet his standards. He was having a rough time of it too since Commander Quinn had been good...very good...at what she had done. Xander was thinking about Markus Yune and everyone he left behind on the Casey when he accepted the transfer. Just then he heard the hydraulics of the door activate...

Amber walked into Main Science and watched Xander for a moment. "Hello," she said. She wondered why he was re-calibrating sensors from here and not the bridge as the sensors where shared by several departments and thus coordinated on the bridge. "You should talk to Ops about that first."

"Thank you, Commander, I think I shall. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" Oroyo asked.

"To meet you," Amber said. "And welcome you to the Aurora."

Xander looked a little befuddled at that comment but shook himself free of it. "Well thank you for the warm welcome." He moved over to properly greet her by the shaking of hands. Extending his hand in friendship, he smiled at her.

Amber shook his hand. "What's your specialty?" she asked.

"Believe it or not it's genetics and meteorology," he replied. "And yours?"

"Anthropology, archaeology, and history," she replied. "I gravitate towards the social sciences. Those two don't have much in common." Her smile turned humorous. "Unless you believe life began on some planets because of a meteorite."

"Yes well, it's odd to find a senior science officer in Starfleet nowadays that doesn't gravitate towards the hard sciences. But myself, I've always thought that the secrets to life can and will be found inside the body itself and not in the stars. Even as I hear those words coming out of my mouth, I realize that I sound like a heretic," Xander said with a laugh and a smile.

"Why do you think you sound like a heretic?" Amber asked curiously. "And why do you think science has eschewed the social sciences? With man searching the stars, they're more important than ever if we want to understand each other and the new cultures we meet."

"I just feel like Starfleet feels that all answers can be found only in the stars, that's why I feel like a heretic," Xander said. "To be honest, I feel they have denied the social sciences their rightful place in the pantheon of science because Social Sciences have never been able to be quantified like the hard sciences. I never said I agreed with it but that's my guess."

Amber nodded, understanding. "I've spent a lot of time with others in my discipline, so I'm a little biased, as you can see. However, I do agree that Starfleet's focus is more on space exploration and expansion. So I can see why you feel like a heretic."

"Thank you, Commander, for that bit of insight. My own specialties don't require a career in Starfleet to study them. But I chose this life because of what a Starfleet captain did for my people; he forced us to overcome our addiction to a narcotic that had been heaped on my people after a cure had been found for a disease a 1000 years ago. So I enlisted in order to give something back to that man and this organization."

"Really? Who are your people?" Amber asked, her curiosity piqued.

'I am Ornaran, Commander," Oroyo said. "And yes. I am still to this day struggling with my people's addiction to Felicium."

Amber nodded. "Ah. I admit I don't know much about your people, but I will do some research--just so that I am aware of any special needs you may have. Is there anything I can do to help you settle in?"

"Not all that odd, Commander. I'm the only one in Starfleet at the moment. That will be most appreciated. Actually, I have everything I need right now but thank you," Xander said with a smile.

Amber nodded. "I started out as the Aurora's Chief Science Officer, so I did the preliminary setup. I'm not saying it's perfect, but if you have questions, I can help. For your information, main science and the labs that are set up for ongoing experiments have a backup power supply to keep the experiments from failing if the ship loses power. There's also an independent computer database for science." She grinned. "That so we can dump all the data we need into it and not worry about taking up more than our allocated space. Both are primarily for long-term research and ongoing experiments."

"Yes I had heard something to that effect, Commander. I fully understand what you tried to do here in order for your department to function smoother. And thank you for giving me that tidbit of information. I must admit this Nova-class vessel is quite more versatile than I was led to believe."

"Nova class ships are incredibly versatile," Amber said, nodding in agreement. "You'll like it here."

"Thank you, Commander. I think I will indeed like it here. I find it 'homey' already," the lone Ornaran said with a smile.

____
OFF

Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn
Executive Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Xander Oroyo
Chief Science Officer
USS Aurora

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