Scientific Acumen

Posted on Mon Nov 16th, 2020 @ 10:27am by Lieutenant Sylvia Wiseman & Lieutenant Alexis Aenera
Edited on on Sat Dec 5th, 2020 @ 3:26pm

Mission: Enforced Intermission
Location: Chief Science Office

"Ma'am?" the Petty Officer asked as he poked his head into Science Lab 3, the lab that Alexis had claimed as her own, "You wanted to know when the new Chief was in?"

Lexi looked up from her desk, where a swirling nebula was projected over half the surface and two feet up in the air, a stern look on her face, "What have I said about?" She reminded him, her face outwardly neutral as she reflected that her former colleague had been recalled and another scientist had been assigned to the ship.

"I'm sorry, Alexis, I didn't mean-"

"It's okay, sorry, didn't mean to bite your head off... This nebula is interesting, and well..." She shrugged, tapping a button and shutting the cloud off as she rose to her feet. She sidestepped around the table and straightened the white lab coat around herself, skirt rippling from the movement, then briskly began to walk forward, "Where are they?" She asked, smile appearing as if by magic.

"The office, Alexis, I don't know if she's ready to see you yet, but I just wanted you to know she was here." He gave a tepid smile in return, "Want me to take you there?"

"No, I think I've got this." She patted him on the shoulder as she passed him, "Thanks, Don." Then she left him behind in her wake as she began the seventy-odd meter walk to where the main office was, door slightly ajar as if forgotten about. The clicks of her definitively non-regulation two inch heels echoed rhythmically in the hallway, deserted as it was and slowed before she reached out and knocked on the door, "Hello, ma'am? May I come in?"

"Yeah, come on in. Everybody else has today. It's like Grand Central Station in here today." Sylvia answered, not even looking up to see who asking.

"Well, ma'am, that does have something to do with you being the head of the department and just arriving." Lexi gave a slight chuckle as she entered and gently closed the door behind her, then clicked her way over to the desk, "P-O Jackson just let me know you'd gotten here, so I figured I'd come say hello."

"Well, you have a fair point, Miss Jackson, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating." she answered, finally looking up from the apparent explosive debris that covered her desk in PaDDs.

She quickly took in the woman standing in front of her, and was literally struck mute at the sight of the shoes she was wearing.

After a beat, Sylvia said, "Bold fashion choice for a Starfleet officer on duty, to say the least."

"Actually, Aenera, Alexis Aenera, Lieutenant and your astrophysics and temporal physics specialist." She smiled brightly, "I used to have your job a while back, but I stepped down because it was interfering with my research. But I do wish we were able to be a bit more casual in what we wear, uniforms just really aren't all that flattering."

"My apologies, I get distracted sometimes, and names.... oof, names are hard." she said, with a shake of her head.

"As for flattering, I don't believe the concept behind 'uniform' was 'Let's make them cute.' but we are still expected to wear them." the tone of her voice left little to the imagination. She had had a long day, and it was far from over, and this was not helping.

Alexis picked up on that, then gracefully sat into one of the chairs in front of the desk and perched on the end, "When you're getting to a new place, it does take a while to learn the names and faces and that's part of why I'm here, now." She made special effort to keep her voice cheery, it wouldn't do to get on the bad side of her new boss this early, "I'd like to know what I could do to help, ma'am. After all, I know everyone here and the spaces themselves and I do believe I could be of assistance while you get settled in properly."

"That would be a welcome turn of events. I've gotten lost thrice already today."

"It won't take you long to get used to Astraea, ma'am, it's always the first couple days that are the toughest. And if I'm not in the immediate area, you can always comm me down in Science Lab 3, that's where I've set everything up for my research." Lexi beamed, "And I don't know if you'd like to be a guest lecturer for any of the classes I have set up to teach others a bit more in some of the more basic areas."

Sylvia was considering the invitation when she was summoned to the bridge.