Spotty Scientists

Posted on Mon Aug 15th, 2011 @ 4:33pm by Senior Chief Petty Officer Julia Neral & Lieutenant Commander Aral Aix

Mission: Tomorrow's Arizona
Location: Science Lab 1, USS Arizona
Timeline: BACKPOST: Prior to Departure from SB900, after "Meeting the CO"

Julia paused just before the turbolift doors would have opened for her. A sudden thought popped into her head, and she tapped her comm-badge after a brief hesitation. "Neral to Commander Aix. Are you busy right now? I have something I'd like to ask you. I forgot to mention it earlier."

Aral Aix, who had returned to his unique personal combination of procrastination and administration, was relieved to receive the communique. Tapping his badge he responded, "No not particularly. Shall I come to you?"

"I am just leaving a meeting with the Commodore, so I'm not really anywhere in particular. I can meet you instead." She remained just outside the doors. Without a particular destination in mind, there wasn't much point to stepping inside them yet.

"Science Lab 1." Aral replied. "Aix out."

Now she had somewhere to go. Julia stepped inside the now empty turbolift and ordered it to her destination. Her recent meeting had certainly been interesting. At least the people on this ship didn't seem to be too bland.

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Julia moved briskly toward the doors to the science lab and stepped through them as they parted. Once inside, she moved more slowly as she took a quick glance around and headed towards the small office, pressing the buzzer to alert him to her presence.

"Come in." Aral called out, without moving his feet from his desk.

For the second time, Julia stepped inside the office. It felt like it had been longer than it really had been. "Hello again, Commander."

"Hello... again." Aral replied, studying the woman's eyebrows over the large PADD on his lap.

She smiled just a little as she looked back at him and made her way over to his desk. "How have you been?"

"Fine thank you." Aral replied, tapping absent-mindedly at a couple of buttons on the PADD. "What's up?"

Julia sat down on an open seat, but didn't completely settle in to it. "If you're not already aware of it, my background was in microbiology before I switched to languages."

"Well yes, I had read you were a proper scientist before you become a linguist."

She didn't appreciate the implications of the adjective "proper" that he used, but only enough to adopt a more playful rather than accusatory tone. "The study of languages can still be quite scientific, I'll have you know, Commander. It's another phenomenon that can be studied and explained and new mysteries pop up all the time. The same principles apply." Julia let a small smile slip by to soften any impact her words might have.

Aral Aix smirked. "I'm sure it's very interesting. I used to find it interesting when I was a girl, but if linguistics is science then we'd have to consider anthropology, sociology, archaeology, psychology and even medicine as science... and then we'd just be being silly wouldn't we?"

Pausing a moment, she moved on. It wouldn't do much good to engage in further discussion, she'd been down that road before- if he really didn't think it was science, her words wouldn't have any effect. He'd see how useful her knowledge could be, and if not, oh well. "Anyway, I haven't left that technical field completely behind. I keep up on the relevant journals and contribute a few articles of my own once in a while. Since I still like to run a few experiments in that area, I wanted to formally ask for your permission to do so. My other duties won't be affected, but I thought you should be made aware that I still desire to exercise that particular knowledge."

"Yes, yes of course. Consider yourself to have the run of the department." Aral was a physical scientist and mathematician; microbiology - as useful as it was - barely featured on his list of priorities for the department.

"Good, thank you." Though she hadn't seriously expected it, Julia had feared some kind of resistance to her taking on too much...and at the very least didn't want him to feel like he had been left out of something. "And by the way, I am a fully competent science officer in general- don't think that just because my official designation is 'Language Specialist' that I've gone 'soft' in any way." Her facial expression reinforced her point.

Aral suppressed a laugh. "Oh, I'm sure you're as efficacious as any other officer of your standing." He replied. "I wasn't aware linguists were particularly soft, but then again, I wasn't aware they were scientists." His voice contained a good humoured mixture of malevolence and self deprecation.

Julia let a brief grin slip by. "I'm sure I'll get opportunities to give you more...awareness of that fact. At least as it applies to myself." She brought more technology and a more 'scientific' approach to the role of a linguist than many who started their careers in that field, which she would certainly get the chance to demonstrate.

Aral nodded pleasantly. "If there's anything you need... you want... and you need me to sign off on just let me know"

"Thank you." Julia smiled in appreciation. "Well, it has been nice talking to you, but I have alot to get started on. I'm sure I'll be seeing you again soon." She stood up, straightening her uniform slightly. "I wish you a good rest of the day."

Aral nodded pleasantly and watched the woman leave with interest.

Julia exited the lab, heading back to her quarters. She'd bring a case down to the lab, and then make some rounds of the ship. Time to get to know everyone.