<snip>

Sharah turned to the replicator, “Black tea, Tall. Ice Water, 6 cubes, please.” And the replicator swirled in gold and the glasses appeared. She handed the black tea to Belmont before taking her own seat with a sip of the water. “So tell me Ensign what is your specialty?”
Lt jg Fayth CSO

V’alura answered after a quick gulp of tea. “That would be Artificial Intelligence. I wrote my Ph.D dissertation on the automation and autonomy of a ship’s AI in a ‘crew blackout’ meaning all crew aboard the ship are incapacitated. I proposed code that would allow the starship’s computer to, well, to read the room as they say, and make decisions to take the ship to safety and, if possible, utilize on-board systems to revive or secure its crew.” It worked like a charm in good chunk of the test scenarios. “My expertise is backed by my degrees in computer engineering and applied mathematical mechanics. I can make a simulation of just about anything. And, to brag just a little, make the best holodeck programs you’ve ever seen.” Whew, after all that talk she needs another sip of her tea.

Ensign Belmont (science)

Sharah was paying attention, though it probably didn’t appear that way. She was dealing with the noise that a new arrival had caused in the passing by the labs on her way in. Curiosity, expectation, and for some potential relief in their labs. She took in the older woman and knew the question she was about to ask was going to sound pretentious but it was an honest curious question that would help Sharah determine where to place her. “What brought you to Star Fleet, ensign?”
Lt jg Fayth, CSO

V’alura expected the question, and one she’s answered before. “Star Fleet is where the best and the brightest go.” She said, “To explore the final frontier. I’ve always loved science and space is full of new and exciting discoveries. I want be there when they’re made and maybe make a few myself.” That was an honest answer, but not the full one. Her work on Endless Black gave her a taste for life among the stars. And it was Endless Black that soured her love for acting. The other half of the answer was that V’alura wanted to be far, far away from Earth and her old career. In between sips of tea, V’alura kept those complicated and messy memories locked in their mental room along with all the messy, ugly emotions they invoked.

Ensign Belmont (science)

Sharah nodded, whether it was her expertise as a doctor and working with patients or just an innate sense from her telepathy but she recognized the truth in her answer and the rest wouldn’t pass over to her. Everyone had lots of reasons for doing things so even if she had sensed it, Sharah wouldn’t be bothered by it. “This is true. There are private scientific establishments but none really do the work we can do on a star ship. How do you consider your people skills? Do you work better with a group or alone?”
Lt jg Fayth, CSO

In particular, V’alura couldn’t wait to get her hands on strange alien computers. They were like puzzles waiting to be solved and who knows what insights they could offer into her own work! “I’d call my people skills excellent. I’m quite adapt at working with large groups, especially in projects with lots of moving parts. But I don’t mind working alone either. Wherever you decide to put me, I’ll be happy. Though, I have been told I have a habit of forgetting about the world around me when I’m focused on a challenging task.” She looked a bit sheepish, remembering times where her coworkers had to shout to get her attention.

Ensign Belmont (science)

“You’re in good company here then, Ensign. We are ALL like that here.” Sharah nodded and leaned back to tap something on her screen, watching intently for several moments and then picked up a PaDD and stood up. “Let’s go for a walk.” She led the way out of her office, down the starboard stair case and then back around and to a lab door situated underneath the staircase. She entered and waved a hand to encompass the room. “Welcome to the cybernetics lab En Belmont. Tell me what you think of what’s going on in here.”
OOC: Please feel free to go nuts with this, make up projects she sees, good and bad. Currently nothing is going on here main or side sims so go crazy and show off her expertise.
Lt jg Fayth, CSO

ooc: Wikipedia and google tells me cybernetics is a pretty diverse field so here is my best description of projects!

ic:
Good to know she wasn’t alone. “Alright.” V’alura took one last gulp of her tea before getting up to follow after the boss lady. As they walked, V’alura turned this way and that, taking peaks into labs through open doorways and windows. Though her scientific strengths lay in code and computers, she loved science in all its forms. The thrill of discovery, the frustration of failure, and the highs of progress.

“Be still my beating heart,” V’alura softly exclaimed upon the invitation to explore the cybernetics lab. She felt like a kid in a candy store and didn’t waste a moment to study the on-going projects.

Her gaze was instantly drawn to the nearest station which seemed to be running a series of simulations. V’alura quickly deduced their nature and purpose. They were testing the proposed design of an energy station set between two opposing gravity wells. If viable, the station would have a perpetual source of power. But something wasn’t right. V’alura compared station power consumption against the incoming data. “Whoever set this up should have used a multi-linear model, allowing the computer to run multiple tests simultaneously. It’s creating each simulation in a three dimensional space which eats up power and processing time. You can get the same results in half the time and power by switching up the model.” Not to mention, that extra power could be used to run another set of simulations on the potential energy gains from the gravity wells, thus boosting productivity. Sometimes it was the little things that made the biggest difference.

That and she’s pretty sure the model for the gravity wells being utilized were slightly out dated. She had noted that the simulated energy output was too consistent and that the latest model accounted for the subtle fluctuations found within the wells. She made a note about the model and the name of the new one before finally pulling away.

She hopped to the next station, absorbing the data and console displays like a sponge. “Biomedical implants. Interesting.” She skimmed through several stored reports. “Applying machine learning algorithms to brain implants designed to restore brain functionality to damaged systems by artificially replicating the system it has replaced. Of course you can teach. . . But which model. . . I see. . . but the data. . .” V’alura grew quiet as she studied the reports and compilations of test data. This was some truly impressive work but automation of artificial intelligence was her specialty and slowly she ferreted out the places where the system could be improved. Recalled models of artificial brains it could be tested upon. V’alura suddenly glanced up, remembering her purpose here, and noted the time she spent at this one station. “Almost sucked me right in,” She said with a laugh, “This really is some impressive work.”

“Now what else do we got.” The next station’s project was more biological focused, the study of some alien plant that rapidly adapts to environmental change which then spreads across the system into a new harmonious structure. V’alura skimmed the reports and while she appreciated the organic mechanics of the plant, she was far more interested in how the computer processed and stored the raw data generated from the tests. She called up the sub-routines that would recall and display the data upon request and was pleased to see a sleek and powerful system already in place. Nothing that she could significantly improve, but maybe she could create a program to automatically run tests upon plant that drew upon previously gathered data to run increasingly focused tests. Thus creating more beautiful raw data!

On and on she went until she made a full lap of the lab and arrived back at the start. “The computers in this lab are amazing.” She had a dozen questions about their hardware and the larger frameworks of software that managed every task big and small. Not to mention the data recall systems and the processors. . .”I think I could spend days fine-tuning systems and data models for optimal results.”

Ensign Belmont (science)