Posted by Ensign Viyara Nazeen (Scientist) in CSO’s Office - Nazeen reporting for duty

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Liam Madison (Chief Science Officer) in CSO’s Office - Nazeen reporting for duty

Posted by Ensign Viyara Nazeen (Scientist) in CSO’s Office - Nazeen reporting for duty
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻
[snip]
Glancing at the reptile on his arm, Viyara couldn’t help but smile softly at the sight of the creature. Lifting her gaze to her superior officer again, she answered, “I have. My first assignment was on the USS Kajaani from 2391 to 2393 and then on the USS Irii Suu after that till I came here.”

~Ensign Nazeen, Scientist

Liam glanced up and noticed Nazeen smile at the creature on his arm. He couldn’t help but comment on this fact with a calm and even voice.

“From that smirk, I assume you’ve met our resident escape artist?” If she did, the name would come easily and he expected she would mention it.

“I have and senior officer Madi showed me how to feed him. He is a beauty. Aren’t you Scales?” Viyara replied with an uncharacteristically soft smile.

As if noting it was being talked about, the creature raised his head and bobbed it a bit. Its feathered head puffed out briefly before it flattened out again. It rested its head back down on his skin where the warmth was the strongest.

-CSO, Liam J. Madison, Sci.

After a couple of moments of watching Scales, Viyara tore her eyes away from the creature and turned her full attention back towards her superior officer. “I’m sorry, Sir. I shouldn’t have gotten distracted like that,” she apologised and hoped this wouldn’t result in her second strike in two days.

~Ensign Nazeen, Scientist

Liam shook his head at her apology. “Don’t apologize. I did draw your attention to Scales and he is a pretty specimen, one I’m gradually growing fond of.”

The creature nuzzled his arm as he continued.

“He’s become my unwanted company nearly every morning now. Especially when his heat vents break down. I suspect he does it on purpose because the Engineers found a few preened feathers stuffed inside. Rather difficult with a vent that blows out, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Indeed,” Viyara laughed softly. “He is a smart fellow.”

Liam then pulled up the datapad with her record on it, her information matched up with her records. Now came the harder questions.

“I noticed some concerns with your service record. Numerous offenses, including and not limited to mishaps in the labs and even turning off the safety protocol in the holodeck.” He paused long enough to let her prepare herself.

Viyara tensed almost unnoticeably at the mention of the reprimands, but she didn’t say anything and instead waited for the CSO to continue. After their rocky start the other day she wondered if he’d let her explain or if he’d jump to his own conclusions based on her file.

“I’m a firm believer in allowing officers to provide an explanation especially when each CSO has saw your potential.”

-CSO, Liam J. Madison, Sci.

“Thank you Sir,” Viyara replied with a smile. She was glad that he seemed to give her a chance. The question was: how could she explain those incidents without making things worse for herself right from the start. “The main incident in the lab that I received a reprimand for was fully my fault and I have learned from it. Even though my CSO at the time made it very clear that she wanted all of us to get enough rest, I ignored her and worked much longer hours than I should have to help analyse data to figure out what was happening on the surface of the planet we were orbiting at the time. At one point I decided to take a break from looking at the data to clear my mind, hoping to see more afterwards. One way for me to do that is to do a simply chemistry experiment. I hadn’t really been sleeping for at least two days at that point. I was tired and didn’t pay attention. Which is a dangerous combination no matter what you’re doing. Even more so when handling potentially dangerous substances. I got injured because of my stupidity and haven’t done the same mistake again.” Her expression was calm and earnest and she looked Liam straight in the eyes the whole time she was talking.

~Ensign Nazeen, Scientist

Liam took note of her reaction to his mention but he didn’t draw more attention to it. Making her uncomfortable served no good in the conversation and he wanted an honest explanation. As if sensing the tension rising, Scales shifted on his arm. The reptile’s feathered surface fluffed out then settled back down.

He understood the aspect of getting too involved and connected with a project, a habit he held. However, it concerned him to hear her sleeplessness pattern held for two whole days. Hallucinations started after the third or fourth day in most humans, though it varied with different races. Vulcans could go much longer without side effects due to their strict control over their bodies.

The CSO pushed the thoughts out of his head as he noticed she avoided part of his earlier address.

“Your medical history has a list of injuries due to holodeck-related incidents. Holodeck safeties are left on by default, unlike lab projects. I’m curious about why you would shut those off and endanger yourself.”

-CSO, Liam J. Madison, Sci.

Viyara took a deep breath and pondered how to answer his question best. Eventually she said, “There are no safeties in real life either and I need it to feel real. I know exactly what I’m doing and I never got badly hurt on the holodeck.” She hesitate for a moment and then added softly, “I need it to feel alive. To feel like I’m in control.” Looking him straight in the eyes, she continued, “I know most people don’t understand. And that’s okay. It’s just … if I were rock climbing on a real mountain somewhere, there wouldn’t be safeties either. And yes I know, most people use climbing gear. But not everyone does. They don’t get into trouble for it. So I don’t really understand why it is a problem to turn the safeties off in the holodeck. It’s not like I’m putting other people in danger.”

~Ensign Nazeen, Scientist

Liam noted the hesitation in Nazeen’s reaction to his question as he remained quiet, listening to her explain. Her words revealed she was addicted to adrenaline causing the pieces of the mystery to fall into place. It was difficult to experience when one knew they would be perfectly safe.

“I will admit, I understand your reasoning. However knowing this, I have to be prepared should one of your holodeck sessions go wrong. With your take on it being as athentic as possible, it might not be a simple fix in sickbay if you get hurt.” Liam put down the hard, cold facts.

He wouldn’t stop her from putting herself at risk, but he aimed to be prepared for the worst outcome. Deep down, he hoped she wouldn’t break something critical and require emergency treatment in the future. He moved on from the grim topic before either of them could dwell much longer on it.

“What drove you to follow a career in starfleet and ultimately the science department?”

-CSO, Liam J. Madison, Sci.