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"Solving Mysteries Is What Her Life Is All About"
(Previous Post: "Testing The Waters")
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Deck 12, Astrometrics Lab
Stardate: 30151.1130

To the Shillian Scientist everything could be looked upon as being some sort of mystery to be investigated or a puzzle to be solved.  Seeking answers to questions had been what drove the Chief Science Officer of the USS ANUBIS and the upcoming Black and White Ball had been no different.  So it had not been much of a surprise to find the Lieutenant Commander sitting in the Astrometrics Lab, the list of passengers scrolling on one screen while the technical deck layouts of the MASQUERADE DREAMS appeared on the primary display.

Many had looked upon the upcoming event as an opportunity to unwind following the hardships endured during the last mission, while others saw the three week stay on board the MASQUERADE DREAMS as being nothing more than a well earned vacation.  For the Shillian though, the entire deal had provided the scientist with countless questions begging to be answered.

Amongst the 1500 registered passengers the Shillian Scientist had recognized over a dozen names, all belonging to elites within their respective fields of science.  Since there had not been any scientific symposium or conference announced to be held on board the MASQUERADE DREAMS, the Chief Science Officer could only speculate as to why these Scientists had gathered of their own free will on board a Risian cruise liner.

Lead researchers in the fields of temporal mechanics, quantum physics and solar dynamics had come together for an unexplained reason with scientists who were at the top of their fields in bio-cellular regeneration and nano-neurological reconstruction.  For such elit scientists to be found together in any location had been a mathematical inconsistency that the Shillian could not ignore, but the fact that their respective fields of work had been so different only added to the mystery.

In this strange list of unrelated scientists there had been one name that stood out above all others, not because she had been better than any of the others, but because of her past.  Her unique history had intersected with that of one of the members of the crew of the SCARAB-Class starship, a coincidence that the Shillian found rather remarkable.  Doctor Rebecca Dearhouse, a leader in the field of applied humanoid neurosciences, had been a recurring presence in the life of one particular man, namely the Commanding Officer of the USS ANUBIS, Captain Erik Morningstar.

It had been due to the care required by his brother, Jean Claude Morningstar jr, that Erik had come to know and interact with Doctor Dearhouse on several occasions while back on EARTH. That the two shared a close common ancestry had only added to the links the two individuals shared, but this had not affected their lives, each having accepted to stay on their chosen path.

The gathering of so many scientists had caught the interest of the Chief Science Officer, but the Shillian suspected that the presence of Doctor Rebecca Dearhouse on the MASQUERADE DREAMS would prove to be of a particular interest to their Native American Captain.

With that in mind and having made a note to mention this coincidence to Captain Morningstar, the Chief Science Officer returned to her study of the unexpected gathering of Scientists in the hopes of discovering some sort of link that would at the very least begin to explain why they had all come to be on the MASQUERADE DREAMS at the same time.  Had this truly been an unaided convergence of galactic probabilities or had there been some hidden reason for all of these individuals to be there at the same time?

If the Chief Science Officer of the USS ANUBIS had not been looking forward to attending the Black and White Ball before now, her interest and curiosity in the presence of such numerous Scientists had piqued her interest to a level that the Shillian could not ignore, not that she would have wanted to.  This mystery beckoned the Scientist to investigate this strange occurrence and would occupy the great part of her thoughts for quite some time to come.

The doors wished opened and drew momentarily the attention of the Chief Science Officer on the woman who had just arrived, the Chief of Security for the USS ANUBIS, Ensign Ya'Han.

"Commander Maya? I am sorry for disturbing you, I had not expected anyone to be here," the black haired woman said, thinking that maybe she should have checked with the computer as to the availability of this specific lab before coming.

"No worries," Maya offered, the lab having been large enough to easily accommodate several people at the same time.  "I suspect that you wish to use the information available on the MASQUERADE DREAMS to locate areas with potential security risks or research areas that we might be able to utilise without our raising any suspicions should a need arise."

"Well, I was thinking about something along those lines," the black haired Chief of Security said hesitantly, not able to recall having ever been made aware of the Shillian being a telepath.  "I would be happy to come back at a later time as to not disturb your work."

"As I said, no worries," the Shillian confirmed.  "I was simply performing a general scan of the listed passengers while getting myself a little more acquainted with the layout of the MASQUERADE DREAMS, a truly impressive ship if I may say so.  With 30 decks, 20 of which are available to the general public, the ship as a whole actually stands nearly twice as large as the ANUBIS, giving the passengers ample room to move about and enjoy the numerous activities which are offered.  I suspect that a single individual could, if they so wished to do so, travel through each and every available corridor and not be able to complete their quest in the time allotted to us for this mission.  Still, with the entire senior staff of the USS ANUBIS assigned to this ship, I believe that we will be able to cover all of the areas of major importance, but it would be to our advantage to insure that the sensors of the ANUBIS are calibrated to follow all of our movements in the sea of turbulence that we will likely be encountering thanks to the 1925 passengers and crew members that we will be interacting with."

Ya'Han blinked several times as she tried to recuperate from he verbal tidal wave that had unexpectedly come from the Chief Science Officer.  Conveying a lot of information in the briefest possible amount of time had never been an easy task, but it seemed that the Shillian woman had raised the bar to a new level in that specific domain.

"You are busy, I will let you work," the Chief of Security said as she took a step back and triggered the automated doors to once again open.  Before the Scientist could say anything more, Ya'Han had already turned the corner to allow the doors to close behind her, hopefully offering some level of protection from any further detailed explanations.

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Jessica Solarik

Lieutenant Commander Maya
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS

&

Captain Selene Fiona Iverson
Commanding Officer
USS BASTET

"To see the world in a grain of sand,
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)