Educated Guesses With Jasmine Tea

Posted on May 16, 2017 @ 7:59pm by Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Edited on on May 16, 2017 @ 7:59pm

Mission: In Place of God

“Educated Guesses with Jasmine Tea”
(contd from Jerome’s ‘Working in the Dark’)

Location: USS PHOENIX
SD: [2.17] 0516.1831
Scene: Science Lab

It wasn’t very often the chief of security and tactical would be visiting a science laboratory other than if there was an incident that became a matter of security. That wasn’t the case for Jasmine in the last few days, where she had more visits to the science department than she had in her entire career. Well, perhaps Starfleet was full of surprises, but in her view, it was what made her job exciting. Now she was back again to assemble pieces of a challenging and complicated puzzle –the cultural aspect of the mysterious species, which had been assumed to be arthropods.

There was a purpose to Jasmine’s visit to the lab. She was looking into the development of the species’ culture. The question posed in her mind was the kind of society, the species led or maybe like Earth and other known worlds, societies on this planet evolved over time. However, the answer might most likely be difficult to obtain, considering the limited information, found in the data packets, sent through the wormhole. However, with the discovery of the aliens’ having a colour spectrum with a broader wavelength range than humans, a different set of tools and methods were needed to analyze the images.

She spotted Ensign Schad at one of the workstations and made her way to him. The Aaamazzarite looked up from his console and nodded at the security chief. “Lieutenant Yu, how can I help you?”

Jasmine said, stopping beside him, “I’ve been going over the images, working to try reconstructing their culture and we were trying to come up with theories as to their society.” The other officer nodded. “I’m here to ask you some questions that will help us with our research.”

“Go ahead.”

The Asian American asked, checking her notes on the PADD, “What have you found in regards to the planet’s environment?”

The young scientist pondered for a moment, gathering his thoughts. “The data hasn’t so far given us any concrete evidence and right now, all we can do is make hypothesis as to what the environment is like on the planet, based on assumptions. Lieutenant, are you trying to find a connection between the environment and their society?”

“Yes.” Yu nodded. “Environments can have an effect on the type of society a species leads so we are trying to come up with our own theories about their society.”

“That’s true,” Schad said. “We have a theory with the presence of the supermassive black hole that we believe is still growing, may have had an effect on life on the planet. The possibility of the planet having higher gravity due to its close proximity to the black hole, could explain why the species are arthropods.”

Jasmine sighed. “That still doesn’t provide clues on what kind of society they have now or during their history.”

“I’m afraid not.” The Aaamazzarite nodded. “At best, we can only make assumptions based on the hypothesis formulated.”

As much as Jasmine enjoyed puzzles, she wasn’t a scientist. “Well, I guess we make do with the data we have.”

“Earlier today, Dr. Andersson suggested exploring the possibility that the species possess a more enhanced depth perception,” Arad brought up. “She extrapolated the image that looks to be abstract art to a three-dimensional platform and the results were impressive.”

Jasmine’s eyes widened. “What did you find?”

“Come see for yourself.” The science officer pressed a few buttons on his console and a 3D projection of the image materialized out of the holographic display unit. He glanced behind at the Sec/Tac,

“This is amazing,” the Asian American woman commented, stepping closer and taking in the display. “It gives us a whole new perspective of their culture with regards to art and architecture.” She made a mental note for her team to revisit all the images that she had been studying, pertaining to the aliens’ culture and display them in a three dimensional setting.

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Scene: The Vulcan Tribble

After an entire day of poring over images and analyzing them, Jasmine was now eager for some dinner and relaxation. While the young woman was busy with unlocking the mysteries of the alien race, along with the other senior staff members, Silsby and Procter were jointly running the department. Aside from the snarky remarks and disagreements between her assistants – two opposing personalities, things were running rather smoothly and hopefully stayed that way until the micro-wormhole closed.

The Asian woman took an empty table beside the window. She pulled up a chair and sat down, just when a cheery half-Bolian with blonde pigtails came bustling towards her. Iphie gave her a wide smile. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise.”

Jasmine raised an eyebrow. “I’m glad to hear,” was all she chose to say. She had only met Bonviva a few times and found the blue woman an enigma. An interesting woman, no doubt.

“Actually, just the person I was thinking of.” Iphie chuckled.

“Thinking? You were thinking of me?” Yu wore a rather puzzled expression.

“Remember,” Iphie began, her eyes twinkling with amusement, “Back in the arboretum, you mentioned of being a vegetarian and love pasta.”

“Yes.” The dark haired woman nodded with a smile, recalling the conversation.

“Well, I just got the perfect dish for you, one I believe you will enjoy,” the chef said, her smile widening. “I can make it for you if that’s what you’d like to have tonight.”

Jasmine sighed, maintaining her smile, which was appreciative. “Sure, I’ll try this dish and hope to be pleasantly surprised.”

“Awesome!” Iphie clapped her hands. “In the meantime, what do you like to drink?”

“Green tea would be fine.”

“Hmm…I had the impression you’d have gone for Jasmine tea.” The blue woman grinned.

“I like Jasmine tea, not because it’s my name or anything like that.”

The chef let out a laugh. “Oh don’t be too modest, Jasmine. If there was a tea named Iphie, I’d have loved it.”

“Okay, make it, Jasmine green tea.” Jasmine ended the phrase with a smile.

“Coming right up.” Iphie left the table as quickly as she had arrived, leaving Jasmine to her thoughts. Prior to coming to dinner, Jasmine was busy perusing some images in 3D display, particularly the figure eight shaped object, the abstract art one and some others.

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TI: 20 minutes later

“This smells good,” Jasmine remarked, when a plate was set in front of her. A smile crept across her lips, the aroma emanating from the food was pleasant to the olfactory senses and expected it would be the same for her taste buds.

Iphie explained, pointing her finger at the dish, “Penne, topped with tomato marinara and a little bit of pesto sauce as well as a medley of vegetables, fresh not replicated.” The hybrid emphasized the words, ‘fresh’ and ‘replicated’ as if to press her point across, reminding Jasmine that she would get nothing but high quality, non-replicated meals in this establishment. “As you can see, some are familiar such as the peppers and zucchini and the others are a little more exotic, taken from the arboretum.”

Jasmine eyed a bluish, yellow and orange pieces, mixed between chunks of zucchini and grinned. She was impressed with the amount of effort Iphie had gone through to make this dish. She listened quietly as the Bolian chef continued.

“I added a spoonful of sesame oil and sprinkled spices over it. There is tofu to act as protein source for you and then finally garnished the dish with some arugula.”

“Thanks.”

Iphie chided. “Thank me after you have eaten.” She grinned, watching as Jasmine picked up the fork. “I’ll be back later and see how you’re doing.”

“Sure.” Yu nodded. With the fork, the security chief attacked a cluster of penne, attached to yellow pepper. After taking the first bite, the young woman smiled. “Wow, this is really good.”

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~*~
Ranjani S.
Writing for

Lieutenant Jasmine Yu
Chief of Security and Tactical
USS PHOENIX