The Shape of Questions
Posted on Wed Jun 10th, 2026 @ 5:56pm by Captain Saelira Venn & Lieutenant JG Melody Piper
1,965 words; about a 10 minute read
Mission:
Prologue: Taking On Crew
Location: Main Science Lab - USS Resolute
Timeline: MD002 - 1330 hours
The Main Science Lab had settled into that strange calm that came after disruption, when everyone was still working, but the room had not quite decided what it was without the person who used to stand at its centre.
Saelira noticed that first.
The lab was active, certainly. Displays shifted through stellar mapping data, sensor calibration routines and transfer inventories. A junior officer stood at one station comparing equipment logs against the physical contents of a storage unit, while another quietly argued with a diagnostic that seemed determined to remain unhelpful. The work continued because the work always continued. Science did not pause simply because a department head had moved on.
Still, absence had a way of changing the sound of a room.
Saelira stepped inside without ceremony, letting the doors close behind her as she took in the flow of the lab. She had always liked Science. Not as a specialist, not in the way Cael Rennar had loved it with the full force of a man personally offended by unanswered questions, but enough to respect the hunger behind it. Every good science department carried a kind of restlessness, a refusal to leave the universe alone simply because it had not yet explained itself.
Lieutenant Melody Piper was already there, exactly where Saelira had expected to find her: near the centre of the activity, close enough to be asked questions, but not so close that no one else could think without her. That interested Saelira. A department did not reveal itself only by how it answered orders. It revealed itself by who people looked to when the room shifted.
She waited a moment before speaking, allowing Melody to finish what she was doing rather than cutting across the work.
“Lieutenant Piper,” Saelira said, warm but quiet enough not to turn every head in the lab. “Do you have a few minutes?”
Her eyes moved briefly across the stations, then back to Melody.
“I thought I’d come down here rather than pull you up to the ready room. After Commander Rennar’s departure, I wanted to see how you and the department were settling.”
A piece of music played in Melody's mind, that of Chopin, nocturne in c sharp. It was a piece she had played when she found out that Cael, that is Commander Rennar was leaving.
The ambiance of that piece lent itself to the music of the science department. She had been perusing over the latest readings of the atmospheric eddies surrounding the station. The station floating in space like an island on an dark ocean.
There had been a subtle change in the air of the science department, at the sound of the door opening. It was quiet but still there always seemed to be the registering of an entrance and exit of someone.
When she heard the warm tones of the Captain, Melody turned from the PaDD giving her full attention to Saelira, having a welcoming gaze in her eyes, as well as a smile.
"You have all the time you need, from me. Captain." Melody offered.
Even though there was a smile, it did have the hint of somberness reflecting the departure of Rennar. There was still that ache within her heart, when she had been told by Cael he was leaving.
"The commander's absence is being felt, though, he did say that we were to continue on, despite the changes that are happening. Besides, he said, "Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. Which is the same thing for science. If nothing changes for growth, stagnation will commence and that isn't good." Melody remarked.
Saelira listened, and for a moment her expression softened at the trace of Cael in Melody’s words. That sounded like him. Not exactly, perhaps, but close enough that she could almost hear the patient certainty in his voice, the way he had always managed to make uncertainty sound less like danger and more like invitation.
“He would say something like that,” Saelira said, with a faint warmth. “And he wouldn’t be wrong.”
Her eyes moved briefly across the lab. Work continued around them, quiet and careful, the way it had to. Experiments did not pause for grief. Neither did duty. But that did not mean the people carrying both were untouched by it.
“I’m glad the department is still moving,” she said, looking back to Melody. “I expected it would. Commander Rennar thought too highly of you all to leave behind a team that couldn’t stand without him.”
She let that sit for a moment, then her voice gentled.
“But I didn’t come down here to ask whether Science was still functioning. I can see that it is.” Her gaze settled on Melody, attentive without pressing too hard. “I came to ask how you are. Not the department. Not the work. You.”
"Truthfully, I am saddened by the commander's departure." feeling the sting of tears, she paused for a moment in order to try to will them away.
"While he was here, he encouraged me, when I needed it. He seemed to know when I was being too hard on myself." Melody, responded her voice calm and yet there was still the color of tears in her voice. . "He didn't coddle me. He made certain to open my eyes a bit more as to what I am capable of. "
A stray tear trickled down her cheek, which Melody quickly wiped away. "I seem to have sprung a leak, and hopefully it stops." having a twinkle in her eyes, as she pulled back her emotional level.
Saelira’s expression softened, but she did not reach too quickly to comfort her. Melody had found her balance once already, and there was dignity in allowing her to keep it.
“I don’t think that needs an apology,” she said quietly. “He mattered to you. That’s allowed.”
She let that sit for a moment, her gaze steady but kind. Cael had always had that gift, though he would probably have complained if anyone called it one. He noticed the people who were shrinking from themselves, then found some infuriatingly precise way to make them look up again.
“He spoke very highly of you before he left,” Saelira continued. “Not sentimentally. Cael was rarely careless with praise. But he believed you were capable of more than you sometimes let yourself see.”
There was warmth in her voice, but also purpose.
“So I suppose that’s where I’d like to start. Not with the department yet. With you.” She paused, giving Melody room to breathe. “What did he help you see that you’re still learning to believe?”
"That I am capable of making decisions despite, my propensity to second guess myself." A slightly shy smile appeared. "He's worked with me, and I have been gaining confidence as to this. It has been a battle but, I have seen-improvement. And I have learned to, acknowledge my um-accomplishments. For awhile I've not even allowed myself to recognize my skills. I do still battle with the worry that I can become full of myself."
Saelira’s expression warmed a little. Melody had answered honestly, and that mattered more than sounding certain. There was no arrogance there, no attempt to pretend she had already become the officer Cael believed she could be. Just someone trying to trust herself without tipping too far the other way.
“Knowing what you’re good at isn’t the same as becoming full of yourself,” Saelira said gently. “It’s part of learning to be reliable. If you can’t recognise your own strengths, Melody, you’ll spend too much time apologising for things you should be using.”
She glanced around the lab, at the people still working, the quiet movement of data across the displays, the department carrying on with Cael no longer at its centre. Then she looked back to Melody.
“Cael saw something in you. I think he was right.” Her voice stayed warm, but the question beneath it was clear. “What I need to know is whether you can start seeing enough of it yourself. If this department were placed in your hands, would you be ready to take responsibility for it?”
At first Melody couldn't believe her ears, her eyes looking out towards the science department, then back to Saelira. She felt a tingling sensation course through her body, as something welled up inside her. It was as if an unsung song was developing or rather could it be more of a
"I can't say I am totally ready however Captain, if asked I would be willing to step into the role. I love the people i work with, and love this department. And, I know the harmonies of those here. I would- I would truly love to step out of my comfort zone."
A look of determination became evident in Melody's eyes. "| I think that Cael had been making certain my training wheels came off in order for me to step onto the path I could be capable of, and.." her voice lowered to almost a whisper, "That I am capable of. There is room for growth, and I can grow from this."
Saelira watched her for a moment, letting the lab carry on around them. The soft pulse of displays, the low voices at nearby stations, the ordinary rhythm of work that never really stopped. Cael was gone, and yet here they all were, still asking questions of the universe.
That was science, she supposed.
“You don’t have to be fearless to do this,” she said gently. “I’d worry more if you were.”
Her gaze stayed with Melody, warm but steady.
“Cael saw something in you. So have I.” She paused, just long enough for the words to land without making a ceremony of them. “I want you to take over as Chief Science Officer.”
There it was. Plain, but not blunt.
“The post is yours, Melody, if you want it. I won’t put words in your mouth, but I do need one before I make it official.”
A small softness touched her expression.
“So. Is this something you’re ready to say yes to?”
Once more Melody's eyes travelled around science, something having sparked within her. Something that made her feel she was ready.
That feeling of allowing herself to trust herself mayhap a little bit more than what Melody had done previously.
Turning her gaze towards her Captain, the corners of her mouth turning upwards.
"My answer is yes." there was an undeniable sense of wonder as Melody spoke those words.
She felt it though very strongly.
Saelira smiled then, small but unmistakably genuine. Melody had needed the moment to arrive in her own way, and now that it had, there was no need to dress it up further.
“Then I’ll make it official before the end of shift,” she said. “You’ll have the authority as well as the work. Let the department see that you’re not simply keeping Cael’s chair warm.”
She glanced once around the lab, at the officers still bent over their displays, the soft movement of sensor data washing pale light across the room. Then she looked back at Melody.
“Keep asking questions. Keep listening to the people around you. And when you’re not sure, ask before the doubt has time to become heavier than the problem.”
Saelira stepped back, giving the room back to her.
“Congratulations, Lieutenant Piper.”
A faint smile touched her mouth as she turned towards the door.
A Post By:
Captain Saelira Venn
Commanding Officer
USS Resolute
Lieutenant JG Melody Piper
*New* Chief Science Officer
USS Resolute
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