Stardate: 80527:2011
Title: In Sickness... (Part 1)
Author: Maxine Jenna
Time: After "A Question of Protocol"
Scene: USS Relentless


The information the traders of Thera had provided the crew of the Relentless with had also been provided with several 'gifts' - a selection of small trinkets and simple pieces of art - that now lay on display in the Mess Hall and the Observation Lounges for all the crew to look over.

Captain Branagan (civilian, not military that is) had beamed over shortly afterwards at the request of Captain Winters for a tour of the Relentless and had eagerly agreed to further discussions with the 'strangers'; the Intrepid-class vessel was far in advance of anything the Theran had ever seen and although there was little to gain monetarily from the Starfleet crew there was a wealth of information they could exchange...

~

Captains Winters and Branagan toured the ship, discussing much of each of their own universes, but the favourite topics of history and technology were ever-present on both their minds.

~

Down in Science Lab 1, Maxine Jenna continued to study the data provided by the other ship whilst the purpose and history of several of the small trinkets were explained by one of the Theran traders, Jonas Tan.

At first Jonas had been in awe at the technology present in the laboratory, marvelling at how accurately Maxine had estimated the age of the artifacts. Nonetheless, it was not long before Jonas's turn to wow everyone had come and, as he regaled everyone with stories and history about the origins of certain pieces or styles, Maxine and the rest of the science team present couldn't help but find themselves drawn into the vivid history of these pieces of art.

Several of the pieces and the associated story told to the Relentless crew revolved around a dark time in the Theran history, a time when violence and wars had been commonplace until a plethora of plagues had ravaged much of the galaxy, seeded amongst the stars by an unknown carrier of death...


=/\= Several Hours Later =/\=

The child-like holographic image of Relly once again appeared beside the Chief Science Officer, and Maxine knew that the AI would no doubt have another question.

"Humans seem to take such pleasure in the aesthetic, but why is the history of an artifact important?" She asked.

Maxine looked towards the small girl. "A painting is always a painting. However, what motivated the painter can be equally as interesting, an insight into their mind, as it were."

"Ah, yes. The human desire to provide a false longevity to their lives by knowing facts about that which is ancient. Now I understand." Relly smiled at the CSO before fading out once again...


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Lieutenant Maxine Jenna
Chief Science Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
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