Arriving Amid Departures
Posted on Wed Oct 19th, 2022 @ 12:32am by Lieutenant JG Nezuko
699 words; about a 3 minute read
Mission:
Sand Sea Fun and Surf
Location: Beta Antares Fleet Yards - Arrivals Terminal
USS Saskia. Edward-class. Most of these support dilithium mining operations but a lot of them were colony ships and personnel transports. People movers!
Lieutenant junior grade Nezuko should have been spending her time in transit from Starbase 12 to Beta Antares relaxing. The ship had a good sized library, a holodeck, and a lounge deck worthy of any cruise ship. Starfleet Officers got little downtime, and so they were allowed a few perks when their assignment was 'spend a week on this ship, feeling like you're wasting your time, as it brings you from one job to the next'. Making the personnel transport function like a cruise ship seemed only logical.
But to Nezuko, this wasn't downtime aboard a liner. It was a new experience on a new type of starship! Edwards never made it to Amphei Prime. The orbital base was too small to need this many people in transit and the tourist industry was still minuscule. What other opportunity might she have to see how it worked!? Maybe never! So she explored, and she wrote. She got to interview the Chief Engineer and the Chief Ops Officer -- her own counterpart! -- on the daily operation of a logistical workhorse like the Saskia.
She did in fact permit herself one luxury: a bit of time each day in the ship's alt-environment suite, where she could breathe free. Filled with argon and gaseous ionized nitrate, she could spend a couple of hours per day without her breathing apparatus. Taking deep breaths. Eating a scrumptious meal without holding her breath or using a straw. Feeling a bit like home. She could only have two hours per day though. The ship had more Benzite guests, as well as some Barzans, and enough Selkies, Belugas, and Xindi-Aquatics to have most of the alt-environment suites consistently full of seawater. She was the only Amphea, probably parsecs around, so her time was limited. But take the time she did.
Across eight days of transit, she spent sixteen hours in her native atmosphere and almost one hundred hours learning and writing about transports like the USS Saskia.
Her journey was at an end. She had a medium sized antigrav luggage container with her personal belongings at her side as she stood, in uniform, bright eyes looking out the window in a lounge near the port side airlock, watching the ever-expanding Beta Antares Fleet Yards and keeping an eye out for her own ship.
"You looking for the Tokyo?"
Nezuko turned to see a human woman, a little bit taller than her, dark hair, wearing civilian clothes, smiling. She nodded excitedly.
"I thought so. I'm heading that way too, and I read that we had an Amphea joining the crew. But the ship is emptying fast, so you'd better hurry once we dock."
Nezuko cocked her head to the right. The universal sign of confusion.
"The way I hear it," the human continued, "the Captain gave everyone leave while the Yards finished their work. She even helped arranged transports to Risa for anyone who wanted to go."
Nezuko's eyes widened. She opened a pocket on the top of her luggage, retrieved a PADD, and began typing. [Risa? But what about the ship?!]
The woman shrugged. "I guess the engineers don't want many people on board anyways. You're Ops, right? Would you want scientists and doctors and everyone underfoot while you worked? May as well enjoy the sun. I for one can't wait for a bit of Risa time."
This changed everything. On the one hand, Nezuko was eager to get to work, and experience life on her new ship. An advanced ship, too! But on the other hand...Risa. She had never been.
"Attention all passengers," came an announcement over the comm system. "Stand by for imminent docking. If traveling to USS Aurora go to Transporter Room three-five. USS Tokyo, Transporter Room seven-two. USS..."
The airlock door opened, and Lieutenant junior grade Nezuko was out the door first, eager to meet her Captain...before everyone left for Risa.
Posting by:
Lieutenant jg Nezuko
Chief Operations Officer, USS Tokyo (NCC-91101)
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