Coming Aboard

Posted on Wed Dec 13th, 2023 @ 11:16pm by Lieutenant Pharos Ventari

542 words; about a 3 minute read

"Lieutenant junior-grade, Pharos Ventari, Personal log."

A heavy sigh as the Rechakan rested his forehead on the desk, before continuing, sounding slightly muffled.

"I made it. Two transports, a shuttle, and a two hundred year old warp sled that should have been decommissioned a century ago; two hundred and twelve hours of travel time, but I managed to catch up with the Columbia. I feared the orders might have been a mistake, that my assignment here had been in error, but they verified my orders, confirmed my identity, and let me onboard anyway. If it's a mistake, I'm not sorry that they haven't caught it just yet."

Pharos' mandibles scratched at the surface of the desk, and he knew he would need to get something to eat soon before he started to chew the furniture. In truth, he wasn't about to do that -hungry or not- but he delighted in insinuating such things around people who probably knew very little about his species. At his last posting, he had assured his superior officer that his oath of non-predation was on file, and he wouldn't be hunting down fellow crew members for sport. Such an oath of course didn't exist, and he wasn't about to hunt down anybody, but sometimes it was amusing to imply such things.

"The Columbia is... extraordinary. The shuttle pilot wasn't interested in making extra passes over the ship on approach, but it's still the sleekest thing I've seen out in space, and the biggest if we don't count starbases. As they would say back at the academy, being posted here is a prune assignment indeed. Or was it plum? Whatever, it's a desirable posting either way."

Straightening, Pharos turned in his chair to look at his surroundings.

"As a lieutenant, I no longer need to share quarters with a roommate, though it would hardly be crowded if I did. It feels like this room would be akin to an ambassador's quarters on my old ship, and I scarcely know what to do with all the space. I came aboard with two duffels which didn't even take up three full drawers, leaving me with... a lot of opportunity to decorate, I suppose. Perhaps I'll call home and request they send me a domesticated ribbon-vine, though I'll need to ensure I have enough free time after my duties to keep it pruned, or it might take off and grow its way out into the nacelles or something. The captain might not appreciate his ship being infested by a houseplant."

The Rechakan stifled a deep, snarly-sounding yawn.

"Been up for about thirty-six hours; it's time to get some shut-eye before I report for my first shift in engineering tomorrow. I only hope they don't mind if I navigate the ship with a PADD for a while. I've been trying to memorize the decks since I learned of the assignment, but an Odyssey class is *huge*, and that's a lot of decks to try and commit to memory. Like trying to memorize every building, street, alley and sewer in San Francisco. But, hey, if anyone subordinate makes fun when I get lost, I'll just threaten to eat them. That usually works, at least for a while.

Lieutenant junior-grade, Pharos Ventari.

End log."

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