Settling In

Posted on Wed Jun 26th, 2024 @ 8:30pm by Lieutenant Lisald Vaat

773 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 0: The Fire & The Song
Location: Senior Officers Quarters

ON:

Lisald stepped into his quarters on the USS Goddard for the very first time in his life. Hearing the pneumonic hiss of the door close behind him, he exhaled heavily and leaned back on the door, thankful it was closed, and Petty Officer Cameron left behind alone in the corridor.

As ordered, Vaat had proceeded directly to the Quartermasters station on deck four and sought out Petty Officer Alicia Cameron, the quartermaster in charge of assigning berthing and quarters to all officers and crew. When he introduced himself, P.O. Cameron smiled huge, but only with her top teeth; it was like her bottom set of teeth had not existed. Shorter than he was, and a great deal thinner, Alicia Cameron, with her brown hair, mid-length down her back, hazel eyes and fair skin, had started talking. And never, ever, stopped, not until his door closed behind him, just now.

She had talked about the Goddard, about being at Starbase Earhart, about her time at Starfleet Boot Camp, and how she had graduated primary school only two years ago. She talked about her husband, Sam, their two cats, and strangely, talked about her sex life and the positions they enjoyed in each location in their quarters, in vivid and clear detail. She had talked about her work, and about the operations division, and how her role on the ship was instrumental in each successful mission they were about to embark upon. She talked about her brother and two sisters, her mother and father, her grandparents, her great-grandparents, and the homestead that had been in her family since the late 20th century. She talked about how much she liked rocks, and even proudly announced she had a shirt that said she liked rocks. She talked about the music she liked, and even played one that was from ancient Earth. It was a woman squawking about how it was Friday, and tomorrow would be Saturday. It was a terrible song, with terrible lyrics, and terrible music. And Cameron smiled, with her upper teeth only, and had danced to it. Not with her whole body, no. Just her top half, from her wasted to her shoulders, that was it. Not her legs or feet, not her arms or her hands, and not anything above her shoulders. It was so...odd.

Lisald truly had never met anyone like her, and didn't know how to take her. And then, she followed him to his new quarters once she had finally started working during her very long infodump. She talked about old entertainment programs she liked to watch from Andor and Ferenginar, and how all the men in the programs from Andor were nude, and all the women in the programs from Ferenginar were nude, and how she thought they should make a show together so everyone was naked and how funny and exciting that would be. While Lisald certainly wasn't a modest man himself, he had never, ever, met someone that made him feel that way with how open they were.

Now that her voice was lost behind the door, and he had a moment to decompress from one Alicia Cameron, he looked at his quarters for the very first time. About half the size they were on the Cygnus, Lisald did take joy in seeing the new replicator system installed. He also took delight in the A.I. and holographic interfaces of the computer terminals in his quarters, far and away above the buttons and LCARS interface of his previous assignment. He also delighted in the decorations of these quarters. They were far more luxurious than the furniture and decorations on the Cygnus. That ship had decorations and furniture from nearly 40 years ago. It was in good shape, truthfully, but by the Prophets were they outdated!

Lisald quickly unpacked, then checked with the schedule on when the rest of his belongings would arrive from storage. He was happy to see they would be delivered before 2200 tonight. If nothing else than updated, this ship had efficiency, too!

Unpacked, and after grabbing a bite to eat (and man did those replicators make food that tasted exactly like the real thing!), Lisald went to work on selecting his senior staff for the Science Department, as requested and ordered by Captain Larsen. He would have it done tonight, then would review it before duty tomorrow, and would have it turned in early. Captain Larsen had shown Lisald compassion and trust, and he wanted to keep earning those from his new Captain.


OFF

Lieutenant Lisald Vaat
Chief Science Officer
USS Goddard

 

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