Meeting the Challenger

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Adrian had been asleep most of the trip to Mars, dropping off right after takeoff but now he was sitting in the back of the mostly empty transport with a novel in hand. It was one of his favourites, a James Ellroy that he must have read about a dozen times. The spine was covered in wrinkles and the pages were begging to fall out. He was just about to discover who the killer was yet again when a voice called his name.

 

“Lieutenant Images?”

 

Adrian looked up from his book to see the co-pilot of the ship.

 

“Yes, what is it?” he asked.

 

“We’re just arriving sir, thought you’d like to know”

 

“Well thank you. Mind if I come up and have a look?”

 

“Not at all.”

 

Adrian picked up his bag and shoved his book inside. The two men moved up to the front of the ship and into the cockpit. Sitting in the chair was the head pilot of the transport.

 

“Heya” he said, “I didn’t think you’d wanna miss this. Would you look at her.”

 

Adrian looked out the window ahead. There was Challenger, the newest and finest ship in the fleet, docked above the red planet. It was one of the greatest things the man had ever seen. He reached into his bag and took picture over picture of it with his cheap camera. The pilot was even kind enough to do a full turn around the ship just to let the Starfleet officer get a full look at his new home.

 

“Glorious” he whispered.

 

A few minutes later, Adrian thanked the transport crew and took his large bag with him into the space dock. He quickly made his way through it up to the entrance of the ship. There were two security guards there who, seeing a man in a t-shirt and jeans, decided to stop the intruder but a flash of ID made them back down.

 

The first thing that hit Adrian when he stepped through the doors was how big this ship was. It seemed huge…well, at least bigger than vessels he’d been on previously. Arrows painted on the wall pointed to different areas of the ship, crewmen buzzed around here and there, performing maintenance and testing tasks. But before he’d get to investigate the magnificent vessel and even before he’d drop off his stuff in his quarters there was one place he had to see first, the bridge.

 

Using his memory of the schematics he’d looked at for ages previously and by use of the friendly arrows, he got to the lift in a jiffy. Once in and on the way up, his anticipation of how cool it would be on deck A shot through the ceiling. When the doors opened, he was not disappointed.

 

This was it, the nerve center of Challenger. There was the command chair in the middle, the helm positions up front, the science station and the Comm panel to the left. And there, to the right, was the tactical console, his baby. Adrian only took two steps out the lift, with his hand holding the door open and stared at it all, taking it in. This was perfect. The bridge would be his real place to be onboard. The room would be where he’d prove his worth as an officer, a damn fine one too, he smiled to himself. Yep, this ship was going to be one sweet ride. After one last sigh of happiness, he stepped back into the lift and pressed the button for E deck. He didn’t need to touch his bridge console quite yet; there’d be time for that later. Right now Adrian would just settle into his quarters, unpack his gear, get into uniform and sign in to officially declare his coming aboard. He was back on a ship in space, he was back home.