On the Road Again

[WxMurray 0]

“Where are we going?”

 

Murray, Dickinson, and Williams were sitting in the lounge on the USS Redstone. The repairs to the com array on Pax Primus had been completed without further incident.

 

Murray picked up his new orders padd and read, “‘The USS Agincourt Away Team left to repair Pax Primus is to stand down. It will be transported onboard the USS Redstone to the nearest Starbase, where they will be transferred to the USS Greyhound transport vessel for passage back to Earth where the team will be on shore leave until further notice.’ Sounds good to me. I think we could all use a break.”

 

Dickinson looked quizzically at Murray. “Shoreleave until further notice? What about the Agincourt? Are we returning? Are we being reassigned?”

 

Williams looked up. “Well, they know what’s going on for the entire fleet. I’m sure they have a good reason for it.”

 

Murray nodded. “That would be my guess. I’ll bet they already have our next assignment ready for us. In any case, we’re on shore leave. What are you going to be up to?”

 

Dickinson smiled. “I haven’t really given it any thought. I was thinking I might go skiing. I’ve always loved the cold. After that, I don’t know. I’ll just play it by ear.”

 

“I’m going to spend time with my fiancé. We haven’t seen each other since before my transfer to the Agincourt. We need to discuss plans on getting married. We’d like to do it soon.”

 

Murray smiled at Williams. “Good luck with that. With the uncertainty of our next assignment, that might not be an easy thing.”

 

Dickinson, who had gotten up to get a cup of tea from the replicator, turned to face Murray. “What about, you? What are you going to be doing?”

 

“I don’t know. I’ll probably go home to see my parents. I’m not sure what my cousin Wimbley’s assignments look like. If he’s on shore leave, too, I might go down to visit him and do some canoeing.”

 

The three lapsed into silence, thinking about home. As Murray stared out the window into space, he thought about the entire assignment from the launch of the Agincourt to the attack on Pax Primus to this. To think, it hadn’t really been all that long ago since he had been looking out the windows of the Luther at the new ship, since it had all started.