Recognition

[Ens_yanksfan 0]

Ryan rubbed his eyes as he backed away from his console. For 15 hours straight, he had been working on the new shield configuration, but so far there had been no success. Every harmonic sequence had some flaw that the weapon could exploit and have as much or worse impact on the ship.

 

Ryan walked away from the console he was working at and went over to the duty shift console. His shift had been over for a few hours, but he really wanted to get the new shield harmonics figured out. He still wanted to be working, but he didn’t want to end up in sickbay because of exhaustion. He wasn’t too fond of being in sickbay anymore, especially because of his experience after contracting the mysterious virus that swarmed the ship. He found his name on the duty list and checked out, then headed off to the mess hall.

 

When he arrived, he quckly found a replicator and ordered an old Earth beverage called “Pepsi”. On his way over to a table, he heard his name shouter from across the room.

 

“Ryan!” He turned around and saw one of his Academy classmates, John Wilkins, waving wildly. Ryan waved back and walked over to where he was.

 

“John! I didn’t know you served on the Morningstar.” Ryan said as he extended his hand. John shook it and motioned to a seat. Ryan sat down and took a sip of his Pepsi.

 

“Yes, I’ve served on her ever since her first shakedown,” John said, sipping his coffee.

 

“Are you an engineer? That’s what you went to the Academy for, right?” Ryan asked.

 

“Yes, yes. Still a dreary engineering officer,” John said, smiling.

 

“Why have I never seen you down in engineering?”

 

“I’m not a fancy Lieutenant Junior Grade like you,” John said, “us Ensigns get the late shifts.”

 

“Well, that would explain why there aren’t any Ensigns to do the dirty work in my shift,” Ryan joked. They both laughed and moved on to talking about their Academy days. After about an hour, Ryan decided that he had better get some sleep if he was going to be able to think clearly about the shield situation. He told John goodbye and he would try to get him on one of the day shifts. They shook hands and Ryan walked out of the mess hall to his quarters.

 

After arriving at his quarters, Ryan fell asleep immediately. He was exhausted, but from what? It had been another day of failure. When would he ever have a day of success? When would he be the hero of the day? He could only hope that he could find the shield harmonic sequence that could block just about any weapon, including the alien’s one. Then maybe he would be recognized on the ship.