9811.23 - PL - "Arrival"

[Webmaster 20]

Subject: 9811.23 - PL - "Arrival"

Date: Mon, Nov 23, 1998 11:43 PM

From: Ens Xiang

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Stardate 9811.23 - Personal Log

"Arrival"

 

******

 

Ensign Xiang glided smoothly into the Deep Space Nine turbolift. He curled his tail slightly, allowing him to comfortably fit within the confined space. Fortunately, the turbolifts equipped on this station were larger than Starfleet's, and it allowed him to stretch out length-wise.

Sensing the lack of movement, and recieving no further commands, Xiang's AGU system lowered from a low hum to a quiet whir. With the sudden hault of movement, the water within the skin-tight containment field shifted, causing a slight noticable fluxuation of the field itself. The result, a brief reflection of light upon his normally dark gray skin. The two thrusters, which consisted of small units attached to pylons extending out the side of the

device, retracted. It automatically reverted to standby mode and awaited commands from the Delpin user.

Xiang closed his eyes as the turbolift started it's ascent to the upper pylon docking port, where the USS Republic awaited him. For the moment, he had a few minutes to catch up on the deck layout schematics that he had been reviewing earlier. Upon his command, an image emitter atop the AGU activated, displaying the two-dimensional internal diagram. Xiang rotated the image, attempting to find areas of the ship which he was sure he had memorized

during the trip to DS9. Unfortunately he was only particially successful in these efforts. For the moment however, Xiang could do well enough by simply knowing the location of both the bridge and the main science labs so that he could report for duty. He could review the schematics later. Just as the doors opened with a loud hum, he deactivated the image.

The small thrusters extended once again and propelled him slowly down the corridor ahead. The rear vent of each thruster glowed dimly, but it lacked both the sound and the generated heat of a typical thruster. Indeed, the minimal power required to thrust the Delpin forward was not at all consuming, and did not require the large bulky thruster units that most had come to know as standard.

Still, it was not the AGU that turned heads as Xiang floated along the corridor. Rather it was Xiang himself. Several officers that Xiang passed raised a brow, watching the two meter dolphin-looking alien gliding effortlessly passed them. The Ensign had grown used to this over the years, and his experience taught him that the reactions were ones of suprise rather than distaste. Fortunately, a few of the officers regarded him with merely a nod.

Xiang slowed as he arrived at the docking port and was quickly approached by two security officers guarding the door. The security guard, an elderly Lieutenant, looked down upon Xiang (who was floating only four feet above the floor) with suspicion.

Before the Lieutenant could speak however, Xiang explained himself, "I am Ensign Vex Xiang, new Assistant Science Officer."

Without a word, the Lieutenant pulled out a small stack of PADDs and went through them slowly. His expression neutral, typical for a Vulcan let alone a security officer, he held out one of the PADDs and nodded, "Confirmed, your orders are here."

The Vulcan held out the PADD, which contained both Xiang's orders and his quarters assignment. Giving the command to his AGU, a small tractor beam emitted from the forward node and locked onto the PADD, holding it ahead of him.

Xiang passed through the airlock, reading the PADD carefully as he floated down the corridor to report for duty.