First Day on a new Ship

[Guest Natalie Harris]

Natalie crashed happily in her bunk at the end of her first day on duty. Challenger was so different from her last (and only other) assignment. The USS Grant was a lovely vessel, to be sure, but it lacked the same environment as this ship. Grant was, before everything else, a war vessel. Not a ship made for peace. Or for negotiations. Or for doctors, really. Grant went long stretches of "nothing to do" and then suddenly you were overwhelmed with injuries when they got into a firefight.

 

Besides, Challenger was really a nicer ship. Excelsiors were still not exactly dime a dozen, and she was honored to have been posted to one. And it was such a cultural opportunity. They were studying Klingons, of all things! Klingons! The same species that they'd been prepared to fight wars with a year or two earlier!

 

They were living in exciting times, and she was right in the middle of them. The thought made her smile. Who know what a doctor could learn from the doctors on Klingon ships that they dealt with? So many things! And if any of the rumors about the Klingons that she heard at the Academy were true, she bet that she could teach them a thing or two. Not that Klingons were rabid or anything and couldn't cure diseases, but from what she heard they placed more emphasis on war than on science.

 

Her chief (whose name for some reason she kept adding twenty syllables to in her mind) was named Gidgiddoni, and was a Deltan. Natalie had met Deltans before, at the academy. But most of them had been practically aloof... Gidgiddoni was downright friendly! She even told Natalie not to call her "Sir", which she thought was very warm for a CMO. Most were a little bit distant and some were downright scary. For once, Ensign Harris could imagine a crew not whining about their Physicals.

 

And then she found out that pets had just been allowed on board. But a nice pair of young men... Doug T (she didn't know what the T stood for) and Ricky... had not had such great luck with their dog. To make matters worse, the dog had managed to escape, apparently stalking down the Klingon guests Challenger had on board. In the end it all worked out, though. The girl who lived across from her was a gossip and said that they gave their dog to the Klingons. Natalie thought that was a great solution to something that could have been very sticky.

 

But anyway, she was hoping she could get her goldfish sent. It couldn't be that hard to ship live fish. It was, after all, the 24th century, and if someone couldn't put a goldfish bowl in a box and mail it by then well they never could. Natalie had two goldfish. "Goldie" was one, and "Amber" was the other. Not exactly imaginative, but they made her giggle, and they kept her company.

 

Hugging one pillow tightly to herself as she rested her head against the other, Natalie hoped she could meet more of the crew the next day. It was a large ship, but really, they were all like family.

 

Especially out in the void of space.