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Tae'Lynn Dran

Personal Log: Settling Into New Surroundings

Ensign Dran smiled. Her fingers touched the decal on the door. Written in the Federation script just above the quarter location code was the young Ensign's name. It was a reassuring sign she had read the maps right and found her quarters. With a press of the biometric sensor pad the door slid open and lights came up automatically. The quarters had only the most basic furnishings. Its emptiness made the room look even bigger. While most new graduates hoped for a posting to a deep exploration vessel, boldly going past the farthest charted star, there were clear advantages to a star base assignment. Larger housing was one of them. Added advantage, Aegis was at less than half capacity. This let Dran not only get quarters of her own but one with an exterior view.

She stepped fully into her new home. A grin spread across her face. Excitement was tempered by the fatigue of a very long voyage, but it was a great relief to finally be here. Dran hoisted her bag onto the desk currently in the corner of the main living space. Turning the terminal towards herself, she asked, "Computer, what's my duty assignment schedule." The screen blinked on and with a quick chirp it pulled up the requested data. Second shift - call time 1200 hours, that was somewhat of a relief. She didn't have to be up for Alpha shift but it would probably be best to check in with her department head anyways. Getting the lay of the land before jumping into the workload would probably be helpful.

Dran opened her bag and pulled out a few of her personal effects, setting them on the desk. "Computer, have my personal preferences been loaded?"

"Affirmative."

"Good, start recording a message to my Mom. 'Hello Mom, I finally made it. Got here with a little time to settle in before I start tomorrow. This is going to be interesting. And yes, that's a good thing. Give Dad my love. Tell brother and sister... stay off my boat.' Send."

Dran's personal trinkets were few. She had her comm-staff, Navigator (a circular mechanical calculator used for navigation a ship at sea), and a book she was given by a friend at the Academy. That was about it for the non-practical cargo in the small bag. This was far different than many of her classmates. Most were glad to be done with dorms and were pulling many of their possessions out of storage. It was quite a circus train watching them hauling their luggage onto the various transports taking off to their new careers as Starfleet officers. Most didn't even pack a change of clothes. Those such things could easily be replicated when needed.

That is, unless your runabout gets held in a holding pattern with no clue for how long. You have to take power saving measures in such cases. Many of the Earth-born officers couldn't understand the thought that replicators were not an essential ship system. Ration bars and the clothing you had packed were it. It didn't matter what self-cleaning fabric a uniform was made of, at a certain point there was no escaping the smells. And Dran would agree with her Vulcan cousins on this point: Humans had some interesting odors on the best of days. 

It seemed those smells had permeated her own clothing. Dran set the rest of the bag aside to be dealt with later and began peeling off her uniform. A quick survey of the quarters had located the bath. Not a true bath mind you, just the standard issue sonic shower. It didn't revive the senses like a good caldarium, but just getting clean did good for body and soul. 

She now slipped into her night clothes and took a moment to take in the scene from the large viewports. This outpost was deep inside an asteroid field but only a few of the larger and closest rocks could be seen with the naked eye. The others mixed in with the starry backdrop. Loose dust and smaller rocks gave gentle hues to the starlight filtering through. Several streaking lights outlined the path of fighters or shuttles on some maneuver heading away from Aegis. The rest of the traffic was taking place out of sight under the mushroom top of the station.

Dran dimmed the lights and curled up on the couch. This brought even more of the starry vista into view. Her mind played with the new constellations to be learned here. She took note of the brightest stars, ones she may one day visit. There were countless worlds unseen right in front of her with unknown life. She would be happy to find just one to study up close. Perhaps she might even find some new sea to sail.

Or something completely different could be in store. That unknown, for many, was the draw to a Starfleet life. Not exactly Dran's focus but something she was prepared for. She would find out in the morning. It would be a new day, a new career, a new life Tae'Lynn was eager to explore. 

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