Personal Log, Ensign William Laiden

[William Laiden 0]

Now edited for some grammer and correct spelling :)

 

“Computer, start personal log,

 

Personal Log,

Ensign William Laiden

Stardate 0404.21

 

Yesterday was my sixth academy simulation. I was anticipating to graduate last night since I felt that I had performed well in previous sims, for a cadet.

 

I entered the Holodeck and asked the instructor for a post at OPS. Some people that know me know that my record has been less then satisfactory in this position. I like OPS, even though my survival record is 1-2 when I am in that post, but I felt lucky.

 

When the roster was posted I asked myself, ‘why would I put myself in a position to fail when I had a pretty good chance to graduate tonight?’ I heard the instructor say, ‘…may you [Captain] have pity on their souls, begin sim,’ I sighed at this remark and then the bridge materialised abound me. I took my position at OPS.

We were on a simple mission to get a substance from a nearby planet that had a great value for medical research. The only minor problem was that humanoids living on the surface had very limited technology, so the Prime Directive prohibited us from interfering with them. It sounded like a simple mission, fly in, beam down, and scoop some goo. Of course, no academy simulation would be that easy.

 

We approached the planet and begun scanning. I found a pool of the goo about 200 metres from the nearest native village and informed the commander that we could beam down and get some of goo fairly easily. I had hoped that I would get to accompany the away team in case the ship blew up and beam hit the captain forcing me into command once again. To my pleasure, the captain, probably aware of my record in OPS, sent me to transporter room 2 with the Commander and Chief of Security. We met the Chief Medical Officer there and were instructed to attach transport enhancers.

 

‘Like these are going to help,’ I thought sarcastically, and we beamed down to the surface.

 

When we arrived I received a message from the ship that I was to be Chief of Science for the away mission. I was glad because that meant that the away mission should be safe without me on OPS.

 

We crawled through brush to the pool of goo I had scanned earlier from the ship. It pungently smelled of cinnamon and was not very dense; it would be easy to carry. While Commander Tovan and the Chief of Security stood guard, the C.M.O. and I took some of the goo and put it in the container. We only needed ½m^3 and we were done quickly.

 

I informed Tovan that we had completed the mission and were ready to beam back. Tovan replied with,

 

‘We have something moving towards us…’ The ground started to shake and we the dreaded confirmation from the ship,

 

‘You have a worm type organism approximately 10 metres in length headed towards you underground. We are beaming you out.’ I waited for the beam-out and it obviously, since we weren’t on the ship, it didn’t work, even with the transport enhancers. I knew something interesting had to happen, it was just a matter of time, no Academy training is a easy as picking up goo and heading back to the ship.

 

All of us started running, then we realised that the goo might be inhibiting transport efforts. I suggested (while still running), that we leave the goo behind to save ourselves. Commander Tovan reminded me that we could not leave any technology behind. Then I suggested we destroy the container with a phaser shot, which must have given the Commander an idea.

 

Commander Tovan ordered us to give him our phasers; the CMO didn’t have a phaser, Tovan got three.

 

‘Run, get out of here,’ said Tovan

 

‘That’s suicide, you don’t need to do this, we can find another way to survive!’ I replied. I waited for a response but I knew what he was doing was necessary to save us, and I yelled to the rest of team his orders,

 

‘You heard the Commander, lets go!’ We continued to run to the outskirts of the village, continually hoping that we would suddenly beam up.

 

As I ran, I looked back to see the Commander fire at the mound that was quickly gaining on him. It got beneath Tovan and rose up from the ground wrapping its huge mouth around his body, piecing him with its razor sharp teeth. I knew that the safety protocols were on and he was really ok, but I thought that maybe I should have tried harder to stop him from being so suicidal. Maybe I should have talked to the CSEC, and planned some kind of mutiny against the Commander to stop him.

With the Commander eaten and the worm only 100m behind us I knew we would be next for dinner.

 

Suddenly, I saw a huge explosion and a shower of worm guts and purple blood rained down the rest of the away team, including myself. My body began to dematerialise when I saw Tovan’s head hit a tree and fall to the ground. Although I knew it was a holographic representation of Tovan’s decapitated head, it was distressing to my young cadet mind. hahaha...

 

The away team re-materialised in transporter room 1 and I informed the Captain of our news even though he would already know from ship scans.

 

The Captain must have ordered the computer to pause sim because we were all transported to the bridge and called to attention. The Captain and instructor <<the GM>> started to try to scare me about accepting a new position. I knew what they were leading up to, my graduation. The instructor or the Captain (I don’t remember who because I was so beside myself) took out a box with a gold pip in it and jabbed into my slimy collar (holo-slime of course). It seemed the Captain wanted to hurt me or something and they joked about the pin being poisonous but I knew they were really proud of me. I was dismissed and I walked towards my quarters at the academy. I purposefully took the long way so as many as my peers as possible could see my new Ensign pip.

 

I crawled into bed last might and wondered, ‘what adventures await me’?

 

Computer, end personal log.”

Edited April 22, 2004 by William Laiden

[STSF Jorlis 0]

Nice log, William. Congrads again! :)

[Tovan 0]

good log ensign, and ... whats a halodeck?

[Ki'rok 0]

good log ensign, and ... whats a halodeck?

why...a circular deck..you silly souless, ghostly thing you :)

[William Laiden 0]

good log ensign, and ... whats a halodeck?

Wait a sec... what do you mean? The halodeck is the halographic place thing... stop confusing me... did I spell it wrong or something???

[FredM 0]

Hey there,

 

Normally typed as "holodeck" with "holographic" items. :)

[William Laiden 0]

lol, thanks :) I'll edit it now. lol... I think I've got to read a StarTrek book; any suggestions?

 

(weee, off topic...)

[Anari Erias 0]

lol, thanks :) I'll edit it now. lol... I think I've got to read a StarTrek book; any suggestions?

 

(weee, off topic...)

Read some engineering manuals, they'd help :) Tovan is many and is one, he is Vulcan ... ::shrudders::

[Tovan 0]

After reading it again, tehhehe, good writing Will. You said it as if i was being a Hero :) Good job again. You deserved that big rusty thing sticking out of yer neck :)

[William Laiden 0]

lol, Anari Erias, I'm pretty familiar with all systems and such, but I might read a one... I took out a huge book on all things trek at my library, quite extensive!

 

And Tovan, it's not rusty, I shine it every day :)

 

And, I also want to ask, why are most logs written in third person instead of first person?

[Tovan 0]

And, I also want to ask, why are most logs written in third person instead of first person?

Er....thats classified .... um... yeah That'll DO!

[Dumbass 0]

Er....thats classified .... um... yeah That'll DO!

Actually, I have yet to write a log in the 3rd person.

 

Of course it would be fun to write logs for other shipmates. :)

[Travis Kroells 0]

::Remembers the South Park parody::

[Dumbass 0]

::Remembers the South Park parody::

OK, *that* log I wrote third-person, but only because it was the only way to get it to rhyme.

[William Laiden 0]

lol, I need a link to THAT log!

[NDak 0]

Most of my logs are in third person ....Mainly becuase at some point I stopped writting real "personal" logs and turned them into almost a mini-sim, and for those I use something called a third person "close"...but thats mindless English bable :)

Edited April 23, 2004 by Ern_Ndak

[Dumbass 0]

lol, I need a link to THAT log!

Then click here.

[FredM 0]

Hey there,

 

Most logs are in third person. However, I have seen some amazing writers who have done log series (a group of logs telling a story) that use both first and third person. Can turn out to be an amazing piece of work when completed. So, don't think your restricted to only one form of writing. :)