Duty Log | "Wide Awake" | CHelm | Ensign Kieren Aquila

Posted on 241402.26 @ 2:22am by Ensign Aquila Kieran

Mission: Where no man has gone before.

=/\= Utopia Planetia, Personnel Quarters =/\=

A single chirp from a commbadge penetrated the darkness, stirring the young Bajoran pilot who lay shirtless and wound inside the sheets of hard Starfleet bedding. A second chirp rang more clearly, forcing his dull senses into a clearer focus. He reached over to the small table on his side of the bed, blindly pressing his hand down, tapping at the badge desperately to try and silence it. A few half-empty glasses of blue and green liquids sat on the surface, testaments to the previous night's activities, next to his badge which he manages to hit with a clumsy finger. Obviously unwilling to accept his being torn from slumber, his arm brought his forearm up to wipe sleepily at his eyes, and he moaned a little in protest at the unwelcome consciousness. The dark room was illuminated only by the sensuous glow of blue back-lighting of the headboard, not that the size of the quarters needed much else. Hair mussed and disheveled, his tired eyes blinked a few times as the attempted to adjust to the unfamiliar surroundings. The sheets fell away from his solid physique as he moved to sit up. The effort was stopped immediately as the soft touch of skin against his own startled him. He quickly looked down at the companion side of the bed.

Lying next to him was a young Trill woman, naked, her hair delicately pulled into a thick braid that wrapped down under her shoulders. The blankets were mostly on her side, and managed to modestly cover her figure. From what he could tell she was much more well-groomed than himself, at least she would be when she woke up. The alarm of the commbadge and his motions hadn't seemed to wake her, and she continued to slumber peacefully. Her quiet breath the only thing he could hear in the dark quarters aside from the normal thrum of power running through the walls.

His head was throbbing and his mouth was dry. The simple act of sitting up seemed to call for more energy than it should have. He carefully slid along the mattress to put his legs over the opposite edge, and he slipped out of the sheets and off the bed without making too much noise or jarring motions. A breathy sigh escaped his chest as he reached over to recover his undershirt and pants, which he immediately put on just before reaching for his jacket and shoes. In under a minute he was back and fully dressed in his officer's uniform.

"Ensign Kieran Aquila", it read on the tiny inscription behind his commbadge.

Kieran walked to the opposite side of the bed, where the young lady slept. Careful not to let his footfalls make a sound. He couldn't remember her name, or how much fun they'd had while off-duty, but he nevertheless felt thankful for her company. At the very least she'd helped to keep him warm. Leaning over towards her cheek, he slowly bent down and gently brushed his lips against her face. It was more than likely they wouldn't meet again, and that was fine with the young pilot. She was a good memory in the start of his new life.

His eyes caught sight of the PaDD he'd left out. Immediately he remembered it as the letter he'd meant to send to his father before the mission on the Enterprise launched. No doubt he'd spent a good deal of the night spilling memories of his troubled past to this poor girl. She was probably thrilled to hear an officer lay out all his broken feelings and sensitivities for her to hear. Truthfully he imaged that's how they ended up spending the night together. Well... that and a lot of synthehol. He scooped up the PaDD and placed it in his uniform pocket. Deal with that later.

Today was the first day of his career as a Senior Officer on board the USS Enterprise-F, he slowly realized. It was like the first day of school, and being so excited you could barely stand to do anything else. He hurriedly collected his belongings, giving the his female friend one last glance before bolting silently through the exit into the corridor.

"Shuttle Launch." Kieran ordered as he entered the turbo-lift at the end of the hall. The bright lights were already beginning to make his head feel the stabbing aches and pains his body was trying to suppress. Maybe a cup of coffee would be a good idea beforehand. "No. Never mind. Mess-hall." He droned out, caving into his sudden urge.

He strolled through the corridors of Utopia Planetia, grabbed his hot cup of caffeine and quick bite to eat and then set back out towards his shuttle. The command team expected all the new crew of the Enterprise to be on deck before the Captain, which he had thankfully heard had yet to arrive. Knowing the Captain wasn't waiting, fingers strumming against his desk impatiently, seemed to quell some of Kieran's rising butterflies. Normally it wouldn't have given him pause, but the feelings just wouldn't die out. Maybe it was because this was legitimately his very first assignment as an officer in Starfleet. His mission? To be on board that ship before he was late.

Passing a chronometer, he felt his muscles tense up immediately as the thought of where the time might have escaped him.

His eyes trailed the edge of the wall until they met with the illuminated reds of the numbers... "0730"

Kieran visibly relaxed. Plenty of time.

Managing to get himself up to the launch deck, he boarded a shuttle to take him to the new Enterprise, and sipped his coffee patiently as he waited to begin his new life. His wait was brief, and the flight would only take as long as docking procedures dictated. He'd have enough time to drink up, read over his orders to take his position as the Chief Flight Control Officer. It was a glorified post to mean 'mans the helm during the day and sends all the department reports'. Still though, he found himself going over what he was going to do with the flight control department on the ship when he arrived. Would it be worth it to dictate a series of training exercises with the other helm officers? Would they respect him for being so new to service on board a starship?

Oh, Prophets... he about to move into a spaceship on a permanent basis.

"What's your duty assignment, Ensign?" A voice said from out of sight, shaking him from his spiraling thoughts.

Kieran blinked, his placid expression forming into an unflattering look of surprise. "Huh?"

A woman looking to be in her later thirties, a lieutenant wearing science-officer blue, sat down in the seat opposite him. She smiled pleasantly, attempting to assuage what he was sure was obvious tension. "Your post. What dept are you assigned to? Not that many Ensigns wear red, as far as I understand it."

"Helm. Um, I mean... to say, Chief Flight Control, ...ma'am." He stammered, silently kicking himself for not just answering with broad confidence. There were a few things he was still unfamiliar with, and talking to superior officers was one of those things. At the Academy things were laid out in front of you, and everyone was your superior. As a student there was no question as to where you stood in on the ladder. It was unmistakably the
bottom. Now he needed to pay attention, to see the ranks and positions as they related to his own.

She seemed surprised. "Really? You're so... well, never mind. Congratulations! You must be nervous."

Kieran looked down into his coffee, he had never been willing to play much into the whole 'doting young cadet' theme everyone seemed to expect of him. Sure he was young, sure he was new at working on a starship, but he was a highly trained and skilled pilot. He had flown circles around many of his classmates in flight school. On the Enterprise he was the authority on the helm, answering only to the command officer on duty.

Looking back up to the Lieutenant, he returned her smile and shook his head happily,

"No, not really."

=/\= END LOG =/\=

Ensign Kieran Aquila
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS ENTERPRISE-F