Klavetter's Arrival

Posted on Monday February 17th, 2020 @ 5:23am by

853 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Shakedown Cruise
Location: Starbase 99
Timeline: Day 004 - 1900 Hours

[ON]

Jennifer stood at the observation deck, her blue eyes gazing beyond the panoramic windows to the starships beyond. One in particular caught her eye and would become her new home. It had been a difficult journey to arrive at this time and place and some believed it was the wrong decision to make. After fifteen years away, she was back in uniform and about to step aboard a starship. Was she ready? Would the nightmares cease? She wasn't sure on all accounts.

Four weeks ago, she had been on one of those distant and remote colonies administering to the sick. When she finally decided to return to Starfleet, it had not been such a clear cut decision. Many who knew her opposed such a thing. It would bring back the past, the death of her family. She did not need the deck plating of a starship under her feet to make her recall what happened fifteen years ago. Her body, part machine now, did that all by itself. She needed purpose and retirement had served it initially but as the years passed, she craved for something more.

Just because she wanted it, didn't mean she was going to get a free ride. Starfleet had a few preconditions for her recommissioning as an officer. She would be reduced in rank to lieutenant, she would not be serving on a ship of the line in case of a relapse and would seek ongoing therapy with the counselor aboard. That last one was mandatory. She grudgingly agreed and they grudgingly accepted.

Due to her medical experience, whether previously aboard two starships or her private practice, Starfleet had chosen what they believe was a suitable placement for her. The next generation of medical officers could utilize her knowledge as she mentored them in their career infancy. She was given passage aboard an Excelsior class starship which would bring her to the starbase for the rendezvous. It would be tight as the Poseidon was in final preparations for departure. She was to use her time to appraise herself on her new home and at least the senior officers she would be expected to serve with.

The difference of course was all around her. Many were freshmen, raw enthusiasm for the cadet cruise they were about to partake. Such hope and idealism she could not relate with now as cynicism tended to greet the middle aged as a prize. It had been thirty years since she was that young and brash and thinking she was going to have all the adventures Starfleet could give her. Were these kids foolish? She watched many heading for the transporter room. To the last, they were excited after all, the Poseidon was not a classroom but a field assignment with actual operational orders. They probably grew up hearing about such icons as Garth, Pike, Kirk and Picard to name a few that made them dream of the stars and beyond. In time, she knew each and every one of those eager cadets would realize space was not always friendly and death, like dark matter, was everywhere. Soon their friends will die and whole starships would crumble.

She began to follow a group of cadets toward the transporter room, her duffel bag in her hand. Was she up to the task of molding young minds? As she walked, her eyes glanced from one juvenile to the next. If their joy could be siphoned like a vampire, would it be enough to satisfy every waking moment? Would the nightmares cease?

As she got closer to the transporter room, she began to have doubts. Was she kidding herself after all these years she could simply pick up where she left off? Maybe the doubters were right. Maybe it was vanity that drove her back to Starfleet. Maybe the malaise that had been her life for the past fifteen years was a punishment that she had rightly deserved and she was being selfish.

She was actually considering contacting Starfleet and turning in her commission. Self doubt, lack of confidence, depression. They plagued her without mercy or remorse. She knew if she turned back now, she would never recover. This was it. She just needed a little help getting through this hurdle.

She headed to the nearest head and found it, for the moment empty after a Benzite female left. She placed her bag on the counter, opened it and took out a small pouch labelled with the Starfleet Medical insignia. Inside contained a hypospray and a vial. She placed the vial in the hypo's connector seal then placed the injector against her arm and pressed. She instantly felt better or so she assumed. Ambizine was a sedative and she believed it relaxed her and allowed her to function. It was perfectly reasonable. The problem was she began to need it. She never told Starfleet and so would become her dirty little secret.

Jennifer left the head and met up with the cadets in the Transporter Room. Soon it was her turn to step on the pad. She had made up her mind, she was going.

[OFF]

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