A long Journey

Posted on 24 Dec 2013 @ 7:19am by Lieutenant JG Ross Armani
Edited on on 24 Dec 2013 @ 7:20am

1,323 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: New Voyages
Location: USS Warrior

‘This is what dreams are made of!’

The words echoed through Armani’s head as he sat silently on the transport shuttle, gazing out the window analysing the position of all the dots. These of course where stars but the young officer had, hours before, managed to escape his grandparents on earth to enjoy some recreational holodeck time. Although it really did depend on what you justified as recreational time – his choice was to use a Starfleet Security training session to have an invigorating workout – hence the dots as targets.

The words however where those of his previous Commanding Officer when the USS Peacekeeper was brought back home to earth for the final time before being decommissioned. He knew now a Skelton crew would have occupied the slow, fragile and sluggish ship and it would be on route to Avalon Fleet Yards – where it would be laid to rest.

In the decommissioning ceremony however, the commanding officer had made reference to serving on the ship and compared it to dreams. This baffled Armani entirely. For Armani’s 3 year tenure on the ship, its purpose only seemed to serve as a transport ship. Little exploration occurred and action was seen twice in his time on the vessel. It was for all intents and purposes an extremely dull assignment and one he longed to be rid of! Armani often thought it was a wicked punishment that his parents requested – but for what reason he was unsure. Despite this, Armani struggled to see where the ‘dreams’ actually happened. Sure enough the ship would have seen plenty of action, after all it survived the Borg, the Cardassian war, the dominion wars – but the commander himself had only been posted to the vessel a short while before he joined. In case your wondering, the Captain also retired at the same time the ship was decommissioned – his dreams where over as far as Armani could see but failed to registered what the captains legacy would be.

But now, his thoughts rested. Armani had finally managed to leave the Peacekeeper and Starfleet had been gracious enough to promote him. This time he knew action would be seen and exploration was at the forefront on the mission – he was going to the Gamma Quadrant after all!

From the communications Armani was intently listening into, he knew the shuttle soon about to dock. He had not given much thought to his journey to Deep Space Nine other than it would take just over 3 weeks – To Armani, that was 3 weeks in a holodeck learning how to fly an Akira class star ship so that he didn’t look rusty bashing up Deep Space Nine when they disembarked!

As the shuttle approached the ship that he was being transported to Deep Space Nine on, he glanced out of the main screen, only to double back on himself and look again. “How bloody fitting” he muttered under his breath as he looked at the USS Warrior – an Excelsior class vessel! The young man at the helm control heard him say something but not quite sure what it was asked for clarification. Armani gave the officer a grin before replying “Something’s are just fate.”

Ross Armani was an extremely young officer, practically a baby from the academy but had proved himself enough that he was made a head of department at a very young age. His dad was now an Admiral in some corner of space and his mum was a Vice Academy commandant of the Mars training grounds. Both officers where established and he always worried that it was because of this that he seemed to make his first promotion quickly. He had not seen much action, nor had he much life experience but he was committed, dedicated and proud to be following in his family’s footsteps and determined to keep the family name prospering.

His time on the warrior was brief. It had taken weeks for them to get to Deep Space Nine. He met a few other people who were also transferring to the Black Hawk – little did they know though he was a senior officer as he chose to respond with ‘flight control’ when asked what he was assigned to do. It was partly deception on one hand but he had met 5 people who where going to be working in his department – with these officers he arranged informal training sessions which was an excellent opportunity for them all to learn together. Four of these officers were straight from the academy and this was all too evident in their abilities to respond differently, quickly and effectively to a range of simulations. The 5th was an officer who had been out of the academy a year longer than Armani himself, he was an enlisted officer but had just as much dedication and determination. Armani made the mistake of thinking he was a flight officer himself – a mistake he soon realised but his skill and knowledge was much to be commended and he was an excellent tactician in some sticky situations. Armani was proud of his relationships he had formed with the new crewmembers, one he realised would soon become undone when they realised he was his superior officer.

Then there was his more sinister, playful side. Recreational activities or social time, which was not something to be admired. He spent a lot of time in the crew lounge with his new crewmembers and others of the warrior. Two of the officers on the warrior he knew from his academy days and being not far from his academy days, Armani still enjoyed a good drink and heated debates. Only on one of the occasions he was debating about something security related to a rather robust and muscular off duty security officer. Armani was challenged with a holodeck drill, his team against a small team from the Warrior. Much to his delight, Armani managed to lead his team to victory through his abilities as an excellent tactician. The reciprocating team where not too impressed and the lead officer took a swing at Armani; perhaps Armani never helped the situation by rubbing it in constantly. Both officers got a slap on the wrist and Armani had to stay off the holodeck for 3 days as a punishment. He took the time to reflect, at the captain’s orders, what it now means to be a senior officer and how one should appropriately react. Soon enough though he got back into the holodeck training with the new crew who were only too grateful to have him back.

His last hours on the Warrior were spent on the holodeck; alone. He had built a very simple program that he found peace and harmony in which was a much-needed distraction from the life of a Starfleet Officer. His program was simple, a wooden raft in the middle of a calm ocean with the sun beating down. He valued the peacefulness of the open waters, the time to reflect, to ponder, to consolidate his thoughts, to relax and be away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. In away Armani had always been living up to a reputation and as much as he wanted to keep the pride in his family’s name, sometimes he found it exhausting. His family always seemed to find everything out, especially his older brother who now was a young captain himself.

The Warrior has soon made its way to Deep Space Nine. Ross had never been to the station before but it was exactly how everyone described it, massive in size, sinister in its appearance from its Cardassian origins but on the promenade, it felt very homelike, warm, and the energy and excitement that buzzed around the shops was exactly how he imagined. Little did he actually have time to investigate further as he soon found himself heading straight for the Blackhawk to report in and begin the next journey in his career.

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