“Welcome to Starbase Bravo. Can I please have your name and department?” Steven asked, only to nod and reply with the usual ‘uh huh’ once he gets his answers. At the same time he pulled up a holo map, entered the information, generated a nav point with a route and then he swiped it over to them. “That will lead you to your quarters for your stay and then lead you to where you need to go to report in until you’re next assignment, unless you’re assigned here, in that case. Welcome aboard! Next!”

This would go on for essentially every day that he’s been assigned here. It was more or less a punishment to him for what happened at the New Years Party but it’s also part of his job. Although he would love to do more, so he just needs to suck it up and deal with it until he does his bit and moves up in the system. For doing excellent work and not goofing off or anything like that, of course.

“So, Watson. How did spending a day in the brig go?” Asked a crewmember.

Steven finished helping a Lieutenant before giving a response. “Oh you know, spending quality time with myself helps me motivate myself to never do that again. And also work on my interesting personalities.”

“Oh yeah? Give us one.” Asked a different crewmember.

Steven sighed and then saw an enlisted, petty officer, perfect one to do it on. Any other officer and he would skip as he feared that it would only come back to bite him. He cleared his throat and changed his voice a little. “Welcome weary traveler. I see you wish to enter Starbase Bravo. I’ve seen many go in but none return! First off, we have many attractions here. Shops of all kinds, for whatever it is that you desire, you shall find. Second, an amazing view of many vessels inside and outside the station, all very beautiful to watch as they come and go. Third, if you’re assigned to serve on board this station, be very careful of the senior staff, they’ll haunt your soul if you ever make a mistake.” Steven scanned their orders, entered the data, created the nav points and the routes before it was swiped to the petty officer. “Enjoy your stay, for you have been warned!” All of which beside him were those who snickered and chuckled away.

Steven chuckled himself before he shook his head, “I cannot keep doing that, just so you know. I don’t intend to lose my job.” Steven returned to asking and answering normally to those who were next in line.

“Did you hear? Someone accidentally went into the Admiral’s office the other day.” Said a crewmember.

Steven snorted, “How do you accidentally enter an Admiral’s office? Don’t they have security protocols and name tags to avoid such a thing?”

“Well apparently someone gave the guy bad directions.” Said another.

“Bad directions? I thought it was because they couldn’t read a map.”

Steven stopped listening after the ‘bad directions’ part. He then remembered the first day on the job about a month ago when he tried to direct people to where they needed to go and he ended up giving a Lieutenant who was suppose to go to Engineering, directions that went straight to the hydroponics bay. He didn’t even know the station had one. Steven shook his head out of that memory, “There is no way that was me, I learned my lesson weeks ago. Kind of the reason I got hammered at the party. Told myself, my New Years Resolution was to learn the station better and get people where they are suppose to go. And I’m doing it, ain’t I?”

They laughed. “Well yeah, you been doing this since the party and your brig time.” Said one of them.

Steven shrugged his shoulders, “You live, you learn, you move on.”

“So Watson, I am curious. If you get out of here, where would you go?” Asked a crewmember.

“You would need to be more specific. If I advance a rank, I would go straight to the one job I love and that’s the Flight Control Department. I want to fly man! And flying those shuttles or runabouts right now would be ever so relaxing.” Steven smiled as he dreamed only to get an annoyed throat clearing from a Commander and he gave an apologetic smile before helping them find their way.

“I mean, if an assignment opened up on a starship. Let me rephrase. What would be your go to starship if say…a Chief position opened up and you were offered it or your application was accepted?” They asked.

Steven rubbed his chin, “Huh. That’s a good question. I think I would choose an Inquiry Class. Heard they are suppose to be the best. And I want nothing more than to fly the best.”

“Yeah but, by the time you get out there, there will probably be a class way better.”

Steven shrugged his shoulders, “And some people’s minds change over time as well. Who knows, maybe I’ll want to fly an Odyssey when the time came. Or maybe a Typhon.”

“Eeewww, did you just say the Typhon?”

“What? Just throwing it out there.” Steven told them.

“Yeah but that’s like… we just don’t talk about the Typhon.”

Steven looked at them, “Look. Earth used to have these large naval vessels called carriers that carried a bunch of fighters and bombers and more. Sure some of the ships we have can do the very same but the Typhon is just a type of ship that has been long forgotten.”

“Or just unnecessary. Best use it had was probably the Dominion War.” Said one.

“Actually it barely got to see much action in the war when the first one was launched. And honestly, we’re not in a state of war right now and who needs a big boat full of fighters?” Said another.

“Okay okay. Let’s go back to whoever said, we don’t talk about the Typhon. What about the Obena class?” Steven asked.

“Oooo now that’s a beautiful ship. You get the chance to fly one of those and you’re set for life.” Said one.

“What about the Century? They’re so much better.” Said another. And this kind of conversation went on for the rest of the shift, at least for them. Steven chose to pick up extra hours and didn’t finish until three in the morning. He started his shift on Sunday the sixteenth and finished it on Monday the seventeenth. Nothing like putting in extra hours for the extra credit, least that’s what he hoped for when he drank some warm herbal tea to help him sleep before he rested his head on his pillow when he got into bed. The thing he knew that needed to happen was sleep, because if it didn’t happen quick enough, his mind will start to wander and play past events that he wished to forget or regret doing, and then he’ll never get to sleep….