Ensign Celandra Bastin looked down at the PaDD she’d been handed during her orientation brief that contained, among a vast number of other things, the location and room number that she had been assigned as her living space. The location started with Sector Kilo-Indigo, then started a laundry list of letters and numbers that she’d had to cross reference half a dozen times during the ride to the appropriate deck number that had been hidden somewhere in the string of characters she’d been doggedly trying to decipher. “Even the room numbers are needlessly huge…” Celandra bemoaned as the lift finally eased to a stop.

Stepping out, bag still in tow, the young Ensign began walking down the corridor searching for labels on doors that might give her a sense of how far she would have to walk from the turbolift to her quarters. She discovered the answer to be, rather mercifully, not too far. The room was situated only a half dozen doors down from the nearby lift cluster, which made the woman feel as if someone had taken pity on her knowing that she’d never been anywhere with more than three dozen decks to it in her entire life up to that point.

She keyed in her personal access code and stepped inside, greeted with the sight of a small ‘day room’ that rested between two smaller rooms that were no doubt assigned to her and whatever roommate she’d been given. The door to one of the rooms stood wide open while the other was secured, which told her at a glance which was her own. Celandra walked into the small bedroom to find that her luggage crate had already been delivered, another small kindness that she was unusually happy about.

“Let’s get you unpacked…” Bastin said with a small huff. The crate wasn’t anything unusual or of any abnormal size given her lack of personal effects. The largest items inside were the books her father had given to her over the years, which took up the majority of the space in her crate. There were a few other trinkets and baubles from her time spent on starships with her father, but in general there wasn’t a lot in her possession that had traveled with her from her home back on Earth.

It took her a solid hour or so to put everything in the small space where she thought it ought to be, and once satisfied that she wouldn’t feel the urge to move things in the span of a few minutes, Celandra walked out into the shared living space only to find a rather familiar face walking in.

“Why… hello there, neighbor,” Celandra said with an amused chuckle.

Sonja had went to grab a bite to eat and workout after a somewhat busy day, including the wrong Ensign coming to her shared living space. She had decided to take a run around the promenade after she ate to work off the extra carbs. She noticed a few people looking at her as she ran and smiled with a sarcastic wave. She headed back to her quarters taking a breath when she entered the living area when a familiar face stepped out.

She smiled, “Hi Cel! Sorry for my appearance.”

“Oh please…” Bastin smirked, “I’ve come back from working out looking twice as bad doing half as much, I’m sure. I honestly didn’t expect you’d be my roommate, so I’m kind of happy how this all worked out. I figured they’d put me with someone from our department, but I haven’t had much of a chance to meet a lot of folks so I was a tad nervous when I came in and no one was here.”

Sonja nodded and took a towel, using it to wipe the sweat off her face. She looked at Bastin and smiled. “Well now you know you have me,” she said sarcastically, brushing her hair away and then laughing about it. Cel seemed to be staring at the tattoos on her arm and chest, “Everything ok?”

“Yeah, just an interesting design is all. From what I’ve been told, my mother had tattoos, but I never saw them. They’re nice, but not for me,” Celandra shrugged the question off, “So how are you liking it here? Since this is really my first day, I doubt I’ve seen enough to even start to have an opinion about it but I’d like to know what someone else thinks.”

Sonja nodded at the remark. She shook her head at the other question. “I like it, but man this place is so big I feel like if I deviate from the paths I know I will never get back to a location I know. I think it is a great station and there is lots to explore, which we can do together now. And I think we need to get you at least a little ink, makes you look tougher,” she winked.

“Don’t need ink to look tough, I just have to let my hair down and start yelling,” Celandra laughed, “My mother was in security, and I got more of my looks from her than from my father so… Pretty sure if I put my mind to it, I could scare even a Nausicaan if I applied myself.”

Sonja laughed at the comment “That is true, but sometimes it is fun to try new things. Who knows you may like it, but I won’t push you to do something you don’t want to do.”

Bastin wandered over to one of the small couches in the middle of the room and sank down into it, “I know what you mean about the station. Even the room numbers are absurdly long for what feels like no real reason. That’s partly why I was so hellbent on getting assigned to a starship. I can remember twenty or so decks a lot better than I can a few thousand.”

Sonja didn’t want to sit due to still being a sweaty mess but she nodded, “Well see when you get promoted to Captain one day you can say that you memorized a thousand decks and would not have a problem with twenty decks of your own ship.” She smirked, “That is if you want to command a ship.”

“Nope… hard pass,” Celandra shook her head, “My father is a Captain… I don’t want to have to deal with even a tenth of the politics he has to. That’s why I’m in security, I’m not expected to shake hands and kiss babies.”

Bastin couldn’t help but grin at her own comment, “I honestly don’t know where my dad came up with that phrase, but it always made me laugh growing up when he would use that to explain what being a diplomat was like.”

Sonja laughed, “Well then let me reword that as a Captain and the chief of security of a ship you can say you used to work security on a huge station so you could surely handle twenty decks on a ship.” She again smirked, “I think as a diplomat you have to be involved in everything so I understand the phrase, but I don’t think I would ever want to be a Captain of a ship, but the rank of Captain someday might be nice.”

“I’m pretty sure I remember hearing something about security officers making Captain without being in command is fairly rare, but not impossible. I’ll be happy if I make Commander, honestly. Just high enough on the chain to be somebody, but not high enough to have to worry about absolutely everything,” Celandra said, her smile just a tad devious.

Sonja saw the hint in her smile, “You seem like someone who doesn’t mind some mischief or pranks. I love pranks, but to make that clear only on fellow classmates or people who don’t mind them. I will not do the same thing a friend did and break into a senior officer’s office placing whoopie cushions. He is a wonderful person, but his mischievous side gets him in trouble.”

“As fun as that sounds, I keep my pranks somewhere they can’t come back to bite me…” Celandra poked the side of her head meaningfully, “My father worked with someone who could dish out mischief like a replicator spits out candy. After watching how hard he used to have to work to smooth over some of the things he did… yeah… I’m happy just musing about it. Once in a while I’ll play it out in the holodeck if I really need to get something out of my system, but that’s about it.”

Sonja chuckled. “I only really did it in the Academy, I don’t think I would have the guts to do so on this station, especially with the fact that it is commanded by a Vice Admiral,” she said, pausing for a minute, “Hey, you up for a movie? I would love to watch something and relax if you want to too. Just need to clean up first.”

Bastin shrugged, “I already put what things I brought with me away, so I’m not doing anything important. Sounds like it could be fun.”

Sonja nodded and quickly took a sonic shower before coming back out in her comfy pjs. She decided to pull out the Pierce Bronson classic GoldenEye and got the system setup before going over to the replicator, “Two large popcorns with extra butter and two large cherry cokes.” The food and drink replicated and she took one handing them both to Cel. Sonja took a seat on the sofa snuggled in and prepared as the movie began.

Celandra took the snacks from her new friend and leaned back into the couch to watch the film that Sonja had prepared for them to enjoy. She was happy enough that she was at least placed with someone she halfway knew and that was enough to allow for her to relax in her new place.