Ensign Sabia Kal looked out of the front window of the Runabout at Starbase Bravo. They’d been traveling from Earth to Starbase Bravo for days. The constant star field out the porthole had lost its novelty after the first day. For most of the journey, Ensign Kal was reading. The topics included the starbase she’d been assigned to, the command level officers of Starbase Bravo, and of course, a limited history of Trill. As a trained pilot, she’d requested flight time on the journey, and luckly the Lieutenant in command had obliged her for a night shift. Since he got to catch up on some sleep, Sabia got to be in the cockpit as Starbase Bravo came into view. It was impressive- what had started out as a small speck of silver had grown to take over their entire view. Sabia was in awe, ‘Starfleet had spared no expense when they commissioned the base‘ she thought to herself as she thought of her more traditional home on Trill. It’d be a while before she got to see her home but for now, the process of making Starbase Bravo home was about to begin.

Ensign Kal stood, “Thank you, Lieutenant, for this opportunity. The updates they’ve made to the runabouts made the night shift a breeze.”

“Don’t think I didn’t feel that shake at 0200, Ensign.” The Lieutenant didn’t turn around from the controls.

Ensign Kal ran through her mind, had she already forgotten her mistake? She was about to speak when the Lieutenant said, “Don’t remember? Neither do I.” with a chuckle as he returned to the controls. “Keep up with your flight training, you never know when a position may open up.”

Sabia smiled and nodded to the Lieutenant, and headed back to the cabin to pick up her luggage. The runabout had been filled with roughly 15 other ensigns who’d just graduated from the Academy. She barely knew them, but this voyage had definitely sparked a few friendships. She noticed her new buddy, Ensign Jonathan Heart walking towards her.

“Impressive isn’t it?“ he said. He must have seen the Starbase out one of the portholes or through the visual sensors on his PADD.

She smiled, “Absolutely it was! I had a front seat view of it too! I think Lieutenant Wang saw a tear roll down my cheek!” She said, with a laugh.

“You weren’t as bad as me – I had to wipe the drool from my chin when we first got into usual range.“ he smiled at her.

Sabia liked his smile – part of her thought he was cute, but shut that down quickly. She’d already had her heart broken once in the past month, no need to get into a fling during her first few weeks of a new assignment. “That makes me feel better.”

The runabout touched down softly on the shuttle hangar. Sabia stood grabbing her luggage. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around.” she said as they exited the shuttle.

“Oh you definitely will.” Ensign Heart said with a wink, then headed towards the nearest exit. ‘Are you SURE you don’t want love? Maybe just a little fun. Look at those bicepts.‘ Sabia noticed a surprising number of human males focused on getting large biceps. She didn’t fault them at all – their bulging muscles had been one of her biggest distractors in the Academy. ‘Yes… for now.‘ Again, she tried to control herself. She tried to focus her attention on the Starbase around her. It was one of the newest and most advanced Starbases in the fleet, and she was now partly responsible for making sure noon blew it up, sabotaged experiments, or got too drunk walking down the promenade. No pressure.

After a few short moments, Ensign Sabia Kal picked up her bags, took a quick stroll down the promenade, then located her quarters. She had two days to explore as much of the station as she could. The only thing standing in her way was her luggage. “Drop this off, then get our steps in the for the day,” she said to herself, “Time to start working on that promotion.”