Nate returned to his quarters after the long day at work. His quarters were his place of solitude; the one place where he could collect his thoughts without distraction. However, today, there was a disquiet he had brought with him to his place of rest.

The Gorn.

It was a terrifying idea, to confront Gorn. He had never personally run in with one before. He did not hope this mission would be his first time doing so.  Gorn were notorious creatures of combat, one of the most alien examples of life a human could compare themselves to. They were not known for compassion, or emotional weakness.

Nate tried to distract himself from his fears and concerns with all of the things he liked best. He replicated himself some Vulcan mint tea, but found he was not in the mood to drink it. He filled his afternoon with the tiny minutiae of daily tasks. He watered his plants, straightened up the books he’d read the night before, and returned them to their shelves.

Nate wasn’t afraid to die. He’d encountered death before as a Starfleet officer. He’d fought in the Dominion Wars and death was always a constant companion in those days. It was not truly a concern with the Gorn, save for the fact that they were no strangers to combat.

If necessary he would kill in order to protect his ship and crewmates. Though he did not imagine there would be much of a reason that the captain would be calling him to any away missions. As the chief helmsman it was his primary responsibility to get them all from point A to point B.

No, if anything, if the ship would go into potential combat with the Gorn, or any other aggressor then Nate would be responsible for making sure they did not take any hits from enemy fire. The tactical officer made choices of life and death using security as their primary skillset. Nate’s bread and butter was maneuvering; getting the ship to respond and respond quickly.

There was no greater asset in battle than not taking a hit.

Nate stopped thinking about combat, death and war. He wanted to do something fun.

He plopped down on the couch and positioned himself to the nearest large monitor which was on his adjacent wall.

“Computer, play Friday the 13th part II.” He said with a smile on his face.

The compute responded bringing up one of his favorite slasher movies; or rather one of his favorites in the genre of that type. Many humans didn’t celebrate Halloween anymore, and with good understanding. It was an ancient pagan holiday, which few observed anymore. However, Nate was a horror film buff. And whether it was Halloween, or just any regular old day, he found that ancient cinematic serial killers, chasing around half naked, bad acting bimbos calmed his nerves after a long day.

Yes, Nate was a man of simple tastes. He didn’t read much Shakespeare, he wasn’t one for deep conversations, or to burden others with this troubles.

Sometimes all he needed was a beer, and a great movie. And tonight, he gave himself just that.

 Let everything else be damned until tomorrow…