Musings of a Science Officer - Personal Log 5

Posted on 16 Nov 2017 @ 5:50pm by Lieutenant JG Gideon Nicols PhD

1,547 words; about a 8 minute read

…I do understand that this is a volunteer assignment and I do understand where this mission will take place, but I am more than up for that challenge. As a scientist, and a researcher, I welcome those challenges that a long-term deep space assignment may and probably will present.

You can obviously read all about me in my personnel file, but it will not say this: A deep space assignment is a dream assignment for most scientists, especially for those in the planetary sciences. Personally, this would be a dream assignment for myself, and an assignment that I’ve wanted for my own personal growth and for the growth of my career.

Again, I know this is voluntary, but I am not so naïve that you will be looking for the person that best fits research officer position, so that is where my credentials and projects speak volumes. I know I can be a good asset to your science department as well as to the crew.

Thank you for your consideration.

Respectfully submitted,

Lieutenant JG Gideon Nicols, PhD

“Computer, begin personal log…

Well, that’s done. My formal application to join the Galileo-A is now in the hands of the powers that be. I’m not very good at selling myself, I know, I know that sounds absurd due to both my Starfleet career and my writing career. It’s easy to point out my accomplishments or projects or writings, but it’s not so easy to talk about myself. I’m a wallflower like that. This six foot five inch guy tries his best to fit in. I suppose that is more of a hang-up on my end as opposed to what others actually think of me. But here is the thing, Starfleet says they are looking at credentials and who would be the best fit but I think these CO’s are looking for a crew that will mesh well together. As the old adage goes: A happy crew is a hard-working crew.”

Gideon leaned back in his desk chair and raised his log arms to stretch; a soft, satisfied sigh escaped his lips as the vertebrae of his spine popped. It had always been tough for him to sit for long periods of time, these chairs and desks were not made for someone of his height and muscular bulk. His legs were long and his knees always seemed to bump the underside of the desk. If he lowered the chair, he would than be too low and it made things worse. That was why he never minded standing, he would stand for hours and it would never phase. He felt best when he could stand erect.

“I also applied to a couple of other vessels that were going on deep space assignments. Though, those assignments aren’t anything like what the Galileo-A is going to undertake. I’ll let you in on a little secret: I really want this assignment. Like I would give my left nut for it that is how bad I want it. Typically, I will go wherever Starfleet will send me. I am officer in their fleet after all. I have to say I’ve been fairly fortunate in my career, but the thought of ending up on short-term assignments doing just patrol work does not sound appealing to me at all. Then Naz would be right, I could just work for a university at that point. By the way, the fact that Naz would be right about anything makes me shudder.

“The only thing that really upsets me about all of this, is that I feel like I fell through the cracks. I was told months later that I had the option of applying to ships six weeks after my arrival on Earth. I probably should have known this, but I was also told that I just needed to be patient and wait… and wait… and wait…and wait some more. However, I had some great experiences while I was here and most importantly I got a chance to go to Ryn. That is like a scientist’s dream come true. We collected so much data and I was glad to be apart of that expedition.”

Pausing for a moment, Gideon raised himself out of his chair and sighed happily as he pulled himself up to his full height. He raised his arms high above his head and stretched again. His fingertip brushed against the high ceiling. He looked to the large windows and saw that it was raining again. He loved the rain…sort of, but San Francisco certainly seemed to see its fair share of it. When the cloudy and rainy days would stretch for days on end, it would get to you. He would try to ignore it, and being inside certainly helped him ignore it, but the moment he had to go out the cold rain would be hard to ignore. However, when he would finally get a starship assignment, he would miss the weather, the changes of seasons, and of course… the rain. In a way, he was fickle just like every other human when it came to weather. He would complain when the weather wasn’t favorable, and complain when seasons changed but yet complain when he wasn’t around weather and was confined to a temperature-controlled starship.

He shook his head and chuckled. Some things never change in humans.

He kept his gaze on the falling rain, watching it come down in heavy drops. There was no lightening or thunder this time. He loved a good thunderstorm, especially when it was over the bay. It was quite a sight. Throughout his career he had seen some storms that would put the thunderstorms Earth experienced to shame. He recalled one of the worst he experienced. It was early in his career and he was part of a geological survey with the planetary designation ER-111-2306. It was an uninhabited and unclaimed planet and the Archer-A was there to do a survey to determine if the planet would be suitable for a settlement for a displaced group only know as The U’ainne.

While there on ER-111-2306, a horrific storm erupted—a storm that electrically charged the atmosphere and had winds and rain that put a category five hurricane to shame. The teams had to take refuge in the hills, finding shelter that would protect them. It took three days for the storm to dissipate. Luckily, everyone was okay, but the storm destroyed the area. Gideon couldn’t believe what he had seen, and it was his hope that he would never see such a thing again.

Suffice it to say, ER-111-2306 was not chosen for a settlement.

“All I can do is wait and see. I do have something on the horizon. Due to my experience as an instructor at the Academy, I have been asked to put on my instructor hat and do some evaluations on a cadet cruise. It will be a simple assignment, but more than that, it will be nice to get back into space and on a starship for a while. I have been offered another instructor position at the Academy when I return, but I want to see what happens with my applications first. I’d much rather go out into deep space…

“I won’t lie, not that I would lie to my own personal log mind you, but I will be disappointed if I don’t get this posting. I will move on, of course, but a rejection would sting. I don’t care what anyone says, if you are experiencing rejection for the first time or for the twentieth time, it still stings just as badly as when you first experienced rejection. It certainly doesn’t lessen the sting no matter how many times you have been rejected.”

Gideon recalled all the rejection letters he had received from publishers when he was first trying to get his work published. It was ironic that none of those publishers took a chance on him, and yet he became a New York Times best seller. He wondered if some of those publishers were kicking themselves now. Or was he long forgotten like a long list of others that were rejected? Each and every rejection he received had hurt, it stung, but he persevered and found a good publisher that would publish his work and his ideas. He couldn’t have been happier with how that turned out.

“All I can do is just see what happens. That is all I have right now… Computer, end personal log.”

The computer beeped and the desk console went back to the previous screen he had been working on. Gideon tapped in a couple of commands and the screen went dark. His gaze once again went to the large windows, the rain was now coming down steadily but that wasn’t going to deter him from going out for the afternoon. He grabbed his jacket and headed out, he didn’t know what he wanted or what he was looking for, but he would know when he came upon it.

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