Captain's Log - 021 (Part 2)

Posted on 08 Dec 2017 @ 12:36pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

702 words; about a 4 minute read

Title: Persistence (Part 2)
Location: Rigel System - Avondale Shipyards
Timeline: MD 85, 0806 hrs

Previously...

She sat down at her desk terminal and quickly queued a display of her personal calendar on the screen. "Computer, assign one-hour interview time slots on my schedule to all individual recipients. Order alphabetical by surname." In a matter of seconds, the audible chirps from the computer ceased and were confirmed by the soft overhead voice of the LCARS central processor system.

"Schedules synchronized, messages ready to send," said the familiar tone of the female computer voice.

The captain verified the updates and confirmed her intention. "Send replies and file under Category 12."

"Transmissions sent."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Galileo's newest captain reached for her glass and took a healthy sip of brandy before reading through the next batch of replies to her original rejection letter. She was gratified to see the persistence of some of the officers and NCOs, but also hoped their second and third applications would be less emotional and more practical in nature.

"To the Captain of the USS Galileo-A," she started to read out loud from a Cadet Armstrong, "I get it sir. Once you saw my application you probably did some research and learned a few things about me. I bet in your research you found out about my Kobayashi Maru exam. I bet in your reading you saw things like 'reckless', 'disregard for human life' and maybe even unsuitable for command..."

Oh dear spirits.

The captain kept reading as the cadet seemingly poured her heart out in the letter, and she couldn't help but feel some sympathy for the young Human who appeared to be struggling to find a home for herself in the fleet. Whether Galileo would be that home still remained to be seen, but it was worth granting an interview to at least meet this Armstrong in person.

Another quick sip of brandy preceded the next letter which had come into her inbox in the last fifteen minutes. It read, "Good afternoon. Hi, me again, Lieutenant Gideon Nicols. I had applied to your vessel the other day for the research officer position and got the rejection? Yep, I’m sure you remember me now."

Yes, she remembered his name and personnel file, but little more.

"Annnnyway… I was just wondering as to why it was rejected? Was it because of a better applicant? Was it because there was some glitch in my file you weren’t sure about? Was it because you didn’t like my face or that I tower above most people? Did you reject it because you wanted us to come groveling and begging for the position?"

At that point, the captain was almost ready to once again press the reject button, but something caught her eye as she kept reading. A reference to posing nude with a Romulan for an Orion artist. Posing nude for an Orion artist. Her thoughts quickly snapped back to the night a couple months ago when she'd had to save her younger sister from the inappropriateness of two male intruders... Two intruders who happened to be naked.

Her left eye twitched when she realized this Nicols Human was one of the men present, and it took all of her self control to not delete his application right there and then. The audacity... she angrily thought to herself before the better part of reason took over and calmed her down. Indignation was a natural trait for many when they felt slighted, and perhaps she owed him a chance at an interview if for no other chance than to meet him (again) face to face.

"Computer, use standard reply for both applicants," she called out. "From USS Galileo-A commanding officer, your request for interview is approved. Report to Rigel Shipyards on stardate 68486.3 for personal evaluation. Come prepared for deployment with any essential belongings. If bringing dependents, they must be present at your interview."

The computer replied in a calm and soothing voice, "Messages prepared."

"Send," commanded the captain.

"Transmissions sent."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

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