The Last Voyage of the Sakura. part 1

Posted on 29 Mar 2018 @ 4:53pm by Ensign Miraj Derani

394 words; about a 2 minute read

USS Sakura

Day 1:
Left space dock on supervisory cargo haul, its going to be a coast-hugger of a voyage. Swinging the lead all the way there and back. I get to be coxswain, and the cap’n is a lubberly type called O’Keefe, from Ottawa. There is a scurvy swab of an Engineer as well. Borgon is a Bolian rapscallion who at least knows one end of a warp core from another. And that's it. Just me, the captain and the engineer dragging a couple of small ships from the Rigel yards to another, picking up assorted small parts and going back. Could take a caulk every day and no one would notice. Weighed anchor with my eyes shut. Boring standard departure. This thing must have a turning circle you measure in astronomical units and a stopping distance of three weeks. Its huge. As big as the Forlorn Hope. But not as much fun. No morgue. Sakura is slow and sleepy. Like trying to talk to particularly stupid dog. Or Mal when he’s drunk.

Day 2
Shift start at 8am. Check and corrected course vector. Observe instruments for next 12 hours. Seven hundred, eighty eight to go before I can apply for the test pilot program.

Day 3
Shift Start at 8am . Checked course vector. No course correction. Not now I’ve done it instead of the half asleep captain. Observe instruments for next 12 hours. I’m bored.

Day 4
Shift Start at 8am . Checked course vector. No course correction. No impending obstacles. Short, Mid and Long range scans clear of all debris, anomaly and fun. I’m really bored. Ship is just obsessed with going to destination. No spark. No curiosity. No joie de vivre. All he says is Chugchugchug.

Day 5
Still bored, sixty more days of this? I wonder if anyone has ever gone mad from staring into space. Maybe I should try it.

Day 6
Note to self. Never tell a captain they are a hypocritical, manipulative, self absorbed lying bitch who doesn’t deserve the loyalty the crew had for her. Even if she is, and even if she doesn’t.

Day 7
Strange readings on mid range scan. Ship in the lane. No life signs, no distress beacon. Wasn’t there yesterday. Captain O’Keefe authorised a diversion. Am ridiculously excited. Will be there late tonight.

To Be Continued

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