A New Assignment

Posted on 30 Jan 2016 @ 7:10am by Lieutenant JG Natalya Kirilova

416 words; about a 2 minute read

My request for transfer to the USS Gallileo has been approved.

Somehow, I didn't expect it to be that easy. I mean, I've seen plenty of officers come and go over the years, all jumping at chances like the one I went for. Somehow I just figured that they knew something... or perhaps someone I didn't. Nothing in Starfleet has ever been easy for me, but then again, I guess I've never been the kind of person who puts a lot of time and thought into looking beyond my current position.

Maybe I wanted to believe that Starfleet would promote me eventually. That they would see things in me that I didn't. I guess it doesn't really work that way... or at least for me it didn't. I spent ten years aboard the Excalibur and only got promoted once. A lot of people probably think I wasted a lot of time there, but I never saw it that way. I would never say that the Excalibur needed me, but I would be willing to bet that I knew that type of ship better than anyone else. Even the people who designed it said as much. That means a lot more to me than having pips on my uniform collar, or a large staff of my own to order around.

The Galileo is a much different kind of ship than what I'm used to, but I'm hoping that I'll get to know it just as well. Maybe even if it takes me another ten years. People have said that with a smaller ship and crew, things shouldn't be any more challenging, but few of those people ever spent time as a starship engineer. The Nova-class is no doubt a small ship, but it has the same core systems all other Federation starships do. Except they're all located in a much more compact space. There is a much greater chance of damage cascading from one system into several others. That concept also applied similarly to the crew: with fewer engineers and specialists, each loss would be more keenly felt.

Speaking of the crew, I've also been told by fairly reputable sources that Nova crews can be a strange breed... more close-knit and individualistic. A lot of them do house a lot of specialists in a fairly enclosed space.

Who knows. I do know better than to put too much stock in logical guesses and other people's experiences. I'll just have to find out for myself.

I can't wait.

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