This One's Personal

Posted on 29 Feb 2016 @ 6:24am by Lieutenant JG Natalya Kirilova

513 words; about a 3 minute read

Well, I've more or less settled in since my last personal log... just not in the way I'd anticipated.

The Galileo is a great little ship, and by that I do mean little. I've only been working aboard him for a few weeks now, but already I feel like I could make my way around blindfolded. Maybe I just have the benefit of perspective... someone coming from a small outpost or a Defiant would probably see things differently.

Don't get me wrong though, even though the Galileo is small, he's tough, and no doubt capable of a great deal for his size. And the crew is tighter knit than any I've seen. I'm never one to wish for tough times, but I almost find myself looking forward to the opportunity to prove my worth and weld my link firmly into the chain.

Unfortunately, I must admit that I have been facing a tough time... and it's not really the kind that will help my reputation. In fact, it very well might hurt it. A routine medical exam revealed that I have... or, had liver cancer. Doctor Voutilainen... I think I finally pronounced her name right, anyway, she's confident that I'm now cancer-free, but as a precautionary measure I now have to have four medical exams a year, probably for the rest of my life. I'm not sure how to feel about that. I'm relieved it's gone, but I doubt that's the last I've seen of it.

As for the cause of the tumor, no one knows for sure, but at this point we're fairly certain that it was environmental in nature. I'm what one would call a first-wave colonist. My parents and I were among the first to settle on Denali. My homeworld is a dangerous place... and not just because of the climate, it seems. If it weren't for the rare metals found in abundance there, Humans probably would have never settled it. Some of those metals might have had a not-so-positive impact on my body growing up. I haven't told my parents about this yet. I don't think I'm going to, at least not until I know more. They don't need that kind of guilt. But then again... I wasn't the only kid to grow up on Denali, and I have the benefit of regular medical screening.

Perhaps I should tell them...

There's not much else to talk about. Except maybe one thing. I've made a friend, an ensign named Marika. She's the ship's archaeologist and anthropologist. I wish I had intelligent things to say about either of those things, because I like her a lot. I'd like to be more than friends, but... I'm not really sure if she feels the same way. I guess I'm not really in a rush to find out. I like where we're at... she makes me feel like a kid again. I'd rather be friends then rush in and probably screw it all up. For all I know she's got a boyfriend.

I really hope it's true that no one reads these things. *sighs*

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