A Captain's Pleasure

Posted on 03 Nov 2014 @ 1:26pm by Captain Jonathan Holliday

845 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: Starbase 84 - Deck 22 - Temporary Quarters
Timeline: MD10 - 1400 hrs

[ON]

John groaned as he made his way back to the temporary quarters he had been assigned during shore leave on the station. It had taken him a little longer than expected to find his way back after making a wrong turn at one of the dozens of gardens on board and ending up in a docking bay full of Klingons working on a Bird of Prey - something that had been a little less inviting than the image of his (albeit temporary) bed.

Repairs and upgrades to the Galileo were progressing nicely, at least that's what the reports crossing his desk had been telling him, and for a moment the Captain seemed rather obsolete. He had been through his debriefing with Command, signed the necessary orders to allow the Engineering Corps to get to work on his ship, authorised his crew for shore leave, and finally gotten around to requesting temporary quarters whilst his office and own living space aboard the ship were being decorated.

The quarters assigned to him on the starbase were a little larger than he was used to - well, if you could call two or three times the size a "little" larger. The expansive windows on one side looked out into the abyss of space, spanning an entire wall. At least the glass could be converted to privacy mode and changed to opaque in nature to prevent the Captain getting space sick after too much staring at the stars. Seeing the occasional starship float past however was a welcome sight, and broke up the monotony of the darkness.

Stepping inside John waited for the door to close before grabbing at his uniform jacket and pulling it off before allowing it to casually drop to the floor - it would be going into the replicator for replacement that evening anyway so he was less inclined to do much else with it. Remember to reach back and remove his commbadge from the discarded garment, John attached it to his uniform vest before collapsing into one of the chairs provided in the seating area.

Pulling off his boots, Holliday gave another sigh as he took a moment to contemplate the silence of his situation, and the joy of being able to isolate himself from the outside world.
Looking around Holliday found himself torn between wanting to find something to do, and the desire to simply collapse into his bed for a few hours - he had been on duty since 0500 in a debriefing with the Admiralty, and sleep seemed like an excellent idea.

As he stood up, and began to pace towards the bedroom, the Captain spied a PADD sticking out of the corner of his duffel bag, equally discarded in a similar fashion to his uniform jacket on the end of the sofa, a few other garments and personal effects hanging out of the open zip top. Forgetting which PADD this was exactly, and whether or not it contained simply an inventory of components for one of a million different engineering jobs, or a letter to his father, the Martian swooped it into his right hand and activated the device.

After a moment the PADD dutifully powered up and displayed it's title. Raising one eyebrow, Holliday took a moment to examine the page - a historical account of the ancient Greek empire from the Mediterranean region of Earth which had flourished several thousand years ago. John had been fortunate enough to be gifted a piece of pottery from this timeframe during his tenure at Starfleet Academy, and had proudly displayed it in his quarters aboard ship ever since.

Looking again towards the bedroom, and back down at the PADD, John sidled towards the replicator, and summoned a raktajino, double sweet, and on the larger side. As the cup materialised, he picked it up with his free hand and took a deep lungfull of the caffeinated vapours. Smriking to himself, Holliday decided that perhaps he had earned a little time to himself during this quiet period, and turning his back on the ever-present bedroom, he headed back to the chair and settled himself in, intent on reaching the final page of this document before his duties called him away.

Looking back again at the darkness beyond space, Holliday decided to make his time alone a little more "him."


"Computer - lock the door and activate the privacy glass. Oh, and do you have access to the Earth musical database?" He requested, reaching up to his chest and removing the commbadge from his uniform, allowing it to come to rest on the arm of his chair.

"Affirmative." Came the reply as he watched the darkness of space convert instead into a simple grey wall, and the control panel on his door indicate it's locked status.

"Well in that case Computer....Classical database, Earth Composer - Johann Sebastian Bach - Air On The G String from Earth year 1723. Standard volume."

And with those opening stringed notes, his mind disappeared into his book....

[OFF]

CAPT Jonathan Holliday
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

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