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Post by norcaler on Aug 15, 2013 16:00:51 GMT
"Begin Cadet's Log: Stardate 89621.1
"My instructors tell me I should start one of these, that some day I'll want to relive my academy days with a sense of nostalgia. They haven't had a first couple of days like mine. Almost as soon as I got off the shuttle I was thrown into the middle of it, getting my uniform and being beamed over to the training vessel Nebulous, my first time ever on a starship. I was even given control of the science station, but that's when things started going downhill.
"One of the other cadets, a 4th year named Dynair, had been coughing from practically the moment I met her in Archer Hall. She collapsed on the bridge and was taken to sickbay by our group's instructor, Commander Ri'orah. The commander returned later informing us that Dynair was dying and that we were to go to sickbay to say our goodbyes. Having said all of five words to her, two of which being my name, I couldn't think of anything to say to someone I just met and maybe...maybe I was supposed to say something, anything. Anyway, I didn't and she died.
"The rest of the cadets reacted in their own ways. Cadet Maxwell seemed to react like every stereotypical Starfleet captain you see in holonovels, Kim seemed very shaken while Alex was mournful but...I don't know what to call it. Cathartic? Jeez, one day of philosophy class and I think I'm Socrates. I ran into Alex on the quad later that night and we talked it over.
"Day two didn't give me much of a chance to reflect on it, as I was up to my neck in classes and taking notes for both myself and Alex, who was excused to take up a training assignment on the Avalon of all ships. I don't know if I should be jealous of her or not. It's a fleet flagship, but it's also my uncle's ship. I suppose the bright side of only seeing Uncle John in person all of four times in my life is that he has less embarrassing stories about me to tell Alex. Then again, I seem to be doing a good job of that by my...
"Crap, I'm running late. How do I shut this thing o...?"
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Post by norcaler on Aug 16, 2013 1:35:29 GMT
"Cadet's Log: Supplemental
"Well, good news is that Alex and I patched things up after last night. And she's taking me to Vulcan for my birthday. Yeah, not exactly a trip to Risa or Disney Planet, but...hey, it's better than sulking in my dorm or drowning my sorrows in the 602 Club. Just wish they'd tell us when Dynair's memorial service is. I think we could all use some closure..."
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Post by norcaler on Aug 17, 2013 6:16:54 GMT
"Cadet's Log: Stardate 89625.4
"I'm an idiot. A really big, ginormous idiot. So big in fact I should apply to the Guiness Book of Galactic Records to see if I qualify as the biggest idiot of all time. Only comfort is that Alex understands, understands that Dynair's death has shaken me deeply and still does. I care about Alex a great deal, like I might have cared about Dynair if she hadn't died and...things.
*shakes it off*
"Alex and I rented hotel rooms on Vulcan. She apparently needs to be on Avalon pronto tomorrow and they're swinging by here to pick her up. She's my best friend and she deserves a shot on Uncle John's ship. I just hope that...she doesn't meet the same end out there Dynair did..."
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Post by norcaler on Aug 20, 2013 5:36:02 GMT
"Cadet's Log: Stard...Supplmental
"Oh fuck, oh God. What in the? Fucking...all I wanted to do was...
*Jack takes a deep, calming breath*
"All I wanted to do was show Alex the black and white photo of her I took near the Golden Gate Bridge during my lunch break, instead I walked into a full on war on Starbase 146. Instead, as I overheard hiding behind an information kiosk, she called out not one but several superior officers and got put in hack because of it. And worst of all Uncle John found me and told me in no certain terms while I was tempted to shit my pants to not associate with Alex because she's and I quote 'A bad influence.'
"For fuck's sake, this is only my sixth day as a cadet! This shit wasn't in the brochures! There wasn't anything about beautiful cadets dropping dead before you could flirt with them! There wasn't anything about very hot lesbian best friends losing their shit and almost getting drummed out of the service two weeks into the deal! And yes, for the record and for perpi...perpe...whatever, I care about Alex a lot. Regardless of whether or not she returns those feelings, I have to do something to help her.
"But what can I do? She's drawn the ire of the 'great John Sanders, captain of the U.S.S. Avalon,'" he says in a very mocking, comical voice. But the sense of sarcasm drops right there. "The same uncle who watched my mother plunge through the ice over the pond of my great-grandparents' farm over thirty years ago, the same uncle who dived after her and risked his life to pull her out before she froze to death. Without Uncle John, I wouldn't exist, but...how do I tell him he's being unfair to Alex? Hell, if the reverse were true, that Mom saved him from hypothermia, how can I tell a starship captain that he's treating someone I lo...care for, so unfairly?
"Fuck, I just want to bury my head under a pillow for a week and not have to deal with any of this crap. Uncle John was right about one thing; astrometrics is the way to go. You don't see one star system trying to screw over another, do you?"
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Post by norcaler on Aug 21, 2013 5:16:28 GMT
*hits the record button, a brief blurgh of some sort is heard, then...nothing*
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Post by norcaler on Aug 21, 2013 6:26:58 GMT
"Cadet's Log: Stardate...Supplemental...and such...
"I met Alex's cousin Stana tonight and...I really hope Alex does not hold me putting Stana on the highest of pedestals against me. She is...wow. She's incredible...I'm...I think she and I can...all right, better stop my gushing over my new, incredibly hot lady friend lest Uncle John's spies read this. At the academy tonight, we learned Dynair isn't dead and were divided into teams to argue talking points about the Borg. I think I made my point, even if I had to drag the debate into personal territory. I think I won in that regard, but I'm pretty sure I got the last laugh when a certain red-head took a very deep liking to me...
*breaks out in a giddy, school boy reaction*
"Holy shit, is Stana incredibly beautiful and gorgeous and the best kisser I've ...aw dammit. Turn off, turn off! How do I delete this...?"
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Post by norcaler on Aug 22, 2013 5:45:50 GMT
*spends ten minutes with the log open and recording and is too content to think of anything to say*
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Post by norcaler on Aug 22, 2013 6:12:05 GMT
*then hits the record button again and finally says*
"Cadet's Personal Log: Supplemental
"Stana is absolutely awesome!!!!!"
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Post by norcaler on Aug 24, 2013 1:33:48 GMT
*while soft Trill jazz is playing in the background*
"Cadet's Personal Log: ...Supplemental, I guess...
"First date with Stana was a rousing success...yeah, let's go with that."
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Post by norcaler on Aug 26, 2013 5:44:24 GMT
"Cadet's Personal Log: Supplemental
"Stana and I spent the weekend together at my dorm. It was...incredible and the only downside is that she's been recalled to the Mantua. I love her, deeply, and what's better is that she's in love with me just as deeply. Before she left, we agreed to move in to an off-campus apartment, assuming the regs allow a lowly cadet like myself to move in with a very lovely lieutenant. I guess I'm one lucky man...funny, I wouldn't have used 'lucky' nor 'man' to describe myself a week ago at this time. But then I met Stana and everything's changed. For the better..."
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Post by norcaler on Aug 28, 2013 1:54:46 GMT
"Cadet's Personal Log: Stardate 89655.0
"Tonight's course was...interesting. Commander Ri'orah took us into a holodeck simulation of a starship in the process of being assimilated by the Borg and ordered us to investigate what we saw. Certainly is unsettling. Cadet Erica Andersen and I discovered the Borg were using the ship's EPS taps to assimilate the ship like a virus would use the bloodstream to spread. We also found a door whose purpose remains a total mystery.
"I also spent some time chatting with Erica. Turns out she and Will are married and have quadruplets. And here I was thinking Stana and I were moving at transwarp. And unfortunately Alex is still bitter about the Dynair situation. Can't say I blame her and maybe if Stana wasn't in my life to keep me grounded, I'd be just as angry as Alex is. Hopefully Alex's relationship with Sal'lina will mellow her, because I'd hate for this tiff between her and Dynair to cause problems down the road if we all need to work together.
"Great...now I'm sounding like Uncle John. I guess this academy training is working..."
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Post by norcaler on Aug 29, 2013 16:02:55 GMT
"Cadet's Log: Stardate 89659.3
"On top of the...weirdness last night, the experiment I left running overnight in the astrometrics lab is ruined. Some weird explosion along the Romulan Neutral Zone corrupted the results and now I'm going to have to start from scratch. There goes three days of work down the drain..."
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Post by norcaler on Aug 29, 2013 18:02:37 GMT
"Cadet's Log: Supplemental
"Odd...I went back over the data from last night and just before the explosion, the array I was using picked up two warp signatures about 12 light years away from the blast site, one Federation and one Romulan...kind of. I ran the Federation one through the computer it came back as the Avalon of all ships.
"Maybe I should talk to Alex about it..."
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Post by norcaler on Sept 4, 2013 1:40:02 GMT
"Cadet's Log: Stardate 89674.1
"Tonight was Captain Ri'orah's final day as an academy instructor, where she handed out grades for the past quarter. Even though she said I was performing to standard...I rated 71 out of 100, lowest out of our group. And the people who scored the highest were the ones who hated her guts, including Alex, who since I got here practically has wanted to rip the captain's antenna off her head! Is she assigning grades based on die rolls?!
"...why am I so bothered by this? I've only been here for three weeks; I haven't had a chance to prove myself as well as the others, but she said I was performing to standard? What's the standard? Or am I being held to a different standard because I'm...me?
"...I really need to talk to Stana about this soon..."
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Post by norcaler on Sept 9, 2013 3:25:22 GMT
"Cadet's Log: Stardate 89687.9
"Boy do I feel like I'm in over my head...again. I've just started Captain Martin's Leadership and Command Class. I just hope he doesn't use my...family member as a benchmark..."
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Post by norcaler on Sept 10, 2013 6:35:03 GMT
"Cadet's Log: Supplemental
"The Nimitz made a brief stop at Deep Space 9 tonight. My duties in Stellar Cartography prevented me from going ashore when Captain Martin and Alex did, so I guess I missed out on all the fun. Or lack thereof, at least in my case..."
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Post by norcaler on Oct 29, 2013 3:42:37 GMT
*is laying in the lower bunk of his bunkbed, whispering so as not to disturb any of the cadets trying to sleep around him*
"Cadet's Log: Stardate...fill in the blank, Computer.
"...yeah, yeah, haven't been recording anything of worth in this log thanks to science midterms and all, but things got really hairy in Captain Martin's command class tonight. He broke the class in half to argue the merits of the Genesis Device and wouldn't you know, Alex and I were on opposite sides again. I swear the faculty gets a kick out of watching us argue like an old married couple, but...never mind, that's not the really weird thing. I discovered a report from a year ago how the Exodus stopped the launch of Genesis Devices from Jarkonis II. Same planet where one Governor Rasi Korax now Rasi Imidail was once a god and now a demon. Same Rasi that's the father of Captain Tiana RasTalon. Same Tiana RasTalon who's now dating Captain Martin. And guess who has the fun job of running a background check on the potential father-in-law of my CO? Just wish Uncle John was in hailing range; I could use some unbiased advice right about...
*yelps and adds in a louder tone*
"...Alex! That wasn't my knee you stepped on!"
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Post by norcaler on Nov 2, 2013 6:40:42 GMT
*speaks quietly so as not to disturb the sleeping DuCardt in the bunk above*
"Cadet's Log: Supplemental
"Well, I'm certainly out of the loop. Don and Kim getting engaged, Kim and Alex creating their own wormholes, and Uncle John opening Pandora's box, with Ambassador Worf, no less! Wonder what Grandpa David had to say when he heard about that one. Wish I could say I've done something groundbreaking in either my personal or professional life, but all I've been doing the last week or so is conducting research for Captain Martin. And by conducting research I mean hitting a bunch of brick walls. This Rasi Imidail was really, really connected; both in Starfleet and in the Trill government. I know that back when he was Rasi Korax, he was some kind of deity to the Jarkonians and his daughter Captain RasTalon was one, too. Then something happened over a year ago; she got in trouble and was taken to task publicly by an admiral named Kent Spoon. Then all hell broke loose on Jarkonis. Uncle John's predecessor on the Avalon and the half-brother of his wife, as it turns out, got busted down for interfering with Starfleet relief efforts on Jarkonis, paving the way for my uncle to take command of the Avalon. Then the whole Genesis crisis happened and get this; Captain RasTalon's ship stopped the launch and she herself shot Imidail with a phaser on stun. Thank goodness I have a somewhat normal family, Uncle John and Uncle Grant notwithstanding. After that, the records get hazy thanks to Starfleet and the Trill. In fact, a lot of his past is hazy thanks to similar orders to seal and redact records. With I could tell Captain Martin more, but on the other hand based on what I overheard at the Armstrong Club, he has his hands full...
"...and note to self, I now hate champagne..."
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Post by norcaler on Nov 5, 2013 4:36:36 GMT
"Cadet's Personal Log: Supplemental
"Boy do I feel in over my head...more so than recently. The class reported aboard our replacement for the Nimitz. I floated the name Redemption for her in light of what happened to us and Captain Martin and the name stuck. Then Admiral Allura gave me command of her for the night...well, what's left of her. She's a former Terran science vessel with all the expected amenities, but none of the standard equipment seems to be in working order. And guess who's job it is to requisition replacement parts?
"...and I really hope no one notices I pulled the name Redemption from an old fantasy holonovel I read as a kid..."
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Post by norcaler on Dec 28, 2013 6:16:45 GMT
"Cadet's Personal Log: Stardate 89988.8
"Where do I even begin? It's been several weeks since that concussion I got on the Redemption sidelined me, which is about as long as the academy grounded me in SF to work our subspace telescopes to scan the Solanae Dyson Sphere at the edge of the Delta Quadrant only to find...well, it's kind of like asking a friend to hold up a PADD a nautical mile away, then use an old fashioned spyglass to try to count the number of punctuation marks on the screen. I've lost touch with everyone: Stana, Don, Kim, S'Harien, Erica, and Alex especially. Just hope they remember me; I miss them all, particularly Stana and Allie...Alex. Hopefully with the academy in recess I can try to track down somebody, anybody. Izar doesn't have the same holidays Earth does, but it's getting really lonely around here without any familiar faces.
"Speaking of holidays, I hope Uncle John used that one week reservation at that holohotel in New Las Vegas I sent him. Don't know all the details because Starfleet doesn't believe in giving mere cadets all the details, but he sounds like he needs a vacation more than I do. Listen to me, thinking of others before myself..."
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