| Genesis 2 p. 4 |
| Thank you.” Mansel looked out of the main viewscreen and pointed straight ahead. “Take us out.” The Excelsior-class ship gracefully slid out of the spot where it had been docked and slowly pulled out into the stars for the second time. Commander Vaughn looked up to Mansel, who was still behind the chair, and smiled. “Time for us to begin.” Mansel nodded. “Let’s hope we encounter more than comets and meteors. Such a fine ship like this shouldn’t be wasted.” Commander Vaughn shook his head. “I keep telling you, these seven years are only a test of our skills. After that, then we’ll snag all the juicy assignments.” Mansel glanced down at his Executive Officer. “I hope you’re right.” He turned his attention to his Navigations officer, Lieutenant Broadaway. “Broadaway,” he said, “you have the first coordinates programmed into the computer?” “Yes sir,” was the response he got. “Good,” said Mansel. “Take us there.” The Explorer glided onto the first of many courses, off to make a name for their ship and themselves. Not for the first time, Mansel wondered how he got to be a starship captain. *** UNSF Space 08:45, Standard Earth Time (SET) 2185 For three months, the Explorer had been in the galaxy, surveying and mapping. As Lieutenant Commander Lamb had so bluntly put it, they were “serving their time.” Mansel had been in the simulator rooms a lot, trying to improve his battle-readiness in combat situations. Along with Commander Vaughn, they made a god team. Now if they could only get some action Mansel had thought a few minutes after finishing a simulation. They were on the bridge of the Explorer, each tending to his, her, or its own business, when a Lieutenant from Stellarcartography approached Mansel. Captain,” she said, “the new reports.” Mansel repressed an inward sigh and took the infopad she was holding out to him. Taking a glance at it, he saw that they had managed to chart another quarter of the system they were currently working on. They had charted all planets, planetoid bodies, moons, suns, asteroid fields…“the works” as Commander Vaughn had said. All of the information was processed in Stellarcartography, then sent on a narrow-band frequency to some remote starbase, whose only job was to upload the new discoveries into every computer and note any important changes. “Fascinating,” said Mansel with no emotion at all, handing the infopad back to the lieutenant. She took the pad and promptly left the bridge. Commander Vaughn voiced what Mansel had been thinking. “Three months out ‘exploring the galaxy’ as the UNSF puts it. How do we get some action? When will we get the chance to show what our ship is made of?" Mansel shrugged, just as disgusted as Vaughn was. “I don’t know, T.J. I asked Admiral Wilson that same question the day before we launched. He told me that the UNSF’s main job was exploration.” He shrugged again. “I guess all that about action happens after our seven year torture. What do you think, Broadaway?” he asked the young helmsman. Mansel and Vaughn had both noticed Broadaway’s shyness and lack of communication. They had both been subtly trying to get him to speak his mind about subjects the whole time they had been out in space. Slowly but surely, Broadaway was coming around. This was not one of those times, however. The helmsman merely shrugged and looked from the Captain to Commander Vaughn and back to the Captain. “I’m not sure, sir,” was all he said before wheeling back to face his console. “It’s a good thing he’s not the morale officer,” muttered Lieutenant Commander Lamb. He was at his usual position at Tactical, behind and slightly to the left of Captain Mansel; directly behind Commander Vaughn. Vaughn sighed and looked at Mansel. “See what I have to put up with behind my ear?” he complained, making a distasteful face. The bridge crew went back to silence; each engrossed in his or her own individual assignments. So this is what it’s like to be a starship Captain Mansel thought, sitting back in his chair looking out the main viewscreen. Resorted to sitting around and staring out at the stars, mapping systems. UNSF Academy didn’t warn us about the monotonous day-to-day activities of the commanding officer. In four years of instruction, you’d think they’d find a place to mention it At her communications console, Ensign LaTonya Hardy perked up. “Captain, I’m receiving a signal,” she said, alerting everyone on the bridge. Mansel was glad to see that the boredom wasn’t just affecting him and Vaughn. “What kind of signal?” Commander Vaughn asked while half rising out of his chair in excitement. “It’s a faint signal, sir.” After a few seconds of listening, she reported “it’s a distress signal, Commander.” |
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