Things not in the brochure

Posted on 13 Apr 2026 @ 4:38pm by Lieutenant JG Ryan Collingway
Edited on on 13 Apr 2026 @ 9:27pm

712 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Arawyn’s Itchy Trigger Finger

///Engineering////

As the disheveled Commander Harlan entered and gave his appreciation to the engineering team, Ryan felt a small knot of anticipation finally start to losen in his chest. Starbase 369 had reached out to him this morning, eager to get some idea of what needed to be fixed. The hull, and the EPS taps for sure. They would also need to fully replace the coolant tank, as a patch job wasn't ideal for any long-term mission. That would involve shutting down the warp core again, but this time it would at least be under far more controlled conditions. Those were the big three. Everything else the Arawyn engineers could do, but the Starbase engineers made it clear that they were there to fix anything that was still outstanding, and even give the ship a detailed polish on the way out. The response so far were both friendly and beyond professional. These were engineers that were used to damaged ships coming in, and wanting to help take the load off. For that, Ryan was very appreciative. Between that and seeing Commander Harlan return, Ryan was finally able to relax a little. He might even sleep better tonight.

He copied the Starbase' response and sent it for Harlan to review later. "You heard the Commander. Let's get back to work," Ryan said after the applause settled.

///Later that night////

Ryan was not able to sleep. At all.

Most of his time was spent tossing and turning. The one brief snippet he had was a bad dream about the warp core restart failing, of the ship being defenseless due to his own incompetence. This dream had the added bonus of the ship exploding a moment later due to his added knowledge of the defense system marking the Arawyn as no longer 'friendly'.

He sighed as he sat on the edge of the bed. Why was he doing this to himself? He knew he was competent. He had arguably saved the ship. So why was his brain constantly trying to convince him otherwise?

He had knocked something over the side of the bed. Must have happened in his sleep. He glanced at it, and gave a small laugh as he saw what had dropped.

It was a Starfleet brochure. The same one his eighteen-year-old self had been nervously gripping when he had entered the recruitment office. He had saved it for posterity.

It was also not a typical Starfleet brochure, though it took him a while to realize that. His planet had not been friendly to the Federation. Someone had taken their time to make this more detailed, more colorful. More appealing to people who wanted to get away from the typical criminal life on that planet.

Of course there was no mention of Starships being attacked, weather machines blowing up, or snobby colonists with decaying infrastructure. Those details were of course conveniently missing, he thought with a smirk.

Ryan released a small sigh. Maybe his past was part of the problem. He had overhead a lot of people talking about reaching out to their families again. The near-death experiences made them want to do so, understandably. He didn't have that luxury. And the connections he initially made on the Arawyn were quickly leaving, departing to the Starbase for new adventures.

Where did that leave him?

He gotten through another mission, albeit an unplanned one. He had left it more experienced, more confident in his abilities, dreams be damned. The ship had its first battle scar. So did the crew, in a way.

But he still felt a bit...lost. Transferring off wouldn't change that in the slightest. If anything, it would probably make him feel worst.

"Emerson would have a field day with me about this stuff," he muttered to himself, before getting his jacket. Thankfully that wouldn't be for a little while. Sleep still eluded him. Might as well do more work.

Maybe some much-needed shore leave to the Starbase would give him some answers, although he didn't see how. As long as he didn't break anything and had to fix the Starbase as punishment, however, he should come out ahead.

Unknown to him at this time, the Starbase was about to be full of surprises....

Lieutenant (JG) Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn

 

RSS Feed