Cadet Marshall glanced at her timepiece as she walked past the office door for the third time, wishing, again for the third time, that she had her brother’s much more relaxed temperament. Perhaps then she would have been reading in her quarters rather than pacing the corridor fifteen minutes early for her appointment. Jacob never took anything seriously and yet, somehow, he still managed to be the top of his class and the family paragon. Hayley shook her head trying to clear her thoughts. “Never mind” she mused, “It’s not like I really had any interest in the family business. It just would have been nice to have my presence in the family acknowledged once in awhile.” Hayley was sick and tired of being invisible. It was safe, but incredibly boring.
Thinking back, she realized that the day she told her parents she was joining Starfleet was probably the first time they actually seemed to see her. Glancing at her timepiece, Hayley suddenly realized she had been standing in front of the office door, lost in thought, for at least ten minutes. “Well, here goes,” she thought as she pressed the door chime.