[snip]

“A bit, mostly around Earth, with only a couple of missions farther out. Haven’t had much opportunity to take these longer duration assignments. What about yourself?” Eric said as he followed along.

The Lt sounded so nonchalant in that, at least to Rick. His own story was deathly dull by any standard. It was something that he battled with - wanting the opportunity that this provides him as a mechanical engineer with shuttle major, but that set against his ‘family’s’ nature of nine to five and back home to the screens humdrum life. Both things prodded at him with an occasional mix of thrill and guilt set into a stew that looked great but tasted sour. He was free however when he worked; there he was in his element. “I’m straight out of the package, Lt,” he said. “You could say that I’m in space by virtue of being in the right place and right time rather than …” Rather than what? Working for it? He did work for it, just not in a military academy setting, a civilian working on a Fleet base close to home as a shuttle mechanic. That was all he had imagined; his reflexes and eyesight was not enough to make him a shuttle pilot of any skill. “Well, I was working on a Fleet base and was offered a spot to fill in as a shuttle specialist when the one they’d selected picked up a tropical bug that gave him vertigo whenever he tried to stand. It was as easy as the Captain of the Aurora talking with the Base Warrant Officer. The Captain asked if there was anyone about that had the knowhow to step in. I happened to be waist deep in an engine assembly in the hangar and I’d guess the only mechanic about when the Warrant pointed to me and said, “Rick knows his way around shuttles.” Well, it was supposed to be a temporary assignment, and was, but then I got moved to the Bonnie and then to here.” He took a breath and bit the bullet. “Do you ever miss Earth, Lt?”

Once they reached the cargo bay, Eric popped up the scanner and started looking around. “So where did you see this creature?”

Lt Eric -Sci

The lights had auto dimmed when it detected no movement and slowly the rose in illumination as they entered. Rick paused to let his eyes adjust and reorient himself. “Toward the back,” he said, pointing. “Behind that line of crates is a ventilation duct. I left Nessa there to keep watch.” He slowly threaded his way through the Bay that felt more like his father’s garage than a storage bay. Or was that the other way around? “Just back here,” he said, leading. “Nessa?” he called.

At Nessa’s call the dog gave a crisp bark from behind one crate they were coming towards then came around. After a second the dog sat on its haunches giving a tilt of its head to the man, her tail slightly wagging back and forth.

GM CockRoach