Posted by Commander Jennifer Wallace (Executive Officer) in Jenn’s Academy Days (19 years ago)

Posted by Commander Jennifer Wallace (Executive Officer) in Jenn’s Academy Days (19 years ago)
The year was 2378. The place, Starfleet Academy.

Round-rimmed glasses framed green eyes held in a frightened expression, and wild red hair was pulled back into a ponytail. This place was so, so big. Jennifer had seen some crazy stuff on the way to the Academy, but being in the actual place really couldn’t be beaten. She was on earth. Really, truly, on another planet. This was incredible. A crowd all around her was teeming with activity and chatter, more people than she’d met in her whole life.

She was holding a small PaDD loaded with information about the Academy and her classes, squinting at the screen to read it when someone bumped into her from behind. Jenn managed to hold onto the thing as she turned around, and her immediate response to seeing the young man who had bumped into her was a slight squeak. “You’re blue!”

“And you’re pink,” he replied with a cheeky smirk, poking her cheek. “And soft. No wonder they called you lot pink-skins.” His skin was, indeed, a pale shade of blue. His hair was white, eyes dark, and atop his head were antenna. This must be an Andorian!

“”Oh, I’m so sorry,” Jennifer scrambled, slipping her PaDD into her satchel and extending a hand. “I’m Jennifer Wallace.”

“Pleased to meet you, Jennifer Wallace. I am Shess Ch’Dani,” he said, taking her hand and shaking it amicably. “I’m sorry for bumping into you. It’s just that this place is so…”

“Incredible?”

“Yeah. That’d be the word I was looking for,” he grinned. “You’ve never seen it before either? I thought they showed humans kids around this place all the time!”

“Ah, I wasn’t raised on Earth. I’ve been told stories, but I’ve never even seen pictures.”

“Wow. What’s your first class?”

“Intro to Earth in class 204 B, funnily enough. I might be the only human there.”

“You’d be surprised,” Shess grinned. “Come on, I’m going there too.”

“You know the way?”

“I have a good memory, and I looked at a map before I showed up!”

The two laughed, and set off towards the future.

Wallace, Cadet

OOC: Having a little bit of fun exploring Jenn’s backstory and felt like sharing :D

When the two new students arrived in room 204 B, they weren’t the first ones there. But they were far from being the last. A small group of three people were clustered in one area, while a fourth individual sat alone near the front of the class. It was a little hard to tell where anyone was from, but the one member of the small group was quite clearly a Caitian.

Shess broke away from Jenn and slipped over to the group, grinning as he greeted them in a loud voice.

Jenn watched the ambitiously friendly Andorian step away, then glanced over to the lone cadet near the front of the room. She glanced over at the group, then made her way over to the front, quietly putting her bag down on the desk next to the lone cadet. A glance at the haircut and ears and she recognized them to be Vulcan.

Jenn pulled out her PADD and started reading into the class introduction, glancing over once or twice at her classmate. It only took a minute or two before the Vulcan cadet looked back at her, raising an eyebrow.

“Hello. You seem to be curious. You are also human. Are you certain that you are in the correct classroom?”

“Yeah, actually,” Jenn smiled. “I’m Jennifer. I wasn’t raised on Earth, so this place is as new to me as it is to any of you.”

“I am Elonat,” she replied, giving Jenn a small nod. “Welcome to Earth.”

“I can see why you avoided the others there,” Jenn gestured to the somewhat loud group of now four individuals, giving a small chuckle. “They’re a bit too rambunctious for me.”

Elonat glanced at the group. “I saw no reason to socialize.”

“I think it’s important. We have to be a team when we’re on a Starship, after all.”

Elonat seemed to have been given pause. “You make a valid point. However, you also decided to avoid the others.”

“I decided I’d rather sit with you. There’s a difference between avoiding everyone and gravitating towards one person.”

Elonat blinked, then looked directly at Jenn. “Perhaps.” She then turned back to whatever she was reading.

• Wallace, Cadet

A couple of months passed, and the group of students in Intro to Earth had formed somewhat of a friendly rapport. Jenn was, unsurprisingly, the only human in the class, although the TA was the same age as the rest of them and tended to hang out with the group. All told there were ten of them, from a wide variety of worlds. Most of them had grown up on colony worlds, except for Elonat, Shess, and the other human, Ellie. Elonat and Gari (a Trill) were planning on majoring in science. Ellie and Esa (Bajoran) were already signed up for more engineering courses than Jenn thought possible. H’Morr, the Caitian Jenn had noticed, was focusing on counseling, while Percy, the Ktarian, was focusing on Helm. Shess and Krull (Klingon) were focusing on Security, while Egam (Betazoid) and Jenn were in Medical. Years later, Jenn would wonder if the group of them ever would have become friends if it hadn’t been for Intro to Earth.

One particularly clear night, Jenn and and a few of the others were sitting outside on the roof of their Student Housing, staring up at the stars. Most of them had beer cans in hand. “One day we’re gonna be flying up there,” Jenn commented.

“Wonder which one of us is gonna make Captain first?” Gari said.

“Definitely not you, troublemaker!” Ellie punched him in the shoulder, causing him to pull back and pretend to be hurt. H’Morr purred with amusement, leaning her head against Ellie’s shoulder. It hadn’t taken long for the two of them to start dating, although Jenn expected they’d known one another before Intro to Earth.

“Ten credits it’s Jenn,” Shess piped up, taking a sip of his beer.

“I’ll take that bet. My vote’ssss on Ellie, sssshe’ssss clearly the mossst ressponsssible of all of uss!” H’Morr decided.

“What about Esa? I think He’d be a good Captain!” Jenn said, trying to deflect the energy. She didn’t want to be a captain… the highest her dreams went were Chief Medical Officer. Even then she wasn’t sure she’d be up for the task.

“I know that face,” Shess poked Jennifer’s forehead, knocking her out of her head. “You’ll be an incredible Captain one day, Jenny. Trust me!”

Wallace, Cadet