It was later than Jen normally was up, though he was having some difficulty settling tonight. Instead he was undertaking a ritual of relaxation that he had developed over the years. It was something which was, on Earth, called Bonsai, though it was clearly Andorian. Jen had given up trying to communicate the Andorian name ‘Dalzzio’na’ki’ and simply said it was Andorian Bonsai. In this case the Dalzzio plant was encased within its own frozen sphere behind a tactile force field. It kept in the icy temperatures that was required of what some had called ‘living ice’ while allowing him to reach in and prune and shape it.

He was bothered by the way the units were set up and felt that there needed to be fundamental changes happening. That and training. Shipboard units like these were always slack and distant from anything practical. They could have had history but memory fades fast even as complacency sets in with routines that are at best dull and at worse motivationally deadening.

Inspecting the Dalzzio, Jen noted that several new growths – thin and delicate as an ice crystal – had sprouted since he had last worked on it. His eyes scanned it, studying it, and imagined a new shape that this could take with some work. Sliding on the gloves that would protect his fingers from the razor sharp shards of the plants’ icy leaves … the ship took a sudden violent lurch to port. As he tumbled to the right as the inertial compensators strained to keep up he barely caught onto the back of the couch to break his fall. As the compensators caught on he lurched back, a flare of pain going through his shoulder.

Through clenched teeth he tapped his comms. =^= Jen to bridge. Sitrep now. =^= Then, after a pause, continued. =^= Status report. What’s going on? =^=

Jen, XO