Posted by Ensign Ashlyn Trenton (Security Officer) in Side Sim: Unsettled Minds: Arrival

Something doesn’t feel quite right, there are just too many people in this shuttle. Everything is packed in here so tightly that it would be easy to suspect Ashlyn if not for the fact that her hands were on Sharah’s shoulders to keep their heads from slamming together. Which unfortunately means someone else is touching and that is probably less comfortable than at least knowing who was doing that. Not that there was much choice, the number of people in this shuttle would make any engineer’s head spin. How did they get into this position in the first place? Memory is fuzzy, can only remember there being so many people getting into the shuttle that four onboard security had to help force the door closed.

The shuttle lurched when it was dumped out the bottom of the ship, destined to take these graduates to…the exact same ship. Literally, same size, same layout, almost the same soul! Ships have souls. That sounds right, moving on! The only real difference is the people, and they were about to add seven…ty five more to it! How did they get so many into this one shuttle? Why not send more than one shuttle? Why not send the whole ship and teleport people across? Instead, they are stuck here to wallow in each other’s sweaty musk as the crushing number of people begins to heat the interior like an oven. Or maybe it’s because they are traveling so close to that star? Why are they so close to th- Oh hey the ship has arrived, or did they arrive? Why isn’t this more clear? It would be better if everyone would just quiet down though. It sounds like every person in the shuttle is trying to talk to them all at once making it impossible to hear just one person.

The purple shuttle…wait…since when did these shuttles come in purple? Well, the bay chief doesn’t seem to be surprised by this so maybe it’s normal? Oh wait, that isn’t the Shuttle Bay Chief, that’s the Chief Engineer, and the Captain, and the Second in command, and the whole crew? The shuttle bay isn’t that big, how does everyone fit? Why is everyone here? The Captain moves up to the shuttle with a big bar that has a ring at the end of it and with some effort, manages to somehow attach it to the top of the shuttle above the door. He tries to turn the ring for a long while then gives up. “I’ll be back, I have to go fix the computer.” The Captain casually wandered off like he hadn’t just been straining to turn a giant metal key. The XO is the next to try the key and with barely any effort, turns the metal bar and opens the door like the lid of a sardine can. Several graduates flop out onto the floor like fish flopping about trying to find water…which they do by flopping their way out of the Shuttle Bay and into space…to the applause of the rest of the crew.

This is clearly wrong, none of this makes any logical sense, that graduate has a sandwich that is revealed to be filled with peanut butter when some drops out the bottom. Why? Why a peanut butter sandwich?

Somewhere else on the ship, the Shuttle Bay Engineer startles awake in a cold sweat. Never had he seen so many energetic graduates coming out of the shuttle in his life. He struggled to catch his breath and let out a sigh, deciding it was better to get some water. He activated his replicator and took a long sip of the refreshing liquid, letting out a content sigh. He really did enjoy the simple things in life. He turned and to his horror, there they were. The newest addition to the ship, an entire platoon of Ashlyn Trenton! All with that mad stare and that twisted grin that could only be a sign of true insanity! They all spoke at the same time as a form of greeting, but the noise was too much, he couldn’t process any of what they were saying. Only one maintained her silence because she was eating a sandwich that dripped peanut butter onto his floor. Never before had he considered a nut crushed with oil to be so terrifying!

Then Sharah Fayth wakes up in a start, looking to her side she finds her friend, Ashlyn Trenton, sleeping peacefully, nibbling on her pillow. That is when the realization hits her, “The Conference of Trenton never sleeps.”

• Ensign Ashlyn Trenton
  Security, USS Europa

Sharah shook her head to clear it. What was that? That was the most bizarre thing she had ever…Oh wait… After a moment she realized it was Ashlyn’s head messing with her sleep. Sharah must not have been in a deep sleep yet, and Ashlyn’s thoughts had tumbled out everywhere and Sharah’s brain had tried to make sense of what it was ‘hearing.’ Sharah was going to have to talk to the doctor about something to help her sleep if she was going to be hearing Ashlyn’s dreams. Sharah thought back over their arrival earlier that evening.
~*The shuttle ride had been hard. Sharah spent the whole time trying to find a way to ride over the waves of the thoughts pounding at her, but everyone on the shuttle was far too excited, nervous, and boisterous. Then they got to the Europa and it was a slew of minds she didn’t recognize and didn’t know the rhythm. Ashlyn tried to help but her “conference” was more than Sharah could process at the time. She didn’t say anything though because she knew Ashlyn was really trying to help. The worst came when, out of instinct she reached for Joseph’s help and he wasn’t there, he was too far out of reach. She’d felt like a half ton weight had been dropped down on her chest. She forced herself to breath and reminded herself, rather forcefully, that she had promised to take care of herself. She was going to stop this craziness right now.

En Fayth, Doctor

The Shuttle trip to the ship was spent mostly helping Sharah keep calm, she was distraught over having to leave her friend? Partner? Man Toy? She never really defined him as anything to Trenton so she just focused on being a decent friend and supported her through the trip. While excited to be on a new ship, Trenton was more excited to have a greater opportunity to build up her package for approval to join Starfleet Intelligence. Once the shuttle docked in the shuttle bay of the Europa, Trenton checked in with the bay officer to get the room assignments. With a surprising amount of luck, she was roomed with Sharah which meant she would be able to adapt to the new crew more comfortably. The only foreseeable issue at this point would be the regular messages back to whomever it was she left behind. Not that Trenton had a problem with them, but jealous partners are always a problem when she gets involved.

• Ensign Ashlyn Trenton
  Security, USS Europa

Sharah had looked out at the Europa and took a double take, another Discovery class. At least they would know where everything was. She disembarked with Ashlyn and reported for her assignments. She grinned at Ashlyn, they were bunk mates, “You know as soon as we both get there, we’re going to make that room look like a Jeffries tube exploded over a parkour course, right?” Ashlyn asked her to take her medical file to sickbay with the others in exchange for taking their bags to their quarters. She took the data chips from Ashlyn and nodded. “Sure, thanks. I have a trunk too. Can you do me a favor if it’s there? Inside is a biostasis box. Will you open it and take the plant inside of it out and put it on a table somewhere? It’s been in stasis too many times recently and I really don’t want anything to happen to it.”

En Fayth, Doctor

Once Ensign Fayth got her room assignment, Trenton dug out a small box that contained the iso chips that had her medical records on them. “If you’ll take this to the CMO, I’ll take our stuff to the room, save you a trip and give them a chance to review my records before I get there. I’m sure you remember how thick my records were.” Sharah made a comment on how they planned to decorate the room that made Ashlyn grin while collecting her bags. “Sure thing, I’ll set it up on the window so it can get some natural light from the stars.”

• Ensign Ashlyn Trenton
  Security, USS Europa

Sharah turned, PaDDs in hand and took the turbolift to deck 6 and main sickbay. Once there she dropped off the medical records for the cadets…the ensigns that had been assigned from the Challenger. Then, since it was middle of night shift, she had returned to her quarters to get some sleep. Before she entered she realized she was at the wrong door. Back on Challenger that was Joseph’s door. ‘Great, I’m across the hall from his room. Like some twisted alternate reality. This tour is either going to kill me or make me stronger.’*
En Fayth, Doctor

With bags in tow, Trenton entered the turbolift with Fayth and once again went through the nervous clenching of being in the proverbial steel coffin. She never liked being in these things and she probably never will, but as long as they don’t fail on her she’ll continue to use them. When the doors woosh open on deck 5, Trenton lets out a sigh of relief taking a different path than the Betazoid to get to their room. Suite 519 was adequately distanced from other occupied quarters and Trenton made an internal joke about segregating out the crazies that made her chuckle. Inside the room, Trenton quickly stored the bags in their respective closets, opened the bag Fayth mentioned to retrieve the plant in stasis to set on the window, then took a moment to examine some of her friend’s style choices in non-uniform items. Satisfied with her limited and controlled invasion of privacy, she sealed the suitcase back up and started unpacking.
Ashlyn didn’t have a lot of stuff to unpack, but what she did have added simple decorations to the interior of her closet. Once those were in place, Ashlyn stripped the bed and laid out the bedding inside the closet so she could get some sleep. The trip was long and it was late, Ashlyn didn’t have as much trouble as she usually did falling asleep, though she did wake once Sharah made it into the room. Turning over to face her friend, she smiled sleepily at her from the closet bed. “Rest well, pleasant dreams and all that. I’ll see you in the morning, we’ll do breakfast then head to our medical exams.”

• Ensign Ashlyn Trenton
  Security, USS Europa

Sharah wasn’t going to get any more sleep that night after her bizarre shared dream with Ashlyn, or whatever that was. She grabbed a PaDD and stepped out of the room quietly. She eventually found herself at the lounge outside of Battle Sickbay on deck 9. Sharah made a very brief recorded message to Joseph, “We finally arrived at the Europa. Another Discovery class ship. It was strange, it was like we never left the Challenger. I dropped off medical records before bunking in for the night. It’s the middle of the night shift here. We report in, in the morning. There isn’t a full botanist rostered and I’m going to ask to take over the arboretum on my off time so I can continue working on my research project, and I’ll need plants for that.
This ship is so much like the Challenger. I keep expecting you to walk around the corner. I probably shouldn’t tell you, but I’ve reached for your mind more times than I should admit to. I miss you, Imzadi.
Love,
Sharah
Sharah stayed at the lounge, watching the view until it was time to get ready for duty the next morning.

En. Fayth, Doctor