[snip]

It was not long after Glen’s inspection of red squad and all that would happen there once a post got made, when an announcement came over to him =/\= Captain Glen your lecture hall is ready for preparations in 10 minutes.=/\= It said.

=/\= Captain Glen here. I’m on my way now. =/\=

Glen would file the report of the inspection later. It was not urgent that he made it immediately. He could write it on the flight to Paris.

He arrived at the lecture hall just in time for the preparations.

Glen made his preparations for the lecture in the same way that his officers before had done so; checking on the audio and visual equipment and moving the rostrum around to find the best spot. Once he was satisfied, he waiting for the last of the audience to get seated before beginning.

When he was sure everyone was seated and the gossip had stopped, the lights were turned down. He began with a short introduction.

“Good Morning, I am John Tiberius Glen of the USS Merrimack.”

“Just a few years ago, I was walking among the hanging gardens of Ekkaia as a tourist. I was being bustled by the crowds and harangued by traders. The noise was intolerable, and I thought to myself, do people really do this for pleasure? And then I realised, for probably the first time, how lucky I was to be a Starship Captain. On every mission, I get to explore new worlds, seek out new life, new civilisations, and what’s more, when I get there, then there are never any sun loungers with towels already placed on them!”

“So, my lecture is entitled ‘Less Work and More Play: The Opportunities to see the Milky Way, to Study Cultures and New Life’. It will be a very short lecture compared to the others. I don’t expect you get much time as cadets to question a Captain on active duty, so I’m going to leave more time for questions at the end.”

Cross was seated in the same spot as she did during the other lectures,when he said it was going to be a short one so the present Cadets would have time to ask questions, she did wonder what they would want to know and realize the opportunity the Captain was giving them in that moment in time.

Willam was sat behind the doctor. He thought the Captain’s plan a good one, Cadets don’t often get the opportunities to talk to Starship Captains. He would have loved to get a chance to talk to someone like Captain Sulu or a Diplomat like Captain Spock. He wondered what sorts of questions they’d have.

After a pause for a drink from a glass of water, John Glen continued with his lecture.

“If there was more time, then I could tell you more funny travel stories, about working out how to use alien showers, or eating food that is still moving around the plate, or having massages that could actually be classed as a torture technique.”

“As cadets you need to realise that you are incredibly privileged; lucky even! You have a future in which you are going to see things and do things no one has done before; to go to places to which no one has gone. Grasp those opportunities with both hands, savour each moment of them like a snowflake in your hand, and realise just how fortunate you are.”

“You will have been told in the Academy that your primary duty is the advancement of Federation knowledge about the galaxy and its inhabitants, the advancement of Federation science and technology, the defence of the Federation, and the facilitation of Federation diplomacy. I want to tell you that you have additional duties to yourselves, and to pay attention to those moments when they come. Be mindful of them, to learn as much as you can about those alien cultures, and to use that knowledge to better yourselves. You cannot call yourself a citizen of the United Federation of Planets until you have seen it for yourself.”

“Most likely, you see your role a galactic policeman, or an envoy or diplomat, or in making humanitarian missions, or occasionally maybe even a soldier. I want to tell you that, of course that is important, but it is also about your own self-development as an individual too. On a Starship you will have the opportunity to study and learn new skills, to take on new roles, to express your creativity and to build your self-confidence, but please don’t look upon it as only a ship-based career. Take every opportunity to leave the ship too, to see the galaxy and to meet different people. It is that meeting strangers who look different and speak alien languages that is the very essence of travel. It may all sound a little scary but if you keep asking questions; if you do not judge but instead you are open minded, curious and respectful, then you will find that is reciprocated, and you will be enriched for it.”

Tinga had listened to the Captain’s lecture with interest. From an Aenar point of view she could see several faults with it but, the chances of her becoming a Captain, and ever having to conduct a lecture like this one, were slim in her estimation.

Glen concluded his lecture.

“Mark Twain wrote: ‘Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” Hundreds of years may have passed, but never has that been truer.’”

“Since the Khitomer Conference, the Federation has been re-evaluating its place in the rest of the galaxy. You are the next generation. You will be exploring in bigger ships than us, ships that may contain families, ships with more powerful sensors, with superior replicators and advanced holographic suites that we could only dream about. You will go further into unknown space and see strange things and have mind blowing experiences. You will return utterly changed by what you found. “

“Have you ever watched a child playing and thought, “What would it be like to have my life be so simple once again?” As we get older, the experiences we have and the more complicated our lives becomes, the more perspective we gain on the universe. In your lives, the universe is going to change more than ever before. The perspective that someone on Earth gains in a few years, you may gain within a few short weeks. Seeing other ways of life, other rules to live life by, different definitions of what it is to be happy, these enrich us and broaden our horizons.”

“So, I ask you to seize the moment. Take every opportunity that comes your way! Get out there! Mark Twain also said, ‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.’”

“Now, I will take your questions!”

• Glen, CO