I awoke the next morning ready for my first full day aboard ship. Shifting back to elf form, I put on some workout clothes and headed to the gym to work out. When I got there, there was already someone there, a male orc. Since there was only one male orc on the crew, I knew it had to be Okthro Tskitto, an enlisted pilot.

  He finished his workout before I did, leaving me alone at the end. Once I too finished, I returned to my room to wash up quickly and head to the mess. The cook had returned, meaning there was proper food that time, so I ducked to the kitchen to say hi.

  “Hey, I’m Junior Ensign Dax Juniper, the new junior bridge officer. You’re Senior Specialist Yogatori Demarioti, right?”

  “Please,” said the magenta-haired gnome, “call me Tori, unless I’m in trouble, then don’t call me at all.”

  I laughed. “Okay, Tori. I’m Dax, at least off-duty.”

  “Aye, good to meet ya. Now get out of my kitchen!” She said the last part in a light-hearted way that suggested to me that she really meant it but didn’t want to actually be rude.”

  “Aye, Ms Tori, I’ll get out of your vibrant hair.”

  Ducking back into the dining area, I grabbed some breakfast and ate up quickly since no one else was around. After that, I had a bit over an hour before we would be taking off, so I wandered around for a bit, trying to meet a few others.

  A few of the enlisted were hanging around in one of the lounges, so I stopped in to say hello. As I entered, one of them turned to look at me, prompting the others to do the same. It was a little awkward and I didn’t quite know how to respond, so I just gave a little wave.

  One of the people was Jara, and she started to chuckle, and soon we were all laughing.

  “Everyone, this is Dax Juniper, the new bridge officer. Dax, this is… well, not everyone, but everyone here.”

  She pointed to the female felid. “Senior Sailor Wakuto Romara, everyone calls her Romara.”

  She moved her finger toward the male felid. “Junior Private Riyo Detenu, ‘Nil’ on account of that’s how much money he always has after a night of gambling. And the little gnome is Anibadi Golgoriani, or Ani.”

  “Not little. I’m perfectly reasonable for a gnome.”

  “Mate, you’re the shortest adult I’ve ever met, even for a gnome.”

  More laughs, including Ani despite the glare she tried to make at Jara.

  “Nice to meet you all,” I finally said. “Like Jara said, off-duty you can call me Dax.”

  ““Hi, Dax,”” everyone said more or less in unison, like they were young students in a classroom. I just rolled my eyes.

  “Anyway, you’re second shift, right? Want to play some cards?” Jara waggled her eyebrows in a silly manner.

  I shook my head. “No, I’m going to wander a bit then head to the bridge for the departure. Haven’t ever left the system, after all, and it seems worth being there when we start the journey, even if it’ll be a while before we technically leave.”

  Everyone nodded at that, clearly understanding the sentiment. With a round of “goodbye” and “see you later,” I headed out to see who else I could meet. I thought about heading to engineering, but I suspected they’d be busy double-checking everything this close to a departure, so instead I wandered down to the weapons bays to see if anyone was around. Indeed, there was a female goblin with junior lieutenant stripes, so I stopped to introduce myself.

  “Ma’am,” I said, giving a salute.

  “Bah, at ease, ensign,” she said, waving me off. “I’m Estaba Kilinas, and you must be Ensign Juniper. Now, leave me be, I’m working.”

  “Aye, ma’am,” I responded, saluting her briefly before leaving.

  Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

  I wandered around a bit more until I encountered a female sidhe I hadn’t met walking down the hall. Her junior sergeant marking indicated that she must be the bosun, Kiki Zorovi.

  “Ensign Juniper,” she said, her tone firm. Had I not spent two cycles living with Valissa, I probably would have thought her intense.

  “Sergeant Zorovi. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  “Aye, ma’am. It’s good to have a full crew again. Did you need anything from me?”

  “No, sergeant, everything is fine on my end.”

  She gave a firm nod. “I’ll be seeing you, then.” With that, she walked off, leaving me with a smile on my face. I could see Valissa becoming just like her in a few cycles, and it gave me a brief pang of melancholy, missing my friends.

  As it was nearing 1200, I made my way to the bridge. Once I arrived, I saw five people—a female human with senior commander bars who had to be Captain Arla Jones; a female dwarf, Senior Lieutenant Karla Droth; a male goblin, Senior Ensign Klikor Delvaston; the pilot, the female demon and senior lieutenant Heska Cathka; and, off to the side, my commanding officer, a female orc named Ess Rokloth.

  Lieutenant Rokloth gave me a nod as I entered, and the captain glanced over at me.

  “Ensign Juniper, it’s good to see you here. Go ahead and sit at one of the empty duty stations—there won’t be a ton to see, but it’ll still be worth being there.”

  I gave a firm nod in agreement and sat down. I pulled up an overview display to see everything that was happening, then waited while everyone worked. Soon enough, it was time, and the captain spoke again.

  “Devlaston, please request permission to detach and launch.”

  The senior ensign tapped a few keys, then waited fifteen seconds or so. “Permission granted, captain. Detaching.”

  “Droth, do we have a route?”

  “Aye, captain. Route is set.”

  “Crew, this is a momentous day for young Juniper here. Her first trip into the deep black begins. Let’s make it a good one. Cathka, set sail.”

  “Aye, captain. Launching.”

  There wasn’t anything to feel since any jolting or motion was more than accounted for by the inertial dampeners, but I could see on the giant holoscreen wrapping the front of the room, as well as on the sensor data in front of me, that we were moving away from the station. I took in a deep breath. It was really happening—I was leaving Eryth and our sun behind.

  My eyes watered slightly as I was overcome by emotions too jumbled to really name. Lieutenant Rokloth noticed and gave me a knowing nod, which I returned with a smile.

  Wiping my eyes, I stared into the star-speckled black, thinking of everything that had led me to this point. My family, the expectations on me, the planning, my friends, the work I put in at the academy—everything faded away as I looked forward to the next chapter of my life.

  My musing was interrupted by the captain. “Good launch, crew. Juniper, welcome to the Bluejay. Mind stepping into my office for a moment?”

  “Aye, captain.” I followed her into the office attached to the bridge and sat down in the chair in front of her desk when indicated.

  “Junior Ensign Dax Juniper. Your record thus far is excellent. I’m expecting good things from you. Now, I know that I run the ship a bit looser than most of the larger ships, but it’s important to remember there’s a time and place for a relaxed atmosphere and a time and place to get serious. On the bridge, I expect everyone to be on top of their duties. This includes observing military discipline. In the mess, the gym, the rec rooms—it’s more flexible there. I trust you can handle that?”

  “Aye, ma’am. I can handle that.”

  “Good. Now, I believe that the good lieutenant wanted to speak with you as well. Dismissed.”

  I gave a quick salute and headed back to the bridge where Lieutenant Rokloth was waiting.

  “Let’s take a walk, ensign.”

  I nodded and followed her.

  “I’ve reviewed your academy records. I noted that you did quite well overall, though some of your interpersonal skills were ranked lower than things like astronavigation. Can you explain why this was?”

  “Yes, ma’am. I experienced, let’s say a sheltered childhood, and my social experiences varied in strange ways. In contrast, I have a doctorate in astrophysics, so the more math and physics related subjects came more easily.”

  She nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense. I’ll want you to continue studying and working on those skills, of course—they are quite important. In the meantime, let’s review things you should already know, yes?”

  She then proceeded to quiz me on a wide variety of topics that I had learned, most of which I had retained. Occasionally, she managed to trip me up, at which point she carefully explained my mistake and told me to study that topic more. I made notes on my tablet for each of those topics so I knew what to work on. Thankfully, the ship carried a fairly comprehensive collection of military learning materials, so I could study everything I needed to work on despite the lack of connection to a planetary network.

  After about an hour of being quizzed, the lieutenant dismissed me back to my room, so I headed down to one of the lounges where I found people playing cards. They didn’t seem to be gambling at the moment, so I sat down to watch. After a few hands, they invited me to join, and I lost horribly. It was still fun, though, getting to know people a bit better.

  After that, I spent the last hour or so before my shift studying some of the material I hadn’t quite retained from my courses. I knew that the lieutenant would be quizzing me some more during our shift—there was plenty of down time just spent keeping an eye on the monitors from time to time, and that seemed the perfect opportunity to quiz me.

  Soon enough, I left my room, making sure my uniform was in perfect position. It felt important to look my best for my first true shift on a starship. With my perfect uniform, I stepped onto the bridge to finally fulfill the role I had prepared for throughout the past few cycles.