The Long Journey

Posted on Thu Sep 24th, 2020 @ 11:01pm by Lieutenant Milo Jensar

425 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Cleaning Up
Location: Shuttle Hurley

The shuttle Hurley moved quietly through the vacuum of space. Despite moving at high impulse, it had still taken the lone occupant almost 24 hours to reach its destination. Lieutenant Milo Jensar was asleep at the controls, his feet up resting on one of the many consoles that decorated the front of the shuttle.

The Science Officer had recently been promoted from Lieutenant junior grade to full Lieutenant, and with the promotion came an opportunity for transfer. His previous posting on the USS Natural hadn’t been awful, but it hadn’t exactly been great either. There just wasn’t too much for him to do as a scientist, and he had never wanted that for himself. He wanted to test himself, to push himself, and be at the forefront of any discoveries. Its why had chosen to move to Ermiana.

Suddenly the console bleeped loudly, stirring the man. Seconds later the computer started to speak, “Now approaching Viridian III. Automatic pilot disengaging.”

Milo lowered his feet and rubbed his face with both hands to try and wake himself up. The last 24 hours had been incredibly long. The USS Natural had only been able to bring him so far off their original course, and he needed to make the rest of the journey on his own. The Hurley wasn’t the world’s biggest shuttle, but it was a much better option than trying to get a lift from passing cargo ships.

“I have control, computer.” He finally managed to croak. “Location of USS Ermiana?”

The cold monotonous voice replied almost instantly, “USS Ermiana is currently in orbit of Viridian III.”

Milo sat forward and cleared his throat, feeling slightly more awake. He ran his hands over the sensor controls and started scanning for the Galaxy-class vessel. He knew they were currently engaged in a salvage operation, but didn’t know much more information. However, the whispers among the Natural’s senior staff was that the USS Enterprise had crash landed onto the surface of the planet following a skirmish with a Klingon bird of prey. Milo wasn’t one to believe rumours and hearsay however, and wouldn’t believe the stories until he saw the crashed ship for himself.

“Computer, hail the Ermiana and inform them of my impending arrival.” He ordered his AI companion, “Let them know that unless I hear otherwise, I’ll be landing in shuttlebay one.”

The computer chirped a moment later, “Acknowledged, message has been transmitted and received.”


Lieutenant Milo Jensar
Chief Science Officer

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