<USS Avalon> "Avalon or Bust. The Conclusion"

"Avalon or Bust. The Conclusion"
By: Ensn Melanie Redgrave

The transport shuttle was crowded, stuffy, and confining; and Melanie was 
counting down the minutes until it finally met up with the Avalon. She hated 
transport shuttles and the seventeen hour flight was starting to get on 
Melanie’s 
last nerve, but unfortunately for her this had been the only way to get out to 
the ship. Melanie had to admit to herself that she was starting to get 
excited about her new job, her new life, and what ever else may lie out there 
for 
her. 

Melanie looked down at the brown paper package that laid in her lap and 
smiled. Her mother had handed it to her just before she had boarded the shuttle 
and 
had told her that it would help to keep everything in prospective. She 
reached down and untied the twine and undid the wrapping. A leather bound book 
greeting Melanie’s eyes and she smiled. She opened the book to find blank 
pages and 
a note. 

  ~So you will always remember the journey your about to take. 
     ~All my love, 
      Mother.

‘And people say the English are cold and emotionless.’ She thought to 
herself as she caressed the edges of the book's leather binding. Melanie was 
glad 
that her mother was supporting her in this because she wasn't sure if she’d 
have 
been able to do it other wise. Melanie reached down to get her carry on bag 
to put the book away when she felt a tap on her shoulder. The young man she’d 
been sitting next to was looking out the window and pointing. 

"Aren’t you the one going to the Avalon?" 

Melanie nodded and the young man smiled. He leaned back in his chair to allow 
her to look out the window. "Well there she is." 

Melanie looked out the window at the looming ship in the distance and 
whistled. There was just something spellbinding about gazing out onto a star 
ship 
with it’s twinkling windows and glowing blue and red nacelles against the 
back 
drop of the darkness of space with it‘s matching twinkling stars. It was an 
experience that she’d never have had sitting in her lab in the ME’s office 
in 
Pitts. 

"Now orbiting the USS Avalon. Cargo will be beamed to the ship’s cargo bay 
after all passengers have been beamed aboard. Would all passengers please 
report 
now to the transport pads in the back of the shuttle. We will be leaving 
orbit of the USS Avalon in ten minutes. Thank you."

Melanie unbuckled her seat belt and stood with a smile. She bid the young man 
near the window good luck, picked up her bag and headed for the back of the 
shuttle as directed. A few moments later Melanie appeared on the transporter 
pad in one of the Avalon’s transporter rooms. She stepped off the pad 
shifting 
the strap of her bag and then smiled at the two young officers behind the 
controls. She fished out her orders from her pocket and handed them to the 
young 
woman in red who stood next to the transporter tech. 

"Redgrave. Department, Forensic science." The young woman read off the padd. 
She gave Melanie a quick flash of a return smile and then tapped something 
into the consol. "Security has cleared your cases and containers. They’ll be 
beamed to your quarters on deck seven."  The woman tapped on the padd that held 
Melanie’s orders and then looked up as she stretched out her arm handing it 
back 
to her. "Your cabin number, and temporary access codes are on the padd. You 
should change them once you’ve activated the computer terminal in your cabin. 
Your boarding appointments and all other information will be on your terminal. 
The computer can direct you to your cabin now, and welcome aboard the Avalon. 
Ensign." 

"Thank you." Melanie said still smiling as she took her padd back.

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