<USS Avalon> Painfully Earnest
- From: Elizabeth Bethell <ejbethell@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Avalon <avalon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 12 Jan 2005 08:36:44 +0000
Painfully Ernest
by Yeoman John Forester
The newest, and most enthusiastic, member of Covert Ops leaped cheerfully
from the top bunk of his shared bed at the first peeping of his alarm. His
roommate groaned and rolled over, his snoring resuming after barely a
minute. John grinned as he showered and dressed, humming merrily to himself.
His tall, pole-like frame reflected in a mirror very briefly as he caught
his own baby-blue eyes and painfully earnest expression. Rabbit caught in
headlights, he thought, grinning.
This was his first day in Covert Ops and he was going to make it a doozy!
He'd spent a large part of his free time the previous day washing and
ironing his uniform so that he would look his spiffiest. He was desperate to
make a good impression with the rest of the Covert Ops team.
Checking his watch as he approached the door, he realised it was 03:47 and
he only had 13 minutes to get to the briefing room. Don't wanna be late, he
thought, so he doubled his pace. Unfortunately this had the effect of
doubling the force with which he collided with the door. BANG!
"Open," he said crossly.
The door remained closed.
"Computer, open this door," he said, almost stamping his foot.
"Cannot comply."
"Why not?"
"Door locks have been over-ridden."
"But it's my door," he whined. He banged his head against the unmoving
blockage in desperation. What else could possibly go wrong?
He checked his watch again: 03:52. Oh no, eight minutes. He span around and
scanned the room for ideas. It was fairly bare: a bunk bed complete with
snoring occupant, a table, a couple of chairs and a poster of some twentieth
century terran actress next to his companion's bunk. Above his own was a
neat row of photographs. His parents smiled proudly from one, his brother
and his family waved from another and Louise Cornerstone blushed shyly from
the last. His Dad was a 'Fleet Warrant Officer aboard the flag ship,
Enterprise. Both him and John's Mom had been so proud when he'd enlisted and
been assigned to the Avalon.
"It's a good little ship," his father had said. "You take good care of her
and she'll take care of you."
His Mom had cried when he'd said goodbye, but he'd stayed strong just like
his Dad. But now he felt like bursting into bubbling tears at the thought of
being late on his very first day.
There was a small panel next to the door, which contained all the controls
for it. John lifted off its cover and poked around inside. He was no
engineer but he'd taught himself rudimentary mechanics by building little
model ships when he was young. He fiddled around in the panel a bit and
managed to get the door to creek open about an inch.
Wedging his fingers through the hole, he tried forcing his way out, but the
door didn't budge. He ran over to his trunk and wrenched out his baseball
bat, which he tried using as a lever. Still the door wouldn't move. His
watch was now reading 03:56.
"Darn it!" he yelled.
"Shut up!" his roommate bellowed as he threw a pillow at John.
He was beside himself, hopping up and down, from one foot to the other and
sweating in fear. John fiddled around again with the door controls and it
slid a little more open. This time, when he applied force to it, he found he
could wedge it open just enough for him to slide through.
03:58, he was going to be late, but not as late as he could have been, he
thought as he sprinted up the corridor.
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