DISCLAIMER: SADLY, I DONT OWN ANYTHING BESIDES MARKUS AND LILY TILL. DARN.
Our main character is a girl who's been toughened over the years by her dysfunctional family. Her mother's job forced her family to move around a lot, and each time they moved, a little bit of her then soft personality faltered away. After five moves, her father had had enough, and walked out on her family. The divorce papers came a week later. For nearly a decade after that, she never trust any man, until she met Markus. He seemed to be the only one who could look past her iron personality and see the little girl that still remained inside of her -hidden, but still there. They had met at a bar, much like most couples, and had nearly had a brawl after Markus made an offer to buy her a drink. She ( Lily) had taken it the wrong way.
The next morning however, Markus' answering machine had at least ten missed calls from Lily, they dated for a year before they were engaged. Her engagement sparked an artistic fire within her, and she completely redesigned anything she could get her hands on. This was short lived as Markus soon found himself without a job, so Lily took the lead and began attending the Star Fleet Academy. Once she radiated as an ensign, she served two six month terms on two different ships before being promoted to Lieutenant Colonel, and being assigned to ground duty for four months, all the while Markus gladly followed, although Lily was suspicious of him, her scarring from her father still deep-set.
When she was called to duty on the U.S.S Enterprise however, Markus put his foot down. They would either be married before her deployment or not at all. Lily, who had complicated feelings because she didn't want to spend her first few years as a married woman away from her husband, but didn't want to lose him either, used her remarkable guilt-tripping to get him to relent and let them wait.
But enough history, our story begins with Lily arriving at the shuttle port…
I gripped the steering wheel of my old Ford. The feel of the wind through my hair was one I was going to miss, a lot. I don't care who you are or where you're from, if you were driving to a place that would take you away from the earth for 5 years, you would feel the exact same. I pulled up to the overflowing parking-lot and found a space, granted it was a small one and near the back, but a space nonetheless. I pulled my bag harshly out of the trunk, and barely moved when it slammed roughly into the pavement. I swung it over my shoulder and slammed the trunk. I took one look at the car before turning and beginning the long and rather boring walk to the shuttle.
I walked two steps at a time up the stairs to the shuttle, the back pack smacking painfully against the blades of my shoulders. I nearly winced but grabbed the steel bar on the top of the shuttle and pulled myself in. The shuttle smelled like sweat and dried vomit, not a smell that was new to me, sadly. A colonel was standing in the door way, who I recognized to be Colonel Chene, from the Academy.
" Name?" He said dully, he looked bored, he'd obviously been standing there for a while.
" Lieutenant Colonel Til,"
" Welcome onboard, good luck," he saluted me and I passed him silently. I found a seat in the corner near the window, glad to have found a row alone.
Several minutes passed before the shuttle took off. I didn't gasp like the newly graduated ensigns, rather, I began daydreaming about pretty much everything. I thought of my white,winter wedding that would be awaiting me at the end of this five year stretch. I felt a lurch, which interrupted my daydream, and heard several groans, which alerted me to the arrival.
The U.S.S Enterprise was hardly like I imagined it. It was better. The white carbon walls were intimidating yet inviting. The translucent silver floorings were nothing short of impressive and the general interior architecture screamed modern. I followed the group of boarding officers to a small hallway where a vulcan, who I recognized to be Mr. Spock, was giving people their duty schedules and showing them the general route to their quarters. I joined the queue and waited my turn, when I reached the front though, I found I had the worst possible hours for duty:
Monday: 12:00-19:00
Tuesday: 6:30-13:45
Wednesday: 4:25-12:25
Thursday: 12:00-19:00
Friday: 19:00-2:00
Saturday: No Duty
Sunday: 11:00-18:00
I sighed and glanced at my dorm number, 554. I recognized the dorm from looking at the plans of the ship, I was near the eastern side, near the mess hall, at least I'd be able to make a quick getaway if need be.
All my possessions fit beautifully into my small drawer. I shared my room with 4 other women, all of which I could only guess at how they graduated from the Academy.
I had eight hours until my shift began, and there had to be something useful to be done. I fell onto my bed looking at the ceiling, I had two options, one, I could get some sleep and be on guard for tonight, or two, I could go to the gym and burn off the mixture of adrenaline and stress that I had nearly obliterated. I sighed and chose the obvious option, I pulled myself off my bed lazily and out of my room, and towards the gym, which yet again, after studying the engineering maps, I knew my way, I only took about six wrong turns, which wasn't bad considering the sheer size of the ship. I turned the corner and scowled, yet again I had found myself down a wrong alley, did I mind this time? Well no, no I didn't.