"So you really went on our first planetary mission and left your ol' roommate snoring in my bunk?" Lee Komura asked, as he and Ricky ate dinner the next day.
"Hey, I don't make the duty rosters," Ricky said. "There wasn't really much to it, anyway. We just broke up a couple riots, and stuff. No big phaser battles or anything."
"Were there any aliens?" Lee asked, grinning widely.
"Lee, it was a colony planet! The colonists all come from Federation member worlds."
"Oh well," Lee said, sipping his drink. "Maybe next time, huh? I mean, we're security officers. It'd be a shame if we can't secure something eventually." Lee looked up, almost wistfully. "How much would that ache if we cruised around the sector for a year, or even two, and nothing ever happened?"
"Stuff'll happen," Ricky replied slowly, "But I think what I learned on the planet there was that, even if stuff does happen, it's probably not gonna be what you thought it would be. I mean, sure, I was in fear for my life for a second or two, but it wasn't really...exciting. It's not like I was some action hero, it was a job. This is what we do for a living, and I'm sure it'll have its moments, but at the end of the day, our lives are just never gonna be the same as people like Garth, or Decker, or Rice. The sooner we accept that, the sooner we can start enjoying the journey that we're on."
"Hey, I'll drink to that," Lee said, raising his glass. "But you gotta promise me you won't make a habit of speeches like that. Nobody told me I'd be having a fortune cookie for a roommate."
THE END