Chapter Twenty One
To S'nellastina zh'Vecar, Earth, United States of America, Maryland, Baltimore
From: Leonard McCoy, Lieutenant Commander, USS Enterprise A
Hello S'nell. I'm a doctor, not a biologist. But your idea about cattle evolving on many different worlds because they have a specific function in the ecosystem seems plausible to me.
You know, most people thought that I joined Starfleet because after the divorce I had nowhere else to go. That was the main reason but there was another reason. Six months before I sat down on that shuttle to the Academy I had a six year old patient named Jenny who wanted to be a Starfleet captain. Sadly she died in my care so she'll never realize her dream. But it did get me thinking about Starfleet for the first time and so when I first stepped onto the Enterprise when it answered the distress call to Vulcan I thought about her. She thought that being a member of Starfleet meant we were not only explorers but heroes who also saved lives.
While that might be true there are also times like just recently that are rather boring and monotonous. We have just spent the last few days mapping a large asteroid field as the ship flew around it. While that made the stellar cartographers and navigators excited everyone else was pretty damn bored especially Jim. He said it was just rocks and more rocks. As for me I'm glad to have some breathing room before the next crisis hits. I wasn't too thrilled to be serving under Jim when we first set out on our first five year mission. But he has quickly grown into being a competent Captain. I think he is more comfortable with unexpected dangers now. Or perhaps he is somewhat less prone to being reckless. No, that's not entirely true. But at least Jim takes at least one security officer with him on an away mission unless there is some good reason why he can't do so.
Missing you, Doctor McCoy.
Message sent 1938 hours UTC Stardate 2269.78
To: Leonard McCoy, Lieutenant Commander, USS Enterprise A
From: S'nellastina zh'Vecar, Earth, United States of America, Maryland, Baltimore
Hello Doctor McCoy. It doesn't surprise me that a child would have a romantic view of Starfleet. I think many people think that Starfleet officers are heroes for all they do. But you are right that exploration by its very nature is an encounter with the unknown. I'm glad that space is not all danger and darkness all of the time as you like to say. If your life was constantly in danger then how would you enjoy such a mission? Surely not all crews come across as much danger as the Enterprise. But then not all of the fleet is exploring uncharted space. I can envision a time in the future when more of the galaxy is mapped and so missions become more routine. You would like that but a man like Kirk would not. Like you I prefer stability and order. In my opinion adrenaline is somewhat overrated as a Human experience, with the exception of fighting.
My work is pretty routine at the moment as well. I spent most of this week reading research proposals for new exobiology projects. Some ideas were very interesting while others were overly ambitious or were not feasible. My supervisor Doctor Richardson has handed me this task because she says that I always tell it like it is to paraphrase her. In other words I don't mince words with the authors of the proposals in order to ensure that the budget of the lab is spent wisely. We are funded by the United States government but like many scientific agencies we do not have unlimited credits. So we can't fund every project that is proposed.
Missing you too, S'nell.
Message sent 1756 hours UTC Stardate 2269.106