Alpha quadrant
Inside Federation space
U.S.S. Enterprise-F
Deck 15, section 26

Lt. Nenyaht stared up at the ceiling above his bed and sighed. He had been lying there for over two hours, and was no closer to sleep than he had been then. It's those night shifts, he thought, irritated. Although exhausted after a long night shift in Engineering, he always had the hardest time falling asleep.

He realized, somewhat sadly, that that had been his last shift in Engineering aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. They were currently heading for Mars Station, where the ship would be staying for repairs and some much-needed leave for the crew, and he would be transferring to the U.S.S. James T. Kirk, where he would, again, be a junior officer in a massive Engineering department. Although he was excited about the change of pace, he felt he was ready for more.

He started his Starfleet career as a very junior Engineering officer aboard the U.S.S. Zenith, a small research vessel centered in the Beta quadrant. He was there for two years, then the war broke out, and he was transferred to the Enterprise at the same time he was promoted to lieutenant junior grade. At the time, he was thrilled with the excitement; the Enterprise was the top ship in the fleet, and just the kind of assignment he needed to someday make chief engineer.

Now, as a full lieutenant, instead of getting a chief engineer position on a small ship like the Zenith, he was being transferred from one large engineering department to another. Although he knew he should be proud that they thought enough of his engineering skills to move him to the fleet's newest and most advanced ship, he couldn't help but feel that it was a vote of no-confidence; they liked his engineering skills, but didn't think he'd make a good leader.

He continued to lie there and feel sorry for himself, but that got old quickly. "Computer, lights," he ordered. He was still tired, but he figured if he wasn't going to be getting any sleep anyway, he might as well do something constructive.

His quarters were not large by any means, but he still had a fair amount of stuff that needed to be packed up or recycled: outfits he'd replicated for holodeck programs, family pictures, things he'd picked up from various away missions and shore leaves. That was his father's influence; he was an anthropology professor at the Academy, and instilled in his son an almost compulsive need to collect objects that had significance to him.

He had been working a little over an hour when his door opened suddenly. He turned to the offending party, who looked about as surprised as he was. "You were on Gamma shift," Lt. Martin Coby said from the doorway. "I expected you to be asleep, not up gutting your quarters."

"I expected my door to remain closed until I commanded it open," Nenyaht replied dryly. "How did you get in here?"

His former Academy roommate grinned broadly. "Security override," he replied, somewhat smugly.

"I knew I should have installed extra anti-Coby security measures," Nenyaht muttered to himself.

"Well, it's too late for that, seeing as you're leaving in a few hours," the tall, blond haired security guard replied with a grin. "It's gonna be strange, not being on the same ship as you anymore."

"I know. You're going to have find somewhat else to torment for awhile."

"Which won't be nearly as much fun." He looked around the empty quarters. "This place looks strange without your knick-knacks everywhere."

"Cultural artifacts," Nenyaht corrected, finally smiling. "As my father would say." As first year cadets, the "cultural artifacts" were a source of constant debate among the roommates; Coby said they got in the way, and Nenyaht would launch into an extensive oration about how possessions have always been viewed as extensions of the owners, as important in shaping the individual as tools were in shaping the society. They argued about it for a few weeks, and then took it to the chair of the Anthropology department, who sided with Nenyaht. Coby didn't find out until a few months later that the chair of the Anthropology department was actually Nenyaht's father.

Coby picked up one of the few items left out, a framed picture of Nenyaht and his parents from when he was young. "You look like your father, you get your compulsive need to collect random junk from him--what did you get from your mother?"

"My tolerance of endless questions and charming sense of humor," Nenyaht replied dryly, which caused Coby to grin; he had met Nenyaht's mother, and had found her dry, sarcastic humor difficult to follow and slightly condensing.

The two were silent as Nenyaht continued to pack. "So, you going to get me the names of some of the hot women you're going to meet on the Kirk?" Coby finally asked.

"What makes you think I'd tell you about them? Maybe I'm going to keep them to myself."

"No offense, but that's not your style," Coby countered. "You're a romantic—which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it means you're not going to be picking up random girls. You're the type to get to know them, be best friends with them for about twenty years, lose the nerve to ask them out, and watch them date other people. That's how you work. Sounds like no fun, if you ask me."

"That isn't how it goes."

"Oh, really? We've been on the Enterprise for four years. How many dates have you taken to the holodeck? Three?" It was actually two, but Nenyaht wasn't going to correct him. "Your problem is that you're still in love with the girl you grew up with—what was her name, London?"

"Paris," Nenyaht corrected, then flushed—Coby had known exactly who he was talking about, she spent a good deal of time hanging out in their room third year. "And I'm not in love with her. She's been my friend since I was seven. She took piano lessons from my mother for about fifteen years. I played parrises squares with her brother. She's like my little sister." He paused to open a drawer, sifting though its contents before determining that there was nothing he needed to save. "Besides, I haven't even seen her since we left the Academy."

"But you still know what she's up to, don't you?"

"Yeah, her parents are good friends with mine and they keep us up to date. Last I heard, she accepted a position in the medical department at Utopia Planitia."

"Where we will be in less than a day. Perfect time to look her up." Nenyaht rolled his eyes, but had nothing to say in reply. It wouldn't be a bad time to look her up; he just didn't know what he would say. After their last fight, he didn't know if there was anything to say.