Academy in the Sky

Posted on Tue Nov 24th, 2020 @ 4:13pm by Cadet Senior Grade Kedar Rackthorn

Mission: Season 4: Episode 3: Guided by Starlight
Location: Various
735 words - 1.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Starfleet Academy. A place where children enter and Starfleet Officers emerge. That had been the vision set out for him when Kedar had attended a science fair on his home world of Cait. The young Caitian had been excited for weeks to attend and talk with representatives from all walks of life and all tracks of Starfleet, from those recruiting for the enlisted track to those specialising in the sciences, engineering and even the command track.
Since he was a small boy, Kedar had been interested in how things worked. First, it was an antique watch that was passed to him from his grandfather. His grandfather, Keriid, had bought it on Earth from a pawn shop selling off old human relics. Kedar delighted as he took the watch apart piece by piece, examining the springs, the coils and what made it quite literally tick.

He was soon bored of watches and learned of his new passion. People. Every person he met was different. Not only the striking differences like species, but in the way they acted, the things they believed, the social structures they embraced or rejected. He found it fascinating. This curiosity became aspiration a few years later when he met a Betazoid man named Carin. Carin was dating the Caitian’s mother and Kedar was oft irritated that his child-like schemes never could go the way he planned. The Betazoid always figuring out what he was up to with his telepathic ability.

He wondered what it would be like to hear others thoughts, to feel things without knowing why or how. The following week, he visited the Cait national library and started to read about everything he could on the subjects of Psychology, Social Dynamics and Anthropology and his career path appeared before him in his minds eye, like the yellow brick road to Oz, only this Emerald City was San Francisco.

Since that day, many things had changed for Kedar. In his early academy days, though he was known for being pleasant, confident and kind, the other cadets didn’t see eye to eye with their furry comrade. Why? Because Kedar was eager. Not eager like some of the T-boys, (the nickname Kedar had given to the jockish cadets who seemed more testosterone than humanoid) in that he wasn’t eager to fly shuttles, or to test weapons. He left that stuff for the red shirt wannabes. No, Kedar was eager to learn and learn anything he could.

He read all the required reading, plus more. He stayed after class to ask for extra credit opportunities, he worked hard at any chance he could at networking with officers. His fellow cadets called him a teacher’s pet, a suck-up, a brown noser. He’d heard it all in the three years he’d been on campus and the pain it caused had dulled now to simply an irritating scratch. He had no idea that being eager to learn would be a bad thing to some.
Fast forward to three weeks ago and an announcement that there would be a spot for one lucky medical cadet, to serve their final academy year aboard a starship rather than a medical facility or hospital. Kedar jumped at the opportunity, knowing he could meet so many interesting people aboard a ship and get some real experience, not to mention learn from his mistakes and make some real friends. It didn’t take long for him to find out he had been chosen.

He’d counted the days since then until he was due to head off for this amazing opportunity and he spent the entire shuttle ride to Starbase 13 anxiously checking that antique watch. He stared out of the window and as they finally approached the station, he got his first glimpse of her, the Elysium. She was incredible. He’d always imagined his first post to be on a close to retiring nova class or an oberth-class ship, never in a million years did he imagine serving aboard such a beautiful vessel.

Kedar grabbed his belongings and was the first off of the shuttle, barely stepping on the station before asking around for where the Elysium was docked. He had been told to report to Commander Taylor and when he finally got to the dock and the entrance to the ship, he stopped in awe, taking a mental snapshot of this moment and then….froze.