Homework

Posted on Thu Jan 7th, 2021 @ 4:49am by Cadet Senior Grade Kedar Rackthorn

Mission: Season 4: Episode 3: Guided by Starlight
Location: Quarters
Tags: Roll Call
503 words - 1 OF Standard Post Measure

It had been a busy week for the young cadet. He had joined the ship, met the crew and been cleared for duty. His medical had gone well as he had expected and he'd met some truly interesting characters aboard the ship. It truly was a wild world being aboard the Elysium.

Now, he was tasked with a simple duty, studying. The word filled him with dread as he headed to his quarters. As he entered, Kedar spoke. "Computer, lights to 50%" as he yawned and started to undress, placing his uniform on his bed and heading to the bathroom, turning the sonic shower to a hot temperature, letting the warmth seep deeply into his fur covered muscles before wrapping himself in a robe, grabbing a Raktajino from the replicator before sitting at the desk.

It was a strange situation being onboard a starship but also still studying as a cadet at Starfleet Academy. He wasn't really a member of the crew, but didn't feel like just a student either. He knew he just had to focus, to earn that first pip at the end of his final year.

He reached for the console, logging himself in with his new Elysium credentials and bringing up his list of work. It wasn't a lot really, just some reading on exobiology and then an essay he needed to prepare on diplomacy during first and second contact situations.

The academy teaches you a lot, but nothing can truly prepare a cadet for the real duties he or she will find aboard a starship. The diplomacy case studies presented in the coursework just felt somehow...sterile? Like they were created to be perfect and not accounting for hostility, or for lack of understanding.

In reality, there is a lot of subjective nature to these issues. Nobody can truly be prepared for missions of this sort, no matter how hard they try but as a Counselling cadet, Rackthorn was expected to be ready.

Counselling was an unusual track at the Academy and in some ways a unique position onboard a ship too. On the outside, the Ship's Counsellor can be seen as a medical team member there to clinically treat the crew with mental ailments, stress and such and while that is indeed a big part of it, Kedar was learning there was a lot more to the job.

Crew evaluations are a regular part of the job and with a ship the size of Elysium, this would not be a simple and easy task. Also, his job would eventually be to help aid his commanding officer with diplomatic missions. This could mean sitting on the bridge and advising the Captain in his or her decisions. It could mean providing valuable intelligence about a species or a culture so the senior officers can act.

"Phew..." the young cadet sighed as he began to write his report. "This is going to be a wild year..." he said with a smile as his furred clawed hands began to type the words.