Better Thoughts

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 5:18am by Lieutenant Arthur Torres Dr.
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:23pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Arthur's Quarters

A Mission Post by Lieutenant Arthur Torres Dr.
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Arthur's Quarters
Timeline:
Mon Jul 10th, 2017 @ 5:34am


Where did the time go? For Arthur, a man who spent his life in search of personal betterment, it was a question that haunted and obscured. He was not a man of action, as were many called to serve in the Fleet. Nor was he obsessed with the little minutia of strategy, as were most who served in his position. Oh, he was intelligent, there was no doubt -- and while, in his youth, he might have harbored doubts about his abilities, that youthful anxiety had long since sailed into distant memory. He had lived a good life and had made of himself everything that he had set out to become. And yet time seemed, ever more quickly, vanish behind him as well.

Arthur was not afraid of death, as such. Unlike many, he had courted thoughts of it closely for most of his life -- simply in that way which those who are possessed of earnest and caring hearts are likely to do when confronted by a universe which is not always kind. These thoughts, too, had given way though, as experience and knowledge had built in him a steadiness of character that might have been the envy of many. And the mala around his neck was a substantial reminder that he had found within himself the proverbial rock. No, it was something more simple, if not more intimate, that anchored his worried state of mind. Bird. She was out there, right now. Closer than she had been in what seemed like an age. And here he was, heading in the opposite direction, and into an uncertain future.

He made his way to his quarters, tired from the day. With Pandora embarking on its journey into little-charted space, there was much that needed doing, and it seemed that while no single department was directly under his purview, little pieces of almost all of them, were. It did not much help that all of the department heads were in over their heads with the preparations as well, or that Arthur was so new aboard the ship. Making introductions was impossible when everyone had someplace else to be, though that Cailus fellow had been pleasant enough. There was a certain quality of camaraderie evident between the command staff that Arthur admired. Their service records told him that they were all good officers, but their attention to their fellows told him that they were good people as well.

“Yes,” he said to himself, “it’s a solid crew. They trust the captain, and -- for all his youth -- he’s intelligent and brave. They all are. Maybe that will be enough for whatever is ahead.” He made a mental note to redouble his efforts to introduce himself in person to the rest as soon as possible.

Kicking off his shoes as soon as he crossed the threshold of his room, he went straight to the replicator to order a drink and then reclined -- drink in hand -- in one of the lounging chairs situated in his small living room. As he closed his eyes, a small “meow?” reminded him that there was, at least, one creature on the ship who looked on him with affection.

“Argos, little buddy…” he reached out and made a gesture that brought the happy feline directly to his lap, where it curled up in a large black donut with a contented purr. “I see they cleared you through medical,” Arthur said to the cat, petting him gently on the head. “Who’s a good little killer?”

For a time they sat there, together, man and cat, resting after long and trying days. Tomorrow would come all too quickly, Arthur knew, but for now, there was time to close his eyes. To rest. And, perhaps to dream. When he had quite emptied the contents of his glass, with a gentle jazz medley playing in the background at his command, Arthur fell into a gentle sleep with his cat upon his lap and the outline of Bird’s face swimming in his mind.