06-04-2026, 10:28 PM
==Chief Engineer's Quarters==
Jaein sighed as he stepped into his quarters aboard ship. He hadn't mentioned it at the time, but his quick visit to engineering had been to help distract him from a problem - he couldn't decide how to lay out his stuff.
The crate sat open on the floor in front of him, though it was mostly empty. Some of it had been fairly simple to figure out, of course: the shrine had gone on the wall in his bedroom along with the candles for it, the picture of his family during a visit to the ice fields of equatorial Andoria hung in the living space. His mug collection had gone to the nook next to the replicator, of course. But that still left far more than he'd really considered when they were packing things up on Vulcan. All of his books needed to be arranged, and there were a number of other mementos that needed to be set out.
But do I like the way the room is laid out? he asked himself, and considered the couch, chair, and desk before dropping into the chair in exasperation. This was why he normally brought Mary Ellen with him for these things. She'd always been much better at these things than he was, and he just wasn't sure what he should do.
His eyes fell on the short stack at the end of the couch, and he quirked a smile. All of Benjamin's belongings had been packed and carted off by security after his incarceration, but he'd had two things left behind. One was a model of Artemis herself, at something like 1:200th scale. She was beautifully constructed, and the silver finish he'd chosen made the saucer and nacelles shine wonderfully. The note said that he'd finished it just before they got back to port and he was arrested, so he never got to enjoy it but hoped that Jaein would. He planned to set it up at the end of his desk, but just hadn't gotten there yet.
The other, though, was odder. A hand-crocheted blanket, the note had said that it was made by the Artemis' first Chief Engineer, a Vulcan he'd never gotten to meet. Jaein had made a point to meet the chief engineers of every ship he launched, but Artemis had launched from Earth, not from Vulcan. Still, it had seemed odd for her to have made it - not so much because of the difference between being an engineer and crafting like this, because everyone needed a hobby, but simply because of her heritage. Vulcans didn't need blankets very often on their desert world, after all. I wonder if they started doing that when they started going to space, he thought. It wasn't a question he'd often thought of, so he conceded that it might be possible he was all wrong.
It was very warm, though. He'd actually used it a couple of nights during the earlier mission, and it had been quite cozy.
He sighed, and got back up. No, he decided, the furniture was fine. He was the problem. So, instead, he decided to start sorting books. It wasn't going to be an exciting night, but at least it could be productive.
Jaein sighed as he stepped into his quarters aboard ship. He hadn't mentioned it at the time, but his quick visit to engineering had been to help distract him from a problem - he couldn't decide how to lay out his stuff.
The crate sat open on the floor in front of him, though it was mostly empty. Some of it had been fairly simple to figure out, of course: the shrine had gone on the wall in his bedroom along with the candles for it, the picture of his family during a visit to the ice fields of equatorial Andoria hung in the living space. His mug collection had gone to the nook next to the replicator, of course. But that still left far more than he'd really considered when they were packing things up on Vulcan. All of his books needed to be arranged, and there were a number of other mementos that needed to be set out.
But do I like the way the room is laid out? he asked himself, and considered the couch, chair, and desk before dropping into the chair in exasperation. This was why he normally brought Mary Ellen with him for these things. She'd always been much better at these things than he was, and he just wasn't sure what he should do.
His eyes fell on the short stack at the end of the couch, and he quirked a smile. All of Benjamin's belongings had been packed and carted off by security after his incarceration, but he'd had two things left behind. One was a model of Artemis herself, at something like 1:200th scale. She was beautifully constructed, and the silver finish he'd chosen made the saucer and nacelles shine wonderfully. The note said that he'd finished it just before they got back to port and he was arrested, so he never got to enjoy it but hoped that Jaein would. He planned to set it up at the end of his desk, but just hadn't gotten there yet.
The other, though, was odder. A hand-crocheted blanket, the note had said that it was made by the Artemis' first Chief Engineer, a Vulcan he'd never gotten to meet. Jaein had made a point to meet the chief engineers of every ship he launched, but Artemis had launched from Earth, not from Vulcan. Still, it had seemed odd for her to have made it - not so much because of the difference between being an engineer and crafting like this, because everyone needed a hobby, but simply because of her heritage. Vulcans didn't need blankets very often on their desert world, after all. I wonder if they started doing that when they started going to space, he thought. It wasn't a question he'd often thought of, so he conceded that it might be possible he was all wrong.
It was very warm, though. He'd actually used it a couple of nights during the earlier mission, and it had been quite cozy.
He sighed, and got back up. No, he decided, the furniture was fine. He was the problem. So, instead, he decided to start sorting books. It wasn't going to be an exciting night, but at least it could be productive.