Ensign Jovenan – Out and into the abyss
Jovenan
((Deck 5, Compartment 0613, USS Excalibur-A))
Junior officers and senior enlisted had to share their quarters with one another lower decker on deck 5, symbolically and literally one deck below the senior officers. Compartment 0613 had two berths, too, but one of them was currently vacant. This allowed Jovenan, the occupier of Berth One, to do almost as she pleased in her temporarily private quarters. She had had to share her room with her siblings on Rubicun, her dorm room at the Uni of Hurkos campus with a roommate, her quarters with another cadet in the Academy, but now she had tasted liberty and it tasted good. She had turned up the heat, dropped the uniform for a more comfortable Edo outfit and put relaxing music on, even took a few rhythmic steps for a dance; things she would only do when nobody was watching. The ship was picking up new cadets frequently, so it was all but certain she would have to give up ruling sovereignly over the small flat. But for now, it was her private part of home, with all the best people present.
But even the paradise had its combadges.
Niac: =/\= Niac to Ensigns Jones, Jovenan and Kijana, report to Starboard Airlock 3 at 1600 hours for EVA orientation. =/\=
She had left her combadge on top of the cloth pile that was her uniform, so upon hearing herself being called, she stopped and hurried to fetch the device.
Jovenan: Computer, stop the music.
EVA orientation!? After passing the EVA course in the Academy, she had hoped she’d never had to do that again. During one of the training walks of her second year, when she took the course, she had somehow managed to cause injuries: she had somehow managed to get her leg stuck and in the vacuum of space, objects keep moving without an external force affecting them… There was no need to remind herself of all the details right now, it would only make her more nervous. The remaining walks had gone smoothly, and she had passed the course. Not with the grade she was proud of, but she passed and that was the important bit.
Jones: =/\= Jones here. 1600. Aye, sir. =/\=
Jovenan: =/\= Jovenan here. I’ll be there, sir =/\=
Kijana: Response
Niac: =/\= Trust me, you'll love it. Unless you get vertigo easily....then I'd recommend skipping lunch. Niac out. =/\=
Jones: =/\= understood, sir. I'll be there. =/\=
Ugh. Great.
Jovenan: =/\= Copy that, sir =/\=
Kijana: Response
((A few hours later, Starboard Airlock 3, USS Excalibur-A))
A few minutes before the indicated time, Jovenan arrived at the Airlock, donning the EVA suit. She found her fellow ensigns there, together with a senior officer. She didn’t know these people yet, but she raised her hand for a shy wave for them upon arriving there.
Niac: Afternoon Ensigns. For those that don't know me, My name is Commander Karrod Niac and I'm the ships Chief of Operations. Get yourself squared away and double check each others gear. ::Karrod gestured back towards the airlocks outer door:: Who's ready to take a walk?
A quick check, and everything was just as they ought to have been.
Jones: Nothing like a long walk out of a short airlock.
Jovenan: Su- sure.
Kijana: Response
Following the Commander’s example, Jovenan put her helmet on place and activated the EVA equipment. With the senior officer closing the inner door, she too switched on her magnetic boots. She tried to raise her foot with minimal force, just to see they were truly functional.
Niac: =/\= Last chance to tell me if you need to go to the bathroom. =/\=
Jovenan: All good, sir
The human ensign – Jones, if she hadn’t heard their name incorrectly – put up thumbs for an OK-sign.
Kijana: Response
Niac: =/\= Good! Then lets get going, this suit is a lot more comfortable in zero g. =/\=
The suit might be more comfortable. The person inside might not.
The Commander pushed the controls, and the blue lights activated. For a short moment, she could hear the sound of air being pumped out of the airlock, muffled by her helmet. Soon, the thick doors would open, revealing the dark, cold emptiness behind them. From a certain point of view, there was nothing between Jovenan and Rubicun and all the other planets and stars, except a few centimetres of technology of her suit. Sure, from in physical sense, the empty space was still something, three dimensions of the space-time continuum. It was still a beautiful thing to think about, even if the more forceful thought was that those few centimetres of technology also separated her from the certain death.
Jones: =/\= I heard they tried opening a restaurant on the outside of the ship, but it had no atmosphere. =/\=
Puns didn’t translate well, but Jovenan was sufficiently fluent in Federation Standard to get that one. It was a welcome comment to grim notions that had been flowing through her head.
Jovenan: =/\= ::giggles:: Clever. =/\=
Kijana/Niac: Response
Jones: =/\= Sorry. Couldn't help myself. It's one of my Dad's favorite jokes. =/\=
Then, the gates finally opened. Jovenan felt a brief pull, as if a wind had run through the open doors. It must have been her mind doing tricks for her: the pressure on the inside and the outside was the same. That’s the point of the airlock. She followed the lead of the Commander out of the doors. She looked down to the eternal abyss that the hull was a cliff of and stepped over. That instant the hull became a floor and the airlock turned into a deep hole on the ground behind them.
Jovenan: =/\= Ugh. I’m never getting used to that. =/\=
Niac/Kijana: Response
She took a few steps out of the way. The ship looked alien yet amazing from this perspective. The hill that formed the upper decks, windows akin to ponds that defied gravity, the towering nacells over there… She turned back to the Commander and the rest of the group.
Jovenan: =/\= So… What’re we gonna do? =/\=
Niac/Kijana/Jones: Response
TAG/TBC
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Ensign Jovenan
Science officer
USS Excalibur-A
E239911J11