Sunrise

Post of the Month - October 2010

by Francine Hart

ON:

(Turbolift, USS Pacifica)

Francine waited patiently for the turbolift doors to shut affectively sealing her off from the rest of the bridge, before she allowed a second yawn to escape from her lips. She was tired, there was no doubting that and she was eagerly looking forward to shortly curling up in bed, but her decision to leave the bridge early had left her feeling somewhat troubled. She couldn’t help but feel that it had been slightly unprofessional to end her watch on the bridge early, despite the fact that Commodore Butterworth had almost insisted on it. She fully understood where the Commodore was coming from with it all and she was grateful for the chance to catch up on her sleep, but it still didn’t feel right to her.

She rested her shoulders against the rear wall of the large turbocart and looked across at the sealed doors as she waited patiently for them to open and reveal the yellow brick road that would lead her back to her quarters. The doors however didn’t open and it took Francine a few seconds to realise why, as the computer was still waiting for her to state her intended destination.

Hart: Deck Three.

The computer beeped in acknowledge of Francine’s request, before the turbolift started to softly glide down towards it’s next destination. The fact that Francine had forgotten to direct the turbolift was another all to clear sign to her that she really needed the sleep. At the moment it felt like all of her thoughts were jumbled into one big mess and she was starting to wonder if she was making a mountain out of a mole hill with the entire bridge thing. Francine reluctantly peeled herself up off of the wall that she had been using to support herself on and glanced across at towards the doors as the turbolift slid to a halt. The turbolit’s doors opened to reveal the empty yet welcoming sight of the main corridor that looped around the deck. Francine stepped off of the lift and proceeded to follow the all too familiar path to her quarters. After a few minutes of walking, Francine pulled up outside of her quarters and thumbed the small access panel next to the door.

Francine was greeted by a truly magnificent sight as the doors slid open to reveal her quarters which were bathed in beautiful orange and red hues that provided a wonderful contrast to the brightly lit metallic corridor that she had just been standing in. The lights in her quarters were currently switched off and there was little point in turning them on as the Ti’ane System’s star provided her with all the light that she needed. Only the very edges of her quarters remained in an almost shadowy darkness while the rest basked in the star’s natural light. The scene before her eyes warmed Francine’s soul as it reminded her of home and of the breakfasts that she use to have with her parents in their sun soaked kitchen. Her parents had always been early risers which meant that breakfast was often served just as the sun started poking up on the horizon. This always casted their kitchen in the warmest of glows, and they had seen a number of beautiful sunrises from their kitchen table. It had always been the perfect way to start the day and for Francine at the moment it was the perfect way for her to end her long night.

She carefully pulled out the pins that had held her red hair up in a bun and allowed to fall loosely down around her neck and shoulders. She slowly ran a hand through it as she straightened out the slightly hints of curls and walked across to her desk. She placed her hairpins neatly down on the desk then noticed on her personal monitor that a small indicator light was flashing. The blinking green light represented a new subspace message that had mostly likely come in for her during her shift on the bridge. She guessed that it was most likely from her mother who had been checking in a lot with her ever since she had learned the Pacifica was going to be involved in the fight against the Gorn. Francine knew that her mother was worried about her and she had been that way ever since she had found out about the Pearen Mission, it wasn’t something that bothered her though as she enjoyed the constant correspondence with home. For the moment though Francine chose to leave the message where it was, as the only thing that was on her mind at the moment was getting some sleep.

Leaving her desk Francine strolled across her quarters in the direction of her bedroom removing the top half of her uniform with each step. She entered her bedroom and removed her commbadge from her uniform jacket before she dropped it neatly down in to a little pile on the floor along with her gold tunic and the light standard issue undershirt that she also been wearing. Her shoes were the next to, as she kicked them off of her feet while retrieving her flimsy night clothes from the top draw of her dresser. Francine moved her gaze back to the beautiful scene outside of her window at what would be an almost permanent sunrise for the Pacifica’s stay in orbit and quietly changed out of the rest of her uniform and into her sleep ware.

She moved her trousers and discarded undergarments across to join the rest of her uniform with her foot, before she pulled back her bedcovers to reveal her silky sheets. She stole one final look at Ti’ane’s star then climbed into her warm and inviting bed. Her hand fumbled about with the small control panel that was built into the bedside table and she reluctantly hit the button that closed the shutters on her windows, causing the entire room to fall into complete darkness.

Hart: ;;brushes the hair out of her eyes;; Computer, set the alarm for 1600 hours.

Computer: Acknowledged.

Francine pulled her bedcovers up to her shoulder as she rolled onto her side and allowed her head to be fully supported by her soft inviting pillows. She shuffled about slightly beneath the sheets before allowing her eyes that had grown heavy to close. It normally took Francine more than a few minutes to drift off into a slumber, but that was far from the case today, as she quickly drifted into the warm embrace of sleep.

OFF: I’m mostly going to be sleeping here until the actual promotion ceremony, but never fear as I’ve got a lot more posts in the pipeline.

Lieutenant Francine Hart
Chief Operations Officer
USS Pacifica NCC-72545
Bravo Fleet