Names Everlasting
Rignar Magganrost re-read the message. It was clearly signed by Captain Colqueran. The lieutenant took several deep breaths and checked the ship’s chronometer. There was still fifty minutes to shift change.
“Mr. Khariton, you have the bridge. I’ll be right back.”
Demitrii Khariton replied stiffly even for him and moved over to the Master workstation. In turn, he nodded to Purnama who promptly took over the Operations workstation from her standby position.
Rignar ducked into the WC to compose herself. She shook her head in the mirror before splashing cold water on her face. She swore as she realized that she’d gotten the ends of her mahogany hair wet too. She took longer than she wanted to dry herself and stared into her cinnamon eyes to steady herself.
“You’ve got this. You’ve read all the mission briefings. You went through the protocol training just two days ago. The crew are ready. We can do this.”
She took a moment to look herself over. Her tan duty uniform contrasted with her deep brown skin. She appreciated that the uniform was loose and comfortable. She swore again, realizing that dress uniforms were part of protocol. The white formfitting things hugged her in ways she didn’t appreciate. Well, they’d left her in charge on short notice. She made a command decision and walked back onto the bridge.
This is a stand-alone story. The one commonality with my other space stories is that I’m assuming that faster-than-light travel and communication are not possible. In a small way, I’m playing with the problems posed by such limitations.
There are three Easter eggs embedded in the story. Two are anagrams, one of which has its counterpart in the story while the other requires a little historical knowledge. The third is a subtle sound-alike from the Star Trek universe.
The full story was posted for Patrons on my Patreon page today. Become a Patron!
