Duck and chicken speak

Posted on Fri Jan 26th, 2024 @ 12:00pm by Ensign Aurora Ng

580 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Lacertae Mortis
Location: USS Arcadia
Timeline: 2259

"Quack. Cheep."

Aurora Ng muttered to herself, musing to herself the old Cantonese saying (among many old Cantonese sayings) that while ducks and chickens may look somewhat similar, they cannot understand each other. At home, with her brothers being between ten and twenty five years older, she had little in common with them. Made all the more worse by a niece and a nephew being older than she was but had to honor and defer to her as aunt, her place in the family hierarchy a quirk of time and genetics. So while her brothers (and their wives) gossiped about various common friends, her nieces and nephews talked about subjects at school and Aurora... Appreciated their efforts to try and include her in the conversations, but she was, as always, the outsider.

At Starfleet Academy, she was the only Cadet that was already a Commissioned Ensign. A so-called Mustang Officer who was promoted from the Enlisted ranks, she had known her limitations and that had led to an abbreviated and customized Academy course to fill the gaps, from knowing which fork to use at the dinner table (why can't civilized people use chopsticks?), or galactic law. It also didn't help to be a decorated veteran with a Karagite Order of Heroism, although the scar on her belly still seemed to itch and it took most of her willpower not to scratch the other scar on her right forearm. Although polite and deferential and the other Cadets did make efforts to include her in conversations, she was, as always, the outsider.

For someone who thrived as a Nurse, one whose calling was to talk to people, she was out of place. Her anomalous status in her family and also somewhat among people who were older than she was (after all, most Cadets started off at 17 or 18 and graduated at 21/22, yet here she was a 20 year old) made for more isolation.

The kindly Officer of the Watch had provided instructions to her quarters after logging her transfer orders into the system, but the corridors were mostly empty, her boots echoing as she made her way around. Dressed impeccably in her blue Sciences uniform, but with the short sleeve, minidress version, she looked the part, with her hair tied into a short ponytail, the furrow between her brows, the twinkling eyes and the lips often twitching as if trying to hold back laughter.

"Quack." Aurora muttered again as she entered the quarters and found no one else. Stowing the one personal possession she had, which ended up being a clear, hermetically sealed pouch (with the air removed), of an old banknote from an ancestor who was a soldier on Earth during the Second World War and had fought in the Battle of Hong Kong, a keepsake to remind of steadfast duty no matter the odds. I wonder what he would make of me, she mused. The only other item on the bunk was her medkit, customized with shoulder straps, the contents kept updated and always ready for action.

For now, the Arcadia was almost empty save for a skeleton crew. Aurora looked around at the empty room, musing that for someone who was an introvert, was actually looking forward to the company of others and the eventual crew of two hundred souls. Shrugging theatrically, she decided to head to Sickbay to see what condition it was in.

 

RSS Feed