User: CAPT Reginald Exeter
Heart rate: 58 BPM
FML Magellan, Day 1, A-403
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I did not make myself the Captain of this starship. God did.
I was chosen to lead this ship and her crew for only one reason that I can think of: I’m the best starship captain around. Or at least I was the best available. I’m the best starship captain around who was also available. And there’s no shame in that. Nor is there any shame in the fact that I wasn’t the first choice, or the second, or even the third. Even though I was the fifth choice for this position, my captainship of the Federation Mapping Lightship (FML) Magellan is no less important or noble.
Admittedly, I do find it a little troubling that all of the other choices to be captain of this ship were either blown out of an airlock, vaporized and then blown out of an airlock, accidentally crushed in a trash compactor, or simply brought to an early demise by space-food poisoning. Plus, there was that nasty business at the ship’s christening ceremony. What can that be but the mysterious and surprisingly violent hand of fate though? Who would I be to question fate?
No, I will not question it, just as I don’t question a great many things that occur to me or around me. I, Captain Reginald Exeter of the Federation’s fledgling Mapping Division, will guide the FML Magellan onward through the vast void of space towards our next objective, the solar system 452Z, all the while recording my thoughts in this log for the next generation of starship captains to read, to study, and to learn from. I can also assume that’s why the company has me and all my crewmembers writing in this log, although what they’ll learn from the likes of the petty deckhands and space janitors is beyond me. I’m a company man though, even if I am the captain of this ship, and I’ll do as the company tells me.
We’ve only just left the space station where our ship was docked while I assembled this crew, so I’ve had barely any time to get to know these men and women who I am to lead. As always when starting a space voyage, I’m amazed at the sheer volume of people that we still rely on to for a star ship to remain fully operational. The relatively small crew of this cartography ship still contains more people, more faces than I can possibly learn before we arrive at 452Z. Even so, I won’t fret about it. “A captain is a captain no matter the crew.” That’s what my grandfather, Admiral Exeter would have said if he were around, if he could get past his disdain at me receiving the captainship of a mere cartography ship. We can’t all be captains of battle cruisers, grandfather! No, I’m proud of this ship, and I’ll be proud of this crew once we get into action.
Until we do, our initial voyage to 452Z will be the perfect time to run the crew through its paces. I’m positively giddy at the thought of placing the crew in the right combination of stress, fear, dismay, anger, confusion, and irritability to help them find within themselves their inherent vigor. I’ve begun planning the drills that will bond this crew as a team and will give them the confidence to tackle any challenge. No one will be left untested by this journey, except for me of course, but it is not the job of the captain to be tested, but to test.
Now is the time that I get to really put my military subordinates through their paces, and I can show them everything they didn’t learn in the academy. I can show them all the hard lessons only learned out there in the wide-open blackness of space. And for the civilians aboard, our science and cartography crew, I can show them what the rigor and order of military life can do for their endeavors. No more smoking the space-weed and peering absently through telescopes and microscopes. I fear they’re in for a bit of a rude awakening, but they will adjust. After all, this isn’t a pleasure cruise, but a serious scientific pursuit!
I think that’s enough for the time being. As the captain, I can’t spend all my time dilly dallying with writing my thoughts down. There will be plenty of time for that later, after we’ve charted new worlds and expanded the bounds of human knowledge. I envy you, dear reader, that you can look back on us and read about our noble adventures and know that although you step onto distant shores in search of knowledge, this has all been done before.
And now I hear that dessert is being served in the wardroom, so I must go!
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