Alone with One's Thoughts

Posted on Sat Feb 13th, 2021 @ 9:56am by Commander Brielle Jayde

Mission: Side Stories
Location: Bridge - Night Shift

Brielle had taken on a night shift on the bridge, though she wasn't sure why. She wasn't one to mess with her or the kids' sleeping schedules. However, it happened anyways. Maybe it was the third pip on her collar now being filled in. Maybe it was because night shift was quiet and it gave her time to think.

That is exactly what Brie was doing this time around: thinking things through.

She'd spent her whole career on this ship, and now made it all the way to full commander. She never honestly thought she'd make it out of the academy, let alone to where she was today.

She'd been married twice, with a child from each marriage. One marriage ended because of a death, the other due to a divorce. She wasn't completely sure where she and Vox were at right now, but she did like having him around and his company, and was comfortable with him.

She had dealt with being assaulted by someone who was holding something over her head that she'd tried to keep quiet. There had been a fear that she would lose all respect from the crew when that was made known, but nothing like that happened.

Shaken from her thoughts when an ensign handed her a PADD, Brielle smiled, "Thank you, Ensign."

The ensign grinned, "Quiet night to be alone with one's thoughts, isn't it?"

Brie let out a soft chuckle, "Is it that obvious?" The ensign nodded and went back to their station.

Looking over what she was handed, she signed off on any requests that were involved before falling back into her thoughts again.

Her sisters were doing well in Starfleet as well: her older sister now being a captain, and her twin sister expecting again, both with their lives seeming to go in a great direction.

But then that made her realize that she wasn't sure where anything was going for herself. She was chief tactical, commander, second officer. It was quite the combination really, but where did tactical get you?

Did she want to properly take the command tests? She already had the rank, she was already trusted with being in command (and of more than just the night shift). Did she need the command tests? Did she really want her career to go to being a captain?

The truth was: she didn't know. She wasn't sure where it was that she wanted to end up. Not once when she signed up for Starfleet did she think she would be where she was now. It wasn't something she planned for. She also never planned on staying on one ship.

Okay, so she hadn't planned on anything at all. When one is in Starfleet, can you really prepare for anything? This crew was her family, had been for years upon years.

You can't plan for falling in love multiple times. You can't plan for someone you love dying or hurting you. You can't plan on raising children on your own, in or out of Starfleet.

One thing Brielle did know for sure though: she had no plans on leaving the family she'd built here, at least not by her own choices. The one thing she could always count on was that everyone here had each other's backs. Everyone would jump in to help each other no matter what.

That was what she didn't want to lose.