With the stress of being the new Captain, the lack of alcohol to put me out, and the new environment: sleeping became quite a challenge. Eventually, I was able to relax enough to shut my eyes and I didn’t wake up again until around noon. Checking the clock by my bed, it was only then that I remembered I was supposed to meet the new First Officer. I shot up and jumped out of bed, running to the shower. “RIN, what time am I supposed to meet the new First Officer?!”

Her voice transitions from the bedroom to the bathroom as I cross the threshold onto the warm tile. “First Officer Tenlow is due to arrive at the bridge at one PM.” I stop and stand in place for a moment. Warm tile? The Captain gets a heated bathroom floor?! That’s amazing! Oh, shit, yeah I need to shower.

Thirty minutes later, I’m clean, I’m dressed, and I’m marginally more awake. “RIN, coffee.” I should at least try to be lucid for this meeting. Walking out of the bedroom, a warm mug of black coffee sits waiting for me. I take the handle and sit on the couch, sipping as I wait for my meeting time. At a quarter ‘til, I set the mug down and watch it disappear before standing and leaving the room.

Walking onto the bridge, it’s expectantly barren. It’s a strange feeling seeing the chairs empty like this. No bickering, no snide remarks, no Rock telling us how important the Corps’s rules are. Pacing around the bridge, I check some readings and press some useless buttons while I wait for the new recruit.

After setting off an alarm or two, and quickly shutting them back off, the door to the bridge slides open. In walks who I presume to be Selai Tenlow. She’s not very tall, about 5’6” I’d guess, and she has a slim but fit frame. As is typical of a Kaeleen, her face has thin ridges along her cheeks and forehead. Kaleens, despite looking mostly human, have these ridges in several places but her uniform, obviously, covers most of that. Her hair is a fiery red, flickering down her shoulders, her ears have similar ridges and a slight point to them but otherwise look rather human. Easily, the most striking aspect of her are her eyes. Neon orange, her eyes glow softly, as if a candle was lit just behind her irises. Unable to break eye contact, I walk to her and reach out my hand. “Selai? I’m Clark, your new,” I take a deep breath to prepare for what’s about to leave my mouth, “Captain. Sorry, still not used to that title.”

An excited smile explodes onto her face, “Hi, it’s nice to meet you, Captain. I’ve heard a good bit about you.” She begins to reach her hand towards mine but stops herself just short. “Oh! I almost forgot.” She reaches for a pocket on her uniform and removes two black gloves. She slides them on then reaches back for my hand, shaking it with vigor.

“You’ve heard a lot about me? That’s probably not a good thing but uh… oh well. What are the gloves for?” As soon as the question left my mouth I realized the stupidity of what I asked. But it was too late, she was already answering.

“Oh, well as you probably know, most of a Kaeleen’s body is an erogenous zone. This can be an issue when you want to be a commanding officer of a vessel though: lots of hand shaking, button pressing, formal meals, and so on. So, some scientists developed a special fabric that doesn’t irritate our skin so that, well, you know.” She shrugs her shoulders and gives a playful smile. It’s good to see that she’s come to terms with the difficulties given to her, it bodes well for us working together.

“I assume that your uniform is made out of the same material then?” I gesture to the purple uniform that seems to fit her rather tightly. “And… sorry, but are you sure that’s not a size too small? I know the uniforms are usually form fitting but there’s usually at least a bit of room to move around in.”

Looking down at her attire, she laughs to herself before bringing her eyes back to mine. “Yes, it is. But the way that the material works, it has to be constantly touching my skin. If it were to keep rubbing against my skin as I walked or sat or anything, then it… well let’s just say it wouldn’t have the same effect.” As she’s saying all this, she slides the gloves off of her hands and places them back into their pocket. When she does so, though, I’m pretty sure I caught her bite her lip a little bit.

“If that’s the case, why are you taking your gloves back off?” I give her a quizzical look as she moves her attention, from her pocket, back to me.

It’s at this question that she starts to blush, her cheeks turning a soft yellow color. She points her glowing eyes to the ceiling. “Well, Trull this is embarrassing, my hands kinda get sweaty in the gloves. I try to wear them as little as possible. It kinda makes me seem like a jerk if I ask someone to do something though. I end up looking lazy.” Her eyes circle down to the floor as her smile fades and her eyes dim.

“Haha, don’t worry about it, Selai.” She looks back up to me, confused. “Your the First Officer now! You can tell anyone on the ship what to do. That is, except for me. But ask nicely, and I’ll still probably help you out.” Her face bursts into the same joy it held when she first walked in and her eyes glow even brighter. “Also, we’re a pretty lax group here. Feel free to call folks by their first name, at least on the bridge. I’ll introduce you to everyone later on. But for now, let’s get you to your new room.” Maybe Brenda was right. Maybe I can do this whole leader thing.

Leaving the bridge, I walk her through the path that used to lead to my quarters. Once we reached the door, it slid open without a problem. Walking in, all of Selai’s belongings seemed to be in place already. “Whoah! Did movers come in and arrange my things? They got it perfect! Everything is where I’d want it!” Her eyes shine with the childlike wonder I had the night before.

“Nope, that’s the power of RIN. Say hi to Selai, RIN.” Through the ceiling, the familiar tone of RIN’s voice echoes into the room and issues a greeting to the new crew member. “If you ever need anything, just ask RIN. It works on and off the ship, too. If your off the ship, or it’s something confidential, it’ll speak through the chip in your head. Otherwise it’ll play in whichever room your in. If you want any food or drinks or the like, it can replicate just about anything in your current location but obviously that only works on the ship. As I also learned last night, you can also get your belongings sent to you too. Hence how it was able to set all your stuff up. That’s the power of a state of the art Corps ship with the latest in computer technology, I suppose.”

Selai seems to barely be paying attention as she explores her new space. I try not to peer at any of her things and stand mostly in the doorway. After a few minutes, she seems content with her adventuring for now and comes back to meet me. “This room is incredible! It’s so big! The crew’s quarters are a fraction of this!” Her excited bewilderment is refreshing to see.

I give her a soft smile and nod in agreement. “If you think this is big, you should see the Captain’s room. It was a shock moving in. Also, if you see me standing outside your door, confused as to why it won’t open, just give me a gentle reminder I don’t live here anymore…” At that we both laugh and begin to head out. “You can come see my room a little later. But for right now, we’re supposed to go visit Corporal Gavin for our next assignment.”