HFPE
Franklin sipped his coffee and growled again. It was decaf.
"Oh yeah, forgot to mention," came the chirpy voice again, "they're starting the new healthy-eating program today."
Leaving the coffee on the rear counter, he sat down and yawned. After opening his eyes again, he looked around the bridge. A six-by-ten metre ovoid, this was the command centre of the
Yellowstone
. Large, reinforced windows covered the forward wall and wrapped around to the sides and part of the roof, dimly illuminating the room with light from the Milky Way. He was sitting in the slightly raised command seat, almost directly in the centre of the room. To his left and right were the seats of the tactical chief and the first officer - Franklin's seat when the commander was on the bridge. Ahead of him were two consoles: the helm and ops, as well as floor entrances to the forward bridge escape pods. Behind him and to the left were two seats that belonged to the starfighter wing coordinators, to the right was engineering, and along the back wall was security and science - which the ensign occupied - as well as several empty consoles.
As Franklin scanned the bridge, he frowned, "Hey, shouldn't Alex and Mick be here as well?"
"Alex is down in engineering, fiddling with the probes, and Mick went to get a snack."
"I'm going to head to the common room as well, pick up some proper coffee. You alright up here?"
"I have this week's science logs to keep me occupied, I think I'll be fine."
"Right," replied Franklin, and headed to the door at the back of the room, swearing as he nearly tripped up the stairs. The hallway was equally dark, but the floor-side panels were lit a faint green, and the sign on the turbolift glowed clearly. As he approached it, the turbolift opened, and he stepped inside, absent-mindedly pressing the button for the fourth floor.
31-Mar-2014 00:27:39
