Tanna walked out of Valhalla and took a deep breath. That went really well she thought as she started walking down the corridor. “Computer,” She said out loud, “Please locate the Quartermaster”. The computer beeped in the affirmative, and after a few seconds, the familiar monotone voice of the computer came over the air.

<The Quartermaster is currently located on Deck 6> It said flatly.

“Can you please show me the way?” Tanna asked.

<Affirmative. Please follow the illuminated path.> Stated the disembodied voice of the computer, and then, along the wall, a series of lights flared up, and began strobing along the intend route, down the hall towards the turbolift. Tanna started following it, humming a song softly to herself as she went. When the turbolift came to a stop on Deck 6, and the doors opened with a quiet hiss, she was greeted again by the illuminated path. After a left, then a right, then another right, she found herself at the quartermaster.

“Hello there, I am Ensign Tanna Irovin, here for my room assignment.” She said to the closed door.

“Come in.” came a deep voice from the other side, and the door opened into the room. It was well appointed and tidy, and the walls were covered in many traditional ornaments from seemingly endless different cultures. A tidy Andorian man came out from another part of the quarters and looked Tanna over for a second. “Yes,” he said eventually, “I figured you would be coming to see me. Let me see now” he said as he worked a little on his PADD. “Yes, there is a bunk open in a room on Deck 10. Good news, it’s on the outer wall, so you can have a window. Bad news, you have to share with someone. Ensign Battle. She’s human I believe.”

Oh no. Tanna thought as she started to panic a little. “Is there any way I could be assigned a room on my own?” she asked, letting the panic creep into her voice a little. Maybe he’ll think it’s personal, and take pity on me. 

“No can do, I’m afraid.” he replied, in a tone that said he wasn’t up to debate. “Shall I have the Shuttlebay crew move your belongings from the shuttle?”

“Yes, please Sir” she answered, feeling rather anxious and deflated.

She left his quarters and again asked the computer for directions, this time, to her new home on Deck 10. I hope, at least, I’m alone when I get there  she thought to herself as the turbolift whooshed her towards the bottom of the ship. I think I’m going to need some time to process this before I meet them, whoever they are. The door opened, and she followed the lights down the corridor, then a right, and a left, another right, past several corridors branching off of this main walkway, until it ended in a “T” crossing. She followed the lights to the right again, and before long she was standing in front of her door. She pushed the door chime, and waited for a response. After no one answered, she pushed another button, and the door slid open, revealing her new room.

There was a moderately sized common room, that had a long sofa built into the wall where the windows were, and she could tell by the direction of the passing stars that they were in the front quarter of the deck. In the middle of the room was a nice, yet simple glass coffee table, upon which were a couple old dishes, and some kind of candelabra. Flanking this room in either wall was a smaller hole, about hip height from the floor. That one must be mine, she thought as she looked at the berth in the bowside wall, which had an open shutter, and a very not lived in look about it. It also happened to be the one where her boxes of stuff were stacked neatly, waiting to be unpacked. Between her berth and the wall there was another door, which lead to the head, and sonic shower. “Ooh, I’d love a shower”, she said out loud to herself, “I think the unpacking can wait a little bit.” She went up to the door and opened it. It was a small bathroom, but it had everything someone needed, much like her room aboard the Cromwell.

She went into the bathroom, and stripped herself down, then stopped a moment and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She ran her hand over the metal implant that covered the majority of her right shoulder. It was sleek, and as small as possible for the job it had, connecting her nerve endings between her shoulder and her torso, but to her, it may as well have been her whole arm. She ran her fingers along the large, rough scar tissue that was her underarm, which started several inches lower, on her ribs, and crossed over onto her shoulder blade, and ended near the middle of her back. She hated the sight of it, a constant reminder of those two horrifying days on the surface of that planet. She took a deep breath, stepped into the shower and turned it on. Within minutes, she was balled up on the floor, sobs racking her body uncontrollably. It will get better, the doctor had said, but Tanna couldn’t see how it could ever get better after that. Even after three months, she still saw Abigail in her mind everyday, and it hurt. Of all the people to die on that planet, why did it have to be her?! She screamed silently into her knees, and why did I live?

It was several more minutes before she was able to bring her crying back under control enough to stand up and finish her shower. She got out, wrapped herself in a towel, and headed back out to the common room, on the hunt for an old t-shirt and shorts to put on. When the door to the bathroom opened, she immediately noticed the berth on the opposite wall was now open, and there was a body standing in front of it, in its own level of disrobement. “OHMIGOD” came a voice that Tanna wasn’t immediately sure wasn’t her own, as the figure turned around in an instant to catch the intruder. “WHOAREYOU?” cried the woman, as she quickly covered herself with a baggy knit sweater.

“Shit, sorry” Tanna replied, slapping one hand over her eyes, and holding the other out in front of her, as if to signal she was unarmed. “My name is Tanna, I guess I’m your new bunkmate?”

“You scared the shit out of me” said the woman, who was clearly the Ensign Battle that the quartermaster had mentioned. “My name is Laura, and you can move your hand, I’m decent. Well, decent enough.” She let out a small laugh in a bid to ease this incredibly awkward introduction, “Though I’m not sure I can say the same about you.”

Tanna shuffled speechless over to her pile of boxes, rifled through the one labelled “Clothes” and emerged from behind the stack wearing an oversized, but faded t-shirt depicting a quartet of cartoonish, anthropomorphized turtles wearing bright colored masks over their eyes, and a pair of knee length shorts. “I am so sorry” she said finally, “I thought I was alone.”

“No worries,” Laura replied, “If we are going to be living together, it’s going to be awkward more than once. I won’t make it weird if you don’t.”

“Deal” said Tanna, “Want some pizza?”