Personal Log: First Away Mission

Posted on Thu Jan 22nd, 2026 @ 8:35pm by Ensign Janelle Barett
Edited on Sat Jan 24th, 2026 @ 8:44am

292 words; about a 1 minute read

Personal Log, Ensign Janelle Barett

I was selected for my first away mission today.

I knew it was coming, statistically at least. New ensign, operations background, limited planetside exposure. Eventually the numbers align. Still, when my name was spoken on the bridge, it felt unreal in a way training simulations never manage.

I do not think I smiled. I do not think I said anything unnecessary. I acknowledged the order, confirmed readiness, and did exactly what I have practiced doing for years.

Then I went to my quarters and stood there for a full minute doing absolutely nothing.

There is a strange weight to an away mission that is not about danger. It is about permission. Permission to leave the controlled environment of the ship. To step onto a world that was not designed for you. To matter in a way that does not involve a console or a schematic.

I ran through my checklist twice. Equipment secured. Uniform pressed. Tricorder calibrated. Phaser checked, rechecked. I adjusted the power setting myself to compensate for expected EM interference. No assumptions. No complacency. The kind of mistakes people make when they are too eager.

I told myself this was just another assignment. A job. A task with parameters and protocols.

That helped.

What did not help was the quiet moment right before I left my quarters, when it finally sank in that this would be the first time I would feel the deck not beneath my feet. No bulkheads. No hum of the warp core. Just a planet, hostile, irradiated, alive.

I am not afraid.

But I am aware.

And awareness, I am learning, feels a lot like anticipation when you are trying very hard to keep your hands steady.

End log.

 

RSS Feed