Straight to the bridge

Cassidy scurried away from her quarters into the nearest lift. “Bridge!” she ordered, and the mechanism whirred to life, zipping up from the residential deck. Moments later, the doors swished open, treating her to the familiar sight of Lamarr Station’s bridge.

Strictly speaking, it was called Central Command. Most of the station’s crew had spent the bulk of their career on starships, though, so ‘bridge’ was just more comfortable. Whatever it was called, it was a circular space containing two neat, concentric rings of computerized workstations, which stepped down slightly with each ring. The walls and ceiling were paneled with paraglass windows, allowing a nearly complete one-eighty degree view of the surrounding space, only broken by the three doors—two for the lifts, one for Captain Sharaf’s office. Positioned at the very top of the spindle-shaped space station, the bridge was both the heart and the brain of Lamarr.

Captain Sharaf turned as the lift doors opened. Like Cassidy, Sharaf was human. He was a tall man with brown skin, a bald head, and a short black beard. Unlike most men in his rank, many of whom probably had at least one promotion come from a **** femme superior hoping for some favour, Sharaf came by his position out of pure competence.

“Ensign Bell,” he said as Cassidy entered, his voice gravelly and faintly accented. “Glad you could join us.”

Cassidy froze. The room fell silent, her fellow officers all swiveling to look at her. The moment hung in the air, before Sharaf stood, and gave a small wave of his hand to tell the other officers to return to work.

"I... umm..." Cassidy stammered as Sharaf crossed the room toward her. Leaning in and speaking quietly, he said, “You’re a good officer, Ensign, but this is the second time this cycle that you’ve been late for a duty shift. I’ll let you off with one more warning, but if there’s a next time, it will go on your record. Understood?”

“Aye sir,” Cassidy replied, eyes down and face flushed. She squirmed a little; even through the sting of reprimand, being this close to a man like Sharaf was… distracting.

The captain straightened. “Good. Also—kindly refrain from using Ensign M’zetna for your excuses in the future, won't you? Lying isn’t her strong suit.”

Cassidy felt her face go as red as her hair. “Aye sir. Won’t happen again, sir.” she mumbled.

Sharaf nodded. “Take your station, Ensign.”

“Captain.”

Sheepishly, Cassidy walked to Logistics Workstation B; her usual post. She could feel a number of the room's eyes still on her as she did. Glancing around, she saw M’zetna giving her an apologetic shrug and grimace.

Cassidy sighed. Definitely not a strong start to the shift. Hoping that her blush would eventually subside, she activated her terminal and began the day's work.