shurimalvex

Thanks, Commander! As ever, you rock!

Hi guys, I don't seem to have the paintbrush tool, am I just being an idiot and looking in the wrong place? I want me some stars!

That was amazing, Nira! I really enjoyed reading it. I hope you enjoy training and simming as much - I look forward to seeing you on the other side! :-D

Cool, that must means lots of new cadets! :-D

Hey Gene! Will we be training together? It will be nice to have an experienced simmer aboard! :-) Can't wait to start writing with you and everyone else! I hope we have a great week together!

Hi All! My name is Avi, I'm playing Shurimal Vex, an Ullian, and today is my first day of training!! (Although it's 5AM, so I may be a bit early!) I was born in Cornwall, UK, and lived in London until a few months ago when I moved to Haifa, Israel. I hope to work in agriculture in the Negev desert, especially I'm interested in living in a self-sufficent, 'ecological' community (I guess I'm still a bit of a hippy...). I love Star Trek, I love writing, so when I found SB118 I was over the moon! In addition to Star Trek I also love Doctor Who, Fringe, X-Files and a host of other traditional geeky shows with a heavy science-fiction slant. One of the best scifi shows I've ever watched is an old miniseries from the BBC at the end of the '70s called The Omega Factor - it's not very well known but if anyone gets a chance to watch it I can not recommend it highly enough - many of the scifi technologies it posits have become real things and at least two of the episodes made me sleep with the light on they were so scary! It is the original X-Files! I'm a BIG Elder Scrolls and Fallout fan, and am gutted the my computer has no chance of running Fallout 4 this November :-( Having lurked in the forums for the past few days, I'm super-excited to join SB118 and cannot wait to start simming with you guys, on whichever ship I end up. There is some amazing talent evinced on these boards, especially reading through the Top Sims contest winners and nominees. I hope I can improve my writing to this level as I play! Okay, I hope this suffices for an intro, sorry if it turned into a bit of an essay! -Avi / Shurimal Vex

The air at the top of the dome shimmered beneath the artificial sun, simulated clouds swirling slowly a kilometre above his head. Even after five years here, Shurimal Vex still found the starbase as beautiful as it was improbable. From every wall the wasn't a window to the Milky Way beyond, flowers and foliage hung in exotically manicured designs. Fountains and plants from every corner of the quadrant lined the plazas and wide promenades which led to shops, restaurants, temples, buildings of every shape and purpose. A whole city floating in space and housing innumerable species and cultures. It was mesmerising. Sitting on one of the private balconies of Nexxor's, his 'local' haunt on SB118, the Ullian found he had mixed feelings about his quickly approaching graduation – on the one hand, he was exhilarated at the thought of finally getting out there and exploring the galaxy, boldly going to distant stars and discovering new civilisations, but on the other, this starbase had become his home and he found it hard to imagine once again living on starship, with everything that entailed. Vex smiled to himself, unconsciously stroking the patterned membrane that joined his brow to his ear and swept back to his scalp under his hairline. Casually, gently, he lowered his guard and let his mind passively expand, let the whispers of millions of minds flow past him like a gentle breeze, comforted by the close contact with more species and individuals than he could count. He remembered how difficult and uncomfortable it was when he first arrived here, having finally been accepted into Starfleet Academy after two failed attempts and several years of study and field work for the Ullian History Council. Although only five years ago, it seemed like another lifetime, lived by another person. He had never been to such a populous place before, and he remembered that for the first month he could barely sleep, thousands of foreign dreams invading his own, millions of thoughts in his own voice but not from his mind. All Ullians were telepathic, but on his home world the abilities were taken for granted. Scant training was offered nor particularly required. Only a handful of pupils were admitted to study with the Mind Council and practical psionics had never interested Vex anyhow. How he had regretted this fact when first he had landed, completely unprepared for the mental onslaught. He had never experienced anything like it, so many people in such a concentrated space, inescapable. He had had to learn the hard way how to control his telepathic abilities, how to build blocks and how to use his 'sixth' sense effectively and responsibly. It was a difficult few months, and he missed several deadlines that first semester – and several classes – whilst he was learning to master his own mind. But now Vex dreaded the very opposite – how lonely, how quiet life aboard a ship might be. It was silly to feel this way, he scolded himself. He remembered exactly what life before Starfleet was like, and he had not been lonely! This emotionalism and sentimentality was too Human. Ullians famously had a unique and special relationship to memory and history, and the Ullian Mind Council was renowned for developing the innate retrocognitive ability of its students, aiding Federation historians enormously. Vex had no excuses, he could not romanticise his memories, nor cling to nostalgia: like all Ullians, Vex was gifted and cursed with total recall. He remembered exactly what the past was like, for all of its good and its bad. Look forward, he firmly told himself. You know you will survive, you will thrive, aboard a Starfleet vessel! You know because you have worked so hard to get here! Vex wasn't a naturally gifted student. His successes came from passion, not ability. His love of history, of discovery, had driven him to study hard and discipline himself. He guessed this is why his first two applications to Starfleet at eighteen had failed and only after seven years working as an archaeologist with the Historhy Council was he accepted to the Academy. Although it had hurt at first, he now understood how necessary and beneficial those rejections were for they had led him to where he sat today, just a few hours away from his cadet cruise, the final hurdle before graduation. Sometimes it seemed strange to be graduating at thirty when most of his class were still in their early twenties. Still kids, it sometimes seemed. But he had lived. None of his years had been wasted. He had unearthed the great ruins of Kechenkel on Jergan IV, earning him a commendation from the Council. He had travelled to dozens of planets across vast sectors of the galaxy, meeting history, adventure and discovery. He had stared danger and fear squarely in the eyes and had not blinked. And all that was before he ever got into Starfleet. Starfleet, though, had given him something different. It had, he believed, turned him into a man, as cliché as that sounded even to his own internal monologue. Starfleet had given him himself. Now he knew who he was and how to be himself, no longer uncomfortable in his own body and mind, no longer unsure. Despite all the wonders he had seen as an exo-archaeologist (some of which he had been the first to see in millennia), despite all the dangers he had face and all the skills he had acquired, it was only here at the Academy that he felt he had finally grown up. Vex roused himself from his reverie, lost as he was in the crystal clear oceans of his memory, and withdrew his mind back into himself, slowly silencing the psychic eddies of the base. He checked his pocket watch. It was rather ostentatious and very old-fashioned – it required winding every night! – but it was gift from his parents to celebrate his first posting on an off-world expedition with the Ullian History Council. They had been so proud of him, almost as proud as he had been of himself, that they had spent months seeking the ornate antique timepiece. He always carried it with him. Twenty past eleven in the morning, the analogue dial displayed. Henry was late. As usual. Henry Jacobson was, Vex supposed, the Ullian's best friend in the Academy, although certainly neither would ever express such a mawkish sentiment, especially to each other. Jacobson also wore the blue collar, although strictly hard sciences only. Jacobson was an astrophysicist and, Vex knew, a rather brilliant one for a man so young. But his brilliance came at a price – he was generally irascible and unsocial, which was in many ways fortunate as he was also generally unpopular and resented. Still, somehow the two had formed a bond. Vex thought it was because Jacobson couldn't stand people his own age, whom he considered to be entirely vapid; an unfair generalisation, Vex would remind him to no avail. For Vex's own part, he found Jacobson's genius to be truly impressive, if a little daunting. Besides this, during his first semester here Jacobson was the only student Vex could sit near without getting a migraine. The Human's mind was just so focused, so tight, that nothing ever leaked, nothing was broadcast unconsciously. Being around Henry was like walking off a hot, busy road into a cool building, shutting the door behind you – the traffic outside was still audible, but it was at a distance, reduced from deafening roar to manageable murmur. Shurimal could control all that himself now, of course, but at the time it had saved his sanity. Over their time together at the Academy the pair became quite inseparable, and a sudden pang in his heart brought home to Vex exactly how much he was going to miss his grumpy, clever friend. He already knew that Starfleet Science had its eye on Henry. He wouldn't end up on a ship. Pointlessly, Vex checked his watch again. Only two and a half minutes had passed. There was still no sign of Henry. Vex sighed, shaking his head. In five years Jacobson had never once been on time. At first it annoyed him, but now Vex found it almost endearing. Almost. Nexxor herself appeared next to him on the balcony, wearing a garish dress made of many different materials and colours. She grinned sweetly with her sharp little teeth. “He's late again,” the Ferengi proprietress intoned flatly through her unmoving smile. It wasn't a query. “Oh, not really,” Vex deadpanned. “If I wanted to see him now, I would have told him to meet me at ten instead of eleven.” Nexxor's smile remained as her eyes narrowed. “Are you ready to order.” Another non-query. “He should be here soon.” “There are customers who want seats now. It is almost lunch.” “But surely we're your best customers? We are here every day!” Vex protested, knowing he was pushing his luck. The paiir could make two drinks last two hours, much to Nexxor's exasperation. In a feat only a Ferengi could pull off, Nexxor was now scowling and smiling at the same time in the most unpleasant manner! “You know I love you boys like my own sons – but they pay.” “Okay, okay!” Vex conceded defeat. “Bring me the soup du jour. Debit my account.” The scowl remained, but for the first time the smile faltered. “You've been holding one of my best balconies for an hour and a half and now you order… soup?! Why, is there nothing cheaper on the menu you would like?” “Believe me, I've checked.” For the briefest moment Vex feared he had crossed the line, before Nexxor turned on her heels with an angry flourish, a rainbow of skirts swirling around her, and stalked off muttering curses on his family under her breath. Not for the first time, he was grateful that he could not hear minds in four-lobed brains. He wondered if she would contaminate his soup. A few moments later and the short, wiry frame of Henry Jacobson marched out onto the balcony. “Nexxor looks like she's ready to throttle a targ,” he said seriously as he took his seat opposite Vex. There was no hint that an apology for his lateness would be forthcoming. “She shot me the filthiest look as she stormed by. What did you say to her this time?” “I ordered soup,” Vex replied innocently. “Hmm.” Jacobson eyed him suspiciously, but a half smile hovered at one corner of his mouth. He pulled two PADDs out from his satchel, laying them on the table as he continued to speak. Both were scrawled with formulae and equations that had nothing to do with his Academy courses. “Are you ready?” Vex thought before answering, observing as Henry started to scroll through various sections on each PADD. “As ready, I think, as I can be.” “You want to go over any of the scenarios again?” Jacobson offered, his eyes not leaving the PADDs. “Apparently they've changed the parameters of the Shabtai and Leian simulations. There are still a few hours, we could--” “No,” interrupted Vex, waving his hand, “Thank you, it's all right. I'm prepared. Part of the cadet cruise is evaluating how I deal with the unexpected. Besides, before I came to the Academy I faced some pretty scary situations out there, I'm sure I can handle anything a simulation can throw at me.” “Not another 'when I was your age' anecdote, please, Shurimal!” Jacobson groaned, teasing his friend. “Fine, fine. But when you are my age--” “No more!” Jacobson covered his ears with his hands and pleaded with his eyes. “I'll stop...” Henry tentatively began to lower his hands. “...when you learn to respect your elders!” Vex began to laugh as Jacobson slumped in his seat with a pained expression. Nexxor appeared dramatically in the doorway, carrying a tray with a small, steaming bowl atop it and wearing her sharp, spiky smile. “Why, if it isn't my other 'best customer'. Let me guess: ice water? A bread stick?” “Nothing for me, thank you,” Jacobson replied quickly, suddenly absorbed once more in his formulae. Vex knew it was just to avoid meeting her eyes and he could swear that there was, just for a second, the hint of a grin on the Human's face. Vex risked a quick glance and a smile as Nexxor rather firmly set his soup on the table, followed by the jangle of the metal spoon hitting the table with some force. Above her rictus smile she wore a face like a thunderstorm. He thought he better try to salvage the situation if the pair were ever to frequent here again. “I forgot to say earlier,” he ventured, “but, of course, give yourself a generous tip.” “Oh, don't you worry,” Nexxor's smiled broadened, her voice a knife's edge, “I did.”