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Log Entry: Station Commander Lily Riggs
Log Date: 6482.18


The Vega system. Why the *Vega* system? I told Admiral Douglas that the first
Vega project failed. He didn't need me to tell him that. He oversaw that
project, too, and for some reason I'll never be able to understand, Command
decided that that makes him the perfect person to lead the Vega Beta
project. I'd just gotten back from a successful scouting mission, so of course
I was the natural candidate to be in charge. What luck, he told me. If things
went well, I could see myself in the admiralty within a few years. No one
thought to ask me if that's something I want. Surely everyone in the
fleet would want this assignment!

I captain scout ships. I explore, I run science missions. Why would I
want to stay in one place until Douglas decides to promote me? And
then I'll have a desk job for the rest of my career. Who would want
that? I don't want them to take me out of the captain's chair. I guess
they already did with this assignment. I suppose I could resign, but... what
would I do then? It's not like I can just get another job just like that. So
it's off to the Vega system for me.

I'll have plenty to do. We've made some progress finding ways to ... I
wouldn't really call it communicate, but... convey ideas to? the other species
we've met out there. That's another reason I'm not a good fit for this
assignment. I'm an astronomer, not a linguist. I took one linguistics course
in university and came within one quectometer of failing it. I would've, if my
instructor wasn't more lenient than xe should've been. I'm not an
anthropologist, either. Great subject, but it's just not my specialty. I've
tried to tell Douglas this, but he won't listen. He says I have what it takes.
What I have is half a mind to find a quiet part of the galaxy to do something
else. What that something else would be remains to be seen.

Besides the communication barrier, the mission brief says I'll need to oversee
"installation commission completion" which sounds a lot like they're still
building the thing and I'll have to be in charge of that as well. I wonder how
many corridors randomly lead to empty space. Probably most of them!  I have to
admit, though, to my own chagrin, that building something from scratch has its
appeal. I've always served on ships, completed vessels that had existing crews
and their own cultures. Building something new might be fun! ... but it's
still staying in the same place, indefinitely. What am I going to discover,
what adventures can I have, staying in the same place?