Advice From One Ensign to Another

Posted on Sat Mar 15th, 2025 @ 10:24am by Ensign Matt Connor & Ensign Eric Banner

722 words; about a 4 minute read

Eric finished his work that he had been assigned to and set the access cover panel back in place. The job hadn't been hard, but it had been one that had taken longer than he had expected. Standing upright, he stretched and heard a few of his joints pop before he checked the time. To his surprise, he noticed that he had been sitting in the corridor for almost three hours. He decided that a small break to get something to drink before moving on to the next item on his work schedule wouldn't hurt. Gathering his tools, he started towards the turbolift.

Matt yawned as he exited the lift on deck seven. Security patrol on a small star ship like the Eclipse was dull, except when he passed by a hot chick, mostly because the ship was small and he usually saw the same corridors days after day. It was an important task, sure enough, but damn it was boring. Rounding a corner, Matt noticed a gold collared officer picking up his tools. The guy was an ensign and not from security, so he decided to introduce himself.

"Hey, you need a hand with anything?"

Eric looked up and noticed the ensign standing there. Seeing the hand phaser on the man's belt, he guessed that the officer was from security. "No, sir, I'm actually just finishing up," Eric answered.

"Sir?" Matt chuckled. "Hey man, we're both ensigns. Please don't call me sir. You must be new from the academy."

"I am," Eric said as he closed his tool kit and stood up. Deciding that it couldn't hurt to be polite, he held out his hand. "Ensign Eric Banner. I'm assigned to operations."

"Ensign Matt Connor, assigned to security," Matt replied as he shook the other guy's hand. "Operations, huh? Being the new guy they must have you on the most boring job possible."

"I feel that I've been assigned to some of the less important work," Eric said. "But it does help the day pass by."

"Yeah, but when there's nothing going on, that makes for a long boring day," Matt said.

"Are you sure you're an ensign? You seem to have a better understanding of everything," Eric said.

Matt laughed. "Yeah, I'm an ensign," he said as he leaned up against the bulkhead. "About to go onto four years since I graduated from the academy."

"I thought ensigns got an automatic promotion to lieutenant after two years," Eric said, blinking in surprise.

"Well, that's normally if you're not bounced around or if you do something incredibly stupid," Matt said with a shrug. "There's also the officer rank ratio that some Starfleet units like to go by, and other factors. For me, I did a couple of things on an away mission that got me an extension on qualifying for a promotion and then got shuffled around a few times before I landed on Eclipse."

"I see," Eric said with a thoughtful look on his face. "So I might not get a promotion in two years, then."

"Probably not," Matt said. "But if I can offer some advice it would be don't expect too many rewards. Just do your job and keep your head down. When it's your time to shine, you'll know."

"Can I ask for some advice on something else?" Eric asked.

"Well, you can ask. I might have an answer," Matt chuckled.

"What about dating other officers on the same ship? I tried to hit on one of the engineers, but she didn't seem interested," Eric said.

Matt laughed and shook his head. "Oh, man, yeah one of the general unspoken rules for us lower decks rats is do NOT ever try to go out with anyone in the same department," he said. "Being in operations, try one of the medical or science officers."

"I'll try to do that," Eric said as he checked the time. "I'd like to stay and continue our conversation, but I need to go check the life support systems on deck five."

"No problem," Matt said. "I'll hit you up for a drink in the lounge sometime."

"I'd enjoy that," Eric said as he started off down the corridor. "I'll see you around then."

"See ya around buddy," Matt said as he nodded towards the other ensign and continued on along his patrol.

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