First Day At Starfleet Academy - Doubts

Posted on Sun May 3rd, 2026 @ 10:24pm by Commander Rhiana t'Aegis
Edited on on Fri May 8th, 2026 @ 10:51am

927 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Flashbacks and Side Quests
Location: Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, Earth
Timeline: 2389

[ON]

Standing there, among the myriad of young, excited people, chattering in different languages but with Federation Standard prevalent, Rhiana t'Aegis was nervous. Worried.

She was used to being alone, but being surrounded by all of these youngsters who were here for the same reason as her, made her feel even more isolated.

If she had not doubted the decision to attend Starfleet Academy before, she did so now. While she had passed the entrance exams and knew that she was intellectually at least equal to most of the candidates around her, she doubted whether this was really the place for her. Maybe she should have given civilian life a chance.

No.

She was not cut out to be a civilian. She had been a ward of the Empire since she was ten years old. Military drill had been a major part of her life ever since. Even if, as an adult, she had seen glimpses of what civilian life could be, Rhiana knew it was not for her.

She looked around the excited future officers again, wondering whether she and her peers back home had ever behaved in this carefree way. Likely not. Of course, they had all served the mandatory five-year military service directly after their fifteen years of formal schooling. And those fifteen years - ten, in her case - had been highly competitive.

Even though rumour had had it that wards of the Empire were brought up to be little more than expendable crewmen, doing menial work at best, Rhiana knew this not to be true. She - as all other young Romulans - had been assigned classes and specialisations according to the results of regular aptitude tests. And later, during the mandatory military service, the Romulan Navy still made certain that useful talents were not wasted. And so, Rhiana had cleaned floors, changed sheets and spent countless hours sterilising medical equipment and apparatus. But she had, in later years, also been allowed to watch and sometimes even assist experienced military doctors perform their duties.

The actual officer's training only began after the military service. Admittance to Phi'lasasam was per invitation only. You could not apply for it. You could also not refuse that invitation. The programme took two years to complete and while life as an eredh was harsh and demanding, the Romulan Navy's goal was now not to weed out unsuitable candidates, but to train future officers.

Starfleet Academy, from what Rhiana had seen so far, did not appear to have the same atmosphere as Phi'lasasam. A thought occured to her and brought a bitter smile to her face: Even though she had worked twice as hard as others to show that she was worthy, that she was loyal and steadfast, the label of 'traitor' or at least 'daughter of traitors' had followed her throughout her life in the Empire. Even eventually betraying her parents and delivering them to the Tal Shiar was not enough, not for everybody, to forget her origins. And now, now that she actually was a traitor... her fellow cadets would not see her as one, but as a refugee, fleeing the tragedy of the Hobus star.

The shrill sound of a whistle interrupted Rhiana's thoughts and cut through the noise in the assembly hall. Someone spoke for several minutes and ended with giving instructions. All around Rhiana, the young people began to pick up their belongings and move towards different exits for further processing while other young but slightly older people, already clad in cadet uniforms, walked through the masses to further direct traffic and make certain that nothing and noone was left behind.

This was it. This was the moment when she could still walk away without shame, without the feeling of being a failure. She could attend medical studies at a university here, catch up on Terran medicine, become a physician and settle down on Earth. Or spend a year or five travelling. Disappear from the eyes of Starfleet Intelligence and try a very different lifestyle. There were independent space stations out there that had a healthy economy without being controlled by any government. She had a few marketable skills that would allow her to make a living there. She could even try to go back home. To what was left of it. Claim a nervous breakdown, apprehension by Starfleet Intelligence with ensuing interrogations. The Tal Shiar might let her live.

One of the older cadets approached her now as she was one of the few left who were still lingering in the assembly hall. As he came closer, Rhiana saw that he had the rank of Cadet First Class. She had read that the older cadets served as commanders for younger cadet squads and platoons to free commissioned and non-commissioned officers from these duties and to allow these cadets to gain some command experience.

As she looked at him approach, she wondered what he saw. Romulans aged considerably slower than Humans. Even though she was likely more than twenty years his senior, she looked barely older than him. He did not look unfriendly. Maybe a little stressed. Tried to impress the newcomers with an air of importance and maturity.

"Hey, hurry up," he called out to her when he was still a couple of metres away. "You're one of the last ones. Do you know which way to go?"

That question brought a small smile to Rhiana's face and she picked up the two bags that contained all her worldly belongings. "I do now."


[OFF]

Rhiana e-Fveirrolh t'Aegis
Refugee

 

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