Stardate: 70131:0000
Subject: Paradise by the Transport Lights
Author: Emma Smith
Time: After "Transfer" & "A Thousand Light Years..."
Scene: USS Horizon - Transporter Room


I feel that I should convey, as a minor point of interest, that Emma Smith never minded her stint on Starbase 12. In fact, in many ways she missed it. Starships tended to be such closed societies. No tourists, no transients, no trinket vendors lining the promenade; only the occasional dignitary, who, by the way, wouldn't give a second howdy-do to an ensign Security grunt.

Mind you, I'm not complaining on Emma's behalf and neither do either of us begrudge the lucky happenstance that brought her to the Horizon. I'm simply trying to explain the excitement that she, and much of the crew, felt when new officers boarded the ship.

It's difficult to say at this juncture if Lt. Commander L'Cir sent Emma to transporter room duty because of the confidence he had in her people skills or if it was just a way of getting her and the Hallelujah Chorus of imagined relatives she kept tucked in her head out of his hair for a few hours.

Either way, it didn't matter.

Emma stood near the transport chamber reading over the information on her data PADD. Once the chief did his thing, it would then be up to her to perform a quick security sensor scan, then welcome the new officers and direct them to wherever they wanted to go.

The first aboard would be Ensign James Adder: Astrophysicist.

*Wow,* thought Emma. *Science types were always so stoic and dignified. What if he asked for directions in Latin?*

As the transporter light filled the chamber, she, wanting to make a good first impression, pulled herself to attention.

Then...

She watched the brown crumbs trickle onto the spotless floor.

"Righty-ho, Ensign. The names James. Want a bite?" He waved the doughnut in her direction. "It's chocolate..."

"Er, no thanks!"

Emma, with Ensign Adder in tow, stepped into the corridor then directed him to Lt. Fall's office.

*On the up side,* she thought, *if 'Hansel' gets lost he can just follow his crumb trail back...*

"One down, one to go," she remarked to the Chief as her eyes read the name of their next contestant.

This one was an engineer. *Aye, yes, me matey, hearty sea-worthy types, those engineers..*

The transport twinkles faded and Emma had to look twice to make sure Ensign Remmick was actually human... his color surely denoted something closer to an Orion.

"Uh...welcome aboard?"

Remmick removed his hand from his mouth in an attempt to answer, but only ended up covering the crumbs that Adder had left on the floor.

"Which way?" Was all he was able to say before his hand darted back to cover his mouth.

Ensign Smith tapped her heart and alerted Sickbay that a live one would soon be darkening their doorstep, then quickly pointed the way to his quarters.

I know I've said this before, but when it comes to Emma, truer words were never spoken.

'Timing is everything...'

As luck would have it, just as Emma was scraping a combination of Remmick juice and doughnut from the sole of her boot, it was at that very moment that Lt. Commander L'Cir decided to check in.

"New officers present and accounted for?" He asked.

"Yes, sir, all aboard and ready to Rumba, as they say," she smiled, doing her best not to gag from the lingering odor.

"Well," said L'Cir, "I was right..."

"Sir?"

"You do have the perfect expertise for this job..."

Emma beamed. *I knew if I channelled Aunt Emily Post I'd impress him.*

The Lt. Commander's line of sight slowly moved down toward the floor...

"Now," he said with a shake of his head, "better get the mop."

*blink*


===============
Ensign Emma Smith
Security Officer
USS Horizon
NCC-72400
===============