Io

"So. Here's my story.

My name is Rajen Pol. I am Bajoran. And I am sick and tired of my people limping around, crying...about the Occupation. It ended...what? 15 years ago? Yeah. It was horrible. But you know what? It ended. It's over. We can finally go back to what we were doing before, sort of. Not really, actually. Because now our Government wants to be a part of the United Federation of Planets. I'm all for that. Woo! Go Federation...whatever.

Anyway...back to the matter at hand. I am a recent graduate of StarFleet Academy. My major, or my MOS, or whatever you wanna call it, was Engineering. I'm a propulsion specialist. I love making things go. It's fun. But a dilithium reactor is like those old school nuclear reactors, only better. With stuff that's really awesome and can kill you. Which fascinates me.

Now, my roommate, or former roommate, was the first Cardassian to enlist in Starfleet. Zurin Dakal. Neat guy. Really neat. I liked him a lot. See, I was just a wee lil thing during the tail end of the Occupation, I don't have the deep hatred for the Cardassians that my parents do, especially after seeing what they'd been through at the hands of the Dominion. Sure, they killed a bunch of us, but they lost 80% of their total population... 80%. That's...that's horrible...that...makes what we, the Bajorans, went through look like summer camp. Seriously. And then all the bullshit with the Borg. The last 30 years have just been shit for the Alpha Quadrant and right now, we're all limping home and licking our wounds.

But, like most stories, the good guys won. But there is no victory without sacrifice. Many, billions, of good people had to die so we could surivive and they won't be forgotten. It's kind of amazing, in a way. The Federation has been fucked... Well, raped, anally, with no lube at every turn. Yet, it still manages to pick itself up, dust itself off, and move on. The Luna Fleet is proof of that. Because after all the shit that went down, we're still out exploring the galaxy, seeking out new life, and new civilizations. And new things to kick our asses....cuz that's how we roll.

But anyway...

After graduation, I got stationed on this piece of shit excuse for a starship. It's actually one of the newer Luna class ships, but my god! I had to laugh. The previous chief of engineering must have been a master of like... alchemy or something. I opened a control panel one day and I about pissed myself I was laughing so hard. He'd welded a spatula...a spatula...to the inner circuitry. I can't tell you how long it took me to actually repair that. He gets an F for the job, but an A for creativity. Even my Vulcan friend, Torvon, got a chuckle out of it. And you really have to try to make a Vulcan laugh. Well, he didn't really chuckle, he snorted, then turned really green. It was funny.

Wow, I've kinda been all over the place with this, haven't I? Ah, well..whatever. You're still reading right? Good. I have your attention.

Did I make you laugh? I hope so. I'm not gonna be trudging through this, screaming, "Wah! My penis!" This is not one of those stories.

Alright, back to the story.

So, my first few months on board the Io were slow. Here I am, on this 'state of the art', Exploration vessel and we're just sitting in dry dock, waiting for the rest of the crew to show up. I think they told those people, "Hey, show up when you feel like it." Cuz that's what they did. Man, I tell ya. It was horrible. But like, two days before we were supposed to ship out, our new Lead Science Officer shows up.

Now, I've known like... four Trill my whole life. Interesting people. They like to go places and do things and they're just a bunch of fun to hang out with. And they're loyal, my god...so loyal as friends. It's nuts, but kind of cool.

I just realized how badly I suck at telling stories. I'm sorry, folks, really.

Anyway, back to the Trill guy. Well, wait. Lemme make one thing clear. I am homosexual. I like men, males of any species, really, as long as they're like me, kind of. Transparent skulls? Not my thing. Two legs, two arms, reasonably similar genitalia, that's fine.

Okay, back to the Trill guy. For a blue shirt, he was pretty, well, awesome. He was obnoxious, fun, smart, good looking, and tall. I have a thing for tall guys. Probably because I'm on the shorter side. But yeah...He...he was hot. Very sexy. And I had a huge crush on him. Like, he would come the mess during meals when I'd be there...and I'd turn red and try very hard to telepathically communicate with my food. I'm kinda shy. Zurin tried to help me with that, but yeah..no such luck. The Trill tried talking to me once and I about pissed myself...

Pathetic, right?

Well...I'll fast forward through all the awkward bullshit...random meetings in the corridors where I'd make a total ass of myself. Hah, wait..wait... There was one time, he ran into me... His name is Kerev Del, by the way. Joined. Del, the symbiont had like...five other hosts or something.

Anyway. He ran into me, literally, knocked my skinny ass to the floor and all my PADDs went everywhere. I had an arm load. Because apparently when they designed the Luna class starships, they forgot to rethink how they made the engines so EVERY Luna class ship has MAJOR, 'OMFG' errors.

Little backstory.. Starfleet, okay? Well, it got its start back when the Humans met the Vulcans..yadda, yadda, yadda. So it's their fault. Anyway...back then there was this company, even after the collapse of the terran infrastructure, that made everything computer wise...It was called Microsoft. And the entire bloody military was run on it. There was no better computer operating systems or anything. The Vulcan's didn't have shit on Microsoft. Anyway...yeah. And so, knowing that... Today, StarFleet runs on Microsoft. I'm not even kidding. It's the worst operating system ever. And it's like..infected other species systems...It's horrible.

So that's what I was working on when Kerev tried to take me out. The fucking operating system for our Warp Engines... We were getting those nifty BSoD's like every two hours, and the whole god damned system would crash and have to be restarted. We tried reinstalling the drivers and what not and switching settings in the BIOS. I thought my Vulcan friend was going to cry it was so bad. I've never heard a Vulcan growl like that or anyone for that matter. I was afraid for my life.

He helped me up and apologized and I muttered a thank you.. Then he helped me pick up my PADDs. We had this like brief, tense, small talky conversation, then I scurried outta there like an entire legion of Jem'Hadar was on my ass. I told my other friend, a human named Cheryl, about it, and yeah. She laughed at me. She has no diplomacy. None. If she's gonna laugh at you, she's gonna laugh and point.

So yeah, she laughed at me and I sniffled a bit. It wasn't funny, but now that I look at it, it kinda is..

Anyway, skip ahead a few months and Captain Simmons thought it'd be a good idea to throw one of those mixers. For the officers. I think the enlisted crew were down below getting drunk off bootleg synthale or something.

So, we're all in the mess hall in civilian clothes, because Simmons wanted it to be 'relaxed'. I was far from relaxed..and already kinda drunk. I was hiding in a corner, happy and just keeping to myself. That's when Kerev showed up...

Lordy, Lordy...Kerev. He is the stuff wet dreams are made of. And I don't know why, but he seemed interested in me.

He came over, all smiles and charm... And I...turned into a moron again. Seriously, with him being so close, I just wanted to run away and giggle like a Ferengi in a Latinum mine... Latinum comes from mines, right? I hope so...

But, I came out of my shell for a little while, the alcohol helped with that...and we had an actual, adult conversation. And I was pretty sure that at that point...I was falling in love. Like, head over heels, truly, madly, deeply, or I was really, really drunk and enfatuated...

Anyway...He convinced me to join him for dinner the next week in his quarters. And I accepted.

Now, I don't date much. Usually, I just jump right into relationships..and they always end in total disaster... Like, when I was at the Academy, I jumped into this relationship with a human named Kevin Kelly. Great guy, at first, but after 5 months..he turned into a total jerk. And after a year, he broke my heart...

There's no gray area with me. None. Well, not really. I suppose you could say I have a weird personality disorder. I adapt myself to fit the person I'm with, to my friends, and that makes me likable to everyone. So, I have a lot of friends who think they know me pretty well when really, I don't even know me.. At least, not the real me.

But Kerev... After dating a few months, I finally started to get to know myself for who I really was. And I am made of awesome. And so is he. He made me realize things about myself in a way no one has or ever will.

And so today... Two years later... We celebrated our second anniversary. And I could not be happier. He couldn't either..I don't think. It's hard to tell. He gets all beside himself when we pick up new fungus....

Anyway, it's sexy time..so...Hah... END LOG."//