The Eternal Recurrance of Boredom

Posted on Sat Jan 18th, 2020 @ 7:47pm by Petty Officer 2nd Class Corvus Hannah
Edited on on Sat Jan 18th, 2020 @ 8:47pm

647 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Genesis
Location: Starfleet One Training Room 4
Timeline: 2430-01-01, 10:00

Corvus's foot leg bounced as he stared blankly at the terminal before him. A glance to his chrono related he'd only been in the class for two hours and still had several more before they were able to move to the practical portion of the weapons qualification course.

And it was all so elementary. And so boring. The first time he took it, when he went to combat medic, it wasn't this boring. This mind numbingly dull. It was...well...then he had things to learn. But he's 'been there done that' so many times that he couldn't conceive of how he didn't know any of this previously.

Which made it worse. The same instructor who denied him the ability to do a refresher on the written portion and then a recert on the range now enjoyed using him as an 'example'. He was trying to keep his cool as he made it seem to all these new recruits that he was sent here as some dullard unable to understand the simple use of weapons. When he had no real idea of what actually happened.

Still, the instructor droned on, so in love with the sound of his own self-importance that he wasn't about to cut any part of the course short. Which, as he realized, was another difference from his first time through. The class showed enough acumen (even those without as much familiarity with weapons) that they didn't have to go through every single slide in the course.

Not this time.

Hannah placed his chin on his fist and tried to keep from closing his eyes. It wasn't that he was sleepy but that he was...incredibly bored. And a natural defense against this type of unrelenting boredom was unconsciousness.

"Petty Officer Hannah?"

Hannah jerked his attention back to the front of the room where the instructor was looking at him, expectantly. Hannah fumbled, trying to remember what the man was droning on about and cast his gaze to the slide behind him to see about getting a clue.

"Again, ladies and gentlemen," the instructor intoned with a smile to show his love of his own mirth, "the dangers of Not Paying Attention. If Petty Officer Hannah paid more attention to what he was doing, perhaps he could be assisting with the class rather than taking it."

Hannah's jaw clenched while he swallowed the ire as the class chuckled. If it weren't for his respect for Commander O'Sullivan, who commuted the original punishments down to no weapons until he retook this class, he might not try so hard to keep his cool.

"I guess that's what happens when you let nurses carry guns," the instructor continued before turning back to the projection of the current slide at the head of the class. "The answer is thirteen point eight. You might want to remember that."

Hannah let out the breath he'd been holding and watched the slide change on his terminal. He'd already been scolded earlier for using his PaDD when an important message came in from the Medical department. Which is where the 'nurse' part of the 'ribbing' came into play.

He checked his chrono. Still two more hours of the classroom portion of the training. Two. More. Hours. Maybe at the next break, if he tried hard enough, he could make a run for it and...

...disappoint his hazard team CO. The commander who earned his loyalty and respect. Hannah sighed again. Two more hours. Then, hopefully, a real instructor for the range portion. That was only scheduled for two hours, with extra time set aside for those that might need remedial and specialized training. That, Hannah was confident, would not include him.

And, if nothing else, this would teach him to NEVER take a shortcut with weapon safety again. Never. He swore it to every deity ever worshiped in the galaxy.

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