Insomniacs are us!

Posted on Fri Jun 6th, 2025 @ 1:43pm by Captain Kagami Izumi & Lieutenant JG Nico Yazawa & Ensign (lagh) Eyosa & Hatsune Izumi & Lieutenant Maki Nishikino 'Bones' & Lieutenant Aiden Percy & Lieutenant (Sogh) Vep Ka of the Empire

1,444 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Midnight
Location: Various

Captains Log. The arrival of The Sonno was unexpected. However it was nice to make a first contact, a very rare event on a Starbase. The Sonno have been assigned quest quarters a d after a tour of the station, trade talks will start tomorrow. I am looking forward to a peaceful evening. I'm going to need all the rest I can get for tomorrow...

[Doctor Nishikino's Quarters, Deck 4]

Given her family's medical background, Maki was something of a creature of habit when it came to her bedtime routine. Provided that she hadn't been assigned to work the Delta Shift (Of which she had made crystal clear that she would only do so in a worst-case scenario where there were inadequate Doctors to cover the shift), her cut-off point for all work-related activities was 1900 hours, at which point she would begin the process of unwinding and getting herself ready for bed.

First on the schedule was preparing herself a late-night meal; it was always important to eat lightly, and no more than 2 to 3 hours before bed, so that her digestive tract would have sufficient time to process the food before bed. Her meal of choice come this time of night was most typically a salad, be it a cherry tomato salad, an Italian tomato cucumber salad, a tomato-cucumber mozzarella salad, a tomato avocado salad... come to think of it, most of her preferred salads were tomato-based... she probably had her mother to thank for that.

Anyways, once everything was put back in the replicator to be recycled, she'd usually put on some calming music (Classic piano was typically her go-to; one of her friends back in high school argued she was no fun, but Maki had always been a connoisseur of the "classical" human arts- maybe she did dabble in composing pop music every now and then, but it was more a hobby than a lifestyle for her) and do some yoga to de-stress the muscles that had become taut from a busy day on her feet (and seeing as she oversaw the day-to-day operations of an entire sickbay on a Nareandra-Class Starbase, the days usually were busy); she kept a journal within arm's reach, in case any wayward thoughts popped into her head (despite what some of her idiot friends thought, she did not keep a diary, and had not done so since she was at least 8).

Come 2100, she'd dim the lights and hit the sonic showers (which she found was great at alleviating stress), after which she'd change out into her pajamas and begin her final preparations for bed- turning down the covers, fluffing the pillows, spraying the bed with lavender oil to heighten her chances of getting to bed early- the usual procedure for any boring old human being such as herself who was conscious about her sleep schedule. Once that was done, she'd brush up, maybe do her hair, tuck herself in, and she'd typically be asleep within 5 minutes.

Tonight, however, that was not going to happen.

She began to notice that something was off after what felt like an unusually long time of just laying there with her eyes closed and no real payoff; she sat up, glanced over at the time, and discovered it was about 20 or so minutes after she would usually pass out at times like these. She got up, went over to her bookshelf on the other side of the room, and returned with a copy of Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. She figured she'd read just a few pages until she grew tired and see if that helped, but before she knew it, she'd finished the book and it was now over 2 hours since she'd first tried to get some sleep.

And that never happened.

Confused, she decided to do some deep breathing exercises to try and calm her nerves. Laying face-up, she placed one hand on her stomach and another on her chest, and proceeded to inhale and exhale slowly, concentrating her thoughts on the gentle palpitations in her stomach. A few minutes passed and she didn't feel any more or less tired than when she had started, so- still breathing slowly- she shifted her focus to the sensations in her feet. Dispelling any notions as to whether or not said sensations were good or bad, she breathed deeply, imagining the oxygen traveling to her feet, before promptly exhaling and allowing her feet to dissolve from her awareness. Next shifting her attention to her ankles and calves, she repeated the process as she gradually worked her way up to her head, and right as she was about to finish the practice with one last breath, she was overcome with an intense itching sensation.

And it wasn't like a minor discomfort or anything of that nature- it was if her entire body was suddenly flooded with histamines. She scratched, writhed with discomfort, perspired, and scratched some more. Finally, she threw in the towel and hopped back in the sonic shower.

It looked as if this were going to be a long night...

[Klingon Intel Offices]

VepKa sat reclined; her legs crossed at the ankle , heels resting on the desk and her chair back in what is usually a very relaxing position.

She is relaxed but not enough to really and truly shut her eyes, it is one of these cases of insomnia; happens to the best of people. WHile A Slave learns to sleep wherever and whenever the opportunity arises, but VepKa did not have that gift right now.

New arrivals that are First Contact is adding to her stress; the Master/ Captain is still treating VepKa like she is a free woman and not a Slave to the Empire. It is with some pride that VepKa is a Working Slave to the Klingon Counsel, she is paying her debt off with the Chancellor himself rewarding her for jobs she performs.

Her mind cannot come to a calm medium; too many variables or something,

This is going to be a long night as VepKa thought maybe a bed might be better than her command chair and desk?

[Main Fighter Hanger]

Aiden and his team had already finished all the routine checks on all the fighters and equipment. Aiden was back in his office. He felt tired. He was sat back in his chair behind his desk.

Normally he could easily fall asleep in a chair as comfortable as this one but he just couldn't seem to right now. He got himself a coffee from the replicator and brought up the technical files of the new fighters.

He had this crazy notion that he could squeeze some more performance out of the sub-light engines, despite the warnings on the technical files. Who takes notice of those anyway, he thought. One of the most legendary engineers, Montgomery Scott, certainly didn't. He started to crunch some numbers to see what could or couldn't be done.

Izumi Quarters

Kagami sat crossed legged on the couches spanning the windows that looked out into space. It was late and she still had a lot running through her mind. This new assignment of Starbase Frontier was different for her, it was totally different than running a Starship. Plus, with the arrival of the Sonno, it had just become more interesting.

"Mummy..." Hatsune said as she spproached slowly rubbing her eyes. "I can't sleep..." she whined.

Kagami sighed as she turned her attention to her four year old. "Something on your mind too huh?"

"I feel tired. I just can't seem to fall asleep..." Hatsune explained letting out a long yawn. Kagami shuffled forward and slid off the couch. She approached her daughter and gently ran a hand through her hair as she passed her en route to the replicator. "I know just the thing for tired little girls like you..." she said.

A few moments later Hatsune had been returned to her bedroom armed with a freshly replicated glass of warm milk and nutmeg, and the promise of a long play in the starbase's park tomorrow if she went to sleep. Kagami chuckled as left her daughters room, it was an old trick that even her mother had used on her and her twin sister when they were both this small.

"Maybe I should get one too?" she thought. After all, she wasn't feeling sleepy herself, and she couldm use some rest. "Its been a while since I had warm milk and nutmeg..."

To be continued...

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