Sol Danak, ‘Yorkie’ to every voice over comms or in the crew mess, stood in the transporter room with the look of someone heading to a court martial. His faithful field kit hanging at his side packed more like he was going to perform a diagnostic than heading on a vacation.

Behind him the Chief crossed her arms and and laughed. “You’re not gonna die, Yorkie. It’s just a resort.”

He glanced at her. “come on Chief, I like the station. The power grid makes sense, on conduits are relaxing to me and no one asks me to wear sandals.”

She gave him a smile and handed a datachip. “Three days at Vehlara Springs. Medical says you haven’t taken any time off since arriving on the station. the brass says we need time after….everything. You’re off rotation. Go get fresh air, feel real gravity. That’s an order.”

Yorkie sighed and stepped onto the transporter pad like a man stepping into a warp core breach.

The air on Mellstoxx III was felt way to clean, there was nothing wrong with it of course but he already missed the re filtered air of the station.

He frowned as he stepped into the foyer at at Vehlara Springs. The sunlight shimmered through the glass ceiling, he couldn’t remember the last time he sunlight, well planetside anyway. The mining colony was always dull, this just felt weird. A bird flew directly over his head and chirped like it owned the place, an actual bird. he supposed that was something he could appreciate.

He adjusted the strap on his field kit, he made his way directly past the complimentary drink station, the staff greeting other guests and past three ensigns from Ops already in swimwear and mid-laugh. He was a little younger than them, having enlisted meant a posting to the station came much faster than going though the Academy for 4 years. He didn’t stop until he reached his room, it was bigger than any room he’d ever stayed in, he wondered if someone had made a mistake but decided to keep his head down and enjoy it, at least until he was told to move out!

He immediately pulled the blinds. Hours passed.

Yorkie had tried to rest, he headed out to mingle and even stretched out on one of the lounge chairs out by the pool. Every few minutes someone would come over and offer him a drink, ask where he was from or insisted that he should go and visit something or see some show he’s never heard of.

He retreated back to the safety of his room, only then did he realise he’s only made it 25 minutes. he grabbed his bag and opened it.

Inside he’s managed to squeeze in a stripped down subspace relay module. It was from a long-retired communication array and he;s salvaged it from one of the station’s decommission bins. He loved playing with these old bits of machinery, especially as a child. It was a mess of old processors and had definitely seen better days. It had potential though, he thought. He planned to turn it into some sort of emergency receiver but his duties didn’t allow him the time. 3 days stuck on this resort though? perfect!

He spread it out on the desk in his room and got to work.

It was just after midnight when someone knocked on his door. Yorkie blinked at the door as if it were a malfunction warning light. It was probably someone at the wrong room, he thought.

His shirt was now covered in dust and isomagnetic sealant from the machiney. The relay’s chassis was open, power cycling through a cleaner interface than it had seen in decades. He was so pleased!

Another knock.

With a sigh, he got up and made his way across the room. He opened the door to see a familiar face, a Lieutenant from the station, one of the science officers though he was in civvies with a drink in his hand and a smile on his face.

“Let me guess,” she said. “You’ve been in here the whole time?”

Yorkie shifted awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. “I didn’t really see the appeal of pretending to enjoy myself next to the pool surrounded by drunken junior officers.”

She glanced around him and spotted the scattered parts across the desk in his room.

“You brought work with you down here ?”

“It’s not really work,” Yorkie said, shifting in between her and the desk “It’s a personal project”

She laughed in response, “ok. look, I don;t want to disturb your….fun but a bunch of us are heading to one of the cliffside holosuites tomorrow morning. We’re going to do some zerograv sky cycling, it’s a new program that they’ve only got here. It’s not a formal get together or anything and you don’t have to join us. but it’s just a chance to do something while down here, plus a chance to not smell coolant for once. You should come.”

He hesitated, staying quiet

She nodded toward the pile of parts on the desk. “You can even bring your toy. You’ll definitely have time to do your engineery stuff afterwards.”

he frowned in reponse, “are you assuming I’m terrible at zero-G cycling?”

“I know you’re terrible at zero-G anything. That’s why it’ll be fun.”

She sent the invite over to his datapad and headed down the corridor, more than likely off to find more ‘volunteers’ to get involved.

The next morning, Yorkie found himself standing on a holodeck overlooking the most impossible canyon he’s ever seen, he was wearing a safety harness but it was digging into his shoulder, that’s going to get annoying fast he though. The station never smelled like this. It was like sun-warmed stone and clean wind, it all felt exaggerated in this program, it didn’t feel like real life, it was almost like the colours were too sharp.

He hated it…..Until they started the descent.

The bikes floated on grav-cushions, they skimmed over the digital cliff faces, he knew it wasn’t real but it felt so fast, and was a little terrifying. Though it was a lot more exhilarating than he’d ever expected. Others on the excursion wooped and cheered as they sped through the canyon. He didn’t say much, but by the end of it all he was breathing harder than he had in months and a smile had crossed his lips. The Lieutenant who had passed on the invite caught his eye and smiled toward him. he waved in acknowledgement.

Later, he sat alone back at the resort near one of the smaller pools. He had the relay he’s been working on next to him. He’s manage to finish it and the components were humming now. It seemed stable.

A couple of local maintenance staff walked by, Tellarites, the gruff demeanour was always something that Yorkie had admired, once of the best engineers he knew on the colony was a Terrarite. One of them glanced toward him and did a double-take at the relay. “did you do that,” he said, gesturing at the module, Yorkie nodded. The Terrarite gave a quick snort, “we’ve been trying to figure out why the exterior perimeter sensors keep dropping out every 30 minutes. Mind having a look?”

Yorkie looked up and could see the sun reflecting from the relay housing.

There was laughter in the distance from the main courtyard behind him, the splash of someone jumping in the pool and the low base of music coming from the bar.

He smiled “Yeah, I’ll grab my tools.”