Jupiter Rising in His 5th house with Venus Overshadowed

Posted on Sun Jun 22nd, 2025 @ 8:31pm by Lieutenant Commander David Erickson & Lieutenant Karane Inda

1,227 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: ARYL 1X01: Bound for Cold Frontier
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: Lunchtime

David walked into the mess hall, tablet under his arm, looking a bit stressed. He stopped at a dispenser, sending an order to the galley, and a moment later, taking his tray with his sandwich and ginger ale from the depositor. He turned and looked around the room, then spotted a blonde head sitting at a rear table.

He made a quick bee-line for the table and sat down across from the ship's Chief Engineer, putting his tray on the table in front of him. "Hey there," he said, quickly, sounding concerned. "I don't think we've been formally introduced. I'm David Erickson, Chief Navigator. You're Lieutenant Indra, our Chief Engineer, yes? I'm in desperate need of your help. I downloaded an extremely important communique, earlier, and now my tablet will power on but not initialize. Can you help me?" He held it up and looked at her.

Karane didn't look up at first, instead she was too busy navigating her spaghetti with her chopsticks. "You tried turning it off and back on again?" She asked her focus on her food.

"Twice," he said. "Ergo how I learned it would power on, but not initialize. I also ran it through the standard diagnostic programs, and checked to make sure there was not physical damage." He took a breath. "Please," he said. "This message is important information. I can't afford to lose it."

Karane finally looked up. "Give it here." She said holding a hand out to take it. "But if I find anything inappropriate on this, expect a whack on the head with it!"

"Hardly," David said, sounding genuinely offended. "Unless you consider my collection of mystery escape room puzzle games to be offensive, in which case, that's a shame."

Karane took the tablet with a swift swoosh of her hand. "Right. Well, let's see what's going on here." She said. She tapped on several of the buttons and booted up the device into diagnostic mode. "Have you been messing with the code?"

"I generally try not to meddle with it," David said. "I find the computer likes me better on the outside, than in. Can you correct whatever it is?"

Karane raised an eyebrow then let out a sigh that sounded frustrated. "Fine I guess..." she tapped on the screen and was soon inputting code. "Its a pretty easy fix, you know. Don't they teach you navigators basic stuff like this?" She said as she finished and slid it back across the table. "There."

"Thank you," he said, genuine relief in his voice. When she handed him back the tablet, he immediately activated it and put in his passcode to access his data. "Let's see.....it's....right....ah!" he said, happily. "Found it. Now, let's see here....Aquarius....Pisces....ah. Here we are: Aries." He focused on the tablet, reading carefully.

"Don't you get enough at looking at stars?" Karane huffed. "That's what you do right?!"

"It is," David said, still reading, "but these stars relay even more important information than the ones we fly by."

That caught Karane's curiosity. "Huh?" She said. "What do you mean?"

"What could be more important than being tipped off about future events?" David said.

"Dude! Stop talking in riddles and get to the point already!" Karane demanded her fist clenching slightly.

"Don't you know?" he said, sounding surprised. "It's an old Earth system called 'astrology'. The alignment of the stars and position of the planets can help with divination and determine future events. It's surprisingly accurate."

"And probably worded to fit anyone's situation if you break it down enough." Karane replied. "Do you really believe in stuff like that? I understand believing in ghosts, but star signs having an impact on people's everyday lives... nah..."

"Oh really now," he said, puffing up a little defensively. "Well, care to put your credits where your mouth is? I'll pull up yesterday's prediction. If it isn't completely, verifiably accurate to me, I will clean all the console panels in Engineering on my next day off. If it is, you join me for dinner tomorrow night. Deal?" He held out his hand.

"Wait, wait, wait..." Karane said holding her hands out as if to indicate him to stop. "You're saying that if I lose this bet, I have to go on a d...d...d...d..." she stumbled a little her cheeks starting to redden. "You know! A... d... date! With you?!'

"Well, if you're so sure it's all a bunch of hooey, what's the risk to you?" David said, smiling. "And for the record? I didn't say a d-d-d-date. I just offered d-d-d-dinner. " He paused, thinking. "Although...you make a point....a full-on date would give us more of a chance to get to know each other." He gave it a nanosecond of consideration. "Excellent idea! I accept your terms." He accessed his tablet, pulling up the pervious message.

"Wait... what..." Karane stumbled her face growing even redder. "I totally didn't say that! And dinner is a... d... date you dummy!" She protested. "It's an obvious first date thing! Jeezh don't you know that..." she stopped herself realising that the red in her face could stop passing trains. "Anyways, you're on! Show me the stupid thing!"

He flipped the tablet around, showing a box marked Aries that said in big, yellow letters, You will have lunch with a pretty engineer with beautiful eyes. "If that isn't obviously accurate, I don't know what is," he said.

Karane's mouth dropped open. She was speechless and so brightly flushed now she was making the tomatoes in the galley jealous. "Y...y...you... set me up!" She protested. "That's not fair! You know the outcome from the start!" She scolded him. "That's cheating..." she paused pouting at him in frustration. "And I do NOT have pretty eyes!"

"Of course I knew it, that's the point of getting information on the future." he teased. "And strictly speaking? It says beautiful eyes." He looked her squarely in them and smiled. "And it's completely accurate." He let the moment linger, then said lightly, "so, 1900 hours tomorrow?"

Karane scowled, turned her head away in a pout. "Whatever. I can't exactly go back on my word!" She huffed. "But no hanky-panky stuff!" She warned him.

"You have my word. I initiate neither hanking, nor panking on a first date," he said. "But now, a pragmatic question: is there anything you can't eat? I'd like to plan the menu accordingly."

"Whatever I guess. As long as its good... Not like I want it to be good or go well or anything!" Karane huffed crossing her arms tighter than usual.

"Well I'll do my best, thank you," he said, sincerely. "I'll send you the location." He picked up his tray and his tablet. "If you'll excuse me, my lunch break is about over, so I'll have to eat on the go. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

As he left the room around them seemed to go quiet, many amused faces looking over towards Karane. Her face was still beat red. "Don't you lot have something to do or somewhere else to be!" Karane said to them all sternly.

The rest of the room quickly turned back to their own conversations.

Lieutenant Commander David Erickson
Head Star-looker-atter
USS Ark Royale

Lieutenant Karane Inda
Chief Engineer
USS Ark Royale

 

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