Josiah West- Kaleidoscope

It’s the 22nd century. Technology has allowed humanity to move out into the solar system in great numbers. Of course, humans being humans, the need for some form of law enforcement went with them. Prominent among the organizations charged with that duty is the United States Federation Navy.The U.S.F.N. is composed of five divisions. The First Division is the largest and maintains order from Mars inward. Like all human endeavors, it has its share of accomplishments and failures. The primary subject of this story is one of the smallest cogs in the mechanism that is Division One and is well acquainted with both accomplishment and failure.Josiah West comes from a Navy family, and he is the first in his family to graduate from the Navel Academy and become a commissioned officer. The handsome, 190 centimeter, blue-eyed Ensign has gone from the heights of being sixth in his class down to the level of a bilge rat as he does his time in the bowels of the huge First Division Fleet Support Ship Maxim Caldwell and avoids being noticed by the ship’s command structure.Now, he is nearing the end of his five year commitment. He is still an Ensign, but his insignificant career has not been a personal waste; having access to the best equipment in the Navy with no upper level supervision was like, as he describes it, “being held hostage in a candy store.” He has worked hard, if unnoticed, but is tired, burned-out, and looking forward to returning to his family’s business.Well…maybe not.