The Imposter Syndrome

Posted on 21 Jan 2026 @ 6:53pm by Lieutenant JG Ryan Collingway & Lieutenant JG Mira Quinn

606 words; about a 3 minute read

//// Beach, Lathira IV ////

Ryan chuckled. The beach, without any light pollution, was actually beautiful. "You know, I'm not sure that shorting out the power is going to go over well with the new CEO," he said to Corin. "And I'm already on his radar for trying to BS our way out of explaining why we were all still on the ship."

Corin lay down in the sand and closed his eyes. "We didn't touch anything."

"Senior officer though. I think I read somewhere that means I have to be responsible," Ryan said, somewhat jokingly. He waved goodbye to the other officers, who were presumably going off to tell someone. Soon it was just him, Vel, and Corin. And the bottle. "It still feels weird. Like...they promoted me by mistake and it should have gone to someone else."

Corin woke up long enough to say, "You're not a senior officer."

As he dropped off to sleep again, Vel pried the bottle from his hands. She took a swig, then shook it to check how much was left.

"Starfleet doesn't promote people by mistake," she said. "You know what you've got... Imposter syndrome."

They both sat on the beach, next to Corin. "Maybe. Or just really screwed up. I'm quite sure Mira never wants to talk to me again," he said with a hint of guilt.

Vel looked at Ryan for a minute. "Why? She didn't tell me anything".

Ryan was silent for a moment. He took a swig from the bottle. "On my first ship, before the Arawyn, my best friend tried to kill me. So, I had to kill him." He was pretty drunk at this point, but was pretty sure that was still his cover story. "And I've lived with that ever since. When we were on that ship, that thing could have very easily killed us. I saw it firsthand. When she sent the creature after you...I panicked. I even offered to take the blame if her plan failed. Because I knew she would feel exactly the same way I would. I wanted to shoulder any burden off of her."

"That...didn't come off right in our counselling together. It was hard for me to open up. Instead I blamed her for what she did. Told her how lucky we were to still be alive. I was a jerk. I apologized soon after, but damage done, I think."

"That's.... A lot," Vel said. "I'm sorry you had to carry all of that."

She looked out at the waters, then up at the stars. In the darkness, the sky was filled with them.

“I don’t think Mira sees you the way you’re afraid she does,” she added. "But you won't know unless you talk to her."

"I...don't know," Ryan said. He was about to explain more, when he suddenly looked to the left. "I don't think that's a good thing." But he wasn't referring to the conversation.

They both could see three security guards running towards them.

Vel gave Corin a small kick. "Wake up."

Corin swatted her away and turned over.

"I'll ask her too," she said, turning back to Ryan. "But you two should really talk."

Before he could respond the security guards arrived. "What the hell happened here?" he asked.

"Um...we solved your wobble problem?" Ryan said.

"Right...." The guard said. "Drunk tank. All three of them. And whoever else is in the elevator. Your friends told us the story. You can bet your ship is going to hear about this."

Lieutenant (jr) Ryan Collingway
Engineering Officer
USS Arawyn

&

Ens Vel Zodeil
Helm officer
USS Arawyn

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