New Year

Written by Mel'Aad

A loud bang was heard throughout the ship. Mel'Aad almost jumped from his chair. How could this be happening? There hadn't been any warnings of attacks or even others ships that were within radar notice. Another loud bang sounded taking Mel'Aad by surprise. This time however he noticed the sound had come from the coms which confused him even more. Why would those loud bangs be played over the coms? That just didn't make sense. Mel'Aad quickly made his way out of his chambers, looking through the halls for the rest of the crew, but he came up empty wherever he went. After the third empty leisure center Mel'Aad started to seriously wonder if this was another one of those "pranks" the Human crew seemed to like so much.

Mel'Aad looked at his personal communication device to see if anyone had sent an explanation now that the explosions had seemed to stop. Just as Mel'Aad had concluded that it must have been one of those "pranks", a new bang sounded over the coms, sending Mel'Aad flying to the ceiling again. When he finally calmed down heavy footfalls sounded down the hall from where he came.
"What are you doing here?" But before Mel'Aad could properly answer he was being dragged further along the hallway by what looked like a lower ranking crewman, according to his uniform, holding a plate with small oddly shaped spheres?

Eventually he entered the observation deck still floating behind the young crewman and extremely confused by the occasional bang that sounded during their journey.
"Ah there you are! I was wondering when you were going to show up," said Ezra with a wide grin as he pushed a button on the small remote he had in his hand. Wide eyed Mel'Aad looked around the observation deck to find about every crew member on the ship standing there watching the big windows. He followed their gaze to the large open void just in time to see a small streak of light being propelled from the ship outwards, before opening up into a wide display of small colored specks against the blackness of space, only to get startled again by a loud bang not long after the colors had appeared.
"You like 'm?" Ezra asked as he handed Mel'Aad one of the rough, greasy sphere, eating one himself as well. The captain looked at him expectantly and grinned as the clear confusion that Mel'Aad was showing. "They are called fireworks, and this is a sweet fritter. We're celebrating earth New Year."

Celebration

New Year is a γ-F5-23, Earth, tradition that is celebrated when the planet has made one full revolution around the sun. It is celebrated at midnight, similar to the Shipcycle celebrations, and will advance the year by one. New Year happens around one third shipcycle, around 60060 units.
It is celebrated on γ-F5-23, Earth, by counting down to midnight and lighting fireworks from that point whilst drinking a very specific alcoholic beverage and wishing each other "happy New Year" often with hugs and kisses. Apparently specific celebrations differ between countries such as the specific food and drinks consumed during the feast.
On the ESS Happy Days the crew celebrates this feast by lighting fireworks into the void and playing sound clips with explosion sounds to simulate the γ-F5-23, Earth, traditions.