Posted by Civilian Sair Songz (Counselor) in Deck 4 Garden- A Picnic

Posted by Fleet Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Deck 4 Garden- A Picnic

Posted by Civilian Sair Songz (Counselor) in Deck 4 Garden- A Picnic
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Heat touched her cheeks and for a moment she struggled to just accept the compliment, dipping her head slightly. It was a strange resistance for her to have, but she did know where it came from and it was complicated. Still, she wasn’t used to effusive reactions to anything she did, let alone her music, which was ostensibly just a hobby. Since leaving Koblid this last time, the instrument had sat in its case, not so much abandoned as waiting patiently for Sair to be ready to come back to it. Her fingers gently plucked the strings in basic chords just creating background music. “Thank you,” she said softly.

“Oh, Captain, her father and I are exceptionally proud. Sair has always been our pride and joy,” Kel said with more than just warmth and love, but also a tiny bit of awe. “You may not know this, but on Kobliad, health care care and the arts are the most highly regarded professions you can be selected to study. Health care, I think you can understand why, but art and music are so vital to us maintaining something of a society. For a long time it was starting to fade though. My husband, Sal, said that over the last couple decades he could feel the energy at performances change and not in a positive way. But that’s shifted in the last few years. As much as our situation has been a medical one, I think we’re starting to see artists finding new inspiration to create more… boldly, I guess. “

~Sair & Family

Cochrane looked slightly confused gor a moment and then said “I’m sorry, my knowledge of your culture is somewhat limited. Did you say selected to study? How does that work, if I may ask? Where I come from, both worlds actually, an individual chooses what to study themselves.”

Cochrane, CO

Kel and Sair exchanged a look and Kel gave her daughter a subtle nod. Sair moved the prizar to rest on her lap, bracing the heels of her hands on the sides and gazed intently at Cochrane. “All Kobliad adolescents go through extensive aptitude training. Everything is tested, and where someone scores high, they focus their studies there. When it comes to further education and training as an adult, we all have to apply to do so and it’s exceptionally competitive, especially for roles that have a better socioeconomic standing. I beat out thousands of students to be allowed to study to be a doctor, to do the work that our disease requires and all the complications that go with it.”

Sair blew out a breath. “Amito qon do temz… service to the realm. You have to understand that until the cure that allowed us to have children that didn’t require dueridium, our cellular decay was speeding up each generation. We are two hundred years away from not being able to sustain our population. We’ve been preparing for extinction. And thus every job that someone performs is vital. Yes, there is preference placed on some and I know I come from a very privileged position. One that is not had by all. But imagine if everyone stops wanting to, as an extreme example, be childhood educators like we were just talking about. Or if there are too few to teach others and manage the certification and standards? Then we lose that piece of societal structure. We expect a population boom in the coming years but we have to be able to support that number of people. And the current generations are still dying young of this disease, captain. Add to that, that over the last fifty years there has been a significant rise in governmental corruption that penalizes people who cross paths with those that frankly don’t care what happens to our planet, and the battle for our existence becomes that much more difficult.” Sair turned her gaze on Koro who was munching on some bread and she suddenly felt overwhelmed. She didn’t expect others to understand her dilemma. Her guilt. The thing her mother subtly reminded her of regularly. Being out here on the Manhattan, even through an approved exchange program was the single greatest act of selfishness a Kobliad could do. She was a Superceller, gifted with the most ideal metabolism and fertility a Kobliad could expect to have these days, and she had had a child who was free of the disease. As far as her people were concerned, if she didn’t return to Kobliad she had turned her back on them. “Yes, people have some choice, but there are consequences.”

~Sair & family

Cochrane listened carefully, and kept his face passive. When Sair finished, Cochrane was silent for a long moment. “I… I think I understand. And please, do not take my question as a criticism. I have learned some critical lessons in my time in Star Fleet. One is that cultures have their own needs and desires, and it doesn’t fall to me to judge. I am here to experience… explore.” He set his plate aside and dusted off his fingertips on a napkin and took a drink. “Another lesson I have learned is that all choices have consequences. no matter how noble we want to be.” He then looked at Kel directly. “You know, one of my favorite authors from Earth was a writer from some five hundred and fifty years ago. His name was Alexandre Dumas, and he wrote some particularly wonderful books about a trio of noble warriors called the Three Musketeers. They, along with the rest of their order, were the sworn protectors of king and country. And they had a motto. ‘All for one, and one for all.’ That meant that any one of the Musketeers would do anything, including lay down their very life, for the well-being of all the Musketeers. But it also meant that the entire organization would do whatever it took to support just one member. Now, the vast majority of cultures have epics and mythology… stories of a single, valiant hero or heroine making the ultimate sacrifice against insurmountable odds to save something or someone. And they serve to inspire and encourage those cultures. But I think many of those same cultures tend to forget that that epitome of the noble sacrifice must go both ways. ‘One for all’ is grand… but ‘All for one’ is the true pinnacle of the appreciation of the value of a single individual’s worth.” and he looked at Sair and then at Koro before looking back at Kel.

Cochrane, CO

Kel listened attentively, her eyes shifting through emotions. There was so much she wanted to say, but how could she express just how much her daughter and grandson were loved and cherished, that she and Sal would give their lives if it meant Sair and Koro could live long and happy ones. That was how it was on Kobliad. A sad sort of smile settled onto her face as she gazed at Cochrane. “It makes sense, what you say. And maybe we’ll get to that point again in the future. We were not always this disjointed as a society. The strictness that we exist within has been necessary. But it wasn’t always that way. We once had a proud and thriving society where individual accomplishments could mean something. But we’ve lost something over the generations of war and strife that is hard to reclaim. I want so much for Sair and Koro to feel free and happy, but I am a mother, Captain. Try not to judge me too harshly, or my people, for wanting to keep such special people safe.”

Sair’s fingers rested on her edges of the prizar as her mother spoke and on a whim began to play another song, her metal tipped fingers traipsing across the strings and the sounds that emanating were not unlike if raindrops had a melody. The conversation happening right now was necessary but also so deeply personal. There were things about her people that were hard to talk about, even amongst people here she considered friends. She had originally left Kobliad to live, to explore and find out what the galaxy had to offer. But guilt and obligation, even after she had retrained, had driven her back to her homeworld. And she had slowly been suffocating ever since. “I’m tired of being the hero,” she all but whispered, her eyes closing as she played by feel alone, her fingers traipsing up and down the the minor scale.

“Sair…” Kel said, her face shifting into a distressed frown.

Sair shook her head. “I have told so many patients that you can’t pour from an empty cup. That taking take of oneself is not only okay but necessary. But so few listen and it took so much out of me to keep doing the same thing over again. To keep losing patient after patient. I’ve seen too much of death. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t go back. I don’t know if I’m supposed to be here on this ship or not, but it’s better than being there.”

“It’ll get better,” her mother said with considerable confidence.

Sair opened her eyes again, gazing deeply at her mother. “Yes, but not for a long time. And maybe one day I can return without the resentment, but I’ll live twenty years more than anyone else my age. Maybe even thirty or more if I stay in the Federation. And I know I’ll have the same death our people are forced to have, but I’ll be damned if I raise my son amongst all that sadness, that grief. He deserves joy. We all do. I do. So I get that people don’t have the skills to put a single person first unless it’s out of some selfish greed that hurts others, but I’m choosing a different path. I’m choosing me.”

Kel looked away, watching her grandson for a few moments before she nodded. But she turned het gaze back to Sair, who was still playing and shook her head. “Your father was right… he told me before Koro and I left that you were engaged in the greatest experiment any of our people have done in a very long time.” She chuckled. “It’s hard to let go though.”

Sair grinned. “I know.”

Kel looked at Cochrane and sighed slightly. “Captain, it was really nice to meet you, but I should go take care of something.”

Sair’s ridged brows furrowed more deeply as her fingers topped playing. “You’re going?”

“I’ll explain later, but yes.” Kel got up and kissed Sair on the top of the head and then ruffled Koro’s. With a bow of her head to Captain, she moved off.

Sair was taken aback and looked at Alex, momentarily speechless. “I’m sorry, this was not how I thought this would go.”

~Sair Songz, CNS

Alex shrugged and said “No apologies needed. Family can be quite difficult. Trust me, that is a fact I learned very early.” and he looked around at the remains of the picnic. “How about I help you clean this up and then you can go talk to your mother?” he offered. “‘Later’ is never something you want to put off too long.” and he got to his feet and began picking up plates and foodstuff.

Cochrane, CO