Posted by Civilian Sair Songz (Counselor) in Bridge- Post Dinner

Posted by Fleet Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Bridge- Post Dinner

Posted by Civilian Sair Songz (Counselor) in Bridge- Post Dinner
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

As much as Sair wanted to go snuggle with Koro for a bit, she needed to get a grip on everything before she set foot in their quarters. So she went down a deck and wandered into the garden. She hadn’t been up the path on The Hill yet and the sound of the trickling water was lovely, but it was too visible, too open. So she meandered around to the corner where the tropical glasshouse was and poked her head inside the humid space. No one was there.

With a sigh of relief, the Kobliad moved in and sat down on a bench amongst the lush jungle, not caring that the humidity probably wasn’t good for the fabric of her outfit. She tapped the padd on her hand a few times, then some more but harder until it hurt. When the pain hit she burst into tears and pulled up feet to rest on the bench and wrapped her arms around her knee, burying her head within them.

~Sair Songz, CNS

It was a few hours later when the call came through. =/\= Cochrane to Counselor. Please come to the Bridge. And please have your mother and son accompany you. =/\=

Cochrane

Back in her quarters, Sair had removed the silky wrapped top and thrown on a sweater, though she was still wearing the formal pants. Koro had was curled up with her in the oversized armchair while she read and her mother was dozing on the couch. His summons both intrigued and perturbed her. Did he not realize that it was now late and that for a small child this was problematic? But no he didn’t have children of his own and whatever was happening up there wasn’t exactly schedule suitable. =/\=We’re on our way, give us a few minutes,=/\= she said very quietly not wanting to startle Koro awake.

She shook her son who murmured as his lovely brown eyes opened. “Hey sweetheart, there’s a special surprise. Want to go see it?”
“Okay,” he said even as his eyes tried to slip closed again.
Sair grinned and slipped out from underneath him, moving to wake her mother. She hated doing that especially, because she could see the subtle signs of the cellular degradation now that she was looking for them. Fatigue was a big one.

About ten minutes later, Koro was nestled in Sair’s arms, half asleep but Kel looked surprisingly awake and definitely curious. “You asked to see us?” Sair said quietly as they stepped onto the bridge ten minutes later.

~Sair Songz, CNS

The bridge was a flurry of activity. All the stations- even the secondary ones- were manned and active, odd for the hour. Most of the uniforms present were the Science Department blue; but some Engineers and Operations officers were present, moving from station to station and assisting and relaying information excitedly. A lone red uniform sat in the Command chair. Cochrane looked up from his display and smiled and said “Thank you for coming, Counselor. Mrs. Songz. I apologize for the late hour, I know Koro was probably asleep.” He motioned for them to sit in the two seats flanking his and he looked at Kel specifically.

“You get to babysit if I can’t get him back to sleep,” Sair said, tossing Alex a smirk as she settled carefully into the seat on his right. She shook Koro gently to wake him again. Kel settled in on the captain’s left.

“I know that it is sometimes difficult to fully grasp what it is we do out here, especially for people who’s priorities are focused on bettering their own worlds… a noble endeavor that goes unappreciated far too often by outsiders. But I wanted to give you three an opportunity that most Star Fleet personnel don’t even get.” and his eyes danced with delight and excitement. He turned to look at the Bridge crew and said in voice that filled the room “Ladies and Gentlemen, are we ready?” Multiple faces smiled and the Science officer at the primary Science station said “We are, Captain. Probe ready for launch.” Cochrane grinned with boyish excitement and said “All right, then… on screen.” and the main viewer came to life.

Sair couldn’t help but smile at his eagerness. There was something… wonderful about it, something she understood to be rare, or at least rarely shared so readily. It told her a lot about him actually.

Three stars… two white and one blue… floated in a celestial ballet in front of them. The white stars were similar in size, with the blue one being slightly larger. The white ones were orbiting the blue one, and rivers of stellar energy and bits of star debris spiraled around them all, wrapping them in blue-white ribbons that filled the empty space around them with light. Light that seemed to flow away from the three stars in one direction on the far side of the stellar dance. The crew stood in rapped silence and stared at the scene before them.

In her own state of awe, Sair whispered to Koro, pointing out what was there and the little boy’s eyes were wide. Kel was, well… her stoic self.

“Apply spectrum filters.” Cochrane said quietly. The light from the viewer su sided slightly, and now a truly massive black hole could be seen on the far side of the three stars. It was drawing the ribbons of light from the stars into it… along with the stars themselves. “This should not exist…” Cochrane said softly. “And from all that we can tell… no one has seen this before. Not even the Delta Quadrant civilizations. We are the first to lay eyes on a stellar phenomenon unlike any seen in history… anywhere.” His voice was filled with wonder and a smile pulled at his mouth. “Fire when ready.” he said to the Tactical officer. There was the sound of a torpedo firing and the officer said softly “Probe away, Captain. On course.” Cochrane leaned towards Kel as the small red light streaked towards the stars and black hole. “We have launched a scientific probe to the system. It will take readings and record everything and send us the data. It’s course will set it parallel to the event horizon of the black hole for a few hours. It will then get pulled inside and be gone forever. But the information we take from it will be studied for generations to come.” he said, a sense of wonderment and awe in his voice as his eyes stayed fixed on the scene before them.

Cochrane, CO

Compelled by something she couldn’t entirely explain, Kel rose out of the seat and moved closer towards the viewscreen. “It’s like someone is painting in real time,” Kel said softly, her eyes affixed to the screen just like everyone else. What he had just described was transient, time limited. As she watched, Kel felt some strange affinity with the scene but was it with the black hole or the things being sucked into it? There was so much she wanted to say, that could never be said, words that had never been fully formed and felt so pointless now. But that was the shifting perspective of life.

“Sal would love this. He’d be composing a piece in his head right now as he watched,” Kel said, looking back, her eyes shining with tears.

Sair looked at Alex. “This is being recorded, isn’t it?”

~The Songz Family

Alex nodded slowly, his gaze on the screen. “Absolutely.” and he sighed. “Dim the lights. Everyone, just… just look at that.” The activity slowed and all heads turned as the lights slowly faded on the Bridge and soon it was just the light of the scene before them casting mote and shadow across the ship’s command center. Alex looked at Kel and said “I hope you don’t mind, but the crew and I have already named the system.” and he shifted his eyes back to the screen.

“Welcome to the Songz-Manhattan System.”

Cochrane, CO