Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Rovan Moor (Engineer/Pilot) in Rovan Moor: Arrival to the Athena

Posted by Civilian Allison Fleet (Civilian) in Rovan Moor: Arrival to the Athena

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Rovan Moor (Engineer/Pilot) in Rovan Moor: Arrival to the Athena
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

The next recording had been sent on October 26. Allison was leaning against the old tree, and there was dirt on her face. She wore some ratty old jeans and a light green tank top with the Cavendish logo embroidered on her left sleeve. She looked tired. Not sleepy tired, but worn out. Given the work she’d been doing over the past few months, it wasn’t unexpected that she might be somewhat worn out. Her hair, however, was in a state Rovan might be shocked by. The long blonde hair was simply… Gone. She had cut it drastically and now had what looked like a pixie cut, with most of her hair cut within a few inches of her skin and the bangs pulled over to rest sideways across her head.

Rovan angled his head as he watched the image of Allie leaning against the tree. His eyes, yellow and catlike studied her new hairstyle, and he nodded in silent approval. It was definitely different and he had never seen her with short hair, he had always adored the way she wore her hair out when she was relaxing. Now with her hair so short, it accentuated the curve of her face, her eyes, and her lips. It may have been a style for much easier maintenance while she worked, he thought, but she was incredibly cute even if she did look exhausted.

She smiled. “Hey, Rovan. The trees are losing their leaves,” she commented, grabbing the camera and pointing it around, giving him a better idea of the property. She pointed the camera at the big house, and for once Rovan might get an idea of this building. It was three or four stories tall, built like a Victorian mansion. Even at that glance, he’d see that the whole building was probably larger than the ship he had called home, growing up. “Pretty big, eh? They have it split into a few smaller sections for each family to live in, like apartments, kinda, and the entire family helps on cleaning days.” She played around with the camera direction until it was facing her again. “In other news, it’s almost Halloween. It’s one of my favorite holidays, and this year we’re going to drive out to the nearest neighborhood so the kids can do some proper trick-or-treating. Trust me, it’s fun!” She grinned. “I’m going to dress up like River. I know it’s old, but I love Firefly. I heard they’re thinking of making a tenth series. I wonder if it’s going to be a reboot like the last one…” She chuckled. “I’ve caught up on all the Firefly shows they made while I was gone. Sorry, I didn’t wait for you… I was too impatient, I guess. Anyways, I’m eager to get washed, so I’ll be saying bye now. Love you,” she smiled, and the message ended.

Five more messages.

“Oh you are so going to be watching those again.” Rovan said, a smirk on his face as the next message began to play. “Nothing compares to the first series, but you can’t leave me hanging when we only got up to the 7th Series.” Allison couldn’t know, but he had named his personal ship while he was away on his mission ‘Serenity’. He still had it, stored in private storage for a time when he was no longer in Starfleet or on Leave.

The next message had been recorded on November 17. Allison sat in a new, unfamiliar room. Although, it wasn’t totally unfamiliar as some of the photos had included shots of this room. It seemed to be a small living room, with a fireplace mantle on one side of the room and several nice couches scattered around the walls. Allison was curled up in one of the arm chairs with a fuzzy blanket wrapped around her body and holding a steaming mug in her hands. The sound of a crackling fire was audible, and she had a quiet expression.

“That looks cozy,” he said quietly as he watched, his eyes fixed on Allie but he frowned as he noticed something not quite right. The way she was sitting perhaps, or an unusual bulge under the blanket. “What have you done to yourself?” He asked the screen, concerned that she might not be ok.

Allison glanced up at the camera and took a long sip of her drink. “Hey, Rovan,” she said softly. She slipped one leg out of the fuzzy blanket to reveal that it was encased in a cast. “So, apparently, if your foot stops moving forward while your leg keeps going, it’s bad. We were playing this game called European Handball, me and a few of the older kids. And I… tripped. Badly. So… I’ve got a broken ankle.” She grinned sheepishly. “I’ll bet you there’s no scar by new year. It kinda sucks to have no records of my physical history. I don’t even have my childhood scars. I broke a few things in the original crash, so I think the beings roided me up with something to heal broken bones real quick. It’s kinda bizzare. I’m lucky I was able to set my arm decently. Can you imagine couple centuries with a badly healed arm bone?” She trailed off quietly, then pulled her leg back into the blanket pile. “So it’s a few weeks off my feet. See you… Whenever you manage to get a message back out to me. Love you,” she said, and the message ended.

Four more messages.

“See, and if you were back in civilization you would have a tool that would of fixed that in a few hours.” He said to himself, shaking his head with the disbelief that such a simple tool for health and well being might not be on hand, nor the local doctors had access to one. Of course, Rovan wasn’t upset of the thought of Allison taking a break for a few weeks and staying off her feet, especially with how tired she had looked in the previous vid. “All you need now is some Ktarian music and you would be set for the evening. Take care of yourself Allie,” he said to her image, “I love you, and miss you. You’ll hear from me soon.”

The next message was from December 8. There was a soft, cold lighting, and Allison wasn’t in the initial shot. The camera showed the view out her room, which included the big tree. There was a faint layer of snow over everything. “I wish you could have grown up with seasons like I did,” was the first thing Allison said. “The winter is cold, but it’s beautiful. I guess you don’t really miss the seasons, not having grown up with them, but still… They’re amazing. You’re pretty amazing too… Heh. I got news of you. I know I shouldn’t have anything, especially now that I know what I know. I went into Toronto this past weekend, and I talked with a few people from Starfleet. I entertained them with first hand accounts of some old heroes from their history, and when I mentioned you, one of them recognized your name. He was an Admiral of some sort. He recognized your name and said he knew you were alive and doing good work for Starfleet. He said a couple other things, but not something I can say. I just wanna tell you… Stay safe out there…”

“Admiral Harris.” He said, and smiled again. The Admiral had been the one to approach him with the mission, high stakes, no guarantee of success and little chance of rescue of things went wrong. Of course at the time of this message, things had been coming to a head and her words of ‘stay safe out there’ had been touch and go for a while. His smile faded as those thoughts came over him, people who he had relied on, manipulated and used to complete his mission. Bad people by anyone’s account, but people who had been that way by necessity, by circumstance. Many who were no longer in this life, some who never knew he wasn’t who he said he was. It was his ship, Serenity, and Allison. They had kept him grounded, each time he woke and saw his ship, he thought of her. Allison had kept him who he was, and in Rovan’s mind, it was her who was amazing.

The camera was still facing out the window, and he could hear her shuffling around a chair for a few moments before the camera began to jitter and was turned around to face her. Her hair was getting a little longer, but it was still very short. “I’m considering going back to Starfleet. Not right away, I just got my cast off. But, you know, eventually. Maybe in the New Year, I’ll send a message to the big wigs. I don’t want to go back to the Genesis… There’s too many memories there. I’ll ask for a new ship. Maybe we’ll end up in the same place, eventually. Once you’re finished your current mission…” She glanced away. “Anyways… Love you, Rovan. Stay safe…”

Three more messages.

Ooc: D25, J1, J10

Recordings of Allison

“Computer, pause playback.” He said, then he looked at the screen and image of Allie for a few minutes. “I am safe, I’m right here watching you, wishing I was there.” He almost whispered to himself. Now he had to stand again, stretch slightly and walk. He pushed away the memories of the last few months and moved to the replicator, taking a glass of water and walking around his room for a short time before coming to stand a his window and looking out to the stars beyond.

Somewhere, out among those stars Allison was sleeping right at that moment, while he stood and looked at the pinpoint of light that was her sun. Like the planet locked explorers and lovers of old he gazed at them. While those ancient people could only wonder at what was out there, Rovan knew that one of those points of light would soon be shining over a woman that he loved, a woman that he wanted to hold in his arms and not let go of again. He found a strong sense of contentment in that thought, Allison was out there, sleeping and safe. With the memories of the last few months pushed aside, he returned to the console and took a large drink, then sat and placed the glass beside him. “Computer, continue playback.”

Lt j.g. Rovan Moor
Engineer/Pilot

The next message had been sent on December 25. Christmas Day. It was an important holiday for humans - not so much for other beings. But people liked their holidays. And Allison was no exception to that “liking holidays” thing. The video showed her in the little sitting room she had been in for a previous message. She was wrapped up in a different, fluffier blanket, and once more had a mug of hot cocoa warming her hands. This mug was red and green, and as she spoke, she would occasionally pause and take a long sip. Her hair had streaks of blue in it, and she was smiling. There was the sound of conversation coming from the next room, but there must have been a door in the way, since the sound was slightly muffled.

“Hey there, Rovan. Merry Christmas!” she grinned. “It’s the evening here in Ontario, and it’s been a pretty full day. We had some holographic projectors set up and the New Canadian branch of the family “visited” us for Christmas. Michael’s even here, so it’s a really exciting get-together. Apparently they do this every year, just for Christmas. It’s a lot of bandwidth to run the communications all the way out there and back.” She took another long sip, quietly enjoying her hot cocoa. “We did a secret santa gift exchange. Every adult buys presents for two kids and one other adult, and the kids buy one gift for one another. It’s a way so that you get more than one gift, but no one is overwhelmed by the number of gifts they have to get. It’s nice. Laura got me a neat book about this alien planet called Galdor. It’s chock-full of information on their cultures and languages… Probably the best gift I could have asked for this year, other than the chance to see you,” she chuckled slightly to herself.

“I’m sure somewhere out there you’re flying around in your spaceship having the time of your life right now… you don’t even know Christmas… we didn’t get the chance to do it together last year since I was already on the bed… isn’t it crazy? We had one Christmas together, and it was before… before we were us, if you know what I mean?” she frowned thoughtfully. “It was when we were you and me, not… us… we are us, aren’t we? Darn, I wish you were here… I lie awake at night some nights, watching the ceiling and wishing there was a top bunk… wishing I could just hear the sound of you shifting up there. Even that small comfort would be… it’d be better than being so far away.” She gripped the mug more tightly for a few moments, then she placed it down on the nearby table. “I know I say this every time, but I think it almost every day… I miss you, Rovan Moor. I love you, and I miss you.” She grabbed the camera, bringing it closer to herself. “I miss you…”

The recording ended. Two more messages.

The next message had been sent on January 1, but had been recorded the day before as well. This message was unlike the others, in that it seemed to be a documentation. It was a series of short video clips of the family - one to two minute clips. Some included Allison, others seemed to be her holding the camera and filming. It opened with a shot of the kitchen from the doorway, a group of women cooking various goodies and treats. Said kitchen was very large, almost on the level of an industrial kitchen. Well, when one was cooking for four dozen people, perhaps that was the level of kitchen required. A hand extended out from behind the camera and started pointing at the women. “That’s Wanda and Katie making sugar cookies,” Allison’s voice spoke, the hand gesturing at two women - one young and one older. “Lillian, Mary, and Mary are over there getting the gingerbread dough ready for the competition. We have a thing every new years where we have a gingerbread decorating contest. I don’t know where it started, but I remember these contests from when I was a kid, so it’s older than the Fleet family! I’m a bit surprised they’re still doing it.”

The camera turned, showing a woman Rovan might recognize as being the very pregnant woman in the thanksgiving photos, but now she was no longer pregnant. In her arms she was holding a little bundle. “Rovan, meet the newest addition to the family… Rowan. Yeah, I know what you must be thinking, they named the baby after you? No, it’s a tree on earth. Yes, I see the irony. It’s a silly tradition in Birch’s family that they name at least one kid in every generation after a tree. Birch, Ashley… This time it was little Rowan’s turn,” she reached over to tickle the infant’s nose, and he looked up at his… auntie with big black eyes. The camera panned up to focus on Laura, and it was clear at a glance that she also had the characteristic eyes of a Betazoid. Allison didn’t comment on it, turning the camera to focus on the next person.

“There’s Anna, Becky, Leanne, and Amy, getting out the traditional goodies. See, Anna is dutch, and boy do those people have goodies! They made oliebollen and appelflappen, and boy is it some good stuff. I didn’t know what I was missing out on!! And there’s Beth, Polly, Diana, and Kelly, making some hearty chicken soup to balance off all the sugar we’re going to be eating tonight!” The camera first pointed at one group of four women, then another group of four women. Then the clip ended, automatically playing the next clip.

This was just Allison in her room, holding a PADD. “I’m sending it in… I don’t know why, but I’ve had this feeling… I know you’re out there, and I’ve got this strong feeling that you’re… you’ll be here soon. Maybe not where I am, but wherever you are right now as you’re reading this, it isn’t long after when I’m recording this. I’ve had a healing time, and… I think I’m ready to go back to Starfleet. It’s not all I am anymore. I’m a member of an amazing, crazy family who loves me… Not that being your friend wasn’t plenty of identity, but when you’re gone it kinda ended up being more empty than otherwise…” she paused for a moment, then smiled. “I’ll see you soon, Rovan Moor.”

The next clip played. Allison had set up the camera to look down on the scene in the little sitting room. It showed her and eleven children aged nine to sixteen, all playing some kind of card game. They were gathered in a circle on the floor, red and green cards laid out before them. Allison held a larger pile of red cards in her hand, and seemed to be reading from them out loud. There were marked giggles between each card from the cousins. “The round is… Annoying. The options are; Call me Maybe, Gorillas, Getting a Shot, Learning to Swim, Stomach Ache, A Princess, Glass, Teenagers, Teeth, A Can of Worms, and… Whoopi Goldberg!” There was a chorus of giggles, then Allison lifted up one card. “I choose… Teenagers!”

A young girl with blonde hair jumped up excitedly. “That was mine!”

The video switched to another clip. Allison sat on a chair with a book in her lap. A five year old boy and two three year old girls sat facing her, watching the story with rapt attention. “I wish that I had duck feet…” Allison read, turning the page.

The video changed again, showing Allison standing behind a paper screen on a large table. Around the table were eight young men and women from age 17-25 with sheets of paper, pens, and notebooks. In the middle of the table was a map with small figures on it, and Allison was enthusiastically describing some crazy battle. “I cast Eldritch Blast!” one boy, about 18, exclaimed. The other players laughed, and after a dice roll, they all cheered. Laura, the mother of the infant, leaned forward and said softly, “I cast spiritual weapon!” and a few hilarious moments of Laura and Allison describing said spiritual weapon and how it traveled through the environment ensued.

The clip ended, and Allison’s camera was in a slightly nicer sitting room with five old people. Kelvin and Donna, Justin, Laurence, and Solomon. The last of the oldest generation. They were drinking tea, and Donna seemed to be knitting. The camera panned around the room, then switched to the next clip.

The video showed nine men out in the cold, eight of them gathered around the ninth, a man with the posture of a Starfleet officer. They were all dressed quite warmly, and covered in snow. The Starfleet officer was holding a carrot, and crouching in front of a well made snowman. The perspective zoomed back slightly, showing that the camera was inside the house and there was a small army of snow-people.

The clip that played after that was showing the famed gingerbread contest. Everyone over the age of ten and under the age of thirty was involved in one of the teams, the family split into teams of three to complete the objective. Pictures of each of the seven completed houses were attached, with their creators. The winning team, apparently, was a gingerbread Galaxy-class starship made by Travis, Laura, and Allie.

The next clip was everyone except for the youngest kids in a large sitting room together. Allison was holding the camera like a selfie. “Alright everyone, countdown time!” someone exclaimed.

“TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE, … HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!”

The clip ended after a few moments, and finally it was just the camera and Allison in her room again. She yawned widely. “Happy new year, Rovan. It’s 2395… hopefully a new start for me… for the both of us. I’ll see you soon… I know it.”

The message ended. One more message.

The final message had been sent on January 10th. His birthday. They had celebrated his birthday together in 2393, when they were still forming somewhat of an awkward knowing one another. And in 2394, Allison had been in the hospital bed…

When Rovan instructed the next message to play, the image he was greeted by was Allison sitting in her room. There was a desk in the room, and she sat at the desk, holding a cupcake with a single candle. It was unlit. She wore the same Firefly tank top. The faint sound of her humming filled the speakers, and a few moments would reveal what she sang. “Happy birthday… dear Rovan… happy birthday to… you…” she murmured softly, eyes closed.

“My application has been approved,” she spoke. “I’m going back. Not sure when, but it’s happening. I expect to get my actual assignment within the next few weeks… then back to the sky for me. It’ll be sad to say goodbye to this place, but… now I know it’s somewhere I can come back to whenever I have time off. It’s… comforting. It was scary to think of having leave before, when I was just me on the Genny. What’s a time displaced girl to do? I’m going to start a club on whatever ship I end up on. Fifteenth Edition D&D, pencil and paper style. It’ll be great. I’d invite you, but I have no way of knowing if you’ll even be in contact by that time…”

She sighed lightly. “Well, I’ll be seeing you eventually. Love you, Rovan… I hope you have a magical birthday…”

The recording cut off, being finished, and showed the list of videos in menu format. He had caught up.

Recordings of Allison