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 Civilian Allison Fleet (Civilian) in Rovan Moor: Arrival to the Athena
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

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.

“Oh you’d be surprised to know that one of those Galdorians is our XO,” he said to Allie as she took another long sip. “You’ll get your wish,” he told the image of her, “and by the sounds of things I have a few Human holidays to catch up on.” He smiled gently and kept watching the vid as she began speaking again.

“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.

Rovan tilted his head for a moment, and reached out and paused the video playback at a point where Allie brought the camera closer to herself and just before it shut off. Rovan knew what she meant, about her question of us. At the same time however, he was as confused as she was. Were they an us? Were they Rovan and Allie? or were they just Rovan and Allie? They hadn’t been Rovan and Allie when they had been on the Genesis, but they had been a very close, very good Rovan and Allie. He bit his lip in thought, his yellow eyes studying hers in the video.

Whatever they were and whatever they would be Allison was his best friend, his heart and they would be together again, in some way. He knew he loved her, and he had known he loved her more than he thought he did when she had fallen into the coma and he had spent every spare moment at her side, to the point of being ordered back to his quarters to sleep on several occasions. He didn’t know what kind of us they were after all this time, but he knew she loved and missed him as much as he loved and missed her. That was all he needed to know, to feel just then.

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.

“Make excuses all you want, Allie,” Rovan said, grinning. “I’ve never heard of a Rowan tree, you just miss me that much they all decided to join in.”

“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.”

Rovan’s face dropped slightly. She was reapplying to Starfleet? What if she was reassigned to a sector light years away from him, somewhere he couldn’t reach her? He knew that they had ships now in the Delta quadrant, and Allison was an excellent Scientist. Slight panic set in as he considered the possibilities, and there were still more vids to watch. What if the next one was her telling him she was being assigned to a ship he couldn’t reach? A heavy feeling began to settle in his stomach as he realized that she might not even be on Earth anymore.

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!”

“Oh Allie.” Rovan said, and winced. “Your playing that game and those were your choices? We are going to have to talk, maybe use the Tellarite edition of ‘Cards Against the Species’.”

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.

Despite the feeling in his stomach, he smiled as he watched her. The children were cute and Allie looked like a natural with them, at a few hundred years old, he thought, she should. But of course she had missed out on having her own children in her time years ago. Starfleet these days, unless you were assigned to one of the larger ships, like the Mythology, didn’t leave a lot of room for family. Even then, he grinned, Allie would likely have to requisition the entire cargo bay to fit her family in.

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.

“That sounds familiar.” He said, and screwed up his face in thought. He might have heard some people on a holodeck one time saying things like that, but he couldn’t be sure. “Probably work better with a Phaser anyway.” He muttered, and kept watching.

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.

Rovan was confused watching the video, they seemed to be surrounded by the odd creatures and the men were obviously negotiating some kind of agreement with them, offering food by the looks of it. “You really need a Phaser.” He said with some concern, hoping that Allie was safe with the lack of technology they seemed to have. Food would be scarce that time of year and hungry creatures could become dangerous creatures.

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.

“Go Allie!” He said with a grin, “Next year we will add a Ktarian chocolate pudding sculpture to it.”

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.”

“Happy New Year,” he repeated as the message faded out. “I love you Allie.”

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…

Rovan paused a moment before playing this one. It was only around two weeks ago it had been made, yet it was also possible it held news he didn’t want to hear. He hadn’t remembered his own birthday, being busy with Starfleet Intelligence being reintegrated back into the main stream service after his mission. A few days after that, he had set out for the Athena. 2395. It felt like last year had been so long, a blur, but he was back, Allie was back. They were both of them, going to make it a better year together.

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.

He grinned, “Hey you’re missing some candles,” he joked, “we Ktarians don’t age that slowly Allie.”

“My application has been approved,” she spoke.

The grin disappeared from Rovans face, and the heavy feeling hit him in the stomach like a punch from a Klingon.

“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

“No, no no no.” Rovan said and pushed himself to his feet. “That was two weeks ago, no, more.” He raised his hands and ran his fingers through his hair. “It only took me three weeks to reintegrate and debrief from my mission and get reassigned.” He let out a huff of breath, it was so close, was she even on Earth? Looking at the times between the messages, it was about due to receive another, but would it be from a ship somewhere he couldn’t reach her?

Reaching forward, he switched off the monitor then paced around his room some more and looked at the time, there was still around two hours until Allie would be awake, he thought, and he had Duty later that morning. He needed sleep, although he knew that he was unlikely to get any with the thoughts, a mixture of excitement, anticipation and fear that she would no longer be on Earth running through his mind. Having already showered and being ready for sleep, he brushed his teeth and dimmed the lights. Setting some soft and soothing Ktarian music playing just slightly above his hearing range, Rovan lay on his bed and set the computer to wake him at exactly when it would be 6am for Allison.

Lying there, on his bed Rovan realized how alone he had been without her. Since she had fallen into the coma, he had lain in his bed each night, alone and with his thoughts, without the sound of her next to him, without the scent of her on the sheets when he woke up. At first, he had felt it keenly on the Genesis when he returned to his quarters from sitting at her side. Then he had felt it again when he had begun his mission, being even more alone with his thoughts and growing frustrated and solitary. That had worked wonders for his portrayal of the revolutionary arms dealer and raider with the bad attitude, and he hadn’t needed to act. The emotions of anger and frustration were real enough.

Tired as he might have been, his eyes flew open as the computer announced it was time for him to awaken. Barely registering that he had slept, Rovan rolled to his feet and brought up the lights more, turning off the music and heading to the bathroom to wash and tidy up. Not ten minutes later and he had put on a high collared shirt that he had worn often when relaxing with Allison. It was big and comfortable and once or twice he had caught her wearing it when she brought coffee in the morning. If she was still there, she would recognize it. He had been wearing it the last time she saw him. Getting himself an extra strong blend of Ktarian coffee, he turned for his desk and private console.

Sitting at the table, he paused a minute and put his elbows on the table, then his chin on his knuckles. This was it, it had been months and he had never known if he would talk to her again, see her again. He didn’t know if she was even on Earth still, but he had to try. 6.15am where she was and he was either going to get an excited Allison, or a very grumpy looking man or woman he was about to wake up. “Computer, call Allison Fleet, Cavendish Nurseries, Canada, Earth.” He said, and for a moment the computer processed the request.

Then the symbol of Starfleet came up before him as the call was connected, and at the other end the console in the large house lit up with the same symbol as the incoming call from the U.S.S. Athena was received. Rovan dropped his hands, to the table and leaned forward slightly, watching the screen and waiting for it to be answered as he sipped his Ktarian coffee. It was something to keep his hands still and calm as he waited. Under the table, his foot was tapping with nervous energy that he found ironic. He could pilot a fighter through an asteroid field with a grin, but calling Allison, he felt like he was a Ktarian teenager again.

Lt j.g. Rovan Moor
Engineer/Pilot