Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Rovan Moor (Engineer/Pilot) in Runabout to Athena

Posted by Ensign Allison Fleet (Scientist) in Runabout to Athena

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Rovan Moor (Engineer/Pilot) in Runabout to Athena
Posted by… suppressed (7) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

Rovan laughed quietly, and adjusted his arms to hold her better and tighter. He dropped his head to hers, his cheek against her hair as he filled himself with the smell of her again. “You were always with me,” he told her, still almost whispering as he couldn’t bear to talk louder in case the universe woke up. “In my heart, where you have always been. I love you so much, Allison Fleet.” He squeezed her all the tighter, and raised a hand to run his fingers ever so gently through her hair.

“I love you too,” She said softly, still trembling ever so slightly.

“I’m not leaving you again,” he said to her, “I never want to be without you Allie. I’m sorry I went away, I’m here, and I’m yours.” He raised his head from hers and looked down at her, easy since she was a little shorter than him.

She pulled away slightly so that their eyes met, staring into his yellow eyes with a slight twinge of anger still present in her orangey-brown irises, hidden behind the relief, happiness, and fear that had been filling her last few minutes. The question still in her eyes. No more secret missions.

“No more secret missions, ok. I Got it.” Then he grinned at her and bit his lip slightly. “We have, a few hours. I arranged for a bit of time to do something before we get to the Athena. There’s something I want to show you. Come with me Allie, okay? Trust me, I’ve spent far too much time apart from you to just let you disappear into the Athena for endless Check-ins. We have some time to be us.”

Lt j.g. Rovan Moor
Engineer/Pilot

She finally smiled properly. “Your impatience nearly gave me a heart attack,” she huffed, punching his shoulder lightly. “Or did you forget that I don’t like Transporters?”

“Not for a moment,” he grinned down at her, full of mischief. “But if I had performed a hard dock to the other Runabout, that might have given it away. Besides, doing it this way meant it was just me and you.”

She leaned against him again. “I missed you so much. I missed your heartbeat, seeing the smile in your silly eyes, the sound of your breathing in the morning…” She trailed off, looking at him and burning the image in her mind. A moment passed, and she remembered something. “Before you dazzle me with whatever you have planned, I’ve got something for you,” she turned, pulling away from Rovan and reaching for her bag. Out came the knitted socks and the t-shirt, which was wrapped around something square-ish. She pulled it out, unwrapping the small package from the t-shirt and holding it out towards Rovan.

“What’s this?” Rovan asked her but took it carefully. There was a weight to it for sure. His eyes looked it over for a moment before returning to Allison.

“Happy Birthday,” she said with a small grin as he took it in his hands. “It’s a couple weeks late, but better late than never…” When unwrapped, the gift would reveal itself to be a collection of small ship models suspended with pieces of thin string from the ceiling of the glass box, each ship no larger than his hand but intricately detailed. One ship was an NX-class model, another was a Mythology-class, another was the same as the Genesis. Each ship had, painted on it, the accurate registration numbers.

He held it up before him and looked over the models without saying a word, picking out the details in each and marveling at the time it must have taken to create. Judging by the markings on the models, each was hand made and not replicated.

If he turned the box a little to look more closely at the models, he would see there was one more model, a small cargo vessel that would look strikingly familiar to him as it was the same as the one he had grown up on. Allison had a slightly nervous smile plastered on her face, obviously not totally certain if he would enjoy the gift.

Ens. Allison Fleet, Science

“Oh wow.” He said as he looked at the ships. It was an emotionally stunning gift for him, holding for each of them a ship that was important from their past, the Enterprise NX-01 and the Jaagar. Both of the ships that Allie and Rovan had served together on were also there, the Genesis and very shortly, the Athena. “Allie this is wonderful,” he placed the glass case of models on a nearby table and turned back to her, wrapping her in his arms again. This time though, he kissed her firmly on her cheek before pulling her in tight to his chest. “Thank you, I love it. I really do.”

Allie blushed slightly, getting just a little bashful. “One of my… Uncles,” she hesitated slightly in titling the individual. She had gotten used to what she called them but wasn’t sure how awkward Rovan would be about the subject, “is an avid model maker. He makes the most gorgeous scale models of trains and landscapes, all with his hands without the use of replication technology. When I expressed interest in making something like this for you, he went all out helping me out,” she grinned. They had used an analogue 3D printer to print out the small parts, and painstakingly glued together the ships and painted on all the tiny details. It had taken so long, but she was so happy with the result, and was ecstatic that he liked it.

Letting go of the embrace Rovan held her by her shoulders and smiled, “Lets go and see what I got you, shall we?” He narrowed his yellow, catlike eyes mysteriously and turned for the Runabouts Bridge, looking back at her just before he began to walk. “Fancy being my co-pilot? It gets lonely up there without anyone to talk to.”

Allison was quick to follow him to the front, not letting him out of her site for more than a moment. As he began to step away, she grasped his hand, not wanting to break the moment that lay between them. When they got to the cockpit, she relaxed in the copilot seat and began to examine the displays and readouts, quietly reflecting on how much easier it was now than her rushed first mission. Oh dear, that had been so stressful.

Sliding into the pilots seat, Rovans hands moved over the controls with quick ease and seconds later, the Runabout had come around and entered Warp. The ships sensor system that Allie had before her showed their destination as a small planet in a system only half an hour away at their current Warp speed. There were 5 planets in the system, but this one was the only one that supported life. All 5 planets had multiple rings around them. On the screen, the system was shown as the Iota Aquilae System and the planet was called Arda.

-------- 30 minutes later ------------

The Runabout dropped out of warp and was soon in orbit above the small planet. Its rings stood out from this angle, multiple rings of icy rocks that reflected the light from the systems star. It was a world that had undergone terra-forming to make the barely habitable surface much more livable for humanoids. It had few native terrestrial lifeforms and large areas were still being developed, mostly dry plains and desert. The planets landmasses were surrounded by large oceans in which life thrived, and the developed regions were now highly fertile grassland and new forests. In these areas the terrestrial life had thrived in the new conditions. Humans had placed the first colony on Arda 60 years earlier, and had become a large agricultural colony that made use of the surprisingly fertile soil. Of note, the planets beaches were becoming a popular holiday destination.

Allison stared out the viewscreen, absorbing the sights which were visible. It was a beautiful sight, she quietly thought, enjoying it. She glanced at Rovan piloting the ship as they approached the planet, and smiled. He was in his element right now, and she was glad to see him so happy and content.

“Here we are,” Rovan said, looking over at Allison while he entered a new series of commands into the controls. “I know you aren’t a fan of transporters, so this time, we’re going to land.” Looking out the window he pointed to a large area of green on one of the least developed looking landmasses. “Right there, you’ll see.”

Lt j.g. Rovan Moor
Engineer/Pilot

She followed his gesture, staring intently at the landmass. Well, as much information as that gave, it still wasn’t that much. “I’m glad we’re landing. I wouldn’t want to leave a runabout floating empty in orbit for any amount of time, no matter how trustworthy the autopilot. That’s a recipe for being stranded…” She chuckled lightly. “And we know I’ve had enough of being stranded on a space rock…”

She spoke with a jovial tone, her voice betraying the joke, but there was something deep inside that was made to reflect quietly for the moment, briefly recalling the two or three men whom had been in that shuttle with her as it crashed and burned. She closed her eyes. She had gotten over her gut reaction to shuttles and runabouts as making her nervous to the point of barely being able to be in one, but there was still a slight twinge of nerves that would briefly flare up.

“Oh we’re not going to get stranded, even if we did leave the Runabout up here,” he told her, then pointed at a land mass where a large group of lights were visible. It was noticeable that the area of lights had just had the shadow of night pass over it as the planet turned. “That’s the main colony,” he said, “fully functional and self sufficient, with a working space port. We would be no more stranded here than we would be on Earth.” He smiled at her reassuringly, “Besides, you’re with me. Isn’t that worth getting just a little stranded from time to time?” His grin went wide and mischievous, then he turned back to the controls.

However, being here with Rovan cancelled out any negative effect. She smiled patiently, taking a deep breath and leaning back in her seat slightly. “Alright then, let’s see what you’ve got planned for me,” she chuckled, then closed her eyes.

Allison Fleet

Rovan reached over and took her hand when she closed her eyes, and gave it a squeeze to let her know he was right there. He didn’t let it go either, as the descent was more than straightforward and he could have set the ships auto-pilot to handle it without concern. With his free hand, he set about piloting the Runabout to the surface in the area he had shown to Allie while his other hand held hers, his fingers intertwined with her fingers and his thumb lightly rubbing along the side of hers. “I like the name Arda,” he told her by way of conversation. “Remember that book you showed me? Lord of the Rings I think it was? Arda was the name of the land that middle-earth was in, wasn’t it? I liked that when I saw it.”

Allison squeezed his hand gently, happy for the contact, and opened her eyes, absorbing the visual spectacle of the land they were passing over. “They probably named this place after that Arda. And probably on purpose. Us humans are funny like that.” She chuckled lightly, idly running her thumb over his knuckle.

The Runabout shook slightly with turbulence as they entered the planets atmosphere, but after seconds it had passed and they were through. Looking out over the horizon, they could see the sun setting as they descended and the large sandy yellow of the Desert that was not yet transformed slipping under the ship. As they got lower, the land transformed into grassland and forest until below them lay trees, lakes and rivers stretching as far as they could see.

“Here, this is the spot.” Rovan said to her as he brought the Runabout to a halt over whatever place he had chosen. Because it was right below them, Allie couldn’t see anything out of the window except trees and hills away in the distance and what was possibly a river or lake nearby. What she could see, was the sun getting lower in the sky. It wouldn’t be long until night time was upon them.

Allie leaned forward to try to get a better look at their destination, eyes wide in curiosity and excitement at the situation. She hadn’t expected to end up going to a different planet and not directly to the Athena, and quietly wondered how much work Rovan must have had to do in order to arrange all this in such a short time.

Rovan activated the ships landing gear and, with a soft bump that announced they were down, he turned off the ships engines. Silence met them, and he gave Allison’s hand a squeeze. He hadn’t let it go at all the entire way down. “Ok love, lets go and see shall we?” He said to her and stood, her hand in his and waited for her to walk with him.

She stood with him, holding tightly to his hand. She didn’t speak, letting her facial expressions do the speaking for her. She smiled peacefully as he called her ‘love,’ blushing a bit in fact. She took a moment to watch him walking in front of her and leading her, and was struck, not for the first time, by how everything he was. He had a wonderful personality, phenomenal good looks, and his heartbeat and voice were always so soothing.

They moved out to the door and Rovan picked up the photo frame he had met her with earlier, giving her a grin as he did so. Pressing the button on the panel, the Runabouts door opened to let Allison see what he wanted to show her. The door let in the air and wind of Arda, the breeze was cool but not cold and carried on it the scent of water and the forest, flowers among them. Arda had few life forms but birds could be heard in the trees and the faint sound of what might be the planet’s version of crickets was present.

Allie’s shorter hair didn’t blow in her face as much asher former haircut would have, but it still did get mussed a little by the sudden gust of wind blowing into the runabout. She brushed it back, or at least tried to, with her unoccupied hand.

Ahead of them was a natural clearing in the forest, it was big enough for a Runabout obviously, but from what they could see a small village would fit in the clearing. Away in the distance a lake glimmered as the setting sun lowered over it, and that light led directly to a small rise at the end of the clearing while on that rise, stood a single tree with wide branches. Notably from here, there was something under the tree. At this distance it wasn’t easy to tell, but the clear light of the setting sun could pick it out. It was a bench, the very same that they had spent so much time together on while on the Genesis. On the ground in front of it, was what looked to be a large basket.

Allison let out a small breath, simply enjoying the scenery. She noticed the tree which was rather far away, but seeing the dim outline of a bench and basket, she realized it was probably their destination. She continued to be silent, however, simply listening to whatever he said, whatever the world around them spoke from the mouths of deer, rabbits, and squirrels.

Rovan turned Allie to face him, letting her hand go for the first time since they arrived here so he could put his hands on her shoulders and gently face her to him. Raising one hand, he gently ran his thumb over her cheek as his yellow eyes looked into hers and he smiled slightly.

She leaned into the gentle touch, her eyes drooping shut for a moment. She opened her eyes again and gazed into his yellow eyes. She still was mildly fascinated by the strange Irises at first, but had by now become accustomed to them enough to not get lost staring into his eyes to study them, but to get lost in his eyes because she just wanted to spend more time with him.

“Happy Birthday for the one I missed, and Merry Christmas. I couldn’t find any snow at short notice for the Christmas part, but I think I like this better.” He told her, almost in a whisper. “I promise no more apart, I never want to lose you again Allie.” Gently, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead before placing his forehead against hers and letting the setting sun bathe them both in it’s golden yellow glow.

Lt j.g. Rovan Moor
Engineer/Pilot

When he kissed her on the forehead, Allie flushed once more. “I never want to lose you either,” she said softly, reaching her hand up to cup his cheek in her palm, gently pressing her thumb against his cheekbone. She reached up her other hand and slipped it among the hairs on the back of his head, letting her hand by buried in his soft hair. Time seemed to freeze as their eyes met, and Allison wasn’t sure how many moments passed between them.

She closed her eyes again, pressing her forehead against his. She look a deep breath inwards, and slowly let it release a few moments later. Her other hand ended up buried in his hair like earlier, and a compulsion filled her toes. Before she could stop her little burst of energy, she has stood up on her toes and gently tilted her face upwards. Their lips collided briefly before she let herself relax and fall back down to her regular posture. “I love you, Rovan Moor,” she murmured softly, putting her hand over where his heart was.

Allison Fleet