Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim - A Concert for the Ages

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Achilleas Petrakos (Chief Science Officer) in Side sim - A Concert for the Ages

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Solal Segal (Oncology and Immunology) in Side sim - A Concert for the Ages
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻
In some of his spare time, Solal had found himself pressed for something to do. He could’ve sworn his posting before the Ogawa kept him busier than this, but in the future, things would probably become busier. For now, he had found himself back in the holodeck, but not the library. Not today, no… he had done as much reading lately as he could manage. He was confident no one would come here. He had booked time alone in the Holodeck, and he had picked a time when he thought not too many people would be wandering around looking for something to do. The afternoon proved a good time for this, on certain days.

Solal stood in the empty holodeck, staring at the walls of nothingness for several moments before deciding on a setting. “Computer, a concert hall. Not a large one, but optimised for acoustics. Just one chair. And a Cecilio CVN-300 violin, solidwood ebony.” As soon as he finished specifying conditions, the Computer created a gorgeous concert hall, with space for perhaps fifty seats, but the only chair which appeared was in the center of the stage, for Solal. A music stand also appeared in front of him. A music book of intermediate Concierto pieces sat on the stand, which Solal opened to the page for Rieding’s Concertino in D Major, op. 36.

Then, he took a seat, and began playing the violin.

~ Lt. JG Solal, Doctor

As luck would have it, or perhaps misfortune, Solal’s attempt to perform without any unexpected guests ended in abject failure. It was Achilleas’ turn to wander into an occupied holedeck and stumble across a musical performance. He was surprised at first then a little embarrassed with having done this again though with a different person, but once he recognized who it was then he was less embarrassed and more fascinated. So being as quiet as he could to not interrupt the performance or break Solal’s concentration, he took a seat in the audience, listened to the music, and waited for the performance to finish. Once he was sure the song had finished he began to clap.

CSO Petrakos

Solal did not notice Achilleas’ presence as he played. He had not played in quite a few years, but fortunately, he seemed to recall how to do it quite well. Rieding’s Concertino was an intermediate piece, and Solal made a few mistakes throughout the nine-minute song, but overall, it sounded good. No squealing bow, in pitch, just a few missed notes, and a small timing issue. When he finished the song, he began to place the violin by the chair. Then, clapping began from the audience section, and he dropped the violin in surprise, looking up hastily to see who was there. His eyes resembled that of a deer in the headlights.

~ Lt. JG Solal, Doctor

Achilleas stood from his seat and walked toward the stage. “Not bad.” He complimented with another round of applause. “Poor instrument discipline dropping it like that but decent performance. The violin huh? That sure brings back some memories. Two of my sisters and a brother play the violin.”

CSO Petrakos

Solal picked up his violin, placing it much more gently into the case. “I booked time when odds were low someone would come blundering in,” he said, a twinge of irritation to his voice. He wanted to say something to… excuse what he was doing in a way, as if he were doing something bad, but he had no idea what to say. So, instead, he asked, “Your siblings play violin?”

~ Lt JG Solal, Doctor

“All of the children in my family play an instrument and I as the youngest wasn’t spared that particular requirement. Our grandparents insisted we all learned an instrument because it instilled discipline. Some of my siblings learned more than one if they had the interest and the skill. With the thirteen of us we had enough to do some small orchestra performances for my parents and grandparents.” Achilleas said with a smile as he completely ignored Solal’s irritated comment.

CSO Petrakos