Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Wedding Bells- An End and a Beginning

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Faye Calloway (Counter-Intelligence Officer) in Wedding Bells- An End and a Beginning

Posted by Captain Alexander Cochrane (Commanding Officer) in Wedding Bells- An End and a Beginning
Posted by… suppressed (1) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snips)

And play they did. In fact, Faye spent the first while just navigating the system, picking up the nuances quickly. But then again, when a system functioned rather closely to your own brain it wasn’t hard to figure it out. Three hours later, Faye had managed to set aside her impending nuptials and was entirely focused on the the system before her. And where even a couple years ago she would have been embarrassed to have to someone witness her often unorthodox thinking patterns, she just accepted Halstead’s presence and input.

At one point Faye just stopped though, folded her arms across her chest and stopped speaking, her eyes narrowed as if she might be able to peer into the heart of the program and pull something out. Fingers tapping on her bicep, she inhaled deeply. “It’s beautiful, no doubt. But… I think… maybe, hmmm.”

“Okay, just thinking openly here and I could be wrong, but I think some of the background framework is more complicated than it needs to be. I mean, yes, it’s complex system, but maybe it if we clean up these root directories a little, it’ll not get clunked up when we start to hit the data load threshold. Or not. I could be entirely off base, so feel free to use or toss that idea,” she said with a shrug.

Drulae smiled and looked at Halstead, who made notes on a PaDD.

A covered head popped into the room. “Time is up, Commander,” one of the ensigns on the project said.

“Hmm? Oh!” Faye said, wide-eyed. “Oh yeah. I have places to be. Cool.”

“You do indeed, Commander.” Drulae said and gave the bride-to-be a short but enthusiastic hug. “And please, send all of our best wishes to Commander Hammor. And tell him I still have the bottle for when we complete the project.” and she smiled.

“I will! And thank you for letting me geek out here. There aren’t a lot of people in my life who actually get it. It’s nice to meet others who do.” And Faye was sincere as well. She had found intellectual kindred here and it was nothing sort of amazing. Certainly unexpected.

A few minutes later, after saying goodbye to Drulae and making plans to give feedback on the remote unit testing, Faye was changed back into her duty uniform and case in hand she walked with Halstead to meet up with Alex back at the shuttle. “Thanks for the fun. If I have any random ideas come to mind, I’ll send them over.”

“I’ll be waiting, Commander. Good luck… and congratulations! I know you will be a beautiful bride.” and she came to attention and then spun on her heel and walked quickly away.

She shook her head to herself as she stepped into the shuttle bay and when she saw Alex, she beamed, clutching the case like the precious baby it was. “Best day ever!” she declared.

~Faye Calloway

Alex smiled, but it was a smile lacking his normal depth. Something was on his mind, and something was in his hand… a rectangular red box with gold hinges. The Star Fleet logo was embossed in gold on the front. “Well, I am glad you had fun. But I sincerely hope that it is only the best day until tomorrow.” and he grinned… again himself but lacking the normal enthusiasm. “Shall we? We have a long flight ahead of us, and if we are late your groom will have my head.” and he walked to their runabout and entered.

Cochrane

Tilting her head as they entered the runabout, Faye considered her best friend. “Show and Tell? I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” she said as she stowed the case underneath the co-pilot’s seat. She couldn’t actually show him but she could loosely tell him what she got to do as the runabout was prepped and cleared for launch.

~Faye Calloway

Alex slipped the box into his pocket and shook his head. “Not now. It’s business related, and right now is about you.” and he powered up the runabout and lifted off. As they slowly moved out of the massive fighter bay and into the darkness of space, Alex punched in a departure vector and they slowly left the gigantic Harbinger Dawn behind them. Alex looked at Faye and then glanced at the case she had stowed and said “Wedding present? Looks like a fairly substantial case for a toaster.”

Alex

Faye grinned. “Ahhh, Alex! Those people… did you know? What Dag had planned for me?”

She shook her head. “For three hours I got to gaze at and explore the depths of an incredible system that, no lie, felt like peering into my own brain. I mean, it’s one thing to try to explain it to people, but there it was, right there for everyone to see and appreciate. And it’s because of the work I did for us, out of necessity. And that alone is an extraordinary gift to be given for someone like me who was terrified for so long to let people see what she was actually capable of.”

She gently tapped the case with the toe of her boot. “This is a chance to take it all up a notch and combine all my skills into a next level comm project that makes my cross-quadrant relay system the work of a kindergartener. And best of all? I’m allowed to try and break it. Oh Alex, I’m going to break it so hard it’ll make heads at R&D spin!” she said with a cackle as she sat back in her seat.

“And now, after six months apart, I finally get to see Dag again. So, my captain and my friend, get me to my groom,” she said, beaming at Cochrane as if she might be seeing him and everything in an entirely new light.

~Faye