STF

Rovan Moor: Arrival to the Athena

Posted Jan. 19, 2019, 5:35 p.m. by Commander Luka (Executive Officer) (Riley W)

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 (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

The next message began to play. The video showed Allie once again, now in an environment unfamiliar to Rovan. The lighting was soft and diffused, and had a slight pinkish tint to it. All this view gave him for context was the sight of a pale blue wall, and his human friend was dressed once more in civilian clothing. She smiled slightly at the camera, waiting a few moments before beginning to speak, lowering her hand from right beside the camera to nearer her lap. There was the faint sound of children’s voices in the background, dulled by the walls that were between the microphone and said voices. The camera quality was significantly lower than the quality of the previous calls.

Rovan continued to smile as he looked at the image of his friend in the room, unfamiliar it might have been to him, but Allison looked relaxed and comfortable, and healthy. The quality of the video concerned him slightly, was she somewhere that had interference in the atmosphere? Was radiation involved with that pink glow?

“Hey, Allie here. I’ve arrived on Earth, fortunately in one piece,” she grinned slightly. “I’m sorry for the video quality… All I have is an old digital camera. They still make them even though the technology is centuries old! Aunt Mary - she insists I call her aunt even though my brother is her husband’s ancestor - is sorry that they don’t have much in the way of high-tech stuff on the farm, but it seems that there are still communities that like to live off the land in the old fashioned way. I like it here, so far. I arrived yesterday and they already had an old room made out for me. It’s not the same room I had when I was a kid - that house isn’t around anymore - but it’s in about the same spot…” she trailed off, staring in the direction of the light source, probably a window. There was a sound of a clatter from downstairs, and Allison chuckled. “Oof, sounds like a mess just happened… I should probably go help,” she said hastily, reaching up to the corner of the frame.

She had made it to Earth, and not some far away colony world. That made Rovan more relieved than he thought he would of been, now he knew she was somewhere safe. Not only safe, but with her family. One thing that Rovan had been keenly aware of when they were together was Allisons sadness about missing out on her family, for centuries. It may have been exciting finding out she still had family alive and that descended from her brother, but that would never dull the loss of the people she had been most close to, grown up with and knowing they had been gone for centuries. That was one reason they had grown close, neither of them had anyone and their chance meeting that night had been somewhat fortuitous. Neither could sleep, and both had walked to the arboretum at the same time with thoughts and loneliness heavy in their hearts. He finished his sandwich as he watched, and settled in with his nearly finished beer.

The video was static for half a second before returning to the same shot of Allison, now with a noticeable amount of flour in her hair. “So, Ben decided that bothering his mother while she was cooking was a good idea,” she almost laughed out loud. “I should probably explain the whole family situation going on here on the farm. You probably remember Adrien, the old gardener on the Genesis. His son, Michael, and daughter, Lillian, kind of own the business, along with a few other cousins. Adrien’s father, Alfred, had two siblings, Brendan and Maryanne. Brendan had Justin, who had three boys, and those three boys are John, Terry, and Fred. Those four actually run the farm, since Mike is in Starfleet and Lilly is a little too busy taking care of everyone else’s kids this time of the year. There’s a figurative army of them on the farm, and they range anywhere from seven to twenty-three! And the 23 year old has a little one of his own on the way…” she trailed off again, looking thoughtful for a few moments before sobering up again. “Anyways, I need to get this flour out of my clothes, so I’ll be going now. See you later, Rovan. Love you,” she said softly, reaching up to end the transmission.

Rovan found himself laughing when she reappeared with flour in her hair, and nodded at the mention of Adrien. He listened as Allie spoke about the people, her family that lived there, the names going mostly over his head as he tried to reconcile that with what that meant they were to her. It still confused him a little at how she was basically a great great great’ish Aunt, Cousin or something like that, to them. He did smile at the thought that with that many, she probably wouldn’t have time to sit and really consider that, especially with younger kids around. He felt himself wanting to visit, to meet them and see her families farm/nursery, but he knew that having just been assigned, it was going to be out of the question for some time. “Love you too,” Rovan said, and he paused the video and stood.

He took a couple of minutes to walk around the room and stretch his legs, returned his plate and empty beer to the replicator and then stood for a moment as he thought about the rest of the video’s and what he had seen. He was relieved, immensely that Allie was awake, remembered him and had sent him these messages and at the same time, so guilty that he hadn’t been there.

His mission hadn’t been compulsory, but he had waited for weeks and grown frustrated, scared, worried and restless with the feeling that he was completely powerless to help her. That even as he sat with her every night, and visited her before and after his shifts, read books they had spoken of enjoying and told her what the Genesis was getting up to, he had still been helpless to help her in any way he could see. When the offer of the mission had come up, he had thought about staying to be with her but the frustration he could do nothing, and fear she wouldn’t know him if she woke up had won. On the mission, he could do something, and he had. He had taken his anger at being useless to her, his frustration he could do nothing and put it into the person he had become. It had scared him, and the person he had been felt real, like only a small twist of fate could have made him that very Ktarian pirate. If the mission hadn’t ended successfully, Rovan wasn’t sure if he would have been able to walk away as his release of anger and frustration had been intoxicating.

He paused on that thought and new the truth was different, any news that Allie was awake and alright would have changed things. He may have gotten in too deep eventually, but he knew the word of Allison would have brought back Rovan Moor. Smiling and giving a short grunt at his thoughts, he made himself a Ktarian chocolate pudding from the replicator and then sat back down, the warm and super sweet dessert in a bowl in front of him as he brought back the vids. “Computer, play next message” he said and then saw the date and smiled as he took a bite of the pudding. It wasn’t Birthday Cake, but it was close enough and he smiled widely as he saw the screen and what was coming through.

The next transmission was from August 15. Before the video, an image was attached. Allison was dressed pretty nicely, and in front of her was a cake with five candles in the shapes of numbers - set into two groups. One set of three candles were a two, a six, and a five - her chronological age. The other two were a three and a zero - her age minus the years on the planetoid. There was a mirth-filled smile on her face as she blew out the flames. There were a couple other photos attached. One showed a very shocked Allison as the large family appeared to be throwing a surprise party for her. Another was her surrounded by her “cousins,” the children all laughing and smiling. Another photo, she was next to an ancient-looking mantle which had been left from the original building. On top of the mantle were framed photos ranging back centuries, even past her original time. The final photo was of Allison relaxing in the shade of a massive tree that must have been almost three hundred years old.

He chewed on the pudding slowly as he looked at the images, and the people in them as well as Allie. “Well, they always say we should date older women” Rovan joked, as if Allie could hear him, “I’m not sure skipping a couple of centuries qualifies though Allison.” The image of her relaxing in the shade of the tree made him smile again, as the memories of their meeting came to him once more. “Happy Birthday Allie”

The photo slideshow ended, and the transmission began. The camera was a little shakier than it had been in the previous transmission, and the sound of nearby giggling could be heard. The setting was outdoors this time, in the shadow of that same tree. “This is my Gran’s tree,” Allison said, not looking directly at the camera. “She planted it when she was… when she was young. I remember looking at this thing when it was just over fifty years old, marveling that something could be so large when it was so young. Now, so many years later, I marvel that it is still here, not knocked over or forgotten…” She looked back at the camera, behind which someone giggled. “Something else I remember, was that Gran planted this tree on the 15th of August. She always did find it funny that I was born on her tree’s birthday. Guess we’re both a couple of ancient girls now, huh?” she patted the bark of the tree. “Think I should send this one to him?” Allison asked the camera-holder. The reply she got was a giggle and an enthusiastic “Yea!” before the footage cut.

Rovan laughed with the sound of the young giggling, and wondered why the child thought Allison was sending messages to a man and what was causing the giggles. The tree still being there somehow unsettled Rovan as well, and he couldn’t explain it. Maybe it was because something of Allison’s past still remained, a living being that she knew. He found comfort in that and by the tone of her voice, he was sure Allison had found more comfort than she knew as well.

The next transmission was from August 29. The Allison in the video was in her room again, although the sharper shadows flowing in a different direction communicated that she was lit by artificial lightning rather than the sun. There was a tiredness in her eyes that, although he hadn’t seen it in the previous videos, had been slowly creeping into her expression. Her old uniform was framed on the wall, and the different angle than the video from the beginning of the month allowed him to see her bedside table and the two framed photos it held. One was her 28th birthday, the last one she had experienced before the Planetoid. It depicted a happy family of five - Allison, her parents, her brother, and Naomi, the woman who he would later marry. The second photo was the picture of Rovan and Allison that he had a copy of.

He looked at the photos on the bedside table and the uniform, but his eyes drew back to Allie. It was evening, late night perhaps? That might have explained her tired expression but it looked deeper and his smile faded as he looked at her. Placing the bowl down he reached up with his hand and touched the screen, Allison’s face as he watched. “Allie, whats wrong?” he asked the image, knowing it was only a recording and she wasn’t going to answer him directly. It was a look that rustled something in his mind and his yellow, cat like eyes narrowed as he watched her. It was late where she was, she wasn’t sleeping again he realized, like her early days on the Genesis.

“Hey, Rovan. It’s been a while since my last transmission, sorry. I’ve included a short video from my birthday and a few images. I hope that makes up for the lack of… Well, I guess you can’t really complain, since I haven’t gotten a peep back from you. I miss you like… more than anything. I didn’t know how much I’d miss you until you were gone. Darn-it, is this what it felt like for you when I was on that bed? You sat beside me for weeks, until you were called away to your secret mission… I’m so sorry…” she looked away. “My dreams are back,” she said, almost in a whisper. “They… they came back pretty soon after I woke up. You always scared away nightmares, I don’t know why. But the emptiness of the Genesis after you were gone… Worrying that you might be dead, remembering Adrien… I started dreaming your face among those of all the people I’ve known and loved…” she choked up, tears falling from her face. “Please don’t be dead… dear god, don’t let him be dead…” she sobbed, leaning forward and putting her head in her hands. She didn’t talk for a few minutes, just letting the video record. “god, Rovan… I’m so sorry I must have put you through a lot of pain while I was asleep… I’m so sorry,” she finally spoke, looking intensely at the camera. “I’m sorry…”

The recording cut off, and the transmissions paused for a moment, waiting Rovan’s command for them to continue.

Recordings of Allison Fleet

“Allison, I’m here.” he said, his own face showing sadness and worry. There were no tears on his face, it was his fault he hadn’t been there for her and she had nothing to be sorry for. It was all because he had left her, wasn’t there when she needed someone she knew. He could not imagine waking from the coma and finding out once more that the people she had grown close to had gone, and that it was he who had left her that time. The guilt was growing within him and he looked at the time on Earth again, still too early to call and he cursed. Rovan just knew he was going to turn up for Duty in the morning with no sleep but he owed Allison this, he was going to call her and let her know he was alive, he had to.

“I’m sorry,” he said to the image of Allie on the screen as it cut out. “You have no idea how much,” and briefly he thought of taking a shuttle to see her. Starfleet had become his life since his parents and died, and he had put everything into it when he had nothing else except the anger at the raiders that took his parents. Then Allie had come, become his friend and Rovan and known his life wasn’t empty or without only revenge as his purpose once again. Now, those raiders were not a threat. Oh some of them were still out there, he hadn’t gotten them all, but they would take time to regroup, if ever.

Allison was out there now, and she was hurt, sad and scared. Beginning to feel the stirrings of restlessness and helplessness again, and knowing he had months more of messages to view, he pushed away the pudding more and looked at the screen. “Computer, continue playback” he said, and cupped one fist in his other hand and placed his elbows on the desk, chin on his hands as he watched, troubled in thought.

Lt (j.g) Rovan Moor
Engineer/Pilot

The next message had been sent on September 12. Allison was in her bedroom once more, the pinkish light filtering in again. The perspective of the shot had changed once again, and Allison was sitting on a chair facing away from the room’s window, which had pink curtains - that would explain the colour of the light in the first video of the room. Like in the previous videos sent from earth, the quality was lacking, but he already knew why that was. Allison was dressed in what looked like comfortable track pants and a tank top with an image of the Firefly on it and the quote, “Find a crew, find a job, keep flying” pasted on the front. Her hair was damp, and she had a towel around her neck to catch the moisture.

“Hey, Rovan. Allison here once again. I hope you’re doing alright. The house has been a lot quieter these past few weeks, with most of the kids off to school. It’s just me, Lillian, Laura, and Wanda and her two kids left at home right now. Most of the family is on the farm, running the business and all.” She smiled slightly. “I hope one day I can introduce you to all of them,” she chuckled. “It took me a few weeks to get all the names down, honestly. I’m only focusing on the ones here, they’re all descendants of one of Kenny’s great-great grandsons, Orville Fleet. Kenny’s third son was David, and his only kid was Patrick, and Patrick had a son named Immanuel who had a son named Orville. Orville had Alfred, Brendan, and Maryanne, and the rest of the crew is either the children or grandchildren of Alfred and his siblings,” she explained, listing off people on her fingers. “Which means that Laura’s baby will be my brother’s great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandson. That’s seven greats!” she laughed, pushing back her chair and balancing on the back legs for a moment before letting it fall back on four feet.

“I’ve been working on the farm… it’s really relaxing, actually. Working with plants. I’ve been doing a lot of weeding. There’s still plenty of work to be done for the next few months before winter shows up, so there’s that to look forward to…” There was a voice that cut into the video, but the exact words weren’t clear. “Oh, that’s Lillian, she wants me to help out with making supper. All the kids included, there’s…” she started counting on her fingers. It took a while. “Fourty-one of us in this big house. Don’t worry, it’s a really big house, it can fit everyone. There’s a couple side-houses too. There’d be a few more if Adrien’s sister’s kid was still on Earth, but he’s on the New Canada colony with his family. I think one of their girls is in Starfleet, I keep meaning to look her up. Jennifer Wallace…” she trailed off. “Anyways, gotta go!” she reached up to press the button to turn off the recording. “Oh, love you,” she added, almost as an afterthought.

The next message was from a few weeks later, September 27. Allison was holding the camera in her hand and leaning against the big tree. The sunlight was diffused by the green leaves, and her eyes were half lidded. “I’ve been trying to record this message for two days,” she said with a deep but happy sigh. There was some genuine meat on her bones, muscle gained from working on the farm, and her face was beginning to look a little browned. It wouldn’t tan much more, given the days of summer were nearing their end, but she had a genuine farmer’s tan from just two months on earth. Her face had a smattering of dirt, streaks that showed she had evidently wiped a dirt-covered hand across her forehead. “It’s so nice to be back in the dirt and the growing things. More than I could have imagined. I know I spent two-hundred years farming, but there’s a certain feeling to farm-work that really can’t be equaled by any other kind of labour…”

There were some laugh-screams of children in the background, prompting Allison to chuckle lightly. “There go David and Summer again. Those two are quite the handful. I Imagine Allie, Josh, and David were simliarly playful when they were that age…” she trailed off quietly, thoughtful. “I miss you. I’m sorry about my message that I sent about a month ago… I was in a dark place around that time. I’m better now! Well, mostly. I mean, the faces are still there in my dreams, but I’ve been sleeping better at night. I only wake up once or twice, and I can usually get to sleep again within half an hour. Days I’m working really hard, sometimes I don’t dream at all,” she said with a small shrug. “I’d love to know how you’re doing…” Allison closed her eyes, shaking her head. “No, I can’t worry about that. You’re watching this message, and that means you’re fine. You’re safe, and alive,” she took a deep, shaky breath. “Dammit Rovan. Why did you have to settle so deep inside my heart. I can’t let go of these memories, and I don’t want to. You better not die, Officer Moor,” she said with a small frown. “I love you… you know that? I hate to have to tell you this by recorded video, but… I love you. Like, you’re my heart of hearts, love… I want nothing more than to see you again, so you better not f*cking die!” She exclaimed, then slapped a hand over her mouth. The recording ended.

The next recording was from October 11, which was an earth holiday called Thanksgiving. Attached were several, one might even say many, photographs. They were all labeled, giving the names of the people pictured within. The first several were archived photographs of Allison and her family from when she was a child - photos of her parents and brother and her, photos of her with both branches of cousins, photos with grandparents, and more. The next set of photographs was of Kenneth and his family over the years, showing all three of his kids - including a young girl who was the spitting image of her Aunt Allison. The next several photographs were ones from this year. One photo was of the Wallace family minus the one who was in Starfleet. A man, his wife, and three of their children. The youngest and the oldest had their arms around the shoulders of spouses, and there were 4 grandkids between them, one of which was in the arms of the eldest’s husband. One photo was of Adrien’s brother Kelvin and his family of four generations (which ended with David and Summer, who had been mentioned by Allison earlier), and one was of Lillian and her husband and their five children ranging from 25 to 13. The eldest two were boys, each with a young woman standing next to them, the eldest had one child and his wife was pregnant and looked just about to pop.

The next photo was of Michael’s family (Michael being another Starfleet officer and not able to attend the festivities on Earth), Mary and their three children. Then came Adrien’s cousins, the children of Brendan and Maryanne. There was only one photo of Brendan’s offspring, his son and three grandsons standing with their wives and the four great-grandkids in front. All of this family had pronounced farmer’s tans. Maryanne’s two children were next, one photo showing them with their children and grandchildren. It was an impressive collection of people, and one final photograph showed all the Earth-based family sitting at an absolutely massive table to enjoy a meal together. And yet, the furthest connection was third cousins.

Finally, Allison’s actual message was played. It was dim in her room, lit only by a small light on the wall. Her posture was that of someone sitting up in bed, with her pillow supporting her back. She looked rather tired. “Hey, Rovan. Happy thanksgiving. This is one we got to celebrate together last year, before my accident, so I don’t think I have to explain it,” she chuckled. “We got a video call from New Canada so I could formally meet the family out there. It’s funny, it reminded me of the crazy technology we have these days. On the farm, they like to avoid most of the more modern tech, I’m not sure exactly why, but they’re actually in a technological era that’s before my own time. I mean, they don’t deny that stuff exists and they own it, but it’s mostly used for enhancing the kid’s education and for communication with others. It’s really neat…”

Allison exhaled slowly, leaning her head back and looking at the ceiling. She grabbed the camera and pointed it up, turning off the lamp on the wall and letting the camera adjust to the dark room. Above her, pasted to the ceiling, was a small collection of glow-in-the-dark stars. There were about eight of them in different sizes, and one looked like a shooting star with a trail coming off it, but it was cute. “David thought I should have the stars in my room to remind me of the Genesis… he has a whole constellation map in his room, the kid is obsessed,” she chuckled. “That kid will make a great officer one day if he keeps at it… Anyways… goodnight Rovan. Love you,” she murmured in the dark, and the video ended a few moments later. Although, it didn’t end before she could be heard mumbling annoyedly, “Now where’s that off switch?”

The list of messages displayed again… six more.

October 26, November 17, December 8, December 25, January 1, and January 10

Recordings of Allison Fleet

OOC: some small edits.


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