Starbirth (Part 2)

Posted on 06 Jul 2013 @ 4:57pm by Lieutenant Dawn Meridian & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes

2,113 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 1, Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD06 1745

[Continued]

Kohl nodded at Kiri's explanation and looked over at the LCARS screen reflexively. He craned his neck a little farther to take a look at the doorway leading out of the observation lounge. Kohl asked, "Did Maenad mention when she was coming back?"

"She didn't say anything," Kiri answered with a little bit of lament, there wasn't time to go after her. Dawn had said it wasn't her fault, that she'd done nothing wrong, and Kiri couldn't think of anything. It was just a minute more now, it felt like much longer as she watched though.

Kohl spoke in a matching chord of lament. He folded his hands behind his back, he looked over at Kiri, and then he set his gaze out the viewports. "Neither did Pola," he said.

Finding a mirror of her own feelings in his words Kiri thought to herself, neither did Stone. Biting on her lip her little finger crept out to find his and awkwardly wind itself around it. Holding his hand uninvited just wouldn't be proper, not in a place like this.

When Kiri's little finger found Kohl's own, he cocked his head slightly in surprise. His shoulders stiffened, but he gave Kiri's little finger a gentle squeeze. After doing so, he pulled his hand away, and he said, "I'm sure Maenad will make it back in time for the star birth."

Dawn frowned to herself, popping another pineapple slice into her mouth. She was annoyed, and she wasn't sure why. Had Maenad leaving really bothered her that much? She munched thoughtfully on the pineapple. No, that wasn't it, either. Was she annoyed at being annoyed? Probably not; there was no point in that, anyway.

Theron listened and watched as a good tactical person would. The arrival of the star did not intrigue him that much, however the social dynamics, that he had observed in the last few minutes, were quite interesting. He popped another small piece of cheese into his mouth and surveyed the room again looking at the others.

Slightly reassured, Kiri fell very silent as she watched the screen. She knew exactly where to look, but the area displayed wasn't very big. There were a few stars and the nebula itself that the star was hiding inside. Her whole body started to tingle as her internal clock ticked closer and closer to zero. Then in a red, then blue flash a new light appeared. Compared to all the others around it, it was rather underwhelming. Kiri found herself glued to it in silence.

Theron had turned back to the view screen in time to see the light come on. I guess, if I were an astronomer or scientist of some kind I would find this event terribly interesting. He tried very hard not to roll his eyes. He looked at the others gathered. They truly seemed to enjoy the event. For their benefit, he softly said, "Wow." in amazement.

Standing beside Kiri, Kohl had fixed his gaze on the viewscreen just in time to catch the flash of light that signified a star's conception. As soon as he started to see it, though, Kohl turned his head to watch Kiri instead. The wonder, and the focus, burning behind her eyes was just as amazing as the new star, if not more so.

"Hm." It wasn't all that impressive to the naked eye, but the thought of what the light meant was fascinating. A new star. That itself didn't mean much to her... but thousands of years from now, how many species, how many civilisations, would look up into the sky and see that light blink on? Long after she was gone, they'd be seeing the same soft light she was seeing now.

Smiling Kiri took a breath, should she say something. Everything had been so focused on just getting to this point she hadn't given a moment's thought to what to do when it came. Pinching her lips between her teeth she looked around, "Thank you for coming," The smile returned as she spoke, out of her control for once. Would there be time to talk now?

Theron nodded toward Kiri. She had done a good thing with this gathering. But, there is no reason to waste good food and drink. He thought and walked over to the refreshment table and loaded up his plate, much higher this time.

"No, thank you." said Kohl, "For sharing this with all of us."

Dawn looked at door with a frown tugging at her lips, then back to the screen, and finally to the wine she didn't remember setting out. A bit couldn't hurt, she supposed. And it took a bit of time to drink, if you did it right. A lot of people didn't do it right. "We should be thanking you," Dawn agreed, picking up a glass of wine and raising it to Kiri. "You put a lot of care into this. I don't think that was lost on most of us." She left 'other than Maenad' unspoken but implied. Maybe Maenad had her reasons for leaving. Only yesterday she'd sympathized with the woman when it felt like half the crew had turned against her. Had she been wrong?

"Um, thank you for saying so," Kiri didn't really know what else to say. Looking rather sheepish she smiled, looking first to Dawn and then Kohl, "What did you think?"

"I think the food was tasty and the venue could not have been better chosen," Kohl said. He stepped closer to Kiri and he gave her shoulder a squeeze. "I've got to run. I'm late for an appointment in Sickbay, but I couldn't miss a starbirth. Wouldn't be right to have a birth without a medical officer." Before Kohl moved towards the exit, he said, "Be proud of your party. Enjoy it."

Dawn looked from Andreus to Kiri and back again. There it was again. What was her gut telling her that her head couldn't understand?

Theron was still stuffing his face as he watched many people leave the lounge. He walked over to Kiri. "So, did things go well for your little adventure?"

"You mean my away mission?" Kiri looked at him as she picked a a piece of melon rather tensely.

"No silly." Theron replied, "This adventure of getting everyone together to watch this starbirth."

"Oh, well, I think so?" Kiri looked around at everyone and took a breath, "You liked it didn't you?"

"Well . " Theron began. "I have to be honest with you. I very much enjoyed the party, and I think the others did as well. Looking at the stars is just not a fascination of mine, but I wanted to be here for you. So . . how do you feel about it?"

"Oh, I, I though you liked them, when we were on Vega," Kiri put the melon ball in her mouth and looked down for a second, "I enjoyed it, and thank you for coming, just for me." Maybe that was wrong, but if he had no real interested in the event and just came for her sake.

"You . ." Theron began and then paused thinking through and trying to make the word truly meaningful, " you are most welcome. And I do like to look at stars, and constellations, and nebulas." He then shrugged. "But to me? They are just stars." He then smiled, "But to you, I know they are much more and today I can very much appreciate that."

"Thank you." Kiri half blushed before looking to Dawn for reinforcement before realizing what she might be implying, "Um, would you like to look at the stars again," Forgetting for a moment that he could see the stars from any window on the ship at almost any time.

A slight smile came across Theron's face, "Yes. I would enjoy watching stars with you . . anytime my friend." He reached up with his left hand to hold her right hand. Not as a handshake, but as a friend communicating affection and acceptance. He then realized that he had reached out to her and had not hesitated as he had done so many times before. He made a face, looking to the side slightly and raising his eyebrows.

It felt as if he was making it very clear it was as her friend, that felt stable and appropriate and yet, Kiri was a little disappointed. It wasn't something she had given a huge amount of thought to with regards to him but well, it made her think about her real position. Forgetting completely about his hand she looked at her shoes, keeping quiet.

Theron looked at Kiri and smiled and released her hand, "Sorry about that. I just realized that I did not balk or hesitate about reaching for your hand and touching someone else."

"I see, what does that mean?" Kiri felt that was against what he had just said before, or maybe not? It was confusing.

"Well," Theron began thinking of how to explain, "I may not have brought up the subject before . . . , but as a Tandaran, I have had a social difficulty being too close physically; like touching or holding hands. I am just saying that I did not have a problem or hesitation this evening. That is all."

"I see," That is good then," She had not overcome her own social difficulties in such a way. It was unlikely she would be able to take his hand in any normal situation. Was it to do with her or had he found it was something generally he had discovered?

After popping in and swallowing the last morsel Theron glanced at his chrono and said, "I have enjoyed my time here, but I need to go and get some sleep." After she replied, Theron nodded, turned, and walked out of the observation room.

"Oh, goodnight then," It wasn't that late but she had taken a nap with Dawn already that day, she had no idea how busy he had really been in that time. Everyone seemed to be filtering away; it actually just left her with Dawn when she looked around. After watching Theron leave she moved over, "Did you like it?"

Dawn gave a little nod. "You'd think that the birth of something that will last billions and billions of years would be more... explosive. But it wasn't like that. It just... happens." She touched her chin. "It was still very pretty, though. And it was nice to have people to watch it with." She paused, cocking her head to one side. "You did a good job, I think." Even with Maenad running off.

"Thank you. I can find something more explosive for next time if you want," Kiri wasn't sure it would be the same level as a star but she could certainly manage something smaller.

"It doesn't have to explode," Dawn said with a grin. "I just thought a star would." She padded over to the snack table, since there still were a few star-shaped pineapple slices left. "But still, more explosions couldn't hurt, I guess."

"When they die, they tend to be flashier." Kiri followed her back to the table and thought about taking another glass. The remains to her felt wasteful, not to finish what was here, she knew she shouldn't though. "But, rather than that, are the other things you would like to do on the holodeck?" It could be anything after all, looking at exploding stars wasn't what she really thought Dawn would like.

Dawn popped a slice into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. "Lots of things, I suppose," she said slowly. "Waterfalls and rivers and horses..." She spun a bit on her heel, smiling. "Knights and witches... that kind of thing. The kinds of things you can't see normally - or at least, not easily." She poked at one of the empty plates. "But I'm sure there's a lot more than that, too."

Kiri felt her heart lift a little, those were things she had been thinking about as well. She had planed to do them with Maenad but, well maybe Dawn was a better choice? Thinking to herself rather than speaking she just smiled and nodded, what to do?

[OFF]

Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Andreus Kohl
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Theron Rhodes
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Kiri Cho
Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Dawn Meridian
Counsellor
USS Galileo

Crewman Athlen
Sociologist, SSC
USS Galileo

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