Mysteries Out There

Posted on 31 Mar 2013 @ 5:35pm by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Oliver Sylver & Raifi Zaren

1,309 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo: Deck 2, Observation Lounge
Timeline: MD02: 1800 hrs

[ON]

Warrant Officer Oliver Sylver knew he should really be in bed now. After all, he was on Gamma shift. But...he liked this time of the day. He watched the stars calmly, his blue eyes taking it all in. It was quiet. He liked it when it was quiet, it allowed him time to just think and consider. And thinking was a good thing, a comforting thing. He blinked himself out of his thoughts as he heard someone approach and he turned his head to look at the man.

Zaren lifted his glass of synth-ale and pointed to the seat across from him, beside the window. "That taken?"

"No," Oliver shook his head, sitting back with a small smile. "Feel free to sit down..."

Zaren took a seat beside him and turned to look out the window. "It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What's out there?" he sipped his synth-ale. "We forget we're so tiny in the scheme of things. Just drops in an ocean."

Oliver smiled weakly, looking at it all. "It doesn't make me feel small, looking at it. It makes me feel...free. A giant star amongst them all..." he confessed softly. "It's glorious. I never get tired of the view."

"I don't see how you could," Zaren murmured. A giant star amongst many. It was an interesting perspective. Sometimes it astounded him how anyone could possibly be bored by people when they were all so elegantly unique. "Where are you from?"

"Me?" he smiled weakly, shaking his head. "Earth. London, England. Far away now...and the stars were never this bright when I was there."

"London, England," Zaren repeated, tasting the name of the place. "Do you miss it?"

"It's a shi..." he stopped himself and grimaced. "It's not the best of places, but it was home. I miss the place, but I don't necessarily want to be there. Does that make any sense?" he looked at the stars, smiling gently. "I just happen to be right where I want to be."

"Very fortunate for you. Very fortunate for me, too." Zaren sat back and watched the stars for a little while in contemplative silence.

Oliver watched the stars for a moment, considering it for a moment. "It's life and death out there. Stars dying and stars being born. It's so much."

"Every day," Zaren agreed. "And we won't know about it for centuries."

Oliver smiled warmly, nodding as he chuckled. "Isn't that reassuring? That even now, there's things out there we have no idea about."

"You think it's reassuring?" Zaren asked, fascinated. "Most people find it highly disturbing."

"Perhaps many would. But I like the idea about there being mysteries out there that we haven't found yet," he said and met his eyes. "Keeps a bit of excitement left in our lives."

"Is there a lack of excitement, generally?"

"Isn't there always?" he countered, watching Zaren for a moment. "You are a curious man..."

"I am," Zaren agreed. He always had been. He didn't see any reason why he shouldn't be. In point of fact, he didn't see why others weren't more curious. Why weren't they sitting on the edges of their seats, thrilled at the prospect of what was to come? What would be the next facial expression on the person they were talking to? The next words? What stars were they passing? What secrets did they hold? "There's an infinite number of things I know nothing about; I don't see how I could not be curious." He smiled, taking a sip of his synth-ale. "You think otherwise?"

"No," he shook his head, his eyes warm at that. "I find it very refreshing. Not enough people ask questions about the world, or things that happen in it."

"So what are the questions you ask? The ones you want to. The first thing on your mind."

He held his eyes before shaking his head. "Why. When. How. The usual things," he said and smiled warmly. "I try to keep an open mind about my questions. I suppose...Why are we doing this is a good one. About anything really."

"How about the present mission?" Zaren prodded. "Any thoughts on your personal why for that?"

Oliver smiled as he watched him, with a warm chuckle. "Hell if I know. Not gotten an answer to it yet. We're surveying. Exploring."

"What do you expect to find? Or hope. As you look at the information coming in, what is it that you hope you'll find in the Rojar system?"

"Something I haven't seen before," he said and shook his head. "Something I can *see*. I am not a scientist, numbers and formulas mean nothing to me."

"What is it you do?"

"I am a pilot," he said and as he met Zaren's eyes. He chuckled and leant closer, teasingly. "I am a leaf on the wind...watch how I soar..."

"Ha," Zaren rubbed his hands together. "What sort? This boat? Or do you roll the shuttles?"

"Whatever they give me, but I prefer shuttles," he admitted as he shook his head. "Used to be a marine fighter pilot, a lifetime ago."

"Marine fighter," the Trill murmured, hushed with anticipation. "I run a little Argizu class, used to fly a small shipping freighter through the Cardassian border, but a fighter... that's a whole different kettle of katha. Faster, better turn radius, what sort of speeds did you get up to?"

He watched him for a moment before shaking his head. "To be quite honest...I don't recall," he said softly. "Faster than a Cardie on my six."

"I bet you've got some stories," Zaren sat back, taking a sip of his synth ale.

"I have a lot of war stories...some are even real," he said as he watched Zaren, with an easy warmth.

"Care to share?"

He chuckled as he watched him, nodding gently. "Well...I was on leave during the war. A few days, on this base...we called it the Bacchus. It was...well, a sneazier Risa if you ask me. We were a bunch of Marine pilots, trying to let our hair down. So...we decided to gamble...we played for hours...until I lost. Unfortunately, I lost more than I bargained for...and as a result had to perform on the stage of the bar. And not all too tastefully either. Put it this way...it's difficult to order people around when they have seen you half naked dancing on a stage...badly, may I add."

"Depends which half," Zaren grinned.

He grinned, arching an eyebrow. "Well, it was the top one for the purpose of this conversation..." he said and winked.

"The trick is in the shoulders," Zaren said, setting his drink down and rising to perform a small shimmy back and forth. Laughing, he dropped back into the chair, "I've lost my fair share of bets. What do you play?"

He smiled warmly as he shrugged. "I like poker. I prefer poker. But any game of chance really..." he admitted softly. "You?"

Zaren's eyes lit up. "Poker's great. Have you played tongo?"

He laughed and nodded, his eyes shining. "Yes. I have. I was on the SS Bacchus years ago...played with a bunch of Ferengi...and got a total monopoly..." he said, wistfully. "Of course, I ended up beaten up when they didn't like it...hate Ferengi with bloody bodyguards..."

"I have no bodyguards," the Trill offered with a brow waggle. "Shall we set up a game?"

"Sounds like a plan," he said and smiled, sitting back to study Zaren. "Hit me with your best shot."

The Trill rubbed his hands together. "All right. We'll need a table. And a spinner. And some cards..."

[OFF]

Raifi Zaren
Journalist, FNN
USS Galileo
(pNPC Lilou Peers)

&

Warrant Officer Oliver Sylver
Flight Control
USS Galileo
(pNPC Lilou Peers)

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