Star-Crossed Indeed

Posted on Sat Sep 8th, 2018 @ 3:28am by Commander Rita Paris & Lieutenant Commander Sonak
Edited on on Tue Oct 2nd, 2018 @ 1:05am

Mission: Holographic Horrors
Location: USS HEra, Deck 4, Main Shuttlecraft Deck
Timeline: 2395

From the porthole of the sleek class 11 shuttlecraft Friendship 7, Sonak gave the dark hull of the USS Hera a good look over to as it flew around it to align with the landing area in the shuttlecraft bay, which looked much more like an actual hangar deck. He had studied the schematics of the Nebula class starship and all the visual recordings about it during his long travel through space. There had been nothing else to do, as the entire classified flight had been pre-automated to the current encrypted coordinates of his assigned ship.

Still, he was nevertheless impressed when he actually came into the presence of the real thing.

A Nebula class starship looked basically like nothing other than a saucer section with a triangular pod on top and the two sleek flattened nacelles directly affixed under it's stern. Then the engineering hull right under it's belly with no connecting neck structure left her compact, yet still elegant. Although it was far larger than even the majestic Constitution class capital ship of his former life; three million three hundred and nine thousand metric tons. Four hundred and forty-two point twenty-three meters in length, three-hundred and eighteen point eleven meters in width, thirty decks raising it to one hundred and thirty point forty-three meters in height. She carried a standard complement of seven hundred and fifty officers and crew members, almost twice as that of his old command, the USS Exeter.

The vessel's most remarkable feature was the interchangeable pod on top-aft of the ship, which could turn it with minimum work at a space facility into a warship, a research vessel, a science explorer, a colonial ship or even a space hospital- depending of the special package provided to it.

Specific data about the Hera had likewise been heavily encrypted, well beyond his capability to decipher. But Sonak knew enough from the general data to be sufficiently prepared to start his commission as assistant chief science officer right from the moment of his arrival.

As the shuttle arced the trajectory for its final approach, he admired the aesthetics of the starship's soft, curving lines, almost organic, practically... feminine. She was indeed a beauty, a goddess queen of the stars as her name suggested. It stirred within him a definite appreciation of being allowed to serve aboard her.

Something else was stirring within him as well. Because he knew the Hera was not the only lady with whom he would be joined.

At last he arrived at the dusk of his long journey; now came the dawn of a new voyage. But the light of his life would once again be there beside him to light the way.


With five minutes to spare, Rita Paris paced the flight control operations office overlooking the hangar deck with a PaDD in her hands, tapping away as she about-faced then continued slowly pacing as she worked. Currently she was prepping a tablet for the new onboarding assistant science chief. She'd tried to come up with the personnel record, but the transfer orders were sealed and she didn't have access. As the Hera was Starfleet Intel, that was likely going to happen from time to time, so she would just adapt to work around it.

The PaDD would be synced to the biosign eventually, but for now she set it to have limited access and some basics like a chain of command, a deck listing and schematic of the Hera, an overview of her mission and a request for Lieutenant Vaemyn to take a meeting with his new assistant added to both of their calendars. The efficient executive was in the process of scheduling a physical on the calendar when the shuttlecraft arrived. Folding the tablet to her bosom, the newly-minted first officer strode at a military pace out of her office and onto the flight deck, even as the shuttlecraft came to rest in a nice smooth landing for which she planned to compliment the pilot.

Chest out, chin up and looking every bit the 2257 recruitment poster model she had once been, in her anachronistic uniform of her bygone age, Lieutenant Commander Rita Paris stood ready to greet the new transfer.


When the soft thud and vibration of the shuttle's skids came, he was already standing, hands behind his back in front of the hatch at the stern of the small craft, his duffel bag at his feet. In his days, such a parsecs-long voyage would have been impossible aboard such a small craft. But this one had flown at warp 6 on the modern warp scale, faster than the top speed of the best ships of his time.

Already he had found much to be appreciated, living in this new universe. In this new era.

Now, finally, he had arrived. The entirety of his voyage had been much longer and much slower, but also more challenging than a simple transfer to a new commission.

The first step out of the shuttle would be his final step to return to her, wherein he would be reunited once more.

When the hatch finally hissed opened, without the haste he felt in his soul, he calmly took that final step... that first step.


Waiting on the flight deck as the hatch opened, the gold-clad commander stepped forward, that first step a confident stride that faltered when she took in the sight of the figure emerging from the shuttlecraft. A tall Vulcan with a lithe, athletic build stepped out, as tall as she in her chunky-heeled explorer's boots. A mop of black hair was cut in the traditional bowl style that she still disliked, yet it framed the steely-grey eyes that she knew better than her own. The supercentenarian space explorer stopped in her tracks because her mind was having difficulty processing what she was seeing.

It was Sonak... in a modern Starfleet uniform, with an Academy duffel over his back.

Sonak stopped at the regulatory one meter distance from the Lieutenant Commander that greeted him. He would have normally deemed it an honor to be personally greeted upon arrival by no less than the first officer of the starship, as he was now a mere lieutenant. But seeing the tall, curvaceous feminine body clad in the gold and black of a bygone era, of another universe enraptured him. The thick, sensuous brush of hair, those large luminous eyes in a face reminiscent of a Greek goddess. What he now felt was light years beyond meeting such an entity. It burst silently into his mind so powerfully, it would have blasted every mind on board had he been still the powerful telepath he had once been.

T'hy'la!

In truth, he should not have felt anything whatsoever. Emotions had been utterly and absolutely purged from his body and mind six decades prior. Yet, what had unerringly stirred in him, and had steered him to this moment in space and time, suddenly expanded within his katra like the Big Bang itself.

There was only one person, one being, one element of reality in all realities that could ever evoke such a feeling in him, most of all this particular feeling. Perfectly stoic, still and silent, his mind echoed her name.

Rita.

In his mind, her name and her presence flooded his consciousness, so much so that he could neither move nor speak, it seemed, for her presence consumed his senses.

At last, he had found her.


To Rita, there might have been some room for error- after all, Sonak might have had relatives on Vulcan who, in this day and age, had grown up to resemble him. This could be a perfect stranger to her, which was most likely the case. But while she possessed no psychic ability of her own, there was a bond between them- one forged of joy and peril, of tenderness and dedication to one another, that went far beyond words or vows. Despite all logic, she would know him anywhere- this close, she could almost feel him in her soul. As her bright blue eyes grew wide with realization, she hesitantly whispered his name, for fear that somehow she was wrong, and this was just this universe playing a particularly cruel trick on her.

"Sonak...?" she asked tremulously, her eyes filling with tears.

"Lieutenant Sonak, reporting for duty as assistant chief science officer. I come... to serve."

Other than this bland, regulation-dictated sentence, he found himself incapable of saying anything more. He found he could not speak, could not even summon the will to raise his hand in salute. He could only gaze at her... and... feel her.

Tears streamed from the eyes of the anachronistic astronaut as the PaDD clattered noisily to the deck, dropped by uncaring fingers. There could be no doubt- this was no illusion nor doppelganger, but the real Sonak- her Sonak. Her T’hy’la. Her beloved. Her One. This close to him, she could feel his presence, like a palpable physical sensation inside her heart, her mind, a chord struck deep within her very soul. While she could not hear his voice in her mind, still she could feel him calling to her all the same. Any doubts she might have had were washed away by the sound of his voice, a sound she had longed to hear so very much, for what had seemed like so very long.

In an instant, the career Starfleet officer abandoned all military decorum and simply hurled herself bodily at him, enveloping the lanky frame of the Vulcan scientist with abandon. Her arms wrapped about his shoulders even as her legs wound about his waist. She did not hesitate- she knew from experience he could bear her weight easily, and she desired nothing more than to feel him against her, to hold him close and reassure herself that this was no dream or hallucination.

He did not expect her move. Standing like a steel post would have resulted in more than bruises for her. But as soon as she made contact, fighting instincts honed by decades of Suus Manna and Pon Ifla training took over. Flowing with her momentum, he rolled back and covered her frame with his arms and hands to absorb the full force of her charge. The long-lost lieutenant shrieked slightly, partially from surprise and partially from joy as the nimble Vulcan dissipated their momentum on the floor, to ensure that she would be unhurt as he rolled them both back to his feet.

All the while, she clung to him like a drowning victim.

As tears streamed down her face, she whispered into his delicately tapered pointed ear. Four simple words which meant the entire universe to her, causing her heart to swell with joy, relief, and the fullness of a love she feared she had lost forever to an uncaring cosmos.

“You came for me.”

Sonak raised an eyebrow.

"It was the only logical thing left to do."



Soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNZH-emehxA