A Tapestry Restored
Posted on Thu Nov 28th, 2024 @ 7:46am by Lieutenant Commander Lyra Cassiel & Ensign Ilan Ocara & Captain Ivan Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Andrei Petrov & Lieutenant Commander Yana Petrova & Lieutenant JG Corvin Hartjin & Ensign Mika Petrova
Mission:
S1 Episode 8: Resolutions
Location: Gamma Eridine II
Timeline: Date 2372-02-12 at 1330
2053 words - 4.1 OF Standard Post Measure
ON:
February 12, 2372
It was a bright sunny morning as it always tended to be on their new planet. As the sun crested over the horizon, oranges and purples dazzled and amazed. It was a beautiful place and, to some extent, it had become home. The storms that occasionally plagued them during this season were severe, but they had done a fairly good job of weather-proofing their little village in the clearing and preventing as much damage as possible. Much to the dismay of many, the samples in the woods had been completely destroyed. The women on the science team had vowed to start over, but no steps seemed to have been taken. Perhaps they had accepted their fate, especially considering that Mika, the most zealous among them to find a cure, had been sullen, and sulky, and avoidant for over a month.
Tomorrow, it would be four months to the day since they first arrived in the Gamma Eridine system, and three months since they’d seen another soul besides themselves. Ivan Petrov stretched and stepped out into the crisp morning air. He’d donned a jacket, as it was starting to get quite cold, and considered his position. He was the Lord of Russia, but Russia was seventy years away. He was a captain of Imperial Starfleet, but his command was likely now three months' journey away. Who was he really? What would his future look like?
As he considered these questions, he heard shuffling in the area around him. He had no doubt several others were starting to crawl out of bed and to prepare for their day. He found himself moving in the direction of the sound, hoping to see who it was.
“Good morning.” A feminine voice greeted him once he was in view.
Ilan Ocara was standing near one of the walking paths stretching and preparing for her morning run. She was dressed in a form fitting tank top and running tights both in a matching dark purple. The outfit certainly left little to the imagination, and showed off her magnificent feminine body with its rolling curves and plumpness in all the right places. Ilan had made the best of life on the planet, trying to find new adventures or taking up new skills, but she had been the one to work most often with Mika in trying to find a cure for the virus. Ilan had been devastated by the loss, but she was far better at bouncing back than Mika had been.
Or maybe she was just better at hiding it.
She offered a courteous smile to Ivan and stretched her arms.
“You’re like clockwork, woman.” Ivan said as he approached and watched the young woman get ready for her run. His eyes stayed on her face, never straying to her body. “If you learn to crow like a rooster, you can get the rest of these sleepy-heads up with you.”
Ilan laughed, easygoing as always and clearly amused by the notion. “I feel like the people here might shoot the rooster, truthfully.”
She paused and continued while stretching her ankles. “I’ve always found sticking to a relatively strict morning routine and then leaving my evenings open for fun and spontaneity has worked for me, and it seems to work relatively well still even here.”
“It’s important to keep a routine. In a situation like ours, it can keep you from going crazy.” Ivan said, turning to watch her, but still managing to avert his eyes. “Maybe I should join you. My gut has been growing eating all the food we have here.”
“Usually some people do, but it was a late night for some last night watching that meteor shower.” Ilan paused, her smile becoming slightly sad and her eyes left Ivan’s face and went downward toward the ground. “Strange to think we’d find beauty in it now when not that long ago, we flew among the stars.”
“I know what you mean.” Ivan said, looking down at her and noticing the clear signs of sudden sadness. It was a common emotion here, and he embraced it without surprise or judgment. He stepped forward, and his huge, hairy hand fell on her shoulder with surprising gentleness. We are Terran. We are survivors. And we will bring beauty to this place.”
The sad smile remained, but Ilan lifted her hand and placed it on Ivan’s wrist for the simple moment of connection between two human beings. She didn’t let the touch linger and her hand drifted down as she prepared to speak, but she was cut off by a strange static chirp.
“…eance … tain… Petro… co… in… ease.”
The sad frown turned into one of confusion as she looked down at his commbadge. “Did you hear that too?”
——
On the outskirts of the camp, past the other side of the structures, a series of blue transporter beams delivered several familiar faces. Had anyone actually seen them, the first thing they would notice was the fact they weren’t wearing EV suits. Medical had worked closely with Dr. Pell to synthesize cures as well as innoculations from the bug-borne virus.
“A bit colder than I suspected.” Andrei said, eyeing the group. “It looks like they’ve done a pretty good job establishing this settlement.”
“They have a nice area they’ve cultivated.” Lyra observed thoughtfully and took a few steps toward it before looking back toward the others. “Though we shouldn’t expect anything less from Terrans, I suppose.”
“Let’s walk a wide path so we don’t sneak up on them. I don’t want any mistakes.” Andrei ordered as he started toward the margins of the clearing and starting them on a path around it.
Lyra fell in with Andrei on his left and slightly behind him. While he kept his attention mostly to the front, she continued to look around curiously in an effort to distract herself from her thoughts. The overwhelming majority of her was quite happy for Andrei, there was a small part of her that knew having his family back would simply make matters more complicated… and there was another small part of her that was jealous. She hinted at neither thing, of course; the jealousy wasn’t reasonable and the other… well, it simply couldn’t be helped.
“It smells like there’s been a lot of rain here.”
“Ops said that their initial scans indicated a season of high volatility and storm.” Andrei responded, his visible eye moving to the appearance of the shelters. “It looks like these have been reinforced. I’d bet they’ve been through a bad storm or two and learned some lessons.”
Lyra hummed an acknowledgement then glanced back to make sure the rest of the away team was keeping up. “They must all be waiting in the main structure.”
They continued to walk into the settlement proper until they were faced with the largest building. Inside, Ilan was looking out of the windows along with several others, and when she finally saw Andrei’s massive form emerge from around one of the other buildings, she had to stop herself from yelling in excitement. “I see them!”
“See who?” Yana asked, looking over at the excited younger woman. She rounded the table and looked out of the window herself. “Oh, gods! Oh, gods, they’re back!”
“Told you I heard something.” Ilan shot Ivan a look but was too excited. She bounced up and headed toward the door. “Mika come on!”
Mika shrieked like a child and burst to her feet. Within seconds, the two women were the first to emerge from the main building. Smiling, Mika ran the distance between the two groups and leaped into her brother’s arms, hugging him and kissing his face repeatedly.
“Surprise.” Andrei said with a smiling and chuckling, his strong arms moving to support his typically reserved sister.
A sea of others came out of the building as well, coming over to meet them, though more slowly than Ilan and Mika had.
Lyra’s dark eyes moved over to Mika and Andrei as the younger woman excitedly greeted her older brother. She remembered to smile, but looked away after a moment; she was aware that the only reason she was standing here was because Annalise had sent her with Andrei. She had likely assumed that Andrei would have wanted her there for the happy moment, and that probably would have been true for many couples, but Lyra knew better.
Instead she turned her eyes to Ilan who approached in her own hurried way, smiling brightly at the group. “You came back.”
“You didn’t think we could really leave you all here, did you?” Lyra challenged with mild amusement.
As the Petrov s all gathered together, hugging, kissing, and greeting each other, Maya and her boyfriend reunited, and for the first time in a long time, all was smiles and joy.
After a brief exchange with Ilan who then floated off to greet others of the away team, Lyra’s dark gaze fell on Corvin and she allowed a small smile to settle on her face. She left Andrei to his family and walked toward him, her hips swaying slowly and her eyes focused on him. Once she drew near enough, she looked down into his eyes and her dark hair framed her face.
“Glad to see you’re alive, Corvin.”
Subtle wasn’t exactly Corvin’s strong suit, but he liked to think he was pulling it off as his gaze traced the curve of Lyra’s hips, lingering briefly before rising to meet her eyes. His smirk deepened, arms folding loosely across his chest, as he almost forgot how good it was to watch his Chief strut since she always commanded everyone's attention. "You make it sound like I have a habit of finding ways to die, Commander.”
"You do seem to try very hard from time to time." She reached out to him and squeezed his shoulder. "You're doing well then?"
"I'm doing well, kept myself busy building cabins." He smiled warmly at her touch, his gaze shifting towards a couple of rough, frontier buildings.
"Well, you've done well." She let her hand drop from Corvin's shoulder. "We could leave you here, if you like, but I do imagine you'd like to stop building your little cabins and get back to the real work, hm?"
"If I have to build another cabin, I think I'll go crazy," He chuckled, the sound of a man who wasn't joking before smiling a bit more congenially. "I'd love the chance to actually get back to something that's important."
"Glad to hear it. We'll be breaking down the camp and transporting everything back. Go and get started." She nodded to him.
"Aye, Commander." Corvin nodded and immediately to started on the task of breaking down the camp, with a fervor that she would have really only seen when he was getting ready to go into a fight or carry out her orders.
Lyra watched Corvin move off immediately to follow her lead. Obedience to her orders wasn’t a foreign thing to her in the slightest, but it was the way Corvin obeyed without a single thought of question that made him so valuable. She was genuinely happy to have her hound back by her side.
Andrei had taken note as soon as Lyra and Corvin had reunited. He had been so caught up with his family, that he hadn’t really thought too much about the pair. It was a natural result of their returning to Gamma Eridine that she would get her dog back, which meant he would have to monitor the situation once again. A dedicated man waiting in the sidelines was a threat, no matter how obviously superior Andrei might be.
“We have the cure and we’re here to administer it.” Andrei said, reaching out to pull Dr. Pel forward by the wrist.
Ivan noticed the exchange and understood that they had disobeyed his orders. He figured, however, that he would just have to accept that for now.
“I see.” Ivan said, looking from the doctor to his gathered people. “Well then…let’s get started.”
END
