JP - Lt. Nathan Richards & Lt. Cmdr Robin Hopper: Discoveries (Part 4)
tas9303
((Shuttle Karakoram, Inside Oort Cloud – Gramineae Star System))
The ice crystals swirled around the shuttle as they passed through the Oort Cloud, leaving an almost intricate wake behind them. Nathan hadn’t had a chance to do anything close to this in the Targhee, a pang of sadness hit him at the thought.
Hopper: There’s no rebuilding the Targhee. She was one of a kind…
Richards: Yeah. She was.
Nathan took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out through his mouth.
Richards: But I feel she has a legacy that maybe we can carry on.
At those words, Robin visibly perked up. There was no resurrecting the old girl, but if there were some way to continue in the same spirit… And it was hard to deny that the thought of having a reason to spend more time with her favourite lughead was a draw on its own.
Hopper: Oh? What did you have in mind?
Nathan ran his hand through his hair. For some reason approaching the subject was more difficult with Robin than it had been with Rivi and Wil. Perhaps it was because she had been there for almost the whole restoration of the Targhee. She had just as much of a connection with that old shuttle as he did. They had memories inside that hull.
Richards: I want to build another shuttle.
Hopper: Another one? Not like the Targhee though? I don’t think we have the parts.
Richards: I want to make something that pays homage to the old girl. Something to continue her Legacy. A Targhee-II, or -A. Something like that. Not a replacement. A continuation.
Robin bit her lip teasingly.
Hopper: Like K2? Nate, we’ve been over this. I think you should just name it something new.
Richards: Okay. ::Sitting up, pointing at Robin, teasingly:: Listen here–
Hopper: Sorry, sorry. I like the idea. I do. I think it’s nice. And it feels right too. The Targhee deserves to be remembered.
An alert sounded from Robin’s console, and she turned to face it, untucking her legs from under herself.
Hopper: Looks like we’re coming up on the edge of the cloud. Almost out of it. Then we can — what’s the phrase? “Kick the tires and light the fires?”
Nathan nodded, smiling. He was about to turn back to the console when something tugged at the back of his mind.
Richards: So, ::Looking back at Robin, smirking:: it's Nate now, huh?
Robin’s eyes widened, and a splash of colour touched her cheeks again. Attempting to remain cool — or at least coy — she turned to look at him out of the corner of her eye.
Hopper: Hmm?
Richards: ::Smirking:: You’ve been calling me Nate lately.
Hopper: I… I guess it just slipped out. And then kept slipping out. ::Sheepishly:: I think it’s cute. But, um, if you don’t like it…
Richards: I didn't say I didn't like it…it's just…different.
Robin nodded noncommittally.
Hopper: It’s not that different. It’s closer than “John Mason”.
Richards: I mean, I call you Rambo. ::Shrugging:: seems only fitting that I have some kind of Nickname too, ::Chuckling:: right?
Hopper: ::Slight smile:: I’m glad you agree. Besides “Lieutenant Nathaniel David Richards” is such a mouthful. ::Slight quirk of her eyebrow:: I can’t be the first person to call you Nate?
Richards: I’ve been given lots of nicknames from friends and family. I hope you never hear what my mom calls me. ::Shaking his head:: But Blake has tried calling me Nate and it would always kind of bother me. ::Looking at Robin:: But when you call me Nate, It doesn’t.
There was something very different about her calling him Nate. It felt warm. Like it was natural. Something that had always been done. It wasn’t out of spite or teasing like when his brother did it.
As they cleared the edge of the oort cloud, the light given off by the system’s central star shone more brightly and clearly – no longer silhouetted by the rocks nor scattered by the ice shards that made up the system’s outermost layer of orbiting bodies.
Hopper: Oh wow. It’s… breathtaking!
On the viewscreen of the shuttle, the Gramineae star system unfolded in a captivating display. The blue giant star at its core cast a cool and serene glow, illuminating the surrounding planets and cosmic remnants in an azure light – in their midst, the shattered remains of two planetoids which still swirled and danced together after their cataclysmic collision millions of years earlier, a reminder of the enduring beauty born from even the most violent of cosmic events.
Hopper: ::A pleased look at Nathan:: I guess it’s time to ‘science it up’, hmm? Now is when we find out if I dotted all my i’s and crossed all my t’s. ::Tapping console:: Preparing to launch Survey Probe Alpha. The sensor feed looks good. We’re recording. Over to you… Nate.
She didn’t really know why the change had happened. Or when. It just felt right to her. They knew each other so well — she didn’t want to call him the same thing that everyone else did. Not anymore. Nathan smirked at her continued use of the nickname, but said nothing
Richards: Telemetry set. ::Tapping at console:: Coordinates locked in. And… ::The shuttle shook slightly:: launch.
Hopper: ::Pumping her fist in the air triumphantly:: There she goes! Now we just do that three more times, take in the scenery, and when they’re done running their preprogrammed scans, we scoop them up and take them back for analysis.
Nathan smiled at her enthusiasm. Only she could get excited about launching probes. He shook his head. The last time he had worked this closely with probes hadn’t ended that well.
Richards: So, we make a nice, big loop and head home. Sounds easy enough.
Hopper: Sending you coordinates now for the second launch point. ::Pointing at view screen:: Ideally right between the orbits of the third and fourth planets. There are indications of liquid water in that vicinity and I promised I’d get our biologists a good close look.
Richards: You got it.
As they moved further into the system, Robin considered what he’d said. The truth was the two of them had come up with many nicknames for each other over the last year — starting with the very dangerous “lover boy” and spiraling from there into the increasingly niche and specific names close friends cooked up for each other.
But there was something different about “Nate”. It wasn’t a joke, or a reference. It was just his name. Not the name he used with just anyone though. A special name.
Hopper: You know, um… I don’t talk much about my Centauran side. I mean, I didn’t grow up there, but really as a people, Velestians aren’t known for droning on about themselves or their culture… They’re quite ‘reserved’.
She could already sense the irony in that statement. Robin Hopper knew she was many things – and reserved was not likely to make the top of anyone’s lists of her primary traits.
Richards: Really? Are you sure you’re Centauran then? Or Velestian? ::Side eye:: Reserved isn’t a word I would use to describe you.
Nathan gave her a smile. He honestly didn’t know much about where she came from or the culture she was raised in. But the fact that she came from a ‘reserved’ culture struck him as funny.
Hopper: I know. I said “as a people.” ::Chuckling:: Look, I promise this is going somewhere. ::Turning towards him, focusing:: There’s a custom on Velestus. Once a person reaches a certain age they’re given a special name. A private name.
Nathan raised an eyebrow as he turned to face her.
Richards: A private name? That’s…unique. All Velestians get them?
Hopper: ::Nodding:: Ansyra, my Mavai — my mom — has one. My sister, Keri, has one. I can’t tell you though. They’re meant for family and…
She struggled to phrase it in a way that would be palatable. If her grandmother were there to hear it, she might have been very disappointed.
Hopper: …very close friends. They’re not for anyone else’s ears.
Nathan’s eyebrow couldn’t crawl any further up his forehead as he looked at Robin. He almost felt like he was being given some sort of secret codex that might give him an insight into Robin’s life that he hadn’t heard before.
Hopper: I…. ::Holding her breath for a moment:: I want you to know my name.
Nathan felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. It felt like this was his admittance into some sort of secret society. It wasn’t just the codex. It was the holy grail. He quickly composed himself and shut down all of the ridiculous ‘secret society’ thoughts, letting a smile cross his face.
Richards: ::Softly:: Okay.
He resisted the urge to reach over and take her hand in an attempt to make the choice easier for her, but continued to sit and look at her with his warm smile. She closed her eyes, as if somehow that would make transgressing tradition and sharing it with anyone other than her bonded partner more acceptable.
Hopper: Kinolaisi.
Richards: ::Softly:: Kinolaisi. It’s pretty.
Robin opened her eyes. Somehow, when he said it, it didn’t feel like a transgression. All the same, the back of her neck was hot. Like her grandmother was breathing down it. No matter what, she somehow still felt relieved.
Hopper: They all just call me Kino though. I like it. ::Shrug:: Reminds me of the movies.
Nathan said the name over and over in his head. There was something about it. Something that held some sort of familiarity. Like it was something that he had been saying for a long time. It felt just as natural as Robin calling him Nate. There was just something about it.
Richards: Kino. ::Smirking:: Almost like a forbidden word.
Robin rolled her eyes at the assertion — but he was more right than he knew, so she didn’t correct him.
Hopper: Maybe you can call me that. And I can call you Nate. ::Somewhat goofy smile:: And then we can both feel like we’re getting away with something.
Richards: But only to each other, I guess. ::Winking:: Right?
The console chirped once more as they approached their next target location, drawing Nathan’s attention to the viewscreen. Robin’s eyes lingered on him a moment longer. A tension remained between them still, and leaving it unresolved was seeming less and less of an option. But she wasn’t sure she could bring herself to bring it up…
Richards: Approaching the coordinates now. Is that second probe ready, Kino?
Hopper: ::Nodding:: Almost.
TBC in Part 5…
Lt. Commander Robin Hopper
Chief Science Officer,
Amity Outpost
V239806K11
&
Lieutenant Nathan Richards
Engineering Officer,
Amity Outpost
A239905NR1