JP: Lieutenant Lhandon Nilsen & Ensign Elijah Kovacs - In This Moment
Mark P
OOC: Occurs at the tail end of Shore Leave, post awards. ((Holodeck Two, USS Octavia E Butler))
Lhandon was sitting on the floor of the holodeck. A dual sports motorbike, which resembled a Triumph Tiger 900 Rally Pro from Earth's 21st century, was in front of him. The light brown bike was on its kickstand, and Lhandon was seated with the bike between his legs, working on fixing the chain that connected the engine to the rear wheel.
The program displayed a rolling landscape of forests and hills. Below was a farm, and seen through the rich blue atmosphere above the planet, were a large moon and an ageing K-Class station in orbit.
Parked next to the bike was its support vehicle, a caravan that could just about fit two people lying down inside. Both the side and rear doors were open. The side doors provided access to a trove of tools ranging from spanners and screws to large wrenches and the kind of tools that stepped in when asking the bolt nicely to come undone didn't work.
Eli, lounging in the rear, set down his book and was now tuning a handheld radio to different stations of pre-recorded broadcasts from centuries gone by; watching his date complete repairs by hand. Lhandon looked up as he worked; a smile landed on his face, and he looked back at the bike again.
Kovacs: ::raising his eyebrow:: What?
Nilsen: It's nothin’
He remained sheepish, avoiding looking at Eli, as he spoke softly. Lhandon's hair was trimmed short, and he was in his regular off-duty attire, consisting of a flannel shirt, jeans, and boots.
Nilsen: It's just…this is perfect.
Eli wasn’t about to ask him if he was really feeling that way, or if the man had just been wrapped up within the moment. The time since the trial had been hard on both of them; particularly given that, while Lhandon was open about most things, he seemed to want to process what happened on Port Coray alone. He continued on, bringing Eli’s wandering mind back to ‘reality’ in the holodeck.
Nilsen: I got my bike, you get to see what Gault looks like, I ain't got a worry right now and you look hella cute like that.
The young ensign wasn’t exactly sure he looked cute, wearing the ‘denim tuxedo’ that the man opposite him recommended.
Kovacs: Sureee….
The program they were in was of Lhandon's home planet of Gault. The farm below was his family's, where he had grown up, and as he would have told Eli, this was his favourite spot.
Lhandon looked up from his bike again and over at Eli, still not believing his luck. After everything that had happened—the radiation poisoning from the warp core of the Dow, the trial where he had been wrongly framed for a murder he didn't commit—Eli had stuck with him. o0 how do I say thank you for all that? 0o
Nilsen: Yeah, you look hella cute when you're reading. Whats ya reading?
Kovacs: Is that a Gaultan twang I detect? ::smirking:: Just a biography piece on Benjamin Sisko. I figured if we're out here, I should know more about the man that introduced the Federation to the Gamma Quadrant. I’ve reached the bit about the Dominion War and some of the… questionable choices and decisions that had been made during that era. It’s hard to imagine living in a time like that…
Lhandon almost blushed at the mention of his twang, he was happy that it was slowly coming back, it’s like a part of him that he didn’t want to be covered over by federation standards.
Nilsen: Yeah…He did…a lot, We were kids but eh, I’ll tell you about what my planet did later. I wanna do something…babe, let's go for a ride.
He stood up and mounted the bike, nodding to the pillion seat on the back.
Kovacs: ::looking at the bike:: Ride… on the back…? Isn’t there some old adage about tempting fate?
Lhandon put a hand on Eli’s face and lightly ran his thumb on his cheek.
Nilsen: Hey, I’d never let anything happen to you, that’s a promise, okay?
Eli suspected it had nothing to do with the ‘thrill’ but instead about having someone holding on to him for a reason other than recent events. And, if something happened, at least he could rely on the holodeck safeties; not that their track record was better than the transporter.
He climbed on the bike and placed his arms around Lhandon’s midsection. The bike shot out of the garage, the noisy beast racing through paths worn in the hillside. Lhandon felt his heart warm up as Eli held onto his midsection. He didn’t have the words, but he wished this program was bigger, just so he could keep Eli there for as long as possible.
((10 minutes later))
They’d made their way up to the tallest hill in the area, a small town visible in the distance and barns dotted through the landscape. The ride had not been terrible, Lhandon seemed as deft on the bike as he did at the helm, despite the teasing he usually got.
Kovacs: It seems peaceful up here…
Nilsen: I used to come up here all the time, and I wanted to show you this spot and to do something I hope you like, Mr Innovation Ribbon winner person of erm personage
Lhandon giggled as he spoke, he was trying for something that clearly didn’t hit its mark.
Kovacs: (blushing) Thank you, it was my first one. And, you didn’t make out too badly yourself Lieutenant, along with the quadruple ribbons.
Nilsen: Today’s just about you now, okay? I made something for you
Kovacs: (surprised) You did?
Lhandon opened up the rear storage box on the bike and pulled out a dark wooden stained pine display box with gold latches and hinges.
Nilsen: You need somewhere to put that ribbon right? Now we match.
Lhandon was smiling like this was his first experience of happiness and he handed the box to Eli. Taking the item, Eli gingerly inspected the fine craftsmanship before opening the lid and seeing a small badge rack within. This gesture had been worth more than the short congratulatory communiques he’d gotten sent via subspace
Nilsen: I hope you like it.
Kovacs: ::wrapping his arms around Lhandon:: I do… oO That sounded like wedding vows! Oo It means a lot to me.
Nilsen: Now, I know you want things to be slow and I’m going to keep that promise, We go at your speed. After all, Gault is the slowest planet in the quadrant so I should be good at this right?
Lhandon laughed a little, he figured a little bit of disparaging about your homeworld was one way to show love to your homeworld.
Kovacs: ::gently stepping back from the embrace:: I’m not here to change who you are; I just know that we each come with… a lot of life experience. We’re just two people in this crazy universe trying to find our little slice of happiness as best we can.
Nilsen: And I want today to be all about you.
Eli took this as him understandably not wanting to yet again rehash the trial. Instead, he knelt down and sat on the top of the hill, grabbing Nilsen’s hand to join him. As the two of them sat together, they watched the holographic sun of Gault slowly heading towards the horizon.
Those new to Gault would often say that the planet was like the contrast had been turned up. The planet was one where almost nothing had happened throughout its entire history. Gault's sun was just a little bigger than Earth’s and its moon was somewhat larger, taking a real estate space
Kovacs: Lhando, can I ask you something?
Nilsen: Anything, just say the word.
Kovacs: Where do you see this going? Us, I mean.
Eli hadn’t dwelled on the topic too much, but the congratulatory messages from his pair of admiral parents, each separated by half a quadrant, had reminded him of how trying that relationship had been. It took work, and while Eli didn’t mind that, he wondered if it was an unnecessary complication.
Nilsen: I want…what we got to be forever, you and me.
Kovacs: And, in 10 or 20 years, where do you see yourself?
Nilsen: You’re sounding like a recruiter now. I’m sure were asked that when I was a cadet ::laughs::
Kovacs: (a light laugh) No, no, I’m not a recruiting officer, I just wanna know what you envision for the future.
Nilsen: Alright alright, everything I say, I see you with me, like right here.
Lhandon really wanted to emphasize this, he wanted to make it absolutely categorically, one hundred per cent clear to Eli that he was considered in everything when Lhandon thought about the future.
Nilsen: I’m thinking of leaving ops, and going to train as a diplomatic officer, then maybe after that, Ro suggested command, so maybe get myself a new Excelsior II one day. Me grandma was chief of ops on a refit so she’d love that.
Eli didn’t immediately respond, instead looking over the hillscape. Would he be on the same ship as Lhandon if he was the CO — would Starfleet allow it, would he want it? Even though the man outranked him now, at least they weren’t in the same department. What if he disagreed with an order, or needed to be sacrificed for the benefit of the many — would he… could he?
Lhandon interrupted the train of thoughts scurrying through the ensign's mind.
NIlsen: What about you babe? Where do you see yourself?
Kovacs: (furrowing his eyebrows) I haven’t decided yet. For now, I think I’m just going to put in my time here, in the Gamma Quadrant, given it seems to be paying off. Not many ensigns I know have gotten as decorated as we have. Then, after some time, figure out where I wanna grow toward... I don’t see myself as a simple engineering ensign forever.
Nilsen: If you ever need me to help with that babe?
Kovacs: I’ll ask.
That sounded a bit harsh, so he tried to soften it.
Kovacs: (with a gentle smile) Your input is valuable to me (beat) I just worry about how the decisions we make today will shape the future we live in.
Lhandon was also worried about the same thing, but…
Nilsen: I like…right now…I wanna, just be with you right now…we can worry about the future tomorrow, right?
He pulled Eli in close, nudged the engineer's head to rest into his shoulder, and followed it with a kiss on his head. For the first time in his life, he was the one asking to slow down and enjoy the moment.
---
Lieutenant Lhandon Joseph Nilsen
Assistant Chief of Operations.
USS Octavia E Butler
O240007LN1
He/Him/His (Both player and character)
&
Ensign Elijah Kovacs
Engineering Officer
USS Octavia E. Butler
O240005JH3