Lieutenant Ras El'Heem - Two Sunsets
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((Intelligence Suite, Deck 18 - USS Khitomer, Dry-docked at DS33))
The ship rested sleepy in dry dock. She was tired. And truthfully so was he. Six missions since her maiden voyage. And he was there for all of them. He’d been away from Sylvana Prime so long. It felt as though it had been equally as long since the Academy. Of course he visited, but that was strictly work. There was so much to miss. The food. The air. His mother. His father. His sister. The Sha. All of it. But the Khitomer had also become home.
It somehow reminded him of an autumn evening. Both stars occupied the same spot in the sky that time of year. The Elder always dipped behind the horizon first, leaving the Younger to linger alone for just a little while. It would bathe the forests in bronze light before joining its sibling at the second sunset. The Sha faced west, and there the sky deepened into the color of old wine as darkness came sooner with each passing day. Hearths awakened all across the valley. You could tell the day was over without even knowing what time it was. Smoke from the Amberbark carried the faint cherry-like sweetness only its wood possessed, mingling with damp earth and the even sweeter must of mushrooms feeding on the fallen leaves. The birds settled earlier, and the insects quieted with the cool. Even the still air seemed content simply to exist. The Khitomer without the hum beneath his boots. Half the crew away. The lights dimmed. It kind of felt like that.
Autumn never felt lonely on Sylvana Prime. It felt as though the whole world had agreed it was time to go home. Ras did feel a little lonely, though. Coming back from the chaos and cacophony of a mission always felt that way. The quiet settled into the bones.
The silence along the lowest deck reminded him of the Sha after the second sunset, when the whole valley seemed content simply to listen.
Ras stopped just short of the intelligence suite. His left hand tightened around the PADD while the fingers of his prosthetic pressed against his eyes until little galaxies bloomed behind his eyelids. He exhaled slowly. In another life, or perhaps more attainably, on another ship, this debriefing would have been routine. He’d get through it, shuffle his sleepy limbs to his quarters and toss the PADD into a growing pile on his desk before tucking in. In his situation, here, and now on the Khitomer, it would not be so routine. Not with the complication on the other side of that door. Ras gave one more exhale and closed the distance before buzzing.
Semara: :: Bearily :: Come in!
oO Oh, that sweet southern lilt. Oo
The thought made him wince slightly. To torture himself like that, on a night like this? He shook his head lightly as he unwrinkled his face and stood taller, donning a faux sense of put-togetherness. The doors parted in front of him. For a moment, he stood there, staring, unable to process what exactly he was looking at. Well, he could process it, but it seemed so absurd all he could do was cock his head and step inside for a closer look. And look he did.
El’Heem: ::clearing his throat:: Quite a view.
His head cocked the other way as Amelia rolled her upper body into its rightful place with an elegance that caused a tooth to slip in the cogs of his mind. When she turned to face him, he quickly snapped out of his hypnosis, and his eyes widened.
Semara: I told you I was gonna redecorate. :: Beckoning with a hand and a big smile. :: Well don't just stand there, take a seat. Get comfy! Take your shoes off! We got lots to talk about. What can I get ya?
Ras snapped his head from left to right, avoiding the smile directed at him, taking in the room for the first time. The framed screens on the far wall displaying an undisturbed forest of orange leaves with moon rays filtering through set the ambience in a strangely nostalgic direction juxtaposed by the screens displaying Lattice scrap and medical analysis of the Velithari opposite the sofa. The overstuffed cushions of which beckoned him to sink into the furred blankets as a tranquil patter of water over rock drew his attention to an otherwise unassuming corner. He sniffed. Was that…pie?
Ras turned his attention back to the main attraction who was slipping on a cozy cardigan.
El'Heem: Oh uhh ::swallowing down the lump in his throat:: Tea? And a debrief.
oO I’d like to de-brief right no- nevermind. Oo
Semara: Oh.
He winced again. There was so much more roiling under the surface. He just…couldn’t take the disappointment yet again. Not right now. At least, not yet, when there were still warm smiles and pink irises to cast at one another, even if it was a mask for something else. He gripped the PADD with both hands as he watched her. Probably tighter than he should have.
Semara: Right, yeah, that.
Amelia seemed to stiffen as the smile that had faded now inverted ever so slightly. He watched her hands move in a forced manner as she snatched up her hair pin. Ras swallowed again.
Semara: Alrighty, then. :: A breath. :: Let's start with what you've got on the Velithari and their tech. 'Tween the two a' us and Engineerin', we're gonna need to be makin' recommendations to the diplomatic corps that might shape what they can and can't share with 'em.
He nodded. Because that’s all he could do. And then he willed his feet to move slowly over to the couch, sitting gingerly and staring at his PADD if only to give himself a moment to look away from her and regain some composure. Sounds of business behind him began as his vision blurred. Ras cleared his throat once more and then swiped the contents of his PADD onto the screen in front of him.
El'Heem: Uhhh…yes so…the Velithari are a highly Matriarchal insectoid species….yada yada you know all that. Through Chief Ohnari and Ensign Melville-Kilpatrick’s analysis on their samples taken from Captain Rana, they’ve determined they are highly resistant to the entire gamut of radiation including Sencha Wave Radiation. I believe the next steps for that finding will be to rope in the Starfleet Medical corp as well, but primarily the use case will be Starship shielding for the Alpha Isles.
Ras dare not look away from the data even after he finished speaking.
Semara: Response
El’Heem: Yes. It’s the kind of finding- ::beat:: it’s going to turn the tide of the war.
The briefest of courtesies to allow Amelia to return and set a tray down in front of him, before he continued.
El’Heem: As for the organic technologies of the Velithari, direct application remains to be seen but there is promising predictive use case in gel pack efficiency. ::pause:: still haven’t cracked that whole…thing.
Semara: Response
The silence floated between them as Ras reached for the cup of tea Amelia had just brought. The warmth of it hit his tongue with the bitter earthiness of the amber ichor. He closed his eyes.
El’Heem: ::softly:: You’re impossible. Tea from the Verdant Belt? ::taking another sip:: You never cease to amaze Amelia Magnolia Semara… ::trailing off::
Ras opened his eyes to greet hers, peering back before setting the tea down.
El’Heem: Shall I continue?
His gaze lingered on hers the way the Younger lingered after the Elder had gone.
Semara: Response
TAGS/TBC
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Lieutenant Ras El ‘Heem
Chief Science Officer
USS Khitomer (NCC-62400)
K240106RE3