LtCmdr Connor Dewitt - Bridging Hearts
Tim
((Connor’s and Ayemet’s quarters))
Lieutenant Commander Connor Dewitt stared at the small rectangle of cream-colored paper on the dining table as if it were a piece of alien technology that had somehow slipped past the Khitomer’s sensors. Not many things were allowed to lie around in his quarters, this was one of it.
The paper was absurdly old-fashioned and yet it carried a weight he couldn’t quite quantify. Real ink, real texture. Amelia’s precise cursive handwriting looped across the front like the graceful wiring diagram of some elegant but unnecessarily complicated circuit.
It was an invitation. To the ceremony.
Connor had been halfway through drafting a perfectly reasonable argument to stay aboard the Khitomer and personally supervise DS33’s repair crews during their final system checks when Amelia herself had intercepted him in the corridor. She had smiled that unchallengeable smile of hers and assured him, no, insisted, that the station’s team had it well in hand.
Now the invitation lay here, a reminder of his defeat.
Behind him, the soft rustle of fabric drew his attention to Ayemet. She was standing at the mirror, tucking an errant strand of her hair behind her ear, her reflection catching thel ight from the viewport.
A. Dewitt: Response
C. Dewitt: I’m not scowling… I’m evaluating.
He sighed and stood up from his chair.
C. Dewitt: If the station’s crew misses a calibration…
A. Dewitt: Response
As Ayemet fully turned around to him, her smile made the engineering schematics vanish from his mind.
C. Dewitt: I can manage that… I guess.
The Chief Engineer extended his hand to take his wife’s.
C. Dewitt: Let’s go and celebrate a successful mission.
(( Holodeck 1 - DS 33 ; Simulation of Broken Tepui Aerie))
Fifteen minutes later, the holodeck doors opened and Connor was met with the scent of warm stone and sunlit grass. The vista stretched out impossibly before them. The towering mesas were crowned with wind-shaped rock and waterfalls shimmered in the distance. Picnic tables dotted the main platform, already filling with Khitomer crew members in a jumble of uniforms and civilian clothes.
Connor stepped forward, Ayemet’s hand finding his, and for once, he did not think about what might be going wrong back aboard his ship. He thought about how Amelia had been right, this was going to be one hell of a view for an afternoon.
A. Dewitt: Response
C. Dewitt: Structurally irresponsible. ::pointing:: That bridge there? Crosswinds like this and you’d have half the crew in the canyon.
A. Dewitt: Response
He squinted up at one of the towering formations, the jagged silhouette casting a shadow over a cluster of tables.
C. Dewitt: Still… I’d like to see the geological stress data. These things have been standing for millions of years. One good seismic shift and…
Connor stopped mid-sentence, looking at his wife.
C. Dewitt: It’s… nice.
A. Dewitt: ResponseChief Engineer & Second Officer
USS Khitomer
A239901CD3