Sights and Spectacle to See

Posted on Sun Nov 26th, 2023 @ 5:35pm by Commander Steven Greco & Lieutenant Evelyn Stewart & Remy Naal & Lieutenant Commander Keishara Davaris & Ensign Sophie Bishop

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Year One: Whispers in the Wind
Location: Brighton Colony - Main Colony
Timeline: MD: 016 1030 hrs

The festival was already crowded. Not only was it full of Starfleet personnel, but also URC volunteers, colonists, and off-worlders looking to buy or trade or just enjoy themselves.

It took a while to used to the flow of the swarm of people, but eventually the group of Starfleet officers and the URC executive were able to settle in as they walked around the various vendors who were selling merchandise and trinkets from different Federation worlds, but also food vendors which resulted in an interesting aroma from the collection of foods that were for sale.

Stewart was stopped short when a group of small children were darting in between the various people as they chased after each other, laughing with no regard for the people they were cutting off. She smiled looking at the group. "Seems a bit hectic."

Kei checked her pockets. "Better watch. Offspring are the best at picking pockets. Small, quick and hard to see in a crowd." she commented as she watched their surroundings intensely.

Stewart just rolled her eyes while Remy gave a small chuckle, doing his best to let his size help clear a path for them all.

Stewart glanced at Bishop before addressing Kei and her remarks. "You are an empath, do those kids seem to be thieves to you?" She asked, somewhat rhetorically because anyone could see these kids were just running around having fun, without any agenda.

"Are you kidding?" Kei gestured to the crowd. "Do you expect me to be able to pick out the minds and feelings of juvenile creatures in a mass of jumbled up sea of hysteria?" she offered her own rhetorical question, even though she answered Evelyn's unnecessarily.

Stewart just rolled her eyes and looked at Remy and then Sophie. “Help me out here, Sophie.” She said with a false desperation in her voice to help get the tactical officer and security chief to relax and enjoy herself.

"Kids are lovely." Sophie said simply as she looked around at the amount of joy and happiness on their faces. Their laughs heard echoing off the buildings, the squeals of excitement at every wonder they found. "You should try it Commander... fun is fun." she looked at Kei and then away as she shot her a look.

"Perhaps..." Kei replied simply.

Remy just chuckled at the banter. It was nice to be out and enjoying a day like today without having to put too much thought into the day. Himself wearing a looser fit white collared shirt and comfortable cream colored pants with comfortable shoes, he couldn't help remembering his vacation to San Juan with Evelyn when he was a senior at the Academy they took with their friends whenever he heard her laugh or glanced at her. More than once he caught himself wanting to bring his hand to her hip and needing to stop himself as the walked, muscle memory still there after so many years. "So children are off the table for you then, Commander?" He teased Keishara about her disposition towards children.

For a moment Keishara got lost in the question. In her mind she could hear the screams of women, of slaves, on Olenovia and the cries of children kept in squalor. These children were also slaves, some even birthed from horrific acts on their mothers. Some scars never left her and the mention of such made her stomach churn and eyes water. Very few knew of her abusive past... in fact in was only Stryvek until very recently, and a few counsellors. Now due to a heroic act of self sacrifice, Evelyn knew parts of it. How much Keishara didn't know for sure, and was not going to ask.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, as if to bring her back to the present. She flinched at the surprise touch from an unknown source, her heart skipping a beat and her fists balled up ready to strike. However, Keishara blinked a touch trying to get the forming tears to subside and then looking at the group who mostly hadn't noticed. "Yes." she faked a smile and put on a braver face, calming herself down. "I'm not exactly the mothering type." she added.

This was half true. In many ways she was the mother of the crew. Some think that the XO looks after the safety of the crew and to some extent that is true but she always felt like she had to be the one that was bad cop. Not because she liked it, but because in her mind she would keep her people safe even if they hated her for it. That she would 'tough love' people because it kept them at a distance but also showed them that not everything is covered in sugar. Actions have consequences.

Evelyn glanced at Kei concerned before turning her attention back to the group. "So where do we want to head to first?" She asked but before they could answer, she saw Steve walking up and had to restrain the groan coming from out of her.

Steve couldn't help the grin on his face as he found the group of Starfleet officers with Remy. As he approached, he felt overdressed in his uniform but kept his thoughts to himself. He greeted all of them and shook Remy's hand. "Seem to have your hands full." He joked with Remy about the three women with him, causing Remy to give a small chuckle and nod in agreement. It wasn't long until Steve's eyes settled on Sophie. "I'm glad to see you out and about, Sophie. Enjoying yourself?" He asked.

"He wouldn't know what to do with all 3 of us." Keishara thought to herself with a smirk.

As Steve's eyes set on Sophie she felt her knees tremble a bit but she gave herself an internal talking to and they shored up quite nicely. His gaze had an effect on her she couldn't help and her eyes smiled at him as they did on her. "Yes sir. Much better now you're here." she beamed.

"Kiss ass." Kei commented with a chuckle.

Remy quietly gave a look of surprise at the security chief while Evelyn stepped in. "Stop." She sound quietly to Kei, even as she couldn't quite hold back her own amused smirk.

With a glance at the two bridge officers, Steve felt his cheeks blush slightly before clearing his voice to tell them both to pipe down. He smiled at Sophie, "We are off duty, Sophie. It's Steve, remember?" He teased playfully of the young woman.

"I'm only teasing... but not wrong..." Kei said quietly to Evelyn as she noticed her slight smirk and uplift in feeling.

Sophie ignored the comment but her cheeks flushed red all the same. "Okay, Steve is is." Even his name felt strange coming out of her mouth but he made sense.

Stewart only turned into Remy to hide the soft chuckle from Kei's comment.

"Uh...I was wondering if you wanted to take in the festival with me?" Steve said to Sophie as confidently as he could. His eyes focused on her despite her being with the group.

For a moment Sophie felt the urge to look behind her even though she knew there was no-one there, and that in fact Steve was talking to her. "Of course!" she blurted out enthusiastically.

"She needs to be in bed for 2200 hours now sir." Keishara joked giving Sophie a nudge.

Remy smirked and Stewart nudged Keishara. "Come on, let them be. Let's see what we can find." She said as the smaller group went out to explore the various vendors setup for trade.

Sophie stuck out her tongue at Keishara before heading off into the festival with Steve. Her heart aflutter she was living her best life and she didn't care who knew.

"I hear there's an archery range." Kei commented. "I mean I can do that myself if you two want to go it alone. I can amuse myself."

Evelyn stared at Kei in confusion. “Why would we do that?” She said sincerely as they made their way to the main square.

Karla and Arun were amongst the crowd of a hundred people that gathered. They saw Captain Stryvek standing near the administrators and they made their way over to the stiff looking Vulcan.

When the group finished acknowledging the captain, Stewart stepped alongside Stryvek. “I’m surprised you decided to come. Change your mind about joining in the festivities?” She asked the Vulcan in a quiet tone so they were not overheard.

"You are half correct. I did change my mind, however, it was not to join in the festivities. My duty as Captain of the only Starfleet vessel present would require me to be here. So, here I am." Stryvek replied in the same tone as Evelyn.

Stewart only half listened to Karla's speech about First Contact Day and the significance for both the colony and the Federation, despite her attention seemingly on both administrators. "It's good you came." She commented quietly to Stryvek, even as she didn't look at him. "Even if you aren't going to participate in the festivities, it's good for the crew morale." Evelyn glanced up at him briefly. She wasn't going to admit outright she was glad to see him.

Remy smiled warmly listening to the speech when he glanced at Evelyn and saw she was speaking softly with the captain, even though he couldn't hear what either was saying over Karla's speech. He frowned and furrowed his brow as he watched them. He wondered why Evelyn Stewart of all people was engaging with the captain. She notoriously hated Vulcans and had no problem with making that known. He remembered how he saw them exchanging glances more than once at each other the day before during the briefing.

Despite his confusion, he did not like the situation, or the feelings it brought up. Discreetly, Remy made his way around the group to stand at Evelyn's side, nodding again to the captain in acknowledgment, but his face more grim then before. Years of being in an on again, off again relationship led both Remy's and Evelyn's bodies to fall in sync with one another as muscle memory took over and they found themselves standing closer than were when they first arrived to the speech without realizing it as they clapped when Karla finally finished.

Arun smiled at Karla before speaking up. "As we all know these are troubled times and while Brighton Colony has always been a place to escape the troubles of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, it seems trouble has inevitably found us. We are fortunate to have our distinguished guests from both Starfleet and the URC with us today, we want to thank both Mister Naal and Captain Stryvek for yours and your people's dedication in making this a smooth transition for not only us, but our new arrivals to the planet."

Remy gave a small smile of modesty and nodded in appreciation to both Arun and Karla as he clapped to the kind words.

Karla gave a wider grin as she spoke to the Vulcan. "I realize this maybe cliche, Captain, but I was hoping you would humor all of us by reenacting the first words humans heard from an alien species all those centuries ago." she asked, many people in the crowd looking interested in Starfleet captain doing so.

Somewhere in the deepest darkest corner of Stryvek's mind. The small corner that may still have emotion he felt annoyance. Annoyance that someone would ask such a thing, and even more annoyance that people wanted to see such a thing. However, he would not allow such things to show on his face. Instead he raised an eyebrow, and then lowered it just as quick. He squared himself to the crowd and raised his right hand, his fingers separated into that now renown V shape. "Live long and prosper."

While most of the crowd applauded and expressed appreciation for the gesture, Stewart gave a small smirk of amusement as she clapped with considerably less enthusiasm and mostly to save face. She couldn't help the enjoyment at seeing the Vulcan's annoyance.

When the crowd began to disperse, a band began playing music similar to Earth's modern popular Latin music found in the Latin Americas. With a grin, Remy was reminded of fonder memories and took Evelyn's hand, pulling her towards where others were already starting to dance, near the musicians. He saw the embarrassed look on the lieutenant's face when she glanced at her commanding officer and friend but knew she never resisted any excuse to dance. "Come on, Evie. Just one song." He teased her.

Stewart found her face growing slightly warmer as she glanced at Stryvek and gave a silent look of warning to Keishara not to leave before conceding. "One song.." She agreed, but her warning was less effective due to her tone which was more playful than she intended as quickly found the beat of the music and moved with Remy.

Evelyn couldn't help smiling as she found her rhythm. Dancing was one of the few acceptable ways she was allowed to express emotions as a child on Vulcan. What started as a form of exercise became a cathartic emotional release before developing into a lifelong passion, one that Remy shared with equal fervor. It didn't take long for either of them to sink into the rhythm of the music or each other as they danced closer. Their hips separating briefly as they swayed to the music, only to reconnect and undulating in time together. Both having only eyes for each other as they smiled, as they both forgot themselves and where they were as Remy's hands held her low around her hips and lower back and Evelyn's moved around his neck while they both silently remembered fonder times of dancing and being together.

Stryvek watched as the crowd dispersed into their individual activities. Some milling about and chatting and others dancing. He saw Evelyn as she enjoyed herself with Remy. The Vulcan raised his eyebrow and kept his hands clasped behind his back. His mind began to count the minutes until it would be appropriate for him to leave and return to the ship.

When the song ended, Remy and Evelyn reluctantly pulled away. Evelyn and Remy were smiling and joking about how both were out of practice but Remy was still better than he used to be as he led them back to security chief and the captain.

Face a little flushed, Stewart collected herself as she remembered their company and cleared her throat. “I take it you be returning to the ship then, Sir.” She stated to the Vulcan, consciously moving to a more respectable distance from Remy’s side, suddenly feeling awkward to be with both of them together and having conflicting feelings and thoughts on the situation.

"With the ceremonies over. I will attend what would be considered a respectable time and then return to the ship. As much as I am not fond of situations such as this, I am not fond of insulting people more. I may not have emotions but I know others do." Stryvek responded without the slightest show of any inflection or emotion. He turned to look at Evelyn as he spoke.

"I've been teaching him over the past decade to be more respectful of peoples feelings." Kei joked ironically.

"Good call." Remy commented with wry amusement and smirk to Kei, standing a bit straighter as he faced the Vulcan.

Evelyn gave a small awkward laugh as she stood with beside Remy before addressing the group. "We should probably keep moving and seeing what else there is to do."
She glanced at Remy before giving the barest hints of a smile towards Stryvek. "Kei, you are still coming with us." She bluntly told the security officer, though a bit of amusement in her tone.

"And miss out on being a third wheel?" Kei feigned insult. "Of course I'm coming."

Stryvek nodded in acknowledgement of Evelyn's gesture. He noticed Remy posturing and did not know why, although he thought that it was because the man was romantically interested in Evelyn. Having indulged people's feelings enough for one day Stryvek was contented by simply people watching as it was said.

Remy briefly waved at a passing URC volunteer in greeting before turning, grinning and nodding in agreement before deftly turned Evelyn and Keishara towards the way they were originally heading. "Captain." He acknowledged the officer with a curt nod.

Evelyn nodded as well, suddenly feeling more awkward and formal with the Vulcan. "Sir."

Kei turned to Stryvek. "I'll get us into some trouble sir."

Stryvek raised an eyebrow and exhaled as the group walked away. He did not show it but he took a mental note to talk with Evelyn about her intentions. However, now was not the time and this was not the place. He would remain for about one more hour and then return to the ship, where he in fact belonged.

 

RSS Feed