Old faces, new people

Posted on Monday 20 September 2021 @ 09:22 by Captain Melody Jones & Civilian Sansa Draxx-Jones & Civilian Abigale Blackwood

Mission: A Cry from the Darkness
Location: Transporter room 1 and Observation lounge USS Merlin, Whale Observation area USS Santa Maria
Timeline: MD1 1600
3541 words - 7.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

With the arrival of the USS Santa Maria, Melody made her way to the transporter room. She had advised Mathias, Hamish, and Sansa that Fay and Doctor Blessed would be beaming over. She arrived at the transporter room at the same time as Sansa who was clearly excited to see Fay and Abigale again.

"Hi Mom." she said cheerily as she entered.

"Hi Sweetie. I take it you're looking forward to seeing Fay and Abigale again?"

"Oh yes." she replied, her smile widening.

Hamish and Mathias looked at one another both actually having an anxious expression in them. More in Mathias's eyes, than Hamish's

Hamish got over his anxiousness first, a smile appearing. "I am looking forward to this. What do you think Mathias?" nudging his cousin in the rib.

"Yes, I am looking forward to hearing what's been happening," Mathias commented, deciding to try to relax.

With the arrival of Hamish and Mathias, Melody smiled and nodded. She turned to the transporter chief. “Signal the Santa Maria that we are ready to receive the science party.”

The transporter chief frowned “Captain we’ve received a signal from Captain Bennett that three are ready but I’m only reading two on the transporter pad.”

Melody sighed. She knew Captain Bennet from the academy and she could tell that his sense of humour hadn’t improved.

She shared a look with Mathias and Sansa before replying “It’s alright Chief. Energise.”

The transporter kicked in and soon Doctor Blessed and Abigail appeared on the transporter pad. The purple shimmer in Abigale’s eyes indicated it was Fay who was driving. She smiled and came down off the transporter pad and embraced Sansa.

She still spoke with a lower, more resonant voice than Abigale. “Hello Sansa. It’s good to see you.” Sansa hugged her back. Fay caught sight of Mathias. It’s good to see you too Mathias.” She released Sansa and hugged him.

Mathias flashed a grin this time, he realized that he didn't need to worry, well worry not so much. After all, it had been established that he was with Caroline. "it is great to see you as well, Fay." his smile warming up to the warmth it used to be.

Fay then turned to Hamish and paused, as she listened to Abigale inside her head. She held out her hand. “Hello Hamish. It’s good to meet you. Abigale has told me…. Some things about you.”

Hamish reached out his hand to take Fay's then paused, his smile turning brittle and then faded away. "I see." he said a bit stiffly. "Er yes, welcome aboard. Miss Fay." not quite the reception he had hoped to have. She must already have an opinion of him. He straightened his uniform. "Um well, I guess we have had the normal greeting?" he looked towards Mathias as if in a plea for help then looked towards Sansa. "I suppose we'll be talking about the mission soon?"

Mathias placed a hand on Hamish's shoulder, "That sounds like a grand idea and perhaps do a little bit of a catching up as well?"

While the subtleties in Hamish’s reaction were lost on Fay, Abigale who was watching must have picked up on them as Fay cocked her head to one side and listened for a moment before adding “Abigale speaks very highly of you and I look forward to getting to know you myself.”

Hamish wasn't certain how to take this, he'd not been around someone who was sharing a body with another at a whole other level. Just how did Mathias deal with this? How did he make it through the varying body language signals. Hamish didn't feel as well equipped with the language of the body that Mathias seemed to have.

"Well, I would like to get to know you better so, yes perhaps having a conversation with you and your people I am very interested in." Hamish replied.

Fay now turned to Melody. “It’s good to see you too Melody.” She came over and embraced.” Her eyes went wide as she looked down at Melody’s swollen belly. “Oh my, congratulations. May I?”

With a nod from Melody, Fay placed a hand on her baby bump. She smiled and let out a small gasp. “You humans still manage to amaze me.”

Doctor Blessed cleared his throat and Fay blushed and removed her hand. “My apologies. Sansa and Mathias have already met him but I realise you’ve not been introduced. This is the scientific representative from the Taylor Institute, Doctor Blessed. Doctor Blessed this is Captain Melody Jones and Lieutenant Hamish Teague.”

“A pleasure Captain, Lieutenant.” Doctor Blessed boomed.

Melody inclined her head in acknowledgement. “If you’ll follow me, we’ll discuss the mission in the observation lounge.” And with that, Melody lead the way to the turbo lift.

Dr Blessed fell in behind Melody. Fay fell in line with Mathias and Hamish and Sansa brought up the rear. Fay turned to Mathias. “ I hope you’ve been keeping well. How are you and Caroline?” she inquired gently, still curious about him.

"We are doing well." Mathias said with a gentle smile. Not truly going into detail nor even offering anything more. "And I am also doing fairly well in my new position, I am Chief of Operations and also am second officer."

Ranks and titles were another thing that was lost on Fay, but again she paused a moment as she listened to Abigale then replied. "Congratulations, Abigale and I are both happy for you."

The party entered the observation lounge and Melody sat at the head of the table. Fay sat next, with Sansa sat next to her down one side of the table. Dr Blessed remained standing and activated the wall monitor.

He went onto explain. “Here are the twelve whales onboard the Santa Maria. Six males and six females. Fay tells me they are coping well with the journey so far and are excited to reach their destination. We have also onboard a large quantity of food, not only for the journey but to establish a sustainable food supply for the new colony. Now, Captain Bennet tells me once the supplies that the Merlin requested have been transferred and Sansa and Lieutenant Teague have boarded, it will take us roughly 7 days to reach Fay’s homeworld. We'll then get the whales established, make sure they are settling in, and then Sansa and Lieutenant Teague will return to the Merin via shuttle. I'd like to invite you Captain Jones and you all...” he indicated to the rest of the room “To come and view the whales before we leave. Are there any questions?”

Melody had been watching the presentation nodded. “That's very generous of you Doctor Blessed...”

“Please call me Brian.” he added with a smile.

Melody smiled. “I’d really like to see the whales before you depart. Also, I'd like to invite you and Fay to dinner on board the Merlin with me and my daughter as this will be the last chance I get to have a meal with her for quite a while.”

Fay smiled “Thank you Melody. I look forward to it.”

“That's very kind of you Captain. I do enjoy a good meal.” Dr Blessed replied.

Sansa interjected, “Mathias and Hamish are invited as well, mom?”

Melody nodded. “Of course Sweetie. By all means Gentlemen, you’re invited too.”

Hamish said, "I'd be delighted." giving a bit of a smile and showing a renewed excitement at the mission.

Mathias thought wasn't certain about coming to dinner, as he may have tentative plans with Caroline. " When are you planning on the dinner? And as much as I would love to be a part of the discussion which may happen over dinner, Possibly could I bring a plus one, if Caroline would like to come?"

Melody nodded "Of course, do bring Caroline."

Sansa spoke up "Well I'm certainly looking forward to the mission, though I still can't quite believe that I'm going."

"So modest as well." Dr. Blessed said in response to her comment. "Captain, your daughter is one of the few people I've encountered so in tune with the whales. Her insights have also greatly enhanced our research at the institute. In fact, the only person with a deeper understanding that I've seen is Fay here."

Melody looked at her daughter with pride but Sansa shifted a bit uncomfortable. She glanced at Fay then back at her Mom and smiled.

Although she had not picked up on Hamish's body language, having shared her body and mind, Fay picked up on Sansa's discomfort.

"Well then." Dr. Blessed said, "Shall we see the Santa Maria?"

"Yes, let's." Melody said, rising from her chair.

Both men said in unison, "We'd be delighted." then looked at each other and laughed as in truth Mathias and Hamish were excited to see the ship and followed after Melody.

Sansa held back as Melody led the others back to the transporter room and Fay stayed back as well. "Sansa. What's wrong?" She asked in her blunt, direct way.

Sansa hesitated for a moment. "I just feel like a fraud sometimes. I'm only here as a result of the gift you've given me and..."

Fay held up her hand, smiling. "Sansa. You're the first person that has had one of our consciousness inside them for an extended time. I was not expecting you to retain any of my.... abilities.... But I'm happy that you have. But I've been reading the correspondents between you and the Taylor Institute and you've..." she paused as she tried to find the words. "You've used this gift and expanded on it. You've also gone further with it and of course, you deserve to be here. Trust me."

Sansa smiled, feeling slightly better. "Come on, let's catch up with the others. I'm looking forward to seeing the whales."

Sansa and Fay then followed the others to the transporter room.


The group materialised in the transporter room on the Santa Maria and Doctor Blessed led the way to the marine observation room. As they walked he explained, "We had to make extensive modifications to the ship, creating a suitable transportation habitat for twelve Humpback whales was not easy you know."

The group entered a large room that was mostly an open area of water that extended beyond the other three bulkheads. The area near the door was like a platform that was level with the water's edge that contained several monitors for maintaining the conditions of the water. The water was eerily still as the group came close and stood, watching and waiting.

"How far does the habitat extend?" Melody asked, very impressed with the engineering skill involved.

"Over 10 decks." Dr. Blessed responded "Maintaining structural integrity was the main challenge. Three additional fusion reactors had to be installed to create forcefields to shore up the structural integrity field and parts of the hull and deck plating had to be reinforced. The whales seem happy enough with it, according to Miss Fay here. Don't worry, they have plenty of room to swim in."

Sansa had moved to the edge. Melody came up beside her. Sansa spoke softly to her "They're close, one of them is watching us right now."

As if on cue, a large gray blue mass gently broke the surface of the water, a curious eye regarding them.

Hamish eyes widened and quickly moved forward to see the whale, right at the edge kneeling down to gaze in rapture. Breathing out, “Ach you're a beauty."

Mathias would have followed then something kept him back. This was Hamish's moment, he wasn't going to overshadow his cousin.

Melody looked at the whale in awe. "I've been near a hologram but this is the first time I've been this close to the real thing. It's amazing. Is this a male or a female?"

Sansa responded, almost without thinking "Female." A small smile formed on her face. "Oh... I know how they selected the females for the trip." Melody looked at her curiously and Sansa explained "They're all pregnant."

Doctor Blessed smiled. "I wondered if you would pick up on that. She's a natural Captain." he added with a smile to Melody. "She'll have my job before you know it."

Sansa blushed slightly but Melody responded simply with paternal pride. "I know."

Hamish looked over towards Sansa, "You can speak to them? Tis wondrous! Would she let me touch her?"

Sansa nodded towards Hamish.

Fay and Abigale were stood watching Sansa, a funny little smile on Fay's lips. Suddenly Abigale's voice sounded in their head "You did this, didn't you? Did you give Sansa this gift?"

Fay replied "I hoped something like this would happen and.... yes, when I left her... I tried my hardest to make sure that I left her with... call it a going-away present. She was so kind and so trusting. She was the first to share everything with me no telling what the consequences might be. I owe her a lot. Still, I had no idea she would be able to use it to this extent or this skillfully. Dr Blessed is right, she is a natural."

Fay moved up next to Sansa. "You can hear them, can't you?"

Sansa nodded "It's more than hear. I see images and get flashes of emotions sometimes."

"Come," Fay said as she sat down at the water's edge, letting her feet enter the water. Sansa sat down beside her as the whale that had been watching them moved closer. Fay reached out and placed her hand on the whale. "Go on.." she encouraged Sansa to do the same.

Sansa reached out and placed her hand next to Fay's.

"Now.." Fay said, "Close your eyes.."

Melody watched, intrigued.

Sansa's breathing slowed as there was some unspoken bond formed between her and the gentle giant. Suddenly, a shudder passed through her body and she let a low moan and a gasp. She removed her hand and looked at Fay, her cheeks turning bright red. "That was..... I can't describe it. Whatever it was, it was amazing."

Fay placed her hand on hers. "You're learning how to use this gift all the time and there are so many things you haven't discovered yet. I can help you... If you're willing.."

Sansa nodded "Yes... Please."

As if sensing Melody's gaze, Fay turned to her. "I will keep her safe at all times Captain, you have my word. But you need not worry about anything. Our friends here" she indicated to the whale "have no hostile intentions and find your daughter.... most interesting." She paused and added "They also find you most interesting Captain. They celebrate your new life and wish you every happiness."

"Ohhh... Thank you." Melody replied, amazed by the connection between Fay, Sansa and the whales.

Dr Blessed was watching silently. "Fascinating.." He murmured quietly to himself.

Hamish went quiet as he watched Sansa and what Fay was teaching her. He was feeling a slight amount of jealousy then he felt a hand upon his shoulder and heard Mathias whisper, "You canna be jealous, Hamish, you haven't shared your gift."

Hamish looked up at his cousin, and slowly nodded, his jealousy going away, only Mathias knew about this as he was shy to use his voice around others, the only ones that have heard his voice was those of the water and when he sang out in the wilderness. That was when 'she' had come into his life. "Are you certain?" looking up at his cousin with some fear in his eyes and uncertainty.

"Yes Hamish, it will be okay. After all, I learned the song from you." Mathias responded with a fond smile.

Hamish nodded slowly, and began to sing, it was much like the song Sansa had heard Mathias sing, but this was richer and purer, the song evoking the images of being underwater with those of the sea, the play of otters and the seals, and the mighty sharks and the heart song of the whales. It then rose to the stars, speaking of them and the moon dancing upon the waves, and the silver path that could be followed beyond Earth's boundaries. He finished and as the end echoed and faded away, there were tears streaming down his cheeks as he was very focused on the whales. His hand reached out towards the closest one, to touch her side and lost his balance, falling into the water.

Sansa was listening to Hamish’s singing with her eyes closed, silently amazed that he could be so… sensitive, when on their first meeting she had thought him a self absorbed egotistical asshole. Her eyes snapped open when she heard the splash of Hamish falling into the water. Reacting without thinking, she dove in after him.

Sansa was diving towards the form of Hamish when a large shape of a whale appeared beneath him, pushing him to the surface. Another humpback came up under Sansa and let her take hold as it brought her to the surface.

When they broke the surface, Sansa swam across to Hamish. “Are you ok?” She asked.

Hamish coughed out some water he'd accidentally breathed in, laying his head upon the broad back of the whale, just enjoying the contact he was having with the beautiful creature. He looked over towards Sansa when he heard her voice when she drew near. "Yes.. yes I am.." his cheeks turning red, when Hamish realized he'd just made a spectacle of himself. "Well um, perhaps next time I wear a bathing suit when coming to see the whales?" trying to make light of the situation. "Um thank you." he said to the whale who had helped him, running his hand along the skin of the whale with a loving caress. "I will now get back to the others." sliding off the whale and moving easily in the water.

He looked towards Sansa, "Well Miss Sansa, I mean Sansa, I mean Doctor Jones." Hamish paused, "Well then, um, shall we get back to the others?"

Sansa managed a smile and nodded. She gently patted the whale that had rescued Hamish. “Thanks for the help.”

Once she was satisfied they were both safe, Melody moved over the water's edge and shook her head. “I can’t take you two anywhere can I? If you’ve quite finished, I’m sure there’ll be plenty of time for swimming later.

Doctor Blessed came over and help Sansa out of the water. “Come on you two, let’s get you some dry clothes and some hot chocolate to warm you up.”

Sansa nodded “That sounds great.”

In her mind, Abigale spoke to Fay again. “Are you going to tell her?”

After a pause, Fay responded In time.... In time...

Fay, who had found a rather large towel, went over to Sansa and wrapped it around her.

"Still acting before thinking," Fay said with a smile as she helped Sansa. "Will... Hayley be joining us anytime soon?" She asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Sansa looked at her a blinked for a moment. If that had been anyone else, Sansa would have taken that as someone fishing for information. The last time Fay, Fay had been interested in... exploring the more.... physical aspects of human relationships, including kissing Mathias and making out with Hayley. And her tone when she had asked, as if she already knew the answer but was wanting confirmation.

Sansa shook her head, her wet clothes now causing her teeth to chatter slightly. "No. Hayley and I are no longer together."

Fay tried to look surprised and sad. "Oh, I'm... sorry to hear that."

Abigale was watching and listening, sensing that Fay wasn't quite upset to hear that news.

Hamish was listening, for his hearing was actually rather sharp, however he didn't indicate that he had heard it. But he did muse to himself. What person in their right mind be messing with Sansa's heart, then his eyes widened slightly. What was he thinking? He shoved that thought back into the closet. She was out of reach anyway... she's out of his league. He gave a mental sigh. Well at least there were the whales. He could talk to them. And he knew they would listen.

Fay rubbed Sansa’s arms and gave her what was supposed to be a supportive smile. “Come on, let’s get you warm…. You too Hamish.” She added quickly.

Hamish nodded "Sounds like a plan, a nice hot shower will be the ticket." giving nod.

Mathias spoke up, "I think that would be a great idea." Walking with his cousin out of the area and to the transporters to get back to the Merlin.


OFF:

●●●● Captain Melody Jones
Commanding Officer
USS Merlin


Sansa Draxx-Jones
Npc
Jones

Fay/Abligale Blackwood
Civilian diplomat
Npc Jones/McPhee

●● Lieutenant Mathias McPhee
Chief Operations Officer
USS Merlin


●● Lieutenant Hamish Teague
Chief Science Officer
USS Merlin