The Bells Are Ringing

Posted on Mon Oct 23rd, 2023 @ 7:28am by Captain Elijah Rutherford & Commander Dominic Aldrich & Lieutenant Siora Carberos & Lieutenant Commander T'Par & Lieutenant Orin Sempton & Lieutenant Hadir Prenar & Lieutenant S'anra Shalakar & Ensign Xavon Starkweather & Crewman Recruit Zeria

Mission: A Day In The Life
Location: Holodeck 2
1955 words - 3.9 OF Standard Post Measure

Zeria stood in front of a full length mirror. The dress she'd chosen for her wedding was of ancient earth design, long, silk, slightly off white in color and had a blue ribbon around her waist, falling slightly lower in the front than it did the back. It reminded her of the images she'd seen of knights in shining armor rescued princesses. Ironically she thought she was the rescuer of him as he had found himself again after being trapped on her planet for five years.

She hadn't wanted a veil and her dark hair was pulled back on the sides and cascaded down her back in curls. She often didn't understand traditions about Human marriages but was willing to entertain Dom. To her it didn't matter how they got married. And today it was finally happening. She wasn't the least bit nervous, this was fate.

Hadir stepped onto the holodeck as he wore his specially tailored dress uniform. The tailors had to widen the neck so that it would accommodate a Cardassian's anatomy. He felt that these newer dress uniforms were rather comfortable in comparisons to previous versions. The gray on the shoulder of the jacket indicated his Intelligence department, and the silver pips set vertically along the collar on both sides shined. However, for him the fact that Siora was on his arm was what made this event important. They had spent a number of days together but this was the first time they would be seen in public together. "Right this way m'dear. I believe a drink may be in order."

Siora walked in beside Hadir almost like she was clinging on to him. The height difference quite noticeable as Hadir stood a full foot above her, not to mention some heads turned at the mere coupling of the two. "Yeah, we do and quite a few. Weddings always make me feel weird." Siora replied. "My cousin is getting married on SB50, but I declined the invitation. Too much family going... always dramas at weddings."

"Yes I can understand the feeling. For me it is mostly that people cannot believe that anyone would want a Cardassian. Oh, but we could have used that to our advantage. We both could have gone to your cousin's wedding. Imagine the looks on your family's faces when a lumbering Cardassian steps into the wedding." Hadir laughed at his joke as he guided her to the bar. He ordered up a glass of kanar for himself and drink for his lady. "No family here so I think we should make a splash m'dear." He raised his glass to toast.

"You do have one or two good qualities..." Siora looked him up and down. "I might just keep you for a while." she laughed along with him as they moved towards the bar. She picked up a drink, "This isn't a black Russian is it?" she asked the bartender who stared at her for a moment, shook his head and walked away. "Guess not." she replied and picked up another drink, Absinthe. "Splash? In this dress I'll make waves Hadir."

"That is entirely what I am hoping for." Hadir said as he took a swig of the absinthe. His pale skin turning pink for a moment as the warmth of the alcohol hit him as well as the warmth of the woman he was with as she brought her body closer to his.

In another room in the holodeck program, Dominic sat on a chair, looking out of a window. He was dressed in full Dress Uniform. Every award he'd ever earned properly pinned to his chest, reflecting the artificial sunlight of the window. The setting was familiar. He had fashioned the program to be the old JAX Brewery along the Mississippi River back in New Orleans from about three centuries prior. He watched as a river boat captain slowly fought against the movement of the mighty river, pushing his precious cargo upriver towards the port. He watched the people walking to and fro along the boardwalk. Some of them heading home with shopping bags and others clearly on their way to tour the city with children in tow. The entire scene both relaxed him and made him anxious.

He had never thought he would be much of an explorer, let alone the XO of a ship. Yet, here he was and about to embark on the biggest adventure of his life. He was going to give his whole self to someone else. At the same time, he was asking her to risk her comfort for the sake of his career and to live among the stars. It is a discussion they'd had before, but he still felt odd about being the cause of someone uprooting their life and following him. The silence around him was slowly being broken. He could hear people arriving to the venue through the door to the room. He continued to sit and stare thinking to himself, "We're almost there, Zeria. Thank you for taking a chance on me."

tag arrivals

T'Par entered the wedding. While she could not say she was especially close to Dominic, she was his Assistant Chief and he had thought it appropriate to pay her respects. As her husband was not stationed on the Majestic, she entered unaccompanied in her dress uniform. She quietly took a place and watched attentively.

Orin walked onto the Holodeck, tugging at the neck of his dress uniform with one hand before running it through his hair which had been slicked back to look presentable. While he'd worn the uniform for his superior officer's wedding, he was pretty sure the last time he wore the thing was his court martial. As he looked around, he made it a point to nod respectfully to Lieutenant T'Par. He then made his way over to the bar area for a drink to calm his nerves.

Captain Rutherford was dressedin his dress uniform, going over his notes he had made for the wedding ceremony. He looked over towards where his wife sat, tending to the twins. He was relieved in seeing that they were behaving and glad that Jasmine had gotten someone to sit with her and the children as well. Last time he had done a wedding was for his second officer, Commander Murphy. His eyes panned over those gathering, wondering if Murphy will make it.

Lily arrived, happy for this occasion for Dominic and Zeria. She looked around to see who was there, her eyes landing on Orin. She quietly went to his side. "Hi there, want to sit by me for the wedding ceremony?"

Orin looked at her in quiet contemplation for a second before draining the drink he'd picked up. "Yes, That would be nice."

Xavon carreered round the corner heading towards the holo deck, in classic Xavon fashion the young half romulan was late, He arrived just in time. He stopped outside for a few brief seconds smoothing down his dress uniform and running a comb through his hair, breathing out as he entered the holo suite, a wide smile as he entered waving to his fellow crew members.

S'anra walked in the holosuite and glanced around and noticed the there were already a fair amount of people in attendance. She hadn't attended to many human weddings, and thought it was a joyous occasion seeing the happy faces of those in attendance. She wore a simple sleeveless black silk dress with gold chain pearl straps and a slit up to the thigh and a pair of black stiletto heels, she also had a white orchid woven into her hair above her right ear. She went over to the bar. " A glass of orion tarpisian spring water if you please. " She then stepped of to the side to watch the proceedings.

Feeling the need to go check in on Dominic, Elijah went to where his XO was at. "Are you going to be alright? Today is a big day for you." giving a smile.

"Yes," Dominic replied with a sheepish grin, "I'm ready. I feel like I'm way overdue for this moment actually, Sir."

In the meantime Jasmine had excused herself from where her children were at to go check on Zeria. "Hello dear, how are you doing?"

Zeria turned to the sound and smiled. "I'm ready. When everyone else is." She swished the skirt of her dress, it was lightweight and fun to move in, good for dancing as she'd come to understand this was a tradition at Human weddings though she wouldn't care if they did dance, as long as they got to spend the day together.

Jasmine gave a nod. "I'll go check to see if everyone is ready, and then we can start. I am excited for you." a cheery smile just beaming.

Lily gave a cheeful smile towards Orin, then her eyes wandered over to where the Orion woman was at. She looked at Orin then at S'anra, "Oh I think there is a new person on the ship that i've not met. Lets go greet her then we can go take a seat?" almost pulling Orin along with her.

"Hi there, I'm Lieutenant Lily Marlow and this is Lieutenant Orin Sempton. What's your name?" Lily giving a friendly smile.

S'anra was startled by a voice of someone talking to her, She quickly looked up from the beautiful flower she had been engrossed in. "Oh!! Hello. I'm Lieutenant JG S'anra Shalakar. I am newly arrived and have taken over as the Chief Flight Officer. I haven't had a chance to meet to many people as of yet, Just a few people from medical, The Captain and a few other pilots in my department is all. So what do you both do here on the ship? "

"I am part of the medical staff, the assistant CMO" Lily stated. She looked towards Orin. "And he." she paused. "Well I don't want to speak for Orin. I'll let him tell you himself."

S'anra turned her attention to Orin. " From your uniform I can tell your with the science division, but that covers a lot of areas. Do you have a specialty? " She asked with interest..

"Ah, y-yes. I'm the ship's xenoarchaeologist." Answered Orin, before shifting uncomfortably and adding "And... sometimes primitive weapons specialist."

S'anra's eyes widened and her smile was warm. A Xenoarchaeologist and Primitive weapons specialist? That is fascinating! Wanting to understand the cultures of others and how they lived in the past. Even if a culture is a primitive one, we can still learn much just from how they lived and perhaps learn a little more about ourselves at the same time. I'd like to hear more about it sometime when your not to busy. "

Dominic, following Elijah out from the back room, walked to the front of the aisle looking out over the people who had become his family. He was in the habit of overseeing, leading, and supporting them from the top, but it filled his heart with joy to see how many how come to support him and Zeria today.

Zeria thought it must be time and looked at herself one last time in the mirror. Her dress was perfect, her hair was perfect and she knew the ceremony would be perfect. She stepped into her shoes. Flats with little sparkles, something fun in what otherwise was a pretty traditional look, at least for a Human. She had only the slightest regret she wasn't honoring the Magran side of her heritage but then again when had they ever honored her? "Are we ready?" She asked her entourage. "Then let's go." She smiled broadly and stepped out into the corridor to make her walk to the lounge.