The Star Republic: Terra Novus

Episode 4: The Other Side (I)

A week went by after the incident, and everything went back to normal on Terra Novus. After being detained for two days, the Quom'Jor was allowed to leave, guranteed safe passage through Federation space. Alex saw the Quom'Jor board the shuttle and depart. He was there to see him off personally. The alien was released from custody with zero charges.

In HQ, the routine was normal. It was just a week of normal duty shifts, with the occasional communiques from the crew's family members. Alex sat at his workstation sorting out data from the recent status report. The Command Centre had its usual liveliness.

His eyes were focused on the holographic pop-ups in front of him. Commander She then walks into the Command Centre.

"Just fixed the holodecks. Somebody decided to play a prank on Ensign Ng and put the face of his mother onto every single character in a 16th century historical program. The moment Ensign Ng activated the program he ran out of the holodeck when he saw his mother's face everywhere."

Klynn gives She a questioning look, "Seriously? And who?"

"Yes, seriously. You'll never guess who did it. It was....Lieutenant Commander Niles."

"Niles? He's not much of a prankster." Okuda chips in.

"Yes. Ensign Ng's commanding officer for his division played a prank on him. Apparently they're very good friends."

"Isn't everyone good friends here?" Klynn asks

"Not just good friends if you grew up with the person."

"Uh...Okuda, you got a communique...from your father, it's deemed personal." Tarah says from her console.

"Patch it to the side terminal."

Okuda went over to the side wall where a console was flashing 'Incoming Transmission' and the Federation logo.

Alex looked up from his screen and then looked back to it. He hasn't heard from his family in a few months ever since he told them of his promotion to Rear Admiral. Hasn't heard from Joral either.

Alex made a decision that he should send a communique to Joral. It wasn't going to be visual though, just text. Alex pushed his work-related pop-ups aside and opened his inbox. His mind debated whether to write a long letter or just keep it short.

But it had to show that he cared, which obviously he does since Joral is his fiance.

Alex thought long and hard about what to write to him. He eventually ended up with quite a decent letter. In his eyes anyway. He never was really good with letters.

"Joral,

It's been some time. I got your communiques last week, but I've been busy, so I didn't get the chance to send one to you. I'm sorry.

I know this relationship isn't ideal, so I hope you've been fine without me. By the way, say hi to the crew for me!

This whole week has been quiet, but a lot of things happened on the first day. I had to deal with bombs and computer viruses and everything. I won't bore you with the details, you're not really the type for long stories. =) If you want to know what's been happening, I'll just attach a copy of my log entries for the week.

I've made some new friends among my crew, but you know I'll never forget you.

I've got that picture of you beside my bed to remind me of you everyday. Your sweet smile, the way you laugh. I know you're thinking of me too, cause I've been.

Hold on for a little longer. We'll see each other soon.

Missing you always,

Alex"