“Resonance”
The Khitomer’s lounge, the Stellar Bay, was unusually crowded for a late shift. Officers who’d been off-duty drifted in, pulled by curiosity and the aftershock of the day’s events. The chatter wasn’t the usual low hum of card games and synthale. Tonight, it buzzed.
Lieutenant Veyra Sol sat by the viewport, a steaming cup of raktajino in her hands. She still wore the faint stiffness of someone fresh out of the brig, but her antennae twitched with restless energy.
Ensign Marik Daan slid into the seat across from her, grinning ear to ear. The young Trill helmsman had practically sprinted over. “You know your name’s all over the ship right now, right? Half the crew’s convinced you saved us. The other half thinks you nearly killed us.”
Veyra rolled her eyes. “Figures. Yesterday I was invisible, and today I’m either a hero or a traitor.”
“Hey,” Marik said, leaning in. “For the record? I’m in the ‘saved us’ camp. That was… wow. First contact with a completely new species, and you were the first one to send them a signal, even if it nearly fried the warp core.”
“I wasn’t exactly trying to open diplomatic channels,” Veyra muttered. “I was scanning an anomaly. Standard science work. The Velorans just… turned it into something else.”
Marik tapped the table excitedly. “That’s the wild part, though. Think about it. Their whole civilization is basically living inside resonance. They don’t warp through space, they fold it around themselves. Can you imagine the navigational implications?”
“I can imagine the engineering headaches,” Veyra said dryly, sipping her drink. “Kiran will spend weeks just figuring out how to write a safety protocol for that kind of technology.”
Marik chuckled, then leaned back, gazing at the stars outside the viewport. “But the possibilities. Starbases near unstable anomalies could be stabilized. Colonies cut off by rifts could be reconnected. Even medical science—subspace resonance might interact with cellular regeneration.”
Veyra tilted her head. “You sound like you’ve already applied for a transfer to the Veloran homeworld.”
“If they have one,” Marik shot back. “They might live entirely in those lattices. Whole cities suspended in folded space. What if they’ve never set foot on a planet? What if their idea of home is… resonance itself?”
Veyra’s antennae flicked upward in thought. “That would mean their culture isn’t built around land, or even ships, but fields. They’d measure history by harmonics, not calendars.”
Marik grinned. “See? Now you’re as fascinated as I am.”
She smirked despite herself. “Curious. Not fascinated.”
“Sure, sure.” He lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Word is, Command’s already talking about joint research missions. Captain T’Var might have just landed us at the center of the biggest scientific exchange since the Khitomer Accords.”
Veyra gave a sharp laugh. “Which is ironic, considering I was almost court-martialed for starting it.”
“History loves irony,” Marik said. He tapped his glass against hers. “To accidents that aren’t accidents.”
The lounge lights dimmed slightly as the ship adjusted to gamma shift. Around them, officers traded stories: how the crystalline ship had shimmered into existence, how the Velorans’ voices had sounded like chords instead of words, how Commander Joran had nearly thrown Veyra into space before realizing his mistake.
Veyra caught Marik’s glance toward her. “What?”
“Just… I can’t imagine what it felt like. Sitting in the brig, thinking your career was over, and then suddenly you’re responsible for first contact.”
She set her mug down, tracing the rim. “It didn’t feel heroic. It felt… lonely. Like every eye on the ship had turned against me. Even Joran. Especially Joran.”
Marik’s grin faded. “You think he’ll keep treating you like a suspect?”
“No,” she admitted slowly. “He apologized. Which for him is basically a blood oath.”
They shared a laugh, but the mood softened as they both looked out at the streaks of distant stars.
“You know,” Marik said, “I joined Starfleet because I wanted adventure. Boldly going, and all that. But today made me realize something. The adventure isn’t out there. It’s here. The moments where you think it’s all falling apart, and then it twists into something bigger than you imagined.”
Veyra considered that, her antennae curling slightly forward. “Maybe. Or maybe adventure is just another word for not knowing if you’re about to die or discover something incredible.”
Marik raised his glass again. “I’ll take those odds.”
Veyra clinked hers against his.
The stars beyond the viewport shimmered with the aftertaste of the anomaly, like the universe itself had been stirred. And somewhere out there, the Velorans drifted inside their lattices, waiting for the next signal.
For the first time since leaving the brig, Veyra felt not suspicion, not fear—but anticipation.
WE&P by: EZorrillaMc.
Travel in Life 