Far Beyond The Stars....

Posted on Sun Feb 1st, 2026 @ 2:22am by Lieutenant Commander Keeli Reex Dr & Lieutenant Commander Jo'ohn el'Ataa & Lieutenant Irril Sharvo

1,768 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: What's Past is Present
Location: Astrometrics

ON:

Keeli Reex was hosting a planetarium show as her first "mixer" for the Science department. Mostly, it was meant to entertain her kid, but it would also be a fun event for the whole crew and their families. She had set up the Astrometrics lab with the Sol systems "planetary parade"-a showing of the apparent line-up of the 6 first planets of the Milky Way solar system. She was excited-it was the first "space show" she'd ever made back in the Academy for a project, and it was among her favorite. The Trill had an interest in Sol-how could a planet seemingly so far behind in terms of growth, and sheer TIME, have survived so long?! Anyway. She now stood at the front, after helping Jobom to place a few chairs around the room. The invite had said "casual" and they were including drinks. She had set up the Replicator, plus a punch bowl with a fruity punch mixed with soda. Nothing alcoholic since it was a family affair. She didn't mind, but some others might and she didn't know anyone well yet.

"Ok, Jobom. I need you to turn off the lights when it's time, ok?" She asked. She promised the boy pizza later if he behaved. She didn't let him eat junk food often, but she wasn't above bribery to make him behave sometimes.

"OK, mom," he said.

Lieutenant Sharvo Irril was looking forward to some down time since reporting aboard the ship. There had been a lot of work in a short time and the chance to check out the ship's Astrometrics Lab was something that he'd really been looking forward to. Not many ships had one - the Cairo didn't and it was a frontline explorer - and The Sullivans being equipped with such a space was something that he was really excited about. If only they weren't in conflict they'd probably be asked to do some real exploring of deep space. Maybe in the future.

Entering the lab, he was surprised to find others there. "Sorry," he greeted, "I didn't realize the lab was in use tonight. I can come back later if that helps?"

Keeli shook her head. "Feel free," she said. "I was just about to set up a light show for everyone, but the lab itself is free," she said, indicating the room beyond. "If you won't find it distracting, you can go ahead. But feel free to join us if you'd like to," she said.

"I wasn't going to be doing anything other than just looking at some of the nearby stars, but this sounds more fun," he spotted the table in the corner, "I might have some of those snacks."

After reading the invitation, Jo'ohn felt it would be a good idea to socialize with his new crewmates. So, he changed out of his uniform and pulled on a long tunic that was common among his people. The fabric was dark, almost a deep cerulean, with gold and red accents along the hem lines. The neckline was high, and his various tattoos were all covered. On his taloned feet, he wore a type of sandal, colored dark red.

Once dressed, he left his quarters and made his way to the Astrometrics lab, arriving a few moments later.

Upon entering, he saw Keeli, and he stepped over to her, bowing his head slightly as he spoke. 'Good evening, Doctor. Thank you for the invitation to this evening's event."

Keeli smiled and nodded. "Of course!" She said, cheerfully. The Trill was usually an outgoing type, never one to say a cross word or be mean to anyone. "Have a seat! Help yourself to refreshments; we'll begin soon." As she spoke, she gestured to the line of chairs, and then behind that, a small table she'd "borrowed" from Engineering where a small assortment of snacks sat-some cookies, brownies, popcorn, chips, and a pitcher of water with some plastic cups. Anything else, people had to replicate or bring with them.

"Hello Doctor," Irril greeted from near the table, having selected an assortment of snacks from the available options. "I hope you don't think less of me for my choices."

She shook her head. "Not at all," she said. "At any rate, it's much better than TWINKIES AND FRIED CHICKEN," she said, pointedly. Her son blushed a little. "My next lecture should be on nutrition," she muttered. "Feel free to sit anywhere. We'll begin soon," she said.

"Noted," the Bajoran answered, wondering what a Twinkie was and hoping he didn't accidentally pick one up.

Jo'ohn looked over the food options. None of them seemed to be anything he would eat, so instead, he simply got a drink and moved to one of the empty seats, waiting for the show to begin.

"Commander," the young Bajoran greeted the Betalgeusian.

Jo'ohn nodded to the Operations officer. "Mister Sharvo. How go things in your department during our resupply and updating operations?"

"So far so good, I suppose," the Bajoran answered the Security Chief. "It takes a lot to get an old ship back on the ready line, but she's caught her second wind already. How are things with security?"

Jo'ohn nodded as he replied. "It is coming together. Some if the systems are still crashing when we try to bring them on-line however."

Keeli smiled. "Indeed," she said. "Ok, let's start," she said, as the lights went down and a projection started against the blank wall behind her. "This is the Pegasus Galaxy. It's in the Beta Quadrant, near to Trill," she said, as a picture popped up.

"It is shaped like a pinwheel; much like the Milky Way, home to Sol and its system," she said, clicking the projector remote to bring up more photos. Any questions so far?"

Jo'ohn sat quietly as he watched the presentation.

Lieutenant Sharvo also listened quietly to the presentation, curious where this was going.

She continued on.

"It is also the home to most of the species that WE call the Beta Quadrant inhabitants, the largest group of which are our Vulcan friends," she noted. She clicked her button, and caused another image to appear.

Skyview

"This is a feed of the current sky around us," she said.

(Ok, so that's actually from my local Junior College's astronomy lab! They offer a live feed. Check it out, it's pretty neat).

"I thought we could watch it for a minute, it's really fascinating," she said. She paused a moment for people to marvel at the stars and systems.

"Alright. So where we're headed is here," she said, circling a spot with a laser pointer. "Let's zoom in."

She caused the screen to zoom, and then smiled.



"Here we go. They're currently experiencing a solar storm, but it should pass by tomorrow evening. That's why we're still in orbit," she said, regretfully. "Sorry. I know you people want to beam down to explore." She shrugged.

Jo'ohn shivered slightly. As his species had an instinctual distrust of stepping foot on planetary bodies, he was not forward to going on any away teams, but knew it was a part of his job as Security Chief.

"Pretty," the Bajoran said, almost on rote, as he looked at the displays.

Keeli smiled. "Yes," she said. "The colors are caused by various gasses. As this one is a Class-M planet, the gasses most likely to occur are Nitrogen and Oxygen. That means that all of us Humanoids will be able to survive just fine out there," she said. She clicked the screen again. "We note that there is one moon that appears to travel in an elliptical pattern to the planet. This indicates that the planet has a more dense core, as opposed to a less dense one, like, say Earth and most of the planets in the Sol system."

She hoped that the others were having a good time.

"I won't keep you too much longer," she said. She had actually planned a whole slide show for once, so she'd stay on topic.



"Earlier today, I spent some time in the lab, taking some images with the probe. I have a view of the solar storm from the Aft end of the Sullivans."

"This storm is being caused by Coronal mass ejections," she said. "Simply, the sun that this system orbits is giving off electrons and neutrons, and those are colliding with other ions in the planet's atmosphere. That's what causes the different colors."

She moved on to a new screen.

"Finally, these are the moons that belong to the planet we're exploring."



"This planet has three moons that move in an elliptical pattern around the planet. Also, they move in an elliptical pattern around each other. That means that they also have their own mass, and therefore, can be habitable if the atmosphere otherwise allows it. So far, the middle moon does for carbon based species-all of us." She smiled. "Which might be a fun exploratory option if we have time," she said.

"Ok, final call for questions, or comments. After this, we can eat!"

"Hear, hear," the Bajoran said, somewhat trumphantly.

Halli laughed. "Alright, Jobom, please bring up the lights."

After a moment, the room was back to normal, and the hologram ended.

"Feel free to help yourselves," she said. She took the clicker from her son, and let him go eat, too.

"Mingle for awhile; I am going to leave the lab open for a few hours." She said.

As everyone moved about the space, Jo'ohn stood before the three dimensional image of the planet they were here to investigate. He frowned slightly as he stood there, clearly feeling uncomfortable.


Keeli made sure to say hello to everyone, but after a bit, she lowered the lights, and let the simulation come to its natural end. The whole program ran only about forty-five minutes-meant originally for children's education, but Keeli had adapted it over the years. As people filed out of the Holosuite, Keeli stood at the door.

"Thanks for coming, this was fun!" She'd say, as they left. Finally, the last person had gone, and she turned off the lights behind herself and Jobom.

"Let's go get some dinner," she said, taking his hand.

 

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