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Seven detoured to her quarters before heading back to the bridge of the Titan. What the hell were Picard and Riker up to? More importantly, was she going to help them? She needed a moment to consider her next course of action and her room would provide the requisite solitude.
Her space was sparse and efficient—exactly what she needed. One piece that stood out amongst the order was the transparent aluminum shelf in the corner. It was filled with knick-knacks Raffi had picked up for her on her travels—the more kitschy, the better—and added a bit of chaos, a bit of Raffi to the room.
Tucked between an Eiffel Tower and a Risan horga’hn, the small replica of the 21st century Markridge Industrial Tower caught Seven’s eye.
Raffi had presented the little tower with a flourish when they returned home from Seven’s Starfleet graduation ceremony all those months ago. “It’s the place you first announced our engagement!” Raffi said with a low chuckle.
On Seven’s raised eyebrow, she added, “Here, come sit with me.” She sat with her back against the arm of the small, cozy couch (a couch that accented the triptych of metallic circles above it quite nicely, if Raffi did say so herself!)
Seven’s ocular implant had detected that there was something more to this tower. She had also discerned the shift in the timbre of Raffi’s voice; she had something important to discuss. Intrigued, she sat down across from Raffi and leaned in to lace their fingers together.
With a deep breath Raffi started, “With your new commission and my new assignment, we are about to get very busy. I… I know we’ve done distance a lot… but this feels different, deeper.” She looked down at their joined hands.
Seven swept her thumb over Raffi’s knuckles, urging her to continue.
“Communication will be nearly impossible, not to mention dangerous, so I found a work around.” Raffi took Seven’s left hand and placed the tower in her palm, then gently pressed her lover’s augmented thumb over the base. With a nearly undetectable hum, the front of the statue began to glow with a faint red. Then inside the recess at the front, 13 characters faded in and slowly decrypted.
underthestars
With a soft intake of breath, Seven looked up into Raffi’s warm amber eyes and saw her own feelings reflected back at her. Feelings of being safe and cared about, of glimpsing a future, of great make-up sex flooded in with memories of that night in the ship graveyard on Ebla.
Although the morning after hadn’t been the greatest—due to Seven getting scared, running away and nearly getting killed—they each cited that night as one of the most perfect of their early relationship.
Seven leaned in to softly press her lips to Raffi’s, marvelling at the brilliance and thoughtfulness of her girlfriend. “Show me more,” she whispered, voice right with emotion.
Clearly delighted with herself and Seven’s reaction, Raffi pressed her lips to Seven’s again and lingered for a moment before leaning back to show off her invention.
“I’ve made one for myself too. Our transmissions will be protected by a combo of Borg algorithms you’ve shown me and uncrackable Romulan encryption codes. And all in this beautiful Markridge tower that’ll blend in so nicely with the other nice souvenirs you have.”
Seven chuckled, shifted closer to cuddle into Raffi’s side and took the tower, stating “it seems that we are limited to 13 characters per transmission.”
“Yep, well up to 15.” Raffi cuddled right back. “Just to be very safe, we won’t be able to share any personal derails, so I thought we might come up with some code phrases for ourselves.”
“How very Starfleet Intelligence of you,” Seven’s tease was also full of pride.
Raffi nodded, “You know it!”
“We will need phrases we can use to portray a sentiment, thought, or engage a memory?” Seven was fully invested now.
Her eidetic memory came in handy as they spent the next few hours creating acouple code to capture their thoughts and feelings.
Fieldcommission meant Raffi was proud of Seven, thistower meant Seven appreciated Raffi, floatythings a reminder of the commitment to their shared future, andido meant they were each other’s favourite person, bulkhead brought back the memory of their first kiss against the bulkhead outside of Seven’s quarters on La Sirena.
Seven was particularly proud of knifeintheeye as a reminder of how well they work together, in homage to that military Borg they had taken down in 21st century Chateau Picard.
It wasn’t quite Children of Tama level because they couldn’t use names or places (and Shaka, when the walls fell was too many characters) but they had a good list and kept adding to it until they had to part ways.
Over the months apart, this lifeline created threads that kept the fabric of their connection and self-worth intact and made the moments of loneliness bearable.
Today in her quarters on the Titan, the nearly imperceptible glow of the tower indicated that Seven had a transmission. She activated the tower with a brush of her thumb and her heart rate sped up as it began to glow brighter. Raffi was just what she needed right now. The characters coalesced:
extraordinary
Galvanized by Raffi’s belief in her, she replaced the tower and headed to the bridge. They were going to the Ryton System.
—
A quadrant away, Raffi kept her tower at the captain’s chair of La Sirena—a beacon of hope in this domain of disquiet.
She had just witnessed the total and horrific destruction of the recruitment centre on M’talas Prime.
Once again she was too late, not enough.
As she doubled over in disappointment, she caught a faint glow from her tower. She fumbled to activate it and held her breath until the characters decrypted.
slantoflight
I miss you and I am here with you, always. A beautiful sentiment inspired by Professor Gillan’s letters.
Raffi took a deep, cleansing breath and stood up tall. Galvanised by Seven’s presence, she dusted herself off and got back to work.