A tour

Posted on Tue Oct 28th, 2025 @ 12:58pm by Lieutenant Anna Esquivias & Lieutenant N'vok Holv

Mission: Season 6: Episode 6: Conglomerate
Location: Holodeck 3
Timeline: Interim
1532 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

"I am becoming quite fond of this holodeck, which makes no logical sense," said N'vok. "One holodeck should be the same as all of the others."

"So," he looked at Anna, "what do you have for us today?"

"I was thinking I'd show you Stratos City," she said. She was dressed in the traditional garb. "Computer, Esquivias 4." The grid of the holodeck was replaced with the elegant, flowing walls of Stratos. There was outwork lining the walls but Anna glided down the corridor to a balcony, looking far below. "Do you know much of the history here?"

"Only casually," said N'vok, following behind, admiring both the architecture and Anna's form. "I know that a visit from Kirk's Enterprise greatly upset the existing societal structure. But little beyond that, I am afraid."

"Kirk's Enterprise?" she asked curiously. "Are you an admirer of James Kirk?"

"More of his first officer, Spock," replied N'vok. "But I find the trials and travails of the early Federation endlessly fascinating, though Admiral Kirk was, in many ways, an admirable fellow."

"And not an admiral for very long," she reminded him. "There was a minor incident with stealing the Enterprise..."

N'vok nods. "But it was all in a good cause. People like Kirk are needed to help keep the bureaucracy from becoming too entrenched. I fear that was beginning to happen back in the Alpha Quadrant. But we should not let such distract us from this beauty," he gestures around him, being sure to include Anna is his sweep.

"You do remember the story about your hero, Spock, on this planet?" Anna said, stepping closer. She reached for his hand. "He was...well..."

N'vok took her hand. "I believe he was quite fascinated with the beauty and intelligence of Ardanian women as well." He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her wrist.

She smiled gently. She stepped forward, pressing her lips to his. "I don't quite have Droxine's figure."

N'vok returned the kiss and gently embraced Anna. "But you are no less a work of art," he said. "Now, show me your favorite places here," he said letting his hands linger at her waist.

"Yeah, I was fishing," she admitted, as she leaned into him. "There aren't really any secret places up here. Not anymore, anyway. The entire city is built for display. The balcony was always my favorite. You could look so far down. I guess being in a shuttle gives you the same view but, I don't know, it's different." She turned to look out over the illusory image of Ardana before, her hand sliding into his.

N'vok led her over to the balcony and looked over the planet below. "I must admit, this gives me a tinge of vertigo, but the view is breathtaking." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "Even knowing, rationally, it is a hologram, the effect of the wind and the view is amazing. Being in the cocoon of a shuttlecraft could never match this sensory experience."

She squeezed his hand gently as she looked down. "You get vertigo?" she asked. She stepped back a little, as though to let him get a bit more distance from the edge.

"Not as a rule, no," said N'vok. "This is . . . a new situation. It is dizzying but thrilling. While Vulcan's control their emotion, there are times when one can let that control slip a bit and enjoy a unique sensation. This is one of those times." He looks to her. "When we make it back, we must visit Ardana, for there is always a unique frission of visiting a place I have only experienced through the holodeck."

"I've seen your emotions," Anna said, leaning up to press her lips to his even as she squeezed his hand and stepped back from the edge. "We can visit here. You know, I've only been a couple times myself?" She nestled against him for a moment, simply enjoying it for awhile. "We can look at some more of the art here, if you like. It's really more like a gallery than anything else. And there's a place I can play for you."

N'vok nods, gently returning the squeeze. "By all means, let us take a look at the art. I am always amazed by how each culture finds new ways to express themselves through the same basic materials. The uniqueness of art by culture is endlessly fascinating."

"The art of Stratos is largely an abstraction," Anna claimed as she started to walk with him. "It made things beautiful. It allowed one to contemplate...how should I put it...the beautiful and the sublime. But I always found a strange emptiness to it that was almost haunting."

"Intriguing," said N'vok. "Much of Vulcan art is based on the use of negative space to imply form and guide thoughts to meditation and contemplation. I look forward to seeing this art." He slipped an arm around her waist.

"You made it sound much nicer than I did," Anna teased.

"I have no doubt it will be interesting and inspiring," said N'vok. "Do you have a favorite piece or artist?"

"It's not exactly about appreciating individual work here," Anna said. "Visitors and scholars have, obviously, but that wasn't the Ardanan way. The art displayed here added to the general beauty of the place. Though I guess I was the one who called it a gallery earlier. Sorry. I've never really..." She gave a laugh. "I've never really been the guide here. It's my heritage but I'm not actually from here." She was slightly flustered. Just slightly.

N'vok nodded. "I shall refrain from further questions then. It is my nature to try and learn more. I did not mean to put you under the spotlight." He paused and gently kissed her on forehead as an apology.

Anna smiled up at him. "No, no, it's ok." She looked around. There were a number of sculptures on display. Sculpture was the preferred visual art and music was the preferred performance art. One was of gleaming reddish metal, similar to copper, in an abstract form that vaguely resembled some great bird taking flight. She stopped there. "This was by Madine, one of our more romantic artists. It's called..." Anna paused, struggling to recall. "The Soul Aflame, I think. It speaks of passion." She grinned and squeezed his hand. "But, like I said, very abstract."

"As all good concepts should be." said N'vok. "Unlike the clarity of logic, we Vulcans are meant to dismiss such emotions as immaterial and not worthy of consideration. I feel such a pathway denies much of what we are. Logic is a good organizing principle but not, I believe, the be all and end all of life." He walked around the sculpture. "The Soul Aflame," he nodded, "I like it, I can feel the implied motion. A challenge for a static medium."

Anna next looked to a series of swirling, white circles built into the walls that seemed to have a Troglyte cavern implement imbedded in them, shattering and cracking the piece. "This one's damaged," she started to say and then shook her head. "Wait, no. It's supposed to be like this. Shattered Illusions by Vera. The apparent serenity of the swirls represents the apparent peace of Strator, but it is shattered and revealed to have never been true by the struggle of the Troglytes."

"Obvious political imagery but no less effective for that," he said, stepping up behind Anna. N'vok slipped his arms around her waist. "So much of our history is defined by struggle. It should be marked and remembered in art."

"I think the obviousness is the source of the effectiveness," Anna suggested. "There was a near impenetrable complacency that had to be drastically and dramatically interrupted. It was not a moment for nuance."

"'Near inpenetrable complacency', what a lovely turn of phrase," said N'vok. "Alas, all too common among those in power. I do my best not to slip into such modes of thought but my natural arrogance means that it is always threatening to overcome me."

"Maybe everyone does sometimes," Anna said, offering him a reassuring kiss. "But this went way beyond personal aloofness or even the eternal problems of power. There was a near-total systematic separation between the dominant leisured class and those who provided all of the labor."

N'vok nodded. "The system had to be destroyed for a new one to emerge. That is where the Federation is at its best, helping transitions such as that. While there was still violence, it was not the bloodbath such revolutions are prone to causing." He held her gently, almost protectively.

"No, it wasn't," she said as she pressed close to him. "There's more art to look at but..." Her hand reached up and gently stroked his cheek.

N'vok caught Anna's hand and kissed her wrist. "There is something else you would rather do?"

"I can think of a few things," Anna said.

N'vok raised an eyebrow and then pulled Anna into a passionate kiss.

Anna kissed him back, hands reaching for the back of his head and fingers curling in his hair. She pulled back briefly, grinning. "I know there's a bedroom here somewhere."