VENTURA, CALIFORNIA, EARTH — The crew of the USS Khitomer gathered in North America to celebrate the union of Mr. and Mrs. Connor and Ayemet Dewitt.
As the sun began to set on a normally sleepy villa in the coastal hills of California, activity within buzzed. Guests gathered, and a stage was erected. As wait staff served hors d’oeuvres, a band began to play. This was the wedding that bonded LtCmdr. Connor Dewitt, Khitomer’s Chief Engineer, and Lt. Jacin Ayemet, its counsellor. Gathered on the stage soon was the ship’s Chief Medical Officer and Jacin’s maid of honor, LtCmdr. Talia Ohnari, as well as LtCmdr. Nolen Hobart, who served as Khitomer First Officer, and Best Man.
Capt. Randal Shayne – stoic, proud, and definitely lucid – led the ceremony. All eyes followed the bride as she approached the fore. The day carried with it some of the usual wedding jitters, and then some. Jacin, until recently a prisoner of war held and abused by the Lattice Alliance, still bore scars from her internment, and the couple’s vows – written themselves – reflected it.
“You’re my everything, Ayemet. My brightest star. My shore leave in a chaotic galaxy. And when I close my eyes and think of home, I see you,” declared Dewitt, “and that lake on Bajor, where for once, we had no battles to fight, no regulations to follow – just us, and the water reflecting the sky.”
“Connor you’re my anchor,” said Jacin in Bajoran, “When I was held captive by the Sheliak they made me believe that the Khitomer had forgotten me, that I was abandoned, alone. But you. The thought of being with you wouldn’t let me truly believe that.”
To thunderous applause and cheers, Shayne pronounced them wed. For the crew of the Khitomer and for just a little while longer, the war against the Lattice Alliance seemed just a little bit farther away.
Written by Nolen Hobart
