Ice Ice Party VI

Posted on Fri Aug 11th, 2023 @ 2:16pm by Captain Ryhl th'Zeles & Thren ch'Yalorn & Lieutenant Commander Johanna Lyngstad & Ensign Ivitha zh'Vaoreth

1,703 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Mission 1: Campor III - Resupply
Location: Deck 10 Ice, USS Columbia
Timeline: Following Part IV

=/\= On =/\=

Paisley, to her credit, had turned to Ivy. "Care for some?" She asked, offering a fresh piece to the woman. "It's really good, but you already knew that," she said. "Probably," she laughed. "Anyway. I can't believe I haven't had any Andorian food before. Only the cocktails," she said. She was maybe a bit tipsy now and her talkative nature would only get worse from here out.

Ivy did her one better; she snatched the morsel of food out of her hands with her mouth, chewed and grinned at the Cardassian hybrid. "Yes. I do. It's delicious, as I've come to expect of dishes like it," She said cheerfully, before leaning over and whispering in Paisley's ear.

Paisley laughed. "Nice!" She said. "It is really good. Better than any Cardassian dish, for sure," she said. She leaned in to hear Ivy better. From the outside, it looked far more innocent than it
was.

There was movement on the stage crafted of glacial ice. Thren walked up a glistening staircase to the side, before moving to the center and speaking. “And now… Patrons of Ice.. Something special for you. Hailing from the valley of Uskit. The one and only.. Ryhl th’Zeles!”

A large crystal on the wall behind the stage slid open. Commander th’Zeles exited quickly, to the thunderous sound of the stringed instrument he carried. It appeared to be made from a flamed hardwood, based on the wood-grain pattern revealed by the instrument’s semi transparent blue finish. Rows of five iridescent strings hung horizontally in rows along a fretboard. The body of the instrument’s underside was fitted with a sharp curved blade.

The hriseeth is a stringed, axe-like instrument. It originated during the time of the Kieloth, the first well defined stage in Andorian history. Ryhl was raised to be obsessed with tales of Andoria history and society. Playing this instrument helped him connect to his culture.

Paisley looked interestedly at the Stage. "Ooh, Captain's going to play," she said, tapping at Ivitha's arm. "Look!" After a bit of time, the music started. She smiled. "Lovely. You have nice music. It's not like Earth's Rock and Roll, but it's nice!" She said. She leaned in. "After this, we'll leave for mine," she said.

Again, the rich bass like notes reverberated through the lounge. The crystals seemed to vibrate along to the music, more evident as a flurry of deeper notes cut through the air. Ryhl strummed the thicker three strings closer to his chest with his right index and middle fingers. The commander held a thin sliver of a citrine crystal between the ring and pinky fingers of the same hand.

As the bass settled into a brooding groove, a higher pitched flurry of notes cut through a fretted chord of heavy tone. His cerulean fingers had a tight grasp on the yellow pick, upper fingers strumming the heavy notes simultaneously.

The notes ran up and down an exotic, Andorian scale. A closed smile spread across the Andorian’s face as his music went from a dark and broody tone, to a more thoughtful one. It seemed as if his song had been building to this point.

Ryhl’s right hand became a blue as his left fretted numerous shapes. The notes flew out from the hrisiith, turning into a faster paced cacophony of expression. Ryhl was sharing his innermost thoughts and feelings through the sound waves. He had taken the lounge through the aggressive, metallic and contemplative moments into a celebration of today.

There was a depth to the tone of the music. Sound seemed to be emanating from the crystal towers which stretched from ceiling to floor along the walls. Ryhl’s notes were mixed with effects similar to reverb, delay and chorus. This meant that each note had a bit of an echo, slowly fading out of the ear’s focus, before the next flurry took its place. Chorus effects made the room sound even more full, adding adjacent notes in the scale to each one Ryhl played.

The effect was an ethereal, wave like sound. In Graalen, the Andorian language, the name Hriseeth meant weapon of the sky. It’s otherworldly effect on the ears, as well as its engraved blade, likely gave it the name.

Ryhl settled into an aggressive, thrash, celebratory rhythm which bumped and tickled the ears. It repeated over and over, building its volume to a crunchy pattern which drew many in the crowd to clap.

Shan had walked backwards toward the table where the other officers were seated and grabbed a chair next to Lissa for the performance.

"Wow, I guess our Captain has some hidden talents!" Lissa said excitedly into his ear as the group around the table stopped eating to applause.

Shan's eyes were wide, as he nodded in agreement, taking a deep breath as he finished clapping, "Apparently so." Seeing the Captain only deepened his apprehension about meeting with Eveza later. What was he doing? He didn't really know the Captain at all, but was he letting his personal feelings threaten not only family and Andorian duty, but his Starfleet career as well?

Shan stood up, placing a soft hand on Lissa's back. "I think I'm going to step out for a bit. It was nice meeting you. We should get some of the junior officers together soon. We're going to be out here for a while."

Lissa's face lit up. "I would love that! Nice to meet you too. See you later," she said.

Shan waived at Paisley and Ivitha on his way out, but they didn't really seem to be paying much attention to anyone else in the room.

Lissa noticed the same thing about her table companions, so she decided to leave the party as well. She made her way to the stage to see if she would get an opportunity to thank the Captain for his performance before she left.

Ryhl had settled into the pace of the performance. His music had formed into a dark melody.. Between the mixed sounds of boom bass forming the rhythm, and sharp, sizzling high pitched notes singing the melody, it sounded as if an entire band was playing.

Ryhl mouthed the words, "thank you for coming", to Lissa as she approached. The sound was drowned out by the music, but she could easily read his bright cerulean face.

His song winded to a crescendo as the bass thumped and the melody slid up and down the exotic Andorian scale. It opened up with a wail of a note, which cut into a fast paced rhythm.

The melody seemed to playfully taunt the ear, calling people to dance. As this part repeated itself, the volume became lower as Ryhl's picking hand began to slow. It took Ryhl decades to master the Andorian technique of double picking. It takes an alien skill to grasp the pick in that manner, though a few humans have managed.

Ryhl hit one final loud note before bringing the room back to silence. "Welcome to the Columbia. Welcome to Ice", the Commander shouted.

Johanna was fascinated by the Andorian instrument. His technique was impressive. Johanna herself was decent on guitar and keyboards, but had nowhere near the Captain's ability. That's why he's the Captain, she thought.

Ryhl looked out over the crowd, stepping down from the stage. He would leave them wanting more for tonight. "Thank you for approaching the stage first, Miss?" He said to Lissa.

"Ensign Kerr, Captain. I'm a nurse on board," she shook her head in awe. "The music was absolutely mesmerizing." She looked around at the bar. "In a different setting, I might have been moved to dance," she said shyly. She touched her breastbone with her fingertips. "It just resonates with the soul. Is it Andorian?" She asked.

"There will be more time for dancing, Miss Kerr", Ryhl replied with a smirk. "Offworlders call this music 'Andorian Blues' to have a laugh... But the genre is likely closer to human rock or metal." His antennae bowed forward curtly to Lissa as his head lowered slightly.

He realized she was an Orion/Human hybrid by her surname. Ryhl didn't have a chance to review her record, as he had less saying in requesting Medical personnel. This encounter reminded him to brush up on the Medical crew's files tonight.

"I hope you enjoy the establishment", Ryhl told her happily before thanking the Lurian who had also wandered onto the stage.

The Commander caught eye contact with Johanna for a moment and waved to her. When he met her in the arboretum, he'd shared an idea of starting a ship wide band. He'd thought over the idea and planned to start auditions soon.

He turned back to Lissa, standing on the section of floor covered in crunchy ice crystals.

Johanna waved back to the Captain. "That was a nice tune on that axe." It was a double meaning, with 'axe' being a very old term for a musical instrument.

"I appreciate that, Miss Lyngstad", Ryhl said. "I'm just warming up." He looked from Johanna to Lissa. "I'm hoping to find others to jam with. A few ships are working with music across the fleet."

Commander th'Zeles continued to greet the patrons at Ice. He didn't stay for too long, but he did return to his quarters with an order of Krill-Beast steak. Ryhl was just happy to share his music with a few people. It was nice to say hello as well.

He would have to make more time for interacting with the crew.

Thren spent much of the night greeting his guests in the 'front of house'. He has normally spent more time in the kitchen. He trusts his staff and knows that being the face of Ice is important for the restaurant.

All in all, it was a good night for Ice. The lounge would certainly be known after tonight.

Commander th’Zeles
Commanding Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Paisley F’Rar
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Columbia

Lieutenant Johanna Lyngstad
Chief Science Officer
USS Columbia

Ensign Daisheliss "Lissa" Kerr
Nurse
USS Columbia

Ensign Shanir Th’kaasnik
Operations Officer
USS Columbia

Ensign Ivitha zh'Vaoreth
Alien Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Columbia

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