A Wedding Ceremony For The Generations

[DaveJohnson 0]

A Wedding Ceremony for the Generations

A Wedding Log by Lt David Johnson

 

David Michael Johnson, 22 years old stood at the altar of Temple Beth Israel in Boston. He was in his dress uniform which had been modified so that it would be a little fancier than usual. The Synagogue he was in had been standing for more than 750 years and in that time it had been the place for many holy services, for weddings and for funerals. And, on this day, it was the place of a wedding ceremony for the generations. On one side of the Synagogue sat David’s friends and relatives. His father and mother and three of his grandparents all current or retired Starfleet officers who had watched him grow, nurtured him, helped him gain acceptance to the academy and earn the commission as well as the rank he now held. His sister, who was entering her final year at the academy who couldn’t be happier for David…and more jealous of him because she hoped to one day, be standing at the altar like he was. And, his friends who had been there for him at the academy and we’re now all serving on various starships but had all taken the time to be with him on his special day. On the other side sat the friends and relatives of his fiancée Rebecca Natalie Cohen, 23 whom David had met during his very first year at the academy almost entirely by accident and as he waited for the ceremony to begin he reflected on just how this day had come to be.

 

During his second year at the academy David had lost his girlfriend Emily Warren in a terrible shuttle accident. He spent weeks at a time in his quarters grieving and some of his friends thought that he would never be the same again. After a few months and many intense counseling sessions he returned to classes. He had just gotten out of his Interspecies Ethics class one day when he bumped into a woman that he had never seen before…literally. He was reading a padd and didn’t even see her coming. The two collided and tumbled to the ground. David shook his head, and slowly got up. As he did he looked at her, sitting on the ground, still a little disoriented. He offered his hand and she grabbed it as he slowly helped her up. The two looked at each other for a long second, and David would later write in a personal log that he believed the bond between the two of them was formed almost instantaneously.

 

Over the next few years, the bond became even stronger as their relationship got more serious. Even when Rebecca graduated when David was just ending his junior year it did not affect things. It just made the brief times they spent together that much more special and even though he had no idea at the time that Rebecca would choose to go back to the Republic with him, it did not prevent David from asking her to marry him. Before departing for Republic he had spoken to Joy about the power of love between humans and what it felt like when one human had such strong feelings for another that they would be willing to do anything for the other. David would have been willing to transfer to the Rhode Island, or go to the ends of the universe and beyond just to be with Rebecca but the fact that she chose to make the sacrifice and leave her ship and friends was a testament to what kind of a person she was and why the two fit together so easily.

 

To David’s left stood his best friend and his best man, Thomas Dichter. David & Thomas had grown up in New York and their parents had served on some of the same starships allowing them to spend time together. Thomas was six months younger than David and had only been in Starfleet for seven months but because of his bravery, his intellect and his quick thinking which saved three of his fellow crewmembers aboard the U.S.S Olympus he held the same rank as him. David had always admired Thomas for the bravery that he demonstrated during training simulations while they were at the academy and Thomas had admired how David put others before himself. Their qualities were part of the reason why the two of them had such successful simulations. It had been seven months since Thomas had graduated at the top of the Academy’s class the previous year but he was already on his way to what David hoped would be a fine Starfleet career and Thomas wished the same for his friend who was now doing something that Thomas told David he couldn’t even dream of, and that morning he had admitted that he was actually jealous, but nevertheless he was extremely happy for him.

 

To David’s right stood Admiral Nakamura whom David had asked literally at the last second to perform the wedding ceremony. Upon being asked, Nakamura didn’t even have to think twice, and though age was beginning to take its toll, he said he would be honored to do it and made the trip from McKinley Station to Earth, dress uniform and all. It had only been a few days since David & Admiral had met aboard the station to discuss the report on the duck incident aboard the Republic but something about that meeting had reminded David of the Admiral’s integrity and why he and his father were such good friends.

 

To the Admiral’s right stood Lt Junior Grade Jennifer Goodman, Rebecca’s bride’s maid who like Thomas, had known Rebecca since the two had been children. The two had gone to the academy together, graduated together and though they had been serving on starships in different quadrants they still kept in touch, and when David asked Rebecca to marry him it was Jennifer who had advised her to accept it. She knew David as well from their days at the academy and admired many of his qualities. Because they were all friends, Rebecca she asked Jennifer to be her bride’s made. Jennifer accepted had taken a leave of absence like David and Rebecca but when she had told her Captain about the situation, she wasn’t too eager to grant it having been a bride’s maid many times, but never a bride. But, she still granted Jennifer the leave because she knew that it was important for her to fulfill her obligation to her friends.

 

David was thinking about the story his father had told him about how he and his mother had met when the organist began to play, “Here comes the bride.” David snapped to attention almost as if he had been ordered to. After a few seconds the doors of the Synagogue were opened and Rebecca came through. She was dressed in a traditional white wedding dress with a long veil draped over her head. It was so long in the back that the tail of it was being carried by her 12 year old sister, Elizabeth. On her right was her father Commander Edward Cohen, the Executive Officer of the U.S.S Pierce. Their shoulders were interlocked as he escorted her down the aisle. Commander Cohen was no stranger to these ceremonies having performed several himself on the request of his Commanding Officer, Captain Mathew Chen.

 

But, this was the first time that he had been the one walking someone down the aisle, the first time he was the one giving away the bride, and instead of performing the ceremony he was witnessing the marriage of his eldest daughter, something that brought noticeable tears of both joy and sadness to his eyes.

 

The two arrived at the altar and Commander Cohen whispered something in his daughter’s ear as the two smiled then took his seat beside his wife, Lt Commander Laurie Cohen, the Chief Engineer of the Pierce. Like David & Rebecca the two had decided to serve on the same starship when they had gotten married some 25 years earlier. Rebecca smiled at her parents and then looked at her fiancée and smiled at him. David couldn’t see her face very well because of the veil in front of it but he smiled back all the same. The two then turned their attention to Admiral Nakamura who was about to begin the ceremony that they had been waiting for since the day they had met.

 

To Be Continued….

Edited October 24, 2006 by DaveJohnson