Grand Opening

Posted on Sun Apr 15th, 2018 @ 2:11pm by Splendora Sage

1,284 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 95 - Helping Old Friends
Location: Serenity Gallery - Promenade
Timeline: MD5 10:00 hours

Serenity Gallery

One and a half hours to go before the grand opening of the gallery. All the art work was now in place, the lights were on and drinks were programmed into the replicators for the guests.

Vox stood in the middle of the brightly lit gallery trying to make sure he had not forgotten anything.

Splendora couldn't resist the opening night. She was an artist herself in a way. Not many knew about her talents. She walked towards the gallery watching as the group that stood in line grew bigger. She recognized many of them as fellow shop owners. She wondered if Tom would show.

She sighed and took her place in line. This was going to turn out to be great. She waited as the minutes ticked by and soon the minutes turned into 50 and she found that her excitement grew as the clocked ticked down.


As the time reached just before 20:00, it was time to unlock the gallery doors and welcome the first guest. After changing into his best suit and checking his appearance in the mirror for the forth time, Vox opened the doors, stepped outside, with the doors closing behind him. He turned to face the queuing crowd.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Thank you so much for coming to the grand opening of the Serenity Gallery. I did not expect so many of you to come, so I am thrilled. My name is Raekwon Vox, art lover and owner of the gallery. " he moved towards the side of the large doors which were made of a polished silver metal intermixed with vibrantly colourful stained glass panels. He pushed the panel to the side of the doors, and as they slid open....

"Welcome to the Gallery. There is a buffet table with drinks at the back of the Gallery in the Serenity Lounge. "

He stood and watched as the group ventured in to see what art was on display and potentially for sale.

Splendora made a first sweep of the Gallery as she held her champagne flute. She sipped as she made a second sweep of the Gallery smiling all the way. Some of the pieces were funny, others touching, some so creative that one couldn't begin to describe it.

She was drawn to a sculpture, it was made of a wood that was only found on a remote region on Betazed. She drew close to it and looked at the sculpture. It was a starship but it seemed as if the ground had opened up to embrace it. She looked at it blinking, something familiar and melancholy clung tight to the piece. She had been so drawn to it that she didn't hear Vox approach. She startled at the sound of his voice.


"Hello Splendora, are you enjoying the gallery?"

Splendora took a moment to calm down. She smiled, "I am indeed. You have some amazing artists. Is that genuine Boray Wood from Betazed?" She pointed to the sculpture that had caught her attention.

"You have a keen eye. It is indeed Boray wood. I got this particular sculpture atleast five years ago. It was a gift from the artist whom I did a few favours for on a visit to Betazed. The man certainly had a talent. Sadly he passed away last year. "

She was awed by sculpture. "It's beautiful. I haven't seen anything like it since I was a kid." She smiled and then looked around. "It's a great turn out isn't it?"

"It most certainly is. I didn't expect this many people. So pleasing to see though. " Vox replied.

Splendora smiled. "Tell me have you ever thought about doing a station exhibit? There are many artists here on the station."

"I haven't and I was not aware of this. It is an interesting idea. What kind of artists are there on the station?"

Splendora smiled, "Oh so many! There are those who sculpt and those who paint. We have an Engineer who makes sculptures out of different engineering equipment that's been broken. There are those who sketch and we have poets and musicians. It might be a huge draw to have them all display or perform their art." She studied the man in front of her. "You might be the perfect person to champion the artist's cause."

"Indeed. Perhaps we could arrange something for all the artists to gather at the gallery one day and have a meeting. Do you think you could help arrange that?" Vox asked.

Splendora smiled happy to have something to keep her busy, "I would be honoured." She looked around. "So what got you into the art world?"

"Now there's a long story. I have had an interest in art since my 2nd host Azrel, who was quite gifted in drawing and painting from an early age. One of her drawings is in the gallery actually, you might want to have a look at it. Its called Serenity. I can remember the day it was drawn, as if it was yesterday. "

Vox replied. He took Splendora over to a picture on the wall. The picture depicted a tranquil scene of green fields banking upto a flowing river with wild flowers along the bank and trees on other other side of the river.

Splendora took in the breathtaking painting. "This is remarkable." She had always been fascinated with Trills and the small bit of immortality that they had. "Was this from mind or a place she visited?" Splendora asked.

" It's a place. Before joining, Azrel lived in a remote province on the Trill homeworld called Shanrell. This was near her home." Vox replied. He thought back to the memories he had from Azrel.

Splendora's counselling personal kicked in. "Do you miss it?"

"I do, very much so. I haven't been back to Shanrell in, oh, 150 years. Maybe I should on my next vacation." Vox replied.

She could sense the genuine longing for home. "Some Trills retain the abilities of their hosts, do you paint?"

"I do bit I haven't anything on display on the gallery. I don't think I'm good enough." Vox replied

Splendor smiled, "Now I somehow think that you are too hard on yourself. I'd love to see your work. As a fellow painter I love seeing other styles."

"OK, I will just go and get one of my pieces I have in the back of the gallery. " Vox replied. He soon returned and hung up a painting on the wall. The picture was a coastal scene using very angular shapes and vibrant colours that were not natural to the scene itself. Very much like the work of Serena Hall.

Splendora took in the image. It was vibrant and the sharp angular shapes leapt off the page. "This is amazing! You my friend are modest. You can paint well." Another idea started turning in her head. She'd always wanted to arrange something like this but she would need to go to the station commander. "You should display your paintings more. They are powerful and raw and very memorable."

"Thank you. I haven't painted in a while. This was done about a year ago. I might get back into it once the dust has settled now that the gallery is open. " Vox replied. The two continued to chat.

Splendora smiled and after they'd chatted a bit she watched Vox move off to meet some of the other guests. She enjoyed meeting him and hoped that they would get to collaborate on the art ideas she had. It had been a long time since she had a fellow artist to talk with. She had one more glass of Olora Juice and headed back to work. She had patients to see.

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