Final Notices Protocol

Posted on Sun Jan 25th, 2026 @ 3:07am by Lieutenant Irynya

Mission: Port of Call
Location: Iry's Quarters
Timeline: Mission Day 10 at 2230

Cross-legged, with the quiet swish of holographic tides against sand in the background, Irynya sat on her bed facing a PADD. She'd set it up so that it could record her face, using a couple books to prop it in front of her. Maybe she should have been at her desk--perhaps with a calming back drop. Maybe she shouldn't bother with this at all.

Something about these messages always felt formal and she hated that.

Final notices.
Last words.
Goodbyes.

Whatever you called these things -- specially tagged messages kept safe in the computer's databanks and replicated back to Pathfinder Station and on to Starfleet so that they could still be sent even in the event of a catastrophic loss of life -- they weren't messages anyone wanted to receive.

"Computer," she said, grimly, to the middle distance, "begin recording Last Message - Parents."

The computer, immune to the tone of the moment, chirped it's neutral confirmation and Iry sighed.

"Hi Mom and Dad..."

She stared down the screen, stammering to a stop before starting again. "Computer, erase and restart," she advised.

"Hi Mom and Dad..." The smile on her face on screen was forced. She knew it was. But she couldn't help it right now. It was the best she had. "If you're receiving this message it means that I am not going to make it home. Killed in the line of duty." The last phrase was a struggle, but she got it out. "I know you're not expecting this message because we don't often talk about them, but it's important to me that you have it anyway. That you get to hear my voice tell you how much I love you one last time."

Tears pricked at her eyes and she swiped at them, mumbling for the computer to pause recording as she did.

"Command not received. Please repeat request," the computer intoned calmly.

"Pause recording," Iry snapped, and the computer's confirming chime sounded.

She swiped at her eyes again. This wasn't going to work. You weren't supposed to be crying when you recorded one of these. At least she didn't think you were. Somehow the thought of her parents seeing her crying if they ever had to hear this message felt like another blow. An unfair one.

Rubbing the back of her wrist across her nose, Iry sniffled and then scrubbed her opposite hand across her eyes, breathing in deeply and then out again. Once. Twice. She waited until she felt in control of herself again before speaking.

"Computer, erase and restart," she advised. Once again, the confirming chime. Once again, she spoke.

"Hey Mom and Dad..." At least this time her smile didn't seem so forced. She tried to bring their faces to mind--imagining that they were sitting next to each other at home, sipping something cold and sweet and comparing notes about the day's tourists. "In Starfleet, particular deep space assignments like mine, they recommend we keep a message on record for our friends and family. It's a just in case thing." Her smile faltered, but her resolve held. "If you're getting this it means that something has happened and I've been lost in the line of duty." She didn't say killed this time. If she remembered correctly family got these messages when you were presumed dead as well, even if it's not confirmed. "It feels kinda morbid recording this, but I haven't done it since I left home this time and... our last encounter with another race was... hard..."

There were so many other words she could use. Hard barely did it any justice. "So... I wanted to tell you that I love you. And I'm so thankful for your support even though Starfleet wasn't what you dreamed for me when I was little and learning how to pilot our shuttle." An image of her father's tanned hands, reaching over her shoulder to tap at a control as he explained what it did flashed through her mind.

"I'm sure you'll know him from messages I've sent, but I don't think I ever really told you about Noah. Or, well, I mean not about him about him. You know about him. Just... a couple months ago I held a ja'risia ceremony for him. To adopt him, you know. It just... it was right. I never formalized it with Risa because we're so far away and I didn't even know where to start with the paperwork. But I wanted you to know. Just in case... you know."

"Computer pause recording."

Iry tugged at the center of her top lip, pulling it between her teeth as she considered. They would be at Pathfinder in a few days and it wouldn't be difficult to formalize the ceremony on paper then. It didn't do anything for Noah in Starfleet, but on Risa it guaranteed he would be considered immediate family. If something happened to her...

She shook her head, ducking it to look down at her hands, now palm up in her lap, fingers intertwined. Was that even something Noah would want? It felt like something she couldn't ask him. Not now. Not when they'd lost Tor so recently. Of all of them Noah had taken it the hardest. He tried not to let it show too much, but Irynya was pretty sure she was only seeing part of the wound, and even that, she thought, might be more than he wanted her to see. It made her feel far away from him even when they were together doing something normal. But they were taking shore leave together in a few days. And that, more than anything, felt like it held a promise for connection. Maybe even for some healing.

"Continue," Iry told the computer, returning to her message. "If Noah isn't in the registry when you receive this it means that paperwork was never filed. But still, I hope you'll reach out to him. He's my..." she hesitated to say best; knew what that meant in the context her parents had and adjusted, "...my closest friend here."

She sighed, staring directly into the recording element in a way that would feel like eye contact to her parents if this video ever had to be sent. "I know that receiving a message like this will be hard. It's hard to record. But I promise... if you ever have to see this... that I died doing something I love. And I don't regret it for a second. The only thing I can possibly wish I had more of, is time with you. I love you."

She smiled, less brightly now, but with a longing for home that caught her fierce around the chest. Gently she lifted her fingers to her lips, pressing them, and then tipping them outward as if releasing a kiss from them.

"End recording, save, transcribe to Pathfinder Station and Starfleet Command, Final Notices protocols please."

The computer chirped and then confirmed. "Message saved and stored per final notices protocol. Would you like to update other messages in your stored notices list?"

Leaning forward Iry swiped at the PADD, skimming the list even though she'd already memorized it. One recorded for her friends back home. One just for Marteli. A more general one to be shared more broadly with her family, Kora, Huben, and Aethan.

The last one on the list gave her pause. It was the oldest -- a message she'd recorded just before being deployed on the Lyonesse.

Rami.

She considered for a long moment and then sighed. "Computer, delete final notice - Rami, Delphi, Risa."

She watched as the message she'd recorded to Rami years earlier disappeared from its place at the bottom.

For several long moments she stared at the list of messages, uncomfortably aware of a gap. Something in her squirmed at the thought, recognizing that adding to the list meant something even if that something wasn't entirely clear to her.

"Computer, record new final notice."

"Please specify the notice recipient," the computer intoned coolly.

"Mark notice for Ensign Noah Hyman Balsam, the third."

The chime sounded once again, confirming she could begin recording.

"Hey you..." she began.

----

Post by

Lieutenant Irynya
Chief Flight Controller