Old Friends, New Eyes

Posted on 29 Mar 2012 @ 4:47pm by Lieutenant JG Kestra Orexil & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren
Edited on on 31 Mar 2012 @ 3:55pm

1,154 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: Starbase 234 - Hangar
Timeline: MD 02 - 1000 hrs

She was a beautiful ship, there was no doubt about that. Kestra sat on one of the container boxes, her legs folded into a lotus position, her hands resting lightly on her knees as she watched the vessel hover and come to a rest in the star base's hangar. There was something elegant about the way the large mountain of metal could land relatively silently in a cavern made of wires and dreams. Something profound. She'd think more on it later. She sat where she was, watching silently as the ship appeared to exhale and sigh, a hatch opening to allow a cluster of its crew to hurtle out onto the hangar floor. Their faces zipped one by one into her memory, attaching to the 2D images she'd had of them from their dossiers. Each individual neatly filed away. She hoped she wouldn't need the information, but... hope was a thing with flowers, the petals always wafting off.

As one particular face nipped into its corresponding folder in her mind, she lifted a hand and sent a gentle salutation. //Hello, old friend.// Kestra laughed silently as the pixie of a girl stopped in the midst of her boyish stride and nearly tripped over herself. There was a frenzy of thoughts overlapping in the girl's mind, not unlike a school of fish being chased by a shark. //By the shipping containers.//

As soon as the Galileo started coming in for a landing in the star base, Lilou hauled herself into her coveralls and hurried to wait by the hatch. There was a lot to get done, not the least of which was a full diagnostic on the existing deflector panels and making sure that all the parts in the requisition order for the EMH-X were together before her superiors came down. No point wasting everyone's time. Then there was... a voice. In her head. Lilou stumbled over her own feet, her head whipping around to find the source of the voice. Except it wasn't exactly a voice. More a... feeling. No. An image... not quite that either. Something about the Qin-Harbinger, images of it flickered through her mind in glimpses and then two small hands, holding each other. Old friend? There was an image of the containers she was supposed to be looking over, and she turned to see... Lilou blinked, dumb-founded. "Kes-kes?" She hurried over to the containers as the taller woman unfolded and hopped down to the ground. "What- what the hell are you doing here?"

Kestra tilted her head to the side, peering down at her fidgety childhood friend. Her lips curved slightly as she indicated the uniform she was wearing.

"You're in our crew?"

Kestra nodded.

"On the Galileo?"

Kestra nodded again, breathing a small laughter-like sound out of her nose.

"But how?"

"Quite simply." Kestra rested her hands on both of Lilou's shoulders, straightening them and pressing her fingers in behind the shoulder blades until there was a little pop. The smaller woman's eyes rolled back a little as a mewl escaped her lips. "Like a cat," she drew the engineering officer into a hug and kissed her cheek. "So much tension, Lil."

"I know. I know. I'm-" She paused. "You're not reading me, right?"

Kestra smiled. "Tension and suspicion."

"I guess if you were you'd probably not ask, right?" Lilou paused, biting her lip, as she stared up at the older woman. Kestra. Sometimes she felt like she'd dreamed knowing the little girl on the Qin-Harbinger. It had been ages and ages ago, before too much had changed in her life, when she was still just an awkward little girl who'd liked to play with spare parts. And Kestra had been the daughter of an actress and a musician, surrounded by a subdued but apparently loving family. She'd spent hours taking the older girl around the research station, pointing at things and explaining them as best her six-year old mind could come up with. 'Here's where they poke at people, here's where they make things smell weird, here's where we eat...' "Right?"

"I am not trying to read you, but you're projecting quite loudly."

Lilou ducked her head. "Damn it." She shut her eyes, screwing up her face in an expression of extremely concentration.

"Don't," Kestra rested her palm against Lilou's cheek. "Don't. You're already holding a great deal of tension and worry. Don't add to it by trying to hide what you feel."

"Well, I can't not, can I? Gotta do the whole-" Lilou's eyes zeroed in on the markings on Kestra's uniform. "Damn it, you're our Chief of Security."

"Yes."

"Damn it."

"You've said that." Kestra smoothed her hand gently over the top of Lilou's head. "You need to calm down."

"Easy for you to say. You outrank me. And you're a department chief. Which means I report to you." Lilou stepped back. "I report to you. How weird is that?"

Kestra considered her small friend as she stepped out of her reach. It took rigid control not to allow too many thoughts and feelings to come through when she was touching someone, but even when she was focusing on it, things slipped through. There was a great deal of pain in her small friend and a desperate longing. And a cat-like reticence to being soothed. She'd come when she wanted, not before. That was fine. She wasn't a risk to the ship; just herself. "Many people report to me. And I don't assume you'll have cause too often." She smiled. "If you'd go back to the academy and take your classes, you could bridge the officer class too."

"No. Thank you." Lilou shuddered, imagining a life without ships or stars or the vast emptiness of space. "Don't want to spend any more time on that planet than I have to. 'Sides, I've got work to do. Lots of things to take care of before we leave. I should get moving."

Kestra pressed her lips together, the muscles in her face flickering slightly. "Yes." She caught Lilou's face in her hands. "Breathe." She inhaled deep and exhaled and repeated the pattern five times, guiding the other woman, and feeling her slowly unwind again. "Be safe in your work. I look forward to our time together."

Lilou flashed a quick grin. "Sure. Yeah. Sorry. I just- I should go. Thanks. And... ah... welcome? To the Galileo. Someone else will tell you that." She backpedalled and hauled ass across the hangar. She'd deal with that later. If she could. When, she thought, already missing the tiny moment of calm her friend had provided. Definitely, when.

"Thank you," Kestra said simply, watching her go. With a soft sigh, she shook her head and headed for the ship and her waiting responsibilities.

[OFF]

Master Warrant Officer Lilou Peers
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JG Kestra Orexil of the Thirteenth House
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

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