The Wingman

Posted on 18 Jul 2017 @ 4:06pm by Ensign Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin

6,073 words; about a 30 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: San Francisco - Random Bar
Timeline: MD 16 19:00 hours

::ON::

The message came over Starfleet's network to Amaranai's work details the day after the communications ban with the rest of the Galileo crew was lifted.

Hey, its me! Missed you loads. I owe you a drink. Come out on the town with me, tonight meet at 7?. You won't go home alone, promise. The Best Wingman Ever! (miraj)

Amaranai hated sitting at a desk but until the investigation was over, she was stuck there. She knew that the communication ban had been lifted and she had sent Lirha a message but she hadn't received one just yet. When her PADD pinged with a message, her heart fluttered slightly. However, when she read the message from Miraj, her shoulders sagged. Not that it wouldn't be fun to see the pink-haired girl again, she had just had her hopes of a message from Lirha.

Okay, best wingman ever. I'll meet you tonight at 7. Not sure about needing to go home with someone, but I guess we'll find out. See you tonight

A few hours later, Amaranai finished her day's duty and headed to the bar that had been decided upon. She went inside and waited for Miraj to show up.

Miraj was only ten minutes overdue, bouncing through the bar doors in a pair of electric blue sequinned micro shorts and a bardot top in hot fuschia pink several shades even brighter than her hair with bright cyan stripes. She had black patent baby doll shoes with blue bobby socks. She was turning heads. Mostly so people could avoid damage to their retinas.

She scanned the crowd, anxious to know if she could check off one more face from her list. And then the press at the bar eased for a second, and her heart lifted. There was Amaranai, just as she remembered her, dark hair and dark eyes. "Amaranai!" she squealed, dashing over and giving the older woman an exuberant hug.

As Amaranai sat at the bar with a drink, she noticed a small commotion from the doorway and turned to see what was happening. She noticed the outfit first - gaudy and outrageous - and she figured it was some local that dressed that way. She was about to dismiss the person and turn back to her drink when she realized the outrageous outfit was on a pink-haired girl. Miraj greeted Amaranai loudly and ran to her to give her a hug. Amaranai, caught off guard, allowed the hug to happen but was unable to return one.

"What the hell are you wearing?"

Amaranai looked up and down the other girl and though she looked very good in her outfit, suddenly Amaranai felt underdressed in her blue dress that came down above her knees.

Miraj gave Amaranai a twirl. "Do you like it?" she asked. "I thought i'd never get to wear them. I wanted to wear them, the shorts I mean, for Luke, but my big brother stole them so I couldn't." The shorts were very short, and very tight, and very very sparkly.

Amaranai listened to the girl as she talked about the shorts. They were definitely nice looking shorts - so nice that Amaranai wondered about borrowing them to show off to Lirha.

"Well," Amaranai said. "I'm surprised that he let you have them back."

Amaranai turned to the bartender. "A drink for my friend," she said and then turned back to Miraj.

"What'll it be?"

"Zombie Prince, with extra cherries," Miraj said instantly, wanting her favourite rum laced cocktail. "I threatened to take Stranger Tides and fly it through the Oort Cloud without deflectors on. Trash its paint job. He gave them back after that. What are you having?" she looked at the glass in Amaranai's hand.

Amaranai chuckled at the thought of Miraj threatening her brother. Knowing Miraj as well as she did at this point, Amaranai could belive that the young pilot would trash the ship as suggested.

When Miraj asked the secuirty officer what she was drinking, she looked to her glass.

"Oh, nothing special," she said. "Vodka martini."

She paused and then looked at the other girl with a smile and another small laugh.

"I think you might scare any potentials away in that getup."

Miraj looked a little crestfallen. "What's wrong with it? I like it. Its all my favourite colours."

Amaranai couldn't help but notice how down the girl looked after her comment, so she changed her attitude.

"Well," she said. "When you put it that way, I guess it's not so bad." She paused again. "So, how do you want to start this?"

Miraj hesitated, some of her wind out of her sails, "Well, for a start you need to drink most of that. You need it almost empty, but not completely. So they don't think you're looking for a drink but could be persuaded. Then you tell me who you like the look of and we go from there."

Amaranai looked at the drink on the bar. What Miraj didn't know was that it was actually her second drink - Amaranai having finished her first after just a couple of minutes of Miraj being late mostly because Amaranai was nervous about letting the girl set her up with anyone when she was already in a relationship with Lirha.

Smiling, the brunette lifted the glass and started to chug the alcohol. She stopped short of empty by a little bit to provide proof that she might need a drink. The quickness of the alcohol into her system caused her to cough for a moment, but when she composed herself, she looked at Miraj and smiled again.

"Well," she started. "I'm into a lot of different types of people, men and women, so just start picking candiates from around and I'll let you know."

"Cool. And don't think there's anyone here who's beyond you. One, you're amazing, and two, I'm pretty good at this." Miraj started scanning the room, whilst the bar tender assembled something that looked complicated and frothy in a hurricane glass in front of her. She spotted a rather tasty looking risian, Maybe a year or so younger than Amaranai, dark hair cut into curtains that fell over his eyes. "What about him?"

Amaranai turned her head slightly to glance at the man in question. He was good looking and was probably about Amaranai's age or just a little younger. Even though she had no intention of hooking up with anyone tonight, Amaranai still needed to act as though she was going to play along.

"Well," she said. "He's a start. But I think he looks a little gentle. I don't want to break him."

Miraj gave a dirty laugh at that. "Okay then," She kept looking. She spotted a tall and muscular Klingon woman, a rare sight in San Francisco, and unusually she had red tattoos on one side of her face, a long very Klingon looking design that made her look even more exotic. "Her?"

Taking the Klingon in, Amaranai looked at Miraj. "Okay, a little too rough. She might break me."

Amaranai chuckled and thought of all the things that she was trying to do in order avoid going home with someone. She missed Lirha immensely and being with someone else was not going to be a good thing.

The second rejection didnt seem to phase Miraj. She now had a frame of reference. She scanned the bar again, searching for the ideal candidate. Then she spotted him. He was six foot tall, looked about Amaranai's age with dark skin and hair, and an easy smile. He was standing with a couple of friends but seemed to be the most gregarious of them.

"Come on." She grabbed her huge green drink wirh one hand and Amaranai with the other and pulled her over to the good looking man. She elbowed her way into the group and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hi, have you met Amaranai?" And she turned away smoothly leaving the security officer alone with the stranger.

Amaranai watched as Miraj looked around the bar. She was caught off guard when Miraj grabbed her shoulder and dragged her away from the bar. She was taken aback further when Miraj tapped the shoulder of a tall man and spoke briefly, only to turn away and back into the crowd, leaving Amaranai facing the man.

"Uh..." Amaranai said. "Hi. I'm Amaranai and though I should be embarrassed, I'll give my friend some style points for her efforts."

She shoved Miraj gently to push her away from Amaranai.

The man, who was human looking, glanced from Amaranai to the pink haired hybrid already slipping away. "It's certainly different. I'm Soras." He looked down at the almost empty glass. "What are you drinking?"

"Nice to meet you," she said with a smile.

Amaranai had forgotten that she had brought her glass with her and smiled.

"It was a martini," she started. "But I think I need to switch to straight vodka."

She wasn't an alcoholic, though she had sure tried over the years. She had good tolerance for alcohol and knew her limits so she wouldn't get too crazy, especially with a stranger - that was something that she had vowed never to do again.

Soras turned to the barman. "Long Island Iced Tea for the lady." HE looked back at her. "If you want to shift to straight vodka this should last a little longer but kick just as hard."

Amaranai took the comment in and thought for a moment. She liked the Long Island Iced Tea, though it was not something that she had had in some time.

"I'll remember that," she said. "Thank you."

She paused.

"So, Soras," she began after a moment. "What do you do?"

"Starfleet Intelligence," he held up a hand, "Now before you get all excited, I'm not a spy. I'm a math nerd. I baby sit a mathmatical simulator for identifying risk potential. I'm not James Bond. Alas."

Amaranai was about to say something but it seemed that Soras had heard all the questions before and almost answered all of hers. At the same time, she wondered just how much he knew within Starfleet Intelligence - like if he knew that she had been on the Galileo and that its entire crew was subject to interviews to determine what happened to the ship. Instead of getting into that, though, Amaranai smiled.

"Good," she said. "That means I'm not falling for the villain." Another pause. "Unless you're a villain in disguse?"

She smiled again.

He smiled back. "Would you like me to be? I'm sure I can find a death laser somewhere in stores to tie you to if so. I'm always happy to oblige a lady."

Being a fan of James Bond herself, Amaranai was glad to have Soras make the old reference.

"Not necessary," she said. "I think there's enough awkwardness going on right now without that happening."

Soras put on a thick accent, "So our encounter is leaving you shaken not stirred? How very disappointing."

Amaranai chuckled. Soras was as least charming and doing his best to charm her. She felt bad that the evening wouldn't end with him.

"So . . ." she said. "A math nerd, huh? I always hated math, but so far, you're okay."

"Well, numbers can be fun, but you have to show them whose boss, or they get all irrational." He made a rimshot sound and grinned.

Definitely a bad joke and Amaranai rolled her eyes in a joking manner.

"Okay," she said. "So what do you like to do when numbers aren't involved?"

The barman finished the Long Island Iced Tea, and Soras passed it to her. "I like diving. I'm qualified to teach scuba, and there's some fantastic sites to go poke around out in the gulf. And I play a mean hand at poker, if I say so myself." He swirled his drink, what looked like a mojito from the ice and the mint in the long glass. "Or does that count as numbers?"

"I don't count poker as numbers. Poker is strategy. A mind game. Sure, numbers come into play a little bit but more if you are counting the cards."

She thought about the card game that she played in order to get a little freedom. It had worked, luckily, but she wouldn't consider herself a card shark.

"I've never been diving," she continued. "Not that I wouldn't enjoy it, just never really thought about it."

"Everyone needs to try it," Soras said. "Especially round here, the water's beautiful. If you're interested I run a class out in Oakland if you have some free time?" his smile was easy, but also hopeful. "Perfect for beginners."

Even though there was little chance at romance for Soras, there was nothing wrong with making a friend. Perhaps scuba diving would be fun.

"I don't know," she said. "I'm not sure how long I'm going to be here on Earth."

"Oh," Soras deflated a little bit. But he reached for his wallet and drew out a thin wafer of laser etched metal. "Well, if you find you're going to be here a bit. My details are there. Plus all our lesson times for the spring, where you can find us. Everything you need. Stop by any time."

This was good. Amaranai took the metal and glanced at it briefly just to verify what she had been given. Not that she didn't believe Soras, but as one who had given guys fake contact information in the past, she wouldn't have put it past a guy to do the same to her. Luckily, though, the card seemed honest.

"So, water, numbers, what else makes you tick?" She paused. "What led you to join Starfleet Intelligence? Or did they make you?" She chuckled.

"Bit of both," Soras admitted "My doctorate was basically how use a function of warp field theory to enforce P equals NP allowing for near infinitely diverse behavioural modelling, primarily for planning astrogation at Warp 9.95 plus because there even mm small course corrections result in destination differences you measure in light years, or even decades, so they have to be right, so you can use them to track ships under high speed, but it could also be applied to any sort of multi input behaviour."

He saw Amaranai's eyes beginning to glaze. "Starfleet saw my thesis, and asked if i'd like to apply some of my alogirthms to some of their models. I said yes."

Amaranai was fascinated with science but what Soras was talking about was not science. It was gibberish. She smiled and nodded briefly to show that she was listening but had no clue exactly what he was saying. When he stopped and gave the simple version, Amaranai smiled again, this time, wider.

"Ah, well, why didn't you say that in the first place?"

She grinned and took a sip of her drink. It was tasty and she could tell that there was an extra dose of alcohol in the glass, but not too much - just enough.

"Right. Smart. Educated. Athletic. Good."

She turned to see if Miraj was anywhere close by but didn't see the pink-haired girl.

"I won't be able to top any of that. Thank you for the drink."

She downed the rest of the Long Island Iced Tea - something that should never be done - and shook her head to get past the shock to her system.

"Top?" Soras looked at her, confused for a moment, "Its not a competition. What do you do? I mean, you've let me talk about myself for ten minutes solid. But you haven't said a thing about yourself."

"I've let you talk because you had a lot to say, and I was interested, I won't deny it." She paused. "I'm not that special. I was on a starship but I'm in the middle of a reassignment at the moment."

Yeah, that seemed like the best way to put it.

"My kind of adventure is usually in an archeological setting, not underwater, but I do know of some places that are underwater where being able to scuba would come in handy."

She paused a moment to think and looked at her empty glass.

"I'm not really doing great job at making a good first impression." She giggled. "Oh well."

She flagged a waiter down and asked for another Long Island Iced Tea.

"Well if archeolgy is your thing, there's several good wrecks to visit local to here. Or if your're feeling adventurous we take groups world wide." He raised a hopeful eyesbrow, trying not to let the conversation lapse.

It wasn't lost on Amaranai that Soras was trying to connect with her someplace else besides this club and she was grateful for his attempts.

"I can't really leave the city," she said, which was the truth.

Well, it was mostly the truth. She knew that all she had to do was inform Starfleet Security to let them know where she was, but that was too much of a hassle.

"But something local might be interesting," she added. "I'll at least think about that."

"Good," Soras finished his own drink, and seemed to realise his chance was over. "Just don't think too long, okay. its always best to just go jump right in. Literally in my case."

Amaranai nodded. She was unsure exactly when or if she would join Soras on a dive, but it was nice that he was willing to encourage her to participate.

"I'll let you know," she said. "I'm not sure when I'll be heading out, so I can't guarantee what my schedule is going to be like."

"I understand," Soras said. "One reason I like my desk job." he admitted. "Far more control over my adventures." He saluted her with his drink. "It was nice to meet you, Amaranai."

Now Amaranai felt really bad. It seemed like Soras was giving up and leaving.

"Are you leaving already?" she asked. "I haven't had a chance to pry Starfleet's utmost secrets from you!"

She was raising her voice. Not in anger, really, but in a way to keep him from leaving.

Soras raised an eyebrow, the dark eye underneath sparkling, "Starfleets utmost secret? Do your worst, I'll never break!" he teased.

Amaranai stood up straighter, as if preparing herself for the interrogation.

"Well, I think the best question would be about your numbers brain," she said with a smile. "If you are really as smart as you say you are, you should know some complext math."

She paused and a giggle escaped her lips. She covered her smile and then went back to pretending to be serious.

"Like what is twenty times twelve minus ten divided by two?"

Amaranai didn't know the answer and wasn't really expecting Soras to tell her the answer. She was just trying to keep him from leaving, if only so Miraj wouldn't come back over and try to force her upon someone else.

"Two hundred and thirty five," he said without hesitation. "Based on standard operator precedence and assuming no brackets. Or if you're going backwards, ten divided by two is five, twelve take five is seven, and the product of twenty and seven is one hundred and forty. Of if you meant twelve minus ten, then divide the result by two, you get one, and twenty times one is twenty."

Amaranai shook her head with mock indignation.

"Okay, math spy," she said. "You got me. I surrender."

She made like she was going to put her hands up and then changed her mind. She wasn't going home with the guy, why would she give him that impression?

"You know," she continued and finished her drink. "Have you ever gone diving at night? Or drunk?" She paused. "I'm not saying we need to go now, I'm just asking a question."

"Drunk, no. That's just suicidally dumb. But night dives can be cool. You can see the bio luminescence, or just enjoy a reef by moonlight. It can be," he hesistated, "quite romantic."

Romantic?

This was definitely going the wrong way.

"I . . ." she hesitated herself. "I'm not sure about that."

Another pause.

"I mean," she gathered herself. "You're underwater. You can't talk, no reactions. You can't see anything."

"Well that's the same in daylight, and if you don't go deep, and the moon is big, and full..." he trailed off, and gave her an evaluating look. "Is there something else going on here? I mean... I run a behavioural simulator and there's something off about this whole conversation."

Amaranai sighed. She looked around for Miraj, not wanting the girl to hear what she was about to say.

"Honestly," she said. "It's not you, it's me."

She shook her head.

"I know it sounds cliche, but it's true. My friend, the one that introduced us, wants to set me up with someone. And unfortunately, I can't tell her that I'm with someone. So, here we are."

Soras looked over to where the young pink-haired girl was dancing in a semi circle with a group of girls, several men hanging round at the edges, green fruit laden drink in hand, obviously having a good time. Every so often she'd split off from the group, tap a man or woman on the shoulder, indicate someone else, before dancing off, leaving the two individuals looking at each other in a slightly embarrassed way. "Why not? She seems a very... straightforward person."

Amaranai turned slightly to see that Soras had been looking at Miraj and the many people she was dancing with. She was such a free spirit and that was one of the many reasons that Amaranai had come to like the girl. She heard the comment from Soras and turned back to face him.

"It's not that," she started. "It's just that the person that I'm with is someone that she . . ." she looked at Miraj once more. "Was almost involved with. There had been more than a little flirtation between the two and it didn't work out. That's when I met up with the other woman and we hit it off." She paused. "That's why it's a little awkward."

He frowned. "Oh, so you're worried she'll be jealous since she didn't get the girl," he realised he'd been speaking from his own perspective, "I mean boy. Or non-gendered, or gender fluid or alternate gendered individual of your mutual choice."

The way that Soras stated the facts caused Amaranai to smile and giggle.

"When you put it that way," she said. "Yes. A woman."

Amaranai was not going to admit that it was their commanding officer that was the woman in question.

"You would think that I wouldn't care and that Miraj being my friend would understand, but I feel bad for Miraj because of how she told me she felt for this other woman."

"Oh, her puppy crush didn't reciprocate." Soras nodded with understanding. Amaranai was obviously several years older than Miraj, and the age gap could still count, even at that age. "That's really tough. I cried for days when my higher math tutor got engaged two days before I finished high school. She was smoking hot, especially when she talked about topology."

Another chuckle because of Soras' math nerdiness.

"Anyway," she said. "Miraj thinks that I need to hook up with someone. I told her I didn't need to but she insisted."

"And here we are, drinking too much." Soras poked at the reamins of his whiskey and soda, before signalling the barman for another. "Well, I'm not sure how to get you out of this one? Would she believe you sneaking off on a one night stand? I could try and smuggle you out?"

"Drinking not enough?"she said, also viewing her near-empty glass.

"I think she would actually jump for joy if I were to leave with you."

"Then give me a second, just let me tell the boys I'll be off for ten minutes. Give me a chance to grab a pizza slice or something. Soak up all this whiskey." Soras stepped a way to where a pair of men were standing on the side of the dance floor, working on their beers before heading back into the melee.

Amaranai nodded and allowed Soras a moment to talk to his friends.

After a thirty seconds of shouted whispers, gestures and thumbs up, Soras headed back. "What was that thing they used to say back when everything still had wires? 'grab your coat, love, you've pulled!'" He gave her a grin.

She wasn't sure exactly what he meant by his comment, but she smiled and started to walk out, hopefully they wouldn't run into Miraj. She could just tell her later that she went home with Soras and had a fun time.

Walking out of the bar, Amaranai was relieved.

"Thank you, Soras," she said. "You have saved me." She paused. "And I do want to try diving sometime soon, if I can."

"Well, I've always wanted to rescue a Damsel In Distress. Not that you seem very distressed, I'm happy to say. And do come try it. And bring your friend. Its always better to have someone to go down with."

Amaranai stared at Soras for a moment because of his comment and rolled her eyes. While at one point Amaranai had fancied thoughts about being with Miraj, those quickly dissapated as they talked more. And while the thoughts were still somewhere in the back of her brain, Amaranai was happy with Lirha. She didn't say anything, though, deciding to not get into that conversation.

Miraj looked at her empty glass. She was feeling somewhat buzzed. Zombie Princes had a lot of rum. She looked towards the bar, mostly for a new drink but also to check on Amaranai. She was gone. So was the guy she'd played Have You Met with. "Yes! Result!" She looked around. Had they gone to dance? No, there they were, heading for the exit. Off for food? Or even better, sex? Damn she was good at this game.

And then she realised that Amaranai's purse was still at the foot of the stool the man had been perched on. Ooops. She grabbed for the bag, and headed to the door to get it to Amaranai.

Amaranai said her goodbyes to Soras and turned to walk the opposite way only to see a pink-haired young woman - the only one that Amaranai knew - walking out of the door holding Amaranai's purse.

"Oh," Amaranai said. "My purse. Right."

Miraj looked at Soras, heading further into the night oblivious of Miraj's exit. Her face fell. "Are you not leaving with him?"

Amaranai turned quickly to see Soras walking off and then saw the look on Miraj's face. The look of defeat and disappointment.

"Uh...."

The brunette was unsure of what to say at that moment and instead sighed and took Miraj by the hand.

"We need to talk."

Amaranai led Miraj to a nearby restaurant that would be easier to talk instead of the noisy bar they had just left. After sitting and staying quiet for a couple of minutes, Amaranai finally spoke up.

"The guy was a good choice," she started. "He's funny, smart and has some good hobbies. It's just that . . ."

How was she going to put this?

"It's just that . . ." Silence. "I'm actually with someone."

Before Miraj had a moment to speak, Amaranai continued.

"And I didn't tell you because you were so hellbent on setting me up with someone and I didn't want to steal that joy from you. You seemed so happy to want to try. So I let you. And I convinced the guy to just help me get out of the bar."

Miraj opened her mouth, then closed it again. She looked dejected. "You should have said something." she said, "I only wanted to do it because you said you were having a dry spell, and I didn't like to see you lonely."

Amaranai smiled softly at her friend. She should have said something but the look in Miraj's eyes when talking about setting Amaranai up was just too good. The brunette could not take that away.

"I was in a dry spell," Amaranai said. "But things changed and something happened that snowballed into something else."

She knew she should tell Miraj that it was Lirha that had happened but she wasn't ready. Not unless Miraj asked. Please don't ask who I'm with she thought.

Miraj gave her a light punch to the arm. "That's for not telling me!" She gave Amaranai a vexed glare, then her face softened. "So, who is it? Who's the mystery person? Was it that cute security guy on the Arilith?"

Though the punch didn't really hurt, Amaranai put her hand over the spot and rubbed it, imitating an injury. The question came from Miraj, of course, though her first impression was someone on one of the ships that had brought them home.

"No, it's not him," she said. "I mean, I talked with him a little but, no. He wasn't into the ladies."

She had skirted the question, though she wasn't sure just how long she would last.

"Damn! " Miraj muttered. "My gaydar was totally out on that one." There was an awkward silence as they sat back whilst a waiter handed out Menus and the sea breeze ruffled at her pink bunches. She wrapped her arms around her bare midriff. "So if its not him, who? It has to be someone fresh. We were only on that ship a month. No time at all."

She didn't want to admit it, especially not to Miraj, not after what had happened. Miraj was smart. She could figure it out eventually if Amaranai didn't tell her. But where would that get Amaranai. It would be as if she didn't trust her friend. As if she didn't think it was any of Miraj's business, when all the pink-haired girl was trying to do was be a friend.

"It's..." she paused. "It's..."

Why was this so hard?

"It's Lirha."

There. She said it. Now, it was just a matter of waiting for the reaction.

"You're Lirha's rebound?" Miraj knew that Amaranai had thought Lirha was seeing someone else scant days after Lirha had declared her interest in Miraj and been rebuffed. She was shocked, she'd told Amaranai about how Lirha had jumped on her, and then had relieved the pilot of duty when she'd freaked out. Lirha was obviously fickle at best, or downright unstable at worst. Amaranai was going to get hurt. "Why?"

"I..." she didn't have a real answer. "I don't know."

She paused, still, really unable to grasp everything that had happened between the officers.

"I was lonely. We hooked up once and then again and then it just sort of blended into an actual relationship."

Another pause.

"I know you must think I'm terrible. Or that Lirha is terrible. I don't know if I can convince you otherwise, but know that I'm happy. And that's my choice."

The younger woman frowned. It didn't make sense to her at all. "But it's been what? Six weeks? That counts?" She'd known Luke a lot longer, and they still hadn't got past heavy petting.

"Look, Miraj," Amaranai said quietly. "I know it's crazy. I think it is too. But there is something about Lirha that I needed. I don't know how to describe it. It could be that I feel protected when I'm with her. Like my family, my past or anything else can't get to me as long as I'm near her. For someone like me, who has had a lot of trouble in the past, that's important."

Miraj's frown was now so deep her eyes almost dissapeared under her pronounced brow ridge, the trident indent on her forehead becoming strongly visible. She had felt anything but protected with Lirha. And Amarania's comment about the importance of that to Amaranai she became even more concerned. From her experience, Lirha went straight for where you were weakest. "So, relationship. She's taken you on dates?"

Amaranai could tell that Miraj was concerned. Was it because Lirha had dismissed the girl so quickly? Was there something that Miraj knew about Lirha that she wasn't admitting? The obvious question came and Amaranai shook her head, hating to admit the truth.

"Not really," she said. "I mean, we just got together when we were transferred from the Klingon vessel. We hung out, but nothing official, like a date. And then we got to Earth..."

She trailed off, sad that she been unable to talk to Lirha. Even now, with the communications ban lifted, they had yet to really talk. Amaranai figured it had something to do with her being the CO of the entire mission and the responsibilities therein.

"So its just sex?" Miraj wasn't entirely sure if her concern was out of genuine fear that Lirha would just drop Amaranai the moment something better came along, or frustration that she'd had dates and was still at second base. Luke was being a gentleman, but she wasn't sure she wouldn't explode with months (years) of pent up lust before they got to go away.

It was hard for her to admit that what she had with Lirha was just sex. Amranai wanted to believe that there was more to the relationship than that, but it seemed as if that was the prominent portion of the relationship.

"It's not just sex," Amaranai said. "We talk about life. We talk about each other, our families."

She paused a moment and then smiled shyly.

"I guess it is mostly sex."

She chuckled.

Miraj didn't laugh in turn. "Promise me you'll be careful? I'm going to worry now."

The statement caught Amaranai off guard. The brunette valued Miraj's friendship and trusted her opinion, so for her to worry about Amaranai now worried the young woman.

"Why are you so worried?"

So many reasons. Miraj thought. Not least of which is less than forty eight hours after declaring I am one of the most beautiful woman in the quadrant, and wanting to be intimate, Lirha was sleeping with you. "Because I don't trust her. Not on this. I think she's using you and I don't want to see you hurt when she's off after the next new thing."

Amaranai sighed. She was unsure exactly what Miraj meant but now she was curious about Lirha's intentions. She didn't want to be hurt but at this point in her life, it wouldn't surprise her and it probably wouldn't even phase her.

"I'll be careful," she said.

She paused and then looked at Miraj.

"Thank you for your honesty. It means a lot."

"I know she's been through a lot," Miraj said, "I mean, she's got pregnant, who knows what happened to the father, then looses the babies, and the ship, and everything all so fast. I know she must be hurting, but I don't want her hurting anyone else either, especially not someone I care about. If it works out then great, honestly. I just worry. Who I am going to get to play pirates with me if you decide you can't stick around?"

Miraj tried to look happy and hopeful, but she was too worried about Amaranai getting her heart broken to pull it off. Her bunches drooped down as she looked at her lap.

Miraj's comment about not being around for her made Amaranai feel bad and she put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'll still play pirates if you'll play vampire hunter with me."

She paused.

"You're a really good friend, Miraj," Amaranai started again. "I don't want to lose that."

Miraj nodded. "Me too. Neither. You know what I mean." She looked glum. "I've kind of made a mess of tonight, haven't I?"

"Nah," Amaranai said. "It was fun meeting someone new."

Another pause.

"Maybe we should call it a night and we'll hang out again soon. Thanks for the fun, though."

Miraj nodded. The edge had gone off the evening. "I'm sorry." She stood up, "I think I'll go for a walk. I'll see you soon though?"

Amaranai nodded.

"See you soon."

Miraj turned away, and trudged off into the evening.

OFF

Lt. jg Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Chief Security / Tactical

Ensign Miraj Derani

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