Crash

Posted on 07 Dec 2012 @ 10:39am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Nesh Saalm

2,627 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: San Franscisco, Earth
Timeline: MD6 1100 hours

[ON]

Nesh Saalm switched the comm panel on, wiping a hand over her eyes. The crystal clear perception of their new comm system didn't hide the fact that she was crying, as much as she tried. She sighed in relief at Lirha as she appeared on screen. "Oh, thank god," the younger Orion said with a weak smile.

"Look, I--" she was practically vibrating, and stood up to pace around the room before coming and leaning over the chair. The fact that she was desperately in trouble was clear as day between her rumpled clothing and tears. "Lirha?" she asked, usual nicknames forgone. She was momentarily distracted by the fact that she could see sky behind her sister, instead of space, but shook her head again. "Mom's really, really mad," she whispered, shoulders sagging. "Remember - remember how you said, I could like, live with you?" she started, trying to keep her voice level.

Her usual brand of cheeriness was disturbingly lacking. She backtracked, standing up again, a whirlwind of uncertainty and distress. "You know, on Galileo?" she threw a hand up, slapped it back against her leg, her tall form moving back and forth agitatedly across Lirha's comm. "I think, maybe that's a good idea." She turned around, momentum regained. Rather than explain, she barreled forward, characteristically headstrong. "We should do it. Let's do it," she said. "I'll even call you captain! When can I come?" she asked abruptly, eyes shining.

At first, Lirha was overjoyed to see Nesh on the screen in front of her. It had been a little over two weeks since they had last spoken, but it felt much longer for some strange reason. Unfortunately, Lirha's joy soon faded as she realized something was wrong with her little sister. She seemed agitated and antsy, and as she spoke, Lirha frowned in confusion. "Nesh...what happened? What's going on?"

At that tone, Nesh placed her hands over her eyes to calm down. A few rustling movements later she was sat down in front of the comm screen. "My friend, you remember him? Not a boyfriend," she started, rolling her eyes. "We're just friends. Well... he had a shuttle. We were going for a ride, and, he crashed it. I was in the passenger seat but mom flipped," Nesh said, and swallowed to avoid embarrassing herself by crying again. A few tears leaked out. "She was so mad. She wants to send me to the cops! She said, I had to learn to shape up, or else. ReeHee, I wasn't even in the driver's seat. I," at that, she outright started crying. "I didn't even know he didn't have a license, he told me he did," she said, angrily. "Now she is going nuts, telling me I'm going to turn out bad, that I'm stressing her out. I'm the one who stayed, Lirha! I'm the one she had left. I'm the one she," she sighed. It was too close to home, and she was so over the emotional crybaby stuff. She shook her head, rubbing the flat of her palm over her face, and spoke, words resolute. "I want to come live with you. For a semester. You said, remember?"

As her little sister explained the situation, Lirha realized the gravity of what had happened. Her first reaction was anger; anger that Nesh had been foolish enough to joyride in a shuttlecar with her 'not-boyfriend', as well as anger that he had been irresponsible and crashed, putting her sister in a dangerous position. A long moment passed during which the captain stared at the screen, shaking her head in disapproval. "Yes, I told you you could come live with me...that doesn't mean run away from home." she said in an exasperated tone. "Nesh, you could have been killed in that accident! Are you alright?!" she half-asked, half-demanded.

The younger Orion nodded tearfully. "Just a few scrapes, no big. It's not running away," she contested with a sigh. "I just can't handle her right now. I get that... what," she paused a little, lacing her fingers together and separating them nervously, "What happened was wrong. You know? But, she's acting like I stole the national treasure! It was a shuttle ride! It was stupid and he is a jerk," she said with a blazing sincerity, obviously mad at being lied to herself, "Mom is convinced I'm going to run off and become a vagabond and disappoint her because I'm not like her other perfect daughters." That sounded a little bitter, and she forced herself, yet again, not to cry. She slumped. "I just want a break. I'm the one who looks after her. I'm the one who looks after her because she is busy watching television and being mopey, and now she chooses to be the responsible parent?" Nesh shook her head in anger. "I love mom, Lirha, but I can't handle her like this. I need a break. Besides, she wants me to go to the cops. I can't do that, I won't be able to get into Jmhari." Nesh realized that she hadn't told Lirha about that yet, but in her own frazzled state, it slipped out.

Lirha rubbed her forehead in frustration, not sure of how to handle the situation or what to tell her. On one hand, she agreed with her sister that their mother, Aila, was being a bit over-protective. But on the other, she didn't want to see Nesh run away from home and end up in a bad situation. Nor did she necessarily want to let her sister off the hook by letting her escape the consequences of her actions. It had all started back when Lirha had first gone off to the Academy; Aila had latched onto Nesh rather tightly because she was the only one left living in the house, and therefore the last one who she was ultimately responsible for raising. But as the years had gone by, and Nesh got older and more mature, Lirha was afraid that one of them would reach their boiling point.

The captain's thoughts suddenly snapped into focus as she realized that Nesh had also said something strange. "Jmhari?" she asked with a raised eyebrow as she stared at the other Orion through the screen.

Nesh gaped. Oops. That was not supposed to come out so soon. She flushed, a brilliant darkening to her cheeks that meant it was either private, or another horrible aspect of her terrible day. "Jmhari is, um, uh... well..." how could she best put this? (Laces her fingers together, taps the tips, crosses legs, drums hand against the desk...) "It's on Trill. It's, well, I applied for early admission. To their art program. Um, and they've, well, asked for an interview? And, if I get through the early sponsorship program I can send in my portfolio and start correspondence courses from Earth! Well, um... I know it's really far but Mr. Rithar," she said, as if the name meant something (it did, he was an art expert in her very reasonable, not-at-all-teenage-girl brain), "Said it was the best! Have you ever seen Trill? And they asked for an interview, ReeHee!" She blurted out all at once, halfway between tentative and excited. "And if mom makes me go through this ridiculous phase then I'll never get in. They are strict, Lirha. I know I said I wasn't keen on any of this school stuff, but it's Trill."

Lirha was flabbergasted but did her best to keep calm and composed. Nesh had always been the adventurous and rebellious type, but Lirha had never known the exact extent of it...until now. Apparently the younger Orion had thought it prudent to make plans for her future life without consulting anyone in the family, and for that, Lirha was very angry. "You did what?!?" she demanded with wide eyes. "Trill?! And you didn't tell ask me or mom for advice?!"

Nesh leaned her head back in her chair, which was useful for a lot of things, but mostly hid her frustrated tears. "You're always telling me I don't have any plans, and I don't want anything. Well, I do!" She righted herself and stared Lirha in the eye. "You were gone!" she blurted out, "And mom said I was only allowed to go to university in freaking San Francisco!" she returned, anger of her own flaring, but she forced it down because she didn't want to fight with her sister anymore. "I won't go anywhere until I finish school anyway. That's in like a year and a half, if I even get accepted to the exoplanetary program," she amended, quirking her lip downward a little. "I didn't even think they would accept me. I put my stupid portfolio in there as a joke! But they picked it, because they think I'm good! I thought you would be happy," she said quietly. This was going way down hill. Still, she peeked out of her hands at Lirha, because despite all of it, she still wanted to be there instead of here. Which said a lot. "Now it's not likely I'll get in anyway. Mom will tell them all about how irresponsible I am and they'll reject me. Just great." She tried to sound exasperated, but it came out much more dejected than she intended.

Lirha let out an audible sigh and shook her head. Nesh was obviously upset and the captain realized that by raising her voice at her, she wasn't going to make the situation any better. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling, I'm not trying to tell you what to do with your life," she began as she rested her chin on her hand, "I just wish that you had told me about your plans before you went off and applied. You know, a quick message that says 'Hey Lirha, I've been thinking about doing this and I wanted to get your opinion' sort-of-thing." she added, then began to fiddle with her dark hair as she pondered the situation some more. "To be honest...I think it is wonderful that the institute has taken an interest in you."

Nesh sniffled and nodded. "I'm sorry," she finally said. "You were on your mission, I didn't want to bother you with it. Mom, well, that wasn't an option." She laughed a little. "I tried. She shot me way down. The only place you're going is here in San Francisco, Nesh Saalm!" she shrieked in a very accurate approximation of Aila. "I know I should have... told you. It's just everything that's been going on, you know?" she asked forlornly. "I just want to get a break from it all. It's not ... set in stone, or anything." She was stubborn, strong-willed and so very desperately wanted it, but not at the cost of her family. But there was no way in hell she was staying in San Francisco, either. Aila lording over her every day. Nope nope nope. Lirha was her soft spot. "I'd just, really like to go. And, I'd really like to get away from here for a while. Please?"

It took Lirha many long moments as she considered Nesh's request. The reality was that there were many factors involved with spending life on board a Starfleet vessel, and though she was confident that Nesh could handle Galileo's daily routine, she wanted to be very clear about what was and was not to be expected. "Well...I would love to have you on board for a while, but life on Galileo will be much different from what you're currently used to. We have protocols, specific routines and procedures...and you would have to take up an apprenticeship of some type under one of our departments..." she answered as she began to list some of the things Nesh would have to acclimate herself to.

Nesh beamed, the happiness breaking through her face like the first ray of light in a long line of darkness, clapping her hands together excitedly. "That is awesome! I'll learn whatever you want," she promised, though she didn't know exactly what that meant, she only knew it was with Lirha and it would be away and different and who knew? Maybe it would even be fun. She didn't like Starfleet, but if she and her sister were together, that wasn't so bad, right? "So what department would you give me to? I mean, I could be useful!" she assured, a little too brightly.

Lirha held up both of her hands to slow down her excited sister's train of thought. "Hold on, not so fast...we still have a few things to discuss before we start talking about which department you are going to be attached to." she said with a small smile. She was relieved to see Nesh happy again, although her mood seemed to fluctuate from minute to minute like a normal hormonal Orion teenager.

"First, I need you to deal with mom and apologize to her for joyriding. I'm not going to be seen as 'the older sister who took the younger one away and let her off the hook'. I imagine she is very upset with you so I won't contact her until you make amends." she said as she began to lay out the terms of the arrangement. "You don't have to tell her about Jmhari, but I expect you to own up to your mistake with your not-boyfriend."

"He so isn't my boyfriend!" Nesh pouted. "He is especially not my boyfriend now." And that held some genuine anger, biting through her words at him. "Jerk," she muttered under her breath. She percolated the rest of Lirha's conditions with a tap-tap of her nails against her jaw. "Okay," she finally relented. It wasn't that she wasn't sorry (actually the guilt-thing here? kind of annoying), but she half expected Aila to haul her down to the station the minute she left her room. With renewed confidence, she sat up. "Okay," she repeated.

"In the meantime," Lirha continued, "I'm going to send you some information about civilian Starfleet positions. The Federation has a couple PADDlets and FAQs that I want you to read through. They will give you a basic idea of what to expect as a living and working crew member aboard a Starfleet vessel. I'm also going to need you to send me a transcript of your school grades and curriculum."

Nesh bobbed her head a few times consecutively and brushed a stray lock of dark hair behind her ear. "Alright, ReeHee. Hey, you might even be impressed this time. I am owning this term," the teenager announced self-confidently. "But seriously, I won't let you down!" she promised.

"You better not," the older Orion replied in a mock-scolding tone, "I'm the first Saalm in Starfleet and I have a reputation to uphold." she added with a grin. "Send me those files and I'll send you the required Starfleet information to get you started. And say hi to mom for me."

"Will do!" Nesh said cheerfully, giving a wave and ending the transmission.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Nesh Saalm
Captain's Sister
USS Galileo

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