Wake Up Call (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 18 Jan 2013 @ 12:10am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

2,962 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Panne's Quarters
Timeline: MD -02: 0330 hrs

[ON]

Stifling a yawn, Lirha turned over bridge operations to her XO and headed to her quarters down on Deck 2. Galileo's second and most recent launch had gone relatively smoothly, so much so that she had been able to catch up on some last-minute promotions to a few very-deserving members of her crew. Now, with all of her administration duties finished for the evening, it was time for some rest.

The turbolift ride was short, and Lirha promptly arrived in her quarters and peeled off her uniform. Taking a long and slow sonic shower, her adventurous mind began to wander (as it always did during such moments), and her thoughts eventually settled on Maenad. The tall French woman had seemed to be on edge recently, more so than usual, and Lirha hadn't had the opportunity to speak to her since their strange conversation in her ready room regarding the new chief research officer, Lieutenant Pendleton. Maenad had not taken the news very well, which Lirha had been expecting, but still...there was a certain amount of anger and tension from the science chief that Lirha had detected, and she wasn't exactly sure why. Perhaps there was something else going on with the woman, and perhaps there was something Lirha could do to help. Afterall, she was quite fond of Maenad, and a happy and stress-free officer was a productive officer.

Finally turning off the shower, Lirha walked into her bedroom and put on her night clothes; a tight fitting tank top and gray Starfleet sweat pants, then collected a small bag of items and headed out of her quarters, across the hallway, and over to Maenad's door. Pressing the chime, she waited several long moments for a response. Nothing. She tapped the chime again, then suddenly realized that Maenad was probably in the middle of sleeping.

Being the light sleeper that she was, Maenad woke up immediately after the first chime. At first, she didn't know what it was, and she lied perfectly still on her back, staring up through her window at the stars that were streaking by. Why was she awake? She sat up a bit, darting her eyes around the shadows of her room. Was she having a nightmare? She didn't think so. Maybe her heart had almost stopped, maybe her blood was poisoned. These things could happen with her newly diagnosed illness, and she had forgotten to inject herself with medication. Suddenly very frightened, Maenad began waiting for a symptom of sudden and inexplicable death. She imagined her limp body being discovered by security in the morning when she failed to report for duty.

Her chime. How could she have been so stupid? Her chime? She heard it again. Someone was at her door. Maenad checked the clock; 0333. "Qu'est ce que se passe?" she grumbled, sitting upright. The chime sounded again, and she stood up, scrounging for something to put on. Where was her robe? She found it on the floor after many frustrating seconds, and slipped it on over her naked body, pulling it tight over her chest.

"Yes, yes," she said to herself as she practically sprinted to the door, the white robe made her look ghostly in the starlight of her quarters. Whoever it was, she was thinking that it had better have been important. She pressed the button with her thumb and was surprised to see the captain standing there. "Captain," she exclaimed. "I'm sorry, I was--" she stepped back, holding her robe closed with one hand and gestured for her to come in. "I was asleep. Is there anything I can get you? Please, have a seat," she felt thoroughly embarrassed accepting the captain in this condition. In the darkness of the room, she trotted over to the lamp beside her couch and turned it on, bringing some light onto them. "I wasn't expecting company," she was smiling, her cheeks now red. On the plus side, she was completely awake now.

Lirha saw Maenad and immediately felt bad for waking her. Judging from her flushed cheeks and the way she held her robe closed, it was evident that she had not had time to get properly dressed. Slowly stepping inside, Lirha gave her a small smile and a squeeze on her arm. "I'm sorry for waking you," she began, "I just finished my shift and I came to see how you were doing. I haven't seen much of you since our last meeting." she added, then casually moved towards the couch and took a seat.

Maenad yawned as she considered, and then remembered, her meeting with the captain about Mister Pendleton. She sniffed, wiped her eyes, and shook her head. "No, that's all right," she said. "I am doing fine; I have been busy the past few days. I might have been premature in my worrying." She smiled at her, looking her in the eyes for the first time in days. "I'm glad you've come. Please, let me get you something. Tea? Have you eaten?"

Lirha was inclined to say no, but the prospect of a snack before bed was too tempting. "I suppose I wouldn't mind a pastry and some hot chocolate." she replied, glancing around the room and letting her eyes settle on the piano Maenad so enjoyed.

"Tres bien," Maenad smiled, not realising her French was more pronounced. She was having a hard time getting all of her English as accurate as it normally was from having just woken out of deep REM sleep. "What kind of pastry would you like?" she asked, replicating the hot chocolate and a cup of Earl Grey for herself.

"Oh...I'm not picky. Perhaps a croissant with some type of filling?" she proposed, knowing that Maenad probably knew much more about pastries than she did.

With a pensive frown, Maenad faced the replicator again. When she had it, she inclined her head as if to say A-ha!. With two trays, she went over to where she had told the captain to sit. Two apple strudels with whipped cream, one for each of them, on a white plate with a knife and fork. "Apfelstrudel," she pronounced in perfect German, but then realised she probably sounded pretentious. She had always said it like that because of her upbringing. "Apple strudel," she corrected in English. "I'm sorry," she shook her head, feeling embarrassed again and sat down on the side of the couch closest to the lamp. "I hope you like it."

As Maenad moved over to the couch with the tray of food, the delicious smell of the confections seeped into the captains nostrils, and she eagerly eyed the pastries. "Thank you." she said with a smile, then picked up the knife and fork and began to eat. The apple strudel tasted delicious, and Lirha happily hummed as she quickly ate the entire thing. Taking a long swig of hot chocolate afterwards, she turned to Maenad with a look of approval in her eyes. "That was fantastic. I'll have to try and remember that for next time...'apple strudel'." she repeated to herself, making sure not to forget the name.

Maenad had never seen a person eat a whole strudel so quickly. She laughed, barely having finished half of her own by the time the captain gave her final approval. "I'm pleased," she nodded, sipping from her tea.

Wiping her mouth with a napkin, Lirha grinned at Maenad, still noticing that she had not yet finished her meal. "I haven't eaten since 1300 yesterday..." she admitted sheepishly.

"That's not good for you," she said, more of a thought to herself than to the captain. "But neither is eating a pastry at almost four in the morning," she also thought aloud, as she bit another piece of creamy strudel from her fork.

"No, I suppose it isn't." Lirha replied with a sigh, then leaned back into the couch and curled her legs underneath her. In reality, and all things food set aside, Lirha had recently been doing a few things that probably weren't good for her. First and foremost on her mind were her fornications with members of her own crew, specifically Maenad. John's words of disapproval began to echo throughout her mind as she recalled the candid talk he had had with her several days ago, warning her that he would inform Starfleet if he caught her with anymore "guests" in her quarters. Nervously beginning to play with her green fingers, Lirha decided that it was best to inform Maenad...and then take it from there.

"I...have something to tell you." she began in a quiet voice, staring down at the tray in front of them. "My XO knows about us...and he hasn't been pleased with my actions, sleeping with a subordinate on the ship. He...thinks it sets a bad example for the rest of the crew."

Maenad looked at her, still holding her tea by the handle. "How is that possible?" she asked, her pleasantness having totally vanished. She became severe, then. She thought back to the night Lirha had spent with her. No one had seen anything, it was always very late or very private. And then at the beach, they were in private and alone. She hadn't told anyone about their times together, and she had silently entrusted that Lirha would do the same. "I haven't told anyone, and every time we've," she fumbled for words, "Been intimate, no one else has been anywhere near us." She set her tea down, still frowning. "Unless you have told anyone, no one knows anything that's gone on between us." The private person that she was, Maenad had always kept her sexual partners to herself and in private; her personal and public lives were two very different things that she had always taken great care to protect.

Lirha shook her head. "I haven't told anyone also, but...it is a small crew, and perhaps someone noticed that we have been visiting each others' quarters. Commander Holliday mentioned to me that I had 'exceeded the acceptable number of visitors to my quarters'...whatever that means, so it is possible that someone has been looking through the internal sensors and was taking notes." she finished with a sigh, then looked up at Maenad. "I'm sorry, I never meant for this to become public. I enjoy our time together and don't want anything to interfere with it."

"I don't believe this," she said. And she really didn't. Someone was spying on what the captain was doing, who she was visiting in her spare time, how frequently she'd been going places on the ship, then reported it to Commander Holliday, who then felt it prudent to intrude on his captain's personal life? Something wasn't right. "Captain, over the last two weeks I have been to your quarters once, where you offered me a place to stay until I got my own quarters sorted out. You stayed here once. Two visits in sixteen days, since I first came aboard, is hardly worthy of investigation," Maenad let out a long sigh. "Unless there are others you've been spending time with; is this about us, or is it about you?" Things just didn't add up.

Once again, Lirha sighed, realizing that it was probably best to come clean with Maenad about her personal life, especially if she wanted to continue seeing the science chief. "I..." she paused, finding it difficult to say what she needed to, "I...have spent some time with other people recently, yes." she finally admitted with a somewhat-ashamed look in her eyes. "I visited the freighter captain who towed us to Vega colony and...well, we became intimate for a short period."

Maenad didn't move. "All right," she said. It made no difference to her that Lirha had slept with someone else, but this freighter captain wasn't someone that Commander Holliday could lecture her about - she wasn't part of the crew. "If Commander Holliday has a problem with me going to your quarters to, for all he knows, sleep on the couch because I was then-homeless, and then you spending the night here, regardless of why, then I think Mister Stone would be more than happy to throw him in the brig for invasion of privacy. We have only been intimate on the ship once. Are there any others?" There had to be; she still couldn't imagine anyone knowing about her if neither of them had told anyone.

"No," came the Orion's reply in a barely audible whisper. "Not since we have been intimate." she added. It was the truth; Lirha, despite her hedonistic and sometimes over-sexed personality, had not slept with anyone else besides Maenad and Jesra since the night Maenad had purchased her piano. "I'm sorry." she said softly, struggling to look Maenad in the eyes. "I really like you... a lot. More so than anyone else I've been with in the past few years." she said sincerely.

Genuinely shocked to hear that, Maenad blushed a little. She really didn't know what she was doing half the time, and she preferred being manipulated to manipulating because of that. "I'm flattered," she said, not knowing what else to say. Maenad had to say the same back to her, simply because she hadn't been with anyone else for several years, but she decided to hold her tongue. "Then how can there be complaints and rumours?" she asked. "It doesn't make any sense."

"I am Galileo's commanding officer." Lirha replied simply. "My conduct is the most visible out of anyone on the ship...even the little things such as if I leave someone else's quarters in the middle of the night." she tried to explain, unsure if Maenad understood the full extent of the responsibility associated with being a Starfleet captain.

Maenad sighed. "So, now what?" She still didn't understand why a single visit to her quarters warranted investigation by the XO.

Struggling as a flood of emotions ran through her head, Lirha looked deeply into Maenad's green eyes and paused for a long moment. "Now...I want you to kiss me." she said softly, scooting closer to the taller woman until their legs brushed together. "Because I don't care what my XO thinks."

Looking at her, Maenad opened her mouth, but she was now upset - again. She had been awoken in the middle of the night to be told that her executive officer had made up some lie about the crew thinking that she was being inappropriate because she had spent the night in the captain's quarters. Once. She had spent the night there one time, and it was entirely appropriate; she didn't do anything that night. And, nobody saw her go in. And the same went for the time when Lirha had spent the night here, in Maenad's quarters. Nobody saw a thing.

She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Why did Lirha always smell so beautiful? she wondered. And how did beautiful have a smell? She didn't know, and she really didn't care. The captain asked her to be kissed, so kiss her she would. Maenad moved closer to her, so they were no longer just touching but actually pressing against each other. She believed Lirha when she told her that she liked her more than the others, because she knew if she were someone else she probably would too. A sultry smile formed as she hovered her head almost touching the captain's shoulders and neck, taking in deep but quiet breaths of her scent. She gently rubbed her nose against the round of her shoulder, then gently kissed it, making her way up her neck and then finally to her mouth.

Maenad pushed Lirha gently to the side so that she was almost laying into the couch, but she stopped after a minute or two of her new position, holding herself up with her arms over her. Her robe had come apart, but she hadn't really noticed. "My shift starts at eight," she said, which was in about four hours. She kissed her again, biting the captain's lip and pulling it as she withdrew again. Despite the sudden desire she had, she could feel the aching around her eyes. "I wish you'd come earlier."

As Maenad moved closer and pressed herself against her, Lirha's heart fluttered with a rarely-felt feeling of love and comfort. Maenad was beautiful, smart, passionate...a bit temperamental at times, but who wasn't? Lirha let out an airy breath as her science chief nuzzled her shoulder, then finally moaned softly into her mouth as they finally kissed, deeply and passionately for many long moments. Without noticing, the captain soon found herself on her back and fluttered her eyes at the tall woman as she took in the sight of her exposed breasts and smooth belly. Snaking her bare green arms underneath the soft fabric of the robe, Lirha wrapped her hands around Maenad's waist and pulled her closer, leaning her head up and planting a series of tender kisses along her collar and down the middle of her chest. When Maenad teased her lip with a gentle bite, the Orion couldn't resist letting out a soft whimper of delight. "I'm sorry," she whispered, "I had some administrative work to tend to." she explained. "But...I brought something that might make you feel better." she added, her eyes playfully flickering towards the bag she had brought with her which now laid nearby on the carpet.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant (JG) Maenad Panne
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

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