Between two friends

Posted on 31 Jan 2013 @ 8:10pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Aria Rice

2,749 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Galileo - Rice's Quarters
Timeline: MD -02: 2005 hrs

[ON]

Standing outside Aria's quarters, Lirha tapped the door chime. The security lieutenant had been strangely absent during shore leave ever since their night out on the town, but the captain hadn't thought much of it. Shore leave was a time for the crew to relax and participate in any activities they deemed appropriate, as well as go off-world for any personal matters which needed tending to. But regardless, Lirha couldn't help but feel a little abandoned by Aria. They had had a wonderful night together at the club and subsequent Orion hotel on Vega, and, being a full-blooded Orion, Lirha was prone to getting emotionally attached to certain people...especially her lovers and friends. Aria fell into the 'both' category, which was surprising for such a young officer, but nonetheless meant that Lirha wanted to see her again. Sooner rather than later. Patiently, she waited for Aria to answer the door.

"Come in!" Aria said as she sat up, moving to the door. She wore baggy trousers, clearly to sleep in, and a top. She looked how she felt...tired. But when she saw Lirha she smiled, her eyes warming. "Captain..." she said and smiled warmly, stepping back. "Come on in...or are you Lirha? Like both, so don't mind what hat you're wearing today...metaphorically speaking!"

The Orion grinned as she stepped into Aria's quarters and saw her for the first time in many days. She looked casual, to say the least, yet still gorgeous as ever. "It's just Lirha, tonight..." she replied with an even bigger grin, then stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the shorter woman in a tight hug.

Aria hugged her back, closing her eyes...and then smiling as she shivered. "Oh...you're smelling nice..." she said and smiled, pulling back as she met her eyes. "And you look good, Lirha. Shoreleave has agreed with you."

Lirha blushed at the compliment, her olive cheeks turning a deep emerald color as she looked down over her own slim body and suddenly wondered if she had gained any weight. She had definitely indulged herself on many occasions during the past weeks, but had tried her best to maintain her daily workout routine...ten laps around Deck 2 in the morning, five when she finished her shift...but was unsure how that had ultimately affected her considering her recent food and holodeck cravings. In truth, Lirha had felt a bit stranger than usual as of late, acting with more primal instinct and reaction, yet less thought. With a mental shrug, she dismissed the notion that she was getting fat.

"Thank you." she replied in a light voice, then looked over the security officer from head to toe. "You look nice as well." she added, then paused for a brief moment as she looked into the woman's blue eyes. "How have you been?"

She smiled warmly, taking her hand to lead her to sit down on the sofa. She met her eyes before shrugging. "I...doing stuff. Drinking. Reading a lot. I did some walks, spent time alone. I...sort of avoided stuff when Marek died...hit a bit close, you know? Even if I didn't know him well, I still respected him. I have been spending some time with Stark...he stalked me one evening and I discovered he made a good party goer too..." she held her eyes, searching them for a moment. "I've been okay. I'll be better soon, I am sure of it."

Listening to Aria describe her shore leave and Marek Pawlak, Lirha couldn't help but let out an apologetic and sad sigh. So many of her crew had perished during their last mission that it was very emotionally disturbing to think about them all. Instead, the captain had tried her best to push their memories to the back of her head so that she didn't have to think about them. It probably wasn't the right way to cope with such events, but her it was the only way she knew as a new commanding officer to deal with such tragedy. Deep inside, she knew that she would have to face those demons some day...

A deep breath followed suit and Lirha forced a smile on her face as she stared back at Aria. "I do not know Gabriel very well, but his conduct aboard Galileo has so far been very strong." she replied. "As for you...you say you will be better soon?" she added with a slight hint of a question before continuing. "Is...there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

Aria met her eyes and took her hand, squeezing it. "Oh Lirha..." she said, her eyes gentle. "Can you like...wipe the mind of my Chief? Find a Vulcan to wipe away the fact I told him to screw himself?" It was difficult, admitting it...but Lirha was her friend, and here as her friend, not her Captain.

Lirha tilted her head to the side with a slight bit of confusion. "Your chief? You mean Lieutenant Stone?" she asked. "You told him to...'screw himself'??"

"Actually, I said...'screw you'..." Aria said and grimaced, shaking her head. "It's...look, it's not entirely my fault. I mean, brain told me not to, mouth did it anyway...it was the department meeting. It just got worse and worse by every word he said...12 hour shift...a rapid response team that I am not allowed to even volunteer for because the Chief Warrant Officer is leading it...and..." she sighed and looked down. "I know we let our hair down for shoreleave. We needed it after Sienna...but he was being...harsh. Basically saying we were crap...and maybe we are a bit unprofessional. And that as Security, we were never truly off duty, that we were held to a higher standard of behaviour. So no partying, no behaviour that might reflect less than perfect rose tinted glasses for him. But we're a good group, we sacrificed everything for this ship. And it felt like he spat on it. On all of us, on all the hard work we did...and I tried to explain that we were loyal to each other, to the Galileo. And we would die for each other and that loyalty couldn't be drummed in. And...then he brought up Marek. I...I couldn't stop myself saying it."

Lirha let out a deep sigh of frustration, not at Aria, but at her new Security chief of whom she had already received multiple complaints. Despite her efforts, even including giving the man a MWD (Sidi), he still seemed to be somewhat out of touch with the rest of his team, and therefore the ship as a whole. "I'm sorry, Aira." she said in a soothing voice, and reached out with her green hand to rub the woman's shoulder. "My XO and I have been having a few problems with him recently, and we will do our best to make him more...amicable." she said, not entirely certain if that was possible.

"Hm..." Aria shook her head before taking a breath. "He upset everyone pretty badly...of the old lot anyway..." she met her eyes, smiling weakly. "And...I am a big girl. I can take whatever the consequences are. I mean...sure, I could slap my mouth for it, but...sort of...oddly therapeutic, you know. Not giving a damn."

Letting out a light laugh, the Orion wrapped her arms tightly around Aria once again and gave her a solid hug. Of all the security officers on her ship, Aria was her favorite, if not simply for her candid way of speaking. "If anyone is going to slap you...it'll be me...in a fun way." she said with a playful glint to her green eyes.

Aria laughed at that, smiling as she hugged her close. "Always in a fun way with you, Lirha," she said and stroked her hair back from her face. "But enough about me babbling about...me. How was your shoreleave? How are you doing?" She worried about her, after what she had been through. And she wanted to make sure her friend was okay.

"My shore leave..." Lirha repeated, somewhat mumbling to herself. Her shore leave had been complicated, to say the least, including many emotional highs and lows. She wasn't exactly sure which part of her adventures Aria preferred to hear, so she simply asked the question. "Exactly which parts of my shore leave?"

"Whichever part you want to talk about, Lirha," Aria said and smiled gently, before touching her cheek. She stroked it gently, searching her eyes. "Not been an easy time for you, has it girl?"

Lirha sighed and leaned her green cheek into the woman's hand. "No, it has been frustrating, to be completely honest." she admitted. "I have been off of my pheromone suppressants for almost two weeks now due to Doctor Ni Dhuinn's orders, and they have been affecting my mood. I think I have been feeling more emotional and less stable, and have had to limit my exposure to the rest of the crew which has left me feeling rather...alone at times. I have also been having more...urges. Sexual ones, which I have been indulging too frequently." she confessed, finding it hard to look Aria directly in the eyes given their brief history together.

Aria chuckled before touching her chin, tilting her head up to meet her eyes. "I hate to say it...but that's okay too...whatever you need," she touched her cheek, before sighing. "I'm sorry. It's a pretty harsh deal for you. But you got me, whenever you need a friend. Hell, rant and rave, scream and shout. I'll listen."

The Orion smiled weakly. "Thank you. I enjoy your company, to say the least." she said with an affectionate look in her green eyes, then laid herself down on the sofa with her head in Aria's lap. She decided to change the subject to something a bit more upbeat, at least for the moment. "On a positive note, Starfleet has really done wonders with Galileo. All of our repairs were completed on time and we even received several ship-wide upgrades." she added, looking up at Aria.

Aria stroked her hair, her eyes gentle. "Now that's a plus. In all fairness, she needed it after the beating she took," she said, her fingers rubbing Lirha's scalp. "I hope the next journey will be less of a strain on the metal."

"I hope so too." she responded, closing her eyes for a moment as she reveled in the sensation of having her hair petted. "When I first took command of Galileo, I assumed we would be focusing mostly on exploration and surveying...I guess I never realized that Starfleet would have other plans for us, especially ones which deliberately put us in harm's way."

Aria laughed at that, nodding as she continued to caress. "Yeah, I am noticing that...think they want to secretly kill us off? Would explain the mad mix of people you got here."

"Hmm...yes, we do have an interesting mix of new crew members now...I noticed several days ago that our personnel have become quite diverse." the captain replied as her mind drifted through the various personnel files she had received and submitted to Starfleet in recent days. "What do you think of our current mix?" she asked with curiosity.

She smiled weakly, rubbing Lirha's forehead soothingly as she considered it all. "I don't think I am qualified to comment," she said softly. She wasn't sure Lirha truly wanted to hear what she thought of her new Chief of Security right now.

Reaching up with a green hand, Lirha squeezed Aria's arm. "It's alright...you can tell me whatever is on your mind. I am curious, and asking as your friend, not your captain." she said simply, searching the security officer's eyes for information.

She smiled weakly as she held her eyes for a long moment. "I wonder how he ended up here. He's...not a good fit so far. Might improve. Might being the operative word."

Lirha shared Aria's cautiousness when thinking about Stone's behavior and any possible improvement. In fact, her previous encounter with the man in her ready room had been far from ideal, and had left her with serious doubts about the man's ability to assimilate into the crew. "No, he is not a good fit so far." she agreed, then let out a soft sigh. "I was forced to relieve him of duty yesterday due to his inability to control his temper and language." she revealed.

Aria watched her before biting her lip, giggling. "Oh dear...well, rather him than me, considering I snapped!"

"I sort of 'snapped' as well." the captain admitted, "I tried to be nice to the man and give him the benefit of the doubt...have a conversation with him to try and sort out his troubles...but when I requested that his dog, Sidious, not accompany him to the bridge, he seemed to take personal offense to the idea and began to express his displeasure for some of Galileo's bridge officers. The tipping point for me was when he called our flight control chief 'incompetent'."

Aria almost gasped, watching her with shock before she sighed. "I think he thinks we are all incompetent.."

"Possibly." Lirha mused, then let out a soft sigh and slowly sat back up on the couch. She pushed her dark hair back behind her ears and then stifled a yawn with the back of her hand. "Who knows...maybe he is right and the joke is on us." she added with a grin, trying to make light of the situation.

Aria watched her with a fond smile, reaching to touch her arm. "No...he's not," she said, her eyes serious. "Because we are...so much more. All that is gold does not glitter...not all those that wander are lost," she whispered and touched her cheek fondly. "More than just surface to us."

Lirha raised an eyebrow and reached up to squeeze Aria's hand. "That's very poetic." she said with a grin. "Well, hopefully the whole situation will work itself out with a bit of work, but if not, we can always exchange him for another." she joked. The captain realized she was getting tired, and eyed the door to Aria's bedroom.

Aria looked at her with gentle eyes and stood, pulling her with her. "Come here...let's go and lie down a bit. We can just chat...and you can rest. Just rest away from everyone."

The mention of laying down and taking a nap was too good to resist, and the captain let Aria guide her from the couch and into the bedroom. "I think you read my mind." she said with a grin as she sat down on the edge of the bed and unlaced her boots. Another yawn overtook her and she covered her mouth while kicking her shoes off and to the side, then removed her gray uniform jacket.

Aria smiled warmly and moved to her side, helping her undress before getting her into the bed. "There..." she said and tucked her in.

Lirha gazed at Aria as she helped remove her clothes and then put her into the mid-sized bed. Rolling over onto her back, her mind raced with thoughts of affection and friendship, and even a hint of desire for the security officer. Unbeknownst to most of the crew, Aria had been the one who had personally rescued Lirha and carried her from the torture chamber aboard the Klingon vessel, and back to Galileo. In addition, she had taken time out of her days to visit the captain during her recovery, even going so far as to cook her a batch of emotionally-reviving cupcakes. She was a sweet and kind young woman, and had permanently earned Lirha's trust and loyalty. "Join me?" the Orion asked hopefully with soft green eyes.

Aria smield and nodded, changing before getting into the bed, touching her hair. "You just relax," she said quietly, her eyes warm.

Closing her eyes, Lirha happily curled herself into the bed sheets and soft pillow. Her thoughts began to swarm and then drift away, and she soon found herself breathing slowly as she dozed off.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

&

Lt. jg Aria Rice
Security
USS Galileo

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