Motherly Love (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 21 Jun 2014 @ 2:27pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Petty Officer 1st Class Siren Hex Saalm

1,571 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 1, Saalm's Quarters
Timeline: MD 03 - 0330 hrs

[ON]

Lirha was deep in REM sleep at 0330 when the faintest of sounds registered in her subconscious and slowly permeated her dream-thoughts. The soft chirping noise of her personal LCARS terminal was relatively quiet, but the repetition of the alert was what eventually woke Lirha who let out an annoyed groan when she realized she was being summoned for a conversation in the middle of the night.

Quietly and delicately detaching herself from Siren with whom she had been entwined throughout the night, Lirha squinted as she yawned then slowly slipped out of bed while grabbing a loose T-shirt to pull on over her bare chest before sitting down at the desk which housed her computer. Her green fingers tapped the black screen to bring the terminal to life, after which she sighed and rubbed her forehead when she saw the incoming transmission was from Earth...specifically San Francisco...and specifically from her mother.

Despite her desire to ignore the call and go back to bed, family was always important to her no matter the hour, and she accepted the call with a quick tap on the large green button in the bottom corner of the screen.

"Hi," she said in Yrevish with a raspy, sleepy voice when the connection was established.

The deep green skinned woman smiled at the sight of her daughter, leaning in closer to the screen, as if it could make them closer together. "Darling...." she replied quickly, but her smile faltered ever so slightly as she looked her over. "You look tired, are they working you too hard? You should try and get more sleep."

"Mom...it's the middle of the night here. I was trying to get some sleep..." Lirha sighed again and rubbed her eyes, then realized her mother probably had no idea what time schedule she was operating on out in the depths of space. "Sorry, I'm still half-awake," she apologized for her annoyed reply then gave Aila a sleepy smile. "How are you? Is everything okay?"

"Of course," Aila smiled warmly to her, giving a careless flick with an elegant hand. If it had registered that she was disturbing her, she didn't show it as she carried on regardless. "But more to the point, how are you, darling??

"I'm fine, I guess," Lirha answered with a silent shrug. "Nesh is fine too... she's taken a position as a scientist's mate and I think she's enjoying it. She hasn't gotten into any trouble recently which is good. And she's making progress on her university selection..." Lirha paused as she suddenly began to think about the question her mother had asked. "Wait. You're calling to ask about Nesh, right?" That had usually been the case in the past, but right now she seemed a bit more interested in Lirha.

Aila laughed softly, watching her with eyes that shone with mirth. She tutted, shaking her head gently. "Sorry, maybe I wasn't clear enough....how are you, darling?" she repeated slowly, but with sheer playfulness and fondness for Lirha's misunderstanding.

"Oh..," Lirha retorted with a sniff to clear her stuffy nostrils and take a deep breath before responding. "I.. am good? I think?" Through the LCARS screen, her eyes drifted from side to side while she thought about the question in more detail. "I'm on a new deployment. Galileo is doing well after her first year in operation. I got promoted to commodore but Starfleet let me stay with my ship instead of sending me back to San Francisco, which was nice. I took Nesh back to Vajripam for shore leave last month and she got to spend some time with Siren and some of the other crew..." she began to mumble on while her mind raced through the recent noteworthy events in her life.

"Yes, yes, yes, very nice," Aila shook her head lightly with a small smile. Starfleet wasn't exactly enthralling to her. "What did you get up to on your holiday? Did you meet anyone....nice?" she asked lightly, a leading question.

"Umm....I'm with Siren who I just mentioned, and yes we had a great--" Lirha paused mid-sentence to stop her own defensiveness at the invasive question, and then her discombobulated mind realized she might not have told her mother about her new girlfriend. They had been dating for many months now but strangely Lirha didn't remember the topic ever coming up in conversation...or what little conversation they had had during that period. The last time she had spoken to Aila had been a less-than pleasant experience during which Lirha had quickly stopped by the house to pick up Nesh and wisk her away to Starfleet. "Oh. Did I ever tell you about her?" she mumbled again.

"Her...." there was the slightest sigh to Aila's voice, but then an even slighter shrug as she shook her head. "No. But perhaps you can tell me more? Is it...serious?" she was doing her best to try and broach the subject subtly, but she feared she was failing through sheer enthusiasm.

Was it serious? Lirha thought to herself. Considering she was madly in love with Siren and now living together, Lirha definitely considered it to be rather serious. She slowly nodded in confirmation of her mother's question.

"Yes, it's serious. We've been dating for almost a year and she recently moved in with me. I...definitely love her," she began to answer as she suppressed a tired yawn with the back of her green hand. "She's a Human... and I know you don't want me to marry one, but she's different than most of the other Humans I've met. And she's very beautiful. And she gets along with Nesh."

"About time," Aila replied, but with a small smile rather than any kind of rebuke in her voice. She leant forward to her lower voice, watching her daughter with excitement. "Does she want children?" she finally came out and asked.

Children. Of course she would ask about such a thing. Lirha's eyes glanced down to the top of the desk while she began to contemplate what would be good for both her and Siren, while at the same time knowing that nothing but a 'yes' answer would really suffice for her mother.

"I don't know. I suppose it's never really come up in conversation before," she reluctantly answered with a defensive shrug and shake of her head. Her eyes returned to the screen and looked at Aila through the monitor as she elaborated.

"She's a free spirit and I'm not sure if she wants to settle down with children yet. But...I would love to marry her and have her babies," she quietly admitted with a small private smile. "She really is a beautiful Human," she reiterated. Her thoughts drifted back to the time they had first met in Galileo's mess hall during lunch, specifically the fluttering in her heart she'd experienced upon first seeing the red-head's toned and curvy body as well as gorgeous facial features.

"Maybe you can convince her to get me pregnant?" Lirha teased half-jokingly. In the back of her head, she knew there was a chance Aila might actually take her up on the offer...which strangely might help the situation and put the idea in Siren's head without putting Lirha in the awkward situation of being the first to mention it.

"If that's what's needed, you know I will," Aila pointed out, almost a warning, but it was softened by a small smile. "My beautiful girl....all the things you do, all of this 'exploration' and 'patrolling' and 'fighting' and 'diplomacy'....what does it mean if you have no children to pass all your experience on to, hm?" she asked with an almost playful smile.

"Everything alright out here?" Siren yawned as she padded through, stretching out in her shorts and vest, her long red hair loose but somewhat wild from sleeping. When she'd heard the voices she'd been, in her sleep fogged state, worried about intruders. But the way she strolled in with no weapon and in her bed clothes didn't exactly look as if she were ready for a fight.

Lirha was about to respond to her mother's gentle chiding when Siren's voice startled her, causing her to spin around in her chair and take in the sight of her girlfriend. "Hi. Sorry, I did not mean to wake you," she apologized. "My mother called...we have been talking," she explained while privately wondering how much of their conversation Siren had overheard. Hopefully not the part about getting pregnant, or else she would be very embarrassed.

"Oh! Oh, is that her? Tell her to come closer to the screen so I can see her!" Aila smiled warmly, making a 'come hither' motion with her hand.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CDRE Lirha Saalm
Mission Advisor
USS Galileo

PO2 Siren Hex
Intelligence Officer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Blake]

Aila Saalm
Lirha's Mother
San Fransisco
[PNPC - Blake]

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