The Morning Sun

Posted on 23 Feb 2012 @ 6:06am by Lieutenant JG Drusilla McCarthy & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

2,552 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 00 - Pre-Deployment
Location: San Francisco, Ocean Beach
Timeline: MD 03 - 1100 hrs

[ON]

Laying with her back on a beach towel on top of the course grey sand, Lirha stared up at the bright sun which beamed down on her exposed body. It was late morning on a clear and sunny day, and the Orion was determined to spend at least a few hours indulging herself in the serenity of the beach. She knew she had to report back to Starfleet HQ after her lunch break but wanted to make the most of her free morning. With a content sigh, she adjusted her black and gold bikini and wiggled herself deeper into the sand while feeling its warmth rise up into the back of her legs and chest.

Having decided she needed some air, Dru walked across the sands of the beach. Her head hurt slightly from the stress of moving ships over the last 24hours and she had felt that maybe the sea air would help. Dru had tied her hair back in a braid, to prevent it being blown about in the breeze and had decided to leave her uniform behind, given she was off duty for a few hours. In it's place, she wore an old acedemy t-shirt and a pair of 3/4 lenght trousers. She held her runners in one hand, preferring to be able to feel the sand under her feet.

A few people passed back and forth around Lirha, many of them giving her the all-too-common stare because of her green skin and exotic appearance. It was something which had upset her throughout her first few years on Earth, but she had since learned that it was more so a reflection of Human curiosity. The Orion rolled on her side to shift her exposure to the sun, then glanced curiously at a familiar figure who was making her way towards her. She could have sworn that it was her young Chief Counselor whom she had met the previous day.

"Lieutenant?" she asked as the brown-haired woman came within earshot.

Dru had been caught up in her own world, trying to find a center at which she could manage to rid herself of her headache. As she walked along she suddenly realised someone had called out her name. Looking around her, Dru's eyes were immedigately drawn to a green skinned woman in the sand and Dru grimced slightly.Great...now I've inturpted the CO on her downtime

Dru realised it would be impoliet to ignore the hail and so walked over to Lirha's side and smiled down at her."Apologises Commander. I didn't mean to infringe upon your personal downtime."

"Infringe?" Lirha said with a bit of incredulity in her voice, "Of course not. Please, join me." she requested, and patted an open area of the sand next to her. Despite being off duty, Lirha was a very social person and relished the opportunity for company whenever it presented itself. She also hoped that she could put her new counselor at ease a bit, considering she had seemed somewhat uptight and uncomfortable during their interview the day before.

Dru looked down at the sand beside Lirha and bit her lip. Slowly she shrugged her shoulders and lowered herself down onto the ground."I guess I should warn you in advance Ma'am, I might not be the best of company right now with this niggling headache I feel coming on."Dru pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her arms against her knees."How are you enjoying your morning?"

"It's quite relaxing," the captain said as she pushed a few strands of her dark hair behind her ear, "It's not often that I get to relax in such a calm manner. Starfleet doesn't give us much time for luxuries, and I have the feeling I will get even less free time as our launch date approaches." she finished, then looked at Drusilla. "And you? How is your day so far? Did you get a chance yesterday to head to the drydock and see the Galileo?"

As Dru rested her cheek against her arms, she turned her head away from the glare of the sun."I did....I do have to say she's a beauty. It all seems so real now having actually seen the ship which is to become my new home. You must be proud of her ma'am?"

"Mmm," Lirha said lightly with a nod, "Very proud. She's a beautiful ship and our dockworkers have done a great job preparing her for departure on relatively short notice." she said, then rolled onto back while casually looking over at the counselor. "So, Lieutenant, tell me about yourself. Any hobbies or interests? Are you married or have children?"

Dru suddenly laughed."As the saying goes, I'd need a man before I get either of those Ma'am. Single and childless, I'm young enough yet for those Ma'am. What about yourself?"

The Orion grinned and adjusted herself again on her towel, staring up at the sun. "I was almost married once," she began as she recalled the months after her graduation from the Academy, "I entered a serious relationship with one of my former instructors following my graduation." she said in a soft voice. "Unfortunately, he wanted to keep me out of harms way and took it upon himself to assign me to administrative duties at the HQ."

Lirha looked over at Drusilla with green eyes which had darkened due to the bright sun. "I wasn't happy, to say the least. I had spent the last four years training to travel the galaxy and my fiance had suddenly decided that it was his place to determine my future career path. We never really saw eye-to-eye after that." she finished with a barely audible sigh.

"There's a certain element of us women that want that man who is a night in shining armour, to protect us and look ater this but at the end of the day, our independance usually wins out. It can be difficult to find the balance in the middle which allows us to maintain a relationship in which the man neurtures and protects us but we would still have our independance to do do what we want and to achieve what we want."Dru moves to balance her chin on her arm as she looks out across the horizon streching across the ocean."Has there ever been anyone else since?"

Being a full-blooded Orion, Lirha was one of the more sexual beings she had encountered, and she had definitely had her fair share of lovers over the years. Unfortunately, her job with Starfleet required her to maintain discipline and put her duties before her personal life. "No," she answered, "No one of serious interest. And I'm a commanding officer now, so the chances of that happening are slim." she admitted to the young counselor. "I've found that it's hard to find romance within our ever-changing lifestyle."

"It's always difficult to balance a relation, where mariage is not involved, with duty. Starfleet doesn't make it very easy given at any one time one of you is likely to end up being given new orders and transferred half way across the galaxy. Two officers in a relationship would really have to be very committed to eachother. Sometimes it's better to learn to be on your own, maybe have flings there and then." Dru smiled over at Lirha, "In my counselling history I find that romance has a habit of occuring out of the blue. As the old human saying goes, don't count your chickens before they hatch."

"I've never heard that one before." the captain replied with approval. The anecdote was accurate, despite being a bit crude. She pushed herself up on her elbows and slowly sat up while leaning forward to stretch her back. Inadvertently, she gave Drusilla a clear view of her numerous tattoos which ran from the back of her neck all the way down to her waist, and around the edges of her shoulders and upper arms. Most of them were inked in her native Yverish tounge, a mix of circular and vertical-lined glyphs, however others were more elaborate and displayed a combination of crests, both her family's as well as the Orion Empire.

Dru winched slightly at the sight of the body art on Lirha's body."Did they hurt? I've got an unnatural fear of needles, it's difficult enough getting me to have my regular vacinations, never mind trying to have an image inked into my skin."

At the mention of needles, Lirha craned her head to look at the ink on the back of her shoulder, then turned towards Drusilla. "Of course they hurt," she replied with a grin, "But that was part of the fun. I'll admit, I was a bit over-adventurous when I was younger. Do you like them?" she asked curiously. It wasn't often that someone got a chance to see her intricate body art, since her ever-present Starfleet uniform usually covered them from sight.

Dru adjusted herself slightly in order to get a better viewof the body art,"Hum...I like that one", Dru pointed to a place between Lirha's shoulders blades, being careful not to actually touch her.

Unable to see her own back, Lirha guessed she was referring to the large vertical letters which ran down her spine. "Rhadaman Anthus Ni Koledru Venari. Translated into English, it roughly means 'A Thieves' Honor is not fit for a Princess'."

"Why choose that phrase?" Dru studied the letters as she tried to make sense of the foreign language which had been used.

The captain shrugged, "Like I said, I was young at the time. And I thought very highly of myself." she said with a smile. "Koledru Venari is the code of the Syndicate and I wanted to distance myself from them as much as possible. My species has a questionable reputation throughout the Quadrant, and I wanted to show people that not all Orion women are slaves and servants."

"Do you still find it difficult to have people look beyond you being Orion and seeing who you really are?" Dru felt herself slipping into her counsellor frame of mind but she decided to allow it to happen, it often helped her feel a little bit more comfortable in social situations.

"Is this a professional evaluation, or private?" Lirha asked with a raised eyebrow and an amused expression on her face.

Dru smiles over at Lirha, allowing the smile to reach her eyes,"Well we are both off duty right now. Consider this a free session or just consider it to be two friends having a casual chat."

"Very well, I'll indulge you...for now, anyway." she began with a friendly wink. "To answer your question, no, I don't find it difficult to be accepted, but most of that has to do with the uniform I wear. Most of the time, people look at me as another Starfleet officer." she said, then paused to recall her youth. "When I was younger, however, things were certainly different. I served aboard a trade vessel with my family and I can't begin to tell you the feelings that went through my mind when some of our customers tried to barter with my parents for ownership of me."

"It was a struggle for me, definitely, and I think that's why my mother relocated on Earth, and also part of the reason I joined Starfleet." she added.

"Iit's amazing sometimes how two totally different people can be such opposites but have similarities. I'll share this much with you, to show this isn't a counselling session", Dru looked down at the sand,"I used Starfleet as a similar escape, to be able to build a life for myself rather then have others build it for me. I never knew the fear you must have felt though, in your experience with those customers. Noone should ever have to live through that." Dru gently placed her arm on Lirha's arm.

Lirha looked over at the brown haired woman and gave her a warm smile, then put her green hand on Drusilla's and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You're quite a counselor." she remarked in a soft voice. Despite the counselor's somewhat quirky nature during their initial interview, Lirha was growing quite fond of the woman. "So what do you do in your free time other than listen to people's problems?" she asked, and pushed more of her hair from her face.

As Dru looked down at Lirha's hand on hers she quickly pulled it away, unused to such contact. As she recomposed herself, Dru looked back out to the horizon, avoiding eye contact with Lirha, not wanting her to see the slight panic in their depths,"Um...I love swimming when I have the opportunity.There's something about the sensation of water around you as you pull yourself through it, that has a calming influence on me. I find it helps me clear my head. Also when I want to push myself abit, I enjoy a game of tennis on the holodeck, I guess it's another stress relief, something about whacking a ball hard which gives me a great deal of satisfaction," Dru smiled softly to herself.

The captain took note of Drusilla's uncomfortableness with her physical contact. It had been the second time in as many days, the first being when she tried to comfort the woman during her interview. Lirha didn't give it too much thought, however, as she knew she could be rather open at times, compared to Humans. She also remembered what the counselor had just told her about her seemingly-implied sheltered youth, which she assumed might have something to do with her shyness.

"Tennis seems to be quite a popular sport on this planet," Lirha remarked, "I remember seeing many of my classmates playing while I was a student here in the Academy, and it doesn't look like much has changed." she said. "As for swimming, I prefer mud baths instead of water."

"Mud baths?Hum....well I guess they say mud is good for the skin. Give me regular water anyday either in swimming or just a bubble bath to relax in and I'll be at my happiest. Why mud? Or would that be like asking me why water?"Dru blushes slightly as she realised she not making much sense now.

Lirha finally leaned back and laid down on her towel, her firm belly and legs soaking up the hot sun. "Maybe one of these days I will arrange one for you and you can experience it for yourself." she proposed in a quiet voice. She reached over into her small duffel bag and pulled out a new beach towel, then handed it to the counselor. "Lie down and relax for a while, if you like." she said to Drusilla.

Dru looked at the towel being held out and hesitated slightly. She had a few more minutes to spare before she had to head back to work, why not enjoy herself. Dry smiled slightly at Lirha and took the towel. As she streched out she closed her eyes, allowing herself to rest and relax.

[OFF]

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CMDR Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Lieutenant JP Drusilla McCarthy
Chief Counsellor
USS Galileo

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