Stress Fracture (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 21 Feb 2017 @ 6:01pm by General ('aj) Ko'raH House of G'Iogh & Ensign Miraj Derani
Edited on on 21 Feb 2017 @ 6:02pm

2,767 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 14 - Statecraft
Location: IKS DuJa'Q - Deck 8, Saalm's Quarters
Timeline: MD 02 - 0020 hrs

Previously, on Stress Fracture (Part 1)...

"Is the general on board? Are all the Klingons here his men?"

"No, he is not here. The Klingons on board are loyal to Chorag, and he is loyal to me," she replied. Her head rested against the headrest and she let out a soft sigh. Miraj was still on the other end of the bed, and Lirha beckoned her to join her. "Come. Do not worry about him."

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

Miraj felt quite relieved. She'd feared another run in with him in the close confines of the ship. Though she was curious how the admiral had managed to secure the loyalty of a Klingon shed couldn't have known for more than two weeks. And she secretly had hoped to see the Klingon chancellor remove the general's head.

And then there was the admirals request to lie next to her. She wasn't entirely sure it was proper. But the admiral was the admiral, and you didn't say no. She shifted down the bed until she was sitting next to the Orion with her back against the headboard as well and tried to pull the recalcitrant zip back up on her overalls. There was a moment of silence and she found herself unable to resist filling it. "How is that Klingon loyal to you?"

"Members of his House are frequent visitors to my homeworld in Rigel," she began to explain. "Since my extended family on Vajripam are prominent traders, I struck a deal with him in return for his services on this assignment." Lirha have Derani a sideways grin.

Miraj saw the grin. It was an improvement on the sadness from a few minutes ago. "Do I want to know what sort of deal?" she wondered what a piratical Klingon could want that Lirha could give him, stranded hundreds of light years from home.

"A lucrative one. One of his rivals on Kreanus has secretly been importing contraband from Vajripam and caching it with several Ferengi," she answered. "I merely offered to arrange for an interdiction of future goods once we have finally returned to Earth." It was a simple enough trade, one that benefited Charog by providing him with more influence and power, and with only minimal effort required from Lirha.

"That's a lot of trust." Miraj had spent too much time reading pirate novels. It was the sort of set up in which Chorag, if facing a ruthless pirate, and not an honorable Federation officer, would have been neatly double crossed with.

Lirha reached over the side of her bed and retrieved a small bottle of bloodwine from the crate beneath it. "Perhaps," she agreed. "But Chorag's circumstances don't give him much leverage. If he wishes to improve his standing and gain power on Kreanus, his options are limited. Especially with Ko'raH's presence on the colony." She cracked the top of the bottle's seal with a twist of her wrist and offered the drink to Miraj. "I'm not sure a celebration is in order but a toast would suffice. It is good to see all of the crew again...especially you," she said warmly.

The younger woman took the bottle. The vapours coming from the spout made her wrinkle her nose. She considered what to toast. "To absent friends and a steadfast ship." She raised the bottle a moment and then took a swig.

Shed thought bloodwine could be no worse than rum. Shed drunk enough of that. She was wrong. The violently strong liquor burnt all the way down and left her coughing drily as if she'd never had strong drink before.

Lirha noticed a small dribble of the dark crimson liquid had trickled down her chin from the cough. She grinned and chuckled softly before leaning over and gently wiping the droplets from her chin with a green finger before bringing the digit to her own mouth and licking it clean. "Do you like it?" she asked.

Miraj just wheezed a couple of times before managing to whisper, "No." She had to cough to clear her throat. "How can they drink that? It tastes like rust and antifreeze." She could feel it warming her insides too. Or maybe dissolving them. Damn that stuff was strong.

"It is an acquired taste. Do not drink too much, or else you may find yourself sleeping here this evening," the Orion teased with a mischievous grin. She reached over and took the bottle from Derani then took a large swig herself. The familiar pungent taste filled her pallet and the smell coated her nostrils while she swallowed. "To absent friends, and to Galileo," she said solemnly.

Lirha sighed softly and looked over at the younger officer laying next to her. She couldn't help but admire her beautiful and unique features, as well as lithe frame. Lirha set the bottle back on the floor then rolled on her side to face the other woman. "I know you have been stressed recently. Medara told me of your encounter with Ko'raH and his men, and I know little of your time on the colony has probably been enjoyable." she said. "Would you like me to help you...unwind?"

Miraj shuddered a little at the thought of that horrible twenty minutes with the general. "It could have gone a lot worse. And I quite enjoyed pissing him off. He's an idiot. I can totally see how he ended up on the loosing side."

"Yes. He is a troubled man," Lirha agreed. She leaned closer to Derani while reaching out to graze the side of her cheek with her sharp fingertips. Her own light green eyes began to gaze intently into the half-Boslic's blue irises. "He will not hurt you any more, I promise. I will take care of you," she whispered, then closed her eyes and leaned down to press her gold lips softly and firmly against Miraj's.

Miraj had not been expecting that. She pulled back in surprise, cracked her head against the headboard, and fell off the bed with a surprised squeal, landing on her rump with a thump. "Okay. That was... I wasn’t expecting..." she got to her feet, a little unsteady. "I was just not.... I mean I'm not..." It wasn't that she didn't like the woman, but she barely knew her and that didn't feel right, especially not with Luke being a distinct possibility, even if the universe did seem to be sticking its oar in every time it looked like something might actually happen. "I think I should go to bed. My bed!" She added hastily. "My bed, in my cabin, for one. On my own."

Lirha watched the commotion with a raise of her eyebrows and traces of amusement twinkling in her eyes. She knew Miraj was a young officer and most likely didn't come from a hedonistic culture such as she. Yet, after all the trauma they had both experienced over the past two weeks, she had trouble understanding why anyone would deny an opportunity for love and comfort in a private environment.

She tilted her head curiously towards the other woman. "I didn't mean to startle you. You have been through many trials recently," she said in a motherly tone. "And you are wound very tightly, as the Humans like to say. You need a release...and so do I. You are no good to our crew if you startle at the mere touch of my lips."

Lirha looked at the now-vacant place on the bed where the other officer used to be. "Come. Lay with me and let's comfort each other," she continued. "What you have been through is unjust. I wish to make you feel better." The truth was much more complex compared to the words spoken. Over the past two weeks, Lirha had dealt with her own personal trials. Her injuries, the loss of her children, and deaths of her crew had slowly eaten at her mental fortitude. Such things could only be suppressed for short periods before they eventually resurfaced, and a large part of Lirha had searched for some sort of affirmation of her decisions. That opportunity was given to her when Medara had approached her with the mission plan to go to Qo'noS -- to reunite with her crew and those she was responsible for. To see them again and be reunited with the familiar faces had brought her much joy, but she felt responsible for their plight. It had been her decision as captain to engage the Klingon forces in the nebula. The result of her actions had led to much hardship for her surviving crew, for the very people whose safety and well-being she was responsible for. Lirha wasn't sure if she'd failed at her mission, but one thing was for certain: she hadn't succeeded.

The latent feelings of guilt and anger had constantly plagued the Orion since she'd awoken on Kreanus. She didn't expect to be forgiven for her decisions, or not held responsible. The least she could do was to attempt to heal her people now that she was back with them. No matter how small or what unorthodox manner. And if the person involved happened to be one of her most cherished officers, the one who in she saw much of her younger self, then was no one else's place to pass judgement.

Miraj still had the doe in the head lights look. The admiral may have been right about being wound tightly, "I'm wound just fine," she said, "A couple more hours at the helm and I'll be great. Laid back. Horizontal even." She wondered why Lirha seemed surprised that being kissed by a senior officer. A senior officer she barely knew, she corrected herself. "And I, and please don't take offense, I think you're amazing. Everything I'll never be, but I've got no idea what I'm doing, and I should go. Now." She started to back away. "I mean, its not that I'm not grateful you'd like me to feel better, but being able to fly again, will be just fine."

"Sit, Miraj," Lirha instructed. She noticed the woman wandering towards the door and pointed with her finger to the bed. "You do not sound fine -- you sound confused and hesitant. You must relax..." A thought then popped into her head which she might not have thought about before. "Or am I unappealing to you?"

"No." Miraj said quickly. She was confused. The admiral was a very beautiful woman, with a sophisticated supple buxomness that Miraj knew she would never ever match. Why on earth lirha would want anything to do with a flying obsessed awkward freak like herself escaped her utterly, especially when the Orion could have her choice of any man or woman on the ship. "I think you’re lovely." But her heart was somewhere else, "But I'm waiting. For someone." And the thought of Luke made her blush and smile at the same time.

"Oh? You are in love with another?" Lirha noticed the flush of Derani's cheeks and tugs at the corners of her lips which were all-too-common signs of youthful crushes. She remembered the first time she'd felt a similar way, when she first arrived on Earth and began dating a young Orion man in the nearby San Francisco food district. "Who is she? Or he?"

Miraj blushed again at the word. She didn't want to say it had gone that far, she hadn't known him long. Three months she thought. "I don't want to get him into trouble."

Lirha frowned, not quite understanding the train of thought. "How would telling me get you into 'trouble'?" she asked, not quite sure what she meant or if there was more going on than advertised.

Miraj returned to sit on the edge of the bed. "Aren't there rules about fraternising and stuff? I thought it wasn't allowed."

"There are many regulations in Starfleet and many things that are not technically allowed." Lirha reached over and retrieved the bottle of bloodwine and held it up. "Such as drinking non-syntehol while on duty. Yet certain circumstances provide allowances when out on deployment," she started. "Each captain is responsible for interpreting and enforcing the regulations aboard their vessel in a manner they deem most appropriate. I, for example, have never felt that romantic relationships between the crew were of any detriment to our operational capability."

That felt to Miraj like permission. She felt suddenly excited, now she no longer had to feel guilty for how she felt. "Now I just have to make it happen." she sighed. "Fate seems to conspire against us a lot."

"It does seem fate has a mind of its own," she commented. Noticing that her question about who the man was still remained unanswered, Lirha decided it wasn't important enough for her to keep prying. The ensign had made her intentions clear enough, that she didn't want to engage in any relations with her. It was not a pleasant feeling, to have her desires refused, but she also knew there were more important matters at stake. And if Derani wouldn't accept her offered stress remedy, Lirha would make sure it would happen one way or another.

"Very well," she continued, now sitting up in the bed and reaching over for her PADD. "Since there is nothing I can do to help you this evening, then you are to report to sickbay at 0700 for a full medical and mental evaluation," Saalm ordered. "I believe we have a new counselor on board if my records are correct. I'm also removing you from active duty for two days until both of your evaluations are complete and I'm satisfied you've rested enough." She input the appointments and duty shift changes into her handheld device, authorized them with her thumb signature, and transmitted them to the appropriate personnel. She then handed the PADD to Derani for her to take with her. "May I offer you a final drink before you go?" she offered, gesturing toward the bottle.

Two days? Two days!! She'd only just got back to a helm. Shed already gone too long without flying. That was cruel. It was evil. It was...punishment, she realised. This was her punishment for refusing the admiral's advances. Being deprived of flying was just torture. She swallowed, trying not to cry. "No, thank you, ma'am." She wasn't sure she had to wait to be dismissed, but she couldn't wait. If she had to wait she was going to burst into tears. "Goodnight, ma'am." And with that, she dashed out, escaping into her own quarters before the door to Lirha's cabin were even shut.

The Orion watched Miraj hastily depart. She briefly wondered why she'd rushed away after being given a simple set of orders. One would have assumed that her jubilance for being able to court her lover would have brightened her mood. The only explanation then, was perhaps she hadn't agreed with the demands placed upon her. Such was often the case with young and enthusiastic officers, Lirha recalled -- she'd been one of those herself when she was younger, and realized Miraj had probably been upset because of her removal from duty. Or maybe her assignment to sickbay or counseling?

A heavy set of hoofs clanging against the metallic floor in the distance perked Lirha's ears. Snuffles had come trotting down the stairs and into the main room, and now approached Lirha's bed. He gave a snort and soft growl to announce his presence.

"Come, Snuffles," Lirha said with a sigh while holding her hand out. The young targ quickly jumped up on the bed and trotted over next to her. He stuck his wet snout against her cheek and gave her jaw a series of affectionate licks. "Yes, I know...she doesn't like me," Lirha said with a tone of remorse. Reaching up to scratch behind his ears, she slowly laid back down and pulled her blanket over the tusks protruding from the back of his hide. He settled down next to her and began to happily chew on one of the pillows while she smoothed her hand down his fur.

"Tomorrow will be different. We'll be on our way to Qo'noS and I'll find you some tribbles to play with," Lirha promised. "Computer, lights," she said, then laid her head down on her pillow and closed her eyes as the room went dark.

[OFF]

--

GEN Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
IKS DuJa'Q
[PNPC Ko'raH]

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

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