Cleaning Up (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 17 May 2017 @ 7:16pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin
Edited on on 17 May 2017 @ 7:16pm

3,591 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: IRW Ganelax - Mess Hall
Timeline: MD -45, 0314 hrs

[CONTINUED]

Deck 14, Forward Section, Main Lounge

From where Lirha and Amaranai had left their quarters, it'd taken the two of them almost seven minutes of wandering to finally find the mess hall. Neither of them were very familiar with the internal design layout of Romulan vessels which made it even more difficult to traverse the massive starship. After stopping several times to consult the deck layout schematics on nearby wall-mounted data terminals, they both entered the large lounge and paused to look around.

A large bar with a clear transparisteel counter top gave off a bright green hue, and several Romulans were seated in the accompanying bar stools. A blue-headed barkeep -- a Bolian by the looks of it -- busied himself preparing copious amounts of Romulan ale and Kali-fal for his patrons while the hushed buzz of chattering crew members cast a relaxing and social atmosphere through the rest of the large room. Each table, all thirty-three of them, was occupied by a motley collection of Romulans, Remans, and even a few Vulcans. The only vacant chairs appeared to be up at the bar.

"Come," Saalm said to Franklin before walking up to the counter and plopping herself down in one of the chairs.

Amaranai followed Lirha into the hallway. When she took her hand, at first she was scared what others might think, and then remembered they weren't even on a Federation starship and it didn't even matter. The couple walked for several minutes before they eventually found the lounge. It was nice, considering, but it was crowded. Lirha started walking to the bar and Amaranai made her way behind the woman. The Bolian stepped in front of the pair and waited for them to make an order. Amaranai smiled.

"I'll have whatever she's having," she said and nodded at her lover.

"Two ales and two plates of hlai with jumbo mollusks. Please," Lirha requested.

The Bolian smiled at the two women and nodded. He stepped away to set the replicator for the meals and then turned back to pour the ales. He passed the drinks to the green-skinned woman and the human. After a moment, he returned to the replicator and brought the two plates to them.

"Enjoy," he said.

Amaranai looked at the meal. Though it didn't look appetizing, she was willing to try, if only because Lirha said that it was good. She took her utensil and took a small bite. Her taste buds took a moment to concentrate on the new taste but once it had dissolved in her mouth, she felt a sensation of yummy goodness. She allowed a smile to cross her face and turned to face Lirha.

"It's good," she said. "Thank you for introducing me to it."

The green-skinned woman gave Franklin a small sideways smile. "I thought you might. It is very similar to what I experienced on Earth when I attended the Academy. Although...I prefer your crab and lobster creatures to mollusks," she admitted, now holding her glass of clear and vibrant blue Romulan ale in her hand. She held out her drink slightly in Amaranai's direction to give her a small toast. "To good health and to home."

Amaranai nodded in agreement.

"Those are dishes that I had plenty of growing up," she said.

The brunette thought about her days as a child where she would have to sit at fancy dinners that her parents threw. It wasn't because she wanted to be there, either. Her parents wanted her there along with her siblings as a trophy to show off to the other families and to hopefully match up with other young men and women of affluent families.

"And dishes that I got tired of," she added. "I'll eat shrimp, still, but I don't eat lobster too much."

At the raising of the glass, Amaranai took her own and tapped her glass to Lirha's. "And to yours," she said.

Lirha took a hefty swig of the potent alcoholic beverage and squinted when the flavorful liquid burned its way down her throat and into her stomach. Her insides began to warm almost instantly in a pleasant and relaxing sensation. It seemed like ages since she'd been able to consume anything other than the occasional glass of bloodwine, and now with a full meal in front of her and her partner at her side, many of her trepidations began to slip away. She set her glass down then picked up her utensils, then began to slice off a large piece of hlai and dip it in gravy. When she brought the fork-full to her lips, she let out a content sigh and closed her eyes as the delicious flavors permeated her palate.

"What I would have given to have this on Kreanus..." she mumbled in between chews.

Amaranai didn't speak for a few moments as she took in the food on her plate. It seemed like forever since she had a real meal and the sudden intake was giving her a stomach ache. She slowed down and sipped the ale as a way to let her stomach relax. The brunette nodded at the statement.

"I agree," she said. "Since Luke and I were not part of the main contingent of prisoners, we had to scrounge for what food was available. It made finding anything good hard."

She paused as she thought about their time on Kreanus and then chose to change the subject so as not to induce more guilt on Lirha.

"So," she started. "What's the first thing you want to do when we get back to Earth?"

Lirha was making good progress on her plate and, like Amaranai, had already scarfed down a good portion of her hlai and several vegetables. When the question was posed to her, she looked up towards the ceiling to ponder it while she continued chewing.

"I suppose...visit my mother," she answered. "She'll be relieved to know that both Nesh and I are safe. And alive." Lirha didn't want to imagine the heartbreak that Aila's probably been through after Starfleet had no doubt contacted all the families and next-of-kin to report Galileo lost. "Then I'll have a mud bath," she added with a soft laugh. "And you? I'm sure your family is also worried about you."

Amaranai chuckled slightly.

"I doubt most of my family hasn't even noticed or cared about my actual disappearance." She paused. "It took my mother almost two years before she realized that Charlotte wasn't coming home anymore and then that I had actually taken her away from them, so I don't think they would really care about me disappearing." Another pause. "As it is," she continued. "Once I joined Starfleet, they practically gave me up."

Amaranai turned back to her food and took another bite, this one not as heartily as the first several had been. Was she actually regretting not being closer to her parents? Did she regret taking Charlotte away without telling them?

"It will be nice to see Charlotte again, though," she said after a few moments. "And Commander Nara, too."

Was that the extent of the people she cared about? Certainly there should have been more, but she couldn't think of any other people that she was really excited to see once she returned to Earth.

Families were always an interesting dilemma, Saalm recognized. No one was ever born with the choice of who theirs would be, and while some families remained close-knit, others sometimes parted in their separate directions. Combined with the various cultural differences between species in regards to the role of family, it was always difficult to tell how much it meant to certain people. Amarani was still a bit of a mystery to Lirha despite their passion for each other, and she wanted to know more. But there was a time and a place for everything. Lirha didn't feel that inquiring about Franklin's mother was the best thing for either of them at the moment. Instead, she took interest of the Starfleet commander she'd mentioned.

"Is the commander one of your former captains?" she asked. Or a prior love interest? she wondered privately. Or maybe both.

The question was natural, so Amaranai didn't think twice about it.

"No," she said. "Commander Nara was one of my instructors at the Academy. It turned out that she was a better mother figure than I ever had."

Amaranai took a sip of her ale.

"Commander Nara Doteen was a pseudo-advisor during my entire time at the Academy. She helped me work through a lot of issues that I was dealing with in regard to my family. And when I told her that I couldn't leave Charlotte with my parents any longer and I was taking action, she stepped up and agreed to take care of her until she was eighteen. It's something I could never repay but she has never asked for anything in return. She has been a true friend and a savior of me and my sister."

It made Amaranai consider trying to get the womans something - anything - as a way to thank her for caring for Charlotte as if the girl were her own daughter.

"That was a very compassionate act for her to perform," Lirha remarked in agreement. She speared a jumbo mollusk with her fork and bit into it, savoring the tender flavors of the Romulan seafood. "She seems to care about you very much. Have you decided on a gift for her?" she asked in between more chews.

Amaranai shook her head.

"Not really," she said. "I've thought about it more recently and the woman seems to be content with what she has. She's even told me before that she doesn't want anything. But I can't just not get her something." She paused. "Do you have any ideas?"

Lirha retrieved the napkin in her lap and wiped the bottom of her lip before casting a genuine smile to Amaranai. "Of course. Perhaps you would like to come with me to my homeworld after we return to Earth?" she proposed. "Orion society is very..." What was the right word? "Materialistic," she decided upon, "compared to yours. All of the colonies value wealth and prosperity. For us, material goods are a symbol of status, knowledge, and lifetime accomplishments. Gifts are seen as expressions of gratitude not only within families but between the unacquainted. I'm confident I can help you find something very unique and treasured to present to Commander Nara. If you don't mind spending time with me and my people?"

Amaranai listened to Lirha and her demeanor changed as Lirha invited her to her homeworld. Amaranai smiled.

"I'd be grateful to join you on your trip," she said. "It would give me more insight into you and your family." She paused. "And for you to help me with selecting a gift would be very helpful. Thank you."

Saalm almost beamed at the Human with joy, but then remembered the inevitable inquiry she'd be facing when she returned to Starfleet HQ. In her heart of hearts, the Orion knew that there was no way she'd escape from the formal proceedings without severe punishment for the consequences of her actions. That much she'd resigned herself too, but she also hoped that whatever came of her wouldn't be strictly enough to keep her locked away from her family for the foreseeable future. Or possibly for life.

She gave a simple nod to Franklin then resumed eating for a few minutes. As much as she didn't want to say it, she felt the need to not get Amaranai's hopes up. "I...my," she corrected, "career is probably finished in Starfleet. I don't know what I will do afterwards but I want you to spend time with me while we still have it. I want you to know me and my family, and my people," she confessed. To become one of us, she resisted saying out of selfishness.

Amaranai nodded as Lirha mentioned the possible end of her Starfleet career. She understood that Lirha would face punishment for what happened, not ony to the Galileo but also to the crew when it was on Kreanus and their actions on the Klingon ship.

"I want to be with you," she said. "No matter how long that time is." She paused and placed her hand on Lirha's for a moment and smiled. "I would also like to know your family just as much as I want you to meet my sister."

Thinking about Charlotte, Amaranai looked at Lirha.

"Charlotte is important to me, just as you are important to me. I want to keep you in my life as long as possible."

That sounded nice to Lirha. It was something she would like as well, but the elephant in the room still made it difficult to make any long term promises. "Even if I'm sent to a penal colony for the rest of my life for treason?" she half-joked.

Amaranai understood the seriousness of the situation in terms of the charges that would be brought against Lirha. It was something that worried the security officer but she didn't want to think about it. But Lirha had brought up the subject so she felt okay with talking about it.

"I think that most prisons still allow for conjugal visits, right?" she said with a smile. "At least I'd get to see you."

Grinning while she sipped her Romulan ale, the Orion nodded slowly in agreement. "They do. And we would. I suppose it wouldn't be too bad..." She started to think about the logistics of such an arrangement but quickly forced the thoughts from her head. It was too early to waste time thinking about unpleasant what-ifs. Instead, Saalm thought back to Amaranai's sister. "I want to meet Charlotte. Do you think she will like me?" she curiously asked.

Amaranai thought of the question. Though she had been in contact with Charlotte for the past three years, it was hard to gauge her true feelings. Amaranai was unsure if her sister was bitter for being left on Earth with someone that she didn't even know or if she had grown past that.

"Honestly," Amaranai said and then took a sip of her drink. "I don't know." She paused. "She's my sister and the only one in my family that actually cares about me in some semblance of the word but I also haven't really talked with her in some time, so I don't know what she's like." Another pause. "Then again, she's a teenager, so she probably won't care too much for authority figures."

"She sounds like Nesh," Lirha laughed softly in between sips of her adult beverage. "It can take a few years before our yongers finally become adults. It can be...frustrating at times," she mused, then picked her fork and knife back up and began to funnel more of the delicious food into her belly. "At least Charlotte is a Human living on a Human world. Nesh didn't have that luxury. I'm still not sure if it was for the better or worse..." she pondered out loud.

"Actually," Amaranai said. "Just because Charlotte's human and living on Earth, that did not make it easy. Her life until I retrieved her from a local jail was not that great. And though her life has been good since then, her attitude, upbringing and general disdain for some people does not make for a good person."

She sighed and considered Lirha's statement.

"As for your sister," she continued. "You did what you felt was right. Maybe Nesh had more difficulty because she's Orion, but maybe she also didn't apply herself enough. I know that you want to be responsible for her because you're the older sibling, but even I have realized that if my siblings hadn't let me figure things out on my own, I never would have grown up and struck out on my own.

Lirha chewed in silence for a couple long moments while she reflected on Amaranai's advice. It was true that perhaps she'd been a bit too over-protective of Nesh throughout the years, but was that necessarily a bad thing? She wasn't sure, but what she did know was that she'd been on her own since the age of eighteen when she'd begun to attend Starfleet Academy. And the experiences and relationships she'd gained ever since were something she'd never trade.

"Maybe you're right..." Lirha conceded in between mouthfuls. "But the galaxy can be a dangerous place, especially for the young and naive. I just don't want her to fall in with the wrong crowd. That's why I felt Starfleet was the best place for her...at least until she becomes a little older," she tried to counter.

"Charlotte was the wrong crowd," Amaranai said. "I know because they were my crowd as well." She paused. "You were right to get your sister into the Academy, where she would be relatively safe. And that's why I chose to put Charlotte in the heart of Starfleet, even if she couldn't be in the Academy just yet."

The conversation probably wasn't helping either of them in terms of dealing with their sisters but it made Amaranai think about her sister more and consider the possibility of bringing her along if she were to get reassigned to another ship.

The Orion started to poke at the sole remaining piece of hlai on her plate with her fork. "I have trouble thinking of you running with the 'wrong crowd'," she said.

Amaranai chuckled at the comment.

"For a short time, I was close to running the wrong crowd."

"You...what?" Lirha asked, not sure if she knew what Franklin was trying to tell her or if it was a confession of sorts. "How?"

"When I was younger, before I realized that I was in the wrong crowd, I did anything I could to make life a living hell for my parents and the local authorities. And since my parents didn't care, I kept hanging out with the wrong crowd."

"Well..." the Orion paused to think about how best to inquire about her partner's past mischief. There was no easy way to beat around the bush, she supposed. "What did you actually do? What sort of crimes?"

"I didn't kill anyone, if that's what you were thinking," she started out. "I broke into a lot of places and took a lot of stuff, a lot more than I can actually remember." She paused. "Biggest thing that I took was a hover cycle. Not the most expensive, but biggest by size. It was pretty fun to ride. I got in a lot of fights and won some, lost a bunch of them also."

Amaranai wasn't sure how much more she should admit but looked at Lirha regardless.

"That was my old life, before the Academy and growing up." She put her hand on the woman's and smiled. "I don't like thinking about those days any more, though," she said.

"Petty theft isn't the worst thing in the quadrant," Lirha grinned mischievously. "Growing up aboard my parent's trade vessel, I did my own share of cons and scams," she admitted with a light shrug. "I was young and didn't know better...only that most others species I encountered seemed to be more willing to do what I asked. Even if it put them at a profit loss." It was probably then when she'd first become aware of the power of her body's natural Orion pheromones.

"Cons, scams, forgery, petty theft," Amaranai started. "Petty, yes, but it only led to the more serious crimes." She paused. "Still never killed anyone, but that wasn't for lack of victims."

Amaranai turned her head in shame and really wanted to avoid talking about it any longer. She had a feeling, if Lirha had really wanted to know, that she could just requisition a report that told Lirha everything. Of course, out of honesty and love, Amaranai knew she should just tell her lover and yet, she stayed quiet.

"Like I said," the brunette continued. "It was a long time ago. My previous life."

The curiosity in Lirha wanted to ask more but the practical side knew that such conversations could be left for a later date -- a time when they were both more relaxed and not under duress. To show her support and acknowledgement, she put her fork down then placed her other hand over Amaranai's to gave it a reassuring squeeze. "One of these days we will have to trade stories. When we've had more Roluman ale," she smiled before reaching up to lift her glass and down the last of the potent spirit. "I think I am full," she added after a long pause. The plate in front of her was three-quarters empty, and although Lirha was still hungry, her stomach wasn't used to eating such a full meal and was at full capacity.

Amaranai felt the squeeze on her hand and heard the words from Lirha. They were reassuring and warmed Amaranai's heart even more. She looked at her own plate - almost all gone as well - and nodded.

"I am as well," she said and then finished the ale in her glass. "Thank you for this."

[OFF]

--

RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer

Lt. jg. Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Chief Tactical / Security

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