Conjugal Visits Are Allowed, Aren't They?

Posted on 21 Oct 2017 @ 12:51pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin

3,503 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Earth - Australia, Perth Penal Colony
Timeline: MD 42, 1156 hrs

[ON]

Amaranai sat on the shuttle. She was heading to the penal colony in Perth, Australia, to visit Lirha. It had been some time since she saw Lirha, though in reality, it had been a couple of weeks. She wondered how Lirha was getting along with the other inmates. Amaranai had a lot of questions, but really, she just needed to see Lirha again. To be held by her, even for a short time.

"We'll be landing in ten minutes, lieutenant," the pilot said to her.

The comment had snapped her from her thoughts and Amaranai prepared for the landing. As she looked out the viewport, she could see the penal colony and was glad that she was only visiting, instead of being placed there permanently.

Once on the ground, Amaranai made her way to the front gate of the penal colony and offered her credentials and named Lirha as the one she was going to visit.

Amaranai was scanned for weapons and other items that could be used to escape and then allowed into the colony itself. She was escorted to a private room where she would be given time with Lirha. As she sat in the chair, she was nervous and she didn't even know why. This was her lover. Her love. Her Lirha. Why did she need to be nervous?

The entrance on the far side of the room parted and a gold-collared Starfleet security officer entered first. Large in stature with a Type II phaser clipped to his belt, the barrel-chested man scanned the small chamber then stepped to the side with his feet spread and hands clasped behind his back. It was then that the olive green complexion of Lirha's face could be seen, accented by her long, black, and slightly-disheveled hair. Her clothes were a grungy mix of gray and black colors with splotches of dirt and grease plastered over them, and attached to her ankle was a small silver collar with several embedded tracking and suppression devices. But what was most startling were the Orion's subdued features. Her once-bright and enthusiastic green eyes were now subdued with creases at the corners and dark, sleepless bags beneath them.

The Orion took a slow look around before her gaze quickly settled on Amaranai. Then she smiled; weakly at first as she started to slowly walk forward.

The smile that Lirha offered was small and almost polite, instead of actually happy to see the security officer. When Lirha approached, Amaranai put her hand out and took the green hands of her lover. The brunette examined Lirha up and down and turned her around slightly just to get an idea of how she was. It had only been a few weeks and it already seemed as if Lirha had lost a lot of weight - and she was trim and fit as it was before, now it seemed as if she was more skin and bones.

"You look well," Amaranai lied. "I missed you."

She hugged Lirha, fully aware of the security officer in the room. It would feel more awkward if they wanted to do more, but for now, hugging was all she was willing to do.

Reaching around Franklin's back with both hands, Saalm squeezed her tightly and with a painful longing for which words weren't quite sufficient enough to describe. "I missed you too," she answered in a soft voice, then suddenly became silent. It felt like many agonizing months had passed since the two of them had last seen each other, but the reality of it was now sinking in. Barely three terrible weeks had passed and there were many, many more in store. "How are you? How's Snuffles?"

She heard the whisper. It wasn't her voice. Lirha was quieter than usual. This place had already gotten to her. And there was no telling if she would ever get out or not. Appeals and requests took time and that was something that Amaranai didn't want. She knew she had to be patient but this hurt her heart - seeing Lirha like this.

The brunette heard the questions.

"Snuffles is good," she said.

Amaranai had taken the targ in while Lirha was away because even the animal needed love, just as Amaranai did. She grinned and leaned closer to her lover and then opened her mouth and licked the green cheek in front of her.

"That's from Snuffles," she said. "And me," she added with a wink.

She paused a moment.

"I am good, really," she continued. "I'm just waiting for an assignment and spending more time with my sister." Amaranai paused. "She sends her best wishes, by the way," she said and then fell silent as well.

It was an awkward silence and Amaranai wasn't sure why. These two had shared so many intimate moments in such a short time and had fallen in love but now, with Lirha here in prison, what would they say to each other?

It was the warmth, not the wetness of Franklin's tongue that produced an intimate smile from Saalm. Her body twinged from a surge of intimacy and affection which she'd been deprived of for far too long. Even still, as she tried to look her partner in her beautiful eyes, she struggled. "Tell her I send my love," she said while discretely swallowing a large lump in her throat. "...I..."

Amaranai noticed the shiver from Lirha and worried. What had happened in these short weeks? She also noticed that Lirha was hesitant to speak. Instead of saying something, though, Amaranai wrapped her arms around the woman and rested her head against her chest. She could feel her breathing slowly. Nothing needed to be said even though Amaranai could tell that Lirha wanted to say something. Amaranai sighed and leaned against Lirha.

Green and grungy fingertips slowly pushed their way up into the back of Franklin's hair. Lirha caressed the woman's head and stroked the back of her neck while they shared a semblance of comfort together. "...I failed everyone," she whispered into Amaranai's ear. "My crew, my family..my sister...you." She looked down at her with shame and regret. "I'm sorry. You don't deserve me."

Amaranai could feel the guilt in Lirha's voice. She was so hard on herself and she didn't have to be. Amaranai, shivered at the touch on her neck. She had longed for that touch but she wanted more. Amaranai wanted to feel fingers caressing her, removing her clothes and then finding their way across her body as they left electric tingles.

"You were braver than anyone," Amaranai said, as she looked up. "You saved almost everyone on the crew. You were instrumental in keeping us alive, not just on Kreanus but once we were on the Klingon ship."

At the comment about not deserving her, Amaranai looked up at the woman and let go of her and stepped back.

"You bitch!" she said. "Of course you don't deserve me!"

She was angry with Lirha and through the anger, tears were beginning to fall.

"But I don't deserve you either! You're an admiral! I'm just a jg and nothing! I'm no one!"

Amaranai slumped to the floor and began crying. Not crying. Sobbing. She didn't care anymore about the security officer at the door. She didn't care. She just wanted to love Lirha and have the woman love her back.

Please don't cry, please don't cry..., Saalm had been whispering in her head, hoping to not have to see Franklin distraught. And then she'd collapsed on the floor and was now weeping. Lirha looked away for a moment to blink some of the welling tears from her eyes, then moved and knelt next to the Human. "We are all no one, but we are all someone's," she tried to comfort. Her mother, Aila, had once spoken those very same words to her when she was just a small child, and Lirha'd never forgotten them. "You are mine and I'm yours," she added, putting a green hand on the woman's back to run it soothingly.

Amaranai heard the words from her girlfriend about being someone. They rolled off her back like the tears were rolling off of her cheek. Then Amaranai heard the other words, but just barely, over the sound of her cries. They were an attempt to comfort her. Amaranai felt the hand on her back. She wanted to move away, but she couldn't. Her emotions had gotten the best of her and despite all the years of keeping her emotions in check, she finally wavered and let it all out. She had never been properly loved as a child and though she had been with people in the past, this was the first time she felt real, honest love and it hurt.

She cried - sobbed - for several minutes, unsure of how to really proceed. Amaranai could feel the awkwardness in the room. Instead of speaking, though, she leaned against Lirha, letting the tears run their course, until there were no more tears left in her.

"I'm sorry for this," Saalm lamented to her. She didn't want to keep repeating herself but she couldn't think of any other way to express her regret and apology to the one she was starting to love. "Maybe you can punch an admiral at the HQ and join me in here for a few months?" she tried to joke.

Amaranai sniffled softly and looked up to Lirha at her joke.

"My luck they would send me off-planet," she said.

She leaned against the wall.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" she said. "I don't cry. I'm not supposed to." She chuckled quietly, mostly to herself. "If my father were here, he'd be embarrassed for me."

Or tell her she had terrible taste in girlfriends, Lirha mused. "If it helps...I spent my first three nights crying." Time had helped, but she still struggled. "At least you don't have to clean the replicators every day and assemble isolinear chips."

Amaranai sniffed and wiped her eyes. She looked at Lirha.

"It sort of helps," she said and offered a small chuckle. "And replicator cleaning isn't that bad. At least you're not scrubbing the outside of a Sovereign."

The brunette took a slow, deep breath, to gather herself. She had come here to be with her lover and instead she was on the floor after a good, long cry. She leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes to meditate on her life at the moment.

A light laugh escaped the Orion's lips. "Ha! Have you seen the inside of a penal colony's replicator network before?" She shuddered with thoughts of the terrible smell and abundance of black organic goo that accumulated everywhere inside the food service terminals. "It's bad enough to have to look at it, but even worse to have to clean it by hand. I think I'd happily trade that for a few spacewalks."

Amaranai brushed away the thoughts. She thought humor would lighten her mood. She thought it would get her out of the funk. It hadn't. Amaranai took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," she finally said. "This isn't me. I'm not usually a mess like this."

Moving to stand close to Franklin, Saalm put a comforting hand on her forearm and gave it a light rub. "It's not easy, I know. For either of us." Just when she'd really began to feel a connection to Amaranai, the spirits had whisked them away from each other for the foreseeable future. "You don't have to come here and see me like this anymore if you don't want," she continued while motioning to her dirty loose-fitting uniform. "It's not fair for me to ask that of you."

Amaranai stood up and looked at her former commanding officer. Amaranai looked at the dirty clothes that Lirha was wearing. The brunette moved slightly to look to the security officer at the door.

"Could you give us some privacy?" she asked. "I promise, nothing illegal is going to happen."

Lirha looked back at the familiar man and spoke up after he remained silent and unmoved for many seconds. "If not here, then take us to my room?"

He looked at the Orion then rolled his eyes. "You gonna sabotage the replicators again, Saalm, and make us eat your damn wing beetles for the next two days?" he asked, staring at her coldly and with disdain.

She shook her head and looked at him promisingly. "Not if you do this for me, Rabin. You know we're allowed privacy in visits..." Saalm looked back at Franklin and gave her a kiss on her cheek in front of the man. With a grunt of displeasure, the man stepped to the side and allowed them both to pass through the exit and down the corridor towards Lirha's barracks.

Amaranai felt the lips on her cheek and smiled. She listened to the conversation between the guard and Lirha and was curious about her having hacked the replicators. The thought cheered Amaranai even more than the kiss at the moment. She followed Lirha through the door and down the hallway. After a few moments, they approached a door and stopped in front of it.

"After you," Lirha smiled while holding her green hand out to allow the door to swish open. Inside was a small room -- bedroom-sized with gray walls, a small window, and no carpet. Her amenities included a fold-out bed, a simple chair, restroom, bookshelf, and a small LCARS terminal that was currently streaming the latest FNN broadcasts.

The room was simple, as expected, considering this was still a prison, regardless of who the criminal was. Amaranai looked at Lirha and took her hand as the two stepped completely into the room. Amaranai looked out the small window and didn't see anything special. She would have made a comment, but felt it wasn't necessary. Letting go of Lirha's hand, Amaranai sat down on the bed and removed her top and her bra, leaving nothing to the imagination as to what was going to happen. Amaranai didn't know how much private time they would have together and she didn't want to do anything but be with Lirha.

It felt good to see Amaranai sitting on her bed. Topless or not, she'd dearly missed her company and ached to have her back. Lirha walked close to her until she was standing in front of the brunette then took her loose clothes off before sitting down on her lap and wrapping a green arm around her bare shoulders. She sensually smiled then closed her eyes as she leaned in to kiss her.


A little while later

The two women were lying on the small, hard bed, naked and drenched in sweat. The first part of the visit had not started off too well, but the second half (at least, so far) was doing much better.

"I wish you weren't in here," Amaranai whispered. "I just want to be out there," Amaranai moved her head toward the door and technically to the sky. "I want to be on a ship with you in command and me in your bed."

Amaranai nibbled at Lirha's collar bone and sniffed her scent in.

"Instead," she continued. "We're stuck in here on a not comfortable bed." She paused. "Maybe it would be better if you retired and we wouldn't have to worry about breaking any more rules."

It didn't sound like a bad proposition to Saalm, all things considered. There were always other worlds and cities to visit outside of the Sol system, and she'd saved up enough latinum throughout her career to purchase a small vessel. "Well...since I've been stripped of rank and will be deported once my sentence here is done...maybe I am technically retired?" she mused.

The thought had crossed Amaranai's mind recently. Without Lirha on a ship, what did the brunette have to be in Starfleet for? She could resign her own commission and take off into the galaxy with Lirha and not care about anything. But her mind wandered to Charlotte. The girl was just starting to learn discipline and loyalty - things the girl sorely needed in her life - and Amaranai wanted to be a part of that journey for her sister.

"Maybe . . ." she started. "Maybe if you get out of here, we could go on a trip before I get reassigned."

Saalm looked at her intently, trying to decipher her features and place them with the emotions she emanated. Lirha took a deep breath then posed a question to Franklin. "Do you want to be reassigned?" It sounded simple enough on the surface but the tone and inflection of the Orion's voice had been sincere. She was asking about something else, about choosing between career and love.

"It's not that I want to be reassigned," Amaranai said after a moment. "It's just that I don't know if we'll end up on the same ship or not. I want to, obviously, but who knows what the admirals will decide about the crew, if we can stay together or not."

Lirha shook her head and traced a finger down the side of Amaranai's cheek to push a strand of brown hair back behind her ear. "What I meant was...do you want to stay in Starfleet?" she asked, staring into her eyes to observe her thoughts.

Amaranai considered the question for a moment. She didn't want to leave Starfleet because she had finally felt as if she belonged. Plus, Charlotte was just beginning to understand the value of Starfleet and the community that it offered. If Amaranai were to walk away, what would Charlotte do?

With Lirha staring at her, Amaranai had to look down slightly to avoid those perfect eyes before answering.

"I don't want to leave Starfleet," she said. "But I want to be with you, also. I don't know if I can have both."

Amaranai lowered her head against Lirha's chest and was silent. She had known for some time that this situation could present itself but she had been avoiding it as much as possible. She stayed silent, listening to her lover's slow breaths and trying to be calm.

Lirha said nothing at first and was content to let Amaranai ponder multiple strings of the future. "Long-distance relationships in the fleet can be difficult," she finally admitted to Franklin. "I don't think I'd be welcome aboard a Starfleet vessel. Or planet," she added, remembering her deportation orders that would go into effect when she eventually was released from the penal colony.

Amaranai didn't say anything for a moment after Lirha spoke. She didn't like thinking of the possibility of being without the Orion. It made the brunette feel sick to even think about it. But her brain was also part of the conversation, reminding her of her sister, Charlotte, and the need of Starfleet in the girl's life. Even if Charlotte wasn't ready for the Academy just yet, being part of a Starfleet vessel was enough to give her the confidence needed to grow into a better woman.

"I want to be with you," Amaranai said. "But I'm a Starfleet officer and I have a duty."

The Orion's heart sank which caused her eyes to fall down to the bland sheets they lay on. Amaranai had made her choice and Lirha had to respect it despite the selfish impulses flooding her thoughts. "I know...and I understand," was all she could think of to reply.

Amaranai sensed the change in demeanor in Lirha and lifted the woman's head up to stare into her eyes.

"My duty is to my commanding officer," she whispered. "And for now, you're my commanding officer. My duty is to you."

She leaned forward and kissed the soft lips in front of her.

"Eventually I have to take care of my sister but I want to take care of us as well."

There wasn't much more Lirha could think of to say. As it was, Amaranai didn't have new new deployment orders and the Orion was stuck in Australia for the years to come. The enormity of it all made talking at it difficult, let alone making long-term plans between the two of them.

A voice suddenly sounded over the comm in the room. "Two minutes, Saalm. Get dressed," said one of the guards standing watch outside of the door. It seemed their time for the week was almost up.

Amaranai sighed. She didn't want to leave the comfort of the arms wrapped around her. Despite the terrible bed, the body against her was soft and it only made the announcement sadder. The brunette lay her head on the pillow and pulled Lirha closer to take one final long kiss before getting up and slowly getting dressed.

[OFF]

--

Lirha Saalm
Inmate 29-388-290
Perth Rehabilitation
Earth

Lieutenant jg Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Security / Tactical Officer

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