The Concept of Stupidity and Irrational Behaviour (or A Fresh Start)

Posted on 26 Feb 2019 @ 8:54pm by Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Nesh Saalm

2,473 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: Episode 17 - Crystal of Life
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 2, Crew Quarters
Timeline: MD -58, 1900 hours

Previously on Episode 15, Emanation, "Families Who Play Together..."

Sticking with Federation Standard, Lake stammered out, "Nesh, I, uh, I, I don't know about this." --As much as he directed his statement to Nesh, his eyes remained on Lirha's phaser, studying the way she gripped it, the body language of her outstretched arm, the way she held her shoulders, her postures; really, he was looking for any indication she was about to hit the trigger-- "I never consented to electro-play," Lake said. He put down his glass.

"Damn it Lirha!, put that down." Nesh shouted at her sister. How dare she show up and ruin everything when she refused to take part with Nesh's life.

The mention of electrical fetish play was enough to send the older Orion over the edge, and there was no way she'd allow Nesh to partake in such an aberration. Her other hand quickly reached out and pressed a button combination on the phaser to set it to wide-beam stun. And then she fired, sending a wash of orange phased energy particles through both of the two naked men.

Much like Gideon, Lake never even had time to dodge or even react to the event. Even for all his watchfulness over Lirha's behaviour, it wasn't as if he could move faster than a nadion particle beam. As soon as the orange light washed over him, Lake's legs gave way beneath him and he crumpled to the floor. Inadvertently, Lake took the bottle of Romulan Ale crashing with him, leaving a jagged and soggy mess on the hardwood.

And now, months later...


[ON]

Standing there in the corridor, Lake ir-Llantrisant was impassive at the aperture. Despite the stillness of his body, his heart was beating staccato like an aggressive snare drum. This was the time; this was the place; these were the right set of double doors. The Romulan Counselor had double-checked the appointment notation on his PADD three times, just to be sure. Or rather, he had checked the appointment on his PADD three times to procrastinate from pressing the chime. Although he stared at the doors intently, Lake stood well back from them. The very thought of pressing the chime caused his breaths to shorten and beads of perspiration to form at his hairline.

A trap. An alarm bell, deep in his soul, told Lake that this was a trap. Lirha Saalm was waiting behind that door with her phaser drawn, he knew it. That's exactly what was happening. Lirha had invited Lake to speak with her sister, but the Captain was laying in wait to shoot him as soon as he stepped foot in the same room as her. Mercifully, Lake had gone this long without crossing paths with Nesh Saalm. When her onboarding medical evaluation had been due, Lake had delegated to LuAnn to complete the psychiatric portion of the evaluation. This time, Lake couldn't delegate anything; the Captain had made a personal request of him.

He groaned. Before he could think about it anymore, Lake reached out and slapped the door chime with the back of his hand. There. Now. It was done. There was no turning back.

Nesh was curled up in a chair, with the sketch book, but the coal in her hand hadn't touched the paper. She jerked her head up when she heard the chime, swallowing. Since she had been discovered, she had isolated herself. She was confined to quarters anyway, but this was self imposed isolation. She hadn't spoken to anyone unless she couldn't avoid it so her spare time had been spent alone. After all, she had been set to work. It had been easier for her, shame still fresh on her. For being stupid.

"En..." she swallowed, her voice almost rusty from disuse that day and she cleared her throat. "Enter," she said and looked with surprise as she saw Lake enter. Last time she had seen him...

Well. There was less clothing involved. And an angry Lirha. She looked down, back at her book and closed it, setting it down. She wore a loose tee shirt and loose trousers, both feet in fluffy socks and her hair, usually styled, was now loose and almost greasy. "Lake."

"Nesh," was all he said in response. It sounded awkward coming out of his mouth, mostly because he had said it so infrequently. Despite the whirlwind intensity of their friendship, they had spent a tragically few number of hours together. Lake felt as if he'd known her for years. Lake felt as if he didn't know her at all. He stepped into her quarters slowly. He added a simple, "Hi," and he demanded no more of her than that. Although Lake was never afraid to take up space in a room, he moved slowly enough to allow Nesh to kick him out, if she so wished.

When the doors whispered closed behind him, Lake stood awkwardly in the middle of the living room. "Fancy meeting you here," Lake said, his Romulan figure of speech being translated to something else by the universal translator, "hurtling at top speed towards the Tholian border."

"Yes well..." Nesh sighed softly and looked around before she met his eyes. "Apparently my timing sucks. You going to stand there and pose for me, or...take a seat?" she motioned to the chair and bit her lip, worrying it with her teeth for a moment. "Sorry for the...state of me. I didn't expect anyone to drop by." And she almost felt her mother's shame. Her mother would never have greeted a visitor looking...like this.

In a contrary tone, Lake disagreed with Nesh in the most empowering manner he could muster. "You're glowing," he affirmed. Leaving his courtesy at the door, Lake made his way into the living compartment and dropped himself into one of the armchairs, eager to get off his feet. "You have that look of inspiration about you," he said, gesturing vaguely to the blank page in her notebook. Despite the lack of visibly progress, Lake asked, "What're you working on?" in curiosity.

"The concept of stupidity and irrational behaviour," Nesh said before she finally cracked a small smile. "Or a fresh start. Blank paper sheets and colours, so I can do over the mistakes of yesterday so that tomorrow night I'll sleep better." She considered his first words for a moment, her head tilting back to just observe him. "You are a better liar than I gave you credit for."

"I'm hurt," Lake said in a tone that suggested no such thing. His intonation was a little bit sarcastic, but mostly amused by the very suggestion. "I've never lied in my life," Lake said it as if it were an oath. To emphasize the point, he raised a hand in a Romulan salute. Referring to that epic night they first met in an art gallery, Lake said, "It's been a while, huh? ...When I requested a transfer to Galileo and the Captain turned out to be your sister, I thought she was going to shoot me again. For sure."

"If she hated you, she wouldn't have it set on stun," Nesh said lightly, a small smile coming to her. "So don't worry about it. Besides, it wasn't your fault and you won't be remembered for it being your fault."

"You're probably-- I think you're probably right," Lake said. While he nodded at Nesh, he had stumbled on his words. When he started speaking the sentence, he had said it because it was a nice thing to say, not because he meant it. By the time he finished the sentence, though, he came to the realization that Nesh really probably was right. "We've become friendly," Lake admitted, "if not friends, your sister and I. More so than much of the senior staff. She's shown a confidence me I don't know if I've shown in myself..."

Abruptly Turning his attention, like a left turn, towards the other man who had been stunned by Lirha Saalm, Lake then asked, "Have you, uh, have you heard from Gideon Nicols?" For all his efforts to sound nonchalant, Lake sounded entirely chalant -- or he would have done if chalant had been a real word. He blinked a few too many times, staring at Nesh intently for a response.

Nesh shook her head, slowly, considering the question properly. "Not really. I mean, it...no. No, I haven't. A bit of a shame too but I haven't been searching for him either...for all I know he could be on the ship..." she smiled, a warmish smile. Warmer than she had given a lot of people lately.

"He's not," Lake said, a little too quickly, a little too certainly, a little too disappointed. "We ended up serving together on the USS Hathaway. We kissed in the arboretum. We more than kissed, and I haven't seen him since."

"Ouch," Nesh grimaced at the words and shook her head, letting out a breath. "Well, I can say you are getting more action than I have lately, so...good work..."

Lake cocked an eyebrow at that. "Obviously not too good or he would have called back," he said a little sourly. He tilted his head to take in the sights of the standard personnel quarters around him. Lake didn't know everything about the circumstances that had brought Nesh aboard Galileo, but he knew she hadn't been getting out much. "What have you been getting up to lately?" he asked.

"I'm working," Nesh said after a moment's silence, giving a small shrug. "Mess in the morning. Bar at night, though mostly I have been...restocking and cleaning rather than barkeeping." She met his eyes and took a deep, slow breath. "So Lake. You here to be painted, as a friend...or as a professional?"

When the question came, Lake nodded at Nesh slowly, acknowledging that it was an obvious boundary that was in need of definition. "I won't lie to you. Your sister asked me to stop in," Lake replied in as straight-forward a manner he could muster. He held her gaze, unfazed by his admission. "I've asked for LuAnn to be assigned as your Counselor; I'd prefer to know you as Lake."

"I don't want...a counselor," Nesh said and looked at him, giving a weak smile in order to soften the harshness of her words. "If I need to talk, I'll go to Thorne. I...I am out of Starfleet. Seeing a counselor is..." she looked down and exhaled, sharply. "I won't do me any good."

At first, Lake could only smile a weak smile of resignation. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd heard such proclamations, and he had a dozen evidence-based prepare... but he chose to swallow every one of them. "I can understand why you feel that way," was what Lake said instead, nodding vaguely. "It's been an awful long time since your sister left me for dead in a ditch," Lake said; "How did you even get here from there?"

Nesh watched him for a moment before she sighed and shifted closer to him. "I am a stowaway," she said, the words honest as she met Lake's eyes. "I did something stupid and here I am."

"You did something stupid," Lake said, and he simply echoed her. If anything, there was a question in his intonation, rather than any sense of judgement. He winced, then, at his assumption of what that might mean for her. "Does that mean you don't want to be here?" he asked.

Nesh met his eyes for a moment before she tilted her head, clearly genuinely considering it. "I'd rather be here than married," she finally said. "I just...I hurt Lirha. And the rest of my family."

Lake squinted at her for a moment. He'd heard some vague mumblings about a runaway bride, but he didn't know all of the details. As he saw it, though, the fiancee and the rest of the family had been left behind. Lirha was right here aboard the ship. "How did you hurt Lirha?" he asked. His inflection suggested he could hardly believe Lirha was capable of being hurt by Nesh.

"By smuggling myself onboard," she said as she met her eyes. "This is a Starfleet ship. And I am a stowaway. Not exactly great..." she sighed and tipped her head back, exposing the length of her throat. "I can be such an idiot sometime. I should have thought through it. But that has never been my strong suit."

"I'm-- I think I'm confused, Nesh. I apologize," said Lake, and he shook his head vaguely. "Your sister is blasting off to the proverbial corner of no and where for the next few years. How is she injured by having her sister come with her? With a boarding pass or not."

"Well...more headache...?" Nesh looked at Lake and chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Because you know...it is me! I mean, it is...just...me...and I can be a handful."

When Lake shook his head, it was more pronounced. "No," he said, and he said, "No," again. His intonation was flat, because he wasn't convinced over this narrative that Nesh was a mess and Lirha was a genteel lady. "Your sister went to prison," Lake said, and that word had the strongest emphasis. "If you're a handful, then she's a shuttle-full. She's fortunate to have you here."

Nesh looked at him, serious, taking him in before she smiled to him. "Okay, now I remember why I wanted to paint you nude," she said lightly. "Not just the body although...wow. But you're...sweet."

"...Thank you," Lake said, genuinely touched by Nesh's kind words. They had probably been the kindest words anyone had used to describe him on this ship. He sat in silence for a moment, unaccustomed to that kind of flattery of late. Then he undercut it by saying, "I meant every word. Especially about the Captain." --He shrugged suggestively-- "And I'm still happy to pose for you. We'll have to find another life model to replace Gideon..."

"I think I will do a few solo ones..." she said softly, her eyes shining as she watched Lake with a small, fond smile.

Looking into the middle distance, Lake's brow-ridges furrowed and he pursed his lips. He went silent as he considered the offer. His dark eyes lit up as a decision was made. Hooking an index finger around his uniform collar, Lake asked, "Fashion paintings or..."


[OFF]

Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

Nesh Saalm
Civilian
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

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