Sisters

Posted on 25 Nov 2021 @ 5:34pm by Nesh Saalm & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

3,328 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 18 - Cold Station 31
Location: Regula I - Level 16, Administration Module
Timeline: MD 01, 1835 hrs

[ON]

A half-full bottle of blue Romulan ale now sat on Captain Lirha Saalm's desk inside her temporary administrative office on board Regula I. Moments earlier, she'd wrapped up the latest round of promotions for her most deserving crew and now was in the middle of a short respite from her daily duties. It was getting close to dinner time and her stomach grumbled, agitated by the potent spirit she'd just ingested. She returned back to her desk's chair and leaned back, now contemplating the entirety of her current affairs now that Galileo had finally arrived at its new operational sector. Lirha found her thoughts drifting from the Latari system to the Tholians to her crew. And then to her sister. She took a deep, relaxing breath while pondering what mischief the younger Saalm could be up to in the hours since her starship arrived. It was probably best to find out for herself, as any responsible older sibling should. She tapped her commbadge. "Lirha to Nesh. Come to my office. Level 16, section five, starboard hub."

Nesh groaned, rolling her eyes where she sat in a corridor, back against bulkhead and her canvas in her lap. She stood and gathered her things, pushing some hair from her face...meaning she left a smudge of purple paint against her skin from her hands. She headed where Lirha was, the doors opening the second she was there. "Hi Lirha," she said, putting her bag with her supplies down inside the room, looking at her older sister.

Lirha managed a weak smile to her younger counterpart while noticing her painting accessories and blemished emerald hands. "Hi," she replied, switching from Federation Standard to their native Yrevish tongue. "How's your first day of shore leave? You like the station?"

"The view is nice. The rest of the station...it's a station," Nesh replied, easily switching from Standard to Yrevish. "The view is nice and there are still some interesting people around. Might do some portraits. Might even charge for them, see if I can get a bartering system going."

"A bartering system? On a Federation deep space station?" Lirha laughed, her energy returning. Her sister had a knack for business as all Saalms did, but to attempt to earn credits among Starfleet scientists? That was bold. "I admire your ambition." she added with a wink. "Are you hungry?"

"Always," Nesh said lightly and looked around the office, walking over to take a seat and stretching her legs out. She scratched her face where paint had now tried, flecks of it peeling off and falling on her clothes. "So what is going on? Swanky office and all," she met Lirha's eyes, holding them as she gave her a small smile.

Lirha got up from her chair and walked to the nearby replicator. "Fried wing slugs," she ordered in Federation Standard. The protein-matter synthesizer glowed then shimmered, materializing a steaming palette of Nesh's favorite appetizer. She retrieved the plate from the tray then spoke again."Fried wing slugs," the order was repeated. Another plate materialized which she took in her other hand. With both meals in hand, Lirha walked back to her desk where she put one portion in front of her sister and the other in front of herself. The captain reached into one of her desk's drawers and pulled out two sets of napkins and utensils. "The day's been busy," she finally answered to Nesh. "Docking procedures, debriefings, promotions."

"No demotions? I am disappointed..." Nesh reached for the plate, reaching with her fingers rather than the utensils. She closed her eyes as she took a bite, sighing contently. "This is so close to being perfect. So close..."

The older Saalm chuckled then shook her head. "No, no demotions. This time," she winked. Following her sister's cue she grabbed the edge of a crispy wing slug then popped the entirety of it in her mouth. The sudden flavor rush from the fried breading permeated her nostrils and when she bit down into the gooey interior, the sensation induced a dispersion of dopamine. "Mmm..." she mumbled while chewing. "It is."

"So I saw a few of the people we're picked up staying. I think the art lessons I did were...good. Maybe I'll do it into a more regular thing," Nesh tried to sound nonchalant about it, but she had enjoyed teaching the survivors painting and explaining a bit of the history of it. It had been...something different. And she would never have guessed anyone would have listened to her.

Lirha bit more into her wing slugs and chewed while listening. "What manner of art have you been doing with them?" she curiously wondered. Re-enactments of their trauma? Sunshine and tribble farms from Vajripam? Deep space quasars? "Have you made any friends?"

"Just...self expression. Or objects, for those who don't have the...drive," Nesh was honest and took more to eat, closing her eyes for a long moment. "Not made any friends in that sense if that is what you were wondering." By friends, Nesh tended to mean the friends you could either cuddle up to or cause trouble with.

With a judgemental stare, Lirha wiped her hands on her napkin then placed them on the desk in front of Nesh. "We're going to be here in this region for a long time. Several years. You need to find people who you can relate to and who value your company. Even if it's superficial," she advised. "I will not always be here for you to fall back on."

"Well, from where I am sitting...you invited me here. So are you sure that you are not falling back on me?" Nesh countered, steeling herself against the look on her face. "Things have changed, Lirha. I am still figuring myself out, I don't want the extra hassle of having to figure out other people too."

Rolling her eyes, Lirha looked back down at her plate and stuffed another wing slug between her gold lips. While she chewed, she attempted to think of the best diplomatic way to speak to her younger and hormone-infused sibling. "Nesh...it's been over six months since we left Earth. You smuggled yourself aboard my ship because you didn't want to stay on the Human homeworld." She chewed some more. "We're now in a region of space no one has ever traveled. Not Aila, or Livana...we are, quite literally the first Orions to explore these sectors of space."

"Let's get the narrative straight. I didn't want to be forced into marriage. That is why I am here," Nesh's voice was cold as she pushed her plate to the side, watching Lirha. "I am not an explorer. But I have been pulling my weight here. It might not be the way either of us thought my life would be, but I am doing what I can. It does not mean I have to make friends if I am happy finding my own voice."

Lirha recognized that distinctive tone in her sister's speech. She'd heard it countless times growing up with her, and despite the years which had passed, Lirha knew what was in store if she kept pressing the issue. "Fine," she said, holding her hands up as if to surrender. "You've been doing your job. No one has complained about you." She reached for a new wing slug. "...Not yet, at least," she mischievously grinned, then threw the piece of food at Nesh. Her aim was solid and the greasy deep-fried appetizer impacted the younger Saalm on the bridge of her nose.

Nesh gasped as it hit her, her eyes widening with outrage. "You're such a child!" she shouted and stood up...but grabbing a handful to throw at Lirha, her aim not as good but she had more ammo on her hands.

A salvo of hot wing slugs flew towards Lirha who turned her head at the last minute. Most of them bounced off her neck and shoulder but one found its way between her collar and uniform jacket then tumbled down to settle in the middle of her chest. It seemed like Nesh had gotten the better shot. "Gross," she complained while she reached between her breasts to dig out the offender.

Nesh watched her before she giggled, shaking her head. "You are frustrating, sister..." but there was a lot of love behind those words. Regardless what she said and felt, she never stopped loving Lirha. Even when they disagreed.

"More frustrating than living with mother and a husband you didn't consent to?" Lirha's point wasn't to be condescending but rather help put things in perspective. "I think you can be selfish and short-sighted...but I think you made the right choice coming with me on Galileo." She wasn't sure if she'd ever outright conveyed that to Nesh, but it was the truth. "The Beta Quadrant isn't what it used to be when I was growing up."

Nesh looked at her for a moment before she placed her hands on her hips, studying her sister. "I think you can be stuck up, holier-than-thou and generally a Starfleet suckup who can't decide if she is a Starfleet Officer or a Space Pirate...But somehow, you always come out on top." She let out a breath and tipped her head back. When she spoke, it was in standard. "I would rather boldly go than cowardly sit around and then having to kill my husband."

Lirha inhaled at the absurd though. She knew it wasn't outside the realm of possibility. "If you killed him, then mother would kill you, then I'd have to kill her," she muttered before taking another appetizer and putting it in her mouth. "You see, in this situation no one can win. But eventually," she chewed, "when we get back to Earth you will have to face Aila and the consequences of your decision. As long as you understand this."

Nesh nodded before she met her eyes, just holding them. "I understand. But she is not in charge of me anymore. It is my life. I have to live it, Mother does not. I could perhaps have gone about it differently, but I didn't."

"I made mistakes too when I was your age," confessed Lirha with an accepting shrug. "I was never married off so I cannot empathize with you. But I sympathize. I think it was wrong." She continued to chew in contemplation of her sister's predicament. "Mother is getting older. I am unmarried with no children and Livana is off-world doing...whatever she does." Her light green eyes stared into Nesh's. "She sees you as the last one of her daughters who can give her grandchildren. I place blame on her actions, but not her sentiment."

"I am not some baby factory and I do not owe her my womb," Nesh said, her voice firm as she met her eyes for a long moment. "If I am ever going to have a child, it will be because I want one. And Mother will have to accept that one day."

Lirha plucked the last appetizer from her plate and devoured it with affinity. "Are you still on--" she paused to chew and swallow a large bite, "--birth control? And hormone suppressants?"

"Of course I am," Nesh said as if it was obvious. The last thing she wanted was to complicate her life any more than she already had through her shortish years. "Are you?"

"It is standard for all Orions in Starfleet. Not that there are many." Lirha took the opportunity to bridge her reply with something which had been weighing on her mind every time she looked over the ship's duty rotations. "Speaking of Starfleet. Since you're here now, you might as well resume your career and continue your academic studies as a scientist's mate."

"No," the word was firm as Nesh looked at Lirha, raising an eyebrow. "No, I will not resume my career and continue my academic studies as a scientist's mate. I have no interest in it. I am serious about my art."

A frown of disapproval wrinkled on the older Saalm's forehead. She shook her head lightly from side to side, her dark hair bobbing across her shoulders. "Nesh, if you're going to stay on Galileo, you have to contribute to the mission like everyone else. You cannot just...work on your drawings all day. I sponsored your entrance into Starfleet," she scolded. "How do you think it reflects on me when you reject a prestigious position that could have gone to someone else?"

"Reflects on you? Oh, yes...the universe may implode if something wasn't about you and how you are viewed by people. I was unhappy in it, Lirha. Un. Happy. Anti-happy!" Nesh laughed at how absurd it was, shaking her head. "I can contribute in other ways. Art therapy. Helping out with other activities on the ship. You know...something that doesn't require me to put on a uniform and pretend to be you."

Lirha could feel anger starting to manifest deep inside her. Her sister might have thought she was being profound with her retort, but for it to be implied that it was she - the captain of the ship - who was being selfish, was insulting. "You are the one who quit Starfleet because you didn't like it. You are the one who ran away from a marriage because you didn't like it. Did you ever consider how your actions affected others? The consequences?" She rolled her eyes at Nesh. "I know this might seem like a bizarre concept, but sometimes in life, we have to do things we don't enjoy. It is called being an adult. You are not a teenager anymore and I fear I'm spoiling you."

"Don't worry, no one can ever accuse you of spoiling anyone," Nesh said quickly, folding her arms. "I only have one life, Lirha. I am going to live it how it is best for me. And that means not taking a career that was not for me or being whored out to a man of Mother's choosing. And if you can't accept that...well. I love you, sister...but that is your choice. I know you only want what is best for me, from where you are sitting. The problem is, it isn't what is best for me. Not really. And it took me a long time to see that. I can't live my life for you and Mother. I have to live it for myself. If that means I live it alone then...it is a consequence."

Slapping her thighs then holding her arms out wide as if to say 'look around', Lirha's brow furrowed again. "Yes, because that is a rational thought process. Live your life the way you want to and do it alone...in the middle of the Pleiades Cluster where there are no colonies for forty light years in any direction! I swear Nesh, the things that come out of your mouth..." She took a deep breath and tried to compose herself. "If you want to stay on my ship, you live by my rules. If not, I'll transfer you to Regula I where they will certainly assign you duties. And you won't have your pick of them, like on Galileo. Understood?"

"Pick of them?" Nesh watched her with disbelief. "Two seconds ago you said I had to be a scientist's mate again!" she turned around, pacing the room, clearly thinking. Clearly weighing up her options, taking it all in, mulling it over...putting it into categories. Clearly trying to find the lesser of two evils in her eyes.

"No," Lirha clarified. "It was a suggestion." She watched Nesh's tall curvy frame wander around the circular administrative module. The younger Orion had certainly grown into her body over the last two years. Their mother Aila would be proud. "If you do not want to return to science to spite me, then do it for yourself. The department is full of very intelligent people who you can learn from. The daily routine doesn't involve much physical activity; and you will be with other civilians." She shrugged then offered her another option. "Or you can work in the galley each day for eighteen hours preparing and serving food, then cleaning up."

Nesh stopped in her tracks and watched her, her face oddly still. "So really, you are now threatening me to get me back to science?" she asked lightly. "Either do option A, which is going back to something I don't like...or option B, where you will work me half to death?"

Finishing the last wing slug on her plate, Lirha wiped her mouth and hands with her napkin then set it on the empty dish. "Choose what you want to do on Galileo or I will choose for you." That was the real threat. "You can still work on your art when you are off-duty."

Nesh looked at her, tempted to tell her she's rather stay here. But she wouldn't have a plan to get home then. So she was unsure what to do. Or say. "You really remind me of Mother right now," she said softly, taking a deeper breath. "I'll do the galley."

The half-full bottle of blue Andorian ale was still on the captain's desk. Lirha stood from her chair then walked to the replicator to procure two small glasses before returning to her seat. She poured a hefty portion of the illegal alcohol into each receptacle then offered one to Nesh. "To the galley, then," she toasted.

Nesh left her glass on the desk, nodding as she took a breath. "Better stay sober, seeing as I am going to be working," she said and headed for the door.

"Nesh!" the older sister called out upon seeing the younger one walking away. "The crew is on shore leave..."

Nesh turned to face her, watching her for a long moment. "Perfect time to get to know the galley, right? When it is empty. And I want to be alone. Or more...certainly not in the same room as you," she shot back and walked out.

The door hissed shut behind her sister which suddenly left Lirha alone in the room. The two shots of exotic Romulan ale she'd poured remained untouched. For a long moment, the captain contemplated their conversation but eventually shook the thoughts away. The more she tried to interpret Nesh's attitude, the deeper down an emotional hole she traveled. The young woman was barely an adult yet had the full temperament and convictions of a mature Orion. Lirha knew that arguing with her was a fruitless pursuit and was thankful for the basic progress she'd managed to achieve.

Lirha grasped both shots - one in each hand - then leaned back in her chair. She brought the first to her gold lips and tilted her head back to let the spirit flow down her throat. She visibly grimaced then repeated the process with the other hand. Two clinks sounded when she forcefully placed both empty shot glasses back on her desk. As the rush of the alcohol started to metabolize, Lirha realized it would be a long night.

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

Nesh Saalm
Civilian
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Rice]

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