Something in the Air

Posted on Mon Dec 10th, 2018 @ 5:50am by Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris & Ensign Kara Hoffman

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Kara and Gallia's Quarters
2245 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

The day had been hectic, so it flew by fast, and now the shift was over and Gallia and Kara had made it back to their quarters. The door slid open in front of them and Gallia sighed, "Home sweet home." Turning to Kara, "Think I'll start dinner, fried chicken sound good?"

Kara nodded and smiled wide. "Fried chicken sound fantastic! I haven't eaten since this morning. That damned plasma grid problem is gonna see me throwing my toolkit and the kitchen sink at it. Fix a problem, another appears. Elysium sure has character, for a ship that shouldn't have any problems she likes to give us Engineer's the run around eh?" Kara shook her head and without thinking headed over to her bed and started to take off her uniform and change into more casual clothes. Kara preferred 20th and 21st century style clothing. It was afterall one of her favourite time periods in human history, because of the unique fashion that was around at that time. She took out her "jeans" and a strapped t-shirt with a logo and some people with instruments on the front of it. It read "ACDC - Back in black 1971 tour". She let her hair down from it's rigid ponytail, and started changing.

Kara's changing had caught her eye quickly, and Gallia was definitely impressed, "So, AC/DC, what kinda music do they do?" She asked, though her eyes had fallen to Kara's jeans. Wow, she thought, she's gorgeous...

Kara smiled, pulling her shirt to fit. It was designed with a hole on the left breast, which allowed her black bra to be visible. Various other decorative holes showed her skin under the shirt. She always remembered her mothers first reaction to this shirt. Why would you wear a piece of cloth that doesn't completely cover your body...Fashion. Kara knew that gallia had watched her getting changed, it's that feeling you get when you know you shouldn't look yet you still do. Like a sixth sense. She stared at Gallia for just a couple of seconds, smiling in her cheeky charming way and flicked her long hair back behind her head as she began explaining to Gallia who AC/DC were. "Well they were an Australian rock and heavy metal band active from 1973 to the late 2030's. They were iconic, with a sound very recognisable once you got to know it. Iron maiden also had quite a unique sound and so did pink floyd... oh i'm sorry i'm rambling about musical history again. Sorry." Kara sat at the table, but then stood and offered to help replicating dinner. "I can help if you want, can't let you do all the work eh?" She winked.

"Tell ya what, I'll get the replicator goin', you make us some tea while I get changed?" Gallia offered, punching in the code for the replicator to begin making a fried chicken dinner with all the trimmings: mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits... As the machine began it's work Gallia, in a fashion eerily reminiscent of Kara's, stepped to her bed and began to change, putting on her short academy gym shorts and her brother's oversized football jersey, which she tied above the midriff; she had worked hard on her body and was pretty proud of it. She also wondered if she had just been the star of a show the way Kara was minutes before...

Walking to the replicator, Kara quickly instructed it to deliver the tea for gallia. Kara had already purchased some Klingon blood wine from her time in DS9 totally illegitimately, more or less as a treat. She loved it, although most humans could not stand the taste. Turning slowly, her eyes widened and for a moment Kara was unable to move. "Been working out Gallia?" Kara mentioned looking back to the replicator immediately, so as not to draw suspicion. However she knew the message had been sent in some form, Kara found Gallia gorgeous, so why should he be hiding it.

"Like mad!" Gallia replied with a laugh, "Senior Chief Pratt at the academy, he teaches a serious workout course three times a week, I never missed a class. He also trained me in Krav Maga, Brazilian Jui Jitsu, Capoiera, and old fashioned boxing. You're lookin' at a girl what can hold her own."

"Remind me to never piss you off then!" She jested, picking the tea up from the replicator and bringing it to the table, setting it down carefully. "I never had the pleasure of meeting Chief pratt during my time at the academy, although stories of him rebounded from dorm to dorm religiously. Apparantly he had, back in his prime fought off three klingon warriors unarmed and unaided in a bar fight. Quite impressive, considering Klingons are twice if not three times as strong as us mere humans that is..." She tilted her head and smiled, almost not believing such a ridiculous tale. "I can't wait to eat. If you're as hungry as I am, then desert might be in order, don't you think? I was going to replicate some Italian Vanilla and chocolate caramel ice cream. I imported it from my academy recipe's list. The perks of being assistant chief engineer means i can have a little fun although don't tell, it's our secret."

"Mum's the word then." Gallia whispered secretively as she got Tayalas into her high chair, "And as for the Klingon story, it was only two, the third showed up after the fact to take his drunken subordinates back to their vessel. Pratt always said if they'd been sober it could've gone the wrong way on him, but if they'd been sober the fight probably wouldnae happened to begin with."

Happily strapped into her high chair Tayalas turned to Kara and cooed like a little blue dove.

"This child positively loves ya." Gallia said, stating the obvious, "She doesn't react this way to many people. It's nice."

Instinctively, Kara moved over to Tayalas. As her mother did to Kara, she rubbed her own nose against Tayalas'. Kissing her lightly on the forehead. "You're ready for some dinner too little y'in." Kara smiled with affection turning to Gallia. "Seems she really does like me. I'm so glad."

Tayalas cooed and giggled cutely, making Gallia smile broadly. What a perfect family, she thought. "I am, too." Gallia said, "It's good for her to have more people in her life besides me. I'm glad she took to you, Kara."

"As am i, although I never had any doubt she'd love me once i met her. I...tend to have that affect on people at first. You either love me, or hate me, there is no in-between i suppose. Speaking of love, is our dinner ready? You sit down! I'll grab it from the replicator since it's only fair!" Kara moved to the replicator, where their meals sat prepared still steaming hot. "Excellent!" She exclaimed grabbing both plates and moving to the table, setting one at gallia's setting and one at her own. However before Kara sat down, she quickly grabbed Tayalas' bottle moving to the youngster. Carefully and protectively assisting the child, in grasping and holding her meal. "There yah go young'un. Now the adults have to eat too or we'll starve, get old ugly and wrinkled before our age." She let out a belly laugh, which was absolutely genuine, she really found that funny.

Kara's laugh caused Tayalas to giggle, which made Gallia do the same, "I've said it before, I'll stand by it until eternity, roommate from Heaven." Gallia stated as though it was the most obvious thing in the galaxy. Tucking into the chicken the first bite was either ambrosia or she was just that hungry, "Oh, yeah, that's the stuff right there."

Kara took her seat and started digging into the meal."This chicken is amazing! Why is it whenever i replicate something it tastes mediocre, but when you do it it tastes ten times better? I guess it's the Elysium's personality, she can be a trickster sometimes. Strange but i feel that she really does have a personality, even if in reality she's almost completely inorganic y'know?" Kara took another bite, however found her eyes drifting from her food and onto Gallia whenever Gallia wasn't looking. ~Why can I not stop staring at her, she's gonna think i'm weird if i don't get this under control~

She's staring at me, Gallia thought, causing her to smile and giggle a little. To keep from making Kara uncomfortable she pretended it was about the food, "Well, I'm glad you like it." She began, adding, "If you think this is good, wait until I make something from scratch. Great Aunt Mary, she insisted we all be able to cook. It was the one thing Dolana didnae do better than me."

Kara continued to eat slowly, as they spoke. "Y'know my father, used to love a barbecue. It's a very old fashioned traditional style of cooking. You use an ancient fuel source made from fossilised tree's called coal, or wood that has been cooked, known as charcoal in a metal pit, with grating over the top of it. You light the fuel on fire and cook meat or vegetables on the grating. The taste is truly unique. I must show it to you sometime. Although environmental systems might have to be adjusted to deal with the extra smoke that comes with such an ancient food preparation method." She paused taking another bite. "But there's no way of knowing if our replicators could produce a realistic facsimile of charcoal..."

"Well, nothin' worth havin' ever comes easy." Gallia said, "Not in matters of love or barbecue, least accordin' to my dad."

~Love~ That word swirled around Kara's mind. Was she in love? Or was it just simple infatuation. What the hell WAS she feeling. Kara isn't the kind of person to dwell on feelings for a long time, so she decided to be frank. "Gallia listen. There's something going on between us isn't there. Have you felt it too? Like a..." She paused and sighed out of inability to explain what she felt. "You know I think I've kinda, big-time fallen for you kinda thing."

Gallia's first instinct was to ask 'Good Lord, why?' simply because she couldn't imagine anyone falling in love with her, main reason being she was, by her own assessment, kind of a huge pain in the ass. However, she couldn't deny that things felt... good, between her and Kara. She took a deep breath and replied, "I've felt it, too. I mean, a few minutes ago I'm watchin' you with Tayalas and thinkin' what a cute family we make. Crazy, huh?" She sipped her tea thoughtfully before continuing, "It's definitely not a one way thing. I mean, I couldnae imagine why you'd be interested, but, yeah..."

Gallia didn't know what was coming over her, but she knew that she needed to know and it was probably now or never. She rose from her seat and walked the short distance between herself and Kara, pushing the beautiful brunette's long hair back from her face and kissing her deeply, "I hope that was as pleasant for you as for me." She said sheepishly, for some reason still bracing for a rejection, once bitten and twice, no, three times shy.

Kara stared into Gallia's deep green eyes for what seemed like an eternity. She wasn't quite sure if what had happened, had actually happened. She raised her right hand to caress Gallia's lips softly with her index finger, maintaining eye contact. Her breathing was slow and calm as she tilted her head a little to the side. Kara took a small breath. "I..." Kara paused for a brief moment as the usual feisty and extroverted woman spoke with a loving soft tone, her voice just above a whisper. "I am in love with you Gallia, I know that. I will do all that I can, to bring you and Tayalas happiness and security. I will protect you both. I will dedicate myself to you both. You have no idea, how much you and Tayalas both mean to me." Kara's brown eyes welled up with tears, as she moved her hand down to clasp Gallia's hand with a firm but soft intent, as she took a step forward and kissed Gallia's lips.

The kiss seemed to linger forever, not that Gallia minded that at all, but when it finally broke, the words Kara had just spoken lingered in the air, making Gallia feel connected to someone else in a way she never thought would be possible again, "I love you, too." She whispered, starting to tear up a little, brought back by Tayalas' sudden, spritely laughter behind her, "And the wee one seems glad we finally figured this out."

Kara moved away from Gallia to Tayalas, smiling as unwiped tears trickled down her cheeks. She picked Tayalas up into her arms and moved back to Gallia. "It's strange, I never really thought I had any maternal instincts. I guess I was wrong." She giggled softly as she wrapped her arm around Gallia, to embrace the two of them in a loving way. "Thank you for being brave for me Gallia, you and Tayalas will always be with me."

"Well, now you've said that, you're stuck with us." Gallia giggled, "Guess this is that break in the clouds we've been lookin' for all this time."