Blood and Bacon

Posted on Sun Oct 28th, 2018 @ 2:30am by Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris

Mission: Season 2: Mission 2.A: R&R
Location: Gallia's Cabin
1681 words - 3.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Gallia was happily relaxing on her day off, things on this ship couldn’t be better if she asked. Tayalas napped against her chest as she read the latest technical journals and everything just felt right. She hadn’t decided what she was going to do next, maybe she’d take The Lady Aberdeen out for a spin, or maybe she’d swim, whatever…

But before Gallia could make that choice, the doorbell rang. Outside, Estelle was waiting with a crate on an antigrav sled, and on top of the crate was a bag with the IFFY logo.

“Ahh, bloody hell.” Gallia sighed, happy that the doorbell hadn’t woken the baby. Placing Tayalas gently in her crib, Gallia made her way to the door and opened it, seeing Estelle…. Who appeared to be moving in. “Umm, okay, ya got kicked outta senior officers quarters or something?”

“Almost”, Estelle smirked. “They assigned me a temporary roommate, a Klingon who loves beans and who’s been farting ferociously for the past hour and a half.”

“Okay…” Gallia said, unsure whether or not to take Estelle seriously, “Come in, I guess. Just try to be quiet if ya would, Tay is sleepin’ good right now and I don’t wanna wake her.”

Estelle pushed in the sled. “I thought about helping with that a little”, she said and handed over the IFFY bag to Gallia. “Have a look inside, would you?”

Gallia dutifully opened the bag and gasped, there must’ve been hundreds of credits worth of baby clothes in there, “Been shoppin’ have ya?” She asked, shocked, “I can’t.. Thank you, but you didn’t have to, Estelle.”

“I might be older, but I haven’t forgotten what Andorian babies like”, Estelle teased. “These jumpers are equipped with a layer of fine tubes, and a coolant that’ll take body heat and channel it to the outside. When she’s wearing this, you can keep the temperature in here up at comfortable levels for humans.”

“That’s so sweet of ya, Estelle.” Gallia smiled, “And they’re lovely. But, one thing, what’s in the box?”

“A little something I made”, Estelle said, opening it and lifting out the cradle, now all painted in vivid colours, all Andorian motifs, and little planets and moons hanging over where the baby’s head was going to go. “Well, I replicated it but the paint job was all me.”

“Oh, that is beautiful.” Gallia said, ecstatic, “She’ll love it. Thank you so much, Estelle. I mean, really, this is… this is almost too much.”

“You’re having a tough enough time as a young surprise mother”, Estelle said. “I figured a little help couldn’t hurt. I’m not saying you need it, but it should be easier this way.”

“It will be.” Gallia replied, admitting in a hushed tone, “And being able to raise the temperature a bit will be a Godsend for Kara and I, always bloody cold in here, ya know?”

“I hadn’t noticed”, Estelle grinned. “But then, I’m much more used to it than you are. Scotland’s not known for its harsh winters.” She smiled at the younger woman. “Though, you do look cute in a sweater.”

“You know us Scots and our wool.” Gallia laughed.

“And why kilts are so popular, yes. I’ve heard those”, Estelle agreed.

“Because sheep can hear a zipper from a kilometer away.” Gallia chuckled, she knew all those old jokes by heart.

“I wasn’t going to repeat it, but there you go”, Estelle chuckled. “So, uhm… would you be okay with me taking a look at Tayalas?”

“Of course.” Gallia said, motioning for the doctor to go ahead.

Estelle stepped closer to the occupied crib and took a good and long look at Tayalas. “She’s beautiful, for a baby”, Estelle remarked with a slight hint of sarcasm in her voice. Babies were ugly, except to their own parents. That was a fact of life for most species.

“As all babies are.” Gallia nodded, choosing to ignore Estelle’s sarcasm and go with what her mother had always taught them, “But I think this one’s a beauty amongst beauties.”

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?” Estelle grinned. She couldn’t resist the urge to whip out her tricorder and take a few quick readings, however. “Just making sure, by the way. Looking very good indeed.”

“That’s a load off actually.” Gallia said honestly, “I’ve always been concerned with her bein’ so premature as she was that there might be some problems, but so far so good.”

“How premature was she?” Estelle asked. “Andorian gestation is four Earth months, give or take a few days.”

“Almost a month.” Gallia replied, “Like three weeks.”

“That is very early indeed”, Estelle agreed. “But other doctors have checked her before, haven’t they? I can’t see any issues now, and if they didn’t then, then there’s nothing to worry about in the long run either.”

“I know that logically.” Gallia sighed, “But a mother isn’t always logical when it comes to her kids. I’m sure you understand, or your mum would understand.”

“I’m not Vulcan, Gallia”, Estelle chuckled. “But my brain works enough like a scientist that that aspect tends to overrule instinctive or emotional responses to things which can be measured.”

“I suppose.” Gallia shrugged, relieved, “But it’s still comforting to know she’s good.”

“And before long, she’ll be running about keeping you on your toes at all times”, Estelle teased. “I’d take up ballet dancing now, for the practice.”

“I did ballet as a little girl.” Gallia smirked, “Wasn’t very good at it. My sister, Dolana, she was, as always, excellent at it. Not much I could do she wasn’t better at.”

“Andorians can be very competitive”, Estelle nodded. “They’ll go out of their way just to prove it to others. I survived by not competing at all, when I grew up.”

“What competition?” Gallia laughed hard, “Competition means there’s two or more people at or near the same level, she was just better than me at everything. No competition at all.”

Estelle chuckled softly. “There’s this Andorian doctor, brilliant surgeon. We knew each other growing up, but she went to the Andorian War School when I went to Starfleet Medical Academy. She actually challenged me to a duel. So I asked what it was going to be, specimen bottles and twenty patients? No, she wanted to do surgery against the clock, on a holographic patient. I said, ‘Kali, you’re nuts’.”

“Yeah, Lana, she always wanted to compete with me and Charles.” Gallia remembered, “Twice a year when we were kids our clans, Norris and Fraser, would hold Highlands Games at separate times, and she always wanted to be the first to go, set the bar as high as she could so nobody else can reach it. Didnae matter what it was: shooting a bow, tossing the caber, racin’ against each other. She split an arrow once, ya know. Just like Robin Hood, my sister. Fifty yards she hits the bullseye, then she splits her bloody arrow on the next shot…”

Estelle laughed. She figured Gallia was pulling her leg, just as she usually would with outlandish childhood tales such as this one, and so she didn’t ask Gallia what possible means of cheating her sister had employed. “With precision like that, she could have made a fine surgeon, too.”

“Nah.” Gallia snickered, “She couldnae stand the sight of blood…. Made her sick to her stomach it did. I’d make her take me to the new horror movies whenever they came out, she’d always be green when we left.”

“Heh, that’s what I told the children back when I was tutoring. ‘Stop rocking with your chair, I can’t stand the sight of blood’. It worked, mostly”, Estelle grinned.

“Yeah, I can see where it would.” Gallia nodded, “But you didnae turn around and join the bloody Marines, did ya?”

“No, I became a surgeon specifically so I can make the blood go away whenever someone is squirting it about”, Estelle said dead-pan.

“Well, least I didnae bleed on ya.” Gallia offered, “I just smelled a bit crispy.”

“Mhmm, bacon”, Estelle moaned.

“Okay, Homer.” Gallia laughed, The Simpsons were still funny after all these centuries.

“Well, Justin had a much bloodier affair”, Estelle said. “We still haven’t found all of him, probably never will. Those bulkheads are merciless when they come down.”

“Aye, that I remember.” Gallia shuddered a bit at the memory of the condition poor Case had been in when Liorga had brought her to sickbay, practically at gunpoint, “How’s he doin’ anyhow?”

“He’ll make a full recovery, it’ll just take a while”, Estelle said. “But he’ll be allowed to stay aboard, that’s what he was worried about most, having worked so hard to be posted to this vessel.

“I love the Elysium as much as the next girl, but I think I’d be more worried about my leg.” Gallia stated, “But, he’s tough, someone’s dad’s proud of their kid.”

“Well, that was after I had already told him we can make him a new leg just as good as the old one”, Estelle said. “I’ve seen him hobble around on crutches, he’s keeping active. At least nobody here is thinking about taking a leg off as a prank. That would be going too far even for me.” She remembered reading about such an incident on another exploratory vessel.

“What kinda prank is that?” Gallia began, but the sounds of Tayalas waking distracted her, “Speakin’ of someone’s kid, I best get mine, hey?”

“Oh, of course”, Estelle said. “Don’t let me distract you any longer.” She put the empty box back on the crate and started pushing it towards the door.

"Thank you, Estelle." Gallia smiled, "Come back soon."