Reunions Are Fun...

Posted on Tue Apr 2nd, 2019 @ 7:03am by Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris

Mission: Episode 1: Hell is a four letter word
Location: Deep Space Nine - transporter pad
3487 words - 7 OF Standard Post Measure

Anje had left the bridge early, she needed to get to the station as quickly as she could to help her little sister come aboard. She knew Milla would be starting the shipboard academy and would probably be in the cadet housing, but she hoped she could share her home with her sister for a few days before the term started.

But the first one at the transporter pad was Jessica. She had a small bag with her which held her few possessions, which had accumulated over the few weeks of free life from nothing to five items, which wasn’t too bad. She smiled and waved when she saw Anje.

Anje saw Jessica Clarke at the pad and nearly didn’t recognize her. She’d easily put on fifteen desperately needed pounds and no longer looked like the undead version of a beautiful woman. She made her way to Jessica immediately, “Oh my God, look at you!” She exclaimed, “Station life has done you wonders.”

“I met a special someone who helped me get presentable”, Jessica smiled, figuring that Anje's sister was special to Anje, though she was aware the term was usually used differently.

“Special someone? Nice.” Anje smiled approvingly, figuring Jessica had found a lover, “And you are way more than presentable, sweetheart, trust me.”

Ludmilla, what little hair she had on top of her head lifted into soft spikes, walked around the corner next, stopping to take a deep breath before greeting her sister for the first time in two years, “Hi, Anje.” She said, setting her bag on the ground and waiting for… well, she wasn’t sure what she was waiting for. Did she expect her sister to run over and hug her? Would Anje even want to talk to her? Had the time apart ruptured their bond forever?

Anje turned from Jessica to Milla, ~Speaking of people I barely recognize…~ She had a thousand different things she wanted to say, no idea which to choose. This, as usual, led to her choosing the most wrong one possible, “Milla, what the Hell did you do to your hair?” ~Shit… That was the wrong one, Anje!~

“It’s called ‘style’, Mysh.” Ludmilla fired back, “You know, you used to have it before you became Cheline’s My-Size Barbie?”

“There’s nothing wrong with this style”, Jessica said. She knew enough about their issues by now to know that this was the only thing she could say that wouldn’t get one of them angry with her. “Please, don’t fight, okay?”

“You’re right, Jessica. She looks great.” Anje nodded, glad someone was there who wasn’t making a total ass of themselves, “Just kind of miss her old look. We looked so much alike.”

“Hey, no problem.” Ludmilla offered, “I can shave your head any time.”

“Shave her head? Are you nuts?” Jessica blurted. “I’d kill for gorgeous hair like that.” She paused, realising what she’d said, then adding, “Well, not literally…”

“Well, date Commodore Halliwell and you will have hair like that.” Ludmilla shrugged, a subtle barb to her sister, “Whether you want to or not.”

Anje laughed, “Uh, yeah, that’s gonna be a pass, Milla.” She was a little surprised, not to mention bemused, that her sister had gone to the Halli-well for that shot so quickly, “And thanks, Jessica, but I love your look.”

“A Milla original.” Ludmilla boasted, “Even taught her how to do her makeup. Who knows, maybe I can do something for you…”

~This is going so well…~ Anje kicked herself internally, wondering what would go to Hell on her next. She saw salvation coming out of the corner of her eye though, two of them, piled high with bags from IFFY, “Estelle! Gallia! Over here!” She called out, “Estelle, come get a look at Jessica!”

“How did she recognise us behind all these boxes of merchandise?” Estelle wondered with a huge grin, then louder, “Hey, coming through!” But she came to a stop right in front of them. “Not bad. See what a few weeks of a stable diet can do for you?”

“Not to mention Ludmilla’s caring attention”, Jessica admitted.

“So who’s your pretty friend, Stelle?” Gallia asked, setting down her mass of packages. She turned her attention from the brunette to the blonde, “Excuse me, friends.”

“Gallia, this is my sister, Ludmilla Brett.” Anje interjected, “And this is Jessica Clarke, she’s a friend of mine and Estelle’s.”

“Ludmilla Brett…” Gallia rolled the name over in her mind for a second, then remembered, “Oh, aye! Ya, you’re gonna have a couple hands on rotations with me in about six weeks…”

“Milla, you didn’t tell me you were going in the Engineering track.” Anje said.

“Well, I don’t tell you a lot of things these days.” Ludmilla fired back, Anje was always knee deep in her business and it irritated her to no end, “Ever since you chose that…. She-devil over your blood…”

A beautiful, dark haired woman stepped up behind Jessica and Estelle, not yet saying anything or making her presence known, but she was all too familiar with this scene, she’d watched it a million times.

“Ludmilla, please. Didn’t you promise me you wouldn’t try to pick a fight?” Jessica asked. “It’ll be difficult enough between you two even if you agree to let the past be… well, the past.”

“Well, there they are, my babies.” The mystery woman finally said, “Still bickering like they were when I saw them together last. Care to knock it off long enough to show your poor, stressed out mother a little bit of love? Or would you prefer killing each other in front of me?”

Milla and Anje both stopped dead and turned to the voice, saying in unison, “Mama?”

“Who else?” She laughed, flipping her hair and smiling, revealing her delicately pointed ears, “There better not be any other woman claiming you two as her own. Of course, fighting like that I don’t think anyone would.”

Jessica, polite as always, extended her hand. “Good morning, Mrs Brett. I’m Jessica. It’s very nice to meet you.” Not the most original phrase ever uttered, but it had the benefit of being true. Jessica was glad to meet her, and hoped she would bring a bit of peace to the reunion of the two troublesome sisters.

“Jessica, the pleasure is mine. I’m Marianna Brett, the mother of the trouble twosome over there.” She smiled warmly, taking the younger woman’s hand, “I hope they haven’t been too much of a nuisance.”

“On the contrary”, Jessica said. “Nothing but lovely.” To her, anyway.

“Well, just proves I did something right with them.” Marianna smiled, motioning to the others, “Well, you both have names, I presume?”

“Uh, I think so”, Estelle said. “Gallia, what was my name again?” Giving Marianna a wry smile, she said apologetically, “I never was good with names, keep forgetting them, or confusing them.”

“I’m Gallia Norris, Engineer, and this is Dr. Estelle Hertz, our Chief Surgeon.” Gallia said, “We’re happy to meet you…” Gallia didn’t really know what to say, this woman was damned intimidating, like Great Aunt Mary, but slim.

“Well, Dr. Hertz, I’ve heard great things.” Marianna smiled, “Always a pleasure to meet a fellow cutter.”

Anje stayed quiet at her mother’s side, though she knew she owed Estelle and Gallia big time.

“Anje, have you talked to your mother about that holographic incident?” Estelle wondered.

“No, I haven’t….” Anje began, looking back and forth between her mother and her friends, desperately seeking a clue.

“I meant from Starfleet Medical, Doctor.” Marianna replied, “Your reports are favorite reading of mine.” She then turned back to her sister, “Holographic incident, mon ahren?”

“Yeah, mysh, tell us about the holographic incident.” Ludmilla prodded, anxious for the answer. Had she wound up in a porno like the friend she always talked about? Nah, her sister had never done anything that cool…

“Uh, yeah, maybe the Doctor should field that question.” Anje laughed, “Go ahead, Estelle…”

“Yeah.” Gallia giggled, “Go ahead, Estelle.”

“Oh, it was during the winter festival, I pulled a Dickens on her”, Estelle grinned. “Ghost of Christmas Future, just from a different perspective.” Of course Estelle got the name of the ghost wrong, she’d only ever seen a play performed as a child rather than read the actual book. “Cadet Anje, with the ghost appearing, telling her what she’d be like if she didn’t change, and the holographic cadet was horrified, of course.” Estelle poked Anje. “How long did it take you to figure out it was me?”

“Well, when the crime is stupid pranks,” Anje laughed, “the culprits are usually found amongst the usual suspects.”

“You think she means us, Stelle?” Gallia asked, feigning ignorance and, even more brazenly, innocence.

“But you know what that means, right?” Estelle said. “There are now two Brett sisters we can target.”

“Oh, lovely.” Ludmilla rolled her eyes, “Not even on the ship yet and already Anje’s friends are ‘sharing’ their insanity with me.”

“You’ll be grateful for it before too long, Milla.” Marianna informed, “Voyages into deep space can get dreary, people like these will keep you from getting bored.”

“Oh, yeah.” Anje agreed, “You’ll have a zero percent chance of boredom with Hawkeye and Trapper here.”

“Zero at best.” Gallia promised, “Tell me, Cadet, do ya like ducks?”

“Ducks?” Ludmilla raised an eyebrow, wondering what the sexy, though undeniably weird redhead was talking about.

“I’m the Elysium’s Chief Quackologist”, Estelle proclaimed. “So yes, ducks.”

“Oh, yes.” Gallia began in an ominous voice, “There will be ducks.”

Ludmilla turned to Jessica and whispered, “Is there something wrong with them or is it my imagination?”

“Don’t look at me”, Jessica said. “I am as clueless as you are, and you’re related to one of them.”

This, of course, was just hilarious to Commodore Brett, who was now laughing to the point of tears, “You two remind me of my father.” She said between guffaws, “He had a sense of humor unmatched in the annals of history. I’m glad to know my girls will always be able to laugh.”

“We try”, Estelle smirked.

“And I’ll make sure they’ll always have something to eat and drink”, Jessica said. “To those of you who don’t know yes. I got the job as waitress, so I’ll definitely be coming aboard and staying.”

“That’s wonderful!” Anje smiled broadly, embracing Jessica quickly, “Going to be so good having you around!”

“It really is, Jess.” Ludmilla agreed, her sister had finally got one right.

“Aye, just keep the drinks flowin’, you’ll have a happy Scot on your hands.” Gallia added.

“I’ll teach you how to make the best coffee in the universe”, Estelle promised.

“The bloody strongest.” Gallia laughed, “That much is for sure.”

“No, Sthilg has that honour”, Estelle said. She wouldn’t presume. At least Estelle made sure her coffee actually tasted good, she wasn’t in the habit of drinking machine oil.

“Well, it all sounds wonderful.” Marianna laughed, “We’ll have to have a cup some time. Sadly, it’ll have to wait. I’m not just here to see my girls off, I’m here on business. Going to do some touch up work on one of the Cortic VI victims. A Cassandra Blackmoor. You did an excellent job saving her life, Dr. Hertz, now I’m going to see what I can do with her face. Before I do that is there anything you think I should know?” She had always made a point to ask that, not only did it garner valuable information, it showed respect to the patient’s physician of record.

Estelle shook her head. “I don’t think there’s anything not in the report”, she said, turning professional in her tone of voice. “I don’t know what she looked like before, though you’ll no doubt be able to do a reconstruction. I’d have done it myself but there wasn’t time. I think most of her wounds are psychological rather than physical in nature.”

“The bugger holdin’ her captive, the one who kidnapped my friend, he tormented her for years.” Gallia interjected, “All of them, he did.”

“Yes, this Quinton Dunphy is a horrible excuse for a human being.” Anje agreed, “The hostages will need years of therapy.”

Hearing this made Ludmilla instantly think about Jessica. She’d, no doubt, suffered as much as any of the Cortic hostages, but seemed to be taking it all in stride, even if Ludmilla had no idea how. She took Jessica’s right hand with her left and squeezed gently, if only to send the message that she would be safe now.

But Jessica took this in quite a different way. “Don’t look at me”, she said. “I’ve gone through some tough shit but that doesn’t mean I’m qualified to help them. I might make things worse. No, leave that to professionals.”

Marianna laughed hard, placing a motherly hand on Jessica’s shoulder, “Jumpy much?”

“I’ve told Commodore Halliwell, I can’t be a leader of others like me”, Jessica said. “I’m barely able to get my own life on track, and not at all without help.”

Hearing Cheline Halliwell’s name turned her stomach, but Marianna engaged her Vulcan facade and it didn’t show, “I’m sure you’ll surprise yourself.” She reassured, “But, I promise you, that is not what Milla meant.”

“Right.” Ludmilla smiled warmly, “I wouldn’t ever ask anything of you that you weren’t comfortable with.” ~Not so sure about Auntie though…~

“Besides, you’re coming aboard and they’re leaving”, Estelle said. “We can’t keep them around with us on the ship. There are institutions, secure and professional, that will help them.”

Jessica nodded. “That is good. I wish them all the best.”

“Still cannae believe that bastard got away…” Gallia swore, the idea that someone had taken her friends then, after being caught, somehow violated the holding pen she'd set up, dropped the shields, and vanished into the night, burned her up inside.

“She take everything so personally?” Mariana asked, pointing her thumb towards Gallia.

“You know engineers, mama.” Anje shrugged.

Now it was Estelle’s turn to place a calming hand on Gallia’s shoulder. “As much as I have looked forward to this particular autopsy, the important thing is that we all came home in one piece.”

“Aye.” Gallia sighed. Though she’d still have been more satisfied busting Dunphy open with her biggest spanner, she’d gotten her friends back, all safe and in one piece, and that was all that truly mattered.

“A guy like that will eventually get what’s coming to him.” Marianna said, “If Lady Experience has taught me one thing about criminals it’s that they always end up in the cell or on the slab, usually by one of their buddies.”

“And in either case, we’ll only spoil our good moods thinking about him”, Estelle added. “I, for one, would much rather think about what Liorga will say when I show her what I’ve bought for her.”

“Right.” Anje agreed quickly, pointing out a group of smaller boxes in Gallia’s pile, “And I bet I know who those are for.” She turned to her mother, “Gallia has the most precious child, she’s just so cute! Like Baby Milla!”

Ludmilla cringed, terrified that her older sister was going to start sharing stories of her infancy with Jessica and two strangers, “Oh, please God, no….” She muttered under her breath, hoping for anything but that.

“Now that I’ve got to see”, Estelle said. “Are there pictures? You used food colouring, right? What did you make those tiny antennae out of? Did they move? Come on, Anje, don’t tease us with little bits of info, do give us the whole story.”

“Nothing like that.” Marianna laughed, “Though there was the time Milla wanted rainbow hair. Anje was fifteen, Milla was five, she saw a rainbow, thought it would be the greatest thing in the cosmos to have one all the time…”

“Oh, please shut up…” Milla begged, her pleas falling on deaf ears.

“Anyway, Anje told her if it was okay with us she’d take her to get her hair all rainbow colored the next day, good sister that she was.” Marianna continued, “But we were late getting home that night, and Milla didn’t want to wait…”

“Mama, I’m sure they don’t want to hear this.” Ludmilla interjected, trying so hard to stop this story in it’s tracks, “You’re boring them to tears.”

“Oh, whatever, Milla.” Her mother laughed her off, not about to let her youngest off the hook now that it was set.

“So what happened, Commodore?” Gallia pressed. Bored to tears? Hardly!

“She got into my art supplies.” Anje laughed.

“Yes, my first born is quite the painter.” Marianna said, pulling the now completely red faced Ludmilla close, “And it turned out so was my youngest.”

“I went to make mac and cheese for dinner; it’s Milla’s favorite.” Anje continued, tears streaming down her face, “Come back and she’s got a gooey rainbow in her hair, made with two hundred and fifty credits worth of my paints.”

“Seriously, is it possible a runaway food cart can run me down right now or something?” Ludmilla asked nobody in particular.

“So… so she points to her head and asks ‘Pretty?’” Anje recounted, gasping for breath as she laughed so hard, “She’s got these huge clumps of paint, a brush stuck to herself…”

“Okay, shut up.” Ludmilla snarled, though it was more of a begging thing at this point.

“So we come home just as Anje is trying to wash this… disaster out of Milla’s hair.” Marianna chimed in with a massive grin, “I asked Anje what the Hell had happened and she says ‘Next time I’m ordering pizza.’ and goes right back to washing the goo out of Milla’s hair.”

“Someone kill me please.” Ludmilla sighed, her eyes rolled so high she could’ve probably looked into her own skull.

“Once we got the goo out it didn’t look bad, though.” Anje finished, thoroughly enjoying embarrassing her little sister, ~You started it, bitch.~

“So, Blueberry and Rainbow?” Estelle said. “We do need more nicknames around here.”

“Who’s Blueberry?” Ludmilla asked, anxious to change the subject to anything not her.

“My nickname for Tayalas”, Estelle said. “You know, being small and blue.”

“That’s adorable.” Gallia giggled, Tayalas was definitely a little blueberry.

“That’s it, I simply must see this child!” Marianna said emphatically, “Bring her to me, whip out a picture, something.”

“Well, here’s a nice picture.” Gallia smiled, producing a picture of Kara holding Tayalas at home from the evening prior, “That’s my fiance, she’s Chief Engineer.”

“Okay, that child is too cute for words.” Marianna smiled, “I see why you’re so proud, Gallia. I’ve delivered hundreds of babies in my career, there’s nothing like it in the galaxy. I’m sure you agree, Dr. Hertz.”

Estelle shook her head. “I have not done that outside of training.” Reproductive medicine wasn’t her strong suit, and she had always given those jobs to someone else if one was available, and had just never been involved with a birth before.

“Really?” Marianna raised one delicate eyebrow, “I’d have thought you’d have ended up having to deliver a child if even by accident. But, times change, I suppose.”

“People have also become a lot more careful so they won’t accidentally make a ‘discovery’, so accidental pregnancies are way down as well”, Estelle smirked.

“There is that.” Marianna laughed, “Happily so. Otherwise every Vulcan would have thirty children from pon farr…”

“Uh, yeah, that.” Anje sighed nervously, she was due again next year; it was a miserable time for her in the Academy, a mere month from graduation and she was sullen, angry, and looking to have sex with anyone who moved just to make the pain stop.

Marianna placed a hand comfortingly on her eldest child’s shoulder, she knew how bad it had been for Anje when the fever hit, “So, how about I treat everyone to lunch at this lovely Russian bistro I found on the habitat ring and we can all get to know each other a little better?” She figured a change of subject would do everyone good, and it would take care of those hunger pangs she’d been having.

-Off