When Reality Hits the Fan

Posted on Wed Jul 31st, 2019 @ 9:24am by

Mission: Mission 2: Heaven On Earth
Location: Liorga's and Estelle's cabin
Timeline: en route to Earth
2670 words - 5.3 OF Standard Post Measure

It was over, finally the entire nightmare was over. The command crew had been recovered, the Romulans defeated, and the repairs on the Elysium had begun in earnest. Liorga stood at the oven, making dinner for Estelle and herself and baking some cookies for little Tayalas’ birthday party the next day. She was lost in the measure of cinnamon when the chime rang, causing her to call out, “Honey, could you get that?’’

Estelle was basking in the luxury of watching Liorga make food, rather than the other way around, while practising the piano. “Sure”, Estelle said, getting up and walking to the door to key it open. While certainly availing herself of many opportunities to be lazy, she didn’t feel calling at the door to open it up was polite enough when it wasn’t actually necessary. When she saw who it was, she said, “Oh, good evening. Can I help you?”

“Uh, yeah, hi, Dr. Hertz.” Maddy began timidly, “I’m actually here to see Chief Liorga if that’s okay, I’ve got something for her.” She held up a PADD so the doctor could see it was official business, “I’ll make it quick and be gone, I promise.”

“We’re preparing for a few days of leave”, Estelle said. “And I believe we’ve earned it. Official business can surely wait until we’ve returned, hopefully without an early recall this time.” She wasn’t thrilled to see Maddy of all people.

“I promise this is not anything like what you’re thinking, Doctor.” Maddy said, lowering her eyes to avoid antagonizing this already angry woman further, “I just want to give this to Liorga then I’ll leave and…” Maddy stopped and shook her head, placing the PADD in Estelle’s hand, “You know what? Here. You can give it to her. Sorry to have bothered anyone.” With that she turned and left quickly, realizing there was not going to be anything but a nasty confrontation if she stayed.

Estelle took the PADD and turned around, walking back towards Liorga while glancing at the PADD’s contents. “Well, would you look at that”, she said, surprised. “Looks like your amateur counsellor is off your back.” She held it up for Liorga to see, without the need to get her fatty fingers on the PADD.

“That was Maddy?” Liorga asked, looking over the PADD, “That’s great. Where is she?”

“She took off”, Estelle said. “I suppose she sensed my attitude towards her and figured it wasn’t a good idea to stay.”

“Kid was just doing her job, baby.” Liorga sighed, she understood, she always had even if she didn’t realize it; didn’t mean she liked it, but she understood, “And there’s something else…”

“I suppose I’m just annoyed by people who do their jobs poorly, when people I love suffer as a result”, Estelle said. “Nobody’s perfect, I know.” She nicked one of the unbaked cookies. “So, what else?” She sounded wary, considering the source.

“One question.” Liorga replied, leaning back against the counter, “Why? I haven’t been to another session since the last one, haven’t spoken to her, either. So why now? There has to be some reason. Some… I don’t know, something. It’s going to burn me up not knowing.”

“Why do you care?” Estelle asked.

“Because she’s a good kid, baby.” Liorga replied, “She means well and was looking out for me in her own way. I mean, take our relationship out of it, did I do a damn thing to help myself or did I probably make my situation worse with my answers?” Liorga had come to that realization not long ago, she had definitely made things worse and harder for Maddy to clear her, “And if nothing happened to change things on my end, something had to have happened on hers.”

“Want me to guess?” Estelle said, clearly a rhetorical question. “She probably peed herself when the Romulans shot at us, and now realises that it’s actually fairly healthy to not want to explore those annoying feelings too much.”

“Maybe.” Liorga shrugged, “Still, I need to know. And, just my thoughts, the kid doesn’t deserve all the anger. I get that you feel she made a bad situation for me, but I gave her the building materials.”

Estelle chuckled. “And you’re sure you want to run the risk of asking, and opening the case up again?”

“Estelle, turn off girlfriend for a second and think like a doctor.” Liorga said, not believing what she’d just heard herself asking for, “When someone suddenly changes drastically, unprovoked, after a traumatic experience, is that normal?”

Estelle nodded. “Yes. Happens more often than not, I would say.”

“Not common.” Liorga sighed, sometimes Estelle’s word games were too much, “Normal. Is that supposed to happen or is it a bad sign?”

“I’d say this is a good sign, to be honest”, Estelle said, scrolling down on the page and pointing Liorga to the signature. “Says so right here.” She knew she was being difficult on purpose but she couldn’t help herself.

Liorga just rolled her eyes, going back to her cookies, “You’re too much sometimes, you know that?”

“Yeah, I know”, Estelle admitted. “So you want to make sure she’s okay, that nothing happened during the fight that shouldn’t have? Maybe she’s actually better than before, and understand now?”

“Maybe.” Liorga conceded, “But I also want to know she’s going to be okay. Yeah, she’s annoying, but in her own annoying way she did the same thing for me, so I figure a little gratitude is in order, right?”

“Just don’t say anything that’ll make her not want to let you leave for our holiday, okay?” Estelle asked. That was her main concern here, something else coming up that would spoil their plans.

“Actually she was talking about an enforced holiday not long ago.” Liorga laughed. Maddy, in her desire to help, had actually ‘threatened’, even if that wasn’t the right word, Liorga with a paid month off...

“Hm, you might want to go check on her sooner rather than later?” Estelle changed her tune.

“Yeah, but she probably won’t come back.” Liorga sighed, putting another pan of cookies into the oven, “You might’ve scared her, love.”

“What could I do that the Romulans couldn’t?” Estelle wondered.

“Nothing.” Liorga replied, “Though her adrenaline isn’t rushing now.”

“I suppose you could offer her some of your cookies?” Estelle suggested. “I mean, whatever it is, the three C-s are always helpful, no?” Of course, by that she meant coffee, cookies and cuddles, though she figured the third one wouldn’t be entirely appropriate. “Well, two of them anyway.”

“Nobody’s turned one down yet.” Liorga laughed, “And these have chocolate chips.”

“Reminds me, I’ll have to suggest the new counsellor take a good look at the marine, Captain Azhul”, Estelle said. “Very peculiar thing I’ve noticed during her physical, one that someone should follow up on… she actually turned down a mug of my coffee, believe it or not.”

“They must be making jarheads with soft stomachs now.” Liorga quipped; Estelle’s coffee was fantastic, but not for the weak.

“You think I should have sent a probe down there?” Estelle wondered. “Hm, I should have thought of that.”

“Hold that thought.” Liorga laughed, mixing the dough for another batch of cookies, “We might need that later.”

“I think Sthilg might not appreciate it if I started scaring people away in sickbay, though”, Estelle mused.

“You mean you haven’t yet?” Liorga asked in legitimate disbelief.

“People keep coming, apparently they want to keep all that red stuff inside them”, Estelle chuckled.

“Can’t blame them there.” Liorga laughed, “Look, can you keep an eye on the cookies while I look for Maddy? Or would you rather find her for me?”

“I’ll watch your cookies”, Estelle decided. “You’re not too concerned about their exact number, yes?”

“Or we could just call her back.” Liorga counteroffered, she needed to make sure there were enough cookies for everybody, especially Tayalas, she couldn’t guarantee that with Estelle unsupervised.

“I’ll behave, don’t worry”, Estelle said. “Just know how much of a sacrifice that is for me.”

“Okay, truth is I don’t feel like walking.” Liorga admitted, “I mean, I’m damn near fifty…” She paused and tapped her wall comm, =A=Chief Petty Officer Liorga to Cadet Masters…”

Maddy was shocked into silence for nearly a minute, why would Liorga call her? Taking a deep breath, she tapped her commbadge, =A=Go ahead, Chief.=A= She answered.

=A=Can you come back to my quarters, please?=A= Liorga asked, =A=I’d like to talk to you.=A=

=A=Okay.=A= Maddy replied, surprised, =A=Give me five minutes.=A=

“I can only hope to be as fit as you are when I hit fifty”, Estelle said. “So don’t you dare play the age card.”

“Well, I can always share my… workout program, with you.” Liorga winked.

To her word, just under five minutes later, Maddy was ringing the chime again, hoping for a better response this time.

Liorga went to the door this time, letting Maddy in, “Come on in.”

“Uh, yeah, okay.” Maddy said nervously, casting her eyes on Dr. Hertz standing in the kitchen, remembering that that woman apparently hated her.

“It’s okay, come in”, Estelle called. “Apparently Liorga here is no longer annoyed, and so neither am I.”

“Okay.” Maddy said timidly, “Look, I was just trying to help, I want Liorga to be safe, I think that’s something we can agree on, right?”

Estelle nodded. “Yes. Getting shot at and having to worry about your six gets old fast.” A little expression she’d picked up with a landing party way back when.

“Look, Maddy, it’s okay.” Liorga said, motioning to the couch, sitting beside Maddy when she sat down and waving Estelle over, “We know you were doing your job and doing it right and we know I didn’t help my own situation…”

“Right.” Maddy agreed.

“Now we’re concerned for you.” Liorga added, comforting the younger woman.

While Liorga started the conversation, Estelle brought over a tray with three mugs, a kettle of hot water and a wooden box with gothic script reading ‘DIVERSI-TEA’, surrounded by floral motifs, painted on it, containing lots of different tea bags.

“Tea.” Maddy said slowly, “Thanks.”

It didn’t take a counselor or a PhD from Tufts to tell Liorga something was wrong with the cadet, “So, you want to talk about it?”

“Uh, yeah, I mean, I guess.” She replied, looking through the selection of teas, there were too many, at least there were now. She sat her mug down for a second and said, “I completely changed under fire. I’m a peaceful person, not a soldier, but that Gunnery Sergeant, he put a weapon in my hand, told me I was a rifleman now, then…”

“I hate it when that happens”, Estelle said.

Maddy turned and stared at Estelle for a second. Was she taunting her? Was the near end of her life a joke to this woman, a woman who swore to save lives? She couldn’t believe that, she wouldn’t. She reached into the box again, finding a light white strawberry tea and dropping it into her mug, “This happened to you?”

“Not in exactly those words”, Estelle said. “But yes. Liorga has done a lot more fighting than me, but I’ve done more than I’d like.” She pointed to her bookshelf. “When Liorga came back, I gave her an engineering book my parents recommended, about how ships are held together. It’s riveting. Helps to keep your mind off things.”

“We actually read a lot together.” Liorga shared, they’d spent many nights since she moved in lying in bed with books and just enjoying each other’s company during quiet, peaceful times.

“And I guess I gave you plenty of time to catch up on it, huh?” Maddy attempted to joke, though, truth being told, it was half hearted as best. She looked the older women over, they certainly made a good couple, she could only hope to be as happy in the future.

“I can tell you what the key to my sanity is”, Estelle said. “It’s not trying to be seen as sane, and just having fun.”

“Someone once said ‘sanity is a little box we’re forced to live in all our lives.’” Maddy said, taking the first sip of her tea; it was delicious.

“Yeah.” Liorga nodded, sipping her tea as she decided whether or not to tell Maddy that the originator of that quote was Charles Manson...

“That sounds like something a psychopath would say”, Estelle teased.

“Or a duck obsessed doctor.” Liorga laughed.

“So, I’ve got to know, I’ve heard everything about the jokes…” Maddy began trepidatiously, unsure if she could really ask the doctor questions yet, “Why ducks?”

Estelle shrugged. “It just works that way. You know how a bad doctor was called a quack, and how that’s later turned into a bit of a term of endearment, informally addressing a physician? That was the starting point, and then it developed from there.”

“But did you really throw ducks at tanks?” Maddy giggled, Liorga had told her the story about the attack of the killer ducks.

“No”, Estelle said. “That tale grew in the telling. I asked the computer to put more tanks into the scenario, and then just make them look like ducks. It’s a simple visual replacement done with a couple of voice commands.”

“And that was her version of the dinner bell.” Liorga laughed hard, though she did love the memory of that day’s roast duck dinner.

“Well, there is that, roast duck is one of my favourite foods”, Estelle admitted. “I usually make it at least once a week.”

“I’ve never had it.” Maddy cringed a bit, “I’m a vegan and I live a healthier lifestyle while remaining cruelty free.”

Estelle nodded. “Yes, I understand. My conscience weighs heavily on me for making the replicator provide the ingredients.” She kept her voice perfectly serious. “There’s just no substitute for manual preparation, unless you want it to taste exactly the same every time.”

“I can’t even imagine all the prep time that must take.” Maddy remarked, though her head was now filled with ideas of tasting replicated roast duck.

“Well, it’s like my dad always said,” Liorga added, “experimenting with flavor is half the fun.”

“And good things are worth the effort”, Estelle said. “Instead of wolfing down fast food, a real meal is something to celebrate. And I like to celebrate life whenever I can.”

“That is so deep.” Maddy smiled, taking another sip of her tea; she’d not spent as much time on the simple pleasures of late, this brush with death and tea with the doctor had brought this to her attention, gave her intentions to change it.

“Courtesy of the caffeinated thinking process”, Estelle smirked.

“I can definitely cosign that.” Maddy giggled, finally feeling safe with Estelle. She drained her tea and turned to them, “Thank you. Both of you. Not just for the tea.”

“You’re welcome”, Estelle smiled. “Though, I’m not sure what it is exactly that we might have done.”

“And you’re welcome here any time.” Liorga added, “Sometimes, even a counselor needs somebody to talk to.”

“Are you sure we’re the best option on that front, Li?” Estelle grinned.

“Yeah.” Liorga nodded, placing a hand on Maddy’s arm, “We both know where she’s been. We just got lucky and got to understand it before the storm hit.”