Mothers Meet

Posted on Tue Oct 16th, 2018 @ 5:23am by Lieutenant JG Gallia Norris

Mission: Season 2: Mission 2.A: R&R
Location: Lounge
Timeline: Around Breakfast
1257 words - 2.5 OF Standard Post Measure

Gallia had gotten up early, well, Tayalas had woken her up early, and she'd not been able to get back to sleep. Tired, grumpy, and aching from sleeping funny, she definitely did not feel like making breakfast, even with a replicator to do most of the work. That fact brought Gallia, and the unusually fussy Tayalas, to the ship's lounge this morning. Scanning the room as best she could with Tayalas fidgeting in her arms, Gallia finally found what might have been the only empty seats in the lounge, right next to another woman with a baby, "Hope she doesn't mind company." Gallia sighed, hoping more than that the other woman knew what she was doing and could maybe help Gallia out. She made her way over quickly to the table before anyone could snag it, and greeted the other woman, "Good morning, I don't wanna impose, but would it be okay if me and mine joined you and yours, Miss?"

Feyth looked up, startled by the woman's arrival. The Bajoran smiled through an embarrassed little laugh. "Sorry. I've been a little on edge lately," she said. Her eyes drifted back down to Sedi."She only sleeps when she's in my arms. And even then, that's hardly ever. I keep thinking maybe I'll sleep a bit, but every time I close my eyes I'm worried she won't be here when I wake up. That's crazy, right? Is that crazy?"

"Oh, Heaven's no!" Gallia replied, sitting down and putting Tayalas in her lap while awaiting a waiter who would, hopefully, come complete with a high chair, "I wake up outta dreams where I've lost Tayalas all the time, puts me in a right panic, too. Gallia Norris and this is Tayalas, it's a pleasure."

"For me as well. Believe me," Feyth assured her. She lowered her voice then, her eyes darting to side to side as if in conspiracy. "Honestly? I've been coming here off and on for the last week in the hopes of bumping into someone who knows what they're doing with these little things." She smiled at little Tayalas as she said those last words. Suddenly, with a self-aware shake of her head, she looked back up to Gallia realizing she'd yet to introduce herself. "Sorry. Again. Absent minded. I'm Feyth. Feyth Railli. And this here is Feyth Sedi Yaanalla."

"Sedi? That's a Gorn name if I remember right." Gallia smiled, "My dad's adopted brother was Gorn. Means moonlight, I remember from this poem he used to read me when I was little. Seems Dr. Sthilg must be her pediatrician, too." Gallia sighed and turned back to Feyth, "And, to be perfectly honest with ya, I was hopin' you knew what you were doin' and could help me. Looks like we're both stumblin' in the dark, huh?"

"That sounds absolutely amazing," Feyth laughed her relieved gratitude. She stopped then, blinking her surprise. "A Gorn name," she said to herself. "You know everything happened in such a blur that I hardly remembered naming her. It felt like I was pregnant forever, and then suddenly, bam, she's here. Sedi." She waved her own story away with a hand. "So tell me, what does 'Tayalas' mean?"

"As to what it means, I'm not sure." Gallia answered, "I know the name was chosen after the woman who was the first CO my parents served under, a Captain Tayalas Gomez, Andorian, raised by humans. She was Godmother to my siblings and I. Kept turnin' down Admirals ranks ta keep on blastin' across the galaxy. Gotta admire that though, passin' on everything ta keep doin' whatcha love."

Feyth reached up then, surprising even herself to find that she had started crying. The realization made the tears flow all the more. She shook her head with embarrassment, wiping at the corners of her eyes with the tips of her fingers. "I'm sorry. Hormones or something," she said stupidly. Something about what Gallia had said about doing what you love -- it made this sudden life change feel all the more real. And all the opportunities she thought she once had all the more distant.

"Oh, darlin' don't apologize." Gallia began, "Me mum always said 'We women are always cryin' 'bout somethin' and dare some man ta say somethin' 'bout it.' And she was right! It's our right as women ta be emotional, last I recalled I didnae sign it away."

Feyth found herself smiling, as astounded now as she had been with her emotional outburst a moment ago. "That accent. It's wonderful. Where are you from? Is it Vidian?"

"Not at all." Gallia laughed, then said with pride, "It's Scottish. Aberdeen, ta be mar specific. Best place in the galaxy."

The Bajoran shook her head despite a smile blooming on her face in the light of Gallia's overwhelmingly positive attitude. "I don't know Scottish," she admitted. "Is it in the Federation?"

"At the very heart a' the Federation it is!" Gallia replied in faux shock, surely Feyth was messing with her, "Aberdeen, Scotland, Earth, home of the best engineers Starfleet's ever been blessed with. Though, truth bein' what it is, we don't get those positively darlin' ridges on our noses like ya Bajorans do, so it's kind of a trade-off."

Feyth blushed at the compliment, her fingers going subconsciously up to touch her nose. "So, are you an engineer, then?"

"That I am." Gallia said with tremendous pride, "Cannae think of anythin' else in the galaxy I'd rather be, neither. Though I did cross train in flight control, I can fly a shuttle with the best of 'em."

"A pilot?" Feyth's eyes beamed, the fingers of her right hand pressed against her chest. "I'm a pilot! Flight control. Well, I was, before the mandatory maternity leave, but..." The Bajoran leaned in, cradling Sedi as she did so, as though sharing some kind of dark secret. "Have you ever flown a fighter? In the holodeck or anything?"

"Aye, a Supermarine Spitfire." Gallia replied, "And an AVRO Lancaster bomber. Harriers, A-10 Warthog, Evel Knievel's rocket car as well."

Feyth's smile nearly reached her eyes now as she studied her fellow mother, her fellow flight enthusiast. "Gallia Norris, I think you might be my most favorite person in the universe right now."

"Aye, I get that often." Gallia laughed, "An' I cannae deny comin' ta like you a lot in a hurry. One day we're gonna hafta go for a flight together for sure."

The Bajoran nearly melted into her seat. "That would be amazing! Is it -- I mean can we -- is it possible to still do that kind of thing with a..." she hefted Sedi slightly in her arms.

"Oh, aye, we just gotta be creative is all." Gallia replied, "So, next time we got a chance, we're flyin' air cover for the lads stranded on that beach in Dunkirk! Coupla Spitfires against the mighty Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine, we'll give 'em more hell than they can handle."

Feyth couldn't wipe the stupid smile from her face, and in that moment she wasn't even sure she cared. "I'm really glad I met you," she said genuinely. "I've never really been one for the Prophets, but if they are out there, they've certainly been looking out for me today."

"And me." Gallia nodded, "So, let's get these babies fed and make plans for some grown-up time very soon."

"Very soon," Feyth agreed. "Very, very soon."

OFF

Chief Petty Officer Feyth Railli
Flight Control
USS Elysium

Ensign Gallia Norris
Engineering Officer
USS Elysium