Morning after the Night Before

Posted on Sun Feb 12th, 2023 @ 12:42pm by Lieutenant Thraxina & Petty Officer, 2nd Class Harmony Stardancer

1,932 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 2: Rendezvous At Starbase 10
Location: Sick Bay
Timeline: During Midway's sojourn at SB10

Thraxina didn't fancy Dr Slattery's cold hands on her, or the new Andorian doctor with her wiggly antennae, and especially not Mike Amato, with whom she always ended up arguing, despite their 'agreement' not to, in case it upset Toby. That 'agreement' was about as effective as the the Prime Directive.

No, if she could possibly help it, she would always see the ship's combat medic. So it was that she breezed into Harmony's little office dressed in civilian clobber, just a simple shift, looking a little worse for wear it had to be said. Even her flawless looks were marred by smudged makeup, puffy eyes and her hair in what could only be described as 'chaotic disarray'. Also, she was carrying an enormous bouquet of flowering pod plants from Gamma Trianguli VI.

"Good morning, Stardancer" the Lieutenant greeted Harmony breezily, she liked the girl immensely, but she never forgot the niceties of rank. "These are for you!" she said, chucking the beautiful and expensive flowers into her hands "Don't worry, not from me... I'm sick of that rumour going round!" she said, rolling her somewhat bloodshot eyes. "Dispatch had them and I said I'd bring them down. I've read the card, it says "Humans are pink, Andorians are blue, I look like a pig, and I love you! Kiss, kiss, kiss' Or words to that effect. i translated it from the Tellarite for you." she chirped, although with a slightly croaky voice.

Harmony hadn't been expecting anyone, since most of the crew were enjoying time on the base, where she'd been the past day or so. But Sickbay here on the ship had to be attended, and this was her shift.

She looked up to a bundle of colorful flowers, only noticing Thraxina as the woman spoke, the words prompting an urge to laugh, while at the same time were alarming and endearing!

"Do you know any Tellarites?" she frowned.

"Oh, well..." standing, Harmony took the flowers and note, "there were a few who helped us escape the Orions. I don't recall her name though.”

“It wasn’t Haili, was it?” Thraxina asked, absently. “I saw that on the bottom of the card and thought it was just word I didn’t understand. Anyway, looks like you have an admirer.”

“So, um, what can I do for you?"

“Hmmm? Oh yes, well they say things come in threes, don’t they? By coincidence, I slept with a couple of Tellarite bouncers last night, I was wondering if you can give me a quick test to make sure I haven’t, you know, picked anything up, and that I’m not pregnant. I mean, I doubt it: my people are so highly evolved we don’t usually cross-breed particularly effectively.”

"Oh, well, sure, I guess so." It was all Harmony could do to hold back any outward reaction. Not that it was hers to judge, and for a fraction of a second, she even wondered what it would be like....

Eww! No!

In case Harmony wondered how she was so sure, the Andaran added casually: “They know because did a lot of weird experiments on Troglodytes in the 50s. So anyway, it’s unlikely, but I don’t want to be surprised by suddenly popping out a brood of piglets on the bridge in the middle of our next mission.”

"No, of course not. That would be...inconvenient." At least!

She looked pleadingly at Harmony. “Oh, please, please, please tell me it’s something you can do, instead of that army of doctors. I mean, you are a combat medic and I have been in action!”

At that, Harmony couldn't help but laugh. "But most people going into combat use some sort of protective gear."

"Not in Star Fleet they don't!" chuckled Thraxina as she climbed onto harmony's examination couch. "Have you seen security on those landing parties? They just trust to a bight red target of a uniform and a badly armed phaser to protect themselves... little good that it does them!"

"Let's find out first if there's even a problem to worry about." She rose to fetch a scanner. "So, um, is Haili actually on the station?"

"You know what..." Thraxina had closed her eyes. The examination couch was so comfy she could just go to sleep. "... [yawn] those two last night, the male one was called Oink, or Oyinkh or something, but the female, she was... urm... yeah, it might have been Baylee or Haili or something like that. I didn't really hear her name, my ears were sort of blocked at the time." she stifled a yawn, while Harmony did her stuff.

Harmony didn't ask...she didn't want to know!

Then she opened her eyes and looked at the pretty medic curiously.

"Why, you're not thinking of going and talking to her are you, Stardancer?" she asked, a sly little grin on her hungover features. "I mean, if you want to find out for yourself, it was down at that Tellarite Bar at the seedy end of the Station: Bristles. I'd take some muscle with you if you go, though, Avis or someone, it was a bit rough. I'd come with you, but I got barred, I think that's how I ended up talking to the bouncer."

"What the heck did you do?" Well, again, maybe best not to know!

Thraxina just squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. She either couldn't remember or didn't want to.

"No...I mean, I wouldn't mind talking to her has a friend, but you know how that can be, and I don't want all the complications of perceived rejection." She was curious about Tellurites, and certainly wouldn't mind making friends, but she didn't need complications.

"Well, I think you should nip it in the bud if you can. I mean, I doubt it's a coincidence that she's here. She must have left this Xon character's employ and followed you to the Star Base. You can't have admirers tracking the ship through the Galaxy so they can send you flowers every time we stop near a florist! It simply isn't done, Stardancer!"

"Anyway..." she turned her attention to the scanner. "Oh...ummm...one...two...three..."

The recovering, hungover officer sat bolt upright on the couch.

"WHAT?!!"

Thraxina glanced at Harmony's impish little face and realised she was pulling her leg.

"Very funny. You realise I could have shot or something for playing tricks on a superior officer. You need to treat me with the respect I deserve. Now, let me know if I've caught a disease from that pig-man I had casual sex with last night." she instructed, crumpling back onto the couch.

"It was worth it to see your expression." Harmony grinned innocently.

She opened one eye and looked at Harmony.

"I'd have them, you know." she said.

"That would have been interesting." Harmony had to admire that, she wasn't sure she could say the same thing, and she wasn't even sure how compatible the species were. "And no indication of any disease, except maybe an unhealthy craving for truffles!"

Thraxina snorted a laugh.

"Oh dear, I know this all looks bad, but..." she sighed "... even vegans and vegetarians sometimes get a craving for a nice salty, greasy, 'dirty' bacon sandwich now and again, don't they? And after the stress of sitting up on that bridge for hours on end, having to look all serious and professional when I'm mostly bored out of my skull, when I'm off duty, I just want to let myself go, you know?"

It was always good therapy, talking to to P.O.2 Stardancer as she bandaged your head or applied some balm or prescribed you your morning-after pill.

Bacon sandwich? Really, Harmony didn't want to know more...only, she did! "I guess we all have to blow off steam somehow." No sense in chastising Thraxina on her choices...she was a grown woman, and there was nothing wrong with having her own way of doing things. "It worked out this time, but I can help with a cleansing, if you want...I mean, if you believe in that sort of thing. Clearing the Chi, sort of making it more centered."

"Oh, that sort of cleansing!" laughed Thraxina "I thought you were talking about a rub down there with a damp flannel. Yeah, go for it. I'm into all that now, Doctor Dave showed me: we used to do that new age Edenite Love-think stuff with him, me and that nutty little three armed guy Dora. Yes, Chi me up!" she demanded.

"Do I need to take my clothes off?" she asked, unsure of what the process involved "Oooh" she put her hand to her forehead "Take my clothes off... that's reminded me of something last night... yeeees... I think I just remembered why I got barred from Bristles. Maybe I should go back and apologise to them."

"And if you decide to go back, you should take me with you, to keep you out of trouble!"

Again, there was a twinkle in Thraxina's puffy eyes as she looked at Harmony. "You want to go, don't you? You sly little minx!" she laughed despite her throbbing head. "What do they say: Curiosity killed the sehlat, but satisfaction revived her'. All right, I've got one more day of shore leave owing, how about you? We'll go down there, I'll say I've returned to apologise and we'll see if we can talk to Haili or Miss Piggy or whatever she's called."

"I don't..." Sighing, Harmony shrugged. "Maybe, but like I said, I don't want to upset or mislead her. Come on." She waved Thraxina to a small room that had a low bed and a couch. "You can just sit down," she commented, gathering some things from her 'office', then going along with the other woman.

"I can adjust the settings here so I can do this..." Taking a small bundle of dried plant, she lit it so that it was smoking. Normal settings throughout the ship would trigger alarms, so this was one of the rare places she could do this."

Thraxina looked on with interest. Religion or ritual, of any stamp, was not a normal part of her life growing up on Stratos: art was always new, different, the derivative was despised. There was no reverence for ancient words and actions that had become imbued with power through use over the centuries. So, although Harmony's cleansing ritual seemed very beautiful: especially the graceful and thoughtful way that Harmony performed it, but she hardly expected it to work, for anything to happen.

"It's sage, been used for centuries to clear bad karma." Waving the smoke gently around Thraxina, she murmured some words, "Fri denne ånden...holde henne trygg. There! That should do it!"

Thraxina repeated the words, thoughtfully.

"Fri denne ånden...holde henne trygg." she sighed smiling lazily at the medic. "You know, I don't know what that means, but I feel like it must be something incredibly nice and thoughtful, Stardancer. Thank you."

Somehow she felt free... and safe.

"Just something about freeing your spirit." Harmony shrugged. "It's an old Nordic Earth language, kinda muddled over the centuries." A sly grin crossed her features. "So...you really think going to Bristles isn't a silly idea?"

Thraxina laughed.

"Of course it's a silly idea! Going there is just the sort of silly idea that two free spirits should do!"

"Speak for yourself," Harmony grumbled, but she wasn't going to refuse!

 

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