The Elephant in the Room
Posted on Sun Sep 20th, 2020 @ 7:26am by
Mission:
End of Line
Location: Cassie's Quarters
Timeline: MD 01
2080 words - 4.2 OF Standard Post Measure
Though she had done her level best to enjoy herself throughout the first day of leave, Lilith had made the classic blunder that career officers so often make - she looked at her work inbox while not required to be at work. The computer had flagged it as urgent, and both the subject line and the sender of the most recently received message had burned themselves into the back of her mind. She tried to ignore it. She tried to stay in the moment, to shut them out with a few drinks to go with her favorite lunch. But as she stumbled her way back to the ship and walked along the corridor, all she could feel was the weight of the PADD in her left jacket pocket growing heavier with each step she took.
Lilith's lip stuck out in a pout as she keyed her entry into Cassie's empty quarters. Dressed in the same tattered jeans and tee combination as she had been earlier that day, she carefully kicked off her shoes and walked towards the couch, leaving her black sneakers sitting neatly by the door. She collapsed onto the sofa in a tangle of limbs and throw pillows, extracting the troublesome electronic device from her flannel jacket and placing it face down on the nearby table. Her thoughts flashed back to the memory of her and Cassie's first kiss in that very spot as she wrapped herself in a throw blanket. Giggling to herself, Lily realized she had overdone the dosage of liquid self-medication as she sank further into the cushions with a sleepy yawn. The lights dimmed in the room, and she quickly sank into a mid-afternoon slumber, oblivious to everything going on outside of her blanket cocoon.
After the discussion Cassie had had with Leyana and Mr. Barr, Cassie needed an outlet. Since she hadn't worked out that morning, or even in the past few days, she thought changing into some cycling gear and taking her bike out for a spin on the holodeck would do her some good. No doubt the station had more sophisticated sporting facilities, but Cassie was in no mood to explore it just now.
She turned off the screens, picked up the numerous PADDs from the floor, neatly placed them in a pile on her desk. She then turned off the lights of her office, and after looking around at her small team's empty workspace, turned off those lights as well. After so much hard work, her people needed, and deserved, that short reprieve. She then took off her shoes as she exited the Diplomatic offices and walked barefoot to her quarters.
She noticed a pair of shoes that didn't belong to her as she set her own near the door, looked around for their owner, and spotted her fast asleep on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket like a human burrito. Only Lilith's head stuck out from the blankets. Cassie smiled; maybe the long bike ride in the holodeck could wait.
The young diplomat passed the couch and briefly scratched her girlfriend's head as she walked over to one of the multiple closets in her suite to find something to change in.
From the next room, a nearly unintelligible low grumble grew louder and higher in pitch as Lilith slowly regained consciousness. Erupting into a full blown grunt of exertion, she stretched her arms as high over her head as she could manage from her seated position and emitted what was an admittedly unattractive open mouthed yawn. Sealing the trifecta with a smack of the lips, Sullivan began to peel off the blanket and walked towards the light source emanating from inside Cassie's room.
"Cassie," she called out in a sing-song voice as she approached the door. "Are you decent? And if you aren't, may I come in anyway?"
As a response, a hand holding a strap of a blue silk tank top by the index finger appeared at the door. A moment later, that index finger dropped the garment, letting it drop in a heap on the floor, and beckoned Lilith to come closer. It was an impossible gesture to resist. With a small bite of her lower lip, Lilith felt the warmth of color in her cheeks as she walked through the entryway with as much grace as she could muster in her still inebriated state.
"Hi," she managed after a beat as she rasped in a whisper. As if she were walking on eggshells, she carefully stepped her way closer to her girlfriend who had turned to face away from the door. Lilith slowly wrapped her arms around Cassie's torso, locking in the embrace by clasping her wrist and giving her a subtle, but insistent squeeze. Brushing her left cheek against Cassie's jawline, Lilith tilted her head and kissed her softly before relaxing the pressure of her embrace.
"I've missed you," Sullivan continued quietly. "I'm so very proud of you for the work you did dealing with that rat bastard of an Emperor. Your patience for him is only surpassed by your patience for me - thank you. Oh, and sorry for making a mess in the living room. I, uh, may have gotten a head start on leave."
"I've missed you too," Cassie admitted, kissing Lilith, ignoring the beer breath, so her girlfriend wouldn't see her blushing from all the praise she didn't think she deserved.
"Do you have any plans for these days off? Just gonna wing it?" Lilith raised an eyebrow.
"For once, I haven't planned a single thing. Improvisation is the theme for this shore leave," Cassie answered, giving Lilith a seductive smile. She caught her by the waist, and just as she was going to lead her to the bed, she saw Lilith's whole expression change, and immediately stopped in her tracks. "What's up?"
"I... well," Sullivan's aura of debonair came crashing down, and with it, so too did her expression. "I want to get this out of the way, because I feel like I'm just going to think about it for the rest of leave if I don't deal with it now. One of those PADDs out there is my personal one, and on it, there's a message I've been too scared to open without you. Will you help me with this?"
"Of course," Cassie answered and sat cross-legged in the middle of her bed. "Let's see what you're so worried about."
Slowly nodding, Lilith took a deep breath and retrieved her PADD, easily identifiable from the others in the stack by the squadron stickers she had liberally decorated the back of the device with. She walked over to the bed and plopped herself perpendicular to where Cassie was sitting, propping her upper body up on her elbows as the facial recognition algorithm confirmed her identity and permitted access to the device.
"Ah, I can't even read it. Will you do it?"
Cassie plucked the PADD from Lilith's hands and started reading aloud what looked like complete gibberish to her.
R STARDATE 73695.4
FM COMNA VPERSCOM OFFICER ORDERS OBSIDIAN COMMAND//PERS405/PERS455//
TO USS MAJESTIC
BT
UNCLAS FOUON01431
MSGID/GENADMIN/COMNAFPERSCOM//
SUBJ/BUPERS ORDER//
RMKS/
BUPERS ORDER: 0517/MM1 GENDER: FEMALE PERS-N31401
OFFICIAL CHANGE DUTY ORDERS FOR
MM1 SULLIVAN, TJ-926-406/
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
IN CARRYING OUT/PROCESSING THESE ORDERS, BOTHS PART ONE AND TWO MUST BE READ
AND LISTED INSTRUCTIONS COMPLIED WITH.
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
PART ONE
FORMAT FD100: REMEMBER TO READ YOUR ORDERS IN THEIR ENTIRETY
********DETACHING ACTIVITY********
WHEN DIRECTED DETACH IN STARDATE 73676 EDD: 73696
FROM NCC 82121 USS MAJESTIC
HOMEPORT OBSIDIAN COMMAND
FROM DUTY ACC:100
CHIEF FLIGHT CONTROL OFFICER: NCC 82181 USS MAJESTIC
********ULTIMATE ACTIVITY********
REPORT NOT LATER THAN STARDATE 73780 EDA: 73780
TO NCC 98982 USS DECATUR
FOR DUTY ACC: 100
COMMANDER AIR GROUP: NCC 98982 USS DECATUR
"...well. I understood that last bit," Cassie said after a moment that seemed the last forever. She also understood that orders were orders in the military, and there was absolutely no way she could change that. She let out a breath she had no idea she had held and put the PADD on the bed. "Um. I... um... well... that's good yeah? I thought you wanted to fly a fighter ship again?" she asked, instantly suspecting the implications of such orders.
"No, my love, that is not what that job is. That job is one percent flying, ninety-nine percent administrative stuff," Lily explained, muttering a few expletives under her breath.
A number of emotions passed through Cassie's brain at the same time: she was happy for Lily because it was something she had longed to do; disappointment because they had only begun their relationship; a bit of anger because her own work contract held her on the Majestic; sadness because she didn't know when or if they would see each other after Lily left. Her departure was scheduled for that very week.
She needed a drink.
Lilith remained frozen in position for a long time. Too much of her bandwidth was occupied with processing the sheer amount of information bombarding her thoughts. When Cassie got up to pour herself a drink, it barely registered in the pilot's perception. Only when a sequence of sounds phrased with the inflection of a question was repeated in her direction did Sullivan finally return to her senses.
"Oh, um, yeah I'll have one too," Lilith rolled over and smiled weakly, smoothing out the crease in the sheets she had made with her body weight. She took a deep breath and sank further into the mattress. "I mean, I did want to fly the little stuff again, but that was before this happened. We happened," she sat up and accepted the extended glass.
Cassie came back with a large glass of Bordeaux in one hand and a neat single malt whiskey in the other, which she gave to Lily. "What's on your mind?" she asked, sitting back on the bed, careful not to spill any of her wine on the bedsheets.
"I, um," Sullivan stared into her drink, looking for answers even though none were coming. "I've always been a career first type of woman, you know? It sounds so cliche, but I really didn't think love could catch up to me, despite what my friends kept telling me. This is the first time I finally found my person, somebody that understands me and sticks with me through the highs and lows, and now," she looked up from her glass to her girlfriend's concerned visage. "Now, they're trying to take me away from you."
"I'm pretty sure they're not trying to do that," Cassie said, trying to reassure Lily. "They don't even know we're together. Why would they?" she asked, taking a big sip of her drink.
"There's gotta be something we can do, right? The Commodore just got promoted, maybe there's something we can do. The BUPERS owe me one," Lily exclaimed, slamming her fist down into the mattress. "Those human resource ding-dongs probably think they're doing me a favor. Ugh, Cassie, I'm sorry for dragging you into all of this. It wasn't fair of me."
Cassie smiled, placed her wine glass on the bedside table, and held Lily's hands in her own. "Better that than having to find out after you've made a decision. We'll figure it out. But at the same time, I want you to listen to this," she said, tapping Lily's forehead with an index finger. "This," she continued, tapping her heart, "tends to make stupid decisions."
Resisting the urge to curl up into a ball and simply hide under the blankets for the entirety of leave, Sullivan sat very still and nodded to indicate she had understood what Cassie was trying to say. Then, as carefully as she had done during their first night together, Lilith leaned forward and pressed her lips against hers, parting only briefly to bask in the warmth before returning with more urgency and insistency. Sniffling, she pulled away to wipe away a tear that teetered on the edge of falling and found the energy to smile, albeit weakly.
"I don't know if they're even going to give me a choice," Sullivan lamented. "Usually these form letters don't really come with an option to turn it down, but I don't want to have to think about that right now. Right now, I just want to enjoy a little time off with you. The rest of the figuring out can wait, yeah?"
