“Computer, NOW is there an open channel to the Merveille?”
The computer’s feminine voice replied “affirmative.” Jessica St. Peter sat at the desk, looking around the deserted lab before tapping a few controls on the display. The screen directly in front of her switched to show the Starfleet seal, and below it were the words “COMMUNICATIONS OPENING - NCC-91221.”
The astrometrics lab was empty, aside from the blue girl. A few other members of the science department would come in and out throughout the night, but as long as work got done no one cared if personal calls were made, especially this late in the shift.
There was a small chime, and then Jessica found herself staring at a young woman who was smiling wide with excitement.
”Evening, Lieutenant!”
Jessica shook her head in response and sighed. “You are never going to let me live that down, will you?”
”Not until I’m promoted. Then YOU have to call ME ‘El-Tee’ for a while.” The other girl stuck out her tongue, giggling just a little.
“You are so special.” The two girls laughed. “What are you up to tonight? I half expected Bridget to answer.”
Justine Dubois shook her head. ”Not much... I'm relieved. Bridge is still on active duty.”
Jessica giggled at her friend. “You're on active duty, goof. She's just on duty at the moment.”
The younger woman sighed, running a hand through her bright purple hair. “...You know what I mean.”
“ I do.” They laughed again.
“So where are you?” Justine began unzipping her uniform to take it off, stretching a bit. ”You look exhausted.”
Jessica looked down a few alerts that had popped up. She pressed the button on the console in front of her, punching the alerts off; random particles of destroyed comets and other random gases weren’t very interesting to her. “We are...en-route to some star-cluster or other...”
”Go sleep or something.”
She shook her head in response, glancing at the display to her left as it recorded more data on the area. “I've been pulling long shifts in astrometrics...I really don't know why...” She looked back at Justine, grinning. “I'm a biologist, not a star-mapper...”
“ Something going on?”
“Just...areas of space that haven't been completely mapped.” Jessica reached to the cup of coffee at her right and took a long drink, savoring the once hot liquid. It still tasted right, but the smell had gone with the heat. “What about you guys? Where did y'all head off to after we caught up back at Sol?”
“I'm not sure right now... Somewhere in the Perseus Arm.”
“Oh neat...how are you liking sickbay?”
Justine shrugged. ”Pretty boring, so far. I don't care where it's from or how exotic... Fevers are all the same.”
“Heh...they have you doing the intern stuff still?”
The other girl rolled her pitch black eyes. “It's practically babysitting...”
“ You'll be the chief one day. Just pray it's on a Galaxy or Sovereign...I hear they have really nice, and really BIG sickbays...”
”One day...”
Jessica heard another alert from the computer. More gas. More dust. She punched the alarms off again. “We really need to play ball again when we get together. I don't care if we have to have holodeck characters even out the teams...I miss volleyball.”
Justine nodded. ”Yeah, on real sand... That was great.” She frowned. ”Speaking of missing things, I haven't seen Bridget in like a day and a half. I swear they're putting us on opposite shifts on purpose.”
St. Peter laughed a little, nodding. “They might be. You could try requesting the night shift in sickbay; see if you can't trade with someone else.” She wrinkled her nose. “Unless the doctor is being a jerk about it.”
”I just might.” Justine laughed. “It's either that or give Bridget a bad cold.” She reached forward and began tapping a few controls on her display that Jessica couldn’t see. ”Let's see, what requires mouth-to-mouth?”
More alerts, this time for a few rogue comets. Jessica rolled her eyes, laughing a little. “Don't you doctors have a thing called ‘ethics?’”
”Eth-what-now?”
She shook her head, smirking evilly. “EthAN, the cute boy that liked you until he found out you were with Bridget.”
“He is cute, isn't he?” Justine blushed, the sudden rush of blood turning her face a bright red with her embarrassment. “Well, his loss, I guess. Bridget found me first. She's much prettier, too.”
Both girls laughed in unison. “You broke his poor little heart” Jessica observed.
”I didn't mean to!”
“I hear he got the Enterprise though, so I'm sure it worked out well for him.”
Justine nodded in agreement. ”Yeah, that's like being quarterback. He's probably some chick magnet now, and I'm here being forgotten.” She stuck out her bottom lip in a mock pout, exaggerating a sigh before shrugging and putting her infectious smile back on. “I still win in the girlfriend department, though.”
“Well, would you rather he didn't forget you?” Jessica reached over to the console at her right and began tapping a few buttons. “I could try and call him now for you...”
”No!” The other girl quickly reached her hand toward the screen, as if she were going to try and reach through it to stop Jessica. Jessica just laughed, shaking her head as her friend blushed even more.
”Bridget's amazing... She's so sweet, and caring...” Justine sighed. ”And certainly has a way with words. I bet she could charm the pants off a Vulcan.”
Jessica shook her head; it was a conversation she had had before with Justine. “I still don't completely understand you two...it goes against nature. You both come from races with only two sexes, and you're the same sex, more or less. It's so odd to me...”
“Love and nature are two separate things.”
“You can't raise children unless you do what my father did and adopt a child.” She sighed, then shook her head, not wanting to discuss her friends’ sexuality again, especially when other crew could walk in on the conversation at any moment. “The two of you are happy...so I'm happy.”
Justine smiled, her Betazoid eyes nearly disappearing. “Now we just need to find someone for you.”
“JD, I'm not even sure what sex I am.” Jessica turned to look behind her. Satisfied that she was indeed alone, she turned back to the screen, where Justine’s puzzled face was waiting for her.
”How many sexes does your race have?”
She shrugged, feeling her cheeks get warm. “From the experiments I was doing in the academy, I'm positive there are four...kinda like Andorians. But I don't think it takes all four to be able to mate.”
Justine just stared, intrigued. She would have looked perfect with a PADD, like she should be taking notes. “Can it only work certain ways, or can each one mate with any other?”
“Well...seeing as I have no experience...” Another round of laughs followed. “I know I'm female...ish...But I can't carry a child to term, I don't have the internal workings for it like, say, you or Bridget do. Which means, I donate my gametes...somehow...but they ARE still eggs.” Jessica blushed, catching herself. “I'm about to bore you to death...You got me talking biology again.”
” I'm a doctor, I'm interested. Well... Not a doctor YET. My superior just LOVES to remind me of that.”
Jessica nodded. Justine either wanted an excuse to stay awake or some way to put her to sleep; she didn’t mind the company, regardless. “Well...because of...my unique anatomy...I have reason to believe...there are ‘real’ males and ‘real’ females...and then a male who can carry young and then...me.”
”I wonder how that works... Like, on a chromosomal level...”
St. Peter shrugged, taking another long drink of her coffee. “Like I said...I've just got me to go off of. And I'm totally just guessing on things. Well...” She giggled. “Educated guessing...”
”I wonder what yours are... The only other combination possible seems to be YY, but that leaves a blank for the fourth. Unless both are YY, and something else makes the difference in eutero.” Justine tapped her chin, thinking.
“That assumes that there are only two, X and Y.”
Justine nodded. “Well, yeah, that too.”
Jessica felt her cheeks grow hotter with her embarrassment. She had never been comfortable discussing herself, let alone her anatomy. “But yeah...”
Justine just giggled a little more, then pointed at the screen. “Lovely shade of purple you've got there...”
“Oh hush...”
”What? You match my hair.” She pulled a lock of hair forward to the screen to show Jessica. Chances were good it matched her cheeks, since the blood had rushed so quickly to her blue skin.
“I bet your captain just loves your color choices...what's next?”
”I dunno, maybe blue? Or do you have the market cornered on that?” The girls laughed some more. Jessica looked at the screen to her left; it had been quiet for a while now, and it was still showing nothing new.
”So when do we get to hang out again?”
Jessica shrugged, still reading the report on her display. “Well, unless we wind up at 643 at the same time…”
Justine sighed, propping her head on her hand. “I miss the Academy sometimes... We could all just hang out whenever.”
“That's about the only thing I miss.”
”Well, that and v-ball.”
“Well, duh!” Jessica rolled her eyes. The chronometer on the console showed 0136 in large, bright numbers. She turned back to her friend and frowned. “When's your shift, hon?”
”Oh-six. When are you off?”
“Six? Damn girl. That's...what, five hours?”
Justine sighed, drooping a little. “Closer to 4.”
“Poor JD...what are you still doing up?”
“Talking to you, now.”
“Oh, right...I called you.”
Her friend began clapping. “You've solved another one, St. Peter.... You'll make Commander for this.”
“Oh shut. Up.”
”You're the boss...” Justine made a motion with her hand and mimed zipping her lips shut, grinning. Jessica laughed, and the other girl just saluted back, her grin growing.
“You smart...Smart pants.” Jessica rolled her eyes, shaking her head before trying again. “Smart ass.”
”See, this is what happens when I don't sleep... I go completely insane.”
“Completely? You were already insane.”
”See, this is the rest of the way.”
“I don't think there is any rest of the way...not for you hon.”
“I paved more road, just so I had somewhere to go.”
Jessica shook her head at her friend; she was hopeless. And, looking up at the clock again, she added, “and at this rate, you're gonna need raktajino fed intravenously.”
Justine yawned, as if on cue. “I have no objections to that.”
“Probably a good thing you AREN'T a full doctor yet...”
”Hey! What's that supposed to mean?”
“I don't think I'd want you doing surgery on me with no sleep, hon...I'm not trying to be mean.”
“I'm medical, not surgical.... But you made your point. I guess I'll get to bed... I really wish Bridget was here...”
“Aww...do you have her bear still?”
Justine blushed just a little at the mention of Joie, the teddy bear Bridget had given her. “Yeah, have to keep it hidden most of the time though.” She frowned a little. ”Doubt my superiors would take me seriously if they caught me sleeping with a stuffed animal.”
Jessica just laughed. “I'd be more worried about your roommate. Unless...did you get your own quarters?!”
”Sort of? We never see each other. Opposite shifts. Maybe I should swap with her...”
“Lucky...” she pouted. “I got stuck on the bottom bunk...the bottom! it's like the academy all over again.”
”I like the bottom. It's cozier somehow. I feel all tucked away. Easier to hide ma Joie, too.”
“Well, lucky you.”
Justine had a thoughtful look on her face, not really paying much attention to Jessica anymore as she got wrapped in a memory. ”I don't know how I'd get to sleep without that bear. Sometimes I just need a hug to sleep, you know?”
“Mine snores. I thought only males did that. My roommate, I mean...” Jessica corrected. “But yeah...I remember when Bridget was on a training cruise that one summer. You were in my room for most of that time.”
”Heh, yeah... Sorry about that. I know I was probably more of a nuisance by the end of the summer.”
“Oh come on, that was an awesome summer! What are you apologizing for?”
”I don't know... Sometimes I worried I was bugging you or cramping your style or something. Like maybe you had better things to do than hang out with some kid all summer.”
“Some kid my toosh...” Jessica sighed. The display next to her chirped; more dust and gases. She shook her head before turning back to catch Justine in mid-yawn. “Hon...you need your sleep...And I need to get going...I'm still technically on duty for another 4 hours.”
”Ok... Bye Jess. Get some rest once you're off, ok?”
“Of course I will. I'll try giving Bridget a call first, but yeah...” She smiled, giving her friend a small wave. “Goodnight, hon. Remember...coffee is your friend.”
”Pillow is my friend right now... Night Jess. Miss you.”
“Miss you too. Goodnight, JD.”
The smiling face of Justine Dubois was replaced with a black screen and the words “COMMUNICATIONS TERMINATED.” There was another chirp from the computer, and Jessica got back to work in the quiet lab, thinking of her friends and volleyball…
Last edited by J. St. Peter on 02/18/10 21:36; edited 1 time in total
Bridget Kinsley. A tactical officer with impressive technical scores, and a reputation for keeping her nose in books and manuals when not on duty. It was clear that she had a bright future ahead of her, here in Starfleet.
Balancing out with her tactician's mind was her ability to inspire and motivate people to do what she said. This was the other half of the equation that was Bridget Kinsley's ticket to promotion. Bridget's most valuable asset was her silver tongue. When she talked, people had a tendency to listen. Her unmatched charisma nearly guaranteed her a captaincy position later in her career.
Maybe it was that very magic about her that had allowed her to charm Justine so thoroughly, back at the Academy. Even from the day they had met, Brid-
"Justine!"
The young woman flashed back to the present, snapping out of her reverie. It was easy to fall into daydreams on the tail end of a long shift, especially with an empty sick bay as her workspace. That was one of the main reasons she'd called Jess now, instead of waiting a few hours until she was off duty.
She looked at the image of her friend on the display. Jessica was sporting a wide, amused grin at Justine's reaction to her shout.
"Sorry, lost in thought for a minute there..."
"I'm sure. Bridget again?"
She knows you too well, girl... "Maybe," she replied, a grin creeping across her lips as she felt her cheeks grow a little warmer. Where were we? Oh, right... They had been discussing when they could see each other next. "I can't wait to see you again. We'll totally have to sneak in some time for ball."
"I think we'll have a harder time sneaking BRIDGET in for some ball."
"Right... I still need to find my roomie about swapping shifts..."
The girl on the other end feigned an air of impatience. "Well?! Get to it! Chop chop!" The command was punctuated by an infectious laugh.
Justine offered a quick, rigid salute, trying not to grin. "Aye, sir!"
Jessica only humorously glanced down at her chest. "No sirs here...
"Oh good, you don't care about that either. Sorry, ma'am." She laughed lightly as she relaxed back into her chair, the stiff back of it feeling far more comfortable than it should. Everything's comfier when you're tired. ...Or drunk, she mused. Now there's an enticing thought for shore leave... Her mind was wandering again, but her friend's voice brought her back.
"Well, I care with some people. But for me? Nah..." The blue-skinned woman shrugged, rolling her shoulders back. It felt good to be well-rested after her last shift. She felt a little sorry for Justine, who looked for all the world like she hadn't slept in 30 hours. "So, have you had a good shift?"
Justine waved her hand in a wobbly manner. "Eh... Sort of? Been staying awake, at least." The thin red lines around her black irises seemed ready to contradict that answer at any moment.
"You poor thing... You look so dead."
"I'll be ok... As long as everyone else stays ok, I can just sit here with my coffee..." She glanced over at the mug, still full of that reviled liquid. Under normal circumstances, she loved coffee. But this abomination had been burned. Badly. The replicators on this deck had been down since the start of her shift, and she couldn't leave her post, as she was the only one present; Her superior was up on the bridge, doing some consulting work for a briefing or some other thing.
The travesty of it all was that the reason she couldn't leave was the same reason she could get away with it. The sick bay was completely empty aside from her. No patients needing care, no staff to catch her. But she had a duty. So there she sat, with a hot coffee she wasn't drinking. Since when does having replicators give you an excuse to fail so badly at making things the real way? She made a promise to herself to get an iced coffee from another deck as soon as she got off; she usually preferred it iced, but the medical bay had a tendency to get rather chilly with all the refrigerated storage units being opened and closed all the time, so she enjoyed warming her hands on a hot mug while on a shift. She allowed her eyes to close a little as she thought...
The girl on the other end giggled softly to herself before raising her voice. "JD!"
Justine snapped to attention, wide-eyed. "Ah! What?" This elicited a mischievous laugh from Jessica. "Oh... Oh, you're evil..."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not!"
Justine held out her thumb and finger, almost pinched together. "Just a little." They shared a laugh as she tried to shake the fatigue away. "So did YOU sleep well?"
Jessica nodded, wiping her eyes. "Woke up not long ago."
"Aw, good." Justine rested her cheek on her hand, propping herself up with an elbow. "Tell me all about it."
"All about... My sleep?"
Justine giggled softly. "Yep. I figure I'll live vicariously."
"Well... I slept."
The purple-haired girl faked a sultry voice as best she could. "And then what happened? Tell me how rested you are..."
Jessica rolled her eyes as Justine tried to stop laughing. "Well, it was cold, because my roommate likes to keep the environmental controls down. So I was all nice and bundled up in my big thick blanket - you remember that one. You were curled up in it many a night."
Justine nodded, her eyes half-closed again. "Mhmm..."
Jess blushed as she spoke the next words. "I woke up hugging my pillow, so I think I had a pretty nice dream."
This caught Justine's attention, and she opened her eyes again. "Oh really?" She grinned. "So who were ya dreaming about, huh?"
Jessica blushed more at the question, pausing a moment. "...I don't remember." She shook her head, recovering.
Justine only grinned more. "You're a terrible liar. But I'll forgive you if you regale me with more tales of sleep." She sipped her coffee, trying not to taste it as it passed over her tongue.
"Weeeell... Umm... It was a beach on Risa."
"And?"
"Um... Well... It was a beach," Jessica stalled, not relishing the idea of intimating the details of her dream, for a very specific reason. It was at this point she noticed that Justine's eyes were closed again. She stuck her tongue out at the screen before continuing. "And it was nice and sunny... And the water was nice."
Justine half-nodded. "Mhmm..."
Jess smirked to herself, knowing her friend was slipping out of consciousness again. "And there were sea monkeys with beach balls and purple ball-noses..."
"Mhmm..."
"And you and Bridget were wearing these hot-pink bikinis and you were feeding me grapes and waving palm-fronds like fans for me."
"Mhmm..."
Jessica laughed again, deciding it was for the best to wake her friend before she slipped away completely and fell asleep on duty. "Justine, hon... Wake up before the doctor or the EMH sees you..."
"Mhmm..."
"Dubois!"
Justine's head snapped up. "Sir!" Her arm was halfway up to a salute before she paused and looked around, finding no one else in the med bay, as it had been for hours.
Jessica giggled, shaking her head. "You fell asleep, honey."
Justine looked embarrassed. She couldn't believe she'd slipped like that. She took solace in the notion that, had there been people in the room, actually counting on her and giving her something to do, she'd be much more alert. "Oh, heh... Sorry. It was a good dream, I think."
"Oh really? Well, what was your dream then?" It was clear that Jess had no desire to talk about her own dream unless she had to.
"Something about Bridget and grapes... I can't really piece it together. It was pretty fleeting." Jessica laughed at her from the monitor. "...What?"
"I knew you fell asleep, so I was joking with you... I said you and Bridget were feeding me grapes."
"You cheater, that's dream hijacking!" Justine laughed as she checked the chronometer. Time was flying, thanks to Jess. Soon, she could get off her shift and get some good coffee, then get some well-earned rest. "So, back to your dream, then..."
Jessica sighed. Even when she was exhausted, JD could be persistent. "Well, we were on Risa, on the beach. Our volleyball team had a tournament there one year, remember?"
"Yeah... SO close to winning... I still say that last ball landed out. I don't care what the ref said..."
Jessica offered a shrug as she smiled, enjoying the memory.
"Anyway... Beach." Justine smiled. She wasn't going to let Jess distract her from the topic that easily.
Jessica laughed at her friend's determination. "Fine... We were on the beach and we were playing around and one thing led to another and I think I wound up ki..." She mumbled out the rest incoherently, half-heartedly hoping that it would be enough to satisfy JD.
It wasn't. Justine tapped the monitor for effect. "Think I was losing you there..." A smirk played across her lips. "Wanna repeat that for the rest of the class?"
"Not really, no."
"Aww, now I'll never hear about your mysterious kissy stranger..." She giggled, enjoying teasing her friend a little. More often than not, she was the one receiving the teasing. It was nice to have the tables turned in her favor, for a change. Jessica blushed hard. "Oh well, it's your dream. You can keep it. I still love ya anyway."
"Sorry, all the talk of you and Bridget last night... It must have still been on my mind... It was kinda the same scene as when you and Bridget first kissed..." She blushed even more, feeling ashamed.
Justine picked up on this, and reassured her. "No it's fine. You and your dream guy can have our scene. Everyone deserves a first kiss that good."
Jessica nodded. "Yeah..."
"I hope me and Bridget were there, too. Then we could've had a 2 on 2 match, since we've got the beach to ourselves." She laughed, amused at her own joke.
"Heh.... Yeah, we were all there..."
"Anyway, I'm glad you slept well."
Jessica nodded, smiling. "Thanks... I hope you actually get some sleep."
"I could if you weren't keeping me up now." Justine smirked devilishly.
"Justine! You can't sleep on duty!"
The younger girl held up her hands in front of her. "I'm only kidding, relax. I'm not stupid enough to think that's ok to do. Really."
Jessica shook her head. "You are so bad, you know that?"
"Just wish I had something stronger in this mug..."
"Are you not drinking raktajino?"
Justine sighed and shook her head, lamenting her situation again. "There wasn't any brewed already, and my attending gets really anal about people messing with his coffee machines."
"Replicators must still be down then?"
"Yeah, engineering needs to step it up in the worst way." She scoffed disgustedly. "They say it's 'not a priority, since all replicators on the other decks are functional'. Bet your butt if it were their deck that had the busted ones, they'd be back up in 30 minutes."
"Wow," Jess replied. Justine seemed to have a knack for rotten luck these past few weeks. She hoped things would get better for her friend by the time they got some shore leave. "I bet you're enjoying the ration packs then..."
"I'm waiting for real food to be available." She gave a half-hearted smirk and a shrug. "Fasting for lack of better options."
Jess looked shocked. "You're not eating?! Justine!"
"What? It's only been 7 hours since the replicators failed."
Jessica slapped a palm to her forehead. "This isn't survival school," she chastised. She let out a sigh. "You are so special, you know that? You took the short shuttle to school, didn't you?" She stuck out her tongue, only to get a mirrored response from Justine, which caused both of them to laugh. "Look, I'm going to go get something to eat. You should do the same."
"Alright... Talk to you soon, Jess."
"I"ll be in touch. Get some rest after your shift. That's an order."
Justine smiled. "Yes, ma'am." As the call ended, she turned from the familiar face on-screen to something she'd become even more acquainted with as of late: an empty room. She sighed and decided to re-alphabetize the drugs in the refrigeration units, lacking anything better to do.
"It figures the stupid things would work again AFTER I eat..." Justine shook her head, her purple hair looking frazzled. Her shift was over now; otherwise, Jessica noted, the doctor had gotten very laxed with the uniform code and decided that not even an undershirt was necessary while on duty.
"Aww...seriously?"
"Oh well..." She lifted a mug to her lips and took a long drink. She smiled, setting it down on the desk in front of her. "Mmm...At least I got some GOOD coffee."
Jessica laughed, zipping up her uniform. It was just about time for her shift. It was her first bridge shift, and she certainly didn't want to be late. Justine had called once she got off, and she owed it to her friend to at least say hi. "The real thing not cutting it for you?"
"They burned it."
Jess laughed again at her friend as she took another drink of coffee. "So, how did the rest of your shift go?"
"JUST got off... Halfway through eating, we were under attack and I had to go prep a few tables, just to be ready."
Jessica stopped, her eyes going wide. Obviously, nothing had happened; Justine was still there chatting with her, and she only looked tired, not crying, so no one close could have died. Still, the way she just brushed off the fact that her ship had been attacked...
"Under attack?! What happened? Where are you guys?"
Justine shrugged, not looking all that interested. "Just a few stray probes. We didn't end up needing to send anyone to sick bay." She yawned. "But man... That wakes you up pretty fast."
"Probes? From who?"
"Dunno whose they were. Didn't make contact other than firing at us. Our crew was damn quick. It was all over before I finished prepping the third table."
No wonder she was so relaxed. "Oh wow. Any debris?"
"Crew's working on it, but it's nothing anyone recognizes straight off. So it might be a while..."
That was odd. "Where are y'all again?"
"Alpha Quadrant, Vega System."
"Huh...that's odd..." It was deep in Federation territory; there's no way it could have been Klingon. But who else could it be? "And just went after you out of nowhere?"
"Like I said, looks like strays. We've got nothing else around here. Captain's probably gonna want to stick around and patrol for a bit just to be sure, though." Justine sighed, propping her head up on her hand, looking disappointed.
Jessica was probably a mirror image. "Heh. I don't blame him, for sure."
"I know it's what I'd do."
"So unless the rest of the task force gets assigned to help out...I probably won't be seeing you any time soon, aside from calling, huh?"
"It's looking that way...Sorry Jess."
Stupid aliens... "It's ok. I'm sure I can handle it." Jessica sniffled loudly, trying her best to pout as hard as she could. The image brought Justine to giggles quickly, and Jessica soon joined in.
"I'll see you soon, I'm sure." The younger woman smiled, clearly day dreaming again. "It'll be great...There'll be shore leave, and rainbows, and we'll all play volleyball."
"There you go." Jessica smiled, nodding. "I think that sounds marvelous."
The screen on her desk flashed to life, and Jessica smiled, sitting down in front of it. “Justine! Hey you!”
”Hey cutie!” The other girl smiled wide and waved a little.
“How are ya?”
”Exhausted...” Her smiled faltered just slightly, and Jessica noticed the dark rings under her friend’s pitch black eyes.
Jessica sighed, shaking her head sympathetically. “I bet. I'm surprised you're not asleep already.”
”It's the coffee.”
Jessica laughed at that. “Must be. So what's up? Did you call to say hi or did you need to talk?”
”Sorta both?” Justine looked apologetic for some reason.
The blue girl just smiled at her friend. “Anything for you, Sunshine.” She waved then, adding a friendly and happy “hello!”
The younger girl laughed. ”Hi!” She picked up a mug from off screen and took a quick sip. “I don't think I've ever been this wired on coffee...My brain's racing, and not going anywhere. It's so weird to feel this alert, and be so dead.”
“It's called exhaustion. I think you can prescribe yourself something for that.”
”No, I can’t. I’m not a doctor. I've resigned myself to being my own medical study. It kept me sane the past few hours.” She perked up then, her expression excited. ”But yeah, caught up with my roomie. She agreed to switch…And stuck me with the tail end of her shift today.” Justine laughed, the delirium very present in her voice. ”I'm not sure how much coffee I've had today, but I know I peed three times in the last 70 minutes...”
WAY too much information, JD… “Oh jeeze. Here's hoping the plumbing wasn't broke to fix the replicators.”
”It worked enough for me.”
“Well, it better keep working.” Jess leaned forward in her chair, unzipping her boots. She had just gotten off another shift on the bridge as the science duty officer. It wasn’t nearly as boring as astrometrics, but there hadn’t been any chance to make a personal call. Her guilt at not calling her young friend was gone when she heard that Justine had been working too. Being on the same schedule would help things a lot…
“So when's your next day off? Now that you switched shifts?”
”I... Didn't even think to look.” Justine smacked her forehead with her open hand, sighing.
“Well, look it up now.”
”Gimme a sec.” She tapped the screen a few times, no doubt reading the interface that was not visible to Jessica. “I'm free in two days.”
“Two days? So...what...Wednesday? Thursday?”
”Wednesday.”
Jessica grinned; it was her next day off, too. “Cool…Awesome.”
Justine narrowed her eyes in curiosity. “Why?”
Jessica ignored the question. “What about Bridget?”
”I'm seeing her in a little while, so I'll ask then.” Justine got excited again, bouncing in her chair. ”Jess, we actually get to BE together! I can't wait!” She rested her elbow on the desk, and then her head on her hand, getting a faraway look that told Jessica her friend was daydreaming again. ”I'm not even gonna try to stop kissing her...”
Jessica smiled, feeling a twinge of guilt again in the back of her mind. “That's great...I'm glad.”
JD winked at Jessica, giggling a little. ”Maybe I should tell her about your dream.”
“NO!”
Both girls looked at each other in surprise. Jessica could feel her face getting hot as she blushed, the blood making her blue skin take on a dark purple hue. “I mean...you...don't need to do that.”
Justine blinked, slowly coming out of her shock. ”Whoa, jeez... Sorry...”
“I...errr...umm...” I can’t tell her. It was embarrassing enough that was THEIR first kiss…But now she’s going to know something is wrong… Jessica looked off to the side, getting more flustered with herself. She took a deep, steadying breath, then looked back at Justine, smiling a little. “It's ok...you don't need to do that...”
”Uh...huh...Ok.” Justine shrugged.
Jessica sighed. “Sorry...it's just really...embarrassing.”
Justine nodded. ”Ok, I won't say anything.”
“…I know how special that was to you guys and I...ruined it.”
”What makes you say that?”
St. Peter reached behind her and worked to undo her ponytail, looking for some way to keep herself distracted. “Because it was y'all's first kiss...that was a pleasant memory, even for me.”
Her friend smiled, shaking her head. ”You had a dream about having that moment... That's almost a compliment... You thought it was the perfect place for a kiss too.” Her voice told Jessica what she was thinking, that Justine thought this was cute, benign.
Jessica shook her head, sighing with resignation. She had to get this off her chest. “Justine...I'm gonna be killing myself over this forever...I should just tell you and say I'm sorry...”
”What?”
“I meant it when I said it was y'alls first kiss...but you weren't there...I mean...you were...” She pushed her hair nervously behind her ear before blurting out in a single breath,
"WehadtradedplacesandIkissedBridget.” She felt her face grow hotter; it was practically on fire by now as she braced herself for Justine’s reaction.
Justine sat for a moment, blinking her eyes a few times as it sunk in. ”What? Like, traded how? Were you me, like, seeing it through my eyes, or was it actually you kissing her?”
Jessica slumped into her chair, taking a breath. “I kissed Bridget in my dream, ok...it was the same moment, but you were watching and I was kissing instead...I'm sorry Justine, like I said, we were talking about the two of you and it must have been on my mind and I don't know why I'd do it and I'm so sorry…”
”I... Uh...” Justine shook her head, still processing this revelation. ”Look, it's ok...I mean, it's just a dream, right?” She shrugged a little, doing her best to smile comfortingly at Jess. ”We can't control our dreams.”
“And I swear I don't feel that about her,” Jessica continued, not listening to Justine. “I'm not trying to steal her, I promise!” She trailed off, realizing she wasn’t making matters better.
Justine’s smile grew, and she held her hands up. ”Calm down, Jess. It's ok... really…I mean, we all get dreams out of nowhere sometimes, and we can't control them... And no one knows what dreams mean or what triggers them or anything anyway...”
Jessica shut her mouth, her blush not making any attempt to leave any time soon. “Please don't tell B...”
”I won't, it's ok...” Justine shrugged. ”I mean, maybe it's just because we were talking about it, and talking about you, and how things work with you, and the two ideas kind of merged in your dream? Sometimes everything from my day ends up all melted together in a dream...”
"That's what I was thinking" she replied, then shrugged back. "Hoping."
"Hoping?
"That that's what happened." She covered her face and groaned. "I shouldn't have told you...I don't know why I'm making this such a big deal..."
"Really... It's ok. It was just a dream." The younger girl shook her head, her purple hair falling down over her shoulders as she undid her ponytail. She sighed, her expression growing dark. "I dreamed I got sucked out into space after a hull breach a couple nights ago...I woke up and started crying..."
Whatever had held Jessica's interest was no longer interesting; her head snapped back to the screen, her eyes wide. "Oh Justine..."
"But you know what? It was just a dream, I'm ok, and it's no good working myself up over it, right?" She shrugged, looking up and trying to smile a little.
"But...no!" Jessica shook her head stubbornly. "That...that won't happen."
Justine dipped her head in embarrassment, her ears taking on the same red as the rest of her face. "No, don't make this a bad thing... I was trying to make a point...I'm ok, really... I didn't lost any sleep over it..."
"Right...I'm sorry, I just..." Jessica's voice trailed off; what may have been talked off as a long day earlier now made sense. Justine looked terrible, and the black circles under her eyes practically screamed that the girl had lost plenty of sleep over the dream. Jessica frowned sadly. "I would hate to have a dream like that...where I dreamed I died? Like THAT?" She shook her head. "You poor thing...you REALLY need your Bridget back..."
"I'm ok, really..." Justine was looking away, thinking to herself. Her arms were crossed in front of her, her left thumb rubbing her other arm slowly, anxiously.
Jessica smiled just a little at her friend. She was so young at heart, it was hard to imagine Justine wasn't that much younger than her. She leaned back in her chair, hoping to stop the current train of conversation. "So...you don't hate me then?"
Justine looked up, brought out of her thoughts. "Of course not. It's not like it's something that actually happened."
Jessica laughed, raising her hands in defense. "No! No no no no! Definitely."
"And getting yourself all worked up over it isn't going to help anything." Justine sighed, frowning more. "At all."
Damn...so much for trying. Jessica sighed in response, her plan failed. "Sorry..." She laughed, or at least tried to. "New thing...what did you want to talk about?"
Justine was quiet for a moment, staring at her coffee mug. Jessica opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by her friend wiping her eyes and nearly shouting, "But I can't help it!"
"And getting yourself all worked up over it isn't going to help anything." She sighed softly to herself. "At all." Jessiy had started saying something in response, but Justine was a little lost in herself. She wished she could listen to her own advice sometimes. Because it was true; it wasn't doing her any good to dwell on it...
"But I can't help it!" Shit, girl... Did you just say that? Didn't mean to... Might as well let it out now... "It's like you're only aware of the problem when it's too late, and you try to grab something, but you're not strong enough... And you slip out... And you're only there just long enough to know you're doomed and dread it, and then you...." It had spewed forth like a run-on sentence with no spaces between the words, but the momentum died on that one thought. "You... Then I'm awake for the rest of the night...." She could feel herself shaking now, and could only pray she was controlling it enough for Jess not to notice.
Jessica blinked, trying to dispel the shock of what her friend had just thrown in her lap. "Justine. Look at me." Justine made no indication that she was going to stop staring at the floor. Jessiy moved closer to the screen. "Jussy. Look at me."
Justine lifted her head slightly. "Y-yeah?"
"Honey...how many times have you had...this dream?
"I dunno..." Her voice was shaky. She wasn't sure she wanted to give a real answer; she didn't want Jessiy worrying about her.
"...But more than once?" The concern was evident in her voice.
"...Maybe." She let her head drop. This was not a conversation she wanted to have. Not even with Bridget.
Jessica nodded. "You didn't do too well in zero-g training...Did you?"
Thanks for the psych eval, Jess... But that's not it. "I did alright with it; I mean, I'm not scared of being out on the ship, it's just...well, like...I dunno...I can't explain it."
"Ok...Justine...yeah. We're Starfleet...we do space...and that IS a danger...but it's not very likely to happen. Not on these ships..."
"Look, that's not it... You know how when you're a kid, and you know there's no such thing as monsters? Then you dream about some horrible creature, and you know it's not real, but it still scares you...." She watched as Jess nodded. "I know it's not gonna happen... But it's still scary in my dream." She felt her face getting hot again.
"I know it is." Jess sighed to herself. She wanted to help JD feel better, but she didn't feel like she was making much progress. "It's not going to happen...Not to you..."
"I'm not worried about it when I'm awake, it's just a dream thing. But sometimes I'm just scared to fall asleep, because I'll have the dream again... I never have that dream when I'm with someone..."
Jessica sighed once more. "My poor JD... Why can't YOU have the dream kissing Bridget..." The girls shared a laugh over that.
Justine smiled now, brightening up a little. "That'd be nice..."
"Maybe because you don't need to dream about it... I mean..." She paused a moment, realizing what she said. "Wow...that came out wrong..." She shook it off, hoping JD wouldn't hold it against her. "Anyway..."
Justine was still lost in her own thoughts. "I guess it's the medicine..."
Jessiy's ears perked at that. "Medicine? What medicine?"
"Just, medicine.."
Jessica made a circular motion with her head, prompting an explanation.
"We know how to fix practically everything. It doesn't matter what's wrong with you, they can train me to fix it and save you. But... I can't fix dead. I can't fix... Gone. You get sucked out, and you're done..." Justine's eyes lost focus, looking off into nowhere as she thought about it.
"OH! Oh...nevermind. No, you can't..." Jess had thought JD was referring to Bridget as medicine, since she never had the dream with her around. But there was the more pressing issue of cheering up her friend to think about right now. She tried to make it seem a little less hopeless. "Well...there is a slim chance...you've got, what...30 seconds until you're totally irreparable?"
Justine's answer sounded detached, mechanical. "Like... nine. But yeah, irreparable damage is nearly instantaneous."
Jess was a little startled by the grave tone the conversation was taking on. "Oh... Yeah...Please stay away from airlocks and hull breaches, baby."
The purple-haired girl droned on. "Your ear drums will burst from pressure more or less immediately. Then the pressure builds in your eyes as your blood starts to boil until something gives and it all spil-" She noticed her friend turning a rather sickly shade of green, despite her already blue tone, and cut herself off. "Sorry..." She laughed weakly. "Curse of knowledge, I guess."
Jess laughed nervously. "Is there...another line of thought...that doesn't involve you dying?" She bit her lip a little, trying to steady her nerves. "Please?"
Justine snapped back to herself, shaking her head. "I.. Wow, I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to dump all that on you..."
"Don't be sorry. You need to talk... So I'm gonna listen."
JD sighed softly. "I'm so messed up..."
Jess simply shook her head, having none of it. "Nope. Just scared of the monster under the bed... Happens to most of us."
Justine blushed. "Thanks, Jess. Way to make me feel like a little kid..."
"My dad is scared of the transporter."
Justine's black irises twinkled a little, as she almost started laughing. She caught herself though, remembering how childish her own problem seemed. "The transporter? Really?"
Jessica nodded slowly. "I think he got it from old Admiral McCoy. Something about not wanting his molecules all scrambled and thrown around through space."
"But... Come on, really? It automatically images the way they're supposed to be, so it's not REALLY scrambled..." She paused, trying to find a good analogy. "It's like... data encryption, really."
Jessiy simply shrugged. "Yeah, I don't understand why either."
"Anyway, moral of the story... Don't get carried away worrying about your dream."
The blue lieutenant nodded, smiling a little. "Right."
"-Or you'll end up crazy like me." Justine fell into a good, happy laugh. It felt good, like she'd really turned the corner out of her bad mood.
Jessica shook her head, smiling. "Was that...what you needed to talk about?"
"Actually, no... That sorta... Jumped out." She smiled to herself, feeling more than a little embarrassed for losing her composure over a simple dream. "I just needed to talk in general. The PLAN was to wind down to come off all the caffeine. Fine job I've done..." She shook her head, almost laughing.
Jessiy giggled along, happy to see the upturn in her friend's disposition. "Keep trying, Jus." She took a breath, thinking a moment. "Oh, right! Bridget's next day off."
"I won't know til I see her tonight."
"Right. See when it is."
"I will. Promise... Oh god, I can't believe we actually get to spend a night together. Feels like forever..."
Jess smiled. "Good. And if either of you have any holodeck time..."
JD smirked. "Got plans for the holodeck, Lt. St. Peter?"
Jessica smirked back. "Possibly. We might be able to call up a certain sand court from California..."
The girls continued to go on about the possibility of holo-presence volleyball for a while, but it wasn't long before Justine's mind came back around to the one thing that had been on her mind all day.
"Tonight's gonna be so perfect..." She let out a happy sigh. "Sorry, one-track mind."
Jessiy smiled with a slight shake of the head. "Don't be sorry. I'm happy. Even if it makes no logical sense...Y'all love each other. That's all that matters... Or so I've heard." She gave Justine a quick wink.
JD giggled a little, grinning wide. "I love you, Jess. You're too sweet sometimes."
"Sometimes?" She feigned a pout, pushing out her bottom lip.
Justine smiled. "Always."
"That's better!"
"So what are you up to tonight?"
Jessica sighed, suddenly remembering the day's tedium. "Just finishing up reports. We're due back at starbase for a quick supply and transfer of personnel before we get sent out again... Heard the chief talking earlier, about the command staff meeting today. Apparently, the entire 7th Fleet got put on a heightened alert because of those probes. Merveille wasn't the only ship to get attacked."
Justine's eyes opened a little wider, her black irises seeming somehow brighter. "Wow... Anyone else in our sector? Or just all over the place?"
Jess shrugged a response. "I didn't get ALL the details... But it sounded like all over."
"Weird..." Justine frowned. This was making less sense. "Hope our guys get it analyzed soon. Strange probes roaming around with no one to claim them, just targeting us arbitrarily? It doesn't add up."
"Yeah," Jessiy nodded in agreement. "Well, the Klingons, Gorn, Nausicans, and Orions are all in cahoots with one another; no telling who else got brought in with them. And the Romulans have gotten considerably more aggresive in trying to protect their borders. I'm sure we have plenty of people out to get us."
Justine shook her head, not buying the simple answer. "Wouldn't they be claiming their attacks though? Taking credit?"
Jessica shrugged once more, not having much in the way of speculation. "Could be experimental weapons... Terror strikes and whatnot?"
Jessiy looked around suddenly, a look of confusion and alarm spreading across her face. "Whoa..."
JD's pulse quickened. "What? What is it?"
"The whole ship just shook...I think we dropped out of warp."
Justine mentally tugged at the knot in her stomach, wishing she could get rid of it. "You need to go take care of something?"
"...have no ide-" There was a loud crash, intermingled with the sound of static and flanging as the audio flickered, and Jessiy barely put out her hands in time to keep from smashing her head on the console.
Justine couldn't keep the worry out of her voice. "Jessiy!"
Jessiy's eyes darted off screen momentarily, then back to Justine. "Shit, I have to go. We're under attack. I love you, I'll call you later." She stood up, hurriedly pulling on her uniform.
Justine shouted back. "Be careful! I love you too!"
"You know me..."
Justine's face hardened, speaking firmly. "I do. Be. Careful."
Jessiy managed to flash a smile at the console. "Call you in a few."
"You'd better." The screen went black, and Justine's shoulders slumped, the fatigue taking over. Still, she doubted she'd be getting any sleep till her console showed her friend's face one more time. She let out a long sigh.
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