Posted June 22, 2022, 10:17 p.m. by Lieutenant Junior Grade V'alura Belmont (Chief Science Officer) (Abigail G)
V’alura Belmont drifted, afloat upon a giant pool inflatable shaped like a thick orange slice. She wore a sunset-orange wrap swimsuit that matched the alcoholic drink currently in her hand. The drink was in a tall glass and shifted from bright red at the bottom to sharp orange at the top and was complete with a sprig of mint and a wedge of lime. It wasn’t actual alcohol but instead synthanol. She wished it was real alcohol though, but she couldn’t go through her entire stash of real wine in one night. It would have to do.
A brother. . . She had a half-brother, and he was also in Starfleet. They shared a father. V’alura’s fingers clenched around the glass so tight it was a miracle she didn’t shatter it. She was half-vulcan, it made her stronger than the average human. If she gripped it just a little harder it would crack, and that one little crack would form another, and those cracks would further splinter. Liquid would seep into the openings and there would go the glass. V’alura almost wanted the glass to shatter. Instead, she took a drink and tried to pretend that it could get her drunk.
That man didn’t just hurt her momma, but he hurt other women as well. Leaving them only with children he had no intention of raising or acknowledging. Were there other half-siblings out there? Did that man also break the heart of Solal’s mother? So many questions buzzed in her head. Why couldn’t it have been the cheery buzz of alcohol? That haze that made the world soft and fun. V’alura keenly missed New York in that moment. There was always some place to escape too. Ships weren’t so good with that. V’alura drifted atop her pool float, and figured it was good enough.
V’alura felt many things in that moment. Shock. Anger. And no small portion of guilt. Solal never wanted to know anything about his biological family. She knew that. She knew that and yet she asked him to contribute a DNA sample to medical research that would only benefit her. How could she be so selfish? What was wrong with her? V’alura sipped her drink and thought about that for a long while. Was she a bad person?
V’alura Belmont
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