Posted by Lieutenant Commander Daggum Hammor (Chief Operations Officer) in Spa On the The Station - Working Out The Kinks

Posted by Ensign Viyara Nazeen (Scientist) in Spa On the The Station - Working Out The Kinks

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Daggum Hammor (Chief Operations Officer) in Spa On the The Station - Working Out The Kinks
Posted by… suppressed (8) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Daggum put his arms around her and hugged her gently to him. “I’m not mad… I was, but that’s over with, okay?” and he just held her for a moment.

“Okay,” Viyara mumbled into his chest as she wrapped her arms around him as well.

“It’s okay if you are scared. Just don’t let that fear control you, ok? Acknowledging it is good. But you control you. Not anyone else. And how you or we continue from here is up to you. We can get dressed and take off. Or I can go and you can enjoy this yourself. We can sit and talk. We can go back in the bedroom and crawl under the covers and pretend the rest of the galaxy doesn’t exist. Whatever you need or want… it’s all fine by me.”

Hammor

“I want you to stay,” Viyara replied without hesitation. “I want to crawl under the covers with you again and forget everything, but that would be just another way of me running away. At least right now. And I don’t want to run. So maybe we can talk some and then do other things later. The night is still young after all,” she finished with a wink. She was scared of talking, but she had meant it when she had just said that she didn’t want to run. She had never believed in fate, but right now she wondered if them running into one another had been more than a coincidence.

~Viyara Nazeen

“Talk it is, then.” and he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss to let her know they were ok… if not right then then they would be. “Go have a seat, get comfortable. I’m gonna grab the big comforter and the food. Be right back.” and he walked back into the bedroom.

Viyara returned his kiss and then walked towards the couch. Settling down, she placed her feet on the couch as well and hugged her knees once more to her chest. She was suddenly feeling cold and exhausted. Their confrontation and the emotional roller coaster she’d been through had taken their toll. But she didn’t want to sleep. She was just beginning to build up the courage to talk. Taking a nap again would probably undo that. Or so she feared anyway.

Coming back in pushing the dinner cart with the blanket over his shoulder, he moved towards the couch and set everything up so that it was within easy reach of both of them. He then shook the comforter so it billowed out and settled over Viyara and the couch. He sat down, pulled the cover over him a bit and then looked at her and said “Hungry?”

Hammor

As Daggum had entered the living room, Viyara had shifted slightly and was now sitting cross-legged on the couch. Pulling the blanket up a little further, she nodded. “Yeah,” she replied with a soft sigh and reached for some of the cheese and a piece of bread. For a few moments she ate in silence before admitting, “I’m not really sure what to say.”

~Viyara Nazeen

Daggum chewed his food quietly and waited for her to speak. When she did he smiled. “I know. And thats fine. Just talk about whatever is on your mind. Anything. Opening up takes practice… don’t worry.”

Hammor

“Anything?” Viyara asked a little sceptically as if she found it hard to believe that he really meant it.

“Anything.” Daggum replied and took another bite.

After a few moments of silence during which she ate more of the food in front of them, she said, “There are always a lot of things on my mind. I almost always think of some science things. Like the project I’m currently working on and that already got me into a little trouble with my superior. I’ve also been thinking a lot about the Athena and her crew. And even more so than ever before I’ve been thinking about my past since coming here. Especially since I went rock climbing on the holodeck with the Captain the other day.”

~Viyara Nazeen

“Why did rock climbing with the Skipper make you think about your past?” he asked and looked at her.

Daggum

“It wasn’t the rock climbing actually. But …” Viyara hesitated slightly and then continued, “we had turned off the safeties. My idea and she agreed to it. At some point the Counsellor showed up and well, long story short, he gave the Captain rather a talking to and said that such risky behaviour is not okay and whatnot, while she pointed out that life itself is never risk free and that we had things under control. The whole situation escalated a little. The Captain asked me to leave, I then snapped at the Counsellor and then left. Not my most glorious moment.” Viyara sighed softly. “But the Counsellor’s whole talk about risks and all that … it made me think of my childhood and how real life is often dangers.”

~Viyara Nazeen

Daggum listened and then nodded as she finished. “Well, snapping at the Counselor was certainly not a good move. Trust me, I speak from experience there.” and he chuckled. “But if I can say… yeah, life is often dangerous. Especially with what we do and where we live our lives. But turning the safeties off ‘just because life is dangerous’ is kind of… well… no offence to you or the Captain… stupid.” and he laughed softly and put a hand on her leg before she got angry. “Now, now… hear me out.”

Viyara looked at Daggum with raised eyebrows and pursed lips, but she did as he had asked and kept her silence. And her temper.

“Yes, life can be dangerous. But that doesn’t mean we have to create that danger. In fact, it’s just the opposite. We need to try and minimize that. Think about it this way. You two decide to rock climb and turn off the safeties. The Skipper falls and is hurt… or worse. What would happen if there was some kind of emergency right then? Something we as the crew needed her for. She’s not there, and all because you two decided to play ‘let’s risk our necks for no reason’. Danger is one thing… being foolish and irresponsible is another.” and he looked at her, really looked at her. “Please promise me you won’t risk yourself unless you absolutely have to, ok? Even I keep safeties on when I fight in the holodeck. I just turn them down some.”

Hammor

For a moment Viyara held Daggum’s gaze, but eventually she looked down into her lap. “I’m not sure I can make that promise. Or rather I’m not sure if I’d be able to keep it. I know that turning of the safeties isn’t a smart move, but …” She paused and looked briefly up, but quickly dropped her gaze again. “It makes me feel alive. Taking risks. Having a strong drink. Casual intimate relationships. That’s my way of coping. Of feeling alive. Never in excess, not the drinking anyway. Just enough to feel something in a safe way. I know it’s not smart and that it could impact my work and that that would put other people at risk. But I never really got assigned to any of the big, important or dangerous missions anyway. So what does it matter as long as I’m fully present while I’m on duty?” There was a hint of defiance in her voice, but mostly because she knew why it mattered. After all, any moment they were out there in space things could change from so uneventful it was actually boring to a life and death situation.

~Viyara Nazeen

Daggum looked at her and his head cocked slightly to the side and his emerald eyes peered at her for a long moment before he said “Did you ever stop to think that reason you don’t get ‘assigned to any of the big, important or dangerous missions’ is because people don’t know if they can trust you to control your impulses to seek out risk? And maybe you would get those assignments if they could? Then your risk would actually be productive, not self-destructive. That isn’t an accusation… just a thought. I’m not attacking you, V… just asking.”

Hammor

Viyara tried to shrug his question of and pretend like she didn’t care either way. But she was trying to show more of herself, so said with a soft sigh, “You’re probably right. I keep telling myself that I don’t care that I don’t get any exciting assignments. That it gives me time to pursue my own projects. And that I don’t care that after six years since my graduation I’m still an ensign. And mostly I don’t. But … sometimes I do.” Popping a pickled vegetable into her mouth she continued, “I’m pretty sure the Chief Science Officer already doesn’t like me and I can’t really blame him for that. So I’m not certain that things will be much different on the Athena when it comes to assignments than it has been on my other ships. It’s my own fault.” She shrugged and tried her best not to feel upset or sorry for herself.

~Viyara Nazeen