The Whos, The Wheres and The Whys

Posted on Mon Sep 22nd, 2025 @ 12:15am by Lieutenant JG Kally Kellerman & Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: A Princess Of Tial
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: Concurrent with In the Belly of the Planet

It had already been a busy day, from the first shuttle and the very informal first meeting with the local dignitaries, meaning witnessing the reunion of Tessa and her mother, a brief tour of the inside facilities of Light’s End and then a ceremony that was the very Formal (with a capital F) ceremony which officially brought Tessa back to her home and introduced Cally and the Chimera leadership to the Baroness, the Light of the Eastern Watch and a few other high ranking members of Tialan government that had been flown in special for the occasion. The day had been filled with activity and eight hours after leaving the ship, Calypso was back on board for a handful of hours of sleep before returning with another load of useful texts and a full day planned of meet and greets. “It’s NOT good to be the Queen..” She muttered as the hatch of the Federation shuttle craft opened once more.

The flight engineer immediately began the process of recharging the ship’s fuel tanks, the amount of power needed to keep the craft running in that atmosphere was mind-boggling. What normally would have been a neat, simple run that would have required a virtual thimblefull of energy had sucked out eighty percent of the power production of the craft. But then, one glaring absence came back to Cally’s mind, chasing thoughts of sleep away.

Only one of the Kellerman twins had gone down to the planet, that on the second shuttle with Jenna, with the promise of being able to evaluate the tech levels of the most current generation of Tialan technology. Kally missing, especially with how she’d mentored Tessa, was disturbing. A quick check told the Captain that her missing Kellerman was in sickbay still, so that’s where she went, breezing in and taking a glance and stopping dead in her tracks. The other blonde wasn’t in her office, hidden from view, but was on one of her biobeds, over to which the still dress-uniformed Captain, though with the jacket undone, made her way, “What happened to you?” She asked.

Kally opened her eyes and they immediately filled with tears. She sat up and threw her arms around Cally. "I'm so sorry," she said, hugging her friend tightly. "I completely screwed things up and I should have told you sooner."

Patting the doctor on the back gently, Cally returned the hug a lot looser than she had, “What do you mean? Why are you here, felt on your back rather than on the ground where you wanted to be?”

Kally sniffled and looked around. "Help me up," she said. As Cally helped ease her off the biobed, she winced as she stood up, running her tongue over her newly fixed teeth idly. She didn't care who could see what through the hospital gown, given everyone had seen everything already while they worked on her ribs, and walked carefully to her office.

As they got inside, she sealed the doors and threw off the gown, walking gingerly to her replicator for a fresh set of clothes. "It's...about Tessa," she said.

That had Calypso very confused indeed, “What about Tessa? Don’t worry, she’s been reunited with her mother and father and whooo-whee, they were very happy to see her, at least her mother was.. Her father was pretty hard to read, but even he seemed satisfied. No doubt they have her off somewhere being debriefed for what she’s learned about us, but everything seems to be going well on that front.”

Kally slipped on some underwear and a tshirt and a pair of shorts and went back to her loveseat, sitting down and staring at the floor. "Henry's in love with her," she said quietly.

“I can only imagine.” Cally chuckled, “A young exotic woman, close to his age, same basic field of interests and single? What’s not to fall in love with?”

"Oh....it gets worse," Kally said. "She's in love with him."

The grin on Cally’s face slowly melted away, “Oh…” She paced once around the room, then as she made it back in front of the loveseat, fell onto it next to Kally, “Oh… That’s not good.”

"Yeah," Kally said. "It's my fault. I let them meet, I let them flirt at work, I let them sneak off...." She wiped her eyes. "I figured it was young, teenage crush stuff and after a good makeout session they'd get over it."

“You let a foreign dignitary do WHAT?” Cally asked loudly, making Kally wince, already knowing that Tessa had wanted to keep busy and had approved the working in sickbay as a good thing, “That was a bloody brilliant idea, NOT! Have they told each other yet?”

"Clearly not," Kally agreed. "They haven't said in so many words, but...I know what I saw in them."

“For the sake of fuck..” Cally wiped her face, “Her culture is completely different than ours, so maybe.. But how do you know for sure she feels the same?”

Kally blushed hard. "She came to my quarters to talk. She asked me to keep Henry off the second shuttle. I, stupidly, tried to get her to admit her feelings and confront the problem, rather than admit defeat."

“You asked a teenage girl, yes, she’s an adult in their eyes, but she’s young and emotional, to confront the problem that relates to emotions? In a sane and logical manner?”

"Not my finest moment, but I used Henry's own fear against her. I told her...." she sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "I told her I'd sleep with him until he forgot about her."

“That was not smart.” Calypso sighed and slumped, “For someone in love and in a society where ‘violence of varying regimes IS the answer.’”

"I know! I know! Not my finest hour," she said. "I just...wanted to provoke a response. I did...just not the response I wanted."

“How bad did she hurt you? And is this going to cause a diplomatic incident when I get back to the ground tomorrow?” Cally hated herself for asking that last question, but it was her responsibility TO ask it. “And while we’re at it, how DID she respond aside from beating you bad enough that you missed the shuttle?”

"Fractured three ribs, bruised a lung, fractured my jaw, broke a tooth," Kally said. "I'm patched up, but sore as fuck." She didn't have the heart to add, 'and not in a good way.'

"There shouldn't be any fallout," she said. "Keeping Henry off the shuttle....if they're apart, neither of them can do anything stupid. That's why she wanted him kept here. She doesn't trust herself not to say or do something..."

“Smart girl.” Cally replied, “Wish we had more of them on board, would keep the ones like us in line more, wouldn’t she?” She gave a wry smile to Kally, “And she did all that to you? Four Hells, Makes me want to go ask the Baroness if she wouldn’t mind letting us keep her, that way I’d know sickbay could defend itself.. Impossible to ask, though, wouldn’t be proper.”

"Better than what awaits her," Kally said hollowly.

“The Prime Directive requires me to say that it’s none of our damned business.” Calypso said bitingly, then sighed. “And it isn’t. Even if she asked for asylum, I wouldn’t be able to grant it because she’s not being treated unfairly according to their customs and laws. If she asks to journey with us, I can grant it with the approval of their ‘government’ as it is, but I can’t abduct her and take her along with us.”

"Yeah...I told Henry that," Kally said, sighing. She took Cally's hand and held it. "I kept thinking, there has to be a way to make this work. We're all so dead set on what can't be done...I hate to think we're all truly so powerless."

“My hands are tied.” Cally said simply, squeezing the hand in her own, “I cannot interfere in the internal workings of any planetary government, period, end of story. I can pass on a message to Tessa if you think it would be right, but I’d still hesitate.”

Kally thought it over. "I suppose...tell her that I'm doing well and will always cherish her friendship. That way I can let her know there are no hard feelings without having to address why there would be hard feelings."

“I can most definitely do that. I’ll also tell Cass that her training took hold with Tessa as well.” Cally managed a very slight smirk, then it fell again, “I’d just gotten used to her being on board.”

Kally looked over at one of the few people she held most dear and whose opinions she took to heart. "Do you think she'll forgive me too?"

“Of course, I’m sure she already has and is probably hoping you’ll forgive her for what she did.” Cally agreed, “Your words will just confirm that to her. As I said, smart girl.”

"Yeah, she is," Kally said with a sad smile. "Here's hoping she keeps being smart." She sighed and sat back on the couch. "Do me a favor?"

“Sure, my dear, you know I’ll do anything for you.” Cally paused a moment, “Almost anything at least.”

"Hold me and tell me I'm not a horrible person, and remind me it's all going to be okay?" Kally said, sounding unusually vulnerable.

“Tell you what, aside from what you did on that beach to my poor, poor Exec, I can say you’re not a horrible person.” Cally snickered as she put an arm around Kally and pulled her towards her. “And it’s...it will all end up okay, one way or another.”

Kally nodded, leaning into Cally's hug and putting her head on her shoulder, smiling in spite of everything. "The look on his face was definitely priceless," she said, chuckling a little. She turned her head and kissed Cally's cheek affectionately, then rested her head on the other woman's shoulder again. "Thanks, Cal," she said. "I should get a uniform on and get back out there..." she said, quietly.

"No, just wait a little longer, no one needs you urgently right now." Cally rested her own cheek on the top of Kally's head, "Besides, you need some more rest, doc's orders. Just don't ask me which one."

Kally smiled. "Aye, aye, Captain," she said. She turned and kissed Cally's jaw back to her neck and stood up. "Let Doctor Kilgallen know I'll be here doing paperwork if anyone needs me," she said.

Cally followed her to her feet, but wrapped her arms around the doctor once more for another hug, far more gentle, but gave Kally a gentle kiss full of feeling, "Will do."

Kally gave her one more kiss and then went to her desk, sitting down and leaning back, putting her feet up and taking a padd, pretending she had the concentration to focus.