A State of Vulnerability

Posted on Wed Sep 29th, 2021 @ 10:48pm by Captain Calypso Skyie & Lieutenant JG Konata Hiiragi

Mission: The Boneyard Heist
Location: Holodeck One
Timeline: A day and a half after leaving the Boneyard

It was that one point in the week when Calypso Skyie, Mistress after God of the starship Chimera, had designated that her morning swim would be far more relaxed than the kilometer and a half of laps she normally worked out with. Instead of a half-olympic style pool with a handful of lanes, the holoprogram was of a sunlit beach that also included an enclosed pool warmed by the sand despite it being less than fifty meters from the holographic ocean.

The sound of the waves lapping up on the beach were relaxing as Cally lounged in the shady side of the pool, clad in nothing but in what which she'd been born in as her legs reached out beyond the umbrella's shade. A bikini, towel and uniform were sitting on one of the lounge chairs in case someone commed needing to talk to her or when she was done. But here was a safe place. A place she could let her guard down completely. That included the mental shields she kept up everywhere else, allowing her mind to just... Be there, in the moment.

Konata Hiiragi had hardly been aboard for a day, and arguably, she strode right onto the holodeck without checking to see if it was in use: It had been a few years since she had been on a ship equipped with one, and had gone off the usually wrongful assumption that the Holodeck would be cleared out by the time her booking came around, so Konata was a little taken off-guard when instead of walking into the New Frontier Hotel and Casino in 1985 Las Vegas, she found herself standing on a pool deck overlooking a picturesque beach.

That's odd: She thought. Maybe I should have checked that it was cleared out first...

As Konata thought this, she looked around and next spotted a combadge and red uniform sitting on a deckchair. Konata looked from the uniform in the direction of rising embarrassment she sensed right into the pool to see another woman naked in it. Konata's hand flew to her face as blood gushed from her nose and splattered onto the pool deck.

"Damnit;" She grumbled as she felt more blood bubbling out of her nose.

The sound of a voice, even a low voice, cut through the natural sounds like a knife and Cally's eyes opened wide as she realized that she'd apparently not locked the holodeck doors. And now, someone had just walked in without her even hearing the doors opened? She spun so she was front down and looked over the edge at... A teenager? Her head popped up over the edge fully and she rested on her forearms as she looked at the blood dripping... That was.. Concerning. "Are you all right?" She asked, that was the first priority.

Konata grabbed a towel from a stack sitting on a nearby table and wiped her nose down. As this was merely a simulation, no one would care if she ruined a towel.

"I'm fine, It's just-!" Konata spluttered as she wiped her nose off. "If you're not running an Onsen program, why are you naked?"

"Because I'm just trying to relax a bit before I put on the uniform and get to work?" Cally responded somewhat as a question that didn't need answering. "I'd thought I'd locked the door so people couldn't just walk in, but I'm guessing that I didn't..." She shook her head, "But since you're okay... Are you lost or something? I wasn't aware of any teenagers on board, a couplea kids, but I don't recognize you... Unless you came on board when we rendezvoused with the Inokazara yesterday morning?"

"Wha-?" Konata gaped. "I'm not a teenager: I'm almost 40, thank you very much!"

~I knew I should have worn my uniform down here instead of my 80s accurate dancing attire.~ Came Konata's voice inside Cally's head. ~And don't you mean Irohazaka? Not that I don't blame a Betazoid for getting Japanese names wrong or anything...~

This time, Calypso’s eyes almost popped out of her head they were so wide and she instantly slammed her basic mental shield down so hard it cut the word ‘anything’ off inside her head where it echoed for a moment. Panic flashed across her face as she rushed to begin setting up her mental bastion, “You-You’re Betazoid?” She stammered, eyes trying to find any visual cue of a different telepathic species and not seeing any, “An-And how did you know I was one?”

Konata, who up to that point had been going on about holodeck reservations, suddenly stopped when she sensed not only the shift in the other woman's emotions, but also subconsciously felt a mental fortress being erected in front of her.

"I'm part-Betazoid:" Konata Corrected. "It's a thing that happens with me, where from time-to-time, my Betazoid side says something completely different from my human side; usually whoever I'm speaking to has mental barriers raised to block out my Betazoid nonsense, as she usually only comes out around fellow telepaths."

“Well, your Betazoid side needs to learn to rein themselves in!” Cally bit out without meaning to sound harsh, turning the key in her mental padlock, slamming another door and turning another lock. She sucked her head under the water for a moment, then sighed as she came back up, “Sorry… I’m not used to telepathic communication anymore. Not for nearly twenty years. I didn’t mean to yell.” She changed the subject, “But you’re nearly forty? You don’t look it, that’s for sure. Makes me feel a bit better about this, but if you toss me the swimsuit, I’ll put it on if it makes you a bit more comfortable.”

"Yep; 39 and happily married for the past 15 years." Konata rattled off figures as she tossed the bottom part of the swimsuit to the other woman, but paused for a second to read the tag on the top before throwing it over.

Interesting... She thought to herself on the subject of the cup size she had seen listed on the tag.

Expertly, as if she’d done this sort of thing before, Calypso wriggled into the bikini even as she dismissed the thought of wrangling the admittedly cute woman into the pool with her. Happily married equaled off limits, even if the fact that she must be one of her crew didn’t technically do that itself. “I’m only a year older than you, so as long as you don’t think I’m old, I won’t think that of you, either.” She tugged at the cloth, making sure it was snug and properly covering all the proper bits.

Then and only then did she push off the bottom of the pool and use the momentum to haul herself out to a relatively graceful sitting position on the edge, her composure returning, “And in the excitement of things, I’ve forgotten to introduce myself. Calypso Skyie, welcome aboard the Chimera, my first actual command.”

"Konata Hiiragi." Konata responded, debating whether extending a hand to the arguably attractive woman now sitting before her could be viewed as an act of infidelity, especially now that she knew the other woman's cup size. "I've been assigned here from the USS Irohazaka as the Assistant Chief Medical Officer."

Cally helped that argument by extending her own hand out to Konata, but discretely by leaning over so as not to invade personal space, "Good to have you aboard. We've got your boss on board already, Syrial is their name, and I'm sure that we're going to need all of you. Not because I expect to have a lot of injuries on board, but we're one of the more modern ships that's going to either be sent out to every hotspot that the Admiralty sees in our sector, or we may even be sent out into the unknown and who knows what we'll come across there." She gave a smile that perhaps even enhanced her looks.

"More modern was the sales pitch that Sudo gave me;" Konata responded, flashing a catlike smile and squatting down to shake Cally's hand. "I came from an old Miranda class that didn't have any holodecks. To go from zero to five is quite an adjustment to make. Speaking of holodecks, I could have sworn I booked this one for the next hour so I can relax before my shift starts."

Cally blushed slightly and laughed softly, "Holodeck One is the one I've kindof, ohh... Monopolized for the time being." She admitted casually, "Perks of being the Skipper? For the time being, I know the rest of the decks are sparsely utilized, but you can feel free to join me and relax in the pool if you'd like? I usually swim laps instead, but this is the one day a week I take off of that."

I knew I should have reserved Holodeck Three... Konata thought to herself. Since that one's on the same deck as my quarters...

"I appreciate the offer, but I didn't really come dressed to swim." Konata laughed, running a hand through her hair. "Besides, if you really want to see me in more revealing attire, you might be a bit..." She put her hands to her chest. "Disappointed in some aspects..."

Barely not able to suppress a snort of laughter, Calypso waved at the beach, "This is a holodeck, it's easy to acquire something to wear, besides, why would I be disappointed? We're not all built the same and I'm not going to rival someone like Cadet Delacroix myself." She patted her own chest, "Anyways, you don't have to worry about me going after your virtue, you did say that you're happily married and who am I to do anything that could be considered dishonorable?" The glint in her eyes said that the chain of command might not be the end-all it probably should be.

"You know, you say one thing, but your emotions betray you." Konata said. "I can sense you're up to something, but I can't get a clearer read because of all your damn mental barriers. I mean, I know I can be annoying telepathically, but did you have to put up this much? Most telepaths I interact with put up basic mental barriers and that's sufficient enough to block me out, but this seems just a little excessive... Unless of course you have some deep dark mental secret to hide from me?"

"A deep, dark secret?" Cally shook her head slowly, "No, it's not a secret. I've, I was an assault shuttle pilot with the Marines for a few years, one landing I was caught in an ambush and lost the company of Marines that was in my troop bay. All of them, all in a single moment. One moment, I felt them all, the next moment, nothing. That was right after my copilot was splattered all over me." Cally was quiet for a second and a half, "Since then, I've kept everyone out. It's better that way, so I can't have that same situation happen again. And it's a good thing, too, because when Perseus bought the farm, the bridge was a mess, bodies everywhere. If I'd been connected to them as well, I probably would have been catatonic."

"Now, I'm no expert in telepathy or anything; after all, I am part Human," Konata said. "But this seems like an overreaction. I mean, I'm not saying what happened all those years wasn't bad. If what you're saying is anything to go off, it was absolutely terrible, but isn't shutting yourself out of telepathy altogether bad for a Betazoid's health or something?"

"It's not the normal, no." Cally sat up cross-legged, "But it isn't the end of the world. Since I'm not around Betazoids all the time, very few even realize. The doctor specialists are concerned about the mental health of Betazoids that do this sort of thing, but I'm perfectly sane. And perhaps it's an overreaction, but it hasn't steered me wrong yet."

"Maybe not to you, but that's not to say it hasn't happened;" Konata said, settling into a deckchair. "Case in point, there was this one Betazoid chick on the Suzumiya; nobody knew she was closing herself off from everyone telepathically until one day she just snapped and tried to stab an ensign with a fork. We all thought it was a joke at first, but it became obvious she was trying to murder the ensign she had pinned. In the end we shipped her off to The Farm in a straightjacket, and that's the last I ever heard of her. You know, as ACMO, I do have the power to recommend you for close mental observation if you're not otherwise willing to open up a little for your mental health." She gave a catlike smirk, fully aware that what she was doing basically amounted to blackmail.

What it got from Calypso was a scowl, “I don’t completely cut it off, I ‘stretch’ it every morning briefly before I close it off again. Believe me, Konata, I’m in no danger of murdering anyone, unless it’s everyone.” She winked at the young woman, “But I’ll make you a deal. I’ll… Ick… Leave a chink in my armor so that let’s say, someone directing a mental message at me can get it through. In return, you don’t mention to anyone that I am a Betazoid. Those who need to know will know, those who don’t? Well, that’s why I wear colored contact lenses.” Calypso extended a hand.

"Sounds like a deal to me;" Konata said, reaching over to shake. "And to sweeten the pot on your behalf, I might just be willing to look the other way in regards to the fact that you have yet to report in for your physical." She winked.

“Oh, you’ve got a deal.” Cally agreed, mischief infusing her entire self as she shook Konata’s hand, but didn’t release it, instead grabbing it with her other hand and rolled as she hauled the smaller woman with her. A large splash erupted as the two of them hit the water and Cally prepared herself to assist the other lady just in case. As they both came up to the surface, she made sure Konata was all right and grinned, “Are you sure you don’t want a swimsuit?”

As Konata coughed from being unexpectedly pulled into the water, she parted her wet hair out of her face and began to wade towards the stairs out of the pool.

"Nope, I'm good..." She said. "You know, you're lucky this is just a hologram and not the real deal, otherwise I'd be pissed at you for ruining my antique 80s attire."

Cally tried to wipe the grin off her face from her place in the pool, "If it were a danger, I'd have never done it." She winked at Konata, "But I couldn't resist." She focused herself for a moment, 'Especially if you're going to make me do this.' She sent to the other woman.

~Hey, telepathic pranks are my specialty!~ Konata responded telepathically. ~Besides, think of this as me keeping you healthy.~

"Computer, remove excess wetness from my person." Konata instructed once she was out of the pool, and in an instant, Konata was dry as if nothing had happened. She turned back to the captain in the pool. "Well, I guess I'm going to go try my luck with Holodeck Three. It's been a pleasure meeting you, Miss Skyie."

“The pleasure was all mine, I assure you.” Cally assured the other woman as she left the holodeck, then shook her head slightly as the doors hissed shut behind her, “Deities… Dealing with this… Again… Fun.”