The Quiet Before The Crazy

Posted on Thu Mar 31st, 2022 @ 8:02pm by Captain Nimeeh Vixil

Mission: USS Tyche
Location: Personal Quarters

Finishing her coffee, Nim decided that the down time sounded like a plan. It had been a stressful day trying to stay on top of everything to make sure the ship was ready for departure, and now, bone weary exhausted and with a headache that just wouldn't seem to quit, she put a request in to operations to have a few little things looked at before she walked out of her office and glanced around, smiling slightly before she inhaled slowly and turned on her heel, heading toward the door. If she didn't leave now, she would likely find something that she would determine that only she could do and she would be stuck there for longer.

The walk to her quarters wasn't very long at all, advantage of being Executive Officer and needing to be on call at all times? Regardless, it was only a few minutes until she was walking in the door to her quarters, a soft sigh escaping as she shrugged out of her jacket, tossing it on the couch before dropping down onto it to pull off her boots.

She could hear her console beeping that she had messages so she stood up, padding silently across the room and grabbing out the bottle of wine she had set to chill that morning, adding a glass and finally replicating a plate of finger food, carrying them all across to the desk and setting them down, sinking into the seat, pouring herself a glass of wine and taking a sip before she signed in and started playing through the messages.

The first message came with the familiar face of her mother, something that brought a feeling of both comfort and hurt simultaneously. "Hello Nimeeh," Nim sighed softly. Her mother was always formal. There was nothing else that could ever be expected from her. "Your father and I are very pleased to hear about your new position. Perhaps you may find some time to return to Tak'la in the future? The garden is lovely at this time of year, the flowers are in bloom and the birds are out and it's beautiful outside. I replanted all new orchids this spring and they are doing so well. I was talking to Nisrum next door and she was telling me her daughter has just had another child. They have eleven grand children now, can you believe it? And we don't have one."

Nim sighed and shook her head. Here it comes, the eternal guilt trip.

"Lonhi down the street, her son's wife is pregnant too. They are having a boy. So many new babies coming to the street to visit with family."

Nim picked up her glass of wine and took another large sip. If her mother kept talking there was every chance that just one bottle was NOT going to be enough!

"Oh, old Master Leeg died. He got toxicemia. Isn't that what you had Nimeeh? The universe is not a safe place for a girl to be travelling around on her own, you really should be more careful. Well, I am going to leave now, I have to go to my book club. Goodbye Nimeeh."

With that the picture of her mother's face on the screen was replaced by the federation symbol and Nim picked up her glass again, taking a few good sips before she moved to the next message.

The warm smile of her father was the next thing that appeared on her screen. "Hey there my little love," as he spoke his voice was filled with warmth and kindness. "Your Mother showed me your message, congratulations, I'm proud of you. I only have a few moments, I'm at the Restaurant and we have a lull in service so I thought I'd send you a quick note to say hello. I'm so glad you're following your dreams, don't ever stop." He stopped speaking long enough to look away from the screen, exchanging quick words with someone else, likely one of the staff before he turned back to her again. "I have to go Nimmy, we've had a big party come in without a booking, and you know me, I can't turn them away. We'll talk soon."

She sighed as the screen returned to the standard federation pattern again. Well, at least his distance was a contrast to her mothers incessant guilt trips. And the flip side was that both her parents guilt trips were out of the way, there should only be good messages left to read. She took another sip of her wine and reached out, pressing the button to move to the next message.

"Nim!" the voice almost exploded through the screen at almost the same second that the all too familiar face appeared before her. "Oh my Lord! Seth just told me you got reassigned again, congrats! We're both super excited for you! Hopefully I'll be able to convince him to take some leave soon and we might actually be able to find some time to catch up with you, but oh my gosh!"

Nim smiled at the exuberance in the other woman's voice. Elyse had been one of her best friends at the academy, they had both gone through medical training together and had somehow even managed to end up on their first assignment together, which was right about when she met Seth, one of the engineers on the Horizon and they had fallen madly in love and their story became something of a Hallmark tale. Now they were together aboard the Calliente. She was a medical officer and he was Chief Engineering officer and they had not long welcomed their third daughter to the universe.

With a smile, Nim turned her attention back to the screen, watching her friend continue talking.

"We definitely need to schedule a time that we can sit down and really talk, I mean REALLY talk!" A grin came over Elyse's face on the video play back. "Oh my GOD! You wouldn't believe it!"

In the background a little voice started to mimic "Oh my God! Oh my God!" prompting Elyse to spin away from the screen momentarily. "Oh hush you little heathen!" she admonished the little girl quickly. "Go play with your sister, I'm trying to say hello to Aunty Mimmy!"

Almost instantly the somewhat inquisitive face of Arabella appeared on the screen in front of her, pressing so closely that all Nim could really see was nostrils and a partly obscured upper lip. "HI AUNTY MIMMY!" the voice shouted, making Nim cringe, but smile at the same time. "Where's Aunty Mimmy? I don't see Aunty Mimmy? Why can't I see Aunty Mimmy? Why isn't Aunty Mimmy there? This is boring! Can I play a game?" the barrage of questions came one after the other in increasigly rapid succession.

Sipping her wine, Nim laughed as Elyse physically picked up the child, again removing her from view.

"Go play with your sister and give me five minutes of peace to talk to Mimmy and then I'll get you some cookies, okay?" Elyse offered the bribe to the child to almost immediately bolted from the room at lightening speed, leaving Elyse free to look back at the screen again.

"Seriously they are so annoying sometimes! I really don't know why we're going back for one more!" The expression on her face became one of delight. "But don't tell any of the old gang yet, we're waiting. Seth really wants a boy this time," she laughed at her own remark before she leaned forward, resting her chin on her hands. "Oh my Lord, I have to tell you... have you heard about Catherine and Aeryn?" she suddenly asked, her eyes widening. "So I was talking to Ash and she was telling me that they split up! I saw Catherine last time we were at DS5 and she was with some other guy... tall, dark, handsome, VERY charming... they were all cosy and loved up so it was totally clear to anyone that bothered to look that they were a thing. The kicker? This is the best part!!!!" She started laughing, laughing until tears welled in the corners of her eyes and she had to brush them away before she leaned forward again. "Aeryn was..."

Her words were cut off by an ear piercing shriek from off screen. "Oh hell, I think Briony just smacked her sister again, I have to go! Please, Nim, promise me we'll talk soon? I miss you, so does Seth, and so do the kids, but mostly *I* miss you!" Almost instantly the screen went black and Nim settled back into her seat, staring at it for a long moment in silence.

Sliding forward to the next message, Nim was surprised to see Elyse's face on her screen again. "I forgot to ask! What happened to that guy you were seeing? You know the one? I can't remember his name, damn baby brain..."

"Well if you'd stop having babies..." Nim quipped to no on in particular, shaking her head and taking another sip of her wine.

"The cute one you were in that photo with from your last assignment... dark hair, body like a Demi God..." Elyse grinned. "Love you Nimmy! But please, please Nim, we have to talk soon! I NEED to live vicariously!"

Almost instantly the screen went back to the Federation insignia, leaving Nim shaking her head as she laughed and flicked forward to the last message she had waiting for her.

A familiar and reassuring face appeared on her screen. Margaret, Caleb's mother. "Nimy-year," the woman said with a faint smile. "I hope you're doing well sweetheart, Caleb told us about your new transfer. He's still so proud of you, we all are. Next time you're near Earth let us know, Adam and I can come meet with you, even if it's just for an hour to be able to see you again will be a blessing to my heart. Anyway, I know you are incredibly busy love, but when you have some time darling girl give us a call. Any time, day or night. We'd love to hear from you. Love to you from all of us. Talk soon Nimy-year."

Leaning back in her seat, Nim finished her glass of wine and poured a second, grabbing something from the plate and popping it into her mouth as she activated her console to start replying to her messages. Apparently, at least as far as some people were concerned, she had LOTS of catching up to do.