Holodeck time

Posted on Thu Oct 13th, 2022 @ 6:32am by Lieutenant JG Kiara Rahl (Jansen-Carey) & Commander Antonia 'Tony" Stoffels
Edited on on Thu Oct 13th, 2022 @ 7:57am

Mission: The Lost Brother
Location: Holodeck one

Kiara was taking her off time in the holodeck, for a rare change she had chosen a beach program and had changed into a bikini, which was something she rarely wore mainly due to the scars on her body. Settling down on a sun lounger on the beach, under an umbrella for shade she relaxed back and enjoyed the rest.

Tony really needed to relieve some stress before papework would kill her by it's boredom. She was even starting to dream of drowning in paperwork it was very agrevating. So she really did not mention to see if the holodeck was occupied when she barged in.

"Oh....I am so sorry." Tony started to turn immediately. How stupid and of all the people on the ship to barge into.

“Erm...please don’t go!” Kiara offered a friendly smile. “It’s fine, you can stay if you want to, or I can go?”

"Oh no, it's your time. I just did not think or looked before I entered. I can come back later."

Kiara moved to stand up, it was a bit late to hide her scars now. “Antonia...please stay.”

Tony stopped in her tracks. Nobody called her that except her father when he was really angry with her. "What?" She asked and turned.

“Sorry...would you please stay?” Kiara offered a smile. “I’d like us to be friends.”

Tony struggled with her emotions. She was finding it so hard to see Kiara and Ren together and yet it was not this woman's fault that Ren had made this choice. "I am sorry if I am not kind to you. It is not who I usually am."

“I understand” Kiara nodded. “He means a lot to you, and you mean a lot to him. That’s one reason why I’d like us to be friends. Will you join me?” She motioned to where she’d been sitting. “Computer add an extra lounger, shade and towel.”

"Alright." Reluctantly Tony sat down. Most of his former girlfirends had rather seen the back of her and had felt intimidated by her.

Moving back to her seat Kia sat down offering a warm smile. “I like to come here and relax, I love the beach and sea. This is my go to place when I need it.”

"Yeah sea is nice. My dad always took me when I was a kid. When we visited his parents. Sea is relaxing."

“Exactly” Kiara nodded. She was trying hard not to think about the fact that Tony could see her scars. She was very self conscious about them.

"I like your bikini." Tony said a little awkwardly. Kiara had such a great figure. She always felt like a whale when she wore one.

“Ohh, err...thank you” Kiara smiled. “I can replicate you one if you’d like?”

"Ehm no thank you." Tony blushed. "I look like an elephant in one of those. You have the body to carry it off."

“Thank you, but I don’t usually wear one around others.” Kiara looked a little uncomfortable. “I usually reserve it for when I’m alone.”

"Oh why?" Tony was curious.

Kiara was surprised Tony hadn’t mentioned her scars. “Because of...these.” She motioned to the scars that covered various parts of her body, some just minor others had been much bigger, deeper wounds. “I like to keep them covered when I’m in public.”

"Why?" Tony asked. "May I ask how you got them?"

“I’m surprised you don’t already know.” Kia paused and took a deep breath. “My ship rescued the survivor of a ship wide massacre. Turned out he was the one who committed it. He started slaughtering crew, he took me hostage, tortured me...tried to force himself on me.” She paused again. “I had no choice but to defend myself. It killed him.” She hung her head. “I took a year off to recuperate, before returning to my duties.”

"I did not read the crew psych files although I am still practicing and seeing a few patients." Tony said softly. "How are you hon? Truly?"

“Truly?” Kiara shrugged her shoulders. “How am I supposed to be? I do my job, I go home and that’s normally where I stay. Soran is...he’s the first man I’ve wanted to trust since then. I try not to let what happened to me cloud my judgement with patients. My career is all I have.”

Tony leaned closer now. "That's rough, Kiara. Did you receive any psychological support at all? And did that help, did you have the feeling your therapist helped you?"

“I had psychological support, but I was pretty shut down” She sighed. “I had to go through a trial to determine if i should have stabbed him, in the end they decided to clear me. I’ll admit I wasn’t very forthcoming with my counsellor. At the time I just wanted to forget all about it.”

"And now? No disrespect but it sounds like you need to do a bit more healing. We've got great therapists on board." She said softly.

“I know” Kiara nodded. “I’ve been giving consideration to speaking with Sky about it, she hasn’t chased after me yet, but I’ve no doubt she will eventually! You’re the first person I’ve told, not even Soran knows about it, yet.”

"Thank you for your trust, Kiara. Ren has his own demons. He may not have told you this but I used to be his therapist. I can't tell you more of course."

“Of course” Kiara nodded. “Patient confidentiality is extremely important.”

"Yes it is. That is why I did not look at your file. I think that is something between the therapist and patient. It is also important you find someone with whom it clicks."

Kia smiled warmly. “Thank you, for not making me feel self conscious. I’m not normally at ease around anyone. I really do appreciate your advice.”

"Good. I am always here to help."

Kia nodded. “I may just take you up on that.”

"Good. You can call me day or night when you need it." Tony said. This way she felt a lot more comfortable about Kiara.

Kiara nodded. “I appreciate that, I really do.”

"I am glad. If you like I can give you access to my file so you can see my experience." She leaned back enjoying the beach, the artificial sun and water.

“No, that’s fine.” Kia relaxed back in her seat as well. “I trust you. Are you sure I wouldn’t be taking time away from your other duties?”

"Nope. I do need to see a few patients to keep my licence current so you would be helping me out."

“In that case I’m glad to help” Kiara smiled. “I do feel awkward about talking to you regarding Soran though. It’s not really fair to you.”

"Well he has made his feelings obvious hasn't he? We are best friends. You can talk about him with me but you don't have to."

Kiara nodded. “We’ll see how it goes. Right now I just want to relax, and enjoy my time of."

"Indeed. Nothing better to relax then the beach." Tony agreed.

“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you stayed Tony.” Kiara offered the warmest smile yet. “It means a lot”

"Yeah." Tony was still confused and sad. But she did feel a little better.

{OFF}