Commander Evette LaSalle had just spent a much-needed vacation with many of her peers from the fleet on Risa, and even a few friends she’d made in other places. The festival there had, in her opinion, a wonderful quality of bringing people from all over into one place.
She was back on the bridge of the USS Dragon, talking to some of the officers around the consoles to get any relevant status updates, most of which were completely mundane. Sickbay #4 was slightly understaffed due to Nurse Selon catching a variant of the flu, but she’ll be fine, and it’s not a problem, as things were quiet. Conduit #359 needs a new EPS coupling, but they have a patch in place for now. Just the normal everyday goings-on of a Federation Starship.
As she was finishing up talking to the other officers, the comms officer of the watch gets her attention. “Commander, there’s a private call for you.” She looks up in surprise, not expecting anything. “Send it to my quarters, I’ll take it there. We’re done here anyway, I think. Thank you, everyone!” The comms officer just replies “Yes, ma’am!” with a nod, and the woman makes her way to her quarters, tugging a bit at her uniform, which she usually finds very comfortable. Wearing a swimsuit or less all of the time for a couple weeks had made her unaccustomed to it, though.
She enters her quarters, which are dimly lit, but enough to see her way around there, bag from Risa tossed on the couch, but otherwise very tidy. She sits down at the small desk in the corner, and presses a button on the very laptop-like terminal there, and the screen shows a Starfleet Earth Space Dock logo for a brief second, then a face pops up on it, and she squeals in delight. “AAAAAAAAAH! Baby-girl, how are you?”
On the screen, a woman in her early 30s, dark brown hair in a ponytail, and wearing a Starfleet sciences uniform, with two solid pips and one hollow one. If one looked between the two women, they’d start to see the resemblance.
“Sissy! Hiiiiiiii!” the younger woman says very cheerfully, with a very light French-Canadian accent. “I heard your fleet would be getting back to work after your shoreleave, and I just wanted to say hello and all. Don’t worry, everything’s fine over here! But enough with the ‘baby-girl’, I’m your next oldest sister!” She protests lightly, but her mood is still very happy.
“Oh, Jeanette, I have missed your pretty face! I am so glad you called! And you are ALL baby-girl to me, because I love you.” The currently eldest LaSalle sister takes half a beat to collect herself while smiling brightly. “I think this has been my favorite trip to Risa by a long-shot. Almost worth waiting so long to get back to it, and having to get back to work here.” she smiles
Jeanette answers here “I would be jealous, but Bob and I did take a week in Hawaii a couple months ago, so I can’t complain too much.” she smiles “You look a lot more refreshed since we last talked. Actually, you kind of look like you’re glowing a bit.”
Evette blushes slightly, but more from happiness than embarrassment “Maaaayyybe. But we’ll get to that! No reading the last page first! Ahem. Anyway, it sounds like you and Bob are getting pretty serious… I’m glad! He seems good for you. You two were cute together at Christmas!” Her sister on the screen blushes and smiles this time, but more from the warm fuzziness of a happy memory, as Evette continues, “But yes, I needed a vacation bad. I was burnt-out. Getting plenty of sleep, sun, fresh air, and playing with the locals was definitely good for me.”
Jeanette gives a playful “Ewwww…” to the last bit.
“Stop, you!” Evette says with a giggle. “But I also… actually sang again. For the first time since mamma and Annette were taken from us.” her tone getting a bit more serious and emotional.
“What?! Evie! That’s great! I know you’ve struggled with that for years… but Mamma would want you to have that back. Oh my God… this really was a big trip for you, wasn’t it?”
Evette does get a bit choked-up here, and gives a simple “Mmmhmmm.” to start, and takes a breath “I mean, it’s still hard for me, but I think I’m getting back to a place where I can feel the joy of us all just singing nonsense together for fun, and kind of feel them with me, instead of the flashbacks to when they were taken.” a tear escapes that she wipes up “See? It’s still kind of right there for me… but I think I’m making progress.” she sniffs
Jeanette looks a bit misty seeing her sister like this, and having her own feelings of loss, but answers “Progress IS good. I’m just glad it could make you feel happy again, too! Where and what were you singing?”
Evette sniffs again, but seems to mostly have things together now, as she replies “Oh, just at the bar in the resort we had booked for the fleet. We had a karaoke night there. I actually did a few songs, all by the same band… one of Drake’s bands, so you’d probably love it! But the vocals were really pretty, even with all the loud music behind it.”
“So which band?”
“Unleash the Archers. They’re even Canadian, though not from Quebec. Nobody’s perfect, I guess. Drake encouraged me to do this, and he said he’d do a duet with me to get me out there… so, we kinda had to find something he could sing the other part on, and since I actually liked the vocals for me to sing on his stuff, I figured it would make him happy too.”
“Whaaaaat?! Are you serious?! They are epic! I knew he was a good influence on you, and not just because he was nice to us when they commissioned your new ship here! Please-please-please tell me you have a recording of that!”
“I think Drake did get one for Serah of the whole thing, since she wasn’t feeling well, and stayed back at the room–bad seafood. And she’s so sweet, and badass… I love those two for each other! Ahem. But yes, I’ll see if I can get that to you!”
“Thanks, Evie! I can’t wait to show some of my friends here how badass my big sister is!”
“I, uh… what?” she pauses briefly, and exhales “You know what, that’s fine. I guess we were in a public setting when it was recorded too. Just caught me off guard.” she smiles
“Ok. If you don’t want me to share, I won’t, and I’d love to just hear you singing again there. I know you did awesome.”
“No, really, it’s ok! Please, share with your friends.” she smiles again “Besides, that’s not the only wonderful thing that happened while on Risa.”
“Thanks, and do tell?” Jeanette grins, ready for incoming gossip.
“Well, I mean aside from the obvious things, and getting to catch up with a lot of friends from the fleet and elsewhere, I met the sweetest girl there. Well, really I’d met her before on some quick stops to DS9 for aid supplies, but we found the time to really connect there. Spent the last few days mostly with her.” she smiles brightly.
“Adding to your menagerie, huh?” Jeanette teases.
“Stop, you know it’s not like that, I really love them all.”
The younger sister gets a little serious for a moment, “I know, Evie, I’m just messing with you. I don’t quite get it, but I know you’re full of love, and it makes you, you. Tell me more about her though?”
Evette continues, satisfied with her sister’s answer “Well, she’s about Suze’s age, a really pretty Vulcan woman… probably a little reserved by Human standards, but very in-touch with her feelings as Vulcans go… she’s incredibly sweet, caring, and affectionate. She has this awesome kinda goth or punk-rock look about her, which makes sense, seeing as she’s the drummer in a band.”
Jeanette has a very “Wait a minute…” look on her face as she answers “A band? What kind of band?”
“Oh, they do alternative rock covers. Actually played a music festival on Risa juuuuuust before we got there. I was so sad that we missed them!”
“Oh. My. God. Are you dating the drummer from Mystic Replay??? Uses a stage-name of Veil?”
“Yes! You know about them?”
Jeanette nods “Yes! Jack, from down in ops sent me a copy of their EP. He said he wanted our little group to catch them next time they’re around Earth. They’re pretty good! They aren’t as huge as the Zebulon Sisters of course, but I mean, the Chu-Chu Dance is kind of derivative anyway. Of course you’re dating a rockstar…” she giggles
“Well, she did say they’re going on tour again soon. Tried to convince her to add a stop somewhere around the Aldebaran Sector here… not sure if they’ll actually book a spot on DS13, but you know I’m there if they even get as close as Drozana! I’m sure they’ll add a stop on or near Earth.”
Jeanette gives a soft, but high-pitched squeal “AAaaahhhh! I finally have a scoop from the rock scene for Jack! Do I need to wait until all eight of us are drinking beers in some grimy dive-bar before some up-and-coming band’s set to casually let that slip? I think maybe I do.” she giggles “I have the coolest big-sister!”
“Stooooooop. I’m on flattery overload here, girl!” Evette giggles “I am going to try to call Velle later anyway… I’ll definitely let her know my sister is a fan!”
Just then, a soft but clearly audible beep and announcement comes on “Commander LaSalle, please report to the bridge.”
Evette says to her sister “I’m sorry, I need to go, but it was so good to see you, Jeanette! I’ll try to call you again tomorrow to finish this conversation. I love you!”
Jeanette answers “I love you too, and I will pass it along to our sisters, whether you talk to them first or not. Papa also told me to tell you he loves you.”
Evette is caught off guard by the last part “I… I wish he’d tell me himself, but… that is progress.”
“It is, and progress is good. Call him sometime?”
“I tried a couple times, and he was out… I… I’ll try again. I need to get going though.” she blows a kiss, and her sister responds in kind, as the channel cuts. The Commander takes a deep breath, and heads to the bridge.