Big Sister to the Rescue

Posted on Mon Feb 8th, 2010 @ 2:42pm by Captain Anna Johnson & Commander Dhindara Vrel

2,287 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: FORGING AHEAD
Location: Shuttle Craft

Anna was in the shower and getting into some clean clothes. They were three days into the journey and would be arriving at the transport soon. She had eaten very little in the last few days but her sketch book was full of drawings. The ones of her father were dark and reflected the hate she felt for him. He almost looked like some kind of a monster more than a person. Those of her brothers and sister though were beautiful. They brought out the best traits of each of them and you could almost see personality in them. She had left this out in the main area while she showered. Now she stepped out and dressed before brushing through her hair getting ready for her sister to come on board.

Dhindara was looking through the drawings. They were interesting from her job's perspective but she also liked them for their artistic value. "You should grab a bite to eat, Anna", Dhindara said. She had showered earlier herself. She was dressed in black and dark red, wearing dark lipstick leaving her light skin colour in contrast with her black eyes and hair to stand out more than anything else about her appearance. One had to come close and pay particular attention to Dhindara's garments to see that they were very ornate. She hadn't seen a uniform ever since she had gone to bed during the first night of their trip. While she didn't normally dress in civilian clothes while on duty she didn't want Anna to feel that she was considering this to be a work trip. Now that they were meeting Anna's sister, she didn't want to be identified as a counsellor right away.

Anna stopped by the replicator and grabbed a cheese burger, onion rings, cherry cola and a slice of chocolate cake. All comfort food to Anna. "Are you going to eat anything?" She asked.

"If you'd be so good to save this old woman the trouble of standing up, some toast with smoked salmon would be very agreeable with me right now", Dhindara replied. She pointed at Anna's sketches. "They're very good."

Anna grabbed Dhindara's order and placed it in front of her. "Thanks." Anna said. "I just wish my pictures of dad didn't always turn out the way they do. That's just how I see him." Anna said taking a bite of the burger when she had finished.

"Then that's the way to paint him", Dhindara replied, thanking her for the food delivery with a smile rather than with words. "Art expresses the artist's point of view. And your art does so very well."

"Probably tells a lot more about myself than I want most people to know." Anna said.

"I won't show anyone", Dhindara replied. "But don't destroy them. At least those about your siblings you should show them."

"Why do you say that?" Anna asked before eating once more.

"You're portraying them in very beautiful, positive ways", Dhindara said. "If I had a sister who'd draw me like that I'd be very happy about that."

"They have never hurt me. They are important to me and I would feel much more of a loss if one of them had died than I do right now." Anna said. About that time the console started beeping letting them know they were within range of the transport. Anna moved to the pilot's chair and dropped out of warp and sent a communication to the transport. "This is Lieutenant Commander Anna Johnson of the USS Celduin from Starbase Typhon. We contacted you a few days ago about transfer of one of your passengers. We are within range and ready for transport." Anna said.

"Confirmed. Hold your location and we will prepare the passenger for transport." came the reply from the other ship.

Anna stood and turned, paced a bit for the few minutes which seemed like an eternity to her, then the console beeped indicating the transport in progress and a few moments later Jana stood on the shuttle with Elenore in her arms and a bag over her shoulder. When she saw that Anna herself had come to get her she put the cat down and dropped the bag and ran over to her and began to cry. "You actually came yourself." she said as tears fell down her face.

Anna held her tightly, "Of course I did. I wouldn't send anyone else to pick up my favorite sister." She said. Once the hug broke Anna pointed to Dhindara, "This is Dhindara Vrel. She is from the Starbase as well and agreed to come with me so I wouldn't have to make the trip alone."

Jana turned and saw the woman dressed in an outfit she herself might wear and smiled. "Hello." She said softly. Her hair was currently still dark blue with dark green highlights and her lipstick was a dark red almost black and her make-up had been done to pale her face a bit.

Dhindara stood, approaching her with her hand outstretched. "Hello Jana. Please call me Dhindara." She smiled at her. "If you'd like, I'll take your bag to the back and give you some alone time with your sister?"

"I've had too much alone time lately. I want to be around people." Jana said then spotted the burger. "Can I have one too?" She asked.

Anna smiled and fixed Jana a plate the same as hers but instead of of cherry cola a chocolate shake and handed it to her. "Thanks," Jana said with one of her rare smiles, "You know me pretty well."

"Wouldn't you expect that of a big sister?" Dhindara asked, getting a mug of black tea from the replicator before sitting down in the co-pilot's chair again.

"Not always when you don't get to see each other often." Jana answered.

Anna sat in the pilot's seat and set the coordinates for the starbase and set it once more to maximum cruising warp. Once she was satisfied autopilot was set and she moved over to join Jana to finish her meal. "When did you get the cat?" Anna asked.

"Mom got Elenore for me a few weeks before she told me I was coming to stay with you. I think it was to help soften the blow." Jana said now showing no outward signs of mourning though inside she was torn apart. Outside her emotional appearance was very Vulcan like. Not happy, not sad, just neutral. "So how do you like the starbase?"

"I haven't had a lot of time to actually be on the starbase. I had an away mission I was over to a near by planet then I got the call from Jason and the captain gave me permission to come and get you right after he informed me I am acting XO while the current one is off doing some sort of training."

Jana blinked, "You are second in command over an entire starbase?"

Anna simply nodded and grabbed some coffee to have with her cake. "Dhindara aren't you going to join us?" She asked.

Dhindara chuckled, walking past the replicator to recycle her plate from earlier and into the aft compartment of the runabout. "I really didn't want to intrude on your family time", she said. "But if you really want me around, I'm happy with that." She smiled. "I won't eat any of that cake, though. I've not had the opportunity to exercise, and those hips of mine can't take any more."

"You can ask for a healthier version you know." Anna joked.

Jana studied Dhindara a moment. She had noticed the eyes and she wasn't sure about what she thought of her just yet. Elenore jumped up into Jana's lap and curled up purring and quickly falling asleep. "So what made you decide to come with Anna on this little trip?" She asked.

"It's three days one way", Dhindara replied. "I felt the last thing Anna wanted was to be alone, worrying for three days whether you're okay."

Anna watched her sister. She saw a lot of the mistrust she used to have herself. She also saw that like her Jana was good at hiding how she really felt about herself which was usually less than she deserved. "Well then," Anna said as she cleared away her dishes, "We have about three days together in this little shuttle so let's come up with something to do. We could play cards, watch a movie whatever really." Anna looked to Dhindara hoping for some help here.

"I could bore you to tears with my singing", Dhindara suggested. "Well, I do perform on stage sometimes, and people don't usually run screaming, if you're interested?"

Jana perked up at this, "You sing?" She asked. "I do too but I would never sing in front of people." She said the last part of that was rather soft.

"Well, it's just the three of us now", Dhindara suggested. "What do you sing, what musical style?"

"I've tried different things, ballads, love songs, that sort of thing. Some of my favorite songs come from an old Earth musical called 'Phantom of the Opera'" Jana said.

Dhindara grinned. She emptied her cup of tea and stood, searching the Runabout's musical database. When the first notes played, Dhindara's soprano singing voice, so different from how she usually spoke, sounded loudly in the narrow confines of the runabout's aft cabin.

Jana sat and listened as she sang the harmonies of the song going through her mind but she dared not sing them out loud. When the song ended she smiled, "You sing beautifully."

Smiling, Dhindara said, "Think of Me, how about that?"

Jana looked at Anna who nodded in encouragement. Jana stood and found the music for the song Think of Me>/i>. The one from the movie version of the musical that had come out in the twentieth century making sure that the computer left the short male vocal in so that she could do her part as needed. She then started singing the song her voice also a high soprano and hit every note on pitch including the scales at the end.

Anna smiled proudly as she listened to her sister sing.

Dhindara applauded. "Wonderful", she said enthusiastically. "That's one of the best I've heard."

Jana blushed and shook her head, "There are plenty out there better than I am." She said.

"I'm sure there are some", Dhindara said. "It's foolish to think anyone of us is the best out there, the odds are against us. But that doesn't mean one can't still be very good. And you are."

Jana just shrugged and sat down as she picked up Elenore and placed the cat in her lap. Jana was very tired as she hadn't slept well since she had gotten the news about their mother.

Anna watched her a bit. "You look like you could use some rest. There are beds in the back if you want to try and get some sleep." Anna said hoping that Dhindara would support her in this.

Jana looked between the two and rolled her eyes. "Fine I'll get some sleep for now." She said and walked toward the back followed closely by Elenore.

Anna cleaned up the dishes and moved to a terminal to start reading through reports that she could work on in flight. She looked toward Dhindara before she started reading them, "I hope she will be okay." She said.

"Hmm, I can try and smooth her dreams", Dhindara offered.

"I'm not sure how she would react to that. She usually is mostly a loner except for family and people who have earned her trust." Anna said. "If you want to counsel her it might not be the best idea."

"Well, she wouldn't notice, really", Dhindara said. "I do want to counsel her, but she's not a member of Starfleet so it's an unofficial matter at any rate. I don't want her to think I just came along because I thought the two of you would need a psychologist with you."

Anna thought for a moment, "Only if you think she needs the help." She said.

Jana at the moment was actually sleeping but not dreaming. She was tossing and turning in the bed trying to get comfortable.

"I'll see", Dhindara said. "If her dreams are anything as strong as yours were, I will be able to tell... especially in a runabout with only two minds to get anything from close enough."

"Mine?" Anna asked, "You messed with my dreams?"

"Remember when I first came to you at night?" Dhindara replied. "I woke up because of your dreams, as you slept just a few rooms away."

"True, I didn't think about that." Anna said.

Jana was asleep now and her dreams were a bit dark but not as badly as Anna's had been. Anna had reports to work on so she pulled them up and began reading through the many reports that had been forwarded to her.

Dhindara closed her eyes and started meditating. She didn't want to get involved with the girl's dreams unless it was somewhat worse.

Some of the images of what her father use to do to her crept into the dreams. Things even Anna had no idea about. On her own though Jana pushed those dreams deep down inside and they changed to her singing on stage while playing a guitar. It was a song she herself had written.

Anna oblivious to all of this was working through her list of reports.

Lieutenant Commander Anna Johnson
Chief of Operations/Acting XO Starbase Typhon

Lieutenant Commander Dhindara Vrel
Chief Counselor Starbase Typhon

Jana Johnson
Mixed up Sister (NPC Anna Johnson)

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