Look Before You Leap

Posted on Tue Apr 25th, 2023 @ 11:46am by Ensign Nandi Chakma & Lieutenant Commander Finley Chu

Mission: Season 1 Interlude II (E5.5)
Location: Lover's Leap | Tembiti Lagoon, Risa
Timeline: ID 4

There was a beautiful overlook not far from the villa which Nandi had found appealing. She needed some time and space to think, so a beautiful landmark was as good of a destination as any. Sometimes it was the journey that mattered more anyway. There were many questions on her mind with so few people to whom she could pose them. Matters of duty, of integrity... of the heart. As she walked along the shoreline, the sand began to turn rocky in favor of assorted outcroppings from which a few scarce, brave souls were free diving.

Nandi paused at the sight for a moment, wondering if she herself would ever be so brave. Training exercises at the Academy were one thing--they were controlled and measured tests within a secure environment. While lifeguards were posted at regular intervals, it... it just didn't seem safe. But life wasn't really allowing her to choose the safe option anymore, was it?

Stepping closer, Nandi saw a sign displaying an invitation to all who read it: LOVER'S LEAP. She chuckled at the sight. Did everything on Risa have to be sensuously derivative? Little did she know there was a familiar face among the divers.

How could Fin deny herself the pleasures of a sea so blue and beautiful. It was considered common knowledge that one couldn't differentiate between a holodeck and the real world. Not in physical sensation at least. Fin strongly disagreed. She had just surfaced and pushed her goggles up, letting her eyes adjust again to the brighter light of the surface. Only a few fellow swimmers were around her, but all had left her in peace just diving down.

The Commander and Nandi were not closely acquainted, but as the Starfleet Intelligence Liaison, Finley was one of Memory Theta's VIPs. Nandi would be able to pick her out of a crowd. At first, she just waved in greeting, but she hadn't watched her footing. "Hello, Commanderrrrrrrrrr!!!" Nandi let out a short scream as she fell over the edge into the water below.

The splash was loud, and to Fin's experienced ears sounded quite painful. If the screaming hadn't drawn her attention already, the splash would've. She quickly swam close and then dove to pull young Nandi up to the service. Luckily the shore was only a few meters away as the two women struggled with each other and the water as Fin dragged Nandi to the dry.

As she felt herself being pulled from a waterlogged hell, Nandi felt the shock and fear of a near-death experience be replaced by the shame and embarrassment of public stupidity.

"Thank you, Commander," she managed to say after coughing up a gulp of seawater. "I think I hit the water with my mouth open and everything." She was too humiliated to look around and see who all had seen. "I must beg your pardon for disturbing your leisure time."

"Consider my pardon given, ensign." Fin laughed, the mismatch of the young woman's formal tone with the tropical beach delighting Finley. "But I have to ask. Why were you shouting to me from the top of a cliff?"

There was no compelling answer to that question. "I... don't know, for truth," Nandi admitted a little sheepishly. "I was out for a walk just now and I suppose I was merely excited to see a friendly face." But that would imply she and Finley were friends. Was that so? "Perhaps I should apologize for my presumption in addition to my clumsiness."

A shake of Fin's head dismissed the apology. "That's okay, Nandi. You're out here with us, so we're friendly at the very least." She patted the young woman on her shoulder and walked up the beach. "Let's get something to drink. I need to wash the salt water out of my mouth."

"You and me both," said Nandi with a soft chuckle. "Do you dive often or were you also taken by a flight of fancy?" They walked together toward a nearby cabana that had three of its four stools available and overlooked the cliffs.

From a cooler in the corner of the cabana Fin manifested two cooled bottles of water. She handed Nandi one as she sat down next to her. "My father said I was supposed to be an otter." Fin chuckled, casting her mind back to her childhood. "But I started diving during my time as an undercover operative. It was an escape from the work."

Despite the stiffening joints and muscles from her unplanned fall into the sea, Nandi couldn't help but grin. "Undercover work? That must have been exciting!"

"That's one word for it." Fin mused as she looked off into the middle distance for a moment. "I found it extremely stressful, and addictive." Fin drank some more of her water before capping the bottle and setting it down.

"That summarizes many addictions in the end," Nandi observed as she selected a water bottle of her own. "Do you ever miss it?" She chuckled and added, "For positive reasons, of course."

"I don't. I was embedded into terrorist groups. Even the nicest people there committed vile acts. I was happy when my operation was wrapped up and I got to be myself again." Fin fidgeted with her bottle for a few seconds, "Being someone else, someone you're not. It's not healthy for you. It's a cliché, but quite a few of those have a core of truth."

Nandi turned her face to the ground with a solemn expression. "How does someone come back from that?" she asked meekly, her eyes still downcast.

"Slowly, with a lot of therapy. You can try to push through the trauma, but you'll just run smack into yourself. You need a lot of help to readjust to being your authentic self, and not the person you've been portraying." Fin took a final pull of her water before setting the bottle away. "I'm still learning to accept the things I've had to do, and it has been years."

Well, that bit of candor was nice and disturbing. Nandi couldn't help but wonder how many years of therapy she might need to cope with what she had already experienced, and she hadn't even been around for long. "But... you seem to be doing well," Nandi pressed. "Peace and happiness are still in your stars, right?"

"I am doing well." Fin said with a smile as she looked at Nandi. "Peace and happiness are in everyone's stars. Just follow the second star to the right, and straight 'til morning. Or learn to dive, it forces you to live in the moment."

"I've always seemed better at falling," Nandi said with a sheepish grin. "Does that count?" A thought passed through her mind, and perhaps over her face, that she may be falling in a different way altogether. Her brazen move toward intimacy with Cal was so reckless it made her earlier faux pas seem intentional. "I might not always have someone to save me."

"Falling means you didn't make the decision to take the plunge." Fin said as she rose from her stool and stretched her back out. "I think it's time for lunch. Would you like to join me?"

Decisions. Despite everything that had been foisted upon her, Nandi had indeed made a few decisions on her own. She still had personal agency. She would not be a victim of circumstance or fate. Her destiny was still hers to command. For now, that meant having lunch with one of her few ranking officers who didn't seem a complete loon. Later, though, with Cal... She cut that train of thought short lest she blush. "Yes, ma'am," Nandi said at length. She smiled. "Yes, I would."