The Long Road Home
Posted on Mon Jan 31st, 2022 @ 9:59am by Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Lieutenant Alisha Reno
4,482 words; about a 22 minute read
Mission:
Christmas Vacation
Location: Earth
Timeline: Over the course of three days
The shuttle was screaming over the ground as Alisha laughed in the copilot's seat, they were about thirty kilometers away from well, home. At least, her home while she was on Earth and not on duty. "We really are going to want to slow down, don't want to freak out the herd or the horses." She couldn't banish a smile from her face as the flight control beacon finally blipped on near the house. "And that's the signal." Her entire expression changed as she got a slight jitter. It had been three years, two months and fourteen days since she'd last been here, comm calls didn't count. She pointed at where a set of lights flickered on in the distance in the evening light.
Ahead of them was a place Jane knew was special. Not for any intrinsic value, but simply because it was important — crucial, even — to one Alisha Reno. Any other person asking her to slow down, scaring the animals or no, would have earned a scoff from Jane, but at her girlfriend’s request, she throttled down and aimed for a nice flat space that had been set aside for parking.
The shuttle landed as gentle as a butterfly landing on the edge of a flower, rear hatch towards the large farmhouse where a young woman was standing, obviously waiting for them. As the shuttle powered down, the redhead began to make her way towards it. The hatch lowered and Alisha was out the door within a few seconds, making a beeline for the woman. "Rhonda!" She screamed in excitement, arms opened wide as the two embraced like long-lost friends. It just so happened that they were.
"Alisha!" Her friend squeezed the Intelligence officer tightly, planting a kiss on her cheek befitting how close they'd been. "It's been a while, they're keeping you busy out there in the Fleet or something?" Her eyes grew bright as Jane followed at more of a sedate pace, "And who is this?" She asked, releasing Alisha with a smile.
Alisha blushed brightly as she turned to grin widely at the pilot, "This is my girlfriend, Jane Sinclair." She said proudly, "We serve together on Myogi, she's the top pilot on the ship while I hand off information to everyone there." She reached a hand out for Jane to take, "Jane, this is Rhonda Hawthorne, she was my very best friend when we were just kids, helped push me towards showbiz and the like, even kept me from having second thoughts about my audition for my first REAL role. When I went off to star in movies and things, she went off to college to study animal husbandry and things like that."
“An absolutely pleasure,” Jane said, bright teeth on display in a warm smile. “Animal husbandry? Anything specific?”
"The pleasure is all mine, Miss Sinclair." Rhonda grinned, "I got my degree in EQUINE husbandry, not just animal, then Alisha here offered me two different jobs, since she'd retired from acting, well, at least acting for a living rather than for the Fleet. She asked me to oversee building a farm on a lovely bit of land she'd purchased, and to make a few non-official public appearances dressed like she used to. Being a redhead and all helped with her 'retirement from public life in the guise of Elena Girardi'." Rhonda rolled her eyes, "How could I refuse my Bestie?"
“Wait,” Jane said, “so in those months when Alisha was in the Academy and Elena hadn’t fully disappeared, that was you?” She turned to Alisha. “Brilliant.”
"You didn't hear of any concerts happening, did you?" Rhonda chuckled, "I don't have Alisha's voice, but we're the same basic height and from a distance, people just assume I'm her."
“Is there a grand tour?” Jane asked. “This place is magnificent.”
Alisha smiled, "Oh, I'm sure I can give you the tour, it's really nothing all that special, just a bunch of bedrooms, bathrooms, a den that you'll have to see to believe because we can play movies in it, a kitchen that can handle any sort of event, my own awards and trinkets room with what I don't haul around ship to ship with me. Then of course there's my bedroom, that... What is it, Rhonda?"
The redhead was barely holding back a laugh, but couldn't help the smile, "I'm sure you'll have plenty of time for the tour, Allie, but your mother asked me to send you into the kitchen when you arrived. When your Captain Martine let us know you were heading to Earth, Bridgit immediately came out here and informed me that she was going to make dinner for everyone. Georgiados will be here in about an hour, but he had a few things to do back in Austin."
"Mom's HERE?" Alisha asked, not expecting to see her until the next morning or so, "I suppose now's the best time to go... Introduce you, Sugarcube?"
“I’d like that,” Jane said simply. There wasn’t much more to say on that, after all. “Lead the way.”
It was tentatively that Alisha had grabbed Jane's hand and abandoned Rhonda to whatever she'd been up to, but made their way down to where the expansive kitchen was placed in the house. As she stepped in, she just saw the back of her mother as she was busy at the oven, obviously putting something into it even as several pots and pans were emitting steam. Enough dishes to feed an army were evident, but that was just how her mum was. "Mom? I'm home!" She started slowly, but then grew more confident.
The older woman, another blonde, glanced at them for a moment before putting the final touches on whatever was going into the oven and closed the door before a broad smile was finally facing the two uniformed women, "Alisha, darlin', it's been far too long." Her accent was thick enough to cut, even as she met the pair halfway, and enveloped Alisha, shorter than her by a good five inches, in a massive hug. "It's been two and some-odd years since you've come to see me, daughter of mine, and that's far too long!" She mostly released the younger woman before partially turning to Jane, "And who, pray tell, is this?"
Alisha smiled broadly, "Mom, this is Jane Sinclair, my girlfriend." She said simply, "No, we don't have plans to get married quite yet, so don't you start!"
"It's nice to finally meet you," Jane said. "Alisha's told me so much, especially about your world-famous cooking!"
"Well, bless your heart!" Bridgit exclaimed, not hesitating before dragging Jane into a rib-squeezing hug of her own, "Welcome, welcome, to the family and to the manor house! You're both far too skinny and we're goin' to have plenty of food that'll stick to those ribs of yours! You don't have any allergies that you know of, do you Jane? I've got both a blueberry and a strawberry rhubarb pie in the oven and we'll make up some nice, fresh whipped cream to go along with them."
"Eep!" Jane squealed as she was pulled into the hug. She winced at the bone-squeezing embrace. Once released, she smiled and looked over the offerings, some finished, some partway along. "That all sounds delicious! And no, no allergies, ma'am. Can I help with anything? Alisha doesn't usually let me help."
Bridgit smile warmly, "Bridgit, please, there's no rank or ma'ams in this house, and if she wants to be that way," She pointed at Alisha, then reached out for a wooden spoon to threaten her with, "You just let me know. But no, I've got this whole setup planned out, though I thank you for askin' Darlin'. At this point, I think Miss Intelligence over there should take you around the place, I'll have everything ready in about forty-five minutes, so take your time."
Jane turned to Alisha. "Come on, then, Miss Intelligence. The rest of the house awaits!"
"I suppose so." Alisha eyed the spoon, she and it had some history, then turned away from her mother and grinned widely at Jane, "We can start with my room. If you think that a king-sized bed is big, just wait until you see what I've got here!"
*************************
Candles providing the only light, a moan escaped Jane’s lips as she lay on her back, soft hands and tender lips caressing…
*************************
One room in the Reno/Girardi ranch was a dedicated comms room. It still had the same rustic look as the rest of the house, but it also came equipped with state of the art communications equipment and a large viewscreen. Jane thought it likely that it could even tap into Starfleet secure systems, so Alisha could work from here, but that didn’t matter at this moment.
Because right now, Jane in a cute red sundress and Alisha in a blue tee-shirt and short-shorts, they stood in front of the screen and waited for the call to connect.
A face appeared. A woman, in her sixties but fit as a fiddle, black hair like Jane’s with a small amount of grey at the temples (and much shorter), and Asian features. Like Jane, when she spoke, Ellen Sinclair’s accent was much closer to the Earth island of Britain over anywhere else.
“Xiaozhēn!”
"Xiaozhen?" Alisha said softly, trying not to smile broadly, but also not trying to interrupt.
The nickname made Jane blush and look away a moment. “Hi, mum.” She looked to Alisha. “I’m tall for Earth but short for Proxima. It means Little Jane. Or, Little Treasure.” Back to mum. “I miss you. Awful that I’m so close but we can’t see each other.”
“I tried to get the time, luv, but I couldn’t get there. Who is this one?”
Jane beamed and pulled Alisha close. “Mum, this is Alisha Reno. My girlfriend, since just before the Myogi launched.”
"Mrs. Sinclair." Alisha wrapped an arm around Jane, "Or would you prefer me calling you Ellen? I'm sorry, I'm not used to this, but Jane's the best thing to happen to me, even if she is a bit taller than me." She popped up on her toes to somewhat match Jane's height before dropping down to her flat feet again.
The blush returned to Jane’s cheeks as Alisha said the sweetest things she’d ever heard. A tear came to her eye, and she turned away a moment to wipe it.
“Ellen is fine, dear,” the senior Sinclair said, smiling at her daughter’s reaction. “And she’s a special one, no doubt about that. Kept me going in my darkest times, she did, even before she knew she could.” Her expression turned a bit sad at the unbidden memory of Jane’s father. “Is she treating you right, Alisha?”
"Extremely well." Alisha squeezed Jane tightly against her, "She's very understanding about what I do and absolutely keeps me on my toes every day. I'm sure I'm not the easiest person to get along with, especially since I tend to kick her out of the kitchen whenever there's time to cook." She winked at Jane.
"I set one little fire, that was all!" Jane exclaimed. "I still think the hotplate was miswired. Even if Brandon couldn't find any faults."
"You know, xiaozhēn," Ellen interjected, "I have a distinct memory of a Mother's Day dinner that included a visit from some very handsome firefighters."
Jane hung her head, exasperated. "Alisha's mum was at least a little bit more polite when I offered to help."
Alisha reached out and ruffled Jane's hair gently, "It's all right, Sugarcube, Mom doesn't even let me in the kitchen half of the time. I did learn from her, but when she's in the groove, she's in a world of her own. And it was almost two fires! You just didn't see me adjust the temperature that second time." She winked at Ellen.
Jane let out a long, exasperated sigh. "How is everyone, mum?"
"Fine as ever," Ellen answered. "Your cousin Heather finished her training and is on the Queen Catherine. And Lisa got that Senior Yeoman position on Atlantis."
"Good! Whenever anyone comes home, please be sure to give them my best."
"Will do, luv."
Jane shifted forward uncomfortably. "Pardon me, I need to use the lavatory. Sorry!" She scurried out of the comms room and down the hall.
"So tell me, Alisha," Ellen said once her daughter was out of earshot. "How serious is this situation she's in?"
"It could have been very bad." Alisha's tone was serious, "I've got that taken care of, so don't you worry about it. It's less the fact that it was Romulan Ale than it was a pain in the ass security officer who got her panties wedged up her rear end." She smiled slightly, "Still, by the letter of the regulations, Jane could have been in deep trouble. I'm assuming that someone's already come out to talk to you?"
Ellen nodded. "A young man, not in uniform, met me at the market on my way home yesterday. He explained it to me. Said that it would go away but that I shouldn't send anything like that in the mail anymore."
"Good, Captain Martine assured me that it would be kept as off-the-grid as possible. Officially, she's cooperating with the investigation of a smuggling ring and will remain on duty under my supervision." Alisha shrugged, "Unofficially, everyone's eyes are rolling about it. Nothing'll go in her official record, no investigations, no repercussions or anything. Jane's in safe hands, I promise you that."
"Thank you," she said softly, just as Jane came back into frame. "What did you learn, luv?"
Jane sighed and put on her 'chastised daughter' voice. "Always use the facilities before making a call. I know, I know. What were you two talking about?"
“Oh, you know, the usual.” Alisha smiled widely, “I’ll let you use your imagination to guess what embarrassing story was passed onto me during your wonderfully timely absence.” Her eyes glittered with mischief, even as she truly stretched the truth to breaking with her insinuation.
Jane let out another long, exasperated sigh. “It’s a good thing you’re gorgeous,” she joked before giving Alisha a loving kiss, while on the screen, Ellen Sinclair was just happy that her daughter found love.
*************************
The lights in the room were dim, shadows dancing on the wall from the flickering candles scattered about. Alisha sauntered closer, wearing nothing but a silk kimono, another step and she touched the final seal on her chest and the kimono flowed down to puddle on the floor...
*************************
The river flowed, like it had done for thousands of years once the glacier finally began to melt. Alisha's eyes followed a small bit of ice that had broken off somewhere upstream, then followed it until it vanished over the edge in a torrent of water, more than a hundred-twenty-five cubic meters of water per minute, she reminded herself, She followed the ice on its path to the bottom of the falls as far as she could, losing it in the vast curtain long before it met it's sudden stop at the end of the drop. She clung to Jane's arm tightly as she imagined the drop briefly with a shudder, "It's really beautiful,, just really really big."
“A reminder of the power of nature,” Jane said, holding Alisha’s arm tightly. “Imagine those daredevils who tightroped across the gorge. No safety nets. No tethers.”
"Idiots." Alisha said quietly, "Brave idiots, but idiots nonetheless. I don't think I'd do anything like that without an anti-grav unit to save my rear end for when I fell off. There's no doubt I would, I'm most certainly not as well balanced as you are, no matter what you see on the screen." She leaned partway over the ledge, just to get a better look at the bottom of the gorge.
Jane held Alisha’s arm even tighter as the Intel officer leaned forward. “Not everyone is a daredevil. Though frankly so much of what you do terrifies me. You don’t need to walk over a waterfall to be brave.”
"Going undercover?" Alisha asked, shaking her head, "Ninety percent of those operations are just as safe as walking down the street. Whether there's someone on overwatch, or a tactical team waiting around the corner ready to intervene if something goes wrong, or just a secondary backup person posing as a hostess, waiter or something. The rest?" She waved it away like it was nothing to be concerned about, "It's all about control of the situation. It's far less dangerous than flying a fighter, or even flying through a storm or something. Besides, most of what I do is sit and read reports and write reports and put pieces of information together. I'm not in a fight for my life every other day, Sugarcube, besides, I've never actually killed anyone that I'm aware of, only one shootout that I was involved in, but that was just the group I was with against some other smuggling crew. When I called in the Fleet support in the end, I was just an observer again."
"But what about the longer missions?" Jane wondered. "When you're left somewhere for days or weeks or months on end. Even with support, I think it's scary to think about the risk of getting caught."
It was that same one when she needed the Fleet to come in to save her. Her entire support team had been run through a single contact, because the smugglers she'd been attached to were paranoid. And ruthless. She'd witnessed executions firsthand, even set up a couple actual loyal members of the group for the noose and guilt hit her occasionally for them, no matter how evil they'd been. "Not at all." She half-lied, "Sure, the thought of getting caught is there and it wouldn't be a pleasant experience if I did. But there is almost always an escape plan, we don't send officers on suicide missions." Another half-lie, they didn't intentionally do it, just some very high risk ones, "Even on the one I was on for nine months, if I ever thought I was found out I could have been out of the line of fire within twenty minutes. I actually lost my liason officer right before I was to meet him and he was my only contact with the outside world, I was in a deep, deep cover. I extricated myself from the situation just in case I was compromised. Verifying my identity with the Embassy was simple with my um... Special ID. After all, Commander Evelyn Hadley could get more done than Lieutenant Jay Gee Reno in a time-crunch situation, such as convincing USS Triton to support the eradication of a smuggler group."
"Well I'm glad that there are contingencies and ways out," Jane said. "But all things being equal I'd rather be at the helm dodging photon torpedoes than infiltrating the organization who wants to shoot them."
"While me, I'd rather be inside that organization to take it apart from the inside out, make sure those key pieces are able to be removed." Alisha smiled, "I'm not the girl of action that you are, sweetheart, I really do prefer it a bit more sedate and low-key. Play to my advantages and all."
"And action and speed play to mine," Jane replied. She held Alisha's harm tight, leaned her head against Alisha's, and watched the waterfalls in peace.
*************************
A bottle of real champagne and two flutes. Chocolate. Hundreds of rose petals. A heart-shaped jacuzzi in a glass-walled suite with a view of the Falls. The two young lovers couldn't go to the honeymoon capital of the world and not take advantage...
*************************
Cliff faces towered over either side of the shuttle Earthbound, which skimmed the river surface naught but a couple of meters up. Were they any closer, wake would splash their underside.
“Just like Beggar’s Canyon back home,” Jane said, quoting a favourite pilot from fiction.
"A shame there aren't any womp rats, or really any weapons on this shuttle." Alisha laughed, "Aside from the phasers, of course, but I'm not sure we'd want to open fire on anything or anyone without prior approval from Fleet HQ."
“Especially not with the dam just ahead.” Jane winked before sharply pulling up, narrowly avoiding the Hoover Dam. She kept navigating between the now much shorter canyon walls.
"And especially not ramming INTO the dam!" Alisha squealed as she grabbed tightly onto the armrests of her chair as it had appeared they weren't going to make it over the top of it. She was actively nervous at this point, but didn't want to say anything to her girlfriend about it, not wanting to seem like she was afraid at the speed they were going, 'Oh my God,' she thought, 'If we hit a wall at this speed, Splat!' She flashed a confident smile at Jane. "How far do these canyons go?"
"This one ends just ahead." Jane gestured to the river's opening into Lake Mead, the massive reservoir created by the dam. The lake was still, except for the wake their shuttle made as it flew low. Even that began to subside as the shuttle slowed and came to a halt, its antigrav units barely causing even the tiniest ripple. "Did you know that that dam used to provide energy to millions of people in this part of the world? It's been a museum since fusion and antimatter power solved the energy crisis after World War III and First Contact. It's a testament to the power of sentient lifeforms. We needed electricity and so we harnessed the force that over millions of years carved that canyon. And in doing so we also made a beautiful lake."
"I didn't know that." Alisha admitted, "I know about hydroelectric power, I've just never seen it in action or even looked at one of those dams. It does put a lot into perspective and when it was done, I can only imagine how proud of it the creators were." She shook her head as she leaned forward in her seat, "We take a lot for granted with our ships and virtually infinite power generation, I'm not sure if we could handle the 'old days' and all of the uncertainty. It would be interesting to visit something like that, but probably not to live it."
"The way I hear it, every time a Starfleet officer ends up in the past they act like it's the dark ages," Jane recalled. "The constant threat of annihilation. The fear of other humans just because their race, culture, or sexuality was different than yours. Plagues. Poverty and starvation." She smiled at Alisha and squeezed her hand. "I sure am glad I get to live in a time when I get to love you."
"Me too, Sugarcube." Alisha squeezed back as she undid her restraints in her seat, "Oh sure, I could fit in back in those times, I'm sure, especially if I had a little time to prepare, but it really would be awkward. Even back right after First Contact, things were still really volatile, the first years of the Federation? Those were some of the worst days when we started to come across those new species, a bunch of which were more advanced than we were. We've got it good here in our time."
Jane opened the aft hatch of the shuttle, got up from the pilot's seat, and looked out. They were hovering a perfect ten centimeters above the lake. She smiled and gestured for Alisha to join her. She slipped off her shoes (a simple pair of flipflops), pulled her sundress up a bit, sat at the edge of the shuttle and let her feet dangle into the water. The cool lake felt refreshing.
Alisha followed Jane and slid onto the ledge right next to her, having kicked off her own sandals and smoothing her mini-dress down, the styles of dress between the two lovers being shockingly different despite that they both looked rather good. She jerked her feet back for a moment at the chill of the lake, but eased her toes in slowly to get used to it. "This feels good." Alisha said off-handedly, smiling slightly as she wrapped an arm around Jane and planted a kiss on the side of Jane's neck, "Of course, I really can't resist." And with one smooth motion, swept Jane off the edge of the shuttle and into the water.
As Jane plunged into the cool water, she knew she should have expected exactly what happened. She kept herself a float, sputtering and laughing. "I suppose I should have seen that coming. Are you going to help me up?" She reached an arm out to Alisha.
Alisha eyed her warily, small smirk on her face, then after a year of thinking, okay, perhaps a trio of seconds most likely, got down on one knee and reached out to take Jane’s hand, “I suppose, so long as you promise to behave?” She began to apply pressure to help Jane out of the water.
Jane grinned. "I promise nothing," she said before pulling Alisha into the water with her.
This time it was Alisha who helped in surprise and spluttered out the water she’d nearly swallowed as she came back to the surface, then started laughing as she treaded water and just couldn’t help herself. “I deserve this, I deserve this!” She somehow got out between giggles and laughter, “Mercy, Pax, Pax!”
"I'll agree to a ceasefire," Jane said. Her left hand held the edge of the shuttle while the other found Alisha and pulled her close. Their lips locked, and Jane's arm wrapped around Alisha's waist to hold her tight, her grip on the shuttle making sure they wouldn't sink.
Alisha also reached out to hold onto the shuttle’s edge, legs idly kicking to keep some ‘upwards’ momentum in the water as she hungrily leaned into the kiss. “Perhaps a negotiated settlement? Somewhere drier?”
“What do you have in mind?” Jane asked.
Alisha shivered as she looked into Jane's eyes, the water was truly chilly, "Somewhere drier? Warmer?" She grinned, "We do need to get out of these wet clothes before we catch our deaths of cold, certainly."
“Oh, certainly,” Jane agreed, nodding with a mock-serious expression. “The shuttle is drier and warmer,” she said, gesturing up with a nod. “And the sleeping cot in the hold is surprisingly soft. Want to see?”
Mission Post By:
Lieutenant (JG) Alisha Reno
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Myogi
and
Lieutenant (JG) Jane Sinclair
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Myogi
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