Posted by 2nd Lieutenant Laju Eghimea (Security Officer) in Side Sim: Memories One - Lieutenant Ruby’s Office (ATTN Sheleah)
Memories 1

“It was after our annual track meet,” Eghimea explained in her same monotone voice. She was sitting in her favorite chair within Lieutenant Ruby’s office.

There wasn’t anything special about this chair over the other. But for Eghimea, it had just become second nature for her. Each time they would meet, she would walk into the office. Take a moment to allow her eyes to take in her surroundings before taking her seat in the right-side chair. Once settled into her chair, her posture would start off rigid then slowly slip as the conversations would continue. There were times when that military rigidness would snap back, and times when Eghimea simply couldn’t hold it up any longer.

“I remember seeing the families walking with their kids away from the field. The mood was pretty joyous, because there were so many records broken that day. So many promising new cadets. So many people were happy, so many but not my father….” Eghimea continued as she described the events that unfolded over a decade ago.

The blow rang out, leaving a thunderous ringing in Eghimea’s ear and a sharp stinging on the side of her head. The blow knocked her off balance as she toppled to the ground. “Did you think I wouldn’t be able to tell,” her father, Commander Laju Buln, barked.

“He was so angry with me,” she said trying to hold back the frown. “He was accusing me of intentionally allowing someone to beat me in one of the races….” Her frown slipped through as she looked down slightly, “it wasn’t just any race. It was one I was highly favored to excel at….”

Stepping forward as he drove his foot into her side. The blow sent the air in her lungs exploding out of her mouth. “Is that what the Prophets want for us. To be less than what they have in store for us,” he continued to bark at her while kicking her again. “Is that what the Emissary has taught us!

She shifted slightly in her chair, “I know why he was mad at me. Being a Laju was completely different than any other family in Kendra. We all lived under those expectations that were formed during the war….”

As she struggled back to her hands and knees, he kicked her in the side again. “Damnit Eghimea! How many times have I told you. Bajor stands on her own, this was the words of the Emissary himself! The very wishes of the Prophets. She can’t stand if we are too weak to support her. That means pushing ourselves further than our limits! Never giving up!” Driving his foot in to her side again as the anger filled his voice, “and that means never allowing someone to beat us!”

Her left leg started to bounce rapidly as she leaned forward in her chair, “I am not sure what made him angrier, that I lost, or…”

Buln turned to Breeje, “were you aware that she was going to allow that human boy to beat her?”

Eghimea fell silent for a moment, as if unwilling or unable to put her own words to what her narrative story was showing Sheleah. After a moment, her story continued….

Shaking his head, Breeje answered plainly, “no father.” Looking in to her eyes, she could see the disappointment he had for her as he continued, “this was all her own doing.”

There was a slight sad smile that crossed her lips as she looked at Sheleah. There was a sense of darkness in her eyes as she spoke, “never again did I allow anyone to beat me.” From that darkness rose a look of absolute devotion as she continued, “not in races or any other contest. Regardless of the personal cost to myself, I would never disappoint my family or the Prophets again. It was a promise I made to myself that day.”

• 2nd Lieutenant Laju Eghimea

By now Sheleah wished she could say that the manner in which people presented themselves, broken by their upbringing, had ceased to surprise her but, she couldn’t. Who had ever heard of a father doing something like that.

‘Well, there was the klingon culture.’ she thought as she listened and watched Eghimea.

“Disappointment and being disappointed is a part of life though and it’s something you’re going to have to learn to cope with to become a well rounded person. This is an extreme example I’m guessing.”

• Sheleah, CNS/DO