Ensign Sasus Raimor - Facing Him

[Gogigobo Fairhug]

This was a great read from Denali's very own Ensign Sasus Raimor. 👌🏻

 

(( Raimor’s Room, Anchorage, Denali Station - After The Party )) 

 

Raimor sat in front of the blank monitor unsure of what to do. He’d resolved himself to call his father and tell him everything that had been going on over the last few weeks, but that was twenty unproductive and silent filled minutes ago. Now he wasn’t so sure. 

 

He looked at his own reflection for an excuse to walk away or any form of advice. It looked back at him without offering either and the betazoid officer let out a deep sigh. 

 

oO You know, you could be a bit more helpful here. It’s your family too. Oo 

 

Raimor pushed back from his desk and walked over to a box of things he’d been meaning to put away since he moved to the station. Reaching in, he pulled out an old, dusty binder. He clutched the volume to his chest and walked over to the couch. He flopped down, kicking his feet up and wiping the layer of dust that had accumulated over time on the front cover of the little family heirloom. Thinking back, he wasn’t sure why his family had decided to keep most of the photos in a physical book. That had always just been the way they’d done things. A PADD could have kept many more photos in a safer manner, but there was something nostalgic about having these old memories in an actual book. 

 

He inhaled deeply, letting out a long sigh before tentatively opening himself up to everything he’d been avoiding for years now. He only recognized a few of the figures in the older photos. Great-great-grandmothers that had kept the family respectable hundreds of years ago and whatnot. With each page Raimor turned, a low rumbling sense of dread started to churn in his stomach. Black and white pictures with crumbled, yellowed edges turned into crisper color ones with more and more folks he recognized. He knew what was coming, but still let out a gasp when he saw it. 

 

He’d taken a photo the day he got accepted to Starfleet Medical. Proudest day of his life. He looked down at his own, younger face as it smiled back at him. The younger Raimor had his hands clenched tightly around a small disk-like object that contained a video detailing his acceptance to school and an arm wrapped tightly around his younger sister Heria. She was only a few years younger than him, but she had always looked half his age. His father stood behind the two of them in the dark uniform he always wore. Raimor couldn’t think back to a time where his father wasn’t wearing that same uniform. He remembered that he had to actually have mom take his father’s phone away just so they could get this picture. It was always that way back then.

 

He smiled slightly and grabbed a box of tissue off of the coffee table to wipe his nose. He looked back at his own face and sighed. 

 

oO I know. I’ve avoided it all for too long. Oo

 

He hesitated one last time before bringing his gaze back down to the book. He saw his older sister Alessa standing next to him, looking down at him and smiling. She looked so genuinely happy for him there. He knew how hard it was for her to show her teeth in photos; Mom had always had to bribe her to let them show, but here they were shining brilliantly in the sunshine. 

 

Raimor sighed and wiped his face again. He hadn’t been able to talk to Alessa for over two years now. He wondered how she was doing with her new husband. 

 

oO Father was so mad when she said she’d changed her last name. Oo

 

That was the last time he’d seen his elder sister. He’d begged her not to leave, but she was always so headstrong. He’d never seen an Earth goat, but what he understood was a fairly apt description for his sister. She didn’t change her mind, but she’d slipped a piece of paper into his pocket with her contact information. He still hadn’t used it. 

 

His eyes had been avoiding the last ghostly form in the family picture, but he finally forced them onto it. His mother stood behind Alessa, hands on her shoulders, eyes firmly ahead at the camera. Raimor let out a shuddering, sniffling gasp. It was all too normal. There wasn’t any hint of the disease that would take her life two years later. No clue that the strong woman he was looking at was just dust now. He reached his hand out shakily to touch his mother’s face, but instead of the warmth he always associated with her, it was cold and plastic. It was wrong. 

 

Raimor closed the book and put it aside, not wanting to look at it anymore. He wiped himself clean with another tissue before wheeling back to his desk. His reflection was waiting for him, slightly more red now, but unhelpful as always. 

 

oO I guess nobody is going to save me, huh? Oo 

 

With a resolving breath, the Betazoid officer clicked to life, causing the monitor to flicker and force his reflection away. He waited anxiously for a few moments before a ringing tone echoed too loudly around his apartment. Raimor quickly turned the sound down to a more reasonable volume, hoping that nobody had been woken up by his call. He looked around for any signs that he’d trespassed on somebody's sleep, but snapped back when he saw a stern face on the monitor. 

 

Eloy: Sasus. It’s late. 

 

Raimor blinked at his father for a moment before responding. 

 

Raimor: Yeah, I thought… Well it’s been a while. I just wanted to check in with you. 

 

His father raised an eyebrow. 

 

Eloy: Are you well? 

 

Raimor: Uh, yeah. I just got done with an awards ceremony with the rest of the officers. 

 

Eloy: I see. 

 

There was an awkward silence between the two men. Raimor waited for his father to ask him something, anything, but he didn’t. They just stared at each other silently. 

 

Raimor: ::fumbling:: Umm, I graduated. I’m sure you figured that out though. I’m out on a station called Denali now. It’s a really fascinating place. W-We aren’t sure who built it yet, but it's a ring of sorts with a sun in the middle. ::pause::  It’s massive. 

 

Eloy: Yes, I heard. I heard that there was some sort of disturbance there as well. A pirate attack if I remember correctly. 

 

Raimor: ::excitedly:: Yeah! It actually was happening when I got here and I had to- Wait. You’ve been keeping up with me? 

 

Eloy: Not specifically. One of my associates was loosely linked with the shipment company who managed to lose the weapons your pirate queen lady stole. I had to prove that the company wasn’t involved. 

 

Raimor: Oh… I see. 

 

Eloy: Is that all you had to tell me, son? 

 

Raimor gripped the ribbon he’d just been awarded earlier in the evening tightly in his hands, feeling a familiar ache in the back of his throat. 

 

Raimor: No, that’s all. 

 

Eloy: Then have a nice night Sasus. 

 

The monitor flickered again and Raimor was left alone in his apartment. The young man finally let out the deep sob that he had been choking back. After all of this time his father truly hadn’t changed at all. 

 

NT, END

 

Ensign Raimor 

Medical Officer 

Denali Station

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