Illogical Fears
Posted on December 10th, 2014 by T'Lira

It all started in a swimming pool.

The Academy swimming pool, to be more precise. Students weren’t required to know how to swim, but it was a good skill to learn. After all, who knew what situation a student may be thrown in?

So, T’Lira stood at the edge of the swimming pool. Eighteen Federation standard years old and she hadn’t the faintest clue how to swim. It was mildly embarrassing that she couldn’t accomplish something as simple as swimming a lap without almost drowning. So far, no one had noticed her difficulties, but that seemed about to change.

“Hey, Vulcan! Need a hand?”

The owner of the voice was a young human male. He had a nervous looking Andorian and an angry human female with him.

“Pardon?” she asked. He grinned.

“You’ve been in and out of the water for over an hour. I think you’re just being a bit nervous, huh? I though Vulcans couldn’t get nervous,” he laughed.

“It is not that, it is that I-”

Her reply was cut short as his hand suddenly pushed outwards and hit her shoulder, propelling her straight into the thing she couldn’t exactly deal with: the water.

“Ack!” she gasped as she hit the water. Instantly, she was submerged and was cut off from the air. She thrashed her arms about, but couldn’t seem to remain above the surface.

“What do you think you’re doing, you asshole!” the human female screamed, “Can’t you see she can’t swim? God, you’re such an idiot!”

The girl threw herself into the water and swam over to T’Lira.

“Hey! Come on, grab onto the edge, like this. Yeah, just paddle over. Use your feet to propel you over here to grab on. There you go!”

The girl’s gentle coaching enabled T’Lira to get calm enough to swim and grab the edge of the pool. After pulling herself out, the girl followed suit.

The small human marched over to the larger male and poked his chest, yelling, “What the hell was that all about, Greg? You don’t need to be an ass just because you don’t like someone!”

Greg stuttered, “‘Lena, wait a minute! ‘Lena! Look, you know how I feel about-”

“I’m well aware of how you feel about Vulcans, just because they’re distantly related to Romulans! You think killing someone is going to help bring your family back? Well, you’re wrong!” she replied heatedly, “And just so you know, for that little stunt, we are OVER!”

He spluttered as the woman stalked away, back to T’Lira.

“I am so sorry for Greg. He’s such a douche. Anyway, I’m Cadet Fourth Class Elena Garson! It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the woman smiled.

“I am Cadet Fourth Class T’Lira. It is agreeable to meet you as well.”

And that was how she made a lifelong friend and a lifelong fear, all in the space of five minutes.

(Well, this was a bit late, but hey, I got it done! Time keeping skills this week = suck epically.)