Once upon a time, there was a young girl. We shall call her Billy, for that is the name she most preferred. She had never cared much for the title laid upon her brow by her father, all full of weighty responsibilities, nor had she felt drawn to the fanciful surname her mother had let trail at her heels. She had oft been lectured of its provenance, an unbroken line of mothers and daughters that reached back to the founding of Betazed. Those names which had danced at the edge of the Opal Sea with Rishick, who had lifted high the scepter of Tixxin, claimed the rite of Ogillika. It was a contrivance mostly, an attempt at standing with lofty lineages, retained in rumour and passed down till they became a truth that had always been. 

For her part, Bullwura was content to be simple Billy. 

The girl had been less than six cycles when the purple-skinned occupiers had marched on her home, a tidal wave of indistinguishable boots cracking the peaceful earth with their unrelenting march. All was lost beneath their crushing heels, and the great lineage of Mellasitox found itself buried beneath the dust. So it came to be that the girl stepped forward as the sole inheritor of their truths as she stepped from ruins, barefoot and clad in rags, their histories strung around her neck like a life jacket. Truth or not, who was left to disprove them?

The girl continued to be simply Billy as she found herself on unfamiliar yet comforting shores. Beneath a crimson-tinged bridge of golden gates, she found a new family who held her close and dear, who expected little more than true commitment to their cause. Starfleet welcomed her, regardless of the name that weighed down her shoulders with its responsibility. 

Time carried the girl onward, into dutiful service of the just and true. Billy became a new lineage, synonymous with compassion and kindness rather than stuffy legends, one of good-natured humour and steadfast loyalty over the rights of name and title. Bullwura Mellasitox remained in the box upon the shelf, a memory held on the mantle, to be lightly dusted and kept in trust but never lifted down and revelled in. Kept clean for best, like the finest Sunday dress. 

Then one day, the girl met her, Indira Sehgali. A name that echoed with delicate twinkling tones like the golden bangles that framed her wrists. 

“Anything interesting?” Sehgali drawled from her reclined position on the sunlounger.

“Nothing you’d be interested in seeing,” Mellasitox jibed as she slid the padd beneath the lone white towels at the foot of her own lounger.

“You’ve been working on that for the last 2 days. Don’t tell me you’ve brought your reports with you?”

“Would that be so bad? I’ve only been the XO for three weeks. I still need to make a good impression.”

Sehgali turned towards the young officer, propping herself on an elbow as she dipped the dark sunglasses with a slight nod, their round frames sliding down her nose.

“You do understand the idea of shoreleave is to leave?”

“If I want to be captain by the time I’m thirty-”

“Shore, Leave!” Sehgali intoned with a disapproving tone. “It’ll still be there when you get back to the ship.” She waved a dismissive hand towards the minute shadow that hovered just above the horizon, signalling the presence of Butler slowly passing through its orbital path.

Mellasitox grumbled a few choice words as she swung her legs back onto the lounger and laid back down against the smooth surface, clenching her arms in a bid to dispel the restless energy that had accompanied her into the tropical paradise.

“It’s not work anyway,” Mellasitox muttered as the energy refused to leave.

“Oh, is it not?” Sehgali scoffed.

“No, it’s…” the newly minted Commander paused, dare she admit the contents of the padd? “It’s a personal project.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve found a way to maximise the shuttles’ intake manifolds.” Sehgali smiled widely as she watched the young woman continue to struggle with her relaxation. “I love you, Billy, but you’re a massive nerd.”

“You’re the one who keeps me around.”

“Don’t you forget it.” With a long arm, Sehgali reached out and tapped Mellasitox’s nose playfully. “Though it took some convincing.”

“It is still against the rules.” Mellasitox scrunched her face tightly at the touch. “Technically.”

“Always with the rules, this one!” Sehgali rolled her eyes as she pushed her sunglasses back up her nose and fell back against the lounger with a soft thud. “There’s plenty of officers in the fleet who are dating.”

Mellasitox turned to look at the woman sharply.

“Not in the same command chain,” she added.

“Riker and Troi had a thing whilst they were both serving on the Enterprise,” Sehgali retorted smugly.

“We are not Riker and Troi.” Mellasitox’s eye narrowed.

“I don’t know, I have a certain debonair quality,” Sehgali paused and glanced over her sunglasses towards the other woman. “And…”

“… I’m a Betazoid?”

“I was going to say you both have a thing for big hair,” she replied with a quiet laugh. “And those skintight aerobics outfits.”

Mellasitox picked up a nearby towel and launched it across the short distance towards the reclining woman, who caught it with a laugh.

“That was one time! Lieutenant Hedrin said it was the most suitable attire for the class.” Mellasitox cried, causing a nearby paddling bird to turn its head in surprise.

“That reminds me, I still owe her a bottle of Saurian Brandy,” Sehgali whispered under her breath as she stood from the lounger and stretched her arms in the diminishing sun.

“Excuse me?”

A devilish grin crept along Sehgali’s face as she twisted and flexed. With a sudden leap, she jumped across the small gap between them, and Mellasitox found herself pinned to the lounger beneath the woman’s lithe form.

“Consider it my contribution to crew morale.” Sehgali planted a light kiss on her lips. “I’m going swimming, you enjoy your project.”

“I regret ever letting you convince me to keep dating you.” Mellasitox griped as she attempted to wrestle herself free.

“No, you don’t,” Sehgali whispered as she planted another kiss on her pale cheek and lept off the lounger before racing towards the slowly dancing waves.

Mellasitox pushed herself back to a seated position as she reveled in the warmth of the woman’s kiss. Slowly, she pulled the padd from beneath the towel and summoned the text back to the screen. The lines of text had barely begun to form on the screen before the padd fell onto the lounger’s rungs with a sharp clatter as the form of the girl once known as Bullwura Mellasitoxx sprinted towards the cerulean water’s edge.

“We’ve completed jump 15, Captain. It’ll be about sixty minutes before we can attempt the next one.” Bale announced over the comm.

“Understood, Edwina. Keep me updated.” Mellasitox tapped her comm badge lightly as she kicked off her shoes. Through the large windows of her quarters, the darkness of space stared back with unrelenting emptiness.

“What to do for sixty minutes?” she mumbled to the lonely room.

A stack of padds that threatened to rival the tower of Pisa teetered on the edge of her desk, status reports and updates that seemed pointless as they hobbled back to civilization. Nothing within them now reflected the state of the ship or her crew.

A pile of red-shouldered uniforms lay discarded on top of a nearby chair, their grubby sweat-covered forms tossed aside in a hurry to return to duty.

A slender bottle of Saurian brandy stood on the small coffee table, a well-used glass sitting idly next to it. Mellasitox scanned it with a cautious eye, why should she have to wait alone?

“Mellasitox to Seh…” the captain stopped with a sharp intake of breath at her own follishness.

“No, the choice was made. It was against the rules then, and doubly so now,” she reminded herself with a sharp tongue and slap against her wrist.

With a clink of the glass bottle against the smooth metal surface, she lifted the brandy to her lips and took a short swig. The sweet fire burned her throat as she painfully remembered the discussion the pair had had years ago outside a transporter room.

No, she wouldn’t go down to the surface for shore leave. No, she wouldn’t spend a few days with Indira. No, she wouldn’t carry on with this ill-advised relationship. No.

“Computer, open file Billy X01D and resume dictation.”

A quiet beep acknowledged the instruction as Mellasitox fell onto the sofa with the bottle cradled in her lap.

“Once upon a time, there was a girl. Who, despite her better judgement, fell in love.”