They Whose Memories Never Happened (Nira and Don, but open to all if needed)

[Nira Said]

[Lieutenant Nira Said | Forward Lounge | Deck Six | USS Discovery NCC-78393-B]

Nira was sitting with her palm holding her chin, practically playing dully with her food. She wasn't having much of an appetite. She had hoped to be busy writing holo drills for her department, given Savar was busy and couldn't join her. She was, in fact, reviewing another memory of Najwa Said.

Najwa had just walked away from the Ottoman caravanserai. She had the money she needed to make her way out of Ottoman territory. Maybe out into Greece, to the ships to Rome. Or maybe Marseilles. Most likely Marseilles, the French enjoyed exotic dancers. The French were always aroused so easily.

She had been stuck in the Ottoman Empire for years after she ran away. Her dancing aroused men enough that she made fortunes. However, her young, foolish mind meant that her fortune disappeared faster than snow in the Rub' al Khali she escaped from. Years of gaining and losing fortunes and moving one place to another made Najwa wiser. Especially since her harem master was likely going to run into her sooner or later...

"There you are, girl!" snapped a harsh voice. Najwa whirled around to see a common thug. "I've been looking for you. Think I'm not good enough?"

Najwa withdrew her dagger and brandished it before him threateningly. She retorted, "As a matter of fact, you're good enough to make love more with sows than the harem slaves!"

The man backed nervously, and when Najwa made a gesture like she's ready to decapitate him, he ran off. And judging from the smell, he wet himself. Najwa decided it was time she made for the docks, find the next ship to Europe, maybe France...

The momentary shock was enough to wake Nira from her reverie. It seemed so real, and yet it wasn't. Why, at the age Najwa was when that happened, Nira had really just started at the Academy.

As fascinating as the memories were to Nira, they also disturbed her. She had attained ten years' worth of memories she never lived in less than a day in Paradise. Had she remained there for three days, the memories would've extended to her childhood. By the end of the week, her past would've been completely rewritten. She would no longer have been Nira Said, the Arabic Betazoid who was a quasi-detective. She would've been reduced to Najwa Said, the runaway harem slave who was the pride of the Paradise Saloon, practically enslaved to the will of the T'hunga, as Savar called them.

Nira was anxious to get busy, so as to not dwell with the feeling she had from waking from mind control, her first reaction feeling like it was tantamount to rape, given she was a telepath. Nira arranged her scheduling to work twelve to fifteen hours a day, to keep herself busy. And since Discovery was docked at Earth, it gave her time to prepare schedules and drills for her department.

She and Savar got together for lunch, and with the brief off-duty time they had, they not only had lunch, they also played a little blackjack, inspired somewhat by Captain Tekin's poker game she never was able to have with. Besides, she liked blackjack better, it was a way of figuring numbers close to twenty-one. Additionally, as of late, it was good practice for her to close her mind, as Betazoids playing poker could be accused of cheating. The winner got to use the Forensics Lab for an hour after lunch.

Today, Savar was too busy to join her. Nira wasn't feeling like going to the lab; she had other matters to attend to. But the moments of boredom instead let her review her false memories again. The PADDs of paperwork and holoprogram work lay strewn around her lunch. Nira figured writing holo drills in the lounge would mean she'd be able to feel less lonely, but even that didn't help.

Nira sat up and took in the view of Earth below. She heard plenty that the crew was given shore leave, but she really didn't want to go down to Earth yet, if at all. She was still a recently appointed departmental head, and she had more than enough shore leave at Katra Station. She still had work to do. As she turned back to her paperwork, her still untouched food and, in her head, possibly a new chapter, she looked up in surprise...

[Don Damien Addams]

[USS Discovery - Forward Lounge]

The man was a need of a break and he was hungry. That what had brought him to the Forward Lounge. Don had hoped his wife went to visit her dad at the Ambassador in San Francisco.

As the doors opened, Don stepped in and he spotted Nira was sitting by herself. She looked bored. Which was weird to see. He went to the replicator.

"Cold glass orange temperature 55 degrees and fruit salad. Torra fruit salad recipe 1," the replicator made the cold water and it had made a fruit salad. The salad had grapes, watermelon, dragon fruit, melons, and others.

He took the bowl and cup of water and walked to Nira's table. "Are you expecting anyone? Savar?" he had asked.

[Nira Said]

[USS Discovery - Forward Lounge]

The man was a need of a break and he was hungry. That what had brought him to the Forward Lounge. Don had hoped his wife went to visit her dad at the Ambassador in San Francisco.

As the doors opened, Don stepped in and he spotted Nira was sitting by herself. She looked bored. Which was weird to see. He went to the replicator.

"Cold glass orange temperature 55 degrees and fruit salad. Torra fruit salad recipe 1," the replicator made the cold water and it had made a fruit salad. The salad had grapes, watermelon, dragon fruit, melons, and others.

He took the bowl and cup of water and walked to Nira's table. "Are you expecting anyone? Savar?" he had asked.

[Lieutenant Nira Said | Forward Lounge | Deck Six | USS Discovery NCC-78393-B]

Nira was quite surprised to see Don by himself. She rarely ever saw him without Torra. In fact, the only time she remembered seeing him without Torra was the holodeck. Flying Tigers.

On the other hand, Nira inwardly felt pleased to see Don. She always regarded him as a sort of uncle, if not a brother, that she never had. Just as how she often regarded Torra as a sister, in a way.

"I was," said Nira indifferently, somewhat startled to realize she sounded like the poor souls back in Paradise, under the T'hunga sheriff's influence. "He got called in suddenly. Unexpected check on the deflector array."

She sighed, then decided to try a different tone. She moved aside her paperwork, work-in-progress holo-drills and even the deck of blackjack cards that she had on today, given it was her turn to deal, to make room for Don's meal...a salad, most likely something of Torra's making. Nira noted that Torra always ate greens. It's somewhat expected of a tall yet gentle horned lady who often bleated.

"Please, sit, Don," she said gently. "I appreciate the company. It's been exceptionally slow today...enough to let my mind wander. Sometimes down corridors of memories, some that I don't remember going...circa turn of the century half a millennium past."

[Don Damien Addams]

"œI see you had been hooked on playing card games?" he said as he saw the deck of cards that Nira was putting to the side.

Don sat down across from a friend. With ships this size you never know who will say. Anyways the good news that about everyone was on shore leave down on earth.

"œYes. Memories that don't exist," he added. He sighed as he took a sip of his water. "œYou can help yourself with the salad. It is a bland food. It helps Torra when she gets nervous."

[Nira Said]

"œI see you had been hooked on playing card games?" he said as he saw the deck of cards that Nira was putting to the side.

Don sat down across from a friend. With ships this size you never know who will say. Anyways the good news that about everyone was on shore leave down on earth.

"œYes. Memories that don't exist," he added. He sighed as he took a sip of his water. "œYou can help yourself with the salad. It is a bland food. It helps Torra when she gets nervous."

[Lieutenant Nira Said | Forward Lounge | Deck Six | USS Discovery NCC-78393-B]

"I'm good, thanks," said Nira, gesturing to the Hasparat-spiced shawarma. Shawarma was always her favorite meal. She added on Hasparat at times, given she was serving under a Bajoran captain.

"And, actually, it's blackjack," she added with a smile. "Savar and I would play it when we get together for lunch. Winner gets my forensics lab for an hour. It's a good compromise, and it makes it unpredictable, rather than a set schedule."

Nira sighed and then asked Don, "Have you recalled memories of each of our cover stories turned reality?"

[Don Damien Addams]

Don had to chuckle. "œThat sounds a good wager," he replied. He took a piece of watermelon, chucked it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed it.

"œSort of," he shrugged his shoulders. "œI had dreams of us and I wrote it down. Then I feel I am lost. Like two lives. Two wives," he sighed. Then he looked at Earth. "œI feel I am unfaithful to Torra and the wife I think I am married with no face."

"œWhat about you?" he asked.

[Nira Said]

Don had to chuckle. "œThat sounds a good wager," he replied. He took a piece of watermelon, chucked it in his mouth, chewed and swallowed it.

"œSort of," he shrugged his shoulders. "œI had dreams of us and I wrote it down. Then I feel I am lost. Like two lives. Two wives," he sighed. Then he looked at Earth. "œI feel I am unfaithful to Torra and the wife I think I am married with no face."

"œWhat about you?" he asked.

[Lieutenant Nira Said | Forward Lounge | Deck Six | USS Discovery NCC-78393-B]

"Oh, indeed," said Nira. "Though if we ever have a poker night and include maybe even Lek and, if possible, Captain Tekin, it'll be just as useful to wager. Winner gets my forensics lab for a week. Should be an enticing offer, especially to Lek and the Captain; I heard he used to be in science, and I'm not surprised. Way he is, he's a mad scientist at heart," she added with a smile.

As Don spoke, Nira replied, "So do I. And it's more than dreams. It's on a greater scale, I have a photographic memory, an eidetic memory. It's so easy to remember, to observe. Until now, I've regarded it as a crucial asset of mine. Now I'm starting to think of it as a curse. I remember them. Too well. At the same time, I find them fascinating. Ten years of escapades of a runaway harem slave. I'd make the legendary storyteller of the Thousand and One Nights, Scheherazade, look like a mumbling geriatric."

She then looked up with interest at Don's words...him? Unfaithful to Torra? But she instantly remembered how cold he was back in Paradise at one point. Both those facts, for want of a better word, made Nira flinch somewhat. Nira always regarded Don as the uncle she never had; it would be a stretch to regard him a father figure. Torra was her best friend, close enough to a sister...or an aunt, when one considers her relationship to Don.

"That wife with no face doesn't exist, Don," she said. "Even I know my memories are false, and yet they're intriguing. You're not unfaithful, Don. Torra is the one for you. And she's real. I know that you're one of the best pilots in the galaxy. Your place is in the stars, not with pen and paper. And Mister Graham is definitely not your son, I don't even see any semblance," she added with a smile.

[Don Damien Addams]

"An officer's poker game," Don said. "That would be great. I am sure we all could throw a wage in to make it interesting. And maybe we can invite lower rank crew member. So we can make get to know the officers better."

"I wished I never made that story to the Sheriff. That just messed things up. Next time don't let me make up stories," he told her pointing his finger at her. "Even I made myself messed up. You don't understand Nira. I try to keep telling myself I have one wife. Its another when you wake up from a dream feeling your in the other world we were in. I even had a dream when I was with my wife....I mean..." he sighed. "See. I believe Alex and I had the worst cause I think he had more influence on us cause the the extra time we spent with him. Damn." He looked to the side.

[Nira Said]

"An officer's poker game," Don said. "That would be great. I am sure we all could throw a wage in to make it interesting. And maybe we can invite lower rank crew member. So we can make get to know the officers better."

"I wished I never made that story to the Sheriff. That just messed things up. Next time don't let me make up stories," he told her pointing his finger at her. "Even I made myself messed up. You don't understand Nira. I try to keep telling myself I have one wife. Its another when you wake up from a dream feeling your in the other world we were in. I even had a dream when I was with my wife....I mean..." he sighed. "See. I believe Alex and I had the worst cause I think he had more influence on us cause the the extra time we spent with him. Damn." He looked to the side.

[Lieutenant Nira Said | Forward Lounge | Deck Six | USS Discovery NCC-78393-B]

"Oh, I do, Don," said Nira. "I do. I've had my cover story prepared in the event of an away mission requiring infiltration, as most people enjoy dancing girls. I just didn't expect my cover story to turn into reality. And I'm sure it hit me especially hard because I'm also a telepath, yet understood cultures of certain humans. While I'd be referred to as an Arabic Betazoid in this day and age, back then they'd refer to me as psychic."

Nira raised an eyebrow at how spending time with Mister Graham resulted in worst influence. "I wasn't aware of that," she said. "I knew him back on the Athena, but I don't know him as well as I should."