Jamaharon is not for everyone

Posted on Monday 9 December 2019 @ 23:53 by Lieutenant Commander Hayley Godding & Captain Melody Jones

Mission: Ghost Ship
Location: Risa
Timeline: SL Day 2 2000
2542 words - 5.1 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

With her parents having a romantic meal to celebrate, Sansa had gone down the main resort complex to wait for her friend. She had met Kimmy on the shuttle over and had become fast friends. She had suggested a game of hover ball and she would meet Sansa at 2030 that evening.

Sansa had arrived a bit early. She picked up a glass of tropical punch and stood waiting for Kimmy. On a table near the wall, she noticed a lot of little wooden statues. She had seen the figure all over Risa but hadn't had time to ask her Mom about them. She walked over and picked one up, examining it closely.

Kizoc had come to Risa to celebrate the aquisition of a superb deal that had netted him a hell of a lot of Latinum. Well on his way to owning his own moon, Kizoc had decided that what he wanted was to enjoy the pleasures that only Risa could offer. He'd only been on Risa for a few hours, but having followed some advice from his brother, had immediately obtained a Horga'hn statue. He knew full well that if he carried one, providing someone else carried one, they were looking for something called 'Jamaharon' in the local dialect. Kizoc honestly didn't care what it was called, he just wanted a good time and to have his lobes stroked by a beautiful female.

As he entered the foyer of the main resort, he spotted a female hewmon standing at a table, holding a Horga'hn idol. She looked quite appealing with long red hair, at least for a hewmon anyway. She disagreeably wore far too much clothing, a black vest top, a fabric he knew was popular with hewmons called 'denim' - his cousin did a sideline in clothing - she wore as a pair of shorts. However, since she was signaling that she was interested in Jamaharon, that small irritation could soon be dealt with. He sidled over to the girl and licked his lips. "Jamaharon?" He said, slobberingly. "Very well, I will take you. Come with me female." He grabbed her hand.

At the sound of a voice, Sansa spun round startled and came face to face with this Ferengi who had rather a lecherous look on his face. He was also making a grab for her hand. She had learned about Ferengi and her mother had told her a few, let's say cautionary tales.
The look on his face caused her blood to run cold as her heart rate accelerated rapidly. A fight or flight response kicked in as he held on her hand which had the statue in. I could have used that as a club! Damn! she thought to herself. Suddenly, she remembered the drink she was holding in the other hand. In a flash, she threw the drink in her assailants face.

Kizoc hissed as the drink was thrown in his face and tightened his grip on her wrist. "Oh, you're going to pay for that." He snarled at her. "Leading me on with temptations of Jamaharon and now this..." He started dragging her towards the stairs to his suite.

Realizing that her first attempt hadn't worked, Sansa moved onto plan B. She had a lovely singing voice and knew how to project very well so, she took a deep breath... And screamed at the top of her lungs!

For her part, Hayley never knew why she had a knack for being in the right place at the right time. It was just something that always seemed to happen to her. Not that it always ended happily, but this almost cosmic power of always being where trouble occurred was something she just had to contend with. Therefore, it was that same cosmic phenomenon that saw her coming into the foyer at that precise moment having just come back from walking along the beach admiring the magnificent star-lit sky of Risa. Wearing just a red bikini with a floral sash around her waist, she heard an almighty scream and noticed the absence of any Risian staff or security. A Ferengi male was dragging an extremely familiar looking red-headed woman towards the stairs, who was clearly unhappy with the situation.

Moving deftly, she interceded between the Ferengi and the female with a perfectly placed chop on the Ferengi's wrist, causing him to release the woman suddenly, then a swift spin so that she could backhand jab the Ferengi in the ear-lobe, a known weakness. This sudden release caused the female, who Hayley now realised was Sansa Jones, to stagger backward and start falling over. She stepped forward quickly and caught Sansa before she fell backwards, moving to one knee. "Are you alright?" She asked the teenager.

Sansa was trying to slow her breathing down. She nodded rather frantically, Her gaze was still fixed on the Ferengi as she feared he would try something else.

"Nevermind about her!" Kizoc snarled as he approached the women angrily, jabbing his finger into Hayley's chest. "You assaulted me! I demand compensation! I will be suing you!"

Hayley grabbed the offending finger and hurled the Ferengi over her shoulder and across the floor, causing him to come to a crashing halt at the bottom of the stairs. Crossing her arms over her chest, she looked down at the Ferengi on the floor. "I would strongly reconsider your position. I witnessed you attempting to drag this young lady against her will back to your room. I am also quite certain the surveillance sensors and Ms Jones testimony here to that fact, plus a witness statement from a Starfleet Security Officer would not go well for your case."

"I... err... well... I won't forget this!" Kizoc shouted as he dusted himself off and unceremoniously stormed off up the stairs.

Hayley turned back to look at Sansa, a smile on her face. "Sorry about that!" She said, cheerfully. "I hope he didn't ruin your holiday."

Having calmed down, Sansa was most impressed with how this young woman had almost crippled the Ferengi without breaking a sweat. "I'm just glad you were here." She looked at the blond woman more closely now and frowned. "I know you, don't I?" Then realization hit her like lightning. "You're the Security Chief! From the Merlin." She thought for another moment. "Hayley!" She threw her arms around her and hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much. I didn't see you on the transport over, when did you get here?"

Hayley gingerly put her arms around the younger girl and returned the embrace. "You're more than welcome Sansa." She said, smiling. "I got in late this afternoon, spent the evening out on the beach admiring the stars." She said, as the two separated from their embrace. "You sure you're okay? He didn't hurt you or anything?" By this point, Risian security had finally arrived, and they'd need to give a statement on what happened. Hayley became dimly aware that if Sansa was here, Commander Jones would not be far away, and there would no doubt be questions. Hayley wondered how quickly she'd be notified of the situation...

"Nah... He never got the chance to." She replied managed to smile at her. Two security officers from the resort came over to them. They asked Sansa to write a statement but she insisted that Hayley stayed close at she felt safer with her around. When she had finished she turned back to Lieutenant Godding and let out a deep breath. "Well, I'm glad that's over." Sansa was still feeling a bit shaken from the ordeal but she was trying to cover. She brushed a long red strand of hair out of her face and looked around briefly. "It looks like Kimmys not coming and I don't want to interrupt my mom's evening. Would.. you mind staying with me for a while? We could get a drink... How did you do that by the way? Throw the Ferengi over your shoulder?" She asked, her fear was slowly dissolving being replaced by genuine interest in how the Ferengi had been dispatched.

Whilst Sansa was doing an outstanding job of trying to mask how shaken she truly was from the whole ordeal, it was evident to Hayley that she should not be on her own right now. Even without her training and experience as a Security Officer, it was obvious the girl had gone through a terrible experience that she was still trying to process. Besides, it wasn't like Hayley had any plans for the evening, and it might be nice to get to know her. They'd barely spoken to one another at the welcome aboard dinner that had been a bit of a disaster. "Of course I'll stay with you." Hayley gave her a genuinely warm smile. "Why don't we go and have a drink over there." She gestured towards a table on the veranda that was in a nice spot to look out over the ocean. In truth, Hayley had been analysing the room and had determined this spot would allow her to detect potential threats whilst having her back to two walls.

Once they were seated and their drinks order taken, Hayley decided to address Sansa's question about the Ferengi. "I used martial arts." She explained. "Whilst the Ferengi wasn't a particularly formidable opponent, I used minimal force to subdue him. I admit that throwing him over my shoulder was a tad on the extreme side, but he quickly appreciated the gravity of his situation without further resorting to physical violence. Martial arts isn't about being able to throw someone over your shoulder, but about appreciating mind over matter and being at one with your inner self. It's a defensive art but also a spiritual one." Hayley explained to Sansa, evident in her tone the reverence she held for the arts she spoke of. It helped that it would allow Sansa to think about something other than the unpleasantness of earlier.

Sansa listened intently. "So it's like knowing when to fight and when not to fight..." She went onto explain, off her look "I was reading the Art of War." She blushed slightly at sounding like a bookworm. She took a sip of her drink. "Well, like I said I'm just glad you were here. Mom's taken dad out for a meal tonight to celebrate her officially taking command of the Merlin. Dad took me fishing today. I managed to catch a fish that he's been chasing for a long time" She chuckled, pushing the memory of the Ferengi to the back of her mind, at least for the time being. She knew she would have to tell her parents.

She took another sip of her drink. "Did you learn that at the Acadamy or somewhere else?"

Hayley looked at her with keen interest. Reading a book like 'the Art of War' at her age was on a very different level. It also sounded like she was incredibly lucky, or her father was incredibly unlucky - take your pick. At least Sansa had confirmed the rumour going around that Commander Jones was getting command of the big flying starbase that was the Merlin. "I was a young girl when I started learning Karate and Judo. I learned both because I wanted to be better than my brother. After a while, I stopped, but an event that happened when I was about your age forced me to reflect and rethink my life choices. I turned back to martial arts to help calm me and improve my centre-self. It was a great comfort to me when... something bad happened to me." She stopped herself from telling Sansa about Juliet. That was not a topic for tonight... maybe not any night... she wasn't sure she wanted to face that ghost again, but just thinking about her told Hayley that she'd be haunted tonight. "So yeah, martial arts is something I've always done and it really helped me at the academy, as you can imagine."

"I bet..." She looked at the young woman, a bond of respect forming. She would have liked to toss that Ferengi over her shoulder herself. Sansa was thinking something over. "If Mom's ok with it, would you teach me some self-defense moves? It sounds like something I'd be interested in learning and it could be handy. And who better to learn from then her Chief of Security. Also..." She looked around before she leaned closer to Hayley, lowering her voice to a whisper. "What's Jamaharon?"

Hayley had picked the worst moment to take a sip of her drink! She choked on it causing her to cough for a moment and her eyes to stream. She looked back up at Sansa and grinned. "Well, as to the self-defence, I'll need to speak to your mother about that, but I'm sure I can spare the time. As for the other question... I'm fairly certain that if I told you, your mother would have me fired out a torpedo tube..."

Sansa's eyes lit up as she watched her reaction. It just made her more curious. She looked around, then back to Hayley with a coy smile "I won't tell her if you don't. So...?"

Hayley sighed and looked at Sansa. For all intents and purposes, she wasn't a child. Melody had made that clear during the dinner. Sansa was an eighteen year old woman, legally an adult, physically, mentally and emotionally. Despite only being four chronological years of age, it didn't matter. Hayley wasn't a coward by any stretch of the imagination, plus if she wanted to earn Sansa's trust, she needed to trust her too. Plus, knowledge was important for her self-preservation here on Risa. "Alright, I'm trusting you as a bond between friends." Hayley said. "So, you remember that little wooden idol you were looking at? Well, that's called a horga'hn, which is basically a symbol on Risa for sexuality. The custom here is that if you display one, you are interested in what the Risians call Jamaharon, which is a sexual rite performed here. Basically, if someone is carrying one of those wooden statues around with them, they're signalling that they want to partake in sex." Why oh why hadn't her mother or father warned her about that?!

"You mean that Ferengi wanted to... With me..?" her voice trailed off as she turned green. "I think I'm going to be sick..." Sansa placed one hand on Hayley's shoulder to steady herself. With the other, she grabbed hold of Hayley's hand and squeezed it, tightly A shiver ran through her body and she looked at her, suddenly feeling very vulnerable. "Could you walk me back to our villa, please?"

"I think that would be a very good idea." Hayley replied, squeezing Sansa's hand back reassuringly. "I promise you that no one will dare lay a finger on you whilst I'm with you." Funnily enough, she really meant it too, and not just out of a sense of obligation to her as a member of the ships company either. A bond had been formed tonight.

●○ Lieutenant JG Hayley Godding
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Merlin


Sansa Jones
Civillian
npc Melody Jones