Harmless or Pretending?

The woman regarded Nina coldly, the ice slipping over Nina's features despite being just the hologram of a being.

"How may I be of assistance, Mother?" Nina asked the older woman politely, noting that the years had not worn well.

The holographic pet rose scampered across the floor, drawing a grim scowl.

Nina lifted an eyebrow, drawing the woman's ire away from the errant pet.

"Scott Dunson told me about what you said to him.  Your insensitivity is knowing no bounds toward your own kind."

"It was.  You do not understand.  In space, human beings, the species both Scott and I belong to, are a tiny minority and lack political power or clout.  Humans must take care when interacting with other species of clout.  Scott has the diplomatic skills of a squashed skunk.  If I was a bit blunt, I was attempting to shock him into saving himself more grief, perhaps of a fatal kind!"

"You claim diplomatic skill?"  Tara scoffed.

"No," laughed Nina.  "I'm regarded as a bit of a scatter-brain dipshit outside the holographic sphere: Especially by the Humanists aboard.  The aliens consider me harmless.  I either have head in clouds or an obsession with my holographic pet that I take about to my educational symposiums."

"You are not harmless.  You're as calculating as a viper."

"I am considered harmless by my shipmates so I avoid misadventure," Nina said calmly.  "I have others to consider; my sisters you do recall?  Tina and Angel?"

"Those idiots?  The one's a junky, the other's a mental case."

"They are my family.  My loved ones, my obligation."  Nina said nothing about the pair being Tara Black's daughters.

"Doesn't everything in the Federation come free?"  Tara offered a cocked eyebrow.