Second Chance

Posted on 27 Feb 2016 @ 10:01pm by Lieutenant JG Manuel Lucero & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov
Edited on on 01 Mar 2016 @ 1:14am

1,402 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo: 4th Deck - Lucero's Quarters
Timeline: MD22 - 2030 hrs

[ON]

Keval wasn't nervous. Or at least that is what he told himself, and it was mostly true. The first time he and Lieutenant Lucero had met had been in the room he was about to press the chime of. It had been when the officer had just come on board. Things had turned, well heated, in the best sense of that term. Of course they hadn't gone too far. Not far enough part of Keval's mind had told him.

That had been months ago. They really hadn't talked much since that time. Only passing in the hallways once in a while. After all, they were in two very different departments.

But shore leave was coming up and so Keval had decided to surprise Manuel, just to see what might, or might not happen. At the very least he could know whether or not their one time semi hookup was just that, or if there was a potential for something more.

He was dressed in a pair of white chinos and polo shirt, that fit snugly and was almost the color of his skin. He pressed the chime, hoping the other man was there.

Looking up from his work at the ring of the chime, Manuel made a curious expression.

Hm?... Well, I'm not expecting anyone.

He gets up, his shirt and briefs fitting rather loosely, and moves toward the door. The door sighs as it swiftly shoots into the surrounding wall, to reveal none other than the one that had occupied his mind quite often for the past few months. It didn't need to be said that the Andorian was a surprise, indeed.

"Ah..." The look of shock turned to curiosity once again as he spoke. "To what do I owe the honor, Chief Petty Officer?" Then he realized something and looked down at his clothing. If some passerby saw him down-dressed on a duty day, it wouldn't look too good. The Lieutenant poked his head slightly out of the entryway to his quarters and looked down to both ends of the quarter and then sighed with relief as no one was present. His eyes locked onto Keval.

"Actually, would you like to come inside? I have a little bit of work to complete for my presentation." He said plainly.


"Sure," Keval responded, doing his best to keep his eyes focused on the superior officer's face and not other parts of his anatomy,and not doing a very good job of it.

He stepped inside smiling broadly. "I guess I should have sent you a message on your PAaD. I forgot all you science types were doing speeches. What's yours about?"

Manuel took Keval's body in with his eyes. The polo and chinos gave him a distinguished look. Needless to say, he was incomparably attractive.

"Err. Well." He had kept it a closely guarded secret. One that he would definitely protect with his life... But for some reason, he felt as though this Andorian could be trusted with something like that. And even more. Maybe it was due to what had happened among them not too long before. Either way, he disarmed the young Lieutenant without even trying.

"Okay... When we fell into the anomaly... I mean... Do you remember when we got sucked into the mirror universe?" He tried hard not to ramble out of excitement. "Well, I had accidentally acquired some data that, to make a long story short, may, in fact, allow us to, sometime in the near future..."

Out with it Lucero!

"TO MANIPULATE SUBSPACE SO THAT WE CAN FREELY NAVIGATE BETWEEN PARALLEL UNIVERSES!" Suddenly Manuel's face clearly showed his excitement on the subject as he returned Keval's smile.


"Really?" Keval said, "you know I've always had a fascination with the Mirror Universe, or Universes. There could be, there probably is an infinite number of them. I would volunteer in a heartbeat for a project like that."

"Yeah?" Manuel was definitely excited about the concept. "Perhaps I could receive some sort of 'okay' for resources to experiment further. But anyway... How have you been?"

"Well, if you do, I want to be on your team. And I'm doing good. What about you?"

"I've been well." He rubbed the back of his head. "Kind of busy with all of this academic crap... I mean, don't get me wrong, I love it and all, it just takes so much of my time that I don't get to focus on the more..." He looks Keval up and down. "Important things in life."

Lucero sighed and looked into the distance for a moment.

Both antenna curled forward and he took a half step back. Keep his voice even, "Are you okay?"

The Lieutenant made a awkward cough and snapped out of his reverie.

"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. Sorry about that, a little tired is all." He looked back to the andorian. Lucero truly wondered whether there could be something more to that first time that they met. He wanted there to be. He really did.

"You had me worried you know. I mean you seemed lost for a minute. I thought you might want to go out,I mean get out. You know go have some fun."

Lucero felt a rather interesting feeling in his stomach that went all the way to his chest as the Andorian spoke.

"I'd love to." He smiled widely.

"Good, I was thinking maybe dinner and a holovid, unless you want to do something more active."

Dinner and a holovid sounded rather nice. Close, personal, and without distracting externalities.

"That sounds fantastic. What kind of holovid did you have in mind?"

"I didn't really have anything special in mind. I thought I'd let you pick."

"Very well..." He thought for a moment. "How about something old. Something exciting. A horror film perhaps. Usually I hate them, but today feels like one of those days." He looks Keval in the eyes and smirks. "Unless you'd be too frightened, of course."

The Andorian had been about to object. Horror movies were his least favorite genre for the very reason Manuel was bringing up. But he had too much pride to admit it. "Me, afraid, no. Go ahead, bring it on."

"Good!" He stepped closer to Keval and placed a hand on his shoulder. In a loud whisper, Lucero said "But first, what shall we do about dinner. Did you want to go out? Or would a little, in-quarters-replication be more to your liking?"

"Well normally, " Keval said moving within Manuel's personal space, "I'd say in quarters replication or better yet my fixing some real food. But there are a lot of nice places to eat around here. Why don't we go out?"

Lucero closed the distance until their bodies fit together firmly. He wrapped his arms around Keval's midsection.

"Good. I should probably change then." He looked down at his shirt and briefs.

"You probably should Lieutenant, otherwise, we may never get out of the cabin."

He was definitely right about that.

Manuel chuckled before letting him go. He waltzed over to his wall-locker trying not to show his excitement. Some semi-formal attire seemed appropriate. He took off his shirt, glancing over his shoulder to see if Keval was taking a peek.

Though he was trying to be superstitious in doing so, Keval was watching intently.

Slowly, but surely, he buttoned up a more fitting, light blue dress shirt and a pair of slate gray chinos. He turned back to the Andorian after taking a gray jacket out and putting it on.

"How do I look?" He says with his arms wide, turning around and then back at Keval.

"You look fantastic and super sexy." Keval replied with a bit of an impish grin.

Lucero returned his look and winked.

"Good. Let's get going then."

Manuel walked up to Keval and tried to surprise him with a boyish peck on the lips before getting to the door and opening it.

Still smiling Keval said, "That kiss better be a down payment on the rest of the evening, because I want more."

"Good, because I looking forward to giving you the rest of it." He winks. "Plus interest."

"Good," came the short reply, "I'm going to hold you to it."

[OFF]

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Lieutenant JG Manuel Lucero V
Asst. Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

CPO Keval zh'Erinov
Operations
PNPC Jared Nicholas
USS Galileo

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