8 Ball, Corner Pocket (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 10 Nov 2024 @ 6:51pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor

2,816 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 7, Main Engineering
Timeline: MD 07, 0125 hrs

[ON]

The main door to USS Galileo's engineering room - where its most sacred of prizes was stored - hissed open in the early hours of the morning. A lone red-collared chief warrant officer, Lamar Darius, casually walked inside with his hands lightly clasped behind his back while he scanned the nearby vicinity for any officers or NCOs on duty. He knew there wouldn't be many, not on Gamma shift, but he hoped to find one in particular which the ship's computer had told him was present. He hoped to find Sera, in all of her Vulcan glory.

It was quiet in main engineering today. There was still the non-stop mechanical thrumming with intermittent electronic blips and beeps that served as the heart-beat of the ship but what was missing was the biological element. As Sera had been one of the latest members of the engineering crew to come aboard, it made sense to allow the rest of the team the first opportunity to engage in 'shore leave.' They would benefit from the 'down-time,' and it would give the new ChEng an opportunity to further review the engineering systems in a modicum of privacy.

She stood next to the 'pool table,' her hands clasping her elbows behind her back as she looked down at the most recent core configurations. They were outside of acceptable parameters, however the last person to input these data points was Chief Naime, and she was a most competent engineer. There must be a logical reason for these variants. She reached out and pulled up the most recent logs and began reading a rather detailed report from Naime outlining her work. The solutions were novel, and they did improve warp core efficiency...when the chief returned, Sera would speak with her further on this, but for now she chose to let the modifications lie - the desire to troubleshoot the core's intermix ratio was rather low, and it besides, it would require more than one person to accurately perform. It was going to be a task for a future Sera. Reaching out, she closed down the screen and moved on to the impulse reactor. A new set of screens opened and her eyes began to dart from data-point to data-point reviewing reactor plant's current functionality and efficiency levels.

The sound of the double doors to main engineering alerted her that someone had entered; however with the multi-storied glowing blue warp core between the entrance and the 'pool table,' Sera couldn't see exactly who it was, but she could feel...

It was him. "This is the second time within one week you have visited main engineering, Chief Darius. Are you here to...dress me down, again?" Her expression remained completely serene, but perhaps the unusual blue eyes sparkled just a little more vibrantly in subtle humor.

The sound and cadence of the chief engineer's familiar voice was quickly becoming soothing to Lamar - both emotionally and privately. Her direct and accurate manner of speech was devoid of Human 'fluff' and instead conveyed only what needed to be said with uncanny accuracy. He couldn't see her yet behind the warp core housing but his heart fluttered for a second and a small smile came to his mouth while he walked closer to the source of the words. "I can do that if you want. Literally," he teased before rounding the bend within the bay. "I just...wanted to come check on you. It's shore leave and you're still working."

For a moment, the very briefest of moments, Sera allowed her mind to conjure up quite an unorthodox use for the pool table. She trembled slightly at the thought of such a vignette, staring up towards the matter reactor injector as she laid naked upon the master systems display table, Lamar standing between her legs, his punishing grip on his hips as--She made a small strangled noise at how quickly her normally ordered and rational mind offered up such a hedonistic possibility, and she quickly squashed the irrational thought. There had been too many unauthorized scenarios running through her mind lately--real or imagined.

Given her rather tenuous state of mind, it seemed prudent to not add anything further to his offer, literal or otherwise. Was it though? Enough! In an absent-minded gesture, quite unlike the Vulcan engineer, her hand wandered up the back of her neck pressing her fingertips along the vertebrae in her neck in an attempt to soothe her chaotic thoughts.

"Someone must remain behind. As I have only recently arrived on Galileo, I determined it was best to allow the rest of the engineering time off to utilize their shore leave in activities meant to reduce stress and improve their efficiency." It was logical. "Why are you still onboard, Lamar?"

He approached her and loosened his arms from the back of his waist then brought them to the sides of his hips, splaying his elbows. She looked as beautiful as he recently remembered and her blue eyes seemed to reflect the pulses and glows from the nearby consoles and warp core chamber. "I didn't want to leave without you. Just because you're a D-H now doesn't mean you have to sacrifice your own downtime. The ship can run itself for a while without you. I think?"

"I am Vulcan. We do not have 'downtime.'" Sera responded serenely, however the urge to reach out and draw him to her was becoming somewhat...distracting. Her fingers twitched but did not move. Imminently logical. "Leave without me? I would not want you to sacrifice this 'downtime' of yours waiting for me, Lamar. I have observed that these periods of leave are important to optimal functioning of your kind. And the ship is certainly running at a reduced power mode but...to not have any engineers aboard..." She chewed on her lower lip in thought. "Perhaps I could route any alerts to my tricorder...I would have to return to the ship immediately if I received such a message."

He slowly witnessed her initial instinctive rebuke and subsequent protest which was followed by a more candid acceptance of the very nature of shore leave. Lamar felt relieved that he didn't have to lecture her about the merits of enjoying personal time or coerce her into spending more time with him...a matter he secretly knew they both shared. "Not just any alerts. Only the most important ones. For example, only if the ship's about to explode..." he stepped forward into her intimate space then took a hold of one of her hands to initiate touch. "You work too hard."

The only appropriate answer was an imperious brow raise. Work too hard? Humans had rather interesting ideas on productivity. "My work ethic is appropriate for my position, Lamar...however, if the ship is about to explode...perhaps it might be best to remain on the planet?" Sera's expression smoothed into a neutrality of 'perfect' innocence.

A teasing grin tugged the corners of his lips. "Just the two of us? Marooned on an uninhabited planet for the rest of our lives?" The thought was appealing in a macabre way. "Let's try it out. Come with me down there. Let's get off this ship for a while."

This most likely was not a good idea. Any number of things could go wrong. But it was a planet! It was the very reason Sera had joined the academy, to see the infinite diversity in infinite combinations on display and to explore new worlds.

"Very well, Lamar; I accept."

He exhaled a light and content breath through his nose. It felt like eons since his feet had set foot on real grass and the prospect of breathing fresh air and seeing new, natural flora enticed him. "Ever been camping? Outside of survival training, I mean. Like, for fun, with tents, a grill and some hot dogs?" Was that a recreational activity for Vulcans?

Sera noted his contentment and her eyes softened slightly. "No, Lamar. I have never experienced such things. I was raised in an ancient fortress built into the cliff walls of the Vuldi Gorge...I was allowed to participate in Rumarie a Vulcan festival observed during the harvest season...it was observed in Jiaan'Kahr's central square. However, other than my Kahs-wan, I was not allowed outside the city walls. However, there were nomadic people I would see on occasion that did reside in tents and traveled through the wilds of Vulcan. It appeared to be a fascinating existence."

"Oh." Fortresses and cliff walls of an ancient city? That sounded almost feudalistic; medieval in character. He briefly wondered if she was some sort of royalty given the strict forbiddenness to leave. "Well it's pretty fun. Just think about being out in the wilderness, free from all our duties and without any technology to help us. Just man and nature. Well, man and woman and nature."

Sera tilted her head curiously. Fun? Out in nature? "I will defer to your knowledge on this subject. I found being out in 'nature' to be quite challenging. The Vulcan environment can be rather perilous." She thought back to the time of her Kahs-wan, and the juvenile attempt to escape even then. She recalled the somewhat desperate request to the T'Kahr Shi'yah, and their quick refusal. Kaiidth.

"I must admit I have done very little research on this planet. I had not planned on visiting it. Is there any specialized equipment that should be considered?"

Lamar shrugged in an admittance that he hadn't done much research on the destination beyond a cursory review of its physical properties. "I don't think so. Want to take a look with me?" His eyes flicked to the engineering bay's large and flat LCARS table located nearby. The 'pool table'.

"That would be prudent, do you not think?" Sera replied in a measure of amazement that Lamar was willing to go visit a place and had no idea what exactly he should prepare for.

She turned her attention to where his eyes flicked to and could not help but flush slightly...she had just had some rather unorthodox thoughts regarding that display table. "Um...yes. We can pull up the planetary data on the table display."

He moseyed over to it then curiously looked down at the plethora of engineering readouts and primary system power output data being presented. It was overwhelming to the untrained eye and those lacking expertise within the field and a stark departure from the standard multi-purpose LCARS consoles found throughout the ship. "How do I..." he tapped a button within one of the table's small subsections and suddenly the starship's shield harmonics were shown along with confidential frequency rotations. "Uhhh..."

Sera felt a bubbling sensation well up within her but she was uncertain what is was a portent to. She considered suppressing it, but it was such a unusual physical sensation she hesitated...

A small humorous sound escaped her in a decidedly un-vulcan-like fashion as his random tapping opened up the shield harmonics algorithm. She quickly reached around him and deftly pressed a number of keys until the data regarding the planet in question came up. "If you were a Rihannsu operative I might have been concerned, Lamar."

Was that a chuckle he heard from her? He turned to look at her face with narrowed and investigative eyes for a short moment. One thing was for certain, she had a knack for surprising him at any given time. "I meant to do that," he teased with fake bravado. "And if I was a Romulan, I'd probably seduce you first then sneak into engineering when you weren't here..." Wait. He shook his head then leaned over her shoulder to view the planet's data alongside her.

"Indeed." Sera said softly, shifting somewhat uncomfortably. That was almost exactly what she had done, wasn't it? It would be best to focus on the data in front of her. Yes. "It is fortuitous we reviewed this. Breathing apparatus' are required if planning on being down there for more than a few hours."

"Looks like...a nitrogen, oxygen and argon atmosphere. Class L so still developing and so far no fauna..." he interpreted the data now scrolling on the table's display. "Temperature's cool by your standards but there's a temperate zone here, along the equator that looks nice," he pointed to a location on the slowly-rotating planetary display. "It's habitable - kind of raw for a planet, but she's a young buck."

"Cool? Lamar...that was the winter temperature in San Fransisco. It was most...uncomfortable. I would prefer an area that is somewhat more temperate?" Perhaps it might have been more tolerable if she had more insulating clothing at the time but even the standard issue thermals left a lot to be desired...but she was a bit of a princess, after all. "Given there is no fauna, the threat from predators is negligible...what about the plant life? Are there any concerns?"

He continued to read the scrolling text and reports from Regula I's science teams which had been extensively surveying and mapping the planet for over a year. "Can't see anything to be anxious about. Lots of deciduous forests but nothing that attacks fauna. I guess because they doesn't exist yet so the plants haven't evolved." He then slipped a hand down across her uniformed back to her firm bottom where his large fingers squeezed one of her cheeks in his palm. "Are you worried I can't protect you from some poison ivy patches?"

That simple touch. It was all it took to fracture her calm and collected outward persona. She grasped at the lip of the pool table and visibly shuddered as his caress stoked the ever smoldering arousal that had dogged her every waking moment since their first encounter. Her forehead began to bead with tiny droplets of perspiration, and suddenly she wanted nothing more than to get this damnable uniform off her oversensitive, suddenly fevered skin, and--

"Poisoned...ivy? What...what is that?" She attempted, but bit the inside of her cheek as her inquiry came out as sultry tone.

"Nasty plant on Earth in the North American continent. The leaves have some kind of oil in them and if you touch 'em, it creates an itchy rash. Scratch at it and it'll spread," he casually explained. He observed her attractive features again and noticed a light glistening sheen across her forehead and a soft tremble of her body beneath his hand. "Are you..." His eyebrows suddenly lifted when he realized what sort of physical reaction he was producing within her. He stepped closer and spun her around so her backside was against the table. "Want to do it here? On the table?" he whispered with a mischievous glint in his dark brown irises.

His rough handling of her as he spun her around and effectively pinned her against the table only served as kindling and she made a most primal trilling noise, similar to a feline finding something very interesting. Rapidly expanding pupils only showed a sliver of the unusual blue color, which only served to show just how far consumed she was. "Oh yes. Nothing would please me more..." She purred while her one hand was already on his belt buckle, deftly unlatching it, while the other reached down and possessively took his already hardening lok into her grip.

Sera's eyes changed and darkened indicating a familiar response to arousal which he was quickly beginning to learn. The tonality of her words relayed her passion which he was all-too-happy to reciprocate. While his uniform trousers and briefs were loosened then dropped to his ankles, he also fumbled about with her belt. Agonizing seconds passed until he managed to unclasp it then push her chest back with one hand until the back of her shoulder blades lay flush against the table's bright multi-colored LCARS display. His fingers tucked inside her waist line then firmly pulled her pants until her naked crotch and bronze-skinned thighs were fully exposed. A final pull dragged them down across her boots after which they were discarded with prejudice. Beneath her fingers, he hardened to his fullest while stepping in between her legs and admiring the sight of the short, neatly-trimmed dark brown hairs adorning her compact folds. "Tell me what you want..." he teased, pushing a hand under her uniform jacket up across the taut skin of her abdomen.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

ENS S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Chief Engineer
USS Galileo-A

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Tarin]

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