Looking at sensor data...and other things

Posted on Fri Dec 17th, 2010 @ 1:31am by Captain T'mpest Michaels

1,031 words; about a 5 minute read

[ON]

Zhukov was a few minutes early, and he was glad. He hated running late. He pushed the chime on the door to her quarters.

T'mpest had a very productive afternoon and was looking forward to Vladimir's arrival. She'd changed into a simple dress and was looking through a PaDD when her door chimed. She opened the door and smiled warmly when she saw Zhukov.

As the doors opened, Zhukov presented T'mpest with a small bouquet of wildflowers. "Here, these are for you." he said as he smiled at her and the two of them stepped into her quarters. "I hope you like them. I wasn't sure what you liked, so I got a bunch of different ones that smelled good." he said. They were also of a bright colored variety, something that could help brighten her day.

"Thank you. They're beautiful," she said, taking the flowers. She held them to her face so she could smell them.

He took her gently in his arms, moved her hair back on the left side of her face with his right hand and pulled her in closer to him and gave her a passionate kiss on her lips. As they pulled back he was all smiles.

"You know, I've been wanting to do that for days now." he said with a silly looking grin on his face.

"Good," she teased. "So have I." She had to kiss him again before finding a vase for her flowers. It gave her a minute to calm her rapidly-beating heart. She was still smiling as she quickly arranged the flowers in the vase and set them on the table.

She walked over to him and held his hand in hers. "What would you like to do first? Eat or hear what I found today."

Zhukov sat down in a chair next to her desk. He looked up at her and replied, "Why can't we do both? We can eat, and you can tell me what you found. Although, it's not quite fair considering you already know what little I found." he said as he smiled.

"So, what dish did you decide upon for us to feast on tonight?" he asked her.

"I promised you Scottish food," she said, heading to the replicator. "I programmed it into he replicator. It's almost as good as my grandmother's."

She put two bowls on the table. "Hotch-Potch," she said. "It's a mutton stew. I've got some bannocks to go with it." She indicated a basket of barley and oat biscuits.

She grabbed a bottle of wine and sat down across from him. "As for the little bit of information you gave me is why I have something for you." She grinned, taking a bite of her Hotch-Potch. She didn't say anything for a few minutes, letting him wonder what she'd found.

Zhukov tried the meal and was enjoying every bite. "So, tell me, what did you find on Overton...and more importantly, what did you find with my data?" he asked her.

"I found the ship," she said, pausing to take another bite of her stew. "Since we couldn't identify it directly, I went looking through the QAR's records. With the information we took from their ship, I was able to find some recent purchases. Ten weeks ago they purchased a derelict mining ship and refurbished it. It launched a week before the Archimedes disappeared. And it was in this area. It also disappeared at the same time. The images I was able to get match the image you have." She looked at Vladimir. "I think we can safely say the QAR is behind this."

Zhukov paused for a moment and looked at her. "That's both good news and bad news." he said to her. "We'll need to brief the Captain. Anything from the planet?" he asked.

"Not really. However, I already have a lot of information on the Torlocs. I encountered one of their abandoned cities near the Romulan Neutral Zone. So, even though I didn't find anything of interest on the planet, I was able to confirm that the ruins are definitely Torloc."

"We are a long way from the Neutral Zone. That must have been some kind of large empire." he replied to her. "How old are the ruins?" he asked. He was more of a recent history enthusiast, but the ancient stuff was kind of growing on him.

"The ones on Abydos were 2,000 years old. These are about a thousand. Maybe more. I didn't take time to check. They are from a less-developed colony. More craftsmen. The ruins are in a greater state of decay here."

Zhukov nodded a bit and took another bite. "So...while my people were jousting on horseback and hadn't discovered the Americas...these people had colonies on other planets? Amazing." he said as he finished his dinner. "This, by the way, was outstanding, T'mpest." he said as he pointed to the empty dish in front of him. "My compliments!"

"Thank you," she said as she began to clear the table. "Vulcans have a recorded history that dates back thousands of years. Terrans are mere infants to many of us." The last was said with a teasing grin. She was half human herself.

She finished tidying up and walked back to Vladimir. "It makes you appreciate how old the universe is."

He nodded. "Yes it does. How old it is and really how little of it we actually understand." he replied.

"Well, now that business is out of the way," Zhukov said, "how about we have a little fun?" he asked her.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. "What do you have in mind?"

"Last time we got to explore your holodeck program. I thought maybe this time, we could try one of mine." he said to her.

"Okay. Which program?"

"A little surprise, and don't worry about what you wear. When we get to the holodeck, it will know an appropriate outfit for us both." he said to her with a grin.

T'mpest kissed him and took his hand. "Lead the way."

[OFF]

A Joint Post by

Commander T'mpest Michaels
&
Lt. Commander Vladimir Zhukov

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