New Faces, Familiar Places
Posted on Fri Jan 28th, 2011 @ 11:10am by Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper & Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl & Lieutenant Gumalt Poxx
1,394 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Looking for the Future in all the Wrong Places
Location: The Retreat, USS Ranger
Timeline: Morning - Before All the Excitement
ON:
T'kaarch, off duty for a few days, found himself in a mostly deserted Officer's Lounge, with a trusty pint of Blood Ale in front of him. He actually liked the quiet, even though he knew all too well the reason was that everyone was on duty, or at least on their toes, for the mission in front of them. Even the purple-pink hue from the big windows didn't feel safe.
Still, he took in the quiet, finally able to think of nothing after weeks of being 'in charge'. Even though it did start to tickle a little, a general feeling of inquisitiveness, curiousness to the unknown every Starfleet officer, but especially Scientists, shared.
So engrossed, was T'kaarch, in his own reverie that he didn't appear to notice the soft padding of approaching footsteps. At a meandering pace, Andreus Kohl closed the distance between his corner table and the lounge's bar. The dark-haired Argelian man came to a halt beside the stool where T'Kaarch was sitting. He leaned against the bar, and placed a bowl on top. The bowl itself was empty, except for the last dregs of a pudding Andreus hadn't been able to pronounce. To the server behind the bar, Andreus enthused, "You were right: decadent as sin, but went down smoother than broth."
"Pleased to be of service, Commander," the gold-collared crewman offered with a slight bow of his head. After a glance at T'kaarch's still brimming glass, he looked back to Kohl. "Would there be anything else?"
"Tea. Blend 52," answered Andreus without much thought. He offered a smile that said 'please' for him, and tacked on a further request. "In a go-mug, in case I get called back."
Slightly startled and disrupted from his thoughts, T'kaarch looked to the man next to him. "Commanderrr," he said as he wondered where those superior officers keep materializing from.
Nodding at the man, Andreus said, "Lieutenant". Although the familiarity was unearned, he clapped the Caitian on the shoulder twice. Andreus asked, "How do you fare today?" and he used a timbre that was warmer than T'Kaarch's startled and puzzled demeanor.
"I'm fine, thank you." Meanwhile he was digging in his head where he'd seen this man. He eventually decided he hadn't. "Lieutenant T'kaarrrch, Assistant Science Officerrr." He said as he extended his paw.
"I'm Andreus Koh," he said in response, placing all the emphasis on his first name. Andreus clasped T'kaarch's paw between both of his hands, and gave the paw a hearty pump and shake. Only because the Science Officer had explained his position, Andreus explained, "I'm Fairfax's Assistant Chief of Medical. Here on loan until your medicos return from Archimedes." It was then that Andreus squinted. "...Probably."
"Nice to meet you," T'kaarch purred before he took another sip from his Blood Ale.
With Andreus' tea settled in front of him, the server stepped out from behind the bar to see to one of the booths in a shadowed corner of the lounge. "Anything else, sir?" he asked its solo occupant, beginning to clear away the sizable number of dishes that were tombstones of a massive Bolian meal. "Bar is about to take a break."
"No, no. Thank you." Dr. Poxx's nose was in a PADD and the normally overly-friendly MD waved away the question with his hand. Whatever he was reading had demanded his attention to such a degree that he wasn't even aware of his superior officer at the bar a mere few meters away.
His head turning towards the darkened booth, Andreus said, "Doctor Poxx?" Because he wasn't going to forget the Bolian's voice anytime soon. This time, it was Andreus' turn to sound startled and puzzled. "How long have you been there?"
"My entire life, Commander," Poxx offered with a wan smile. "Letter from home," he indicated the PADD to his superior officer and then turned a fretful eye back to it.
T'kaarch, too far away to extend another paw, just nodded at yet another unfamiliar face. "Doctorrr," he purred courteously.
"Mmmhmm," Poxx muttered, engrossed by his letter. "A pleasure," he added, seemingly as an afterthought.
T'kaarch took the last sip from his Blood Ale, and stood up. "I should be going now," he nodded, as he put the glass on the counter and wiped the blood from his mouth, creating a red smear on his uniform. "Should wash that..." he thought as he left the Retreat towards his quarters.
Although he was still staring at Poxx with a curious eye, Andreus had to double-take at the Caitian's quick retreat from The Retreat. "Ah..." he started to say, but he didn't get the chance to say anything more. Then his gaze returned to Poxx, and the empty crockery. Andreus' face was a puzzled frown when he asked, "Weren't you still in Sickbay when I left?"
"I'm far more agile than I appear, Commander," Poxx offered, as he laid the PADD on the table and placed his hands on either side of it. "And well acquainted with the ship and her various shortcuts. When I saw that a letter had arrived, I decided to take my mid-morning meal and enjoy its contents."
With both hands wrapped around the warm mug of tea, Andreus walked halfway towards Doctor Poxx. "This letter from home," he said cautiously, "does it speak of joyous news?"
"Not quite joyous," Poxx admitted, laying a puzzled look atop the supine PADD. "My wife does not find me physically attractive and she has taken a lover."
Andreus studied the Bolian's reaction to the PADD, and nodded at his words. He lowered his gaze into his mug, mulling over Poxx's words, as if he were a spiritualist who could read tea leaves. Andreus comfortably folded himself onto the booth-seat opposite Poxx and set his mug down on the table. "Your beloved wife is experiencing new heights of satisfaction. Her pleasure is joyous news indeed," said the man from a pleasure planet.
"That is certainly a blessing," Poxx agreed readily, nodding emphatically. "And we had always planned on having another spouse to overcome the shortcomings in our physical relations. I just would have thought that another wife would have been the logical choice."
Both eyebrows arched upwards, Andreus tilted his head to one side. "Logical choice?" he asked.
"My wife is l'uskesb," Poxx confided, though the universal translator had trouble with the word and all that it entailed to Bolians. It prompted him to clarify. "Attracted to both sexes. We had discussed the common desire to keep our family as small as possible when we wed. As I am not l'uskesb, a co-husband will likely leave me unfulfilled and will mean another wife. This is how large consortiums get started."
"Hmmm," intoned Andreus, unsure what else to say. His fingertips drummed lightly on his mug as he considered Poxx's letter and dilemma. "It's like a paradox. Have to think about it laterally or get stuck in a cognitive loop... Is a wife, a permanent wife, the only path you can take to fulfillment?"
"I suppose there might be other choices," Poxx admitted with a frown. "And there is always a chance that a co-husband might offer a camaraderie that would make the other shortcomings in the marriage seem unimportant. However, it isn't the way it typically turns out...once there is a new spouse, there is new set of feelings to consider."
Andreus folded his hands overtop the PADD. He looked at Poxx. Frowning slightly, he asked, "What are you going to say to her?"
"I should think," Poxx began, blinking as if mystified by the question, "I would say that I look forward to meeting her lover. It is really the least I can do as she has proven her steadfast faithfulness to our bond by revealing her feelings for him. If she is serious about bringing him into our consortium, I can only hope to feel the same way."
Smiling at his words a little bit wistfully, Andreus said, "You have a better marriage."
"Bigger is not necessarily better," Poxx pointed out with a slight smile, unknowingly evoking an Old Earth axiom. "At least, that is what I keep telling my wife."
OFF:
A post by
Lieutenant T'kaarch
Assistant Chief Science Officer
Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Chief Medical Officer
Lieutenant Gumalt Poxx
Assistant Chief Medical Officer
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