TBD

Posted on Mon Jan 31st, 2011 @ 4:45pm by Commander Raven Adams

2,463 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: On Typhon Station
Location: Commander Raven's Office

Skylar had been pouring through requisition forms for the Athena project. It was intriguing. It was big. It was huge. It was...

...requiring nearly four and a half million requisition forms for individual forms, added temporary personnel, and that was on top of the zoning permits, and the filing of the structural plans with Operations, so they knew what to fix, and where it would be, should anything catastrophically go wrong on it.

Skylar put the almost never-ending cycle of requisition forms off to the side, and queried the computer.

Replicator use, Lieutenant Commander Skylar, one salad, 9.7 hours ago. Commander Raven Adams, 10.9 hours ago, private menu items. The display noted.

Skylar smirked. He grabbed an anti-grav, and replicated several items, and placed them in a bin. He put the bin on the anti-grav, and headed for the Intelligence department.

He approached Raven's office, and pressed the chime. A passing officer saw Skylar, saw the box, and assumed it was some new installation for Intelligence that needed her authorization. It was not.

He waited patiently for her to answer the door.

Raven and Edgar were digging through data they'd "received" from various sources about the explosion on Typhon. She was close to finding the person behind the Breen. When the door chimed she sat back from her console. "Enter," she said as she stretched her sore muscles.

Skylar entered the room. "You have been neglecting meals." Skylar noted. "Or, so says your replicator logs."

He opened the bin, and withdrew a candle, and lit it, then pulled out two plates, with spaghetti and meatballs. Still sitting in the box were two slices of chocolate cheesecake.

"So I decided to remedy this situation." He said with a smile.

The smell of the spaghetti made her stomach rumble. "You're going to spoil me," she protested. Then she had to admit, "But I love it. Thank you." She sent Edgar to his perch to do more research while she quickly cleared a space for the food.

Skylar nodded. "You are most welcome, madame." He said with a smile. "Do not feel bad about neglecting your meals. I have also misplaced my mealtime schedule with the oncoming busyness."

'Oh, yes," Raven said, recalling the PADD she'd read recently. "How is that going?" She pulled one of the plates towards her and inhaled the aroma. "Have I mentioned that I love pasta?" She took a bite and groaned softly. "This is delicious."

"Thank the replicators. I don't have time to cook anymore." Skylar said with a smirk.

"I've never tried the spaghetti. I'll need to do it more often," she said. "I usually just grab a sandwich." She took another bite of spaghetti before commenting again. "And you not cooking is a crime against humanity."

Skylar nodded. "It is good, then, that I am Vulcan." He said, then broke into what dangerously looked like a smile. "Thank you, though."

Raven broke into fits of laughter at his near-smile. "You're very welcome." She was definitely beginning to like this Vulcan. He was a refreshing change from... the last man she'd spent time with.

She finished her spaghetti and sat back with a contented sigh. "I should do that more often," she said, referring to the food.

Skylar chuckled. "I am not done yet." Skylar said with a laugh.

He reached into the bin, and pulled out two slices of cheesecake. "I brought dessert as well. I hope the replicator got the recipe right."

"If it did, I'm in serious trouble," Raven opined. She took the cheesecake from Skylar and took a bite. "Not as good as yours, but definitely an eight out of ten," she said. It didn't take long for her to finish the cheesecake.

Skylar chuckled, as his disappeared in similar fashion. "I think I will agree with this assessment." Skylar said with a nod. "I hope I didn't interrupt anything important, but I did decide this was a pressing concern."

"Food is often a pressing concern. Especially when you forget to eat," she said. "And you didn't interrupt anything. I'm just sorting through information. I can do with some interrupting from someone whose company I enjoy."

Skylar nodded, and looked into the empty bin. "This is fortunate. I'm afraid I don't have anymore foodstuffs to bribe you for conversation." He said with a bit of a chuckle.

Raven got up from her desk and picked up the plates, dumping them in the replicator to be recycled. "If you wnat some conversation, come over here and join me," she said, sitting down on the couch.

Skylar quirked an eyebrow, and followed her. "Curious. I was expecting a slightly different response."

"What were you expecting?" she asked. "Now you've got me curious."

Skylar gave her a mischievous look. "I was expecting you to tell me to come back when I had more chocolate."

"You can do that, too," she said, a twinkle in her eye. She hadn't expected him to have a sense of humor. She was quite enjoying it. "What other misconceptions do you have?"

Skylar quirked an eyebrow. "I am not entirely certain I understand the context of the question."

"Because I didn't give you one," she admitted with an impish grin. She wasn't going to give him any more of an answer than that as he was smart enough to figure it out... eventually.

Skylar's other eyebrow quirked up. "You are a most fascinating woman. Did you know this?"

"Me?" Raven asked, her own eyebrow raising in query. "No, I'm quirky. Odd. Sometimes just plain weird. But fascinating? No."

"Perhaps I misstated my thought processes." Skylar said, after a moment. "I think you are a most fascinating woman."

Raven was touched by his comment. "And I find you a fascinating man."

Skylar was uncertain as to how to take that comment. He sat there, rather awkwardly. "Precisely what does one usually do at a point like this in a conversation?" He asked, unsure how to surpass the odd feeling that he should do something.

"That all depends on what youwant to do," Raven said, not quite sure what he was thinking.

Skylar was completely confused. His head was spinning. His mind could not logically come up with a valid move-forward action, and he lost all emotion on his face for just a few seconds.

Then he quirked an eyebrow, leaned over, and gave Raven a kiss.

"Something like that, I think." He said afterwards.

Raven wasn't at all sure what to think. The kiss had been nice, but the expression on his face beforehand was -- disconcerting. "You don't have to kiss me just because you think it's expected," she said dryly.

Skylar shook his head. "That was hardly the reason for the delay. I am merely... I believe we will go with racially challenged, in this manner. I kissed you not because it was expected, but simply because..."

He stopped and shook his head. "I had no reason." He said. "It just... felt right."

That made her smile. "Yes, it did," she admitted. "Perhaps you just need a little practice?" Her expression was bland.

Skylar quirked an eyebrow. "They do say practice makes perfect."

"Yes, they do."

He stopped. It was at that point that he realized that Raven was inviting him to try again.

And so, quite simply, he did so.

Raven placed her hands on Skylar's shoulders as she returned his kiss. After several moments she sat back. "That was... much better."

"I'm glad you approve." Skylar said with a smile.

Raven shook her head, chuckling. "You wanted conversation," she stated, changing the subject. "So, what would you like to talk about?"

Skylar's expression briefly blanked. "I appear to have misplaced this information."

Raven was enjoying his discomfiture. She giggled as she curled her feet up and watched him. "So, if you've misplaced your conversation, what do you want to do?"

He quirked an eyebrow, before responding. "Perhaps, more practice, if you are not constricted for time?"

Raven leaned close and looked at him intently. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't interested in seeing where this could go. The more time she spent with Skyler the more attracted she became. But, she'd been burned and was leery about following her heart again. "It's not about time constraints," she told him. "It's about inclination. I won't be someone's project. I'm not here so you can get your jollies. I've been there and I'm not particularly interested in a repeat just because someone thinks I'm easy." Skylar had the potential to hurt her more than Ian had and she had no idea if he was interested in more than experimenting with human social behavior.

"That is not the intention, ma'am." Skylar noted. "However if you are uncomfortable, I can go." He was... offended.

"I do not think of you as a project, ma'am." His clipped, Vulcan-mannerisms had reverted, including him referring to her as ma'am rather than Raven. "And I do rather resent the implication. Apparently, you seem to think this is some kind of game to me. It is not. The fact is, I enjoy spending time with you. I can't stop thinking about you. Nor do I wish too. For the first time in my life, I have come across a reason to allow my emotions to take command of things. This is both an alien mindset, and, at the same time, a strangely comforting feeling. However, should you feel my intentions to be wrong, or somehow faulty, I will reset my Vulcan defenses, and continue my normal duties."

He stood. "And I hardly think you are easy, ma'am. That's what makes you so interesting."

Raven felt the ma'am like a slap. "The last guy I dated told me he loved me. He told a close friend the same thing. We found out at her birthday party that he'd been alternating nights with us. One night he was with me, the next he was with her. He didn't even apologize for it -- until she made him talk to me before she'd go out with him again," Raven said softly, not looking at Skylar. She wouldn't mention that the guy before that only dated her because he wanted to take over her ship. Or the one before that who wanted to kill her because he worked for a rival group. "My track record is pretty abysmal."

Skylar quirked an eyebrow. "I do not have one." Skylar noted. "Up to this point, the concept of potential mates has been completely theoretical, in that I have not found anyone else worth thinking about it with. I am not this other guy, whomever he may be. Should I find him, I do not think it would be very pleasant from his point of view."

"Good thing I don't plan on telling you who he is," she said dryly. What started out very promising was turning into a disaster. It seemed that, in trying not to make another mistake she had done just that. "Think of it this way. If you had been burned by fire would you not be cautious the next time you approach a flame?"

Skylar shook his head. "Analogies very rarely work out right. I do not see how I, or this other person, resemble a flame."

Raven sighed in exasperation. She stood up, walked over to Skylar and kissed him slowly and passionately. Then she stepped back. "Feel the burn?"

Skylar shook his head, and pulled Raven back. After another, he gave her a smile. "I have 2.9 years before Pon Farr sets in."

"I'm not waiting that long."

Skylar quirked an eyebrow. "I would point out that Pon Farr is neither required for mating, nor establishing an emotional bond with someone. It just puts a time-restriction on how long it takes."

"How long what takes?"

"Either of the listed above." Skylar stated. "Or, for that matter, just enjoying another's company."

"So, if I understand you, it'll take you 2.9 years to mate with someone, or to bond with them, correct?"

Skylar shook his head. "You are not understanding this well." Skylar said. "I stated it was not required, but merely made the desires more... urgent."

"That's what I thought from the Vulcans I've been acquainted with. It was your It just puts a time-restriction on how long it takes that confused me."

Skylar nodded. "I do have a tendency to use somewhat vague terms, on occasion."

"I noticed," she said wryly. "Just be aware that when you do, I am likely to misunderstand." Unless she read his mind, and she really didn't want to do that without permission. "So, Mr. Skylar, we seem to be at an impasse."

"Not an impasse." Skylar said. "Merely an obstacle."

"That can be a pretty big obstacle," she said, tongue-in-cheek.

Skylar looked Raven in the eye. "It can be handled, in time."

"Now we're back to that," she said, sitting back on the couch. She wasn't sure what he was saying. Or, more specifically, what he meant. When she thought she knew, she was wrong, but his explanation didn't help any, either. "Okay. So, there's this obstacle that can't be surmounted for 2.9 years? Not good."

Skylar quirked an eyebrow. "Are you deliberately mistaking what I am trying to say?" He asked. "If this is some form of game, I do neither understand the rules, nor enjoy it."

"It's not a game," she replied, frustrated. "I have no idea what you're saying. And when I think I do, you confuse me even further."

It occurred to Skylar that a Vulcan mindmeld would simplify their current issue, but if felt something like cheating. He sighed. "Perhaps we should try this again at a later date, or time. We seem to be going in circles."

Raven nodded. She was in serious need of some stress relief.

Skylar stood, and headed for the door. He stopped. "I am sorry, ma'am. I did not mean to make you uncomfortable, or upset." He said, before leaving.

He was back to calling her ma'am. She wasn't sure if she wanted to cry, eat herself sick with chocolate or find the nearest equivalent to a monastery. The holodeck idea was out.

Strike two, Raven told herself. Maybe she'd just lock herself in her quarters for the foreseeable future and avoid everyone... The idea was beginning to appeal to her. For now, she just curled up into a tight ball on her couch. She was a complete and total failure at this. One more strike and she'd give up for good.

OFF

Commander Raven Adams
Chief Intelligence Officer
Starbase Typhon

Lieutenant Commander Skylar
Chief Engineer

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