Not the Vase!
Posted on Thu Nov 7th, 2019 @ 4:45am by Captain Luka Mahone & Lieutenant Theodore Winslow
2,421 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Snow Birds
Location: Captain's Cabin, Starfleet Residential
Timeline: MD 05 : 1938 Hrs
"Thank you for agreeing to this, you don't understand how much of a relief this is going to be for me on the Colony."
Luka had the table set in his cabin for a later meal with his visitor, a one Selina Fenruse. He had not seen the woman in years, not since her disappearance from the Viking. Any hesitance he had at Asahi's reappearance and peculiar behavior did not stop him from asking the man if he knew where she was and if she was able to be retrieved.
It only took him a few hours before the response became 'She's on the way to the Colony now.'
Luka was more than happy to go through any of the necessary motions to reinstate her rank and wash her file of anything involving the incident on the Viking. It simply happened to be a bonus that she agreed to help him on the Colony while they searched for a more stable Chief Engineer. Kikua was far from ready to take on a whole department, especially one as big as this one.
He simply happened to neglect that Asahi was involved and that the man was two rooms over from where dinner was being prepared, taking a shower using 'actual hot water.'
"I hope you don't mind another person at the table while we talk about this either," was all Luka said about the matter. "He's safe, I promise."
Selina nodded quietly. She wasn't herself but seeing she was heavily pregnant and had a tiring few months it was to be expected. She removed the thixk Starfleet issue coat and hung it up where the other two were.
"I don't mind. You are cooking after all." Selina really didn't have the energy when she wanted to do nothing more than curl up in bed and sleep for a few hours after the long transport.
"Oh, I'm not cooking." Luka clarified, eyeing the kitchen for signs of smoke. "I'm surprised he managed to cook a meal intact, but he's been real intent on it."
As Luka finished the place settings, a figure emerged from around the corner, wearing little more than a pair of black and silver undergarments and a pair of similarly colored socks. "Hey Luka, you didn't tell me who we were hosting tonight," began the short-statured officer as he held up two starly different shirts, one much more formal than the gaudy-print 'vacationer's' shirt that Luka was so used to seeing him in, "Should I actually try to dress up or does it matter if you can see me from space?" He finally looked up, eyes resting not on the aforementioned Captain, but on the blond in the room, falling silent.
Selina looked at little dumbstruck for a moment as Asahi appeared out of the bedroom and he fell silent in a way she hadn’t seen him do ever. “I don’t care what you wear, to be honest.” The woman said holding her own space where months before she would have rushed to him and hugged him to her not caring or his protests.
It took another beat before Asahi's gaze snapped from Selina and over to Luka, who had by this point moved from the dining area and into the kitchen, likely to prepare bowls for dinner. His gaze returned to Selina another moment, and he held up a finger to signal that he'd be a moment, likely to tell her he wasn't trying to be rude, before he retreated into the bedroom again.
Luka appeared as if on cue, holding a pair of large bowls full of moderately-edible food. "I didn't tell him you were coming," he explained, "If I did, he'd probably have done the same thing he would have done to his own mother."
Selina just nodded politely and moved to where the dining table was. It smelt brilliantly yummy to her after months of food that wasn't her usual food. "Can't blame him. It has been a long time." The woman said not at all feeling slighted or anything. It was interesting enough that she was talking to this man who she had known for months but hadn't been this man.
"Well," Luka continued, eyeing the door Asahi had escaped through. "Have a seat, let me get you something to drink. Tell me what you've been up to? Where did Intel ship you off to?... Don't tell me they locked you in a room too. Someone didn't have all his medical tests done when he got out of his predicament." Luka tilted his head toward the room he knew Asahi to be in.
Selina almost waddled over to where he had suggested she sit and sighed happily as she was finally able to sit down. "Well seems you know that Intelligence had me." She often wondered what the Viking crew thought of her arrest and then disappearance. "They had me on a ship just being an Engineer." It was as simple as that and not really a lie or a stretch of the truth.
Luka disappeared off to the kitchen again as Selina explained her situation, returning moments later with glasses of water, one of which he placed in front of her. "Asahi was vague about it, he was probing me more than I could ask him about it. Why would they have you on another vessel? Was it civilian? One of you has to come clean with this."
"I was on a Civilian vessel," Selina said with a shrug. That was a simple enough explanation to give the man. "They had me there for reason beyond me but I have no idea what has happened last few months. I've been unwell." Selina grabbed the water and took a few sips.
Nose scrunching in distaste, Luka looked back to the bedroom just Asahi came trotting out, wearing his trademark loud Hawaiian shirt. The young Captain sighed at the sight, rolling his eyes. "Well now you're here, and we have the proper medical facilities and staff."
"She was fine where she was, if the reports I've got are to be believed," Asahi mentioned as he made his way over, more in defense of the ship than on Selina's whereabouts, "Though there was some pretty messed up stuff going on on that ship."
"I've been in a coma for months," Selina muttered making sure he knew exactly how wrong those reports were. "No more messed up than any other ship I have been on though." She added sitting up a little straighter.
Asahi squinted at her, blood already boiling from the surprise visit. "You know, if y'all hadn't 'yes ma'am'd Soraya so much-"
Luka held up a hand, adding a pointed glare in Asahi's direction to shut him down. "You'll be able to get to proper medical facilities, where we can check on the condition of everything," he spoke, before making a rather authoritative gesture for Asahi to sit down, to which the other responded to with uncharacteristic obedience.
Brushing aside the obscurity both engineers seemed to have toward him, Luka retreated to the kitchen, returning moments later with the final large dish of food, which looked to contain a chicken stir fry, setting it upon the table. He ignored the daggers being thrown at him through Asahi's steely gaze. "But now that we have you," he pressed, "I was hoping to offer you a position at the colony, at least until you can get your bearings back into Starfleet. We're without a Chief of Engineering, and while I trust our current assistant chief-"
"His brother, by the way." Asahi interjected.
"... He's young and inexperienced." Luka continued, rolling his eyes. "You wouldn't have to take on full chief duties, but step in where he can't, help him out if things go sideways. He learns quick, but in my experience, most good engineers do."
"I can't exactly take on full duties with this... " The woman pointed to the neat bump she had in front of her but nodded. "But seeing I am here for now I'll teach him," Selina assured quietly as she looked at the food waiting for someone else to tuck in.
"Exactly my point. Someone to be around to mentor him while we find a true Chief of Engineering? It would put my mind at ease, and probably his." Luka pointed out.
"Seriously one of you needs to start eating so I can." The woman said warming up to the pair after so long without seeing anyone familiar.
Asahi had yet to sit down, but by this point Luka had already taken a seat and made three different looks at the intel officer to do the same. Luka smiled at Selina. "You go right ahead. Asahi made it all himself."
"You know, I think I'm just gonna sit this one-" Asahi stopped mid-sentence, the fourth and final look from Luka coming through loud and clear. "... In this chair right over here. It's the comfiest, that cat of his wore it down for me." He did just that, waiting for Selina to take the first helping.
Selina rolled her eyes. She might not see the looks but she could feel how thick the air was. "Someone want to tell me what is going on? Or has gone on. We are all different people than the last time we were in a room but this is awkward." Selina asked finally as she took a helping of the food as no one got the hint to take some before her.
Asahi snorted. He couldn't help himself. Between that and the looks he kept receiving from Luka, he felt more than cornered. "Well pardon me, but the last time we were all in a room, I hadn't been displaced." He folded his arms across his chest. "You all seem to be under the impression that I'm going to be all cheery and peppy like I was before."
"No one thought that," Luka pointed out, sliding a bowl of food over to Asahi. "But I did think seeing a familiar face that wasn't going to judge you for anything was going to be better than the encounter we had with your mother."
"You leave Ma out of this." Asahi looked down at the rice bowl that was now in arm's reach, before huffing, picking it up, and beginning to help himself to some. As he passed the bowl around the table, he made an attempt to look in Selina's direction, but for whatever reason couldn't manage it. "Last time we talked, I think I was avoiding people."
Selina let out a relieved nose and pulled the bowl to her spooning some food towards her tucking in for a moment before she joined in the conversation. "I am not exactly all cheery and peppy like before." The woman commented on passing the bowl to Asahi. "This is good." She added with a relieved smile.
"Thank you," Asahi mumbled, eyes on his food. He could almost hear Luka roll his eyes. "I ah... used a recipe from my mother."
"It is so good." Selina had grown up on this kind of food when her mother had moved them from the destroyed Betazed to Starfleet Command. "Best food I've had in months," Selina added.
There was a silence between the two men, with Luka making faces at Asahi and Asahi poking at his food with his fork, before the latter took a deep breath. "Thanks... so uh... where have you been? The SS Mary Rose is apparently on Intel's radar, but that doesn't tell me much about what's been going on..."
"I bet she has been." The woman murmured shaking her head at there poking with where she had been. "She's not exactly been discreet about any of her adventures."
Asahi seemed more keen on talking about... anything else. "I know you guys have been in an alternate universe. That fluctuation happened and DTI asked SFI who asked some other organization who asked-"
"I'm sorry did you say an alternate universe?" Luka looked between the pair. His gaze rested on Selina. "Did... everyone make it out alright?"
"Not everyone," Selina said thinking of Resessem and the fact the teenager risked everything to get them out. "That universe is very different but we are all there. My alternative has been in my head."
Asahi shot a look across the table the moment it sunk in that there were interactions with alternate reality versions. He made a point of sticking his nose out when it all got too odd. He kept mum.
Luka refused to let it lie. He pressed forward. "That sounds awful. Was it one of the more volatile realities?"
"Imperial Starfleet universes," Selina commented on looking at Asahi for a moment before she turned to look at Luka. "But it is over and I am home and need to make a life again back inside the comm badge."
Luka leaned forward curiously. "Which one? The briefings tell me so little, but to have a civilian ship end up within one of them, and so coincidentally meeting their own alternate selves is rare... Well, sort of. I guess not so much, but the probability of it happening to someone who shouldn't have any business in it..."
"It's not something you two should continue talking about with Intelligence around," Asahi pointed out. "Because the last thing any of us want is that ship to be dragged to an SFI facility."
"Oh, it was all planned. We were hijacked." Was all the woman said looking at Asahi before laughing. "Gregnol is SFI." Was all she commented on.
"Yes but is he going to drag you to an SFI facility?" Asahi pointed out. "I'm on active duty right now-"
"You're on shore leave."
"On an active duty ship." Asahi stood, looking between the two. "I don't wanna get in the middle of you guys catching up. I gotta go make sure the Vesta crew know I exist anyways. So... catch up." And, with a huff, he turned and left the room.
Luka gave a small sigh, eyeing the man as he left with a disappointed gaze. "Some things never change, huh?"
Selina rolled his eyes at the man's retreating back and dearly grabbed up the rather lovely vase to throw after him but stopped herself. It was rather lovely and she did not want to hurt him. "Clearly they don't."
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