Danger Men

Posted on 28 Feb 2015 @ 12:49am by Commander Andreus Kohl & Petty Officer 3rd Class Ellsworth Hudson

5,071 words; about a 25 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 3, Cargo Bay 3
Timeline: MD 45 - 1027 hours

Previously, at Star Trek: Galileo's masquerade ball and starship inspection...

Ellsworth circled around him as he sang, holding his hand and winding his leg around Kohl's as long as he could before freeing both of them before he caused discomfort. When he rounded back to the front, he placed both of his hands on Kohl's chest and threw himself into leaning against him, using the differences in their height to lay his head on the Argelian's shoulder as well as the mask would allow. He turned his head and strained upward until he knew his warm breath would be falling upon Kohl's neck and continued singing in a near whisper, altering his tone to sound pouty and pleading.

"Won't you...lower your shields and come with me? Surrender your ships, it's easy, you'll see. You can earn my affection, with your defection. Just a quick injection, and together we'll achieve nothing short of..." Ellsworth moved his hand until it rested over Kohl's heart then stood on his tip-toes until his lips were actually pressed lightly against his neck while he sang the last phrase. "...absolute perfection...."

Kohl's body swayed in response, enthralled by the Venetian noble's dance. One of his hands landed on Ellsworth's left hip and snaked around his lower back. Even more than the dance, it was the brilliant spontaneity, the pleasing melody, that motivated Kohl's free hand to gently raise Ellsworth's face by the chin. Kohl leaned his own chin down to brush his lips across Ellsworth's lips with all the pressure of a shadow.

---

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl languidly crossed the compartment as if there wasn't a single hurried bone in his body. He stopped in his stride only once. His head turned when he thought he saw a man in white - a man of a certain height and build - a man of noble bearing. But the science crew were waiting for their Chief Research Officer. Kohl's returned to his spiraling, indirect path of travel until he filed himself among the scientists.

Ellsworth fussed with the ends of his dress uniform, trying to get them to lay properly flat. Something about the cut of the jacket didn't fit him well, so it made him feel at all times like he needed to try to crawl out of it. Not to mention it was hideous on him. He looked like a doorman at some hotel who'd gotten hired because his uncle was the manager or something. Who chose the color sche-...he interrupted his own thoughts and jerked his head up, looking in both directions up and down the corridor. He'd felt him, finally, that familiar mind from the masquerade that occupied more than a little of his free thoughts. But he was somewhere far down the hallway now, passed beyond Ellsworth's location at the end of the corridor where people on his section of the totem pole were consigned.

And now, the continuation...



[ON]

Quickstepping across the cargo bay, Andreus Kohl divided his attention between a tricorder in one hand and a PADD in the other. Only occasionally, did he look up at where he was heading. His tricorder was already warbling, as he swiped it towards a stack of cargo containers along his path. Briefly, he compared the readings on his tricorder to the inventory on his PADD, before he scanned another batch of cargo containers. At the end of that row, he reached a tall crate with an access hatch in the front. This one, he didn't think to scan. It was clearly marked. Kohl reached over to press the control contact, which caused the access hatch to snap open. Dozens and dozens of plastic analysis slides and dishes came pouring from out of the crate and clattered across the deck.

Kohl stared down at the mess he had made. "Oh," he said. "You're not a phoretic analyzer."

Ellsworth's head snapped up immediately, shaking him out of intense focus. He was what seemed like 6 weeks behind on paperwork, all of which the starbase was demanding to receive tomorrow, and for once the ordinarily lazy quartermaster had been incredibly intent on getting things completed on time. Before half the cargo bay had begun to fall apart, that was. Turning in the direction of the sound, there was a familiar tickle in his paracortex, something that made his heart beat a little faster. He'd been right under his nose and some stupid paperwork almost made him miss it!

He turned to a blank console screen to check his hair and uniform quickly, made a few minor adjustments, and then set off in the direction of the sound. When he rounded the corner, he saw a mess that might have ordinarily annoyed him - he'd have to clean it up eventually - but right now he was way more interested in identifying his mystery man from so many weeks ago.

"We're usually happy to help the crew make a mess," Ellsworth said, doing his best to look casual as he leaned against a cargo container. "You know, so you don't have to do it all by yourself."

That voice-- Ellsworth's voice sent gooseflesh up both of Kohl's arms. In fact, Kohl suddenly, very suddenly, felt intensely aware of the sensation of his own skin. He felt hot. There was dawning revelation coming from his vocal chords, when Kohl said, "You..."

The Argelian's beard was trimmer than a month earlier, and his honey-brown hair was longer, and a bit sweaty. Moving towards the sound of Ellsworth's voice, Kohl turned his torso, and his sapphire eyes, to the left. When Kohl spoke again, he was unfortunately flustered by his excitement at meeting his handsome stranger again, and his crippling embarrassment at being unable to read a simple label on a cargo container. "You-- you-- you-- you--" Kohl stuttered, and his eyes went wide in a momentary fear that he was trapped in a time-loop, unable to say any other word ever again. He closed his eyes, he took a breath, and then he looked at Ellsworth again. Now, only now, he knew what to say.

"You look like you're wearing your grandmother's pyjamas," Kohl said.

Ellsworth lowered his head to look at his uniform then cut his eyes up to give Kohl a sly look and an impish smile. His limbs felt a little shaky, but he ignored them. "If you'd given me more notice, I could have changed into something a little more revea-...oh my Goddess...." His mouth fell open and the color drained from his cheeks; he almost tripped over the cargo container in taking a step backward. "Lieutenant commander?" His eyes shifted off the side, mentally flipping through the ship's manifest. There were only five people at that rank and four of them were women, so it didn't take him long to identify the mystery man by process of elimination. "Andreus Kohl? You're Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl? Oh. Oh no. No, no, no."

Looking back at Ellsworth's blanched features, Kohl's own face creased into the shape of worry. "What's... happening...?" Kohl asked, in a troubled, upward lilt. He slotted his tricorder into the sheath on his hip and he discarded his PADD. He literally tossed it aside, leaving it to clatter with the other debris on the floor. Ellsworth had taken a step away from Kohl, and Kohl couldn't abide that much distance between them. His skin still remembered what Ellsworth's body felt like against him. Kohl took a single step forward. In a voice much younger than the professional timbre he affected, Kohl said, "Can I kiss you now?"

"What? No!" Ellsworth said incredulously. How was it he was the one enforcing fraternization regulations? The change in roles left his head spinning. Of course his head was also spinning from finally finding him, a man who'd dominated more than a few of his dreams, and discovering that he wanted to kiss him. He fought down arousal long enough to get out one more clear-minded sentence. "I mean... I don't know. Can you?" He looked around. His mind was getting hazier, less petty officer and more Ellsworth Hudson.

To Kohl's mind, a kiss on the lips was world's apart from the undue familiarity of public sex. So long as Starfleet truly embraced the diversity of the Federation's member worlds, its senior officers couldn't judge a single kiss as any more familiar than a handshake. A kiss was certainly a customary greeting on Argelius II. And yet the intensity of Ellsworth's rejection -from a young man who was clearly of Betazoid descent- caused Kohl to take two steps backwards. The sound of Kohl's boot soles on the deckplate resounded in the large compartment. When Ellsworth then reconsidered Kohl's question, perhaps it was the Betazed accent, or perhaps it was Kohl's state of confusion, but Kohl misheard what Ellsworth said.

"I'm sorry?" Kohl said. His inflection was bemused. "I didn't think to pack any canoes."

Ellsworth's face twisted in confusion and then he snickered a little. He wasn't sure why but something about the other man's amused tone of voice was infectious, and the mention of canoes was funny. Or perhaps he was just seizing on an excuse to completely dispense with formality and get back on the level of the masquerade, where everything between them had been a sensual game. Kohl's behavior seemed to be an invitation so petty officer third class didn't lasted long - he was still new to this whole "follow regulations" business, anyway - and made way for Ellsworth, former resident of Risa, to have a little fun.

After all, he thought, as he practically skipped to close the distance between them, there was something more than a little thrilling about being in the cargo bay, on duty, with an amorous member of the senior staff - the forbidden of the forbidden of the forbidden. It was an opportunity one really shouldn't pass up, right?

Ellsworth kept moving and pushing until he had Kohl firmly backed up against the spilled cargo container and his body pressed against him like a second skin, reassuming a position they'd both seemed to find comfortable during the dance. "Then what did you pack? Obviously you've forgotten your goggles." He smiled up at him, relishing the differences in their height, and ran a finger down Kohl's left arm. "And your armor." The hand made its way to his torso, resting flat-palmed against the right side of his stomach. "And your watch." The hand moved away while he stretched up closer to him and stared hard into his eyes, making a little growl of approval in his throat. "You've forgotten everything. It's almost like you're naked."

"No," Kohl said, his gaze boring into Ells' eyes. There was a certainty, and a conviction in Kohl's tone. But also a promise. "When I'm naked, my body doesn't feel anything like this." Kohl raised a hand to Ellsworth's throat, and he took a firm hold of the front of the uniform tunic, crumpling the fabric in his fist. As he tilted his head down lips first, Kohl managed to tug Ellsworth even closer. Kohl kissed Ellsworth; he closed his eyes and he mapped every contour of Ells' lips with his own. He grazed Ellsworth's upper lip with the tip of his tongue, and then he pulled away. And he held firm to the front of Ellsworth's uniform to prevent further aggressive advances.

Ellsworth wasn't quite so used to having the tables turned on him that quickly. He was supposed to be the one doing the seducing and taking someone's breath away, not the other way around. But at the moment he was definitely weak in the knees, literally; if Kohl didn't have such a firm grip on his uniform he felt like he might have just slid to the floor. It had been a very long, very stressful, and very lonely shoreleave. Despite having Oren around and a one-off encounter with the deeply inexperienced Wintrow and the increasingly reluctant Grayson, he'd really felt like he had no outlet for his...self. And, more to the point, he hadn't managed to track down his mystery man. The masquerade and its disappointing conclusion had been like a climax interrupted, leaving him angry and frustrated for the past 40 or so days.

"Oh, I know what it feels like. I've dreamed about it. Did you know Betazoids have very vivid dreams? We remember just how it feels when the ridges of our fingertips run over someone's skin - the warmth, the beauty in every subtle imperfection, the stiffness of every hair as it bends to delicate pressure, the urge pushing us toward limitless exploration..."

He resolved that Kohl could hold his uniform in place all he wanted, but he wasn't going to allow himself to be completely restrained. His hand came up to the other man's face and began tracing a line from his temple down his jaw that followed the precise pattern he'd first traced at the masquerade. At the jawline he hesitated before lightening his touch to move it across Kohl's neck; the skin there was very sensitive, and the way his touch spread suggested he'd achieved a mastery in hitting all the right nerves.

"To my regret," Kohl said softly, and there was a catch in his breath when he felt Ells' fingers on his neck, "Only your dream can share your bed." His grip on Ellsworth's uniform remained firm; he maintained the half-an-arm's-length between their bodies. Kohl's breathing was heavier than it had been moments earlier, as if his chest were finding ways to draw closer to the other man. Then, Kohl said, "I've only just found you again, but I ship off to the Nautilus today."

Ellsworth blinked hard. Even as the Argelian's sophisticated accent worked to further arouse him, it felt like the rug was being pulled out from under him. He'd been working on using his flexibility and abdominal muscles to move forward the parts of him that Kohl didn't control, hoping he could 'convince' him to close the distance again, but the words stopped him. They weren't a rejection, but they might as well have been. It was just like the damn masquerade all over again. Was this going to be a repeating theme, getting his blood pumping only to disappear and leave him empty handed? It had worked for him the first time - the desire had been allowed to build for 40 days and it had made him willing to dispose of decorum with lightning speed - but a second time seemed almost unbearable.

"Today?" Ellsworth asked. Ordinarily pride might have kept his tone a little more aloof, but he didn't give a damn about pride at the moment so he ended up sounding as young and disappointed as he felt. The encounter had quickly taken off with a life of its own in his mind - the naive young crewman seduced by the older and stunningly handsome officer - so the delay went far beyond mere annoyance. It caused him to struggle against Kohl's grip, though he wasn't under any pretense that he could break it. Nor did he want to for even as Kohl was putting things off, being restrained by him was keeping the young Betazoid's heart beat elevated. His resistance against Kohl was borne out of nothing more than the need of his mind and body to show how much they regretted the impending separation, that it wasn't just some missed opportunity for a fling that would be easily written off and never thought of again. "Well... How long are you gonna be gone?"

Kohl replied, "A week, maybe. Certainly less than forty days. Only as long as the NIMBUS exercises..." His inflection was optimistic, hopeful even. A week or two wouldn't be terribly long. If Ellsworth had any awareness beyond his own body, he would be able to sense that Kohl's own shore leave had been similarly isolating, with only brief flickers of romance. And none of those had ended terribly well. Kohl's arm was staring to shake from the exertion --where he was holding onto Ells' uniform-- and Kohl was beginning to suspect his fierce grip on the young crewman's uniform was starting to veer into undue familiarity. Kohl released his grip, counting on the suddenness of it to give him a couple of seconds before the younger man pounced.

With his back flattened against a cargo container, Kohl side-stepped away from Ellsworth's grasp. There was self-depreciating doubt in Kohl's tone, when he said, "Apparently, they've named me the Executive Officer? Of the Naut-" Given there was nothing but plastic slides crunching beneath Kohl's boots, his feet slid out from under him, and Kohl plummeted to the floor. The right side of his body collided with the deck plates, and that sure shut him up. He looked up at Ellsworth.

Later, Ellsworth would reflect and feel bad for laughing so immediately. He'd even worry that it bruised the other man's ego - surely only a few lieutenant commanders had the illustrious honor of slipping and falling before a petty officer, who in turn seemed to feel it was one of the funniest things they'd ever seen. In fact, he wasn't even remotely acquainted with him so for all he knew this might have been the line he shouldn't have crossed. It was just... He couldn't help himself. And he was grateful for it, too, as the laughter gave him an outlet for all the sexual tension.

Kohl managed to smile when Ellsworth started to laugh. He didn't catch on to the context of their respective ranks and their respective positions. To Kohl, he was just a man, laying on the floor, with a handsome young stranger laughing at him. In all honestly, Kohl's smile was an expression of perplexity, but it was a smile all the same.

"Oh, you should've seen the look on your face. One minute you were all...and then...you were all," Ellsworth flailed his arms a bit in an exaggerated recreation of the events before doubling over in laughter again. Eventually it occurred to him that, one decent sentient to another, he should probably help him up so he squatted down and placed a hand on Kohl's forearm. His eyes were still crinkled from the laughter, but there was plenty of genuine concern and affection for a man he barely knew. "Don't worry, you're still one of the sexiest men I've ever known."

At Ellsworth's exaggerated impression of Kohl, Kohl joined in on the laughter. He had to recognize that he would have done the same thing in Ellsworth's position. In fact, Kohl had recently been in Ellsworth's position, and Kohl had been the one doing an Elijah Williams impression just the other day. Taking the helping hand from Ellsworth, Kohl managed to roll his way onto his knees. Once he was kneeling before Ellsworth, Kohl placed his hands on the slighter man's hips for leverage and got himself standing again.

"Why would I have anything to worry about," Kohl asked, "If you're here to hold onto?"

Ellsworth's smile grew slowly as he watched Kohl rise from his knees to his full height. It put a little tension in the muscles in his neck to look up but he liked it; he'd always been one to derive pleasure from a little bit of pain. "Oh, you are such a dangerous man. Every time you open your mouth something wicked comes out." He took a half-step backward, hoping the hands wouldn't move now that he was stood up, so he could give the Argelian a good going over with his eyes. He seemed satisfied based on his 3 week first aid course during enlisted training, so the smile quickly shifted over into a pout that made him look his age. "A week is a long time. "

Kohl took one hand off Ellsworth's hips, but only the hand that was visible to the main doorway. Standing there, across from him, Kohl studied Ellsworth's dark eyes, looking for any distinction between iris and pupil. But that wasn't all he was looking for. Creases etched across Kohl's brow, making visible the problem-solving going on behind Kohl's sapphire eyes. And then Kohl's face relaxed, and he gave Ellsworth a light squeeze, and he pulled both hands away.

"Come with me," Kohl pleaded.

If Ellsworth was clairvoyant, he would have done everything in his power to go with the man. In a few short hours, he would receive a call from Anna, learn of K'os' impending return, and come to regret virtually every wrong he'd visited upon Oren. Escaping to the Nautilus wouldn't solve any problems but it would certainly delay them, and he would take a delay over facing his troubles head on any day.

"I don't think rear admirals really listen to personnel requests from third class petty officers, do they?" Ellsworth asked, raising a perfectly shaped eyebrow. The words spoke to the seemingly insurmountable difficulty of it, at least from his end, but his wide eyes and captivated tone of voice made it clear he would probably follow the man anywhere if there was a way.

He reached out for Kohl's right hand and took it into both of his own, respecting the distance between them despite how much of his mind and body wanted to reject it. For some reason it now seemed tawdry to act on any of his baser impulses; the laughter had helped to burn off some steam and so it was preferable to go back to building the tension between them in anticipation of Kohl's return from the Nautilus. Without drawing attention to it, he slipped into a Risian hand massage technique that switched playfully between pressure points and small, little explored erogenous zones along the fingers, palm and wrist.

"Why don't I plan something nice for us, for when you come back?" The young Betazoid had been cheating a little bit, heightening the focus of his empathic abilities so that when his thumb found a particularly pleasurable spot under Kohl's wrist he knew it. He let this thumb travel lightly in a lazy circle around the sensitive nerves and gave a playful smile. "Would you like that?"

Said sensitive nerves left Kohl able to do little else but breathe in a raggedy gasp of air. Only once enough oxygen had filtered its way into his circulatory system could Kohl speak or think about Ellsworth's question. And, of course, his first instinct was to be contrary and difficult. "I can't answer that question," Kohl said with a shake of his head, "Until I experience your something nice." His timbre went diffident, when he asked, "Why would you want to do something nice for me, when I don't even know your name?"

"Because I want to please you," Ellsworth replied simply, letting all the interpretations of 'please' hang between them. For the moment, he ignored the question about his name; he'd give it eventually, when it seemed appropriate, but for now he was enjoying himself too much to break for something as pedestrian as sharing his name. The bold look in his coal black eyes seemed to make it taboo when one hand slid away from his wrist and two fingers found their way between Kohl's arm and uniform sleeve, pushing underneath the cloth and curling around to find a tense extensor muscle. His fingers expertly sought out and worked against small bundles of tension in a little attended place where the body was wont to hide it. "I think you deserve it, don't you? Hasn't it been long enough without that, someone to please you and bring you some small happiness?"

In response to Ellsworth's ministrations, Kohl's shoulders went loose and his face went slack. His whole body swayed --just slightly-- in time with the pressures being applied and withdrawn by Ellsworth's fingers. "Too long. It's been far, far too long," Kohl said, as if in a pleasure-induced haze. "I don't understand all of the customs and rules and procedures the Humans invent to delay us giving one another what we deserve."

Ellsworth made a sound of approval deep within his throat. He'd firmly made up his mind to wait until Kohl returned, but that didn't mean he couldn't indulge himself a little bit now. "So many false veils between what you want and need and deserve." Slowly, he took Kohl's hand and moved it to the side of his own face, leaning into it with an affectionate smile. His eyes widened a little as he lost himself in his own fantasy, which made him look particularly young. "I'll be here when you get back, to give you what you deserve after a long, stressful week." He turned his face into Kohl's hand and kissed the palm of it, just the barest brush of soft lips.

Kohl's eyes followed the movement Ells' lips on his palm, and then his hand gripped the shape of Ells' jawline. Kohl tilted Ellsworth's head back a couple of inches, so he could study the younger man's eyes. Afterwards, and most reluctantly, Kohl took back his hand. "Now you've given me something to live for," Kohl said. His intonation was stylized like those old Dominion War holonovels. "You're my reason to come back from this damned Klingon war."

Ellsworth gave a quick grin over the excitement of a little theater and then allowed it to fade as he slipped comfortably into his role, matching Kohl's tone. His face was filled with serious concern as he leaned into the other man, rested his head against his chest, and heaved a sigh. He looked off into the distance, inwardly thrilled at how perfectly the differences in their height and build mimicked the holovids.

"I will worry about you, day in and day out, consumed at night with thoughts only of your safety on the battlefield. And while there may be no greater adversary than the Klingon Empire, I know that your warrior spirit will see you home safely to me. The galaxy may be cruel, but nothing could be so cruel as to keep us apart."

Taking hold of Ellsworth by both shoulders, Kohl pushed him away and gave him a shake, but he didn't let go. He locked his sapphire eyes on Ellsworth -- looked him right in the eyes. "And you," Kohl asked like it was nigh on doomsday, "Are you ready to fight? Do you have your armour? Will you bring me a necklace made from Klingon cranial ridges?"

Ellsworth looked properly shaken and maybe a little disgusted, too. He was thinking more along the lines of a nice bottle of wine, but for all he knew Klingon cranial ridges were aphrodisiacs. "I'll bring you three, to demonstrate my battle prowess." He grinned, showing a row of teeth that was meant to make him look fierce but the dreamy look in his eyes served to diminish the effect quite a bit.

When Kohl smiled back at Ells' fierce grin, there was a sadness behind his eyes. He looked defeated, in a way. Ellsworth was winning him over. "Now, I'm going to have to lose you again; there's too much to prepare for my science-kids before I leave," Kohl said. He took one of Ellsworth's hands between both of his own, and he gave it a formal shake. Almost as soon as he did so, Kohl leaned in to plant a light kiss on each of Ellsworth's cheeks. "Be brave," Kohl said.

The young Betazoid gave him a quizzical look, clearly puzzled by the exchange. A handshake? Kiss on the cheek? What the hell? After working it over in his mind for a few moments, he frowned up at Kohl, threw his arms around his neck and pulled until he was on his tip-toes. His tongue made its way between Kohl's lips very shortly after they were pressed together. He was sick of being playful and flirtatious; he'd had enough of that foreplay at the ball and in the past few minutes in the cargo bay, and he'd be damned if he was going to walk out of the cargo bay with a kiss on the cheek.

Instead, he opted for a kiss that was the culmination of two years spent on Risa learning the finer points of jamaharon. This was a kiss that kindled the sort of fires that awakened the strength needed to rip seams apart. It was a kiss not meant to stand alone; it left one demanding far more. It invited not just further exploration but showed the promise of a truly memorable evening, the shining golden standard to which all other lovers would forever fall short. And he was every bit as brash, unrestrained and cocky about it as one might expect a 20 year old to be. When he settled back on his feet and took a step back toward the door, he gave a cheeky grin to match the kiss.

"Ellsworth," he said. "My name is Ellsworth Hudson."

Andreus Kohl was left standing there, a little bit dumbstruck. There was something... something... Kohl's eyes widened as he watched Ellsworth walk towards the massive doors. There was something about the pressure Ells applied with his lips, the wicked scrape of teeth, and of course, the hedonistic gusto. It made Kohl wonder if kissing Ellsworth was what it was like to kiss twenty-year-old Andreus Kohl.

"Huh," was the only vocalization that came from Kohl.

When the doors opened, Kohl took a single step back towards the cargo case he had been inspecting on behalf of one of his teams. Cracking plastic could be heard beneath his boot. Kohl looked down at the mess of analysis slides and then looked up at the distant form of Ellsworth, stepping into the corridor. Kohl held up a single hand to wave goodbye, and continued to wave until the doors closed behind Ellsworth. After the had done, Kohl counted to ten, and then he walked out of the cargo bay too, leaving the messy situation behind.


[OFF]

PO3 Ellsworth Hudson
Quartermaster
USS Galileo
[ PNPC - Mott ]

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Executive Officer
USS Nautilus

 

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