The Destroyer (Part 2 of 4)

Posted on 04 Jun 2024 @ 5:21pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor

3,033 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 4, Sera's Quarters
Timeline: MD 05, 0101 hrs

Previously, on The Destroyer (Part 1)...

She had never spoken of any of this to an off-worlder. Such things were rarely discussed amongst Vulcans and never with outsiders. However, her normal controls were in tatters, and nothing about how she had engaged thus far with this human male spoke to restraint so why should she start now?

He slowly leaned back in his chair then allowed his eyes to drift down to his half-consumed tuna filet. The revelation of Vulcan marriage rituals almost made his stomach churn. So much for an enlightened species. All of it sounded so unfair to Sera. She was considered a gift? Reward? She was so much more than that in his eyes. The literal antithesis of property to be delegated. Yet those were her people's customs. "You're not an object for trade," he muttered out loud with disapproval before looking back up to her, "you're a person. A beautiful one who can make your own decisions."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

"You are correct. I am not an object for trade. However, I am a dutiful child and my culture values service. Your own people practiced such arrangements, especially amongst the aristocracy of some of your ancient governments. It is not much different..."

"Lamar, I am confused. You state you would not fight for me, and yet your words here are...protective. What am I to intuit?"

He captured her blue eyes with his own while she explained the nuance within her culture and her own self-evaluation. Of course, his people had been the worst offenders of 'arrangements'. "Back in the day, centuries ago: people who looked like me - with my skin tone - were considered undesirables. They were turned into chattel slaves by lighter-skinned and more technologically developed societies on Earth." He shook his head. "Not that forms of slavery and serfdom hadn't existed before, but that turned into birthright oppression. Born looking a certain kind of way? Straight to the fields. Lighter-caramel-skinned? Into house work. Married against your will to others for trade or political gain? Happened all the time."

Those were distant memories of Earth's past which had long been overcome in the 24th century, yet history was always a reminder of the past and a caution for the future. "I guess I just...look at you see someone who was treated like property," he confessed. "I'll fight for you any time, anywhere. I'm a Marine. And there's nothing a Vulcan can do to hurt me that a Jem'Hadar can't." His tone changed and lightened with mild humor.

"Traditions viewed in the lens of 'enlightenment' can appear to be quite...unacceptable. Your species overcame that rather disagreeable cultural more. Thank you for sharing this history with me."

"And your...support is acknowledged." That he would fight for her touched something primal within. She squashed it down. "I am a Starfleet officer now, an engineering chief, no less. It is a position I obtained because of my own decisions."

He stared at her for a long and silent moment, hopefully without any uninvited perusal. Lamar liked her. A lot. More than he probably should considering their professional relationships as fellow officers within different departments aboard the same starship. "From what I've seen, you're a good engineer," he complimented with another wink while returning his attention to his meal and slicing off another portion of his tuna. "What...happened to your husband? Virak?" Had he remembered the man's name correctly?

"Viruk." Sera gently corrected him. "I do not know. He took an assignment as a junior research assistant at an unnamed deep space science station. He...died. I was never given any details. I was told it was classified."

Sera opened the package of peanuts and popped one into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. Human food was...strange.

"Should I reciprocate in this interrogation? I am uncertain of the social rules, here."

A new large portion of fish was becoming devoured by Lamar while he listened. His chin nodded to her in response as he chewed and consumed the last portion. The statement of her husband's death suddenly weighed heavily on him. Whether or not it was a mutual agreement, she was a widow. And he hadn't known that. None of it changed his physical attraction to her, but cerebraly...he considered her feelings and recent actions with him under more scrutiny.

"Sorry. About Viruk," he spoke with honesty. "I've never lost a spouse..." He thought back to the last words she'd spoken then privately agreed to reciprocate. "Ask me anything you want."

"Your condolences are unnecessary." Sera replied blandly as she moved on from the uncomfortable subject. His permission was satisfactory. "How did you learn the correct non-verbal gesture to perform to declare your intentions? That is not something that would be found in a book."

He couldn't quite figure out what she was asking at first. Non-verbal gesture? For intentions? Then he slowly raised his head with understanding. It was the head bow, back in main engineering earlier in the day. Lamar gave her question a good many seconds of thought while trying to remember where he'd indeed learned it. The answer finally came to him from a rather buried part of his ancient memory. "Back in the Corps, one of my first units had a few Vulcans in it. Stand-up guys. I guess like most things when you're infantry, you get pretty close with everyone and everything around you. We used to talk about everything together. Think of it like an ongoing cultural exchange. Anyway, one night we got to talking about partners and different romantic practices between Humans and Vulcans. Hell, even Andorians. Next thing you know, we're all teaching each other how to woo women outside our species," he softly laughed at the candid memory of the evening following a particularly long and grueling training exercise. "I think the guy who taught me was named Tuvat. Was always talking about how superior Vulcan women were to Human women. I think he might have been right," he winked.

"Fascinating." That a Vulcan male would have shared such a gesture...it was not in keeping with the opinion Sera held about mainstream Vulcan. Then to hear the statement regarding her gender that the same Vulcan had discussed with an off-worlder??

"I am afraid this Tuvat was incorrect. Vulcan women are cold, Lamar."

"Cold? How so?" he curiously asked, now opening his small package of tortillas and cheese spread to assemble a rudimentary quesadilla. Sera had been everything except 'cold' to him during the brief times they'd encountered each other. A bit standoffish, sure, but he assumed that was how her people naturally operated. "I mean, you should see some Human women," he shook his head to himself with private amusement. "We even have our own cultural proverb on Earth: 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'."

"I was called such by human female, once...and it is a good proverb. It sounds as if Earth women have a fierce passion within them beyond their emotionalism."

This tiny talk was incomprehensible. It was so random and interrogatory. Sera felt completely out of her element. There was nothing else to do but to nibble on another peanut.

When she didn't reply directly to his question and continued to eat, he took it as a non-verbal cue to follow suit and be silent. He folded up his tortilla then stuffed part of it into his mouth while thoughtfully chewing and occasionally glancing around her sparse quarters. After many long moments of silence during which he soon finished the second meal of his ration pack, he found the calm tranquility of the quietness a bit unsettling. He wanted to give her social space but it was hard to not speak to her while she was within arm's reach across the table from him.

"Am I, um, the first Human you've had relations with? A personal one, I mean."

The silence had been companionable, but the flickering light of lamps only served to remind her it had been...days she could recall meditating. Sera had always wondered what it would be like to just stop, but this was not the method or the manner she would have willingly chosen to experiment with such a willful lapse.

His question jarred her out of the strange daze she found herself in. "Yes..." Sera could have expounded upon her answer but every iteration sounded as if she was trying to relinquish ownership of her actions. He offered. She accepted. What did it matter?

"Is there a particular reason why you have asked this?"

He sheepishly looked down with mild embarrassment and averted her eyes. Shut up, Lamar. "No. I was just wondering. I've never been with a Vulcan before either," he then confessed, unprompted. Lamar, shut up! his rational mind screamed to him. His attention corrected to solely focus on his last piece of meal - the stale pound cake - which he quickly unwrapped then began to devour.

"I would imagine not. Most Vulcans you will meet are already bonded." She watched him look away from her in some kind of self-conscious manner. "You will have a unique story to share when the circumstances permit."

Lamar raised his dark brown eyes back to her from his cake while he chewed. He presented a private and intimate smile in reply but refrained from speaking further. Silence resumed at the table while he finished his desert then opened his beverage pouch to suck it dry and quench the always-present thirst following consumption of a Starfleet ration pack. All in all, he'd just consumed close to 1,500 calories which was hefty enough to make him feel full and satisfied. But perhaps not a hundred-percent satisfied with Sera present.

Sera nibbled at the different components of her meal, but overall consumed very little. It did not make sense, but her appetite for food was almost non-existent. Recognizing this, she forced herself to take a few more bites.

"Do you think, perhaps, that what we engaged in was rather...unbecoming? I cannot imagine Commander Tarin would be amused learning that the Virginia was utilized in such a manner."

It was a complicated question in some respect, yet very clearer in others. "Cap'n would have our butts if she found out what we did in the shuttle," he laughed with a deep chuckle. That much was certainly true. "But for us - you and I - we're outside of our departments' chains of command. You're an engineer and I'm a conn officer. Neither of us are subordinates. Hell, my rank is equivalent to yours in most of Starfleet's circles...we're both officers. The only difference is I'm an officer by warrant and you're commissioned."

Sera raised a brow, but more so in a sort of bemusement than anything else. "Do you often engage in such activities while on duty? I ask out of curiosity. It was rather...stimulating. I find I am not at all concerned for any potential reprimand. In my short tenure here as the ChEng, I have noted that a number of Starfleet regulations are ultimately...suggestions."

A private blush flooded Lamar's dark-skinned features and caused him to glance away momentarily. He wiped his mouth and hands clean from his meal using the supplied napkin before reaching up to nervously scratch the side of his temple. "...No. Never before you," he admitted. "I just felt we had a connection and knew we didn't have much time to spend together in that moment. Better to lay it all on the field than strike out looking, right?"

Sera's subsequent comment about Galileo's operational style elicited a soft shake of his head. "I don't know Commander Tarin too well. Not like I did Saalm. From what I've seen, Tarin's a mainliner captain - all about rules and regs but bends some of them for the mission. I think it's too early to tell. She's only been with us for a month."

"Hmm. Time. Yes. It all seems to come back to that doesn't it? The impermanence does lend itself to impulsivity."

Sera popped some more of the peanuts into her mouth as she considered what he had said. They were quite a bizarre texture...the peanuts, not what he had spoken. Although...

"I do not understand your idiom regarding fields and striking out...but the connection you speak of was simple arousal was it not?"

A half-shrug of admittance slightly raised then lowered his broad shoulders. "Arousal, sure. But I wouldn't say it was simply that. Well, not for me." Lamar wasn't very prolific at explaining the finer details of his emotions or even acknowledging them, but he tried his best to elaborate for her. "Seeing you - then getting close to you - it felt more like piloting a starship for the first time. The excitement of getting to know how it maneuvers and accelerates along with all its unique quirks...then the waking up every day again knowing - or hoping - you get to do it again." That was probably the worst analogy he could have chosen and he inwardly cringed at himself. Get it together, Lamar. Don't ruin this.

Sera's eyebrows furrowed as she attempted to parse Lamar's analogy. Insight was not forthcoming. She didhave a fair bit of confidence in deciphering the last part of his statement, however. "You would like to mate again?"

Sera's eyes darted away from Lamar's and focused somewhere behind him. "But Vulcans do not generally engage in casual relationships..." It was an audible manifestation of the argument she was holding in her head.

He could sense, even understand, the hesitancy in her statement. Somewhere in his memory he recalled that peculiarity of her people's culture? Something about bonds? Marriage bonds? "Yeah I do want to...mate again. But you and I," he lightly gestured to her, "it doesn't have to be casual. Not if you don't want it to be."

"I am unable to commit beyond the present. This is a most unusual exploration, Lamar. Certainly your Vulcan cohorts told you more than how to proposition and how Vulcan women are superior?"

Sera slowly stood, her intent to take away the refuse from their ration packs, but slowed in her actions as she regarded Lamar. Her eyes glittered from the light cast off from the meditation lamp.

To admit her words weren't slightly disappointing would be a lie. Somewhere deep inside of his irrational mind, he'd hoped she would have expressed interest in something...more. But the reality of their collective situation - 25 years into an apocalyptic future and intent to return to their own time period - made her decision a most rational and logical one he couldn't fault. How could anyone commit to anything with what was currently transpiring? And with what the future's past might become when they eventually (hopefully) got back?

Lamar understood her sentiment and gave her a weak smile. Fortunately he hadn't been soul-crushed. "Yeah, they did. I know I'm not 'Vulcan'." He pushed his chair back then raised himself to his feet to follow her lead. She was so beautiful within the room's dim lights. "Do you...want to explore some more?" His attention shift over to her dark bedroom which was at the other end of her quarters.

His facial expressions appeared dampened somehow. A negative connotation, possibly? However, his reply gave her pause. "Your observation is correct. You are most certainly not Vulcan." Sera said, inwardly bemused at his answer.

"But consider that you are here with me...and they are not." Tilting her head, Sera caught Lamar's eyes shifting to the doorway to her bedroom. "It would be logical to conserve warmth."

He walked toward her then stopped within close distance to take one her lightly-scarred hands inside his. "That would definitely be logical," he replied with an intimate personal tonality before gesturing for her to lead the way within her own mini-castle of Vulcanness.

It was a silent command, but a command. No, he wasn't a Vulcan, but he was male. Sera dipped her head in assent, tilting her head just enough to expose the major vessels on her neck - a sign of submission.

Stepping ahead she pulled his hand softly and walked with him trailing behind her as she crossed her quarters to the bedroom. It was dark here. She hadn't considered putting a lamp in here.

Realizing her oversight, Sera turned around to slip around him and grab the lamp off the table but miscalculated in the low light and stepped into his still moving form. "It's dark." She whispered softly, cognizant to lower her voice given her proximity to his ear. "Shall I retrieve a lamp?"

When she bumped into him, he released her hand then wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her close. "Don't tell me Vulcan's can't see in the dark," he teased. The illumination from the outlying star clusters and nebulae seeped into the room enough for him to see her. Humans, surprisingly, possessed well-functioning and natural night vision once acclimated to the darkness for several minutes.

Lamar didn't verbally answer her question and instead tilted his chin down to kiss her. His head tilted to the side and he slipped his warm tongue between her full lips to parlay with hers; not with the same primal intensity as earlier the previous day, but now with softer and slower emotional passion.

"My low-light vision is sub-standard to a Human's." Sera replied matter-of-factually. She halted her next words because her other senses picked up that Lamar had moved his head closer and when his lips touched hers she allowed herself a brief smile of satisfaction in the darkness before opening her mouth to allow his tongue entry. This was so unhygienic.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Tarin]

&

Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A

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