Unbridled (Part 1 of 4)

Posted on 30 Sep 2024 @ 6:21pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Edited on on 30 Sep 2024 @ 6:28pm

4,130 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - Deck 4, Sera's Quarters
Timeline: MD 03, 0850 hrs

[ON]

The most mentally tumultuous workday in recent memory finally concluded for Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius. 'Recent memory' was relative so perhaps the better term would be 'since the day before yesterday'. The unorthodox and heavy-handed support craft maintenance demands which'd been placed solely on him by the chief engineer still weighed on his shoulders despite his end-of-shift dismissal two hours prior. The Vulcan engineer now consumed his thoughts despite their mutual dismissal of each other.

He walked backed to his quarters following his after-shift breakfast and entered his living space. A quick strip of his uniform followed by a long and massaging sonic shower now left him in better spirits, but his thoughts still lingered on M'Lyr'Zor. For some reason, he couldn't get her out of his head, nor his visions of their intimate relations. Lamar pulled a fresh set of casual clothes from his drawer and dressed himself in a traditional gray Starfleet T-shirt and a pair of standard-issue athletic shorts. He sat on the corner of his bed for a long moment, scratching his goatee while procrastinating his upcoming bedtime.

Viruk. Who the hell was that? Why did that name which she'd compared him to upset him so much? His inclination to sleep was outweighed by the consuming affront. He pushed himself up off the corner of his bed, quickly grabbed his commbadge and slapped it to his chest, then exited his quarters on a new mission: a suicide one.

~~

Meanwhile, Sera stood naked in front of the mirror in her bathroom, pulling out the small pins that held up her long hair. While she performed the mindless task to undo her hair before taking a well needed sonic shower, Sera's mind muddled over the debacle that was the beginning of her shift. She was uncertain what exactly was the most distressing event of the day…experiencing a vision of dying in a rather traumatic manner or engaging--again--with that lunatic human male.

She gritted her teeth and instead took the aggression out on her hair, pulling the precisely pleated braid apart with perhaps a little more enthusiasm than what was necessary. Given her current behavior, it was settled. The latter needed to take priority during meditation.

Lamar wished he didn't know where the ensign's quarters were, but Galileo was such a small ship that he'd intimately learned every nuance of its corridors and decks within the first month of his tenure several years ago. Deck 4. Section 6. Room 03. He now stood in front of it with emotional anger simmering in his veins. He needed retribution - and to find out who Viruk was and why he had...feelings for this junior officer. Against all logical thought, he reached out and pressed the door chime.

Sera's hair was finally complete loose and cascaded down past her hips in waves created from being bound up all day. She only had to take three steps to the sonic shower and then blessed heat. One step had been taken when the door chime went off. A delay. Unfortunate.

Pulling a long black Triaxian silk robe with silvery embroidered ley'matyas along the hem off the wall hook, Sera quickly wrapped it about her and made to the door. She pressed the open button on the control panel and her eyes widened upon seeing who stood in her doorway.

"What are you doing here?" Sera asked bluntly with no preamble.

Lamar's intention was unclear even in his own mind. He supposed he'd arrived to remind the arrogant engineer of her Vulcan place in Starfleet...specifically that Humans weren't their little brothers anymore and he didn't require her unsolicited opinions of his flight deck work. Two hundred years of mutual collaboration should have been enough to reinforce that position but there always seemed to be more progress needed between their races' diplomatic relations. He steeled his dark brown eyes in preparation for a dressing-down but when the door to her quarters opened and she appeared, he couldn't do much more than gaze at what he saw.

The engineer's unbridled brown hair gracefully flowed behind her ears and neck down to what seemed like the floor, and he took in the full sight of her elegant black robe which starkly contrasted against her light bronze skin and exposed collarbone. She looked...

He realized he'd been holding his breath ever since she first appeared and finally exhaled while now feeling flustered. "...I," he mumbled, at a sudden loss for words before he turned his eyes away in private embarrassment. Get your shit together, Darius. "I came to talk. In peace." He raised his hands up and palms out.

Why was Darius standing at her door? She slowly exhaled a breath in a measured manner. So much for a sonic shower.

"Come in. I would rather not engage with you where others can overhear." As it was, Chief Naime overheard at least some of their last conversation in the small alcove that served as the ChEng's office. Who knew where the information had traveled from there?

Sera stepped backwards and to the side to allow Darius entry to her quarters and waited for him to step in and the door to slide shut before motioning to the sitting area.

Out of pique, she considered not offering him anything to drink, but to do so would go against so many of her cultural rules that it would lead to far more meditation that what she had time to engage in. Feeling rather petulant, Sera strode over to the small replimat and obtained chilled water and two glasses and brought it over to the low table in the seating area and delicately placed the items on the table.

"I offer refreshment." Sera stated blandly and then sat down at the side chair and began making small adjustments to her robe, suddenly quite self-conscious. Very few people ever saw her in such a state, and to have this human count among that small number. There was nothing to be done. Kaiidth.

"I am curious to hear what else you feel must be said."

He slowly followed her while watching the sway of her hips then seated himself on the couch across the other side of the table from her. "Thank you." Lamar took the offered pitcher of water and poured himself a glass then took a healthy drink of the cool and refreshing liquid. He considered her words and realized he, too, was curious what he was going to say. None of this had been planned. Not like his previous engineering heist, at least. "Well," one of his hands reached up and absentmindedly rubbed the back of his neck while he glanced around her quarters. A few exotic looking weapons hung upon the opposite wall; their positioning perfectly aligned underneath a footlocker-sized, intricately inlaid wooden chest that was the source of the subtle cedar-like scent that permeated the space.

"I guess I came to say...sorry. For earlier, in engineering. I didn't mean to hurt your ears. You made me mad yesterday in the shuttle bay when you came in throwing your weight around and I didn't want to ask you any help." He was still irritated at her but now that they were alone together, he could feel his temper subsiding. Until he suddenly remembered her great insult. "But who the hell is Viruk? Why is that name familiar to me?"

Sera had angered him? In what way? His rationale made no sense to her. However, given his previous reactions to her answers being rather...volatile, she decided to err on the side of caution.

"He was my mate...and you did perform a rudimentary mind meld on me. Humans, to my knowledge, do not possess such abilities." Sera shook her head slightly, silently chiding herself for getting somewhat off-tangent. "Regardless, you could have come to have that knowledge through the temporary connection you were able to engender. If not through that, well, then...I do not know."

Lamar dropped his hands into his lap and reluctantly pulled his eyes away from her attractive facial features and physical form. A frustrated sigh audibly exhaled through his nose. "I don't really remember doing that. The mind meld. Hell, how could I know how that brain scrambling stuff works?" Then he thought about Viruk, her mate... A small light bulb flickered in the soft depths of his encephalon. "This guy was your husband - and he died, didn't he?"

Darius didn't remember? Furrowing her brows slight, Sera was uncertain what to think of that. She did not reply to him for some time. His fingers had been sure against her cheek; the positioning correct. How had he known? And his statement about Viruk? He should not have had that information and yet he did. There was nothing to be done about it. "Yes. He died, Mr. Darius."

His jaw clenched and the muted sound of his molars grinding against each other could subtly be heard. This was so messed up. Impossible. "...How do I know this?!" he exclaimed, pushing the palms of his hands to his temple. His dark brown eyes steeled then he looked back up to her before speaking in a hushed and more significant inflection. "...What did you do to me? No more lies. How do I...know you and have these memories of us??" His frustration was starting to boil over. The lack of control over his own thoughts and memories made him feel insecure and secretly terrified him.

"What did I do to you? I have not done anything to you, and I do not lie. You, however, have acted with gross misconduct towards myself and my department." Her voice was soft, calm, and collected. "Now, Mr. Darius, I am not a scientist, nor do I have a scientist's mind. Might I direct you to someone like Lieutenant Vala with such questions? He had some experience with...temporal difficulties."

The condescending nature in which she spoke to him fueled his anger even more and pushed him over the edge. He abruptly stood from his seat and stared down at her, his tense facial expression and lightly twitching eyes leaving no doubt as to his present emotions. "Don't try to turn this back on me and talk to me like I'm some child who's fantasizing with toys; you know damn well something's wrong here." He pointed an accusatory finger at her. "...Sitting there all smug pretending like this isn't your problem." He took a step forward to her. "That's the problem with you Vulcans - your sense of superiority. Always right even when you aren't, and never wrong."

"Sit down, Mr. Darius, or leave. I will not be spoken to in such a manner in my own quarters." She began, her voice carrying a flintiness that it lacked just a moment prior. "I do not have any answers to the questions you ask. I attempt to provide what insights I can, and you become agitated, borderline aggressive. What. Do. You. Wan..." Sera's voice trailed off, her words ushering forth a remembrance of an event that did. not. happen.

~~

Her fingers splayed across the psi-points of Lamar's face.

"My mind to your mind, my thoughts to your thoughts... She shuddered as her consciousness easily slipped into his mind. Joined through body and mind.

Lamar's gasp mirrored her own, and an explosion of cerebral chaos burst forth through their minds. The forced joining incurred an overwhelming plethora of random and intimate thoughts from both she and him which conflated to become unrecognizable from one another. Tears trailed from the corners of his eyes, and his body trembled beneath hers.

This felt nothing like joining with another Vulcan's mind. Sera too, was overwhelmed, but in a different manner. Such emotion - how were humans not insane?! It was too much. She wrenched her hand away; she had forgotten herself.

"...Sera," Lamar breathed, while attempting to pull himself upright, and in the meager light of the stars, the trails of his tears were visible threads down his striking lines of his face. He...he was crying? Humans generally cried when they were in pain, right?

"I have...hurt you. That was not my intent...I humbly apologize--ahh..." Her voice quavered from sensation. Joined no more in mind, but still touching, oh yes...

"Tell me what you want, Lamar. I will do whatever you want..." She reached out with her hand as if to run her fingers across his cheek again but stopped herself.

~~

Sera visibly jerked as she returned to the present. Slor Surak, perhaps she had done something to him. "Have...have you experienced any visions with me touching you...your face?"

The trailing break in her pointed chastising of his verbal conduct produced a momentary pause followed by a strange resumption of words. Words which were now of a different nature. His anger subsided for a moment while he studied her face and thought about her question. "...Yeah...we touched each other a lot," he curiously replied. He thought that was already clear enough between them by now, but then he realized the specifics of her query. "My face?" Lamar slowly shook his head in the negative, "I don't recall anything like that." His brow then furrowed. "Why? What did you see?"

Oh, if she had been two steps ahead, Sera would have been in the shower and probably wouldn't have heard the door chime. However, that was not the reality and here she was now expected to explain what she had just experienced.

"I experienced performing a mind meld on you. It was done for the purpose of sharing...more." Her words faltered; she did not know how to convey how exactly that this joined sharing worked. It was a distinctly Vulcan physiological adaptation. "Why would I have done that? The risks involved..." But it didn't happen. It was almost a mantra as she repeated it again silently in a manner to soothe her rising discomfort. Then why did it feel like it did happen? There were more questions than answers.

He listened but the words didn't register. It was as if they were alien in nature yet he could clearly interpret what she'd just said. His dark brown eyes widened at the confession, and he stood in place motionless while attempting to process this new information. "So, you...did the mind meld to me first? In your visions? Before I did it to you down in engineering last night?" This had to be some sort of joke. A terrible and misguided prank. He stepped forward even closer to her, this time out of necessity and a sense of urgency building in his voice. "Hey, this is serious. Don't screw around. If what you're saying is true, then these aren't 'visions' we're having..." The repercussions of which threatened to send his head spinning and make his knees weak.

Sera was forced to tilt her head back, exposing the long line of her neck, to maintain contact with his face as he stepped closer to her. It was uncomfortable. She gripped the arm rests with white knuckled fingers to remain her upright posture.

"...I postulate they are memories...I have deduced no other logical explanation otherwise." Sera replied after another awkward moment of silence.

Memories. That word carried a weight far greater than he wanted to admit. Memories weren't fantasies or hallucinations or figments of their imaginations - they were recollections of events which had already transpired. Which meant they were real. Lamar stared at her without saying a word while noticing the lean and alluring contours within her neck and across her clavicle. Waves of conflicting emotions crashed against each other in his head. "So, what does this mean?" he finally managed to ask. "Are you and I...married? Dating? Just lovers?" The way the two of them had been arguing recently, the former-most option seemed the most plausible to him given the lack of full clarity.

Sera blinked. What? Her blue eyes widened slightly, but she quickly realized and dropped her chin so that she was no longer looking at him but rather the container of water on the low table and her expression shuttered.

"It makes us nothing." Sera hurriedly said more out of a knee-jerk reaction versus any hard evidence that would support her statement. Somehow, she just knew that she lacked the meditative capabilities to obtain clarity over the strange experiences over the last two days. And he would ask such questions! Dating? Just lovers? Married? Slor Surak the latter would be a disaster.

The very thought was quite concerning. Truth be told, Sera had no answers, and she wasn't brave enough to delve within to more accurately satisfy his curiosity right now.

"Why do you ask such a thing?"

Lamar watched the engineer avert her eyes from him while speaking which prompted him to again step even closer to her. He could recognize the signs of deception when they presented themselves. "You know why I asked. Don't play ignorant." Even the most stoic Vulcan couldn't conceal the subtleties of interpersonal communication which betrayed her outward facade. "Surak's not here right now. I am. So, tell me what's happening...between us."

Darius stepped well within her personal space, but she refuse to look at him. The water was far more interesting at the moment.

"I do not have an answer that will satisfy you, apparently. Just rest assured that there is nothing happening between us, Mr. Darius." Sera replied rather pointedly, finding his ongoing antagonism rather tedious at this point. "You are making yourself out to be someone whom I wish to not have contact with...in any capacity."

He scoffed at her self-righteousness. At her lies. But were they? Did she truly scorn him? That prospect bruised his heart more than any other thought despite his superficial disdain for her recent conduct. His brown pulled inward with resurfacing anger, and he turned away from her. Many long moments of silence ensued before he finally turned his body back around to face her. "Look, I'm done. Stop it. Stop this," he gesticulated to the metaphorical environment between them. "You haven't said a good word about me since you came into my shuttle bay." He shook his head to himself and this apparent waste of time. "You're nothing more than T'Kahr Shi'yah. Not worth my time," he uncannily pronounced the foreign words with both unknown expertise and volition without realizing it.

"The human mind's capacity for misremembering things is truly breathtaking to behold." Sera retorted, her normally calm, measured tone of voice now laced with sarcasm. It was incredibly unlike her to speak in such a manner, but there was simply something about this male that tested her. It kept her from immediately recognizing what he had called her. T'Kahr Shi'yah? They were nomadic peoples who would traverse through Lyr'Zor lands on their inexplicable desert routes eschewing modern day Vulcan society's rules and mores...and they were all but unknown off world. That this infuriating human male would know such a word was inexplicable...that he would use it as an insult?

Sera stood, agitation now coloring her movements as she edged closer to him in a manner that was somewhat reminiscent of a large cat stalking its prey. "Nothing more?" Gone was the collected, logical Vulcan. This male drove her to...distraction. No one had ever managed such a feat, and a Vulcan who had forgotten themselves was capable of all manners of unpredictable things. Right now, Sera was feeling quite capricious.

"You are like a child speaking words you have no understanding of." She hissed. "I am m'Lyr'Zor. and if I am not worth your time, then you are dismissed."

His muscular arms defiantly folded across his chest, and he steeled his feet to the floor in his current position. "No, I'm not dismissed, you're dismissed. If everything you're saying about this is true," he subtly flicked a finger back and forth between the two of them, "then you did this to me with your Vulcan mind stuff. And now you're trying to get rid of me like I'm some kind of undesirable." Were these memories really from the past? The when and how still perplex him. He watched her approach and heard the icy inflection now in her voice.

"It didn't happen. Nothing happened. I have never touched you. You meanwhile have been quite...forward, rude, antagonistic, and a number of other negative adjectives I could assign to your behavior towards me. You came here in peace? I believe you find this stimulating in some way."

"Well, something happened," Lamar moved forward and closed even more distance between the two of them while incredulously shaking his head at her repudiation. "Memories don't just transport into existence between two people. I came to talk to you because yeah, I do find you stimulating!" He angrily countered while again staring at her elegant appearance. To refer to her physical qualities as pleasant appearing would be a significant understatement. "You want me to leave and never talk about this to you again? Fine. Yes sir! But don't act like you've been a saint to me ever since you came into the hangar."

Sera grit her teeth and closed her eyes forcing herself to not lunge at him to--wait, what? He...he actually confirmed her accusation? He was? Her eyes flew opened and she found that he had closed the distance so that he, again, was invading her space. He was close enough that she could all but feel the warmth emanating from his skin. She fought back an almost overwhelming urge to breathe in his scent. That was categorically not going to happen. So much meditation was going to be necessary to reconcile all of this.

"I am not disputing that fact. Something has occurred, but I do not have any satisfactory answers for you. You perceive slights that are not there, Mr. Darius. My intention was only to help your department's documentation come back into compliance. I meant no offense." Meeting him in a confrontational manner did not appear to be working. Perhaps...contriteness would soothe this?

He wanted to leave now. Wanted to turn around with a spin on his heels and just wash his hands of this failed pseudo-relationship or whatever abomination his memory-vision-hallucinations said it was. He wanted to blame her for this current situation and the mental turmoil he'd been experiencing over the past days, but he couldn't. It wasn't truly her fault.

Lamar didn't attempt to stop himself when he unfolded his arms and quickly extended them forward. Within a half-second, both of his large hands suddenly cupped the bottom of her well-defined jaw along either side and pulled her head toward him. He tightened his eyes closed then leaned forward and firmly pressed his mouth against her full lips, hard and without any doubts that the bones in his face might not be intact for much longer.

His uninvited touch engendered an audible gasp from her which was quickly silenced with his mouth. Her hands grasped at his upper arms, her grasp borderline painful, but she wasn't sure whether to push him away or to prevent him from withdrawing. This was the human way...this mouth kissing. It felt so...familiar. Her response was immediate as kissed him back ramping up the intensity of it as if she were primed to devour his mouth with her lips and her teeth and her tongue.

Twinges of pain shot through his robust forearms when her lithe slender digits gripped them with the uncanny strength of a vice. Fortunately, the uncomfortable sensation became overwhelmed by a furious return of his affection...a return which wholly took him by surprise. Her warm, wet tongue suddenly ravaged against his and her return kiss threatened to put him on the defensive. He could feel the pressure her lips exerted pushing his head back and forcing him to part his mouth to allow the Vulcan the full access she desired. He exhaled a heavy breath through his nose against the side of her cheek as he tilted his head to the side, then his hands and fingers slipped down across her long neck and back behind her shoulders where they pulled her torso tight against his chest.

She made a soft trilling sound, feeling victorious as he met her ardor. Her right hand trailed across his shoulder and up his neck, her fingertips lightly skipping across the sharp lines of his chin, inching her way up to the correct points on his face, to--

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

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

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

RSS Feed