"Explanations"
By: Lt. Commander Benedict T'Kal - Chief of Security
Ensign Shirik Lektar - Operations Officer
Location: Computer Core, USS Sulu
Stardate: 57908.11 10h55
***
Benedict stepped out of the turbo lift and took a look around. The computer
core was deep within the Sulu's primary structure. Protected by the
Federation's best designers. It was one of the security points that Benedict
had considered for his security exercise. This was where he would start his
attack. If you controlled the computer core, you controlled the lives of
everyone on the ship.
His eyes roved over the terminals, the access points, the bulkhead seals and
Jeffries tube hatches. His plan was forming nicely. He knew exactly how he
would do it with a Maquis team.
He had other business here this morning. He sighed heavily as he turned his
mind to it. Shirik Lektar.
Benedict walked down the corridor to the sealed doors. Two primary hull
barriers. He walked through the doors as they slid aside and was confronted
by the sight of a long pure white braid and a shapely behind. She was
working on a terminal, standing, concentrating as her fingers deftly applied
pressure to the illuminated displays. The central core stood before her like
a glowing stack of discs in a white cerametal frame.
He clasped his hands behind him and cleared his throat. He was in Class As,
and was barely getting used to the title of Commander this morning. He'd
allowed a day to get used to it. The episode with Tayla had occurred the day
before - the whole day had been a wipe-out. Today he was at least mentally
competent. The rumor mill had been a little slow off the mark. It seemed
that Lyrr's reputation inhibited the flow of raw data.
"Ensign," he said, to gain her attention.
Shirik was working at her terminal, when she heard the doors open behind
her. She was about to turn to see who her visitor was when she heard his
voice. Ben! His use of her rank told her it was a business call, but when
she turned she just couldn't keep the smile from her lips. "Lieuten..." she
started, then saw the extra pip. Her eyes widened slightly, along with her
smile. "Commander. Congratulations." She stood straight as she usually did
on duty. "What brings you into the bowels of the ship?"
He smiled and her eyes were the same violet. "You...actually," he admitted.
There was no one else in the core, and so he was free to talk. "I had to come
see you." He scratched his brow ridges. Her smile when she had turned was
amazing. He felt that same connection. But today it was different.
"I have to explain something." He stepped closer, but maintained his
official stance. "The other night...our dinner." He looked into her eyes
and his smile faded a little. "I accepted your invitation, mainly because I
don't know many people on the Sulu - and when you came to see me...well, we
seemed to have some things in common." He shrugged. "At dinner I found you...more than interesting. I think we connected...I know I felt something."
She eyed him curiously. So, it was a personal visit. But why here? Why now?
Something didn't feel right. Her smile slowly faded as she listened.
She nodded slowly. "Yes...I felt it, too," she said quietly, wondering
where this was leading.
He nodded. He looked away. "I had no intention of...meeting someone that I
would feel...that way with." He looked back at her. "I wish I could blame it
on the sake - but it wasn't that." He clenched his hand against his wrist,
feeling totally uncomfortable. "I wanted to explain that." He squared his
shoulders as he looked into her eyes. "I'm involved with someone," he said
evenly. "Someone that I love."
A lump settled somewhere in her stomach. Her eyes emptied of all emotion,
her defenses instantly in place. Her posture stiffened even more. "I see,"
she said, turning back to her console. "Is that why you came down here while
I'm on duty? So she wouldn't see you talking with me?" She stared at her
console but didn't see it any more. "Or perhaps so no one would see if I got
upset on you? Don't worry, Commander, I won't cause a scene.
"I find it interesting you didn't think to mention this earlier...."
He stared at her back. A moment of guilty silence followed. "The whole
situation has been...difficult," he said quietly. "I'm sorry, Shirik. I came
because I wanted you to hear it from me, rather than from the mess hall.
When we had dinner...my relationship with the Sulu's Executive Officer
wasn't common knowledge. I wasn't permitted to say anything to anyone. It
was just meant to be a friendly dinner, Shirik. It was innocent. Public. I
didn't think that anything would happen...and the last thing I expected
was...you."
She closed her eyes for a moment. The XO. Of course. Now she felt like an
utter fool. "Well, now you've told me. If there's nothing else, I have work
to do." She punched at a few controls on her console for emphasis.
He nodded. Her back was still turned to him. What else could he say? "Very
well, princess." He turned to go. "If you want friendship," he said softly,
"that's all I can give." He paused for a moment and then stepped through the
doors.
She grit her teeth. Princess. Farrell called her that and she hated it.
Coming from T'Kal's mouth now it seemed to mock her. "Don't call me that,"
she said. It was a title that didn't belong here, on this ship, in this
life. She didn't want to be known as that.
Benedict stopped. The tone of her voice was hurt. He turned back. "I meant
no disrespect, Shirik." He kept his voice even.
She sighed, her stiff posture slumping just a bit. "I know," she said
quietly. "Just...don't call me that, please." She couldn't bring herself to
tell him not to use her first name. She still liked the sound of it in his
voice.
He nodded. "Sure." He looked at her, a moment of the recognized connection -
the chemistry and he nodded again. "I'm sorry, Shirik. I didn't mean in any
way to hurt you."
She turned around slowly to face him once more, her back to the console. "I
know you didn't," she said. "It's my own fault, not yours. Don't worry about
it." She drank in the sight of him and couldn't quite keep the emotionless
look on her face. "She's a lucky woman," she said softly.
He gave her a smile, almost wistful. She really was a beautiful woman.
"Thank you. I really would like to be a friend," he said. "I'll leave that
up to you." He nodded. He cast a glance around the small room. "I'll see
you." He smiled. "I hear we'll be working together."
She couldn't muster a return smile just yet. Instead she nodded. She'd need
to think about things.
She quirked an eyebrow. "We will? On what?"
He grinned. "If I told you, you'd have to file a report on me."
That did manage to elicit a small smile from her. She folded her arms across
her chest. "True, but I could file the report to you...."
He laughed, her smile telling him that it would be okay. "True," he nodded.
"But then I might have to remove you from the project for security
reasons." He gave her a parting smile. "Have to go," he added. It started
to feel like their last goodbye and he laughed. "Bye."
"No, technically you'd have to remove yourself," she said. She just watched
him, and for a moment she didn't want him to go at all. She nodded. "Good
day, Commander."
"It's getting better," he smiled, "much better. Good day, Ensign." He
finally turned and made it to the door, the sensors allowed him to leave. He
walked away forcing himself not to look back. Damn, he thought.
She watched him go in silence, unable to keep from admiring the view until
the closing doors hid it from her. She let out a sigh and frowned. It was
impossible to stay angry at him, especially when he grinned at her like
that. But it wasn't really him she was angry at anyway, it was herself. She
should have known better. She turned back to her work once more, focusing on
that. She could curse herself after her shift was over.
"Watch Out, Ben"
By: Ensign Shirik Lektar - Operations
Location: Lektar's quarters, USS Sulu
Stardate 57908.11, 16h20
***
It was Beta shift. Shirik tossed her PADD on her bed and went to the
replicator. "Klaas," she ordered, taking the steaming mug and setting it
down on her nightstand. She stood there for a moment just staring at the
scene. The bland standard bed, the mug of replicated stuff that wasn't
quite klaas, the PADD of notes upon notes, her reflection in the small
mirror on the wall. White hair tied back in regulation style, a Class B
uniform. All reminders of where she was now, in Starfleet. An officer.
She felt like an alien to herself. With a sigh she suddenly felt the
need to get out of her uniform, into something more normal. She shed the
uniform and tossed it into the recycler, kicked off her boots, and pulled
a garment from her dresser - a long, loose, semi-sheer flowing pullover
in glittering golden and silver tones. She turned back to her reflection
in the mirror once more and frowned. Reaching behind her, she tugged free
the binding on her braid and unraveled it, letting her hair hang freely
around her. There. Now she looked like someone she recognized.
Padding back to her bed on bare feet, she sat with her back against the
wall and picked up the PADD, setting it out of the way on the nightstand
and picking up her mug of fake klaas. For a few minutes she just sat there,
sipping at her drink and staring down at her bare toes.
For the last two days she'd been in an unusually good mood, and looking
forward to seeing Ben again. Then when she finally did see him again, it
was to get the news about someone he loved. He hadn't even mentioned the
woman's name after he told her, only happened to mention her rank in
passing, it seemed to her. How much did he love this woman if he was out
having dinner with another one, getting drunk, getting interested, and never
even mentioning her? When they stood so close, when his gaze went to her
lips, was he thinking about that woman then? She didn't think so.
And that look was still there in his eye. She'd seen it, muted as it had
been by the tension of the moment. He said he wanted to be friends, but
could she? Could he? Did she even want to? "Khrish," she swore under her
breath. What would she do now?
She hadn't met the XO and didn't want to, especially now. She wondered what
Ben would tell her about their dinner. That it was innocent? Just a
friendly dinner in a public place? Would she believe him? Even Shirik
didn't. Maybe it started out that way, but it had quickly moved beyond that,
and she had no doubt that was apparent even to the other officers in the
lounge that night. And even then, Ben had done nothing about it, hadn't
mentioned even casually that he had someone. A conscious omission? She
snorted to herself. Of course. He was a man, after all.
She'd been on the ship almost a month now, and in all that time had heard
all kinds of rumors about nearly every member of the crew. And up until now
she'd been able to stay out of them. She imagined there would be something
floating around the mill now about her and that dinner. Well, she didn't
care. She wasn't going to let anyone ruin the memory of that wonderful
evening she'd had. Not the rumor mongers, not the XO, not even Ben. It was
hers, and she was keeping it.
But what now? What did she want? And what would she do? It was a simple
question, really, and there weren't that many choices. She couldn't just
ignore Ben even if she wanted to, especially if they ended up working on
Zareb's project together. But did she want to be his friend? Did she want
to be something more? Or did it even matter?
On her home world they had a saying. Ti lig ni'kan ult inur chas ni'lig,
nik t'sa ni'ron chas. If a woman can't hold onto her man, he was never
hers. She'd found a related Earth saying: All's fair in love and war. But
this wasn't love. This was...what was it? A physical attraction, a raw
basic calling from one body to another. Perhaps it might have been more in
time, had she had that time to find out.
Friends. A platonic word. No, she wanted to be something more than that, but
nothing as dramatic as love, marriage, and all that ever after nonsense.
She wanted to kiss him, touch him, and have him return the favor. The way
she
sensed they'd wanted to that evening, but didn't. Now it was very clear why.
Well, they'd be working together. Zareb had said the length of the
assignment
was 'indefinite'. What did that mean, anyway? Weeks? Months? Their entire
time in the Gamma quadrant? Six people cooped up together in a runabout. One
of them Ben. She sighed and finished off her mug. It could be interesting.
It
could be dangerous. In more ways than one. But she wanted that assignment,
and
she wanted to be there with Ben.
Yes, she could be friends, for now. There was always time. But she'd let one
chance get away already. If another came up, she wouldn't let it get away
again.
She was Starfleet, but her blood was still Rennari. She'd be a fool to pass
up
another opportunity if it came her way. She smiled a bit to herself.
"Watch out, Ben....."