In Flagrante Delicto

Posted on Fri Sep 7th, 2018 @ 6:03pm by Master Warrant Officer Tsabina & Captain Remas McDonald

1,501 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: S1:2: Rubicon
Location: Captain's Quarters
Timeline: MD 14

Tsabina walked as nonchalantly as possible through the corridors until she reached the captain's quarters. Officially, she was performing a house visit to administer followup care. And, according to the rationalization to which all parties had agreed, that was not altogether untrue. Tsabina knew full well she was not intending any medical care, but she did keep a medical tricorder in her bag just to keep up pretenses -- right next to the bottle of Risan liqueur, incense candles, and small container of fondue.

It never hurt to be prepared for anything.

Confident that she had not garnered any unwanted attention, Tsabina pressed the chime to announce herself, then entered. She knew full well that Remas had only moments ago been released from quarantine, and from the dirty details trickling in about the mission to the alien ark ship, Tsabina felt this was one of those times when her special talents were needed.

Quickly, she set about arranging the incense burners, set the fondue pot and liqueur on the table, and shed her uniform to reveal a lacy little negligee. With the stage set, she draped herself against the sofa to await Remas' imminent arrival.

"You're not Zado or Remas."

The voice coming from a door off of the quarters had that husky, farm-fed tone to it that spoke of days tilling fields and calling it an honest living. And indeed he looked like he could till those fields all day long all by himself: broad of shoulder, muscular in the way that spoke of hard graft, not a personal trainer. Bolian by crest and cyan hue, he looked at Tsabina with a questioning expression that livened into comprehension.

"You're the nurse Zado was telling me about," he said affably with an easy going smile. He placed a hand on his own chest. "I'm Tobin."

Tsabina felt her eyes grow wide. "Oh." She clutched a throw blanket from the sofa and held it against her chest. "My name is Tsabina. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I, um, expected you would be entertaining Miss Kasmir in your quarters tonight."

For a moment there a look of blank incomprehension alighted on his face, and then Tobin began to laugh. It was not a mocking, condescending laugh one might use on a pityingly dim-witted child. But an honest thing, something that tugged on the cheeks of others and warmed the heart.

"In a way, you're not too far off the mark, but maybe if you come with me it'll be a little clearer?" he gestured her into the room he'd left. Unlike most of the staterooms on the Traveller, the Captains Quarters came with a dining room attached to the side for their discretion. On it was a humble spread of foods, mostly vegetables fresh from the hydroponic bays, as well as a hot plate on which something was cooking.

"You like Bolian food?" Tobin asked, returning to the hot plate and using a long fork to move around cuts of something sizzling in a toxic green sauce that smelled of strawberries. "It's not to everyone's tastes, but I like to cook. And Remas and Zado enjoy it so, big occasion big meal."

Tsabina scrunched her nose at that. "Big occasion?"

"We survived our first encounter with something weird out here. I reckon that a good thing and these sort of things need to be encouraged," he stirred the pan again before plating the cutlets. "No one knows what we're going to face out here. Aliens from Andromeda? God like beings from our own galaxy who crossed the Barrier the traditional way? Who knows, maybe the myths our homeworlds were all wrapped around a tiny kernel of truth?"

He shrugged, walked to the replicator and requested a forth plate for Tsabina.

"I don't know. I'm just a botanist. For all I know one day I'll be called to sickbay to help cure a person who is more chlorophyll than cytoplasm," Tobin said as he moved the table settings around. "There. You and me will share a shoulder, with you on Remas's left and me on Zado's right."

All Tsabina could do was nod as her evening plans were changed before her very eyes. "Perhaps... I should change back into something more... appropriate."

"What's inappropriate?" Tobin asked. "I come from a temperate world. Not exactly Risa given the PH imbalance that sees most humanoid species get chemical burns from swimming in our oceans. A lot more heavy metals in the water apparently, good for some plants, bad for others. But I didn't even see a coat until I joined Starfleet. And who would design an item of clothing to keep you warm, and call it a 'sweater'?"

Tsabina grinned at Tobin, failing to see the fault in his argument. Casually, she let the throw blanket slip away from her body and fall to the floor. Her negligee might make for odd evening wear in some cultures, but not hers.

"I should really get back home to Risa at some point," she said, feeling vibrant confidence return to her free wardrobe expression. "This... should be a happy time, not an awkward one."

She stepped forward to the tabling setting, taking it all in, and smiled. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Wine. A good Tellarite sapphire should go well with what I'm cooking," Tobin said with a smile. He waved to the replicator alcove. "I have an actual bottle but I want to save it for a special occasion. Like when we get around to sending people home. Zado likes to talk about her work in bed so I get a little education. I should be a physicist botanist by the end of this voyage."

Tsabina stepped over to the replicator and scrolled through the programming. The wine seemed to be a favorite, if the listing was to be believed. Naturally, the bottle was corked.

"It seems like we're all cross-training." Tsabina reached for the corkscrew. "With the high casualties in the Science department, I've been brushing up on my medical biology."

After several grunts, she managed to pop the cork out, but not before spraying it all over Tobin.

Tsabina threw her hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter. "I am so sorry! Let me get you a towel." She looked around the room, but found nothing but a spare tablecloth. "Here," she said, snatching it up and pressing toward him with both hands.

He chuckled, letting her dry up the spilled wine. The airy clothing he wore had effectively become skin tight under the watery assault, picking out muscles grown corded and strong through manual labour.

"So you're a medical scientist? I'd have thought they were the same thing almost," Tobin enquired.

Tsabina eyed the thickly muscular Bolian physique for a moment before banishing such thoughts as impossible on a number of levels. "I could have been a doctor by now several times over," she replied absently, as lingering thoughts resisted total banishment. "A few of my field reports have been published in medical journals. Even had offers for honorary doctorates. But my place is among the people, not in a laboratory or stuffy office."

"Sounds like you know a thing or a two about people. But you choose to come out here to the very edge of space? Why not join a hospital or relief agency?" Tobin asked. From the sound of his voice the question was perfunctory, something to fill the silence as his hand absently stroked away a lock of her hair.

"Pfft." Tsabina blew the lock of hair out of her face. "Been there, done that. My goal in life has always been to make a difference, and being on the cutting edge of discovery is far different than yet another galactic conflict."

She watched the muscles and tendons of his arm flex as he reached her, and had to admit she liked the feel of her hair in his hand. "Same reason for the special arrangement I have with the captain and his, heh, wife."

Her hand reached for Tobin's chest before she could stop it. "I wanted things to be different, and for the greater good." Looking up at Tobin, a frantic anxiety touched her eyes. "But if I'm honest with myself, I don't really know what I want."

Tsabina withdrew her hand and held it to her chest. "You know," she said with a wry chuckle. "I've always viewed myself as an altruist. But maybe I wanted something out of this arrangement, too. Something for me."

Looking back to Tobin, she asked, "Would that be so wrong?"

The long silence that fell between them seemed to be an answer in itself.

"Forgive me," Tsabina said, brushing her hair out of her face. "I've taken enough of your time."

Tsabina abandoned her plans for the evening and fled from the captain's quarters, negligee or no negligee. For the first time in her life, she didn't know what to think.

 

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