Road Trip

Posted on Wed Jan 19th, 2022 @ 7:07pm by Captain Shran dh'Klar & Lieutenant Aiko Kato & Lieutenant L'Rissa

Mission: Respite
Location: Runabout

L'Rissa had woken up about a half hour earlier than normal. She was excited for the leave, even if it meant having to deal with the unpleasantness of her family. She had her bags packed and had herself a nice breakfast and then headed out to the runabout to load her bags and do a quick once over of the runabout again before going to the captain's quarters.

Aiko had barely slept. In between dinner and drinks with Tari and the clubbing that had happened last night into the morning, there had been little time for sleep. When she had finally said her goodnights and goodbyes to Tari and tried to sleep, she had found herself too excited to shut her eye.

And so she had spent the remaining time between the departure time simply packing and re-packing, querying the computer about tourist destinations on Cait along with customs and traditions. She'd packed some books for leisurely reading and then unpacked them only to re-pack them again.

And by the time she finally settled down, she had herself a warm cup of raktajino and literally started counting down the minutes before departure time. About thirty minutes before the departure time and unable to bear waiting again, the pilot decided she might as well head to the shuttlebay.

If nothing else, she knew she could at least catch up with some of her colleagues although she resolved to avoid any work like the plague...

It was almost ironic that as L'Rissa approached the shuttlebay she encountered Aiko. "I should have expected you" she said with a bit of a grin. "I suppose we can both ensure the runabout is prepped."

"Sounds good to me," Aiko replied as she entered the shuttle and stowed away her belongings. Surprisingly, she had narrowed it down to just two duffel bags. She headed to the forward section of the shuttle, picking an axillary station, reserving the hot seat for L'Rissa.

"I can start the preflight checks," she announced as she started running quick checks on the ship's main systems.

L'Rissa stowed her gear and then came out to help with the checks. As it looked like things were normal and Aiko had things well in hand she started to head out. "I'll go pick up the captain."

Aiko nodded. "I'll keep the engines running," she replied proverbially.

L'Rissa headed out and made her way to the captain's quarters and rang the door chime. A few moments passed before the door opened and she tentatively looked inside. "Captain?" She could hear voices coming from the bedroom and saw a small mess on the table. It appeared the captain had a guest.

Shran came out dressed in his uniform with a large duffel style bag. He looked over at the chronometer and then back at L'Rissa, "Impeccable timing lieutenant. I suppose you are eager for us to leave."

"If I am early sir" she began.

"Not at all. I am running a bit behind is all. Had a long evening and an early morning with a few meetings. If you will take my bag" he offered her his luggage which she took. "Thank you. Give me just a moment."

Shran headed back to his bedroom as L'Rissa stood awkwardly by the door, doing her best not to eavesdrop, but finding it very difficult. "Damn my extraordinary hearing" she mumbled aloud to herself as she tried not to hear what was obviously a bit of intimate talk between the captain and a woman, both voices she recognized. She knew she had to at least feign ignorance and play it straight as she heard the captain returning.

"Very well lieutenant, let's get going" Shran said.

"Do you need to clean up before we go?" she asked.

"No" he replied quickly. "Um, it'll tend to itself. Let's get a move on, shall we?"

"Yes sir." L'Rissa turned and smiled, realizing the situation for what it was. She carried the bag and escorted the captain back to the runabout.

As they arrived Shran noted Aiko up at the helm. "Are we ready to go lieutenant?"

"Yes sir," Aiko replied.

"Very well, get us underway." Shran took a seat in one of the axillary stations, remaining quiet as he waited for the ship to get underway.

"Aye sir," Aiko replied as she tapped away at the console shifting the shuttle from standby to active mode as full power coursed into all the enabled systems.

"Kato to Flight Ops, request clearance to depart."

"You are cleared to depart runabout," came the voice on the other end. "Safe travels."

Aiko released the docking clamp detaching the runabout from its hard seal to the landing pad and activated the antigrav system, which allowed the runabout to hover. With thrusters, she nudged the vessel forward ever so gently towards the shuttle bay doors that were now parting to reveal the star-dotted space surrounding them, with the vacuum kept at bay by the blue glint of a forcefield.

As they cleared the shuttlebay doors, she looked to the comms traffic coming in from the Starbase, routed through the Washington's Flight Ops. It was a directive on the path the shuttle was to take amidst the busy traffic surrounding the starbase. It also contained the usual warning about the warp-free zone that they would need to clear before they could actually engage warp engines.

Aiko followed the instructions as provided and once they were clear of the warp-free zone, she laid in a course for Andoria and set in the speed for the maximum cruising warp speed and engaged.

Turning back to face her passengers. "We are on course for Andoria Captain, ETA is four hours and thirty-three minutes."

L'Rissa entered as they jumped to warp. She moved to the front console and took her position, happy that Aiko had taken the lead and gotten them underway. Shran waited around for a minute or two before retiring to the back cabin.

L'Rissa looked to Aiko once she felt it was safe to talk, "Thanks for getting us underway. It was a little awkward from when I picked up the captain."

Sensing that a hot and juicy gossip was afoot, Aiko turned to her back first to confirm that the Captain had in fact retired to the rear cabin before turning to L'Rissa. "What do you mean? What happened?" she inquired.

L'Rissa checked the controls making sure everything was set and they were on a steady cruise. "The captain wasn't alone when I arrived. His quarters looked like he had just finished a large breakfast and hadn't had time to clean things up as he had been busy in the bedroom. Not that I hold it against him."

"Oh...scandalous," Aiko replied jokingly with a grin wondering who the lucky person was that had shared breakfast, among other things, with the Captain. "Did you get to see who it was?" she asked.

"No, I didn't see her, but I recognized her voice. I don't think she was who the captain had breakfast with either. I didn't mean to eavesdrop, just comes naturally with the hears" she said chuckling. "It sounded as if the captain's friend came by last night and spent the evening, slept in while he had breakfast with someone else, and then they were intimate again after breakfast, which is why he was a bit out of sorts when I arrived."

"Well...don't keep a girl waiting L'Rissa," Aiko replied. "Who was the lady in the Captain's bed?" She was impressed by L'Rissa's deductive reasonings to be able to draw such a conclusion from having only spent what she gathered was only a few minutes.

"Lt. Ayana" she said in hushed tones. If she could blush she'd be bright red at this moment, not that anyone would be able to tell with her fur. "I suppose it isn't that surprising. The captain is attractive despite being older, and Ayana is young and vibrant. I'd act shocked with him being married, but Andorians do take multiple mates, so I guess nothing strange about it other than the fact that he is the commanding officer."

Aiko was actually surprised by the revelation, although it also made some interactions she had witnessed between the Captain and Ayana click into place. "Wow, now I did not see that coming. That is quite the surprise," she replied back.

Although the more she thought about it, the more it kind of made sense. Despite the age and cultural differences, there were very strong similarities, including shared history. They were also both tactically minded.

The fact that the Captain was having relations with someone under his command was a matter of 'settled law', so to speak. It was not clearly against the rules, although some people still frowned at it. As far as Aiko was concerned, the nature of their job made it a reality that more of then than not, those they were closest with, were their crewmates.

Aiko realized that she felt slightly jealous and envious of this relationship. It would be nice to have someone to connect with on that level every now and then. So, on the one hand she was happy that Shran had that as she was aware that the captaincy can often be a lonely position. However, she could not help but wonder if she would ever find something similar.

"Guess they both have good tastes," Aiko finally replied with a smile after a prolonged silence.

"I don't think their is anything wrong with it mind you, it was just sort of a surprise. I mean, he is something like 20 years older. You don't see that sort of thing typically. And I have noticed, and correct me if I am wrong, but humans tend to shy away from relationships that are complex like that, typically speaking at least. I mean, Andorian relationships are not nearly the complex dynamic compared to Denobulans, but humans from my experience, like most species, are monogamous."

Aiko laughed at that. "That's generally true of some humans, but not all. But I take your point, humans can be...conservative when it comes to relationships, especially the really intimate ones that involves things like common-law or marriage."

Aiko wondered if she would count herself under that category and realized she was not sure, which was a curious discovery for her. In truth, she had been so dedicated to work or mentally recovering from the psychological trauma of work that her relationships have been few and brief affairs.

"But there also various beliefs and cultural practices among humans that make the generalization of monogamy to all humans a bit more nuanced. What is the general custom for Caitians, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Long ago it wasn't uncommon for a male to have several mates. It was a status symbol of sorts. But over the last few centuries that practice has become far less common as monogamy has become the norm. But we still have customs that might be considered archaic in some respects. Amongst the more prominent families, arranged marriages are still common, and males that prioritize career and merit earlier in life and have great achievements to their name when they are ready to marry often do marry younger females. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if my parents didn't try to marry me off if I don't find somebody myself in the next few years."

Aiko smiled at that. She knew even within her own Japanese culture, sometime ago, arranged marriage was the norm with fairly rigid deadlines on when one should marry, particularly for women. While most of this had changed over time and with advancements in technology and social and cultural liberation- and in some cases, revolution- there were still those who still practiced arrange marriages.

Thankfully, her grandparents did not but they had also, on more than one occasion, tried to help her along in finding someone suitable to marry. But Aiko, ever the rebel as she was stubborn had always scared off the suitors.

"Isn't it strange how things change but somehow stay the same?" she asked with a laugh.

They continued chatting as the trip continued until the captain finally returned to the main cabin as they approached Andoria. "Put us into a standard orbit at the equator" Shran directed. "Signal Thrann station and notify them I will be transporting down."

"Aye captain" replied L'Rissa as she navigated the ship to the course requested. "Enjoy your trip sir."

Shran nodded in their direction. "You two do the same. I'll see you in 5 days." Shran exited briefly to grab his bags and then returned and transported down to the surface.

L'Rissa confirmed the captain had successfully transported down and broke orbit, traveling at high impulse out of the system before jumping to warp to Cait. "ETA is 2 hours 24 minutes."

"I can't wait!" Aiko exclaimed. She was already building an itinerary list of places she would like to visit on Cait.

A few hours later L'Rissa was making the approach to Starbase 21. She was told that she was being requested to come to see the commanding officer upon docking. She had hoped to avoid the family meeting quite so soon, but she had been caught trying to sneak in. "Looks like I have a meeting to attend" she said with a hint of frustration to Aiko.

Aiko nodded understandingly. "If I may?" Aiko asked gesturing with her hand for permission to touch L'Rissa.

L'Rissa gave a nod of approval.

Aiko proceeded to straighten L'Rissa's uniform, pulling the fabric taut on her body and smoothening out the wrinkles to make the creases pop out more sharply. She reached into her duffle bag, retrieving a shoe polish and quickly gave L'Rissa's shoes a quick polish to increase their shine.

"There..." Aiko replied with a smile. "Not much but if yours are anything like mine, it's one less thing they can complain about. Anything else I can help you with? I'm not above telling a little white lie to embellish here and there."

"I wish you could take my place" she said in a somewhat joking yet obviously serious fashion. "Not looking forward to speaking with my mother. She can be...intense." L'Rissa returned her attention to the console as they began docking procedures. As the ship touched down and she disengaged the engines she looked to Aiko, "Thanks for the support and help. If you go to the main promenade, their is a bar called '5 o'clock somewhere' and I'll meet you there after my meeting" she said with a small smile.

"Sounds like a plan...and side note, that is the perfect bar name for the start of our vacation," Aiko replied with a grin. "Regardless of how it goes with your mom, just know you'll have a glass of Baileys waiting for you."

With that Aiko packed her meagre possession and started for the exit along with L'Rissa.