Chapter One
Dylan, sat in a bar, which was half lit and had tables that glowed red. Having done his duty by attending a summit, he eagerly waited for his date. A mid-ranking diplomat, both had found a good amount to talk about, and agreed to meet at this location. However, time passed as still she didn't show up. Groaning inwardly, Dylan asked the barkeep, a Castalian, for another round. Upon receiving his drink, Dylan saw, a human woman, though it wasn't his date, with beautiful black hair, t hat shone in the halflight, and brown eyes.
Meanwhile, Ivette, the woman Dylan was staring at, could not believe her situation. The day before she had been on Vulcan, visiting a good friend, but now, thanks to a stupid archeologist, she was here, in an alternate universe. As she drank, a sour wine,that made her long for Romulan ale. Fortunatly, she was able to speak Common, thanks to an implant the jerk's doctor gave her.
"May I join you?" a man with brown hair and blue eyes asked her, smiling. He wore a grey shirt with a brown jacket. Ivette groaned inwardly. He may be good looking, but looked to be, with that annoying smile, one of those overcocky guys who felt that they were too sexy for everything, even their shirt.
"I would, but my three husbands might object to it." Ivette hope that the idea of a woman with more than one spouse would scare him off, as it tended to a lot of human males.
"Not that I would blame them" he smiled some more. Dylan found himself amused by her line, thinking she was referencing Vedrans, the long lost founding race of the Systems Commonwealth; females of that species did have multiple husbands. "They must fight a lot to get your attention"
"Not really**" Ivette desperatly tried to think of a good comback, seeing that this guy had been around this universe. " they have their own wives, who in turn have their own husbands, who have their own wives**ya get the picture*.Anyway, I'm not at liberaty to talk, I have to *go*by." Embarassed, she got up and left**.afraid that the man thought that she was flirting. However, in her hurry, she tripped over something, getting a deep gash"Damn it!" she yelled,
"Are you okay?" Dylan ran to her, kneeling to get a close look.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She tried to get up, but couldn't, the pain was that bad, and she had to use her sweater to apply pressure and decrease the blood loss.
"Easy*."The man said as he lifted her.
"Look, I'm fine, please put me down!" She started to squirm, like a cat, whose mood for being carried, didn't exist.
"Not until we get a someone to see your injury." Dylan said, setting her down, on one of the long seats that were yellow, and with some cushion. Tapping on the communicator implant in his neck, he called Trance, as the Andromeda was within orbit of the planet. "Trance?"
"Yes Dylan?" Trance answered from Command, where she was with Rommie, who listened with great interest, albeit not showing it.
"Could you meet me at the cordinates I sent you? Someone*has been injuryed."
"I'm coming" Trance told him.
Soon, Ivette saw a brownish red woman, wearing a rather tight outfit come, kneel, and greet her.
"Hi! I'm Trance, medical officer of the Andromeda"
"Hi! Is it bad?"
"Hmm***I can't tell from here, I'll need to take you to the Andromeda" Trance told Ivette.
"No! This is a setup!" Ivette, having heard horror stories
from friends and family living outside of the Federation, did not trust
this.
" You were cut by something dirty, if I don't treat you, you'll get an infection, that could spread to the rest of your body, trust us, we want to help you." Somehow she felt reassured by Trance, and figured she could just leave the ship, as soon as possible.
Soon, she found herself, in what looked to be a Medbay, with all sorts of diagnostic equipment, patient beds, medicines, treatments, etc. As she lay there, Trance injected her.
"The nanobots should take care of most of your injury" she told Ivette.
"Thanks." Soon, she would was patched up, and Ivette sat up. "How long before I can leave? No offense, but I *..need to be somewhere"
"Well, I need you here to make sure that there are no lingering effects, but you can use one of the guest quarters."
"Great!" With that Ivette got up.
The next day, on the Maru, Beka and Harper were making various repairs, and upgrades.
"Did you hear about the hot babe in Medlab?" Harper asked Beka, already thinking of the posibilities.
"Don't get your hopes up." Beka commented. "She's was probably Dylan's date, the woman got injured in a bar*."
"For your information, she isn't!" Harper retorted. "Trance told me"
"Yeah, but Dylan seems to like her." Beka said, pushing bottons on the counsel of the Maru's Cockpit. "You know how he gets. All smiles,and charm"
"And none of the craziness" Harper finshed.
Ivette, for her part, impatiently went to hydroponics on Trance's advice. Dylan, that was his name, ahd offered a tour, but she refused, not wanting to give him ideas. While his efforts to restore the Systems Commonwealth, a bigger version of the Federation in her eyes, wascommendable, she had no interest in him. However, she obviously got VIP quarters, as her bedroom, and living room were quite big. Also, there was quite a surprise for her at the lavatory: water!.
"Let me get this straight.." Ivette thought "This*commonwealth
can make sentient ships, but still use recycled water as a cleaning tool*.."
For her, water was something you swim in, not wash yourself with, as she
had been used to solar showers.
Soon, there was a knock.
"Ivette?" It was Dylan in front of Ivette's door.. "May I come in"
"No*I'm trying to take a nap." Ivette answered, wanting to avoid him.
"Okay, I was wondering, if you'd be interested in *Dinner, in the mess hall"
"Thanks, but*..I'm on a diet" Ivette answered.
"Okay." With that, Dylan went down the hall.
Moodily, Ivette found herself in a delimma; she either miss the chance to explore this very alien ship, or risk running into captain annoying. Then,she got an idea.
"Andromeda?"
"Yes?" Ship Andromeda Answered her.
"Where is Captain Anno*I mean Hunt?"
"He's at the basketball court."
"Thanks!" So, to Hydroponics she went.
Once there, Ivette found herself amazed by the variety of fauna. It was beautiful! Plants of all colors, shapes, and sizes lived together and prospered. Despite a long hour self-tour, Ivette still was not tired of all the beautiful flowers.
"Enjoying yourself?" Dylan asked. "So*are you going to let your 3 husbands know what happened?" Dylan knew it wasn't true.
Ivette didn't know what to say, as she figured that Dylan didn't mean what he just said.
"So*now that you nap is over**would you like to join me for dinner?"
"Fine*..sure.." Ivette had a plan. "When?""How about in three hours?"
"Sure*.." Ivette smiled inwardly at her plan.
Having borrowed something from the ship's storage thanks to Trance, Ivette was ready to put her plan into action.
Dinnertime came, and Ivette went to Dylan's quarters. The place was as spacious as hers, with an oval table, a couch, bedroom, lavatory, etc. The table, set up for two, looked nice, though odd. When she sat down, Captain Annoying, was across the table from her and they started to eat. The food was okay, but the wine*bleh..she did not like it.
"So, tell me about yourself" Dylan said.
Instead of answering, Ivette forwent the utensiles, grabbed food with her hands, and stuffed it in her month, slurping wine very loudly, like she'd seen Klingon soldiers do.
Dylan just looked at her, wrinkling his forehead.
"You were saying?" she deliberatly had her month half open and full.
"Nothing*. uh**finish your food"
"Thanks!." She continued her act, enjoying ever moment of it.
Dylan knew that this was not the way that Ivette normally ate. HoloAndromeda would have mentioned it.
However, in her pursuit to be convincing, Ivette started to choke and cough. Before Dylan could intervene, whatever was stuck in her throat came out of her month.
"Maybe you should eat at a slower pace" Dylan suggested. "I know you can do it"
"Are you saying I'm a slob!?!!" Ivette fiegned anger. "How dare you! I'm leaving!!!" With a dramatic pounding of the table, she got up, but Dylan hindered her exit by gently holding her arm, which he enjoyed the feel of, with its softness and warmth.
"I didn't imply anything" He whispered to her.
"You not willing to accept me as I am!" She yelled, trying to get out of Dylan's hold.
"For someone who always eats without chewing you sure choke easily." He said simply. Ivette knew the game was up, he figured that this wasn't the way she usually ate.
"Your point?" Ivette retorted.
"Why?"