Post 17: Xo'I and Sabotage

Posted on Sun Nov 15th, 2020 @ 12:18am by Lieutenant Timmoz & Lieutenant Nico Oliveria

Mission: Episode 2 - The Next Phage
Location: Timmoz's Quarters
Timeline: Prior to the Away Mission

"Computer, disable fire control systems." With a gritty sound, Timmoz struck an old-fashioned match. In a faint bluish light, he held the glow of orange fire up to his face. Timmoz had a slight fondness to fire, how it seemed alive and organic. He studied it, taking a moment to breathe in the ozonous scent of the struck match head. He smirked and lowered it to singe three stalks of incense. The match halfway burnt, he swayed it over to a pair of candles- one on either side of an altar.

He waved the match through the hot, still air of his quarters, extinguishing it. He set it down on a ceramic teacup-like piece of pottery on a piece of copper-threaded black silk. Ornate symbology moved through the glossy table garment, born of geometry. But Timmoz focused on a small elastic band. He picked it up, stretched it over the beak-shape of his fingers and the began to gather back into a tight ball his mass of curls. With practiced ease, he pulled his hair into a bun.

That was when the doorbell sang.

The chief engineer considered that he had never been to his boyfriend's quarters. For some reason, they had always wound up at his, but Nico hadn't had the chance to discuss the holodeck adventure's abrupt end earlier in the day, and he figured that presented an excellent excuse to invade the other's space. He was sure the isolinear chip Timmoz has flashed him had caused the malfunction, especially after he had examined the system himself.

Nico smirked as he stepped up to the new second officer's doors, knowing he wasn't distraught with his partner's actions, the Vegan tapped the doorbell and leaned against the frame, rolling a chip between his fingers as he waited. As the door hissed open, he wagged the chip back an forth in front of Timmoz, grinning, "Hey Ashka, buy me a drink?"

The doors parted to the unique waft of Orion body chemistry, a perfume of sorts. The tall Orion rolled his shoulders, his thin pecs before the Vegan. Timmoz's narrow face glanced down at the Human with a sidelined smile into a cheek. Eyes fell on the chip and that smile smirk broadened into a toothy Orion smile. His eyes half-lidded, "Oh. Well. Won't you come in?" The Orion turned around and led Nico into his quarters... which didn't look much at all like anyone else's.

In fact, it was less Starfleet than a chapter of Vulcan Love Slave III: Undercover on Kolar.

The scent of something bergamot and lavender permeated the air from the sticks of incense, only heavier. Much of the room's sparse Federation decor had been removed and was sitting in a corner. Timmoz had replaced them with dark blue and black silken and beaded tapestries and curtains with strange Sho-I like dividers that created what was probably an office space, and an entertaining space. The chairs and couches were gone, replaced by what appeared to be cushions, beanbags, and a fainting couch. A strange pentagonal device sat in the middle of the entertaining area of which the cushions seemed arranged around. More strangeness: a musical instrument of some kind sat in one corner, looking to be similar to a large trapezoidal xylophone with copper and nickel colored rows of bars.

Timmoz leaned on the bulkhead near the replicator, almost posing with amusement. "Is it what you expected?"

The Human followed Timmoz into the room finding the familiar peaty aroma was mixed with something new. The smells Nico observed were akin to something Earth-like, but more potent, more luscious, and decadent. Turning to answer his boyfriend, Nico provided a cheeky smile that quickly spread into a broad grin, "No, not at all, but I imagine you expected that considering your gleeful stance." The Vegan chuckled and moved toward the odd musical instrument looking away from Timmoz, "I love the room, though. It's very unique, very... you. So do you play, or is this for show?" He turned back towards the Orion, smirking, "Is it even a musical instrument?"

Pushing off his perch, Timmoz sauntered over to the small Engineer and his instrument. His scent wafted against Nico's neck as he leaned around him to pick up two warm reddish wooden hammers. "It's a musical instrument," he confirmed. "Called a Tigan Mira." Timmoz's other ropey arm position behind Nico, closing him in. "I'm not very good. It's a sound I like. Reminds me of home. I'd like to learn to play it better someday." Timmoz tapped a few strings: it had a warm, rounded sound that was somewhere between a piano and a harp.

Nico sighed and nibbled at his bottom lip as Timmoz enveloped him, enjoying the sound of the instrument, "Sounds wonderfully inviting." He was tempted, more than tempted, to submit to Timmoz's whims, but he ducked and spun to face the hammer-wielding Orion, his nostrils flared slightly, not in a negative way, but more so as the Botchoki's scent coated his olfactory. Nico flicked his tongue across his lips to moisten them, smirking, "You still haven't offered me that drink, Ashka."

Timmoz turned with his tilted Cluros smile, a chortle pushing out of his throat. "Alright," he said as he twisted enough to put the hammers back. "A drink." The long and lanky one put his hands behind his back; Timmoz strode by the smaller Engineer with studying, bemused eyes. He approached the replicator. Dark eyes glanced at the Human again. Timmoz wasn't sure what he wanted. "One Caipirinha. One Kanar." The white light of glowed across Timmoz's green skin and two drinks appeared: a cloudy green iced drink with lime and a straw, and a murky, viscous peach-colored liquid in a thin, beaker-like glass.

Timmoz picked them up and, with a smirk, put them behind his back. "Choose one," he rumbled with teasing.

Nico harumphed, lightly, and drew his mouth into his right cheek. Striding forward, he placed his chest against the other's, and the ethnic Brazillian drew a finger, along the top of his nail, the length of Timmoz's bicep. Tilting his head up, Nico breathed onto his boyfriend's long verdant neck, "Hmm. Have you had Caipirinha before? It must be dreadfully cold in those, furnace-like palms of yours." He stopped his finger and tapped it against Timmoz's right bicep, making his choice.

Timmoz's eyes dropped and he hummed in his throat, something between affirmation and acquiescence. His smiled almost ruefully into a cheek. Timmoz had hoped the game would last a bit longer but the Human had it right. With the clink of ice, Timmo'z produced the cold green drink. "Too sweet for my taste," he acknowledged in the same rumble as before. He let Nico take it and then pulled the flute of Kanar up for himself. "You win."

Nico accepted the proffered beverage with a giggle and backed away slightly so they could both enjoy them. Taking a sip, he sighed, "You've been reading up on Brazil I see." He savored the sweet citrus flavors before glancing at the glass, "Did you change the recipe? The cachaça almost tastes normal. Though anything is better than what you are drinking." The Vegan visibly shuddered as he recalled the memory, "A dare during the Academy that I should never have accepted."

Timmoz shook his head, "No. No changes from me," he confirmed. "Maybe they improved the matrix the last time this bucket put in for a refit." The lanky Orion sipped the savory, soy-like acidity of a bad Cardassian Kanar approximation. It was no Meridor. But Meridor, like Kanar, did not translate to replication well. Who would willingly give up the good stuff so one could dump it into a matrix analyzer for synthesis? No one.

He canine-smiled and shook his head at the little Human. "I can think of worse dares." He gestured to Nico with his drink, "But I've never met a Human that appreciated Kanar." He looked at his drink, "I don't much appreciate their best guess." He crossed his legs, ankle hooking across ankle, "What are we drinking to?" He grinned, "Besides sabotage?"

Nico grinned toothily at the verdant wolf as he sashayed across the room, settling into one of the beanbag chairs. Tilting his drink back and forth, he allowed the ice to clink against the moistened glass, "Sabotage yes, but most importantly, you sticking it to Karim." A cheeky grin spread across the Human's face, "Unfortunately, the evidence appears to have evaporated during my repair, what a pity, yes?"

"I like Karim," Timmoz observed, seating himself on the fainting couch. But he failed to complete the image, not reclining into it. Instead, he sat in a very Human-like fashion, feet parted to shoulder width, and leaning his tall body forward to rest hand on his knee. "But he likes mind games. He likes to test people by funneling them into the stereotypes he perceives they are." He smiled again, "But he doesn't like being tested the same way. I don't do rat races and controlled experiments." He sipped his kanar. "When I have free time, I choose my amusements. And my amusements don't involve being a guinea pig."

Timmoz lifted his brows, "Why else would he recreate a world where violence or drinking were your only options? In a timeline of romanticized Human barbarity?"

"He does press my buttons," Nico admitted as he swirled his drinks, not seeming to pay any attention to the beaded droplets dropping to his tunic. "Why put non-Humans in the mix? Wait, a better question might be, why did he add a Human to the mix? I was the only Human there." He pursed his lips and looked across to Timmoz, "I wonder what his end goal was, and how do you know what a guinea pig is?" He snickered as he pictured a young Timmoz tending to his pet guinea pigs while polishing his chukaree.

Timmoz smirked at Nico's last question and shook his head. "Does it matter?" He asked in a low rumble. He finished his Kanar, tilting his head back. His long throat undulated it down. "There are plenty of Humans on the ship. And it's... clear... more than Humans knew the myths. The theme isn't unique to Earth. Idealized pocket of civilization in a Dark Age? Idealized characters? Stereotrypical villains?" Timmoz suspected that Nico was getting at that Karim had targeted him.

The Human harumphed in acquiescence and followed Timmoz in finishing his drink, "Perhaps that part was just a coincidence, but I would still like to know what he had planned for the outcome." One side of his smile drew up his cheek, coyly, "Perhaps, next time, some alterations could be made, something more subtle. Where it would be suspicious for him to draw attention to the changes? Not that I, a good and loyal Starfleet officer, would ever do such a thing." Nico winked at the Orion and moved onto the fainting couch next to him. The Orion's peaty aroma wafted across his olfactory as he sat, now a familiar scent for the young engineer. Pointing to a pair of lit candles, he wondered if it was some sort of altar, "So, did I interrupt something, a ritual?"

Timmoz, through a silent smirk, told Nico that he had little doubt of Nico's skills- or potential deviousness- he was willing to deploy to spoil the Counselor's machinations again. Timmoz allowed his bare shoulder to graze Nico's. He smiled again, "Ritual? No. Most of us don't have much in the way of rituals anymore." He raised an eyebrow, "Beyond our personal idiosyncrasies. The Uryei and Velodi would cut my tongue out and call me a dirty blue Botchoki for saying that." He shrugged with graceful, bored ease. "The candles... because I like fire. And the incense is home." He shifted, rising his shoulders to bend his arms about his head. Timmoz stretched. "Xo'i-shi burn it in the male sanctums to give us rest from Talata-Vero."

Nico took a moment to admire the Orion's lithe physique while he stretched. The engineer turned to the candles, their flickering flames reflecting off Nico's dark eyes, "There is something entrancing about fire, isn't there? The way it holds back the darkness makes me feel safe in its presence." Nico tilted his head towards Timmoz and smiled while peeling off his uniform tunic, revealing the Starfleet issue squared tanktop underneath, "Looks like I've gotten used to the lower humidity usually found on starships. You don't mind, do you?" Nico smirked as he swirled a finger around the top of Timmoz's shoulder, enjoying the contact.

Timmoz looked on with a small smile, "I don't mind," he attested with ease. Timmoz had learned to enjoy the Human's broader- if shorter- physique: the swoop of strong pecs, his pale pink qualities, and his fair skin. He didn't shift, only stared forward, "I don't know how many myths in the universe go around fire and its protectiveness. But it's probably one of the few which is about the same across most of us." He turned a smile into his cheek. "Do Humans find a dark romance," his fingers brushed down Nico's bicep, "In what's found in the darkness beyond the fire too?"

The small engineer sighed at the feverish touch; a contented smile adorned his face as he looked back into the fire, "Mmhmm, or at least a lot of us do. You've been to Vega or a reasonable facsimile of it." Nico turned back to Timmoz, himself a darkened forest green shadow as the Human's eyes adjusted, "I was raised in the darkness, but there are countless volumes of literature and media devoted to romanticized views of the night." He nibbled on a lip as he allowed his eyes to wander over the predator, "Including a great many stories devoted to wolves."

Timmoz's olive fingers stroked up the bulge of Nico's relaxed bicep again, and down. "On Botchok, we have long days and long nights... almost twice as long what you Humans have on your homeworld. But nightfall was always a time to retreat to safety." He ghosted over Nico's bicep again, "There are terrors in the jungle. Zravils... Qollodaris..." he grinned, "Savage animal women who would drink you dry of your life force and leave you a husk of unlife." He drew close and Timmoz's warm breath scattered over Nico's neck flesh, "So, now that you know I've committed sabotage against my superior officers... what will you do? Turn me in?" Timmoz shifted. Knees planted on either side of Nico's hips and the tall, lanky being hovered over the seated Human.

The Human harumphed while also taking comfort in his looming Ashka. He had found the predator frightening when they first met, which had been part of the initial attraction, of course. Though Nico no longer had any qualms about being in vulnerable situations with the Orion, there was no denying the inherent danger Timmoz radiated. Smiling, Nico lifted an arm, cupping the back of the other's warm neck, and craned his head back. Looking up, the Human gazed into the wolf's coffee-colored eyes, feigning seriousness for a moment, "Well, I certainly could." He pursed his lips as if deep in thought, though his eyes sparkled with delight. A huge grin split his face as he giggled, "But I think we can let it slide this time." Pulling on the back of Timmoz's neck, he stole a short kiss from those feverish lips.

The last crackle of Nico's kiss was sound enough. The Orion, once the Human pulled back, tightened lips into a smile. His hands had settled on Nico's shoulders. "I was going to watch a Tatharoc match. You can stay if you want but...." his flat nose wrinkled at the bridge with an impish quality, an eyebrow perked, "Its bloody by your Human..." he grinned with a touch of playful condescension, "Enlightened standards."

Nico emphatically shook his head as the mention of Tatharoc, blood sport was just something the Human couldn't wrap his head around, "Oh no, once was enough for me." He chuckled as he pulled his outer tunic back one, leaving it unzipped, "I should probably get something to eat before bed anyway." He leaned forward and plied his lips against Timmoz's, "I'll be pretty busy tomorrow, we are still trying to complete those repairs on the Port nacelle, but I'm not hopeful we will have it done before we get into orbit. I'm sure it won't be a problem."

Timmoz lingered near the lips, sidling with a long and lanky, ferrety grace back into Nico's orbit. His eyes stayed on Nico's, mouth brushing his, "Fix my engines, Nico. This barge doesn't stop on an Izak," he teased with a rise of his eyebrows. "I don't feel good about being this close to those ghouls in the Solidarity. I don't care how reformed they might have become." He tapped his mouth to Nico's again. "I like my organs where they are."

Nico slipped away from the Orion and straightened. Looking down at his lover, he smirked, "Trust me, Ashka, I have a vested interest in keeping your organs in place." Turning his back to Timmoz slowly making his way towards the door, he added with dramatic flair, "And don't forget they are my engines."

Timmoz chuckled at that, a raven eyebrow rising. He waited until the doors closed and muttered, "We'll see." He said, moving to clean up a few things.

A Post By:

Lieutenant Nico Oliveria
Chief Engineer

Lieutenant Timmoz
Chief Helmsman