The Last Peaceful Night
Posted on Thu Mar 7th, 2024 @ 12:52am by Daniel Martinez & Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver
Edited on on Thu Mar 7th, 2024 @ 12:52am
969 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Home Sweet Home
Location: Kaitos: The Jewel Hotel
Timeline: MD1: 0000 hours
Some three hours after meeting up with the men of the Intrepid for a “Guy’s Night Out” as Doctor Gocx had called it on the invitation, Max was still quite awake. Like Lorut and their new arrival, Scott Jones, Max had to be back on duty in forty eight hours.
There was a lot to fit in during their short stay planetside. Max and Dani were sharing their last night together at the Jewel, the Kaitos’ most posh hotel. All in all, Max would have felt better on the ship, in his own bed. The thrum of the warp core, the slight vibration that everyone grew accustomed to and subsequently missed in the absence thereof. In the mid-morning, he and Dani would make for Lua Thelenas and his family home. The next day, he would be back here, in the Capitol city, to meet with the Council of Elders.
’So much for rest and relaxation,’ he thought somewhat sourly.
Staring out over the City that Never Sleeps, A’ransari, Max sighed. He’d give up hanging high in the air, some ten thousand meters high, just for a wink of sleep.
Max was startled when Dani wrapped him in a warm blanket, Dani’s body heat suddenly reminding him how cool it was at these altitudes - even with the air and temperature shield. The sudden warmth sent a tingle down his spine.
“Busy thinking?” Dani asked quietly, his chin rested gently on Max’s bare shoulder. The blanket trapping him as much as warming him.
“Not really…well, yes. But it’s not anything important. Except that everything is important,” Max rambled.
“So you’re worried. Is about your family?” Dani asked rightly. A concern that he shared but not a concern that would make a difference between them. They had already agreed on that several times in the months and days leading up to being on the precipice of the event.
Max shook his head. “There is precedence for familial consorts, besides, they’re going to love you,,” he assured Dani, though he wasn’t really certain about the truth of the situation. Not until they were face-to-face tomorrow. Communication is different across subspace as opposed to being there in person.
“The Council of Elders is just a Starfleet duty. A ceremony of continued cooperation despite the recent thefts of their supplies. A problem even they can’t solve. Besides, the Intrepid has resupplied Kaitos for the next six months.”
Dani sighed with frustration. “¡Jesús Cristo! You are killing me,” Dani said, pressing his face into a Max’s back with a sigh.
Max let his head fall a bit. “Alright, if you must know…I’m not thrilled to be standing before the Council of Elders. I’m sure that, by now, they’ve been informed of my ‘late blooming’ in regards to my inherent skills.”
“El-Aurians are known listeners, empathic,” Dani responded quietly to Max’s admission. “But your powers are stronger than that. If you try to hide that, they’ll sense you are hiding something. If you confirm that you’re more powerful, they will want to see it.”
“Mmmhmm,” Max responded, his eyes floating over the city below. “I don’t have any desire to confirm an exponential increase in the abilities of my people, but if I hide or deny it…well, they’ll know.”
“Then you’ll have to find a third way,” Dani asserted. “You’ll have to do something that will draw your attention away from your abilities and distract them altogether.”
“Easier said than done,” Max decided.
“We have all day tomorrow to think about it. Your meeting with the Elders isn’t until the day after, right?” Dani asked, his fingers lazily grazing Max’s ribs. “I don’t know why you still keep secrets after all we have already been through.”
The blanket slipped as Dani’s hands explored in the dark, but the chill drew up around them again. Despite being closely pressed together, the temperature had dropped while they talked and it had grown too cold for any thoughts beyond getting warm again.
“Needless worry,” Max reassured Dani be fore they both rushed to the warmth of the bedroom.
Both sides of the bed already disturbed beyond turned down, the couple slipped back under the covers. True to form, Max’s pajama pants slipped up his thighs. He spent the best few minutes fidgeting with his pants bottoms before managing to get them to settle properly.
“Maybe you can wear your pants to the El-Aurian Council?” Dani suggested from his pile of blankets and pillows. “That would be distraction enough from whatever else you should be thinking about.”
Despite it not being seen, a bright smile spread across Max’s face. “You have something else I should be thinking about?” he asked, burrowing through the fortress of fluffy and blankets before his cold hands reached warm skin.
“¡Ay! It’s cold. Get off!” Dani screamed, even as he grabbed Max’s hand.
“Oh, I don’t think so…”
“Good,” Dani responded, pulling Max into his world of warmth and blankets, fleece and pillows.
With Max’s head resting on his bare chest, his arms wrapped around Dani’s waist, he felt the first effects of exhaustion. A heavy tug on his mind and a realization of an intense headache. The wall he built in his mind had caused that. Max let it all go as Dani ran his fingers through his thick hair. As Vi did occasionally, when he was troubled, Dani did now.
Coupled with the rhythmic rise and fall of Dani’s chest and his slow heartbeat, Max let go of the waking world. Content…if only for a moment.
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