Pool Party [Back Post Part Two]

Posted on Thu Feb 9th, 2023 @ 4:19pm by Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Commander Vianola Paxidor & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell & Lieutenant JG Evelyn Stewart & Xavier X-1

3,163 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Captain Culver’s House
Timeline: After Party Vibes

Max downed a Seleyan Sunset as he sat at the edge of the pool. He was only on his second drink of the night, but the Seleyan alcohol was starting to hit. He could feel himself relaxing a bit more as he watched his crew entertaining each other in the warm water.

Xavier wasn't quite sure why biologics were so modest that they required privacy to change, or that they needed to wear anything while they swam. But that was the custom, especially among the folks he was currently connected with, so he went along without questioning or voicing his opinion. When he stepped out of the cabana, he was wearing a pair of brilliantly white swim trunks that ended an inch and a half above his knees. He was carrying a cooler of drinks. He sat it down and opened a bottle of an amber liquid that more the title Killian's Red. He took a long swig, trying to decide if he liked it or not.

Rena led the two other women out the door behind the Captain. She wasn't going to swim, but she'd dip her feet in. She made herself comfortable on a lounger, arranging her heavyset figure so that she was laying back but still able to converse with folks. With luck, she'd not fall asleep. "Hello, Captain. Xavier." She said, in turn.

"Hello," Xavier returned.

Stewart made her way inside after her conversation with the XO. She was quick to replicate and change into a simple two-piece swimsuit. Evelyn was far from modest about her body and didn’t hesitate in her choice. She braided her hair quickly and made her way out to the pool to join the others. Finishing her glass, she poured herself her third glass of Romulan ale before slipping into the pool. Though the water was warm, it was still cooler than the balmy air and the adjustment made her gasp briefly as she got used to it.

Swimming into the pool Evelyn looked at the others. “Come on, someone has to join me. Captain?” she asked as a challenge.

Max smiled. Sitting in the deep end, he stood and dove into the water gracefully. Coming up for air, he realized he’d made it halfway across the pool, putting his feet down, he could stand.

“Xavier? Jack?” Max shouted, inviting the others in.

The android had some experience with swimming, but it had been a while, back on his homeworld before the Romulans had tried to reprogram him. Logic would dictate that he start in the shallow end and work his way to the deep end. But he was trying to be human, so he didn't worry about logic. He moved to the diving board, bounced on the edge, and dove in. It wasn't the prettiest dive ever, but it landed him in the water and he was able to swim to the edge without looking like he was going to drown.

Jack followed suit, jumping in so that he splashed water everywhere. “Now it’s a party!” Jack exclaimed, shoving a tidal wave of water toward Max.

Max felt the water collide with the back of his head. His hair flopped in every direction. With a quick dip of his head backward, his hair was slicked back.

“Rena! Vi! Are you going to join?” he asked playfully.

Vi stuck her hand up as if to tell them all to wait as she moved into the house to change. She slipped out of her dress and replicated a sleek two-piece and reappeared back at the side of the pool. Her body was slim, toned and she felt not much to look at, personally.

Taking a step at the edge of the deeper end she tied her hair into a ponytail and dived in with perfect poise and grace only to reappear on the surface moments later. She wiped the water from her face over the top of her head and hair and looked at the group. "Satisfied now?" she laughed.

Rena shook her head. The regular, black one-piece swimsuit she had brought was far more modest than the other females' and she felt a bit out of place. "No, Betazoids don't swim." It was a lie, and she was only half Beta, but she couldn't think of anything better that sounded convincing.

Max swam to the low end of the pool and settled onto the ridge for sitting. “Oh, poo poo!” he shouted. “You Betazoids definitely swim and get married au natural. Don’t tell me you can’t swim, you’re being posted to a seabase, and despite my seeming nonchalant attitude, I do my homework. I wouldn’t have invited a non-swimmer to Triton Seabase.”

Rena shook her head at the Captain. "I'm only HALF Betazoid!! But I promise, NEXT TIME, I'll swim."

“Okay, drinks and then questions!” Max exclaimed. It was probably a bad idea.

Evelyn swam to the edge of the pool to retrieve her ale and took a sip. She grinned at Max’s suggestion mischievously. “Oh, that could be dangerous!” She said with a laugh, taking another long sip.

Xavier got out of the pool as the Captain was speaking and moved to the diving board. Then he did some quick equations in his head and when dove in the second time, he turned a flip. Which looked spectacular, until he overcompensated and landed on his back with enough force to have driven the wind out of his lungs had he been human.

Vi merely just blinked at Xavier. She had no idea what to think about what she had just seen. Impressive initially it may have been but the finish could use some work. She had found it hard to go near Xavier, he was a synth. She knew it wasn't his people that attacked Mars, but it didn't alleviate her feelings.

"What kind of questions?" she asked. "That's usually my job."

Max had reached the deep end of the pool and drank his drink in one gulp. “Let’s start with something rather innocent. Who was your first kiss?” Max asked teasingly.

Vianola thought as she swished her hands in the water. "Braern Ravawynn, when I was 13 at the back of Professor Torbanise's class on the politics of El Auria. It was cold, we were in the Education ship Volsa... Kaitos hadn't been found yet and I remember he tasted of norla berries." she felt her hands move up to her lips as she was almost transported back to that moment in her past.

She felt eyes on her as if her description was a bit of an overshare. "What? Her classes were borin' and Braern was hot. Think we did get sent to the Headmistress for that one..."

Rena leaned back to watch carefully as each person interacted with the next. The Synth did a backflip, and she winced; that would've HURT had it been anyone else. She listened to their confessions, too, about their first kiss. Her's wasn't NEARLY as exciting. She looked carefully at the CSTO; what was SHE hiding?!

“I have to admit I’ve reached an age and kissed so many people, I can’t remember who was first,” Jack said. “But I can tell you who was best, her name was Ember and like an ember, she was low, slow, and burned me up inside.”

Rena gave a quick chuckle at Jack. "That explains a lot, really."
She went on. "Mine wasn't that great. His name was Michael Wilson; he was in my class when my dad was stationed on the USS Issedon.

“We had a little dance for the teenagers at the school; I think one of the moms suggested it. Anyway, he was my date, and his dad worked with mine, so I think that's why I was allowed to. It was at the end of the dance, he dropped me off at our suite, kissed my cheek, and walked away. They transferred off the ship not long after. I heard he was in the Fleet, but I've never followed up with him." She giggled a little.

Max came from the bar with another drink. He could see the android doing some likely geometry in his head to determine why his body hadn’t made it through to the perfect dive. “Xavier! How about you? First kiss?!”

Xavier cocked his head as he usually did when responding to a question. "I have not had one," he replied.

Max was not yet inebriated enough to actually kiss the android. It could well occur before the end of the night. “Who is next?” Max asked dramatically.

Evelyn listened to everyone’s stories with amusement as she poured herself another Romulan ale before sinking back into the water. She took another healthy sip before leaving her glass at the edge. “Like everyone else I was about thirteen.”, she commented with a shrug. “I spent a summer on Bajor. Mersa was the neighbor of the family I was staying with. He was a little older than I was and was studying Bajorian poetry. I was not pleased when my brother returned from his delivery and I had to leave. I didn’t speak to him for a week.”

“What about you, Captain?”, Stewart asked Max, teasingly. She was sharp enough to notice he had not actually answered himself.

“Oh?!” Max exclaimed as if he hadn’t realized he’d been caught escaping his own question. “I’d love to tell you it was Braern because that would be hilarious. “Truth is, I was twelve and ‘dating’ a girl.” Max put up air quotes as he said dating. “She saw me after a summer break and stuck her cold, wet tongue in my mouth without warning. I just remember I didn’t like it.”

"You kiss with your tongue?" Xavier asked. "That is odd. Is it supposed to be enjoyable?"

“When done properly, a kiss with the tongue-or a French kiss - can be quite enjoyable. When someone just sticks their tongue in your mouth without warning, that could be off-putting. Never go in with the tongue first, my friend,” Max explained.

"I will endeavor to remember that if I ever get the chance."

“Okay, okay…next question. Why did most of us join Starfleet? Or the Rangers for that matter?”

"Piss off my da..." Vi blurted out as her glazed over eyes returned to focus once she'd realised what she had said. "Well, I mean, Starfleet is obviously a nice place to join but truthfully, at the start at least, I didn't want to join the Kaitos Defence Fleet." she shrugged. "My family come from a line of those that have toed the El-Aurian line because they had to. Here, there were other choices and I took one."

Rena listened carefully; learning "private" information about the rest of her crewmates was nice. It humanized them to each other; helped to heal long-standing wounds, or forge new friendships based on a shared commonality. It was her training, sure, but it was also her empathy telling her these things. She stood, carefully, and excused herself a minute. She went inside to use the restroom, but also for a moment's break. This question would open up old wounds. Wounds she didn't want, and wasn't ready, to discuss with ANYONE yet except her own personal counselor. She fixed herself a STRONG drink from the replicator, and then headed back outside, her sunny smile plastered back on her face. After settling back down in her lounger, she sipped the drink, set it down carefully, and then looked to Max. "My father was Starfleet. So was my mother, actually. Dad was an enlisted Engineer. Mom was a civilian nurse. They met during the war." Her voice was soft, her look was faraway-she was remembering her father. His death had been tragic-she knew that now-but had been TOLD he'd died in war. While it was war-adjacent, it wasn't how her mother had said. She found herself gulping the drink-out of character for her.

"What brought you all here?" Now, THAT was a safe question.

Jack rescue me from being a coatrack, and turned me on," Xavier said, then realizing how his words could be misconstrued, corrected himself. "He restored me. He was a Ranger, so I followed in his footsteps."

Jack sighed heavily. “After the Federation abandoned the outer colonies, I found myself in a workforce. Very difficult work, but I built myself a place there.

“One day, we didn’t meet quotas, so a group of Orions slaughtered every living thing that they could set eyes on. Damn Orions,” Jack might have spat if they weren’t in the pool. “Good thing they can’t count and think all humans look alike.

“When they left, I found the Strider and I knew of the Rangers, so I made enough noise. Plenty of people were already thinking me a Ranger, so they watched my work and gave me the official title. Now, I’m a Ranger.”


Evelyn gave a subtle look of disapproval to Jack. She didn’t like the Rangers and saw them as lawless vigilantes. At least the Maquis were fighting for their homes, most of them. The Rangers accepted anyone into their ranks, as clearly evident by Jack’s story.

“I was pressured to join Starfleet. My lifestyle was beginning to become untenable.” Evelyn answered about what brought her to Starfleet. She didn’t like talking about her past before Starfleet. She wasn’t ashamed of her time on Desmond’s ship, but she would only give out certain but if information so she could control the narrative.

Rena listened to each in turn, realizing too late that a question she thought was innocuous was anything but. "I am just here because Max asked," she said, with a shrug. Starfleet employed, at her last count, 375 counselors across its registry, why her, she STILL didn't know. "As for Starfleet, I was born into it. My dad joined as soon he turned 18; Betazed had just joined the Federation, and my mom had joined as civilian to get away from home." Her mother's home life hadn't been great.

Even Max could tell a few of those stories were guarded and he didn’t need to be a ‘listener’ or a counselor to figure that out. Either way, it seemed his turn to answer. “I remember being six and telling my dad that I wanted to fly out into the stars. He usually scoffed and lectured me about El Aurian obligations and producing the next generation.

“But my papa, um, Grandfather, would say, “Maxy boy, you’ll fly out to those stars and farther than anyone has ever gone. Now, I’m not sure about farther than anyone has ever gone, but I have flown out into these stars and set foot on so many planets. Every time we talk, he’s always got to say how proud he is. He’s excited about the seabase and the Romulans, so maybe we are going farther than ever before?”

“Is it too saucy to ask how everyone’s first time went down, ah, no pun intended?” Max asked both sheepishly and drunkenly as he picked up a black hole that lined the exterior of the pool.

“I’m happy to admit, I’ve not had a first time. I’ve always thought it should be with my wife. We are already promised to each other, so it would be disrespectful, I think, to proceed with a relationship,” Max said, part truth and part lie.

"Wife?" Xavier asked, "Betrothed?” The ancient Terran Jews had a similar practice. "But I thought you were interested in Jack, and he is most definitely not a woman."

Rena's ears also perked up at Max's words. Her questions were asked out loud by the Ranger; good, she might not be able to have stopped herself from asking MORE inappropriate questions and getting escorted out, embarrassing herself, her father's name, the goddesses, and all the members of the 8th house. "I am aware it's common in some races, Xavier," she said, instead, trying to smooth things out.

"Not all of our race." Vianola corrected the impression. "There are those amongst El Aurians that do follow more 'traditional' routes. Larger houses, those of power, and those who simply follow the tradition do believe in arranged marriages and whatnot. Causes some to rebel." she hinted at her own situation.

“Mine is a large and very traditional house,” Max explained as he grabbed another black hole. “Sometime around my one hundred and fiftieth birthday, I’ll be recalled for the wedding ceremony and required to stay until the next brooding. Our children will be strong, intelligent, and beautiful. Genetic profiling has already assured that, and more, they will be disease free for over a thousand years.”

Max drank the black hole and retrieved another. “Jack, Jack, Jack. He chases and I retreat. He thinks it’s a game, so I let him play, Xavier. Maybe because he intrigues me or maybe because he’s handsome. Or both, I don’t know.”

Max found a floating device and moved it so he could get in without spilling his drink. “Anyway, all of that is a hundred years away. A hundred and thirty-four if you count having children. A lot can happen between now and then…”

Instead of commenting, Evelyn just drank more and more Romulan ale and watched the conversation with amusement. She could see the captain was clearly drunk and was more than entertaining as the alcohol loosened his lips. She knew better than to give any details about her own liaisons, instead being content to enjoying the banter of the crew.

"Well here is enjoying the years in between then." Vi somewhat raised her glass and took a drink. "I for one will be enjoying life free from the shackles of home expectations." And she took another drink... the stuff was stronger than she thought.

Xavier had drunk his fair share of the ale, but unlike the others, was not feeling any of its effects Chocolate could get him intoxicated, alcohol on the other hand could not. He didn't say anything about it though, he just watched what was going on between all the organics.

“Alright,” Max said, hearing his own words slur. Reading the room, Max decided it was maybe quiet time and time to let people pair off for conversations. “Computer play Caribbean playlist, background level medium.”

He splashed his way over to the side of the pool and slurped up another black hole. With a suddenly brilliant idea fizzled into his mind. “Computer activate the Hospitality Hologram. Serve drinks for all, or until they leave!”

Max paddled back to an empty area and watched the stars spinning. This was the start of something new for all of them and he wondered how much history they would make in the coming days.

 

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