Riding the Waves

Posted on Thu Mar 9th, 2023 @ 1:57am by Daniel Martinez & Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Lieutenant JG Evelyn Stewart

4,151 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Mission One: Goodwill Tour [Part One]
Location: Golden Towers: North Beach
Timeline: MD9: 1000 hours

Max stepped onto the beach for the second day in a row. This would be his last, and only day off, during their time docked with Golden Towers. The swells were higher today than when he’d gone surfing with S’tera the day before.

Again, he had put out an offer to the crew, but he didn’t expect anyone to join this time. Most of them were mired down in species classification and those who weren’t couldn’t surf.

Max had come to the same beach and was wax combing his board, hoping to catch the largest wave of the day, even if he ended up bucked off it. He knew he was decent, but certainly no professional.

“Back again, I see,” came a deep male voice with a distinctly British accent from behind Max.

Max didn’t startle easily, but he was so busy with his task of wax combing that the accented voice startled him. Turning, he laid eyes on dark hair, blue eyes, impeccable jawline and a body that said he didn’t just surf. Max let his eyes travel over the man and was surprised that he was taller than himself. “I get out as much as I can. It’s one of my favorite hobbies. Besides, the waves were for foamies yesterday,” Max said to the stranger.

The young man flashed Max a good natured grin and nodded in agreement. “Ahh yes, they were a bit mild weren’t they?” He asked rhetorically before offering his hand. “Ben Woods. I can see what you mean about not being an amateur. I saw you yesterday with your Caitian friend. You have some skill, but could use a little work on your technique. I’d be happy to help you. I’m an instructor here in the settlement. It would actually be nice surfing with someone who wasn’t a Romulan in over his head for once.”

“It would be a pleasure,” Max replied. “As I said to my Caitian friend yesterday, it’s always more fun to surf with some one than alone, but with my crew, it seems I might be alone more often than not.”

Max took the extended hand. “Captain Max Culver of Triton Seabase,” he introduced himself.

A young man wandered within range of the pair. He’d been fitted in an oversized wetsuit and carried a longboard under his left arm. Clearly not a long time surfer. Maybe even a student.

Max’s felt like his eyes were playing double on him, but this younger man was of Spanish descent. Dark, almost black, wavy, hair hung in wet curls over his blue on blue eyes. He had a gentle face covered with a sheepish look.

“Is this where I go for surf lessons?” his Spanish accent giving him away as an actual Spaniard from Earth.

Max looked to Ben. “I’d love to surf with you and take some pointers. It looks like a foamy just washed up on us though. Take pity on him or take him to his lessons?” Max asked.

“Dani Martinez,” the stranger introduced himself. “No one said my surname was foamy,” he responded almost defiantly. His chin held high, proud.

Ben looked at his new student. “Ready to go, Mr. Martinez?” he asked cheerfully, before noticing how the other two men looked at each other. “Or should I give you a few minutes?”

Max cocked his head curiously. “I was just thinking he’s set up all wrong,” Max answered seriously. “This wetsuit is for someone twice his weight and starting on a longboard is a bad look, Ben. Where’s this rent-a-crap shack you’ve found, Dani?”

Dani looked from one man to the other and didn’t know which was the instructor. Confused, he pointed to one of the colorful little cabanas that lined the beach and hooked tourists like Dani.

“We’ll be right back, Ben. I’m going to get this kid set up right before you take him for his lesson.”

Ben nodded. “Take your time.” He went to get his own board and to prep it for the water.

As they walked across the warm sand, Max could feel the heat building in his wetsuit and a sweat rolled off his forehead. “Dani Martinez. I assume Daniel? And you’re from Spain. What the hell are you doing here on a Romulan planet in the middle of nowhere, wearing a wetsuit two sizes too big and carrying a longboard?”

Dani was caught off guard. “Yes,” he confirmed, “It’s Daniel, from Spain. I am wearing this because some ‘expert’ from your company told me to put it on and gave me this board for surfing. This better not cut into my lesson time,” he finished with a warning.

“Well, my name is Max and I don’t know anything about this lesson company, friend. I’m just going to get you set up for success. I assume you’ve never surfed before?”

Dani felt suddenly ashamed of himself for acting like a spoiled child. “I’m sorry,” he sputtered. “You look so relaxed and ready to surf that I assumed you were a teacher.”

“Nah, it’s all good,” Max said. “We all gotta start somewhere, but let’s get you started right.”

Coming to the shanty shack, Max had words with the employee who looked bored, then annoyed, then furious. By the time he was done, Max turned around with a properly sized surfboard. Handing the wetsuit to Dani, Max said, “They said you know where to change.” He smiled broadly, devilishly.

Evelyn found a spot with her lounge chair in the sand and took a seat in her two piece bathing suit as she began through her PaDD, decrypting the files she downloaded from Starfleet Security’s main database to help her and Callan plan the best extraction mission. Settling in under the sun, she got to work.

Max was leaned against a wooden fence when a cry for assistance came from behind it. Shaking his head and rolling his eyes, Max entered to find his foamy trapped by his fitted wetsuit. Stepping inside with a sigh, Max could tell this was going to be a catastrophe for the records.

First, Max plied Dani’s arms out of the wetsuit, which turned itself inside out to accommodate. He stripped the wetsuit back with efficiency until it was down around Dani’s knees. He couldn’t hide the blush on his face when he discovered the small speedo with a blue flower pattern on a white background, or that he was face to face with particular body parts he wasn’t comfortable being that close to.

With some effort, Max professionally assisted Dani in furthering his wetsuit fitting, even zipping him up from behind. Like any good wetsuit, Dani’s left little to the imagination, as if Max hadn’t already seen him nearly naked. The Terran was, in the human idiom, hot. Physically attractive to the rest of the universe.

Max didn’t believe in love at first sight, but he was immediately and seriously infatuated with the Spaniard. “There that looks a lot better and fits properly,” Max said quietly.

“Now we can get your lesson started.”

Max and Dani walked back down the beach with Dani’s proper board tucked under his left arm. As they trounced through the sand, he asked, “How did you walk here in the suit? It’s hot as hell in this thing!”

Max chuckled as sweat beaded on his own forehead. “You’ll appreciate it once we’re in the water…it’s a bit colder than a heated pool.”

Dani raised his head in a haughty manner before realizing Max was joking about the pool. Too many people associated him with his family and so with great wealth. It was clear that neither Max nor Ben had realized his last name linked him to an expected legacy of continued accumulation of wealth and power.

“Sorry for the wait,” Max said. “Your student needed a bit more help than expected, Ben. Now, can we hit some waves before I sweat my ass off?! There’s not much to spare in that arena.” Max referenced his lack of a big butt. In the Academy, he was teased as “the assless and the classless”. He supposed, in a way, it was still true.

Ben shook his head at the apology. “Not a problem at all. Let’s get out there. Max, I’ll take the first swell with Dani if that’s ok then you and I can go a little deeper to where it’s more of a challenge. Sound good?” he asked, leading them to the water. He gave instruction to Dani on how to take the board down, following it with his body.

Max followed into the ocean, the colder water cooling him inside his wetsuit. The water flowed over his body and Max waited until he was out past the breakers to lay back and dunk his head in the water. It also pulled back the sweaty hair. He watched Ben and Dani as they worked together to try and get the Spaniard on his feet.

From a distance, he watched as Dani spilled, slipped, got dumped and then absolutely thrashed by a few waves. He chuckled to himself, remembering how much he hated it as a child. He wondered if Dani was having the same response.

Max turned so he could look over his shoulder and begin catching some waves. Surfing was about being out on the ocean and waiting for the right wave, he he was surprised that the ocean gave him the exact wave he wanted for his first go.

Max paddled, his arms starting to burn as he started to catch up with the wave before it passed him. And he managed to just get over the edge. As the wave’s momentum moved his board, he stepped up onto his feet and then to a full stand.

Retaining his footing, Max kept ahead of the wave, riding the wave as the wake broke behind him. He slipped his board back and forth by shifting his weight. Almost like snow skiing, or a better correlation, like snowboarding. Max took the wave in almost to where Ben and Dani were still learning, before dumping his board as a foamy cut in front of him.

Ditching the board, Max wanted to prevent hurting himself or the foamy. Once he came up from under the water, Max recaptured his board before yelling about being more careful at the amateur.

Ben watched Dani after he tried, and failed, to ride every minor wave he tried to ride. After the amateur failed yet again, he swam over. “That was better, but remember, don’t rush popping up. Keep your balance by keeping your center of gravity low and to the board. There is no need to stand straight up right away. Watch me.”

Ben swam out and waited for a swell and when he got on top of the wave, waited a minute before popping up on his board low before slowly progressing to stand up fully, riding the edge of the wave and getting air effortlessly. Once he reached shallow waters, he joined the other two. “Shall we go again or we ready to call it for the day?”

Max looked at the student. Dani looked at Ben. “I’ve only rented this gear for one hour.” He looked at his watch. “Even counting the time that Max helped me get set up correctly, I’m over my time limit.”

Max didn’t know how Ben felt about the situation, but he would be disappointed to see the student leave without knowing some kind of follow up.

As if reading his mind, Dani continued, “I’d like to buy you lunch this afternoon. For your kindness, Max, in getting me the right gear and for you, Ben, for a good day eating sandy salt water. For now, though, I think it’s time to just take in some sun and watch some professionals surf the waves. Besides, my arms and legs have been worn out with all this work of surfing.”

Max chuckled. “It gets easier…either way, we’ll let you off the hook, no pun intended. I can’t speak for Ben, but I can do lunch. Gods know, I’ll be starving in about an hour…”

Ben grinned and nodded. “You were my last client of the day, Martinez. Let me just pack up my things and we can head out.” He said in agreement of the plan. He went to the spot on the beach where he had a shirt that he pulled over, grabbing the last of his gear to meet the others.

“Hey Ben,” Max shouted as he caught up. “How about another hour and some tips for me?” he wondered. “If our lunch host doesn’t mind?”

Stuck again in his tangled wetsuit, Max wasn’t even sure Dani could hear him. Making his way quickly, Max dropped his board in the sand and grabbed an arm of the rubbery suit, freeing Dani from its entanglement.

“Gracias,” Dani said as he tugged his other arm out. “This is where it gets interesting, unless you want the whole beach to see you bits and bobs.”

Max chuckled as he looked into Dani’s gorgeous blue eyes. “Grab your suit and then you can settle the rest.”

Dani grabbed his colorful speedo as Max yanked the wetsuit past his waist, just below his suit. “There, settled with your dignity intact.” Max couldn’t help but notice the blush, even over the pink from the sun, heat and struggle to get out of the suit.

“Would you mind if we spent about another hour out on the waves? Ben had said he has some pointers for me?” Max asked their would-be lunch host.

“No,” Dani replied. “It will give me time to catch some sun, grab a drink or two. I definitely need some water, this ocean is very sôltē.”

Max laughed. “Ben, where can our friend rinse off and grab a water or two?”

Ben grinned and nodded as he pointed to a small hut in the distance with a line of showers beside it. “That’s Novol’s place. He’s alright, for a Romulan. Tell him I sent you and he will give you the best rate on water and help you with anything you need.” He said to Dani before turning back to Max. “Ready to get out there and learn how the pros do it?” he challenged playfully.

Max actually laughed. “Alright, pro, let’s get out there are see how you do it.” Max ran into the ocean, excited to get a few tips from a surf instructor.

He dropped his board and dragged it behind himself. At about waist deep, he pulled himself onto the board and began paddling. Once he’d past the breakers, Max found himself in the calm just before the waves broke. There was a slight up and down rhythm that, if you weren’t worried about rolling off the deck of your board, could put you to sleep.

When Ben was not too far away, Max shouted to be heard. “You gonna go first, so you can judge me?” he joked.

Ben laughed as he shook his head and shouted back. “How am I to judge you if I don’t watch you?”, he asked rhetorically, wetting his hair back to his scalp.

“Okay,” Max said, rolling onto his back. “First wave is yours. Let’s hope I get a good wave to follow yours, huh?” Max responded as he pushed back his hair.

Ben waited for the next wave and turned into it as it crest. He performed two aerials before riding it until it finally cutting back and riding the last of the wave. Grinning, he paddled his way back to Max. “Alright, let’s see what you got.”

Max smiled and turned his board. He watched two good waves come and go. A few people took up those waves, but they weren’t what Max wanted.

Finally, he could see her low and slow as she creep in from far out. Max paddled fiercely, farther out and down the coastline before abruptly turning his board. Max waited, his heart pounding not just from the cardio of paddling, but from the adrenaline of expectation. She was going to be a monster.

Max started to paddle, but not for long as the wave picked him up and spilled him down her face. Coming to a position about midway down the wavefront, Max could feel the mist of the barrel chasing him overhead. With a whoop, he picked up speed as he pushed ahead of the barrel. Unlike the day before, no damn foamie thought he would catch this wave.

No, this was Max and the wave dancing alone together. It was the danger of a knife at your neck if you stepped on her toe. Max slowed his dance, bringing the board back into the barrel. One hand raced through the water and the other created sprinkles in the front of the barrrel, indicating he was still riding inside the monster.

From his seat, Dani leaned forward, pulled his sunglasses down and watched Max’s entire ride. “He’s a bit loco, no?” he said to Evelyn. “Crazy son of a bitch!” Dani laughed, but his eyes were like magnets.

Evelyn glanced up from her PaDD, noticing the Spaniard, and watched where he was looking. Seeing her commanding officer, she visibly bit down on her annoyance of not being able to get away from the man. “That’s certainly one way to describe him.”, she commented taking into account the way this stranger was fixated on Max.

“You know this man?” Dani asked. “What do you know about Max?”

Evelyn sighed. First she was half dragging Max out of a Romulan restaurant, now she was getting involved in his love life. What seemed like a million facts about her CO went through her mind, even for only knowing him for less than two weeks. Deciding the best way to get out of this entanglement was to be as minimal as possible, she chose her words careful. "He's a very youthful spirit. He does not know his own limits," she said, not able to keep the annoyance of Culver completely out of her voice.

Stewart went back to her PaDD and decrypting the files she had hacked from the Starfleet Security's high level databanks without another word to the stranger.

Max could feel the energy of the wave begin to wane, so he edged the board downward in the front and leaned down, picking up massive speed. When he felt like he was there, Max launched the board up over the edge of the wave, cutting it sideways. Max was launched a good meter above the wave and turned his board in two 360 degree turns before dropping the board and disappearing behind the wave with a smile and a wave of his own.

Max regained his board and caught one of the smallest waves, just enough to bring him back to the sand. He had to tuck his board under his arm and walk nearly a half mile through the wet sand before he found their would-be student. Somehow, Dani had found himself in a chair beside Evelyn Stewart.

Ben grinned as he made his way over to Max, nodding in approval. “That’s pretty good. We’ll have to make this a regular thing to up your skills. There are a couple things you could work on to up your game. But for now, I think we should get back to Mister Martinez.” Ben looked around for Dani. “Any idea where he went?”

Max pointed over to the chairs where Dani and Evelyn reclined in the sun. Max smiled, Dani’ cheeks were red with the sun and heat. Evelyn looked unbothered.

“I was just about to annoy your student. Daniel Martinez,” Max added a flair of Spanish accent to Dani’s name. “I believe he owes us lunch?” Max suggested.

Ben nodded in agreement. "I do believe so. Lead the way, Culver." He still wasn't exactly able to pinpoint the novice surfer in the crowd, trusting that Max knew where he was.

As Ben and Max came into view, Dani stood up and waved his arms, “Over here!” he shouted through the crowd of people. He tried it once or twice more, but the noise between them must have been too loud.

Max could see he was about to be annoyed enough to leave his chair behind. Max waved his hand and the Spaniard smiled, please he had caught their attention, finally.

“Tell me you didn’t just see him waving his arms like a tourist,” Max chuckled at Ben. “Might be best for one of us to watch his bill and his thumbprint today,” Max suggested.

Max and Ben reached the chairs where Dani had managed to find the one person Max had spent too much time with on this shore leave. “Evelyn, I see you’ve managed to meet surf student extraordinaire, Dani Martinez. I’ll let his instructor make his own introduction.”

Max looked from one to the other before sitting down on the foot rest of Dani’s chair. Either Dani had impeccable time or the Gods really had a running joke for Max.

“Well,” Max said as he quickly stripped off the top half of his wetsuit. “I need to grab my bag and head down to Novol’s so I can get a shower. You’d probably prefer I wore clothes to lunch too.”

Dani spit out his mouthful of water right on Max. “You’re not wearing anything under your wetsuit?” he asked incredulously.

Max shrigged. “Easy on, easy off. Back in a few minutes.”

Dani grabbed Max’s bag and playfully held it back. “I will join you because the sunbathing has made me disgustingly sweaty and I shouldn’t be saying any of this…” He paused, feeling socially awkward.

“Okay,” Max said loudly as he snatched back his bag. “We’ll be back in a little bit.”

== Thirty Minutes Later ==

Max and Dani we sure they were in the same spot. Max’s board was even locked up where they expected it, but now the sun chairs were full of new bodies. Ben and Evelyn had disappeared, probably tired of waiting.

Max grabbed his board with his towel and they walked up over the stairs and onto the pavement.

“I hope this place is close because it’s already hot and you’ve got a lot to carry,” Dani noticed.

Max touched his watch and a vehicle approached slowly. He popped the hatch back and slipped his board inside easily before closing it up again. Walking to the passenger’s door, he opened it. “You seat, sir.”

Dani gave him a quick look of annoyance and then the look changed. The sweet smile that lit up the world was back on his face as quickly as the annoyed look left it. “Let’s go to El Gato’s.”

“Okay?” Dani said, not knowing the place.

Max typed the command into the Starfleet MAG racer and they were driven safely through the foot traffic and then down a long highway, south of where they were, past the Golden Towers and south a bit more.

Max noticed that Dani seemed a little worried, despite the automatic seatbelts. His hand gripped the center console so Max reached over and interlaced his pinky with Dani’s. Dani looked over with a distracted smile for a moment before he released his death grip on everything but Max’s pinky finger, interlaced with his.

The gesture alone would piss his father off. It was nearly the entire reason he was on this Romulan planet in the first place. But Dani liked the gentle connection, the realization from Max that he was terrified in this death trap.

Finally, the…mag racer, pulled into a spot and they were at a large indoor/outdoor restaurant. “Let’s go inside,” Max said. He touched the tip of Dani’s nose. “It’s got air conditioning and shade. Someone who shall not be named, looks like he got too much sun today.”

Dani didn’t want to break that moment, there in the car, looking into Max’s beautiful brown eyes. For a moment, it was like time stood still…and then the car doors opened and the seatbelts retracted. And the moment was gone.

That one, simple moment and Dani felt like he could live there happily until he died.

 

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