Destined for Greatness

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[USS Discovery - Quarters]

Mahak had not slept in what felt like weeks, but sleep of a kind had finally found him. It wasn't restful or very deep, but his mind had passed the threshold. Lightly, the Vulcan tossed and turned in his bed, the sheets a sweaty and tangled mass around his statuesque, naked torso.

His dreams were brightly lit and unformed, a turbulent showing of what churned underneath all of his self control. Something was chasing him, something so overwhelmingly bright it was scarring his eyes, gouging out the retinas, even though it was behind him it shone so bright and omnipresent that it gave him a headache and blinded him from behind.

When he awoke it was to the gradual sound of an incoming message. The sound had worked its way into his dream and slowly dragged him back awake, a fact for which he was duly grateful.

He was so streaked with sweat that he took a moment to use his bedding to mop his brow. Mahak found his dressing robe where he had hung it on the rack.

Jurn was deep in sleep, his chubby, hairy form spilling out over his rack like a hastily made peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He snored mightily, making a sound like two hacksaws rubbing together. It was so loud that if it wasn't offbeat with the noise of the comm Mahak would have missed it.

He sat at the desk that he and Jurn shared, making sure he was covered. It was late, and very cold.

"This is Crewman Mahak. May I know with whom I am speaking?" Mahak asked when he had flipped open the desktop unit.

"Help me, Mahak. Help all of us." The speaker was a thin, gaunt Marquil woman. She had no hair left, her cheekbones were sharp enough to slice a Christmas ham. And the mot terrible thing was her eyes.

The transmission ended. Mahak tapped on the keypad to the computer.

"=/\=Computer, display the last message. Put it on repeat."

"Help me, Mahak. Help all of us. Help me, Mahak. Help all of us. Help me, Mahak. Help all of us." The woman's voice ground on and on while the Vulcan intently studied.

The woman in question, ghastly sick, starving, and weak, did not give any discernible clues to where she was. The backdrop was completely black. After viewing it repeatedly for a few minutes he realized he could not gather anymore information with his eyes. He needed help.

Mahak was a Starfleet Operations crewman, and skilled at communications. But this was a bit beyond him. He needed an expert.

"=/\=Crewman Mahak to Chief Reyes." He said softly aloud. "=/\=I apologize for the late hour, Kali. Might I see you?"

[Kali Reyes]

[Kali's Quarters]

Twenty-two of the active crew on the Discovery were infertile. It was a small number in comparison to five hundred. What was a couple dozen when the rest of the crew did just fine with the amiable and friendly Marquil?

That was what Kali wondered while sitting on her bed and flicking through her PADD. It was entirely dark save for the light of her screen and the holovid that was still playing beyond the divider in her living room.

The last time she checked, Anderson was conked out on the floor with a container of Xyrillian sorbet while Yates occupied half the couch and was trying to keep her eyes open through some kind of heist holovid.

Yates' snoring quickly followed after that. It was a very very long day.

Kali sighed, looked at her chronometer, then back to her reports. She didn't feel like sleeping, even when she should, but every time she closed her eyes a lot of 'what if's' liked to plague her thoughts. Keeping herself busy kept her from thinking of anything else like passive aggressive ambassadors or absent significant others.

She flopped onto her back and tried not to imagine Mahak meditating and have the sound logic to call her randomly in the night and break up.

=/\=Crewman Mahak to Chief Reyes. I apologize for the late hour, Kali. Might I see you?

Her eyes flew open. Oh God, it's happening!

Yates let out a very loud, undignified snore. Kali shaking set her PADD down on her belly and responded to the ceiling. "Acknowledged."

Even she winced by how cold it sounded. Making sure the divider was completely closed from her dozing friends, she rubbed her eyes and let out a very troublesome, sad whine.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mess]

The mess hall manager was still cleaning up from the midnight meal for those in the third shift. There were trays at most of the tables and the scent of spice in the air. The floor was covered with the scuff and dust of boots and Starfleet's approximation of tacos.

"Like some leftovers, crewman?" The mess hall manager asked. "It hasn't been Taco Tuesday for an hour or so but I won't tell if you won't. How about it?"

"I'm not hungry." Mahak answered. "But my companion may be. She should be arriving shortly."

[Kali Reyes]

[Mess]

She didn't feel like dressing to impress. She threw on her jacket and meandered her way down the turbolift to the mess. No one bothered her on the way down. Third shift was always blissfully quiet; sometimes she got in trouble on purpose with their former Ops chief just so she got assigned to the late hour shift.

It was clean up in the mess. How appropriate. Kali feigned a yawn and pretended she didn't care that he called her down here in the middle of the 'night'. Inside, she was a bundle of nerves firing on all cylinders.

The me'ta always leave them, Z'tro. It is only... logical.

Goddamn that old bastard. Damn him to hell.

Kali found him at one of the cleaner tables and waiting. "You look like you slept well, Mr. Mahak." He looked anything but. A touch of worry smothered the trepidation as she sat across from him. 

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mess]

He was a bit confused by her overly formal behavior, but he could sate his curiosity later.

Or perhaps he couldn't. Mahak cast an eye at the mess hall manager, who was clearly snooping around. They scuffled away.

"Kali, is there a reason you are being so formal?" He asked directly. 

[Kali Reyes]

[Mess]

"No," she said, a little too abruptly. Her back was straight and she was as stiff as a board, but every time she so much as tried to relax, D'linder's words dogging her thoughts like a festering disease. "It's midnight. I thought something happened in Ops." She'd rather it be the job than the alternative. Like talking about things. Relationship things.

Logical things.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mess]

"I see." Mahak said, even though he didn't. When she didn't continue he felt the need to continue.

"I received a message in my quarters earlier. Here is a copy and the details on the transmission." He handed her a PADD.

"As you can see it's very disturbing. I have been unable to trace the signal, but the woman looks Marquil. And she looks as if she's in trouble."

[Kali Reyes]

[Mess]

As Kali looked at the PADD her expression changed from curiosity, confusion, and then worry. She replayed it a couple of times - and each time only added to the creepiness factor. "So, uh... pending the whole thing. Any reason she knows your name?"

Jealousy was far from her mind; she was a tad disturbed by it. She didn't even think he touched base with the Marquil homeworld yet.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mess]

Mahak had wondered that himself, and said as much. He went on to say:

"I can only think that one of our visitors here has spread the word to his home world." He said. "If that was the case I am surprised that your name wasn't more remembered."

It wasn't an insult, it was only him stating the facts as he saw them.

"Do you think we can track the signal to its source?" He asked.

[Kali Reyes]

[Mess]

"I'm a Z'tro," she reminded him flatly. "They'd probably scrub my face from their memories than try to put a name to it." Sterile, infertile, an evolutionary waste. Kali swallowed her bitterness hard and refocused on the PADD. "I'm kind of curious about your damsel, Mahak. So yeah, let's see where this transmission came from."

[Deck 15 - Ops]

It didn't take long for them to pinpoint where the transmission was sent. There was hardly any detours or dummy transmission towers to guess at. The Marquil's communications were still pretty primitive in comparison.

"Here we go," she murmured. A hologram of the Marquil home planet appeared above the console and a dot blinked red on one of the continents. "Not that far off from Sha'dere. That capital is a utopia though. Why would there be a distressed Marquil throwing out transmissions to an alien spaceship?"

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Deck 14 - Ops]

"There is much we do not know about the Marquil or their society," Mahak cautioned. "Simply because they presented themselves as a utopian society does not make it so."

It sounded like an attack, even to him. He fumbled for a way to soften his words.

"In any case, one Marquil who is not a part of any kind of good society has seen fit to contact us." Mahak said logically. "The question is how do we respond?"

[Kali Reyes]

[Ops]

Kali thought about all the things that transpired today and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I know what you want to do," she said between her fingers. "I'm trying to figure out how to do this without causing a diplomatic incident." No one was exactly cleared to transport down to Memna except for the Federation diplomats. And if this really was some kind of hostage situation, the ink on Marquil's application was still pretty wet. Until they got their fancy induction ceremony, they were still a neutral planet.

But she couldn't get the look of the Marquil woman's face, those sharp cheekbones. She looked like a prisoner of war. Kali lowered her hand and stared up at him. "Got any dark clothing?"

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Deck 14 - Ops]

"I can scrounge through some tactical gear." Mahak thought that she has read his mind. It was the only logical conclusion.

"Gamma shift is coming on now. Can I assume that the deck officer on the shuttle bay and maybe medical owes you a favor?" If there was one thing he had come to found out about Kali Reyes it was that she collected favors from those less clever and used them to her advantage. Without saying for an answer he continued.

"I will meet you in the sickbay in a quarter of an hour." Mahak told her.

He wondered if he should touch her. She certainly didn't seem receptive to it. The moment ground on and on.

[Kali Reyes]

"Gamma shift is coming on now. Can I assume that the deck officer on the shuttle bay and maybe medical owes you a favor?" If there was one thing he had come to found out about Kali Reyes it was that she collected favors from those less clever and used them to her advantage. Without saying for an answer he continued.

[Ops]

"That's right," she grinned up at him. "Looks like it's your lucky day - err night." Even better that the holiday season has passed. Kali gained so much switching shifts around to accommodate the personal festivities.

They had a game plan. It was stupid and probably going to put them on the chopping block out of Starfleet, but she couldn't just ignore someone calling for help. And neither could him.

She stared at him longer than necessary, but maybe she shouldn't. How are you? Did the meditation work? That's what she wanted to say. Diplomatic. Professional. Cautious.

"It was weird tonight," she admitted. "Because you weren't there." The bed was too big. Her friends conquering the room wasn't enough.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Deck 14 - Ops]

So it has finally come out. Mahak thought that it was good that she had spoken up first or otherwise he would have had to.

"I have not slept in the same room with Jurn for nearly two weeks," he admitted. "I would have preferred that that streak remain unbroken."

What he didn't admit was that without Reyes's body, as soft and curvy as his was hard and angular, pressing against him, her head resting on his chest or shoulder and the sweet sound of their breathing together he couldn't sleep very well at all.

"Perhaps when this is over we should resume our previous arrangement?" The sounds and signs of a hopeful question were there if you knew him well enough to hear them.