Destined for Greatness

[Kali Reyes]

[Ops]

"I bet Jurn does too." A little more humored, she swiveled back in forth in her seat. While Jurn's physicals took a bit of a dive without Mahak around, she let it slide.

There was relief. Her shoulders lightened along with the heaviness in her eyes. He hadn't escaped to her room, but his shared one and Kali thought it was because of her; that he didn't want to be around her after that.

Hearing that he actually missed her was... nice.

"I'd like that." Her voice cracked a bit from utter relief. "That extends to the cot in the brig too, if we get in trouble."

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Deck 14 - Ops]

The mess hall manager had long since departed. Mahak sidled just a bit closer to her and pulled her in. When her head made contact with her shoulder he turned and his lips met her hair. His breath came out in a relieved, sensors rush.

The Vulcan wanted nothing more than to remain that way for a long time, but they had to move. He told her so, reluctantly:

"Now is the best time to go to medical and the shuttlebay. It's the middle of the night. Hopefully we can be back in a few days." He said. "Good thing for us is the Klingon Festival of the Burning of Sto'vo'kor this weekend. Most of the ship will be overrun with Klingon revelers."

[Kali Reyes]

[Ops]

A little keen sound left her when he closed the tight distance and re-energized the tense, stilted air between them. Kali eagerly pressed face against his shoulder and breathed in his scent. It was more comforting than four gallons of Xyrillian sorbet.

"I know." And she sounded hilariously pained about that. Before she pulled away, her lips brushed his cheek, then she thumped him on the shoulder for him to go. "Twenty-three minutes, big guy. Let's cause some trouble."   

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Mess]

Mahak reluctantly broke their contact. His rough hand brushed gently across her cheek, a fond gesture with more than a touch of heat to it.

"I am glad we have reconciled. It will be agreeable to resume cohabiting once we get back to the Discovery." He said. "I will gather our gear. Would you be kind enough to contact your friends in sickbay and in the Flight department? We can meet in the former in a few minutes."

[Kali Reyes]

[Sickbay]

Dr. Renquist, a young human doctor with unsteady fingers off-duty, raised an eyebrow at Kali's black slacks and turtleneck. "Do I even want to know?"

"I prefer you didn't. You have such a promising career in Starfleet." Her voice joked, but her eyes pinned nervously on the biobed as they waited for Mahak. "I need a hormone injection."

He regarded her carefully and set the PADD down. "So you say. Well, we better check up on your vitals and-"

Kali jumped back instinctively when the doctor gestured for her to sit and backed into Mahak in the process. Her fear of sickbay was still a thing. So were examinations. And hyposprays.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Sickbay]

Mahak recoiled slightly at the impact of Reyes. He was carrying two rucksacks, one over each shoulder. With difficulty, a human could have jogged down the passageway with them. For a Vulcan it was fairly easy.

He threw a bag each on a pair of biobeds and turned to Reyes and the doctor. Renquist was a civilian attache with a penchant for real alcohol and other men's wives. Rumor had it that his father was friends with someone high up in Starfleet. Otherwise, how could a rum-pot with wandering eyes and hands get onto the Fleet flagship? Mahak supposed it was advantageous for he and Reyes currently, but he still did not feel Renquist had any place on the Discovery. Even on night shift.

"Are we prepared to leave?" was all he asked, his tone hard and firm.

[Kali Reyes]

[Sickbay]

Renquist, seemingly unperturbed by Mahak's curtness, continued to gesture for Kali to sit. "If only, crewman. If only. Come here, Kali. I don't bite."

Utter lies. Kali pursed her lips and tentatively took her place on the biobed. He owed her a favor after catching him flirting with Ensign Cleo, who had a very alive husband working one deck down. But that was okay, because he just flirted with Kali instead while she debriefed him on his behavior for it. Cleo was just another notch on the bulkhead.

Now that Kali strangely seemed unavailable on the ship, he's been plenty eager to jump when she asked for favors. He examined her with a tricorder. It was very professional aside from the heated look and the wry smirk. "Everything looks good here. One shot of Luveris coming up, but uh... I don't know why."

"Good." And that was all the inch she gave him during the injection.

"Everyone seems to be catching the baby fever," he joked when she hopped off. "Some medical advice, Chief. You need another participant to make Luveris effectively work." And if that wasn't an invitation, she'd eat her own turtleneck.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Sickbay]

Mahak raised an eyebrow at the doctor's behavior. He did not quite catch the flirting. Vulcans did not engage in it, with most of their courting being arranged for them. However, he did recognize Reyes's look of disgust or dismay and was able to put two and two together.

"I think that the less you know and participate the better." He said. "For example, who were your patients tonight, Dr. Renquist?"

"No one. Who'll ask? No one cares." The young doctor seemed to be trying to find a way to peer down Reyes's turtleneck.

"Perhaps a civilian doctor would not, but even a Starfleet orderly would review the medication log and see that a dose of Luveris was  used." The Vulcan said, his logic and words cracking through the air like a whip. "Alpha shift starts their duties at 0600, including the Chief Medical Officer."

"Er..." Renquist said. "My patients tonight were a hopeful mixed couple. A Klingon and a human, civilians, here for the Festival. They did not want to resort to Klingon fertility medicine."

"Splendid." Mahak said. He did not like having to resort to using such methods through such a person as Dr. Renquist, but their mission demanded it.

When Renquist had injected Reyes, he drifted closer to her, causing the doctor to skirt away. Mahak opened up the first rucksack of gear.

"I suppose we are lucky that he owes you a favor, but I wouldn't call having to associate with that man 'luck.'"

[Kali Reyes]

"I suppose we are lucky that he owes you a favor, but I wouldn't call having to associate with that man 'luck.'"

[Sickbay]

"Depends on who's getting lucky, I guess," she teased the moment Renquist retreated. "He takes doctor-patient confidentiality very seriously." Especially the ones he manages to take to dinner.

She peered curiously into the rucksack. "Jones apparently switched shifts on me when I called, but Tamrind is on duty. She's prepping our transport. I owe her extra time on the holodeck now." Which was fine, she had plenty of tokens saved up the last few weeks. Go figure.   

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Sickbay]

"It would be more advantageous to embark to this mission with more information, but unfortunately we do not know much." Mahak said. "We have a distress call and a planet to sneak on to. Therefore I thought it was best to be doubly prepared."

The rucksack contained a few odds and ends: the webbing for a Starfleet tactical kit, a canteen, a few weapons. There was scanning equipment and a mini-toolkit in each. It didn't look like much, but with that and a few other odds and ends it made them ready for most situations, Mahak felt.

"We will have more information the closer we get to the target area. This is not ideal, but it will have to do." He said. "Are you ready, Kali?"

[Kali Reyes]

[Sha'dere - Outskirts]

They took a shuttle down. It was quiet, small, and almost indistinguishable from the Marquil shuttles that littered the skyline beyond at the capital. The source of the transmission led to a forest of red bark and silver trees that glowed pleasantly in the darkness. The capital was surrounded by its beauty. Kali quietly touched down on grass the shade of plums and took out a scanner.

"Feels like Christmas," she remarked when Mahak followed her out. "Everything's lit up like midnight mass." It's supposed to be dark and ominous in a forest, but not here. The trees illuminated the shadows and gave off an inviting air to walk as far as you wanted and never worry of the unknown.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Sha'dere - Outskirts]

Mahak stepped out onto the alien planet. As was his wont, he quickly knelt and scooped up a bit of the soil. It was fine and dark, not quite as stony as Harmony thin, hardscrabble dirt. He wiped his hands clean and stood.

"It may be pretty, but it is not ideal operationally." The Vulcan said. He tossed a rucksack to Reyes. "We must be cautious. How much do you remember of your land navigation course from Basic, Kali?"

[Kali Reyes]

[Outskirts]

He might as well be asking her how to shift into the minus universe using only a calculator. She stared at him for a long moment, half-baffled and half-admiration for his tactical gear. Focus.

"Err... I know how to rig a combadge to act as a compass. And stay away from sink holes? Administering ultrasonic frequencies between 480 kHz and 518 kHz helps keep dangerous animals at bay, uh... that's all I got." She was pretty sure that was a part of the land navigation course. Avoid animals, take precaution, look for well tread areas for a safe route - she kind of fell asleep learning the rest.

How she passed that area of expertise in Basic she had no idea, but she had one hypothesis. The guy training them always preferred for all the hands on training he thought she needed - which was usually her sitting there confused and a bit bored on a log while he strutted and tried to show off his navigational skills.

[Malcolm Adeyemi]

[Outskirts]

Mahak reserved judgement. They were on a mission. He could wonder how a non-commissioned officer in Starfleet got to be Chief of the Boat without knowing this later.

"Show me your first," He said. When she did, he took her wrist in his hand and pointed with his other.

"Your knuckles are like hills. Your hand sloping downward is like a valley. The space in between the fingers as they are folded is akin to a saddle, an even and flat surface between hills. Open up your hand for the final one, the depression. A low area with no other features. You can remember it with his acronym. It means something on earth because every human recruit I was in Basic with seemed delighted by it. Hidden Valley Ranch Salad Dressing."

All wisdom expelled, Mahak squatted and snatched a stick up off the ground. He broke it in two and handed half to her.

"In front of us we have two hills with a path in between." He was drawing on the dirt as he did so. "The terrain is forcing us to that path--not advantageous to reconnoiter the area. So we will have to scan as we go. Did our scans from orbit pick up anything of use?" He asked.

[Kali Reyes]

[Outskirts]

Give credit where it was due, she found his trick easier to remember than 'being one with the latitudes'. Kali curiously followed Mahak's instruction and he used a nifty visual guide for her to glean off of. "Hill, valley, ridge, saddle, depression. Delicious!" she piped up. "And I didn't nod off once."

Kali knelt down by the dirt picture and pursed her lips again at it. "Yeah, the transmission was distorted on the way out, which means it can't a clear signal above ground. The scans showed nothing that indicated there are any boosting towers nearby except 30 km where the capital is." She drew a line down the path. "I think our best bet is when the uh... that's a ridge, right? It opens up to a few caves downhill. Couldn't find any information, but I think they're either recreational or abandoned mining caves. If someone sent a transmission from underground, that would explain the distortion pretty easily."