A little R&B
Posted on Tue 12th May, 2026 @ 9:43am by Commander Heriah Rex & Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Barron
1,525 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
[MAIN] Learning to Fly
Location: U.S.S. Eumenides Replimat (En Route From Earth)
Timeline: Current
Heriah sat up in the bed, letting the covers fall off of her. Subspace still warped by outside the window. She stood up and, before she could take one step, there came a smack to her behind. She looked back in a start and remembered she was in the captain's quarters. Gregor, captain of the Eumenides, was still in bed.
"And where are you off to?" he asked.
'One of these days, we are going to slug him one.'
"Work," she said ignoring Rex's intrusive thought.
"Work?" he asked. "What could you possibly have to do right now. We are still...Computer..." there came a bleep, "...how many days at present speed before we reach..."
"...Things are happening Grey," she cut in on him. "People are returning to 109 and I need to stay on top of things."
"You could be on top of me."
'Even I knew he was going to say that dribble.'
"Grey..."
"Khat," he cut in using the name he enjoyed calling her, "I took a few days off so we could spend this time together."
'No one asked you to, creep.'
"I didn't ask you to do that," Heriah said. "And I certainly do not want a mountain of reports to get through on my first day back. Tonight... I will..."
'Sleep in your own bed tonight. I am all about you getting your freak on, but let this one stew a bit.'
"...I will be up late. I need the comfort of my own bed."
"Well," he sighed, "that last time I ordered Khat around, I got scratched."
Heriah made a clawing motion in the air and followed that up with a playful "Meow," before getting dressed and making her exit.
She went straight to the replimat. Her civilian attire gave away no clues of her rank or even her status as a member of Starfleet. Heriah entered and immediately made her order at the replicator and, as she turned with her plate of bow-hunted Trill sabrebeast steak in and a water in hand, she saw that the replimat was rather busy. She did see a vacant seat at a table with a burly Klingon. An oddly dressed but burly Klingon. At least that guaranteed her more interesting conversation than she would have with the human crew.
"Excuse me," Heriah said as she stepped upon the table. "Mind if I join you?"
Gabe sat at a table enjoying the large portion, 12 eggs scrambled, and an unknown number of bacon slices. His arms were framed by the plaid rolled up sleeves of his pearl snapp shirt. His cowboy hat was sitting next to him brim up. His jeans were well fit on his muscular legs and silver belt buckle. Which gave way to his handcrafted cowboy boots.
"Hell yeah sit on down if ya like." He grinned and took a bit of bacon.
'Someone has been playing with this Klingon's wiring I think. That...or make sure the captain didn't drug you with something.'
"Thank you," she said. Heriah took the seat and set her plate and water and utensils accordingly. "I'm sorry. Forgive me, but I have to ask," she was eyeing his plate of food, "what is that?"
He grinned winningly and rumbled softly "What my momma used to call eating her out of house and home. A dozen eggs and a sandwich pieces of bacon as I could snatch up before my sister got up." He sipped his hand on a leaned legg and offered it to the women across from him.
Heriah took that hand and shook it hard.
"Gabriel Barron. Yeah thats a Texas drawl you detect, no I'm not out for the honor of my house. Unless its the honor of the Barron name. I was raised by a couple on Earth. Specifically deep east Texas. To hell with the Empire and all their showy bull pucky. Besides bacon tastes delicious, how do klingons in the Empire get along without bacon?!" He slapped the table like he just told the best joke and laughed like.. well only a Klingon could. "Ah but I digress, please might I know your name?"
'Rex.'
"Rex," she said. "I mean, Heriah Khatain Rex. Khatain is my family name, not that I have much to do with my family. Rex is my Joined name. If you have not guessed already," she brushed her hair over her shoulder so he could more easily see her spots, "Trill. I am also First Officer of Starbase 109. Heading back after a little time on Earth."
She started cutting at her steak.
Gabe grinned "Rex? As in the Latin for King?" He nodded at her neck "Ah Trill, not sure what Rex is in Trill but it is unusual how some words pop up in other languages. Kind of fascinating if I do say so. It's a pleasure to meet my new XO, I'm the new Srcurity Chief for 109. I was on a bit of r&r when the orders came to hop ship and head to my new posting. Can't wait to get on base, don't tell the CO but I may have a few shipments of eggs, bacon and ranch fresh steaks following behind. There are perks to being a country boy after all." He spooned a fork full of eggs into his mouth and chewed.
'Bending the rules I see. And to get real meat on board. I like this guy.'
"As long as things do not get out of hand," she smiled, "you secret is my secret." She sat back and cut again at her steak. "As for the 'Rex' bit. Command Nasz...Klingon...told me once that 'Rex' can mean both 'king' and 'brute' on Qo'nos. So, King Brute."
'I still like that. Make him call you that.'
"I like that. But, I'm not going to make you call me that. Heriah will do. Or Khat. Some like to call me Khat."
Gabe grinned winningly and chuckled "As lanugae is contextual I suppose Brute Khat when battle is joined and King Khat otherwise. But when on duty of course always Commander. Thought I have to say I have a good feeling about you I think we might make good friends. Tell you what," Gabe slapped the table "when my family sends the first shipment of waygu steaks I'll cook one for you." He took a big gulp of sweet tea that was sitting next to his plate.
'If he plays his cards right, maybe you will prize him with a poster of you? You know, from when you were a centerfold in your family's catalog.'
Thankfully, Heriah had a mouthful of steak and found that enough to subdue Rex's sudden thought from becoming vocalize even a bit. "I...uh..." she swallowed. "I would enjoy that. I hope you are enjoyed the Eumenides. Captain Bauhaus owed me a favor."
'Giving you the chance to enjoy his bed again? It has been more than a year now.'
Heriah smiled at Gabriel. "And he availed his ship to get us to 109. The Eumenides' area of patrol is out beyond 109 anyway and he was in the area. There is no shortness of action in and around 109, so...you will find yourself quite busy."
"Tis shall be but a leisurely stroll in the park." Gabe replied with a twinkle in his eye. "That was quite considerate of the good Captain. Yes the Eumenides is a lovely vessel. Very spacious while still feeling..." he paused at looked at the Commander "cozey."
'Good captain? Eh. He has his moments.'
"He has his moments," she said. Changing the subject, "as Chief of Security, can you, if you have the contacts, acquire us a crate of the new Type-II ZX-100 phasers? You know...reduced weight, 50% higher phase capacity, diamond-tipped focus crystal, active threat scanning and auto-targetting, and the finger-print identification sensor." She squinted at him and smiled. "Think you can get us some of those?"
He laughed "I can get you those but I would suggest you ask no questions because they will be strategically reassigned. As well as pass through a certain Gunnery Sergeant I know who... shall we say tinkers. I can offer you an inspection of one such specimen I had customized by the said Gunny. As per protocol it is locked up in the ships armory but Im sure we can get it and go target practice in in holodeck with a Commander's pull." He grinned wickedly.
"Unfortunately the Commander of this ship will most likely frown upon that," she said. "And I have no pull."
'You can pull on the Captain some. Hop in his bed again. He'll let you do anything.'
Heriah smiled and brushed a stray lock of hair over her ear, mostly as a means to shoo away Rex's thought. "Let's just get them aboard 109. There...we can target practice all we want. And when our enemies come for us..." she grinned wickedly in return.
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