First Contact

Posted on Mon Dec 29, 2014 @ 6:44pm by

2,209 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: SS Exeter
Timeline: 63258.857

It seemed it had been one party after the other for Aidan Mejia after graduating, and he wasn’t even a party animal. First it had been a family gathering, just he and his parents since Genaro never showed up. Of course no one had expected him to, that’s just the way it was anymore, However, Tyler had been invited and he hadn’t even bothered showing up either. Aidan knew it was over between the two of them, had known it for some time, but still it hurt, no matter how much he had tried to cover it up. Then there had been a party with his friends, a Diplomatic Department get together, one thrown by his favorite professor and then yet another party with other friends after he had gotten his first posting. So, Aidan was pretty much partied out.

So when he and Meiyo had entered the transport vessel S.S. Exeter, the last thing on his mind was spending time a lounge drinking. But after a couple of days of eating replicated garbage in his room, with only his dog for company, he decided to leave before Cabin Fever caught up to him.

He didn’t feel like wearing a uniform, after all he wasn’t exactly on duty, not till he got to the Victory and that was still five days away. More if they ran into any unforeseen trouble. So he headed out, dressed in a pair of well worn, faded, jeans with a maroon and blue Parrises Squares short sleeved shirt with an open collar, and a pair of navy cross trainers. Around his neck he wore a rainbow colored steel choker made of diamond shaped links. The necklace, like Meiyo a gift from Tyler.

The dog, who had protested by first whining then sulking, had been left in his quarters. He wasn’t sure whether or not she would be welcome and didn’t want to take a chance. There wasn’t a lot of variety, after all the Exeter wasn’t that big of a ship, in fact, there was really only one lounge called Five Forward and it was pretty crowded. There were no tables when he stepped inside and a growling stomach reminded him he didn’t want to wait. So he scanned the room til he found the bar. It too was crowded, but at least there were a few empty stools. He walked over, found one and sat down.

After a few minutes a bartender, whom Aidan could not help but notice was rather cute, took his order; a bacon cheeseburger, sweet potato fries and a wedge salad, with a strawberry milkshake to drink.

Christopher had been aboard the S.S. Exeter since it’s last stop, it was a very crowded transport vessel. He liked to have fun, people watch, and flirt, but damn this was too crowded even for him. He had finished a good hour long workout and then hit the sonic shower and was now sitting at the bar in a pair of jeans, a tight white t-shirt, and a pair of brown boots. He had been waiting for just a few minutes for his food and was enjoying a beer when he caught a nice looking guy sit down a stool or so down from him. Of course he had already been flirting with the sexy bartender and the girl that had just got up to go to the restroom.


He looked again out of the corner of his eye and noticed the fella again, but got distracted by the bartender placing his buffalo chicken salad in front of him “Thanks” he said before he took the first bite.


After he had put the food down in front of Christopher, the bartender, whose name was Kyle came back with the milkshake. It was a fairly different drink for a bar, but who was he to judge. He sat the drink down on a coaster in front of the rather short man and informed him his food would be along shortly.

Aidan nodded politely, picked up the glass and sucked down a few swallows through the old fashioned straws. He took some time then to look around the bar. Almost everyone looked more seasoned than him, probably off to a second, third, or even fourth posting and no one really stood out to him except a guy that looked a few years older than he was, eating a salad of some kind. He definitely filled out his tee-shirt well, which got his mind wondering into realms it probably shouldn’t have strayed.

He managed, barely, not to stare, or at least not to stare for more than a few seconds. To turn his mind back in the right direction, he turned to face Kyle again and asked for some chips and salsa. It didn’t really go with a burger, but at least if he was eating he wouldn’t have a chance of making an ass out of himself.

Christopher noticed the younger guy staring at him but wasn’t going to be rude and then he noticed Kyle standing in front of him “Hey man can I get a beer please” he said with a nod to the bartender. Kyle nodded, smiled and reached and grabbed Chris a beer. By this time the young lady that had went to the restroom earlier had made her way back to the bar. She gave Chris a wink when she sat down, he smiled and took a sip of his beer. He was more than sure he wouldn’t have any problem with this chick, but his interest had been caught by someone else.

He turned around on his bar stool holding his beer and leaning back against the bar “Beautiful the stars at warp” he said out loud with his thick southern accent, not really to anyone. The woman in the black dress got up and walked over and stood beside him. She placed a hand on his leg “They are beautiful, like you” he smiled and waved to one of the S.S. Exeter’s security officers he had kind of buddied up with “This little lady has had too much to drink, Mike” he said to his friend. Mike took her by the arm “I got her” he said as the two walked off. Christopher just stared at the stars for a second and continued to sip his beer.

Aidan’s chips and salsa arrived then which set off a mini-debate in his head. He thought he’t caught a glimpse of Christopher looking back at him and he’d just turned away a woman that he, had had to admit was attractive. Now there was just one empty stool separating them. Finally, he turned to look at the other man more fully. Swallowing hard and still unsure if what he was about to do was a smart thing or not, he said, “I hope you don’t think I’m being forward, I mean we’ve never even met, but as drunk as he might have been, she was right about one thing. You are a good looking guy.”

Chris let out a little chuckle and turned just his head to look the guy who appeared very nervous “Thanks” he said and then turned his stool to face Aidan and extended a hand “Christopher Evans”.

“Aidan Mejia,” he replied,”nice to meet you and you’re welcome. Do you want some chips and salsa? It probably goes better with beer then a milkshake.”

Chris smiled “Sure I’ll try one” he dipped a chip in the salsa and put it in his mouth. He winked at Aidan as he chewed and then swallowed a sip of beer to wash it down. “That goes well together, can I get you one?” he asked and held the beer up with one hand and pointed to it with the index finger of his left hand. His eyebrows raised on his face with a cute but silly look.

Aidan watched Chris’ face for a moment before replying, the wink hadn’t gone unnoticed. He relaxed somewhat and nodded. “Sure, I guess, just let me finish the shake first, they don’t really go well together. It had been awhile since he flirted and wondered in the back of his mind exactly where this might be headed. Shaking his head he decided, for once, not to worry about that, but just to enjoy the moment and let thing play out however they played out. He took another pull on the straw, then said, “that okay?”

“Yeah you’re right, I bet they wouldn’t taste great together” he said as he took the last sip of his beer and with a nod and holding up two fingers ordered another round. He slid one over to Aidan and then turned back out to face the small window “So what brings you aboard this fine ship?” he asked with a hint of southern sounding sarcasm.

Aidan rather enjoyed the twangy accent, it sounded sexy to him The sarcasm he heard did little to take away the sexiness, if anything it added to it. His own accent was much harder to define. He’d been too many different locations to pick up any regional dialects. It definitely had Hispanic overtones to it, but they weren’t particularly noticeable unless one was looking for them. “I’m headed to my first posting, what about you?”

“Let’s see this will be my fourth posting I believe” he turned his head a little toward Aidan, but really only to check him out a little more, but he was trying to make that un-noticed “Chief Operations Officer - USS Victory” he said finishing off his second beer and turning to nod at the bartender and seeing Aidan hadn’t even taken a drink yet. He thought it was kind of cute, but ordered another and drink about half of it down in two swallows.

After taking a sip that almost finished off the milkshake, leaving a bit of pink liquid on his upper lip in the process, he had been sitting the glass back down when Chris revealed they were going to be on the same ship. Startled by the words the glass slipped from his hand falling about six inches on to the top of the bar. Fortunately it remained upright not spilling any of its contents.

Blood rose to his face and he blushed. “Uhh, we… we’re going to be on the same ship. I’m going to be the Chief Diplomat there.”

Chris got a big smile on his face “Well isn’t that cool” it really wasn’t a question, but people from his neck of the woods said it all the time. He was trying not to laugh at Aidan dropping his milkshake. “First assignment and a department head” he thought this kid must be really smart. That discouraged him a little smart people usually didn’t want to date him and didn’t stick around as friends long, Christopher was smart, but people who got a key role right out of the academy where well above average intelligence.

Aidan cocked his head as looked more closely at the other officer, focusing on his somewhat deep-set forest green eyes with curiosity. He’d started to think with the wrong head, which could have led in a direction that may have fulfilled a need, but really wasn’t him. “Sooooo, “he drawed out the word, “if we’re going to be on the same ship maybe we better not rush things. You know.. maybe, uh start by, you know dating?” The words felt clumsy to him, like he was still in High School, not a Starfleet officer, but he couldn’t help himself, it was all he could come up with at the time.”

Chris turned his stool around almost a little shocked, he took the last drink of his beer and set it down “I think you got the wrong idea, bud” he said and stood up “You’re cute and all but… just but” he said and “I’m” he paused not really knowing what to say, he liked Aidan so far, but didn’t want to rush into anything and didn’t know how to react to all this “I’m gonna go, I’ll see you around”

Aidan watched the other man leave and slammed his fist down on the bar. It stung but he didn’t care. He’d blown it, because he had totally misread the situation. He’d thought the man had been coming onto him, looking for something physical right away and he’d simply been trying to diffuse the situation, letting him know he was interested, just not interested in that. But apparently it had been nothing more than flirting and nothing else.

He ate his food in silence then went back to his cabin without so much as saying a word to anyone else except what was required to pay for his meal.

A joint post by:

Lt.(jg) Aidan Meija
Diplomatic Officer
USS Victory
&
Lt. (jg) Christopher Evans
Chief Operations Officer
USS Victory

 

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