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"Chocophoria"
Rating: PG-13 Reviews and comments always welcome! This is the last chapter...granted, this isn’t like most of my other ENT fics, but I did say it was “fluffier” than normal. LOL. Chocolate and first Contacts. (That was the challenge). Ten The surroundings were different this time. It appeared as a beautiful glade, heavy with the scent of wildflowers and illuminated with tiny spheres of light. The purple/orange sky was poised between dusk and dawn, but there was still plenty of light to see. She blinked in surprise. Star? Is this where you come from? No, your kind would not survive, if I had brought you to my birth place. I constructed this from memories. “Where are we?” came Trip Tucker’s stunned voice. “I swear, it looks just like the painting that hangs over the fireplace at my sister’s place in Ireland—“ “Trip?” Hoshi glanced at the chief engineer, who sat on a huge mushroom, like the Caterpillar in “Alice of Wonderland”. All Trip needed was a hookah. “I thought you’d stayed behind in Sickbay.” He nodded in confusion and looked down at her from his perch. “Yeah, so did I. I wasn’t even tryin’ to meditate—“ T’Pol reached over and lightly touched his wrist. “It appears that some sort of connection has pulled you in with me, Trip. Wherever I go, you go.” Her words brought a small smile to Trip’s face and he slipped his hand within hers. “I guess you’re stuck with me, huh?” Hoshi stared at T’Pol’s utterly un-Vulcan-like behavior. True selves are shown in this place, without the constrictions of her society, Star told her, and your friend is more susceptible to the change than most. She knows of addictive substances that affect behavior, much like the mokka. Understanding dawned on Hoshi. The trellium-D. But she hasn’t even touched the stuff since— It still affects her, even if she refuses to acknowledge it now. Her mate understands and will help her through it. “Hoshi,” Liz called. “I think you’d better come over here.” She saw Liz Cutler standing off to the side, close to the dark shadows of the glade. Hoshi joined her and followed Liz’s line of sight. The glade ended abruptly at a cliff edge, overlooking a fast-moving stream. Malcolm stood with his back to Hoshi, arms crossed over his chest, head tilted to the stars above. “Liz, wait here,” Hoshi whispered, as a thrill of worry went through her. Then she realized, Where’s Phlox?” “He isn’t here,” Liz sounded distracted, as though her mind was somewhere else. “Star says he’s back in Sickbay with Captain Archer and Chef, monitoring our bodies.” Archer’s absence jarred Hoshi. Why hadn’t the captain made the “crossing”? It was one more thing that she had to ask Star. Now, she had a more pressing problem. Noiselessly, she made her way to Malcolm’s side. He turned and managed a smile at her, but it didn’t meet his eyes. “Cold?” Hoshi asked lightly. She slipped an arm around him and felt his shivering. “Abominably so,” he murmured, though like Liz, he sounded distracted. “I don’t understand why—“ “Come join us,” Hoshi whispered. “Don’t hold yourself apart from the rest of us anymore. We need you, Malcolm.” Yes, we do, Star chimed in. Allow your star to brighten your soul. He said nothing for a moment. The echo of the stream increased to a raging river. A stone fell off the side of the cliff with a sharp crack and tumbled down with a splash. Hoshi’s grip tightened around him. “Malcolm. Trust me. Please?” He nodded and allowed Hoshi to direct him away from the cliff and back towards the glade. Liz smiled at them and gestured for them to sit next to her. On her other side, Trip and T’Pol sat close to each other, not quite touching. And now, the curtain lifts and a new day begins. And to the east, the sky began to brighten into an alien dawn. The beauty of it took Hoshi’s breath away. “Oh my—“ And like an echo, Hoshi overheard what was going on in Sickbay as the lights unfolded in her vision, and she felt Malcolm’s hand squeeze hers in reassurance. “Mueller to Archer.” Jon tore his gaze away from Trip Tucker’s prone body on the biobed. He stepped past Chef to the wall intercom. “Archer.” “Sir, I think you’d better get to a viewer,” came Bernhard Mueller’s voice. “You aren’t going to believe this.” He exchanged glances with Phlox and Chef. Without any prompting, Phlox immediately turned on a monitor and instructed Mueller to transfer the video feed to it. The sight made all of them gasp. There, on the screen, was a planet, half in light and half in shadow, with landmasses in green and brown, and seas the color of dark mokka. Archer saw thin rings surrounding the planet, and a small moon on its far side. “It just appeared out of nowhere, sir,” Mueller said, his voice hushed. “Lieutenant Mayweather’s put us at a full stop, but I don’t think we’re in any danger of running into it. It’s there...but not there. The sensors show an echo, but nothing substantial.” “Fascinating,” Phlox murmured. “Ensign, are the biosensors in perfect working order?” There was a pause, then Mueller replied, “They are, Doctor. Are you seeing the same thing we are?” “Indeed, Ensign. According to this, there are biosigns of a sort I’ve never seen before. I’ll have to do a full analysis. Fascinating!” Then Archer jumped as Hoshi’s voice whispered, Captain, this is why you weren’t brought over. Star says that you are the one most suited to make official contact with her people, while we do some...cultural exchanges here. Archer felt the tension drain away. “Is everyone all right?” We’re all okay. I don’t think you have to worry about anyone shooting at us. And Liz, T’Pol and I will make sure the Disaster Twins won’t get into trouble. “A miracle. One Away mission where Trip and Malcolm comes back uninjured,” Jon murmured ironically. Hoshi “laughed” and withdrew, while he addressed Mueller on the intercom, “I’m on my way up, Ensign.” Hoshi Sato’s Personal Log: “First contact with a new species is always an exciting and thrilling prospect, especially when it happens peacefully. Star’s people live on a ‘tangential plane’ to ours (at least, that’s what T’Pol says) where Newtonian physics don’t always work. That’s why Star’s initial contact caused so much trouble. She didn’t know just how her visits affected us and the ship’s systems. It really did a number on engineering and the armory. “The mokka was the catalyst that helped make this first contact possible. It turns out that Star was able to manipulate its properties to propel us to a ‘higher plane’. Trip joked about it being similar to ‘a psychedelic trip’. That was how she was able to affect our emotions and behavior in the first place when we’d had Chef’s ‘mokka night’. “Star’s people believe in pleasure and light, almost to the point of child-like naivete. Getting to know them is a definite change from other first contacts. No wonder Star was so nervous around Malcolm... ‘Dark Soul’ is their catch-all term for negative emotions, like paranoia, aggression, and the like...and Malcolm being who he is and being the Ship’s Armory Officer...let’s just say it’s a discovery of the soul for everyone all around. “Speaking of Malcolm...now that we’re a couple, where will our relationship take us? He worries about hurting me, about the no-frat rule, etc. But I point out to him that like anything else, we just need to let it develop. Take a look at Trip and T’Pol. (Gotta admit, that’s weird.) Or Phlox and Liz (Weirder). Or Anna and Mike. (Okay, that match-up’s just the weirdest. Star says they’re made for each other. I just hope they don’t kill each other first.) “Worst case scenario, I still have plenty of my chocolate and mokka stash left. And Antonio does a wonderful choco-pineapple tart.” --End of Hoshi Sato’s personal log entry. Locked under code word Chocophoria-- |
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