Dinner and Romulan Ale for 3?
I quickly grabbed a package off the table just as the transporters shimmered us away and found myself looking at several Starfleet officers. Getting my bearings I walked over to greet them. I did not see the Captain with them but figured he was far too busy to greet us. Just then the doors slid aside and there he stood. He exuded perfection as he stood there. His hair perfect. Beard with not a whisker out of place. He was wearing a uniform I had not seen before. Shiny silver pips adorned his black collar signifying his rank. Black shoulders and chest separated by a thin gold line piped with silver thread above and below the gold. The Starfleet comm badge a single silver line almost forming the letter A of the human alphabet. A hand grabbed my arm and herded me over to the Captain.
"Ahhh I see you have met my senior staff. Sorry I am late, I had a rough time with this damn uniform." He said and motioned us out of the room.
"Actually..." I started only to be cut off.
"Glad you made it over. We'll give you the grand tour later but I want you to see the bridge before we dine" he interrupted and signaled for his crew to move on. "Sorry if I seem a bit nervous, you are two of only three Romulans ever to be aboard my ship. If you will follow me to the turbo lift we will head to the bridge."
"Yes, but sir..." I started again.
"Yes? Well what is it?" he interrupted again.
"We didn't actually meet your crewmen." I said.
His face turned serious then the corners of his mouth gave way and produced a smile followed by a chuckle. "Plenty of time for that later" he said. "Actually they have no idea that I have offered you commissions on my ship." He said as his eyes glazed over thinking to himself. (Boy I wonder how they will take it). As we approached the turbo lift doors they slid open and we stepped in. "Bridge" he ordered and away we went.
When the doors opened we exited into a small corridor off the bridge. He led us through and we gazed appreciatively into the spacious bridge decorated in light grays and blues. At the rear of the bridge was a long console with all the major ship components laid out including a complete layout of the ship bow to stern.
"It has been a long time since I have seen a Federation Bridge" I stated. "I have never seen anything like this. Is that Borg Technology?" I gasped out pointing at a lone console across the bridge from us.
"Yes it is" He stated matter-of-fact."Helm...set course for New Romulus. If you will follow me I will take you to my ready room where dinner is waiting for us. What is that package you have there?"
I handed the package to the Captain. "Romulan Ale."
"Oh. Thank You." He stated as we crossed the bridge to his ready room.
It was a very spacious room. His desk was off to the left it looked like an engineering station which I learned much later it was. There was a seating area with comfortable chairs and couches as well as table that seated eight comfortably. The table was laid with fruits and nuts of all varieties, meats and cheeses the latter of which smelled awful. Some rather odd looking dishes that I think he called salmon and trout. There were only three place settings and he motioned J'Renner and I one to the left and one to right of the head where he seated himself. He opened the Ale and filled three tall stemmed wide mouth glasses and handed one to each of us.
He raised his glass. "To new beginnings" he spoke softly then tapped each of our glasses and took a deep pull from his glass. We followed suit.
"Be careful Captain" I warned.
"Nonsense!" he laughed and started to fill his plate. "You must try some of everything. These are my favorite dishes from Earth. Don't worry it's okay if you don't like it." He smiled as he said
Nearly an hour later as we were finishing up what he called Key Lime Pie and what was left of the Romulan Ale the ship rocked violently. The lights flickered, dimmed and the Red Alert signal sounded. Red lines in the walls illuminated around the room.
"Captain to the bridge..."
To be continued...
