The Kitties Finally Get to Talk

[Mreh K'hal 0]

The Kitties Finally Get to Talk

Joint Log - Lt JG Mreh K'hal and Cdr M'Vess JoNs

 

Left Ear JoNs, newly minted commander and executive officer, was currently standing by the main portal window in the lounge area of the Excalibur C. While she should have been admiring the view (albeit a view of Antares worker-bees going from this ship to that ship), she was not; her thoughts were decidedly going warp five and closing.

 

After having spent most of the night prowling his quarters, the spotted Cait Mreh K'hal toyed with ideas of clawing the brand new furniture of his quarters to shreds. The thought of how to explain such behavior in garnering replacements, however, kept his claws sheathed. With less sleep than required, let alone preferred, the felinoid helmsman was in a bit of a state, and all of it over a female. He had gone many years without being terribly bothered by not being around other Caitians, but after meeting Left Ear, he had very much decided that he wanted some same-species companionship. At the very least. Now, she had been promoted, and it had thrown a wrench in the works. He'd just have to find a way to deal with the complication, and he'd start by making sure she knew he's still around.

 

The brown furred female Caitian was in a state she did not normally get into - being unsure. The double promotion was a bit much to handle, even though she had always been open to the possibility of making up one half of a senior command staff. If she didn't think it would interfere with her duty cycle, then she would have gotten herself rip roaring drunk. At least then her thoughts would be quieted...along with her senses. Her nose was going ballistic with the new ship smells.

 

While JoNs was trying to sort out the smells, Mreh had queried the computer to her location, and was now exiting a turbolift onto deck five. He certainly wasn't unaffected by olfactory explosion either, and wondered how long it would take the air filters to turn the air into its usual completely neutral self. The Caitian senses could certainly be a boon though, as his ears had picked out juicy tidbits in the past that had moved him into better positions both socially and professionally. As such, when he walked into the main lounge, it was his eyes that picked out his quarry before his nose had a chance to catch her. He took a deep breath to ensure that the frustration he felt wasn't too near the surface, let the fang-revealing grin spread that the sight of JoNs always caused, and then walked her way.

 

Her nose already tuned to the smells wafting this and that way, she immediately picked up on Khal's smell. She turned, an equally fanged grin matching his own. "I'd say fancy meeting you here if I could get away with the delivery and not laugh."

 

"Damn, I thought I washed that transparency juice off my fur earlier," Mreh replied, brushing the top of one paw with the pads of another. "Well, I see you have the three gold pips now, so I assume you didn't turn down the promotion. Congratulations, Commander."

 

"Thank you Lieutenant. It is a bit of a shock - I always knew the possibility was there, but let's just say I was expecting it to happen later. How are you settling in? I envy you, getting to pilot this bad ass Akira class."

 

"Well," Mreh said, his grin faded a bit at the "settling in" question. "The quarters will take some getting used too, but at least I don't have as far to go now to reach my station. I definitely can say I'm dying to get in the chair and see what this ship can do." He looked around, saw a nice table nearby that would be private and gestured to it. "Shall we sit? I'll stand you to a drink."

 

Pushing aside her self-destructive desire for the bliss of drunkenness, JoNs purred. "Mister K'hal, sir, I will so take you up on that offer." The feline gracefully moved toward the table in question.

 

"I'll take an Ale, with ice."

 

Mreh followed, admiring the graceful tail and what it was attached too while purring merrily away himself. As an M.D., he knew the biological reasons behind physical attraction quite well, and he was certainly intelligent enough to know that fighting it would be the quickest way to the funny farm or the brig. So, he may have to bank the fires depending on whether she'd put the brakes on because of her new position, but he'd shave his tail before he'd put them out completely. After motioning the waiter over and ordering her an ale with ice plus an iced caramel latte with rum for himself, he grinned over at her.

 

"Your fur isn't standing up today, so that's a good sign. As shocked as you looked last night, I contemplated dropping by with something even stronger than ale, but I figured you'd have to take care of the orders and contact your family to spread the good news. Better late than never," he said as the waiter dropped off the drinks. Lifting his, he raised it toward her. "Cheers!"

 

"Cheers." She took a swig and then regarded Mreh. "Truth be told? I have not informed my family as of yet. I will shortly. I needed some time to myself to assimilate the new orders and such." The female Cait found herself admiring his spotted pattern. Spots could be rare among the feline species. Very, very nice.

 

"I guess I made the right decision either way, though." He cocked his head, looking at her torn ear. "There's got to be an interesting story about that ear," he said earnestly, but waved it away with a paw at the same time. "Today's for the future, though, not the past. You'll have to tell me some other time." After a hearty gulp, he continued. "I can't say that I could possibly be happier with Fleet's choice of XO. You know the crew, and who better to deal with a cranky Dameon than a Caitian, right?" His gold eyes were almost fully dilated in the dim light of the lounge, and they glowed faintly with that feline reflection as he looked at her, the amusement flashing in them as much as the glimmer.

 

"I dread the feline and canine jokes. And gods help anyone that tries a "cat and a dog walk into a bar" joke in front of me." The statement came out deadpan, but there was a certain threat simmering behind her green eyes. Just as quickly, her focus became amused again. "And as for the ear? Aye, there is a story behind it from when I was young and full of juice. But, you are right, it can wait. And, while we are on the general subject, I too am glad you were one of the chosen to return to service here." Her eyes switched again, to a gaze of desire held carefully in check; she again admired his spots, his predatory build...whoa whoa, reign in the hormones there girl. It wouldnt do to jump the helmsman less then twenty four hours into your new XO posting...

 

"Well," he said while pondering those flickers of emotion in her eyes. "What other ship in the fleet that has a helmsmen that can perform emergency medical care right on the bridge when one of the consoles explodes?" He asked mischievously. "I'd think Captains would have been clamoring for me so they could avoid sickbay like they always do. Though with the new holographic matrix on the bridge, someone could order up five EMH's, ten nurses, and a pleasant mood screen at the same time." He shrugged, as much with his tail as his shoulders. The fluffy thing rose above the table for a few seconds before disappearing from view again. Then he laughed.

 

"Though if we get intruders on the bridge, I think you're much more qualified for those. We certainly do have a..." He paused a moment in thought. "Versatile bridge crew, don't we?"

 

Her purred chuckled was genuine and full of mirth. "Versatile? The Excalibur should be the inter-species poster child for the Academy recruiting drives." Her own tail lashed playfully, brushing against his."May I ask? Your tail is a bit unusual for a Cait, beautiful, but unusual....were you teased much Lieuten....Mreh?"

 

"My brothers did if they were annoyed with me. My sister's the one that did it endlessly," he said, bringing it up back into view so that he could frown at it. "You have no idea how hard it is to fit it through the hole in my pants... Anyway, most Caits would just be curious. It was the humans that seemed most amused by it. I had a passenger tell me it resembled a Denobulan fox tail..." He shook his head. "He resembled a prune, but I was polite enough not to mention /that/." The memory brought the smile back to his face. "Well, between the spots and the tail, I stand out like a waterfall on Vulcan when I visit Cait."

 

"...as a general rule, we are solid gold to black in solid color. Although, and of course this is not meant to be rude, have you ever considered that you may have Kzinti in your blood line? When they did battle with the Caits, we all know a certain amount of inter-breeding occurred - I myself have a stray blood line that we managed to trace to a great uncle on my fathers side of the family."

 

"I wondered at that myself, but no," he said with a sad smile. "It'd be a great way to explain it. I've studied my DNA, and I'm pure Cait. I just have quite a few recessives and that damnable fluff, which I nor any other Caitian specialist has been able to figure out. I suppose I'm a mutant." He grinned at that. "I don't know if I'd want my kittens to have it or not."

 

"They'd be adorable. I've always been a fan of recessive genes myself - they mix things up a bit - just don't ask me to chart 'em on my own family tree. I'll leave that to the science types." Her eyes again flashed, and she regarded her drinking companion with a slight smile.

 

"Well, I'm not that unusual in my family, though. Both my parents are spotted. I have my father's coloring, thank goodness. If you added spots, this fluffy tail, /and/ my mother's snowy fur?" He chuckled as he shook his head. "I'd be in a zoo or a science lab. Though, growing up in San Francisco probably made it easier. You were born on Cait?" He waved the waiter back and ordered a water and looked to Left Ear for an answer and to see if she needed anything.

 

The female indicated that she was good with her current drink, and answered K'hal's query. "Aye, I grew up on Cait. Most of my family has. Now my guardian child? Her parents work for the academy and the civilian Starfleet offices respectfully, so she is being raised on Earth."

 

"What of your family?"

 

"I thought you might be Cait born, you have the accent," he said. His own was more Cali Boy than Caitian, the sibilance not as pronounced. "My parents were both born there, but they've both been in Starfleet since joining the Academy They settled in San Francisco when my father became a professor." He pondered her a moment, his smile slightly lopsided when he didn't show his fangs. "I don't have as much of an extended family, just my siblings, parents, one aunt and one grandmother. I can't even imagine being a Guardian. What's that like?"

 

"Well...it can depend on the family really. In my case? I function almost as a long distance third parent to her. Her parents are very....lenient. Not that that is a bad thing, mind you, but at times I just need to give her a solid cuff. Good kid though, full of life." A lopsided smirk matched MRehs own smile.

 

"That's nice," he said. "I guess you do have some practice riding herd on subordinates, then." After looking at her a moment with almost a smirk, he squinted down at his paws. "You know, I'm almost positive I may have met your cousin and her parents, back when I was at the Academy. It was some Academy function, and I remember a few other Caits there." He looked back up and smiled. "Though for the life of me I can't remember their names. I think I met another JoNs at Starfleet Medical when I was a resident. M'Sarr, I think? All of the JoNs and K'hals running around San Fransisco and some how the two of us never met, though I'm certain we're not that far apart in age and could have shared time at the Academy."

 

"M'Sarr? that would be my uncle - he works in the personnel offices. I swear, you turn around, there is a JoNs. So it would seem we have some common background?" Her smile happily showed some fangs.

 

"Two Cait families keeping Starfleet up and running," ge said, grinning back. "I'm not entirely a history buff, but I do know a bit about Caitian history. I remember that a JoNs was the first one to serve on a Starfleet ship." His brow furrowed as he concentrated. "Shaow? One of your JoNs ancestors?"

 

Her smile widened. ".....you've been doing some research? Aye that is correct, she was. You had mentioned your father, what about your mother?"

 

"Ha," he said, automatically rubbing a paw on his head over her favorite spot to cuff. "She's the Assistant Chief of Security at Starfleet Medical. Which is how I ended up being posted there for the last four months as a shuttle pilot." He was amazed at how similar their families were in some respects: the dedication to family and Starfleet. The differences were there too. The K'hals were new on the scene, relatively, while the JoNs were legendary. "She's a holy terror. What about your parents? Are they in Starfleet?"

 

"Security! A woman after my own heart. No, my parents are strictly civilian, but I do have four brothers serving."

 

"Nice," he said, his tail flashing over the top of the table fora moment. "My oldest is on the Copernicus, my youngest is at the Academy. Only my sister decided to forego Starfleet. She's studying at Oxford, hoping to answer the question to the Universe." He ran a barely extended claw around the rim of his glass, half looking at it and at her. "The Sciences and Order, that's where we seem to fall."

 

"What about you? Did you go into the Fleet due to your mother?"

 

"No, not really," Mreh responded. "I wanted to be a doctor. It was a calling, and Starfleet is where the need was greatest, between the Dominon, Romulans, Borg, etc. etc. etc." He sighed.

 

"But yet, you changed specialties. Then again, so did I, so its not all that unusual."

 

"Yeah. When I was performing more mandatory autopsies than saving lives... I just couldn't do it anymore." He studied the tabletop, his demeanor now rather sad. "Thankfully I had another specialty to fall back on. If it wasn't being a pilot, I'm also a biologist. Going with science seemed too easy, so I decided to become a hotshot." Looking up, his expression wasn't sad anymore, but still serious. "Was that yours, originally? Piloting?"

 

"It was, aye. I love piloting, but its career options can be limited in the long run. I maintain it as my second. Do you enjoy the piloting more so?"

 

"It just seems too close to the medicine. If it were physics or geology, I probably would have chosen science." He began to slide his glass from side to side on the table top, the tips of his claws clinking against the glass. After sitting quietly a moment, he spoke again. "That's good, though, your secondary field, If it happens to be my console that explodes, you'd be right there to fly her." He looked over with a wry smile. "Though let's hope you don't have to. I hate singed fur."

 

"You and me both, Mreh." Her laughter purred out in a short burst. "...you know, at the risk of sounding forward, would you care to go somewhere more...intimate?" Her manner was calm, but her eyes had gone playful.

 

"I'd say I'd go anywhere with you, but I wouldn't want to sound like a teenager with his first crush," he responded in precisely the same manner.

 

With that, JoNs stood from her seat and walked past Khal; as she did, her paw swept under his chin in an inviting manner.

 

[Edit: Inserted "Security!..." para that was omitted]

Edited December 6, 2007 by Mreh K'hal

[Cptn Corizon 0]

::gags at Kitty love:: :D

[Joy 0]

Didn't take em long to get past the 'talk' phase. :D