Intermission

Posted on Fri Dec 30th, 2022 @ 5:11am by Lieutenant Commander Mara Ricci

“I was told Chief Ricci might be able to help me out.”

That voice. Mara knew that voice. She hadn’t heard it in many years, but it was unmistakable. As were the eyes. Or really, she should say the eyelashes. They were so thick, it was almost as if the man were wearing eyeliner. He wasn’t, though; that’s just how thick the lashes were.

Her mouth pulled back into a wide grin almost of its own accord and her eyes lit up so brightly, they could have bathed the entire station in a brilliant glow. “Bela!” she gasped, caught between laughter and disbelief that he could actually be here.

“Hello, Mara,” he replied, that kind, lopsided grin crossing his features.

And Mara suddenly wondered why she had thought it was a good idea to go to the Palatine instead of following him to his new command. She leapt out of her chair and crossed her office in less than half a second, throwing her arms around his neck in the tightest hug she dared. She felt his arms envelop her in return and could no longer contain the mirth that had been threatening to overtake her. “What are you doing here?” she laughed as she pulled away to look at that kind, yet rugged face once more. (She would never get tired of looking at him.)

“I got command of one of the Defiants patrolling the area,” he answered, still grinning. “It’s a bit of a step down, but who could resist a completely unexplored part of space?”

“Exactly,” replied Mara. “And once they get everything set up over here, we’ll be able to get back. Ya know. Eventually.”

“When we’re ready,” agreed Bela. “I don’t have to ask you what you’re doing. Chief engineer of a station is a huge leap forward.”

“I like it,” replied Mara with a modest shrug. “Remind me to tell you about the time I lassoed and hogtied one of the modules.”

Bela’s brow wrinkled. “Lassoed?” he asked, the lopsided grin returning. “Only you, Mara.”

She laughed. “It worked,” she defended. “So what did you need help with?”

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “I almost forgot I had an actual purpose here. We’ve got some gel packs that always seem to become infected with bacteria. Our engineers are flummoxed. My own chief wanted to come ask you himself, but when he told me your name, I convinced him to let me come.”

“Always the same gel packs?” asked Mara, brow furrowing. “Are they all in the same vicinity? Or connected to the same systems?”

“There seems to be no rhyme nor reason,” he replied. “But it’s always the same five gel packs. Every three or four weeks, they have to change them because they’re contaminated again.”

Mara chewed on her lower lip and her brow furrowed further. “Did they change the connectors?” she asked.

“Twice.”

“Ouch.” She chewed her lip some more. Changing the connectors wasn’t easy unless you had an expert transporter operator like they did on Canopus. But, if they’d done it twice, it was serious. And yet, they still had the same issue. Curious.

“I know that look,” he commented. “You’re enjoying the puzzle.”

“Indeed,” she replied with a slight grin. She crossed to a hip-high shelf, picked up her tool kit and began checking it. “I guess I’ll have to take a look. We had a similar problem when we first got here, but changing the connectors fixed it.” She might have to contact a few other ships to see if they’d had the problem, too. Even if she could figure this one out, it wouldn’t hurt to find out as much as she could for future reference.

“Our problem must be deeper,” Bela replied absently. He seemed to be concentrating on something else.

Mara turned from checking her kit to find him studying her carefully. Her head cocked to one side and her brow wrinkled. “Something wrong?” she asked.

“No!” replied Bela, breaking his gaze. “No, in fact, everything’s right.” There was that lopsided grin again. “Everything’s perfect.”

Mara returned his grin. “Except the gel packs,” she amended.

“Except the gel packs.”

“Shall we?” Mara asked, motioning him towards the door.

“Of course,” agreed Bela. “One more thing, though. Dinner tonight?”

Mara grinned. “Of course,” she agreed.

He gestured towards the door. “After you.”

He hadn’t exaggerated the problem at all. Mara and Lt. Commander Paul Gaffney- the ship’s chief engineer- had scoured the system and found absolutely no reason for the gel packs to continuously become contaminated, but they had made the decision to run antibiotics through the whole system just in case. It was a task that would take two days and was likely to destroy several gel packs, but they couldn’t think of anything else short of tearing the whole ship apart and replacing everything connected to the gel packs and that would put the ship out of commission for several weeks. Hopefully this would do the trick.

Now, though, it was time for dinner. She had been looking forward to it since Bela had proposed the idea. She had thought she’d gotten over him, but seeing him today… well, now she wasn’t so sure.

“So you’re trapped here for at least two days,” she announced as she approached Bela, who stood near the dock.

“Gaffney told me,” he replied, giving her another lopsided grin. “That was your plan all along, wasn’t it?”

“You caught me,” she confessed with a grin.

“I don’t think I mind being trapped here by you,” he said.

She grinned and averted her eyes. Why was she so damned nervous?

“Tell me,” he prompted.

Tell me. That was the way he’d asked what was on her mind over the course of the two years they’d dated. Tell me what you’re thinking. Tell me what you want. Tell me what you feel. Bela didn’t like games and he didn’t like guessing. Tell me.

She had to think for a moment. She wasn’t entirely sure how to put what she was thinking and feeling into words. She reminded herself that she didn’t need to be delicate with Bela; he may be gentle, but he wasn’t soft.

“I’m not really sure,” she said finally. “It’s complicated. I’m so happy to see you and… I think part of me wonders why I didn’t go with you. Wishes I had. I don’t know what you have in mind, and I’m not even sure what I want, what I’m hoping for.” She paused to look up at him again. “But I’m glad you’re here,” she finally finished.

He returned her grin with one of his own. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what I want, either,” he replied. “But I’m glad to see you. I’ve missed you,” he added, reaching towards her, but stopping himself. “Let’s just have dinner for now. And maybe what we want will become clear to each of us.”

“That sounds good,” she agreed. She had to admit that being perfectly open and honest had made their relationship the easiest one she’d ever had- out of all three of them- and that knowing what he was thinking now made her own mind settle down. Perhaps Bela had the right idea. Perhaps being totally honest and open was the way to go.

“Shall we?” he asked, offering her his arm.

She smiled and slipped her hand onto the crook of his elbow. “I know this great little place on the Xilosian level,” she told him. “Have you ever met the Xilosians?”

“I haven’t,” he replied as they walked. “But I’ve read the reports. They’re friendly?”

“As friendly as it’s possible to be when your home has been destroyed and you’re in a strange environment all on your own,” she answered. “But the station personnel have been spending a lot of their credits down there and once they discovered that they could fill their wants with those credits, they became even more friendly. It’s a nice place. And you’ve gotta try the capies. They’re so good.”

“Capies,” repeated Bela, eyes narrowing slightly in thought. “It sounds like a vegetable.”

“More like a bread stick,” replied Mara. “Sort of. And they’re a bit spicy. Well, they’re a lot spicy, actually. It just seems I’m used to spicy.”

Bela grinned enigmatically. “So I recall,” he replied.

Mara glanced sidelong at him. “I’m never sure what to make of statements like that,” she confessed. “From you, anyway. From other men, sure. But from you?” She shrugged.

“Pretend it’s innocent,” he laughed.

“It wasn’t, though, was it?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

He only winked.

“You’re terrible!” she laughed.

“You wouldn’t have it any other way,” he replied with a grin.

“You’re right,” she replied as they approached the cafe towards which they were heading. “You wouldn’t be Bela otherwise.”

Dinner was an adventure. Mara still wasn’t familiar enough with Xilosian food to actually pick something, so she again asked the waiter to surprise them. It was delicious again, and spicy, like always.They reminisced and caught up on what they’d been doing since they last spoke. He of course wanted details on lassoing one of the modules when they’d first arrived in Messier 4. He was a great audience, laughing in all the right places and even asking intelligent questions about her methods. He, in turn, regaled her with a couple of stories from his first command. Mara felt herself drawing closer to him as the night wore on and she realized that she didn’t want it to ever end. She questioned her decision to end the relationship even more and she wondered if he was doing the same, but she could never find a way to bring the subject up.

Eventually, they found themselves wandering the medina, people watching and window shopping. As they stood watching the candy makers folding a massive pile of fudge on a cold table, Mara became very aware of just how close he was standing. With almost anybody else, she would be tempted to shift her position and see what he did, but this was Bela. If she tried that with him, he’d just ask what she was thinking. No, with Bela, it was best to just come out with it.

“Bela,” she said, keeping her eyes on the candy makers on the other side of the window.

“Yes, Mara,” he replied.

“I think I know what I want,” she told him.

She saw his reflection grin at hers. “And what is that?” he asked.

She glanced up at him. “I want to go back to my quarters,” she said. “Do you want to join me?”

His grin widened slightly. “That depends on what you want to do with me once we get there,” he replied.

She grinned, eyes twinkling mischievously. “What do you think I want to do with you in my quarters?” she replied.

“Hopefully something very fun,” he said, taking her hand.

Her reply was to simply squeeze his hand and lead him away, in the general direction of her quarters.