Logic And Lo Mein

Posted on Tue Jul 10th, 2012 @ 8:01am by Captain Li Hawke & Admiral Ricky Wegener & Commander Sakkath

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Sakkath/Hawke Quarters

* * * Sakkath/Hawke Quarters * * *

Not really being one for aesthetics, Sakkath had not gone to much trouble decorating. A stop on the Promenade, en route to Lao’s, had enabled him to procure a small bouquet of lilies. Li adored orchids, he knew, but ever since Rhys had tried to poison her with one... well, his hope was to not dwell on the late Commander this evening.

Set in the center of the table, the roses were surrounded by steamer baskets the chef had sent Sakkath up with. The fare was primarily vegetarian, being Sakkath’s preference, but Lao had insisted on sending some of the carnivorous dishes he recalled Li ordering in the past. The Commander knew better than to deny a chef his right to create the menu, especially since Lao was doing him a sizable favor by catering this dinner for the two of them at the last moment.

The one downside, the Vulcan knew, was that his wife was in Intelligence. There was never any telling when she might be back and so he poured himself a drink at their modest bar, watching the electric blue of the liquid fill the crystal flute. There were other bottles, but Romulan ale always seemed to be his choice, a result of his time spent on the Science Station Heywood out near the Neutral Zone. Six years ago, that had been... and how far things had come since then.

After leaving Oz, Li had taken a detour down below the Equator to speak to a few of Suresh’s girls, which necessitated a change of dress. She had also seen Seyla, who was off-duty from the wormhole and gotten some rather strange news concerning Eli. It was something she would discuss with Oz later, but for now, everything was under control. With the sudden and increased presence of Security down there, Suresh was behaving and she was glad.

The easy part of her day was out of the way, and now it was time to go home. A twinge of nerves struck her in the turbolift up and that concerned her. She was going home, to her husband, the man who was her life now. Given the awkwardness, she decided it was best that she not appear in anything but her usual clothing and so she detoured through Intel to get back to her normal self. Back in the turbolift, she was Li again, dressed in a thin, slowing skirt and a strapless top, both in a pale aqua. As she continued on her way, Lazan’s words came to her yet again.

You cannot hold the actions of another against him...

How right he was. The turbolift finally stopped and Li emerged, moving along to their quarters. She almost rang the chime, then decided that was a silly impulse. She lived here. With a deep breath taken, she opened the doors and stepped inside.

Sakkath turned at the sound of the portal. He would not be waiting long at all, apparently. “Imzadi,” he greeted her, inclining his head slightly. The perfume of their quarters, usually something between the aroma of flowers and scent of spices, was quite noticeably different... though Sakkath reasoned that it still smelled strongly of spice, just not the usual components of his teas.

She was silent for a moment as she looked him over, then smiled. His use of the term always touched her and before she could stop the reaction, her eyes misted over. “Sakkath, my love, how are you?” Only now did she realize she was still standing at the door, unmoving.

“My condition is satisfactory,” the Vulcan replied, setting down his glass and pulling out a chair at one of the two place settings, offering the seat to her. “I reasoned that dinner would be appropriate, for a number of reasons and with some sage counsel. How has your day fared?” he inquired. Still dressed in his uniform, he imagined he seemed more than slightly formal, but then, when was he not? He knew the answer to that question even as he asked it - it was when he was alone with Li - but perhaps this was in keeping with what he felt he needed to do, for his own sake, to secure his mind and reinforce his cultural discipline.

She sniffed the air and smiled. She knew the aroma of Lao’s and the fact that he’d gone there touched her. She had avoided it of late sure to Suresh and had missed it. She wasn’t surprised, however. Anything she knew, for the most part, Sakkath knew too. That got her moving and she crossed to the table, stopping before Sakkath. His formality wasn’t lost on her, but then, she’d been equally so since he’d come home. Something he said now sunk in.

“Sage counsel?”

He nodded as he replaced the seat beneath her, retrieving his glass. “Would you care for anything?” he asked, prior to joining her at the table. He considered his response as he poured for her, then spoke in his seat. He desperately wanted to avoid bringing up a particular name tonight. “Let me simply say that our Doctor Harding appears capable of diagnosing more than medical conditions.”

“Such as?” She reached for her glass and took a sip, the ale a welcome warmth as it made its way down her throat. A sudden fear gripped her however. “Is there something wrong that they didn’t find initially?”

“No,” Sakkath offered quickly. “No, no. I am in perfect health, graciously. But he did comment that a little bit of normalcy might go a long way towards improving the aftereffects of... well, you are as well aware as I am, and I do not wish to dwell on it. Not now.” He lifted his glass, tapping the crystal to hers. “And in any event, this is an occasion deserving of some small celebration.”

“Normalcy.” Li considered that and knew that Harding was right. She’d felt the same but had been unable to voice the idea. She knew that Sakkath needed time to reassert his own control but....he could also read her like a book. “I know what you need, Sakkath, and how much you need it. I need to...” She stopped there as the last part hit her. It was indeed a well-deserved celebration. “So it is.” She raised her glass to his once more. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I have to admit to feeling a certain level of satisfaction myself,” Sakkath replied, words that would never have left his lips anywhere but here, in their quarters. He began to help himself to some of the food, but even as he did so, her trailing off was not lost on him. “What is it you need, Imzadi?”

She added several dumplings to her plate and smiled a moment, recalling how much Jackson liked them. Sakkath’s question brought her back, however, and she looked up to him. Where to start? Or how much to say? She was unsure but when she opened her mouth, the first thought spilled out before she could stop it.

“I need to stop being afraid.” As soon as the words popped out her eyes widened and she looked away. Drink....yes, that was a good idea. She reached for her glass.

Sakkath titled his head as he considered that, chewing slowly on his food. “I do not necessarily believe that is the case,” he said. “Fear is useful, in the sense that when we experience it we learn to master it. It forges us by presenting adversity. Fear has kept you alive, I do not doubt, in the field. But if you mean to say you need to stop allowing fear to dictate your actions, perhaps we can find agreement in that.” He lifted one of the vegetable dumplings from the steamer basket, considering it for a moment before he looked back at Li. “Or have I missed the mark?”

“Not entirely no. You are right as far as you went.” Setting her glass aside she looked back at him. “I need to stop being afraid here. This...us...is my haven Sakkath. My place where I can get away from the subterfuge, the danger, the threats, all of it and just be us. There isn’t a me anymore, there is now us. But now, I am afraid that it’s not over. That I might wake up and you will have vanished again, that I won’t be able to find you, that the link will be dead. And afraid that....” She stopped short of going to the part where she said she was afraid he would succeed where he’d failed this last time.

Logically, Sakkath knew he should not make promises that he was not certain he could keep. There were forces in this part of the galaxy that he could likely not even imagine, things that the Federation and its allies had never before encountered... any one of them could mean the end of him, in one way or another. But none of that awareness stopped him from saying it.

“I’m not going anywhere,” he pledged to her. “We may be apart at times, one of us on a planet or a ship somewhere, but never permanently and never without knowing it.”

“And I know that...he is gone for good this time. It’s stupid I know. It wasn’t your fault, so why can’t I shake it?”

“Give it time,” was all he could think to say as he held his hand out over the table between them, two of his fingers extended, “and have faith.”

She touched her fingers to his, then took his hand and raised it, pressing her lips to his palm. “Come back to me.”

“I am right here,” he said, in that matter-of-fact Vulcan way of his.

“Faith.” She stood and moved around the table, stopping beside him. Without a word, she tilted his face up to meet her gaze, then leaned down, brushing her lips over his, once more feeling that familiar arc of electricity that seemed to bind them together. I will always have faith in you, my husband. We will get through this because we cannot be apart. It’s that simple.

Sakkath returned the kiss, with only the simple thought of, It is, interrupted moments later.

As he made his way to the quarters of Sakkath and Li, Rick silently admonished himself for not doing something he had meant to do when Sakkath had come to visit him. However, he hadn't expected the meeting and hadn't had the time to get prepared for it. It was a simple matter, however, to have replicated what he needed, but that was in the past now. And he felt he owed the Vulcan a personal visit to deliver the news.

He stood outside the door and thumbed the chime waiting for a response.

The Vulcan lifted a brow as the chime sounded, drawing his lips away from Li’s. “Are you expecting anyone?” he wondered aloud, even as he stood and made his way to the door, keying the release. Who he saw standing there caused the second brow to go up, and he straightened.

“Admiral. How unexpected. Please, come in.” Dinner or no, Sakkath was not about to turn away the Commanding Officer.

“Good evening, Admiral, and welcome.” Li smiled, amusement rising as she recalled her last conversation with Ricky.

Rick smiled. "Sakkath. Li," he said, calling them by their proper names since this was their residence, after all, and he was intruding on their privacy "I apologize for interrupting what appears to be a lovely evening for the two of you, but," he said as he turned back to Sakkath, "I realized that the meeting we had earlier was not finished."

“No apology is necessary, Admiral.” Sakkath seemed surprised by what Rick had to say, though it only mildly showed on his features. “I know I discussed everything of import on my mind,” he reasoned. “Were there additional orders for me?”

Rick looked to Li. "I'm not sure if he's been able to get around to telling you, but I have promoted him to the second officer's position on 900. He has more than showed his value to me and everyone on this station. And with the departure of our former 2XO, the natural choice was he."

He produced a small box from his jacket. "However, I cannot, in good faith, allow a mere Lieutenant Commander hold the position of second XO." Opening the box revealed three brand new full gold rank pips. "So, I have decided to remedy that by promoting you, Sakkath, to the rank of full Commander." He smiled. "I have already made the changes in the computer's database. All that's left for you is to wear these with pride."

Sakkath closed his eyes for the briefest of moments, taking a breath before opening them again and managing to keep his voice level. “Thank you, Admiral, for both the honor and your faith in me. Even more so than before, I hope I can live up to it.” He accepted the box, regarding the pips, before closing it and folding it into his hands. “I shall wear them with as much pride as a Vulcan can.”

Rick flashed a smile at Li. "And you, little girl," he said, only because he'd known her since she was barely old enough to walk, "you know this just solidifies that he can boss you around, right?"

“He can try.” Li’s smile was warm and full of pride as she looked from Ricky to Sakkath. “We were actually celebrating his new position when you arrived. Would you like to join us?”

“I feel certain your security clearance will still exceed mine,” the Vulcan countered.

"And ruin what could be a wonderful evening for the both of you by having an old coot hanging around? No thank you!" he said with a wink. "I'm sorry I didn't make it more formal, Commander," he said to Sakkath, "but I wanted to get it done right away." After a beat, he started to stick his hand out for a shake but pulled it back unsure if Vulcans actually shook hands and settled for the 'V' with his fingers. "Commander," he said. "Li, you both have a wonderful evening."

Sakkath returned the salute. “And you as well, Admiral. Thank you again.”

With that, Rick let himself out. He knew he had made the right choice in Sakkath and, thinking on that, began whistling as he walked down the corridor.

After Ricky’s departure, Li turned to look at Sakkath. “Congratulations, sir.” Her smile turned mischievous.

Sakkath blinked. “Well, I am sure that will not be awkward at all,” he commented dryly as he drained what Romulan ale remained in his glass.

“Not at all. In here, you’re still my husband.” Her smile lingered. “There is one dumpling left, and you know Lao’s dumplings are gold. Wrestle you for it?” It was, surprisingly, the first bit of humour that had emerged from Li since Sakkath’s return home.

“Need I remind you that there are regulations that prohibit striking a superior officer?” he wondered aloud, even as he pulled his old pips from his collar and replaced them, one at a time and with a great deal of purpose and reverence, with the new. “I think I will spare you the court martial, and allow you to have it.”

She stood and moved over to Sakkath, running her fingertip over the new pips. “Was that a joke, my darling? I’m impressed.” And relieved. “And that dumpling’s all mine.”

“It was a fact,” he countered, though something in the back of his Vulcan mind admitted ‘maybe a little’ to her. He moved towards the bar, refilling his glass. What had started as a gesture of reconciliation with a side of celebration now had more to go on... another promotion, humor in this space (if tempered by Vulcan stoicism) and everything seemed to be approaching normal... faster than the speed of light.

*********
Lt. Commander Li Hawke
Settling Back In

Commander Sakkath
Cracking Wise

&

VADM Ricky Wegener
Just Dropping By