Blind Chance

Posted on Sat Dec 3rd, 2022 @ 4:18am by Petty Officer 1st Class Leon Meier & Warrant Officer Ahira Kasamoto
Edited on on Fri Oct 6th, 2023 @ 6:06am

Mission: In-Between (S1:E4-S1:E5)
Location: 2330
Timeline: Mission Day 1 at 2045
3796 words - 7.6 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

The Captian's bodyguard hadn't taken the chance to read Ilan's message until after the meeting with Lyra and the XO. Given the success of the project, which both worried and relieved Ahira at the same time, he hadn't been sure that he wanted to meet someone. He hadn't been on a date, a real date since being assigned to the Vengance. And what made this date special was that it was a blind date. He'd rolled his eyes when he retrieved what she'd sent and had contemplated just forgetting the whole thing.

But she had gone to all the effort to find one of his kind. Besides, how likely would it be for him to find a date on his own? So he'd agreed and sent a response to both Ilan and Leon had agreed to meet him in the ship's lounge at 2045.

He changed out of his uniform and took a long shower, using a peppermint-scented shampoo. Would Leon get close enough to smell his hair on a first date? Ahira had no idea. Ahira wasn't sure. But, now that he had agreed on the date, he might as well go all out.

He rejected a shirt he'd gotten at the training academy. A friend had gotten it for him as a gag gift and it read;I'm not gay, but my boyfriend is. That would have been distinctive, but it would bring the wrong kind of attention.

He changed clothes four times before he settled on a pair of black skinny jeans and a silver-colored long-sleeved Mafoose shirt. It was a dressier version of a tee shirt. As he sat in a booth against the back wall, he began to doubt himself, thinking perhaps that he had underdressed.

Over the past month, Leon had found himself without much to do on the ship. Of course, he had been kept busy and did his duty, but there was nothing overly stimulating to his mind or talents. In the end, though, it was better for everyone else that he hadn't been busy given he was the lead damage control specialist. Instead, he had spent his evenings socializing and having fun with his friends.

When he had received the message from Ilan, he'd been intrigued, to say the least. Blind dating on a starship was... well, it was a bit of a tricky thing. Still, he hadn't been on an actual date in a while - some fun times sure, but an actual date? No. Interested, he accepted and made sure he was ready at the appointed time. Freshly showered, shaved, his hair tamed as much as it would allow, he had put on a white and blue vertical stripe button up. The top few buttons had been left undone and the sleeves had been rolled up to keep the look casual. He paired them with some off white pants, a brown leather belt, and shoes, and finished the look with a thick gold chain bracelet around his wrist.

Leon carried himself with ease as he walked into the lounge and scanned the room. Ilan had let him know that the man he was meeting would be wearing a silver shirt. It took him a moment, but he finally located his quarry in a booth at the back wall. He walked over with ease but as he approached, his smile was small and unsure.

"Um... Ahira Kasamoto?"

Ilan had said he'd been good looking and she had been right. The first thing he noticed was the blond hair, long enough that Ahira imagined he'd been written up for it once or twice, and stylishly disheveled.

He stood to his feet and extended his hand, "That's right. You must be Leo Meier. Good timing, I just got here myself."

Leon grinned a scintillating expression and took the other man's hand firmly, but didn't squeeze in an oppressive or domineering way. "Good, I was sure I was late really," Leon spoke with a mild accent to his words, but he wasn't hard to understand. "I tend to be, unfortunately, no matter how hard I try. It is nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," holding the other's gaze as he released his hand.

"You're not from Kansas are you?" he asked with a mischievous grin. He started to sit and pointed to the chair beside him. Then he caught himself stood back up and moved to take Leon's chair. "Let me get that for you, or is that too twenty-first-century cheesy?"

The Kansas reference soared over Leon's head, but he still wore the smile and simply moved to take a seat when Ahira pulled it out for him. "It might be, but I like it. Thank you." He settled in and crossed his legs, waiting for Ahira to resume his seat. "So, captain's bodyguard, hm?"

The warrant officer nodded as he took a seat. "My reputation proceeds me. But, if Ilan tried to tell you it's glamorous or exciting it's really not. Not that I'm complaining mind you, it's an honor, but it's mostly standing around and being bored."

"You're in engineering right?"

"Ilan just said the handsome new captain's bodyguard... she wasn't wrong." Leon smiled again. "Yes, I am. I'm the lead damage control specialist. Thankfully a job that hasn't been overly exciting for a while."

Ahira blushed ever so slightly, a tinge of ochre touching his cheeks. "She has good taste, I guess. She said you were good looking too."

"Seems we're both in jobs where if our day is exciting, it's a bad day."

"Did she tell you how we met?"

"No, nothing specific, just 'in passing." Leon tilted his head slightly. "How did you meet her, then?"

"I went to the gym to work out. She was there doing cardio and drawing a nice crowd of oglers. I was doing chin-ups. I don't remember how many reps I was on when I started to... falter. She said something like 'you can do it handsome' and I was able to do a few more."

"After I was done, I went up to talk to her and get some of her water. I didn't realize it at first, but she was flirting with me. Finally, she hit on me, wanted me to take her back to my place or go to hers."

"Of course, I was shirtless at the time, so that might have had something to do with it."

Leon laughed at that and shook her head. "That sounds about right. Ilan flirts with anyone and everyone. I think she just enjoys it even if it doesn't get her anywhere." He paused and pondered for a moment. "Though it does seem to get her somewhere often. Very often."

"Hey, if it makes her happy, who am I to judge? Nothing wrong with having a quick fu... roll in the hay, I'm certainly not above that. But at some point, I want something a little more serious."

Leon noticed him back off the word and smiled slightly. It was endearing. "At some point sure." He agreed. "But you also have to be careful not to rush into it... though that does seem to be the popular thing to do in the senior staff. Maybe they know something that we don't know, hm?"

"You're right, I don't have a pile of wedding planning PADDS in my cabin. If it happens it happens."

"And you're right about the senior staff. They might just know a thing or two. But, hey, we've been talking about me a lot. What about you? Tell me a little about yourself."

"Well, I don't know if I'd say we've been talking about you a lot, but okay." Leon chuckled easily. "Well, let's see. I'm from Dresden, Germany. My family is in the wine business, and I have three siblings - two older brothers and a little sister." As he spoke, Leon watched Ahira, studying his face and looking into his eyes. He had beautiful eyes and was quite handsome and for just a split second he focused on the other man's lips, wondering what it would feel like to kiss such full lips. He brought his attention back up quickly.

Ahira noticed Leon briefly glance at his face, but nothing more specific, and the glance had been momentary at best so he didn't think much about it.

"Wine?" he asked instinctively leaning forward fractionally. "Anything, I might know?"

"Well, we sell under our family name, so if you've ever had any variety of Meier wine, we made it." Leon supplied easily.

"Oh, and speaking of that, do you want something to drink?" Ahira asked.

“Hm? Oh, yeah that would be a good idea.” Leon smiled and rubbed the back of his head. “What kind of drinks do you like? Are you a wine guy?”

"I don't know that you could call me a connoisseur, but I've got a few bottles in my cabin. Mostly white wine, my favorite is white zen. Usually, I go for a Terran beer when I can get it. I'm not much of a hard liquor, but I drink Scotch when I am in the mood."

"What about you?"

"Well, being in the wine business, I'd probably be considered a wine snob, but I am polite about it." Leon smiled and shook his head. "Never been too much of a drinker but the occasional scotch or brandy is nice. Sounds like scotch might be our best bet?"

"Sounds like a plan."

Ahira signaled for a member of the wait staff, and a young woman, probably a slave given the differential way she approached.

"Could I help you, gentlemen?" she asked avoiding eye contact with either of them.

"Yes," said Ahira, "we'd like two GlenDornach Orignal, the 12 -year-old. Neat."

She didn't bother writing anything down and turned to walk away.

"I'm sorry, I just did that automatically, I didn't ask. Would you have preferred something different.?"

“Nope, that sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Mostly because I know nothing about scotch.” Leon chuckled mostly at his own expense and shook his head. “So what can you tell me about you, Ahira?”

Ahira breathed out a small sigh of relief, glad that he had not just done a faux pas. He paused a moment considering his answer. Leon was easy on the eyes, that was for sure, and a small part of his brain wondered how easy on the eyes he'd be without clothes. But, he was a complete stranger, so he wasn't going to reveal all the details of his life to him. But, he had been asked, so he had to say something.

"I guess you could say, I'm a... badboy? I didn't run down to the nearest recruiting station when I turned 18. The planet I grew up on, wasn't under the control of the Empire. And we weren't under the control of the Alliance either. We really didn't care one way or the other."

"I was part of the crew smugglers. Things, people, and whatever would put gold or credits in our pockets. Then we got caught by Imperial forces. We were given the choice of serving the Empire or execution. I'm many things but stupid isn't one of them. At least I hope not. So I signed up."

"The Empire showed me mercy, despite my only being half Terran. So, I'm more than willing to serve and do my part. But, I have no plans to claw my way to the top and command my own ship, or anything like that. In fact, I'm not really very political at all."

"I'm not either, really." Leon nodded. "I prefer a simple life away from all of the politics and backstabbing. Not really my cup of tea. Being the third son of a business owner does have a few benefits at least." He chuckled and smiled lightly. "Are you close with your family?"

Ahira had smiled when Leon spoke about his political ambitions or his lack of ambition. It showed that Ilan's compatibility meter was accurate. When the other man mentioned family his smile faded and he looked down at the table. The gesture was brief, no more than a few seconds, then he was looking back into Leon's face, focusing on his eyes.

"No, I'm not," he replied cooly.

He was going to leave it there, but he didn't think Leon would appreciate it. Still, he didn't want to give all the gory details. "I don't know where my father is and I don't care. My mother, my mother is dead."

Leon studied Ahira's expression and reaction. He frowned slightly himself, but after a moment gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "Family can be a beautiful thing sometimes, but not all the time. I'm sorry being close to your blood isn't an option for you, but perhaps you can find a new found family to be close to in time."

The other man nodded. The group I was with before, you know the smugglers were that to me, and I've kept in touch with them. So there is that. Still, you're right, I am still looking."

He was trying to come up with something to say to change the subject, when the slave girl returned with their drinks, handing each man a glass.

Ahira thanked the woman, took a sip of his drink, and said, "Where did you serve before the Vengance, or is this your first assignment?"

"I've actually had a few assignments before the Vengeance." Leon supplied, moving away from the obviously uncomfortable topic without any sign of protest or external disappointment. Of course, he had hoped for someone who was close to his own family, but it was not a deal breaker for him by any means. That, and as a half-blood, that likely would have complicated the "happy family" dynamic anyways.

"My last posting was on the ISS Scion. I served there for a little over a year before she sustained damage enough to ground her for an extended period." He paused and frowned. "We lost a lot of good people to the Alliance on that ship, but we won in the end. Definitely felt a bit hollow." He gave a slight smile. "As a damage control specialist, I was assigned to ships that patrolled on the front lines. I was assigned to the Vengeance because it was deemed a high-risk mission that would likely be in need of my expertise."

"Well, it's definitely been proven to be high risk. I'm just glad that neither one of us has really had to use their expertise much."

He took a sip of his drink and held it on his tongue for a moment. "You said you were close to your family. How do you think they're dealing with what's happened?"

"I imagine it has been very difficult on them, especially my sister. She's still young and she and I were close given I was the sibling still at home before I left out on assignment." Leon explained. "My mother will also be quite upset, my father will be in his own way but he has the business to tend to. My brothers have their own families, but they'll be saddened too."

"I'm sorry to hear that. It's got to be tough for them, not knowing where you are, or if you're even alive."

He drained the rest of his drink before continuing. “But it has to be even tougher for you. I'm pretty optimistic and I'm pretty sure we're going to make it back home. Eventually. But, who knows how long it's going to be."

"Were you seeing someone, you know a..." He paused trying to remember the right word, "boyfriend?" It was an old term, but he thought he had gotten it right.

“No, it hasn’t been easy. I guess we can only hope we will get home, but I imagine I’ll have to learn to live with the possibility of not.” He shook his head and moved on. “Seeing someone before we left, you mean? No. My last relationship had broken off about a month before the Vengeance launched.”

"Yeah, relationships can be tenuous at best, sometimes." Part of him wanted to probe a little deeper into the past of the man he was sitting across from, but he chose not to. This was, after all, their first date, and it was far too early to get too personal. He was enjoying Leon's company and didn't want to push too hard or too fast.

So, instead, he went in a different direction. "You said you were a damage control specialist, but I'm sure your general engineering knowledge and talent far outweigh mine. I had this wild ass idea I've been thinking about You might be able to help me."

"I'd like to build an aquarium, and maybe start collecting some fish for it, if we visit any planets in our exploration. I could probably just replicate something, but that would be too easy."

"Any ideas?"

"An... aquarium?" Leon asked, his face scrunching a bit just at the sheer fact that had come out of complete left field, but after a moment he shrugged and smiled. "I'd suggest one in the wall, but I doubt you'd be able to get clearance for that honestly. I guess some questions would be how big do you want it to be and where would you like to put it, for starters."

"Well, I think at a minimum 80 liters, but I'd like 120 liters. I know it's kind of weird right? I mean I never had fish, or really any pets growing up, but I went to a few aquariums back on Terra and was fascinated by the diversity, and uh, beauty." He lowered his voice on the last word as if it were a vulgarity.

"I just think it would be interesting to see what varieties are in this realm."

Leon couldn't help but quirk a brow as he heard how Ahira said the word beautiful as if it were something wrong. He tilted his head just slightly. "Well, fish species can be beautiful, certainly." He agreed and said the word as it were any other - to him it was. There was no shame in beauty in the empire, in fact, it was quite desired. "I can't say I have any advice on their care though." With a chuckle, he smiled easily.

"I'm sure I could figure out something depending on the dimensions of your quarters."

It was Ahria's turn to raise a brow. "I could show you my quarters," he said with a smile that was mostly innocent.

Leon's brows raised high at that, but then he laughed himself and flashed his pearly grin to Ahira. He could tell the offer wasn't entirely innocent. "Well, I suppose I'd have to go see for myself. You know, to make sure I get accurate measurements of important things."

Ahira's smile got larger and its innocence smaller when he hear Leon's response. "Well, I'm sure you have all the tools needed for a thorough and accurate assessment. When do you think you'd have some free time?"

The conversation had gone from friendly to flirtatious, and he was wondering where it might go from there, though he wasn't sure how willing either of them was to actually move beyond more or less harmless words too quickly.

"Soon, I hope. With this whole nebula thing, it is really all hands on deck. Even if I'm not repairing something, I will be helping in other ways I'm sure and we will just pray nothing happens where I have to do my actual job, hm?" He smiled and winked.

"Yeah, I think either one of us having to do our job would be a very bad thing, and I'm hoping you get a chance to come measure things sooner than later."

The smile didn't change in its intensity, but it did become more innocent again. "All joking aside, I am enjoying myself and you make great company. We don't have to end this right now, but would you go out with me again, maybe something in the holodeck this time?"

"Yeah, that sounds great, actually," Leon replied with a happy laugh laced in the words. "I'm enjoying myself too."

"Have you ever done any rock climbing or extreme sports?"

"I can't say that I have. My family did enjoy hiking through the mountains, though." Leon supplied. "But I'm open to new experiences."

Ahira nodded while signaling the waitress to approach the table. "Well, I was going to suggest climbing Spider Rock. I've climbed the real thing once or twice. But, since you don't have any experience, that's probably not a good idea. I even hurt my ankle the other day because I'd reset the safety parameters."

"I do have a couple of programs that might work though. The first is just hiking the Grand Canyon. The second is one where we are on a shuttle that has been attacked by Alliance forces and we're forced to crash land on a planet. It's class M. Barely. And we have to deal with the elements and being chased by the Alliance forces that were pursuing us."

"Or, we could do something you had in mind."

"A hike in the Grand Canyon sounds like it could be fun. I've never been there." Leon smiled. He wanted to talk to Ahira more and a hike seemed like the better choice to accomplish that with instead of a more story driven encounter.

"Sure, I can set that up. What is your schedule like so we can figure out a good time."

“I’m on duty during Alpha Shift, but again with all of this going on, I may be working overtime. That is the unfortunate thing sometimes about these ships… schedules seem more like loose guidelines, a lot of the time.” Chuckling, Leon shook his head.

"Why don't we set something put tentatively, say the day after tomorrow at 1900? If something comes up and you can't make it just message me on my PADD, Would that work?"

Leon smiled at Ahira's eagerness. It was nice to feel wanted. "Sure, sounds great."

"I think I'm going to get another drink. Would you like one?"

"Yeah, actually, I'd love one."

When the woman brought them two more glasses. Ahira handed Leon his, their fingers touching briefly in the exchange.

"Here's to finding our way home," he said holding up the glass.

"Cheers!" Leon grinned, tapped his glass to Ahira's and then took a drink.

The evening had been fun thus far and he found himself eager to meet again already. A strange but not unwelcome change of pace.

END