A/N: A wee thing that came to mind earlier this morning.
Their hosts assured them that they would be safe while the storm blew over. The captain, armoury officer, and communications officer had arrived the day before to negotiate a trade for much needed fuel. Their hosts, the Hakkan, had insisted that they stay and observe their festival of abundance as trade negotiations were set up. It also gave Captain Archer a chance to open diplomatic relations with the Hakkan. Archer was held up in the capitol building, while Reed and Sato had remained behind at their guest quarters. The captain would be reunited with his crewmen after the storm passed.
The alien world was light years away from Earth and a prime source of much needed deuterium for Enterprise. Their accommodations were on a cliff overlooking the sea, which until that morning had been calm. He had called it a cyclone; she insisted that it was called a typhoon. Their war of words a playful one as they waited for the raging tempest to sweep in from the ocean. He pointed out to her that the term typhoon was a Japanese one, and seeing as she was the first Japanese national to visit the planet, the more common term of cyclone held greater precedence. She had corrected him and informed him that typhoon was in fact a term derived from Cantonese, not Japanese. And she had been in several typhoons as a child, whereas he hadn't, she teased.
The weather had deteriorated throughout the day and by early afternoon; the first bands of the storm were coming ashore. Malcolm had gone to look for Hoshi and not finding her inside, he ventured outside. What he saw took his breath away. The clouds were black and the ocean roiled in fury. Hoshi was standing near the edge of the cliff and watching the horizon. She was dressed in the loose fitting cloths of the Hakkan people, a simple sleeveless top and long skirt in a soft cream colour. She hugged herself as she watched the storm grow and approach them. Her hair whipped around her in a halo of ebony silk. Malcolm Reed struggled to breathe at the sight of the goddess before him, the effects of the storm making her seem like an elemental being of raw power and beauty.
Decades later, retired Admiral Malcolm Reed finished reading the news brief about the newly appointed Admiral Hiroko Sato. His daughter had used her mother's name when she entered Starfleet. Not that he minded at all. She had insisted that she wanted to earn her way through the ranks on her own merits, not the ties she had by being his daughter. His fiery child had taken after him in so many ways. Reserved to all but those closest to her, a skilled tactician and loyal almost to a fault. While she was very much her father's daughter, Hiroko had inherited her mother's gift for stringing words together in a way that could bend anyone to her will. The gift had served her well in dealing with Ambassador Talla of Andoria, as they helped the Federation grow and expand. Shran's vivacious daughter had proven to be an interesting contrast to Hiroko's more insular nature. Malcolm Reed sat back in his office chair and let his eyes close. His bed had felt cold and empty since Hoshi had passed away two years earlier. She had gone to sleep one night and never awoke.
Hoshi. They had had a good life together, he mused as he let his mind drift. He saw her again as he had so long ago on a windswept sea cliff. Unlike the reality though, this time she turned her gaze towards him as he approached her. Her dark eyes warm and inviting as she held her hand out to him. Time melted away as he took it and let her pull him toward her. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he held her as they watched the storm rage around them. The following morning, an assistant found him at his desk. Retired Starfleet Admiral Malcolm Reed had passed, like his wife before him, in his sleep.
FIN