Disclaimer – If I could claim Star Trek as my own I would

Earth date, July 2264 – Night time, planet Risa, The Grand Temtibi hotel

Pike groaned in ecstasy as he released himself. Swept away in the throes of passion Seria clenched her inner walls around him. They kissed once again before he mumbled 'Love you Ria' and collapsed in a heap beside her in the emperor sized bed. Seria smiled as she considered what he lacked in stamina compared to a Vulcan male he more than made up with enthusiasm and technique. Well he did manage six delightful rounds.

She knew he enjoyed his birthday present. Her Admiral lover had been extremely busy. Security on New Vulcan had tightened once it was confirmed the terrorist who caused the explosion back in January and contributed to her physical disability had connections to the Orion syndicate.

It was her idea for them to spend some time together celebrating his 59th birthday on Risa. She did have another motive, his ex-wife Lisa Pike was stationed on the colony leading the investigation and she knew and even T'Ynise confirmed that she had designs on reconnecting with her ex-husband. Not that she doubted his loyalty to them as a couple even if he was too gentlemanly towards her for her liking. He took too long to take her to bed. Seria kept reminding him she was not a traditional Vulcan about certain things and having immobile legs did not make the rest of her fragile. She had proven that to him many times during the night. And the present smile on his now sleeping face told her that he had gotten the message.

Rachel her mother was pleased that she had found someone who cared for her. But her Vulcan father Salas, well for him the jury was still out or as he put it "The passing of time will determine his suitability to be joined to this family". Seria suspected he preferred she still look for a Vulcan male but as her mother reminded him, 'what the katra wants, the katra gets". And then proceeded to remind him that her father (Seria's human grandfather) was not too keen on him either when they dated.

As Seria thought of her parents she recalled the tale of how they met. It was a classic case of, how her mother put it that sometimes 'Men are from Vulcan and women are from Terra'

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14th February 2215 – London, England

Rachel Maxwell buttoned up her fake fur coat against the cold as she left her home to attend her friend T'Shea's dinner party. It was Valentine's night, an occasion for lovers everywhere to get together and romance the night away. Well she was not looking for romance having dumped her boyfriend Gary just before Christmas. It might be legal in this century to have more than one spouse even on Earth due to the many sentient species that the planet catered for. But she was old fashioned and only wanted one husband and so only wanted one boyfriend. So having caught Gary in bed with not only another female but another male, well that was too much for her to just 'forgive and forget'. They were both welcome to him!

She stepped into the autotaxi and keyed the postcode to Tottenham Court Road to T'Shea's restaurant. Her Vulcan friend had booked a private room for a few friends; singles, couples and triples so that everyone could have a 'productive evening' as she put it and not be left out. T'Sheas dinner parties were always interesting, it was a good place to meet new people and maybe even get more customers for her new bakery business.

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Salas did not want to be here. Salas did not want to be sitting with others in a place where you not only were expected to eat but also to eat and converse with others at the same time.

"You need to expand your social circle," was T'Shea's reason for inviting him. "By doing so you will learn to understand humans better and not come across as unfriendly."

"I do not need human companionship to understand them. I have worked with humans for 1.3 years since my posting to Earth." Salas replied.

"And how many of them do you converse with outside of a work setting?" asked T'Shea.

"Doctor Clarkson and I are frequent attenders to Earth sporting venues" retorted Salas.

T'Shea almost sighed, she had met Doctor Clarkson frequently. At first she was pleased that her cousin Salas had made a friend but having met Roger Clarkson she deduced that it was not just Salas brain he was interested in. However she knew Salas would be able to take care of himself and rebuff his advances when Clarkson chose to make his move. Or perhaps he would figure out that Salas sexual preference was limited to females only.

So here sat Salas at a rectangle table with fifteen other people most of them Terrans, there was a Caitian couple on his right, an Orion with her two partners opposite him, one Terran male the other not quite gender specific as far as Salas could tell. They were deep in conversation comparing Valentine 's Day to similar days on their planet.

The Orion female, LeLe proudly boasted that a day similar to this on her world would be spent with everyone at the table sharing bodies. However she used a more crude human term. The Caitian male, Azlan said there was a similar day on Cait called 'The Day of Heat'. Salas could estimate the probability that excessive mating took place on that day as well. Not that he was against such things but did one really need to talk about physical intimacy with strangers?

When asked if Vulcans had anything similar his curt reply was,

"Valentine's day is illogical. A Vulcan couple does not need one day of the year to enhance their bonding,"

Which opened him up to more questions about Vulcan mating rituals since information on the subject was few and far between.

He looked at his cousin T'Shea as if to say 'Rescue me'.

However her attention was diverted by the door being open to let in the last guest.

"Cha ….Sorry I'm late," Rachel entered the room slightly out of breath. "The autotaxi navigation controls took a much longer route than I expected. The damn things insist on ignoring back streets."

Salas turned as he heard the sound of her voice; it was a different accent from the London sounds and other off-world sounds he was used to hearing. He wondered which region of the country she came from. He wondered how on earth her small height of 1.62cm could walk in those high boots. He wondered how such a small body could carry such generous mammary glands and generous posterior. He wondered if she smelt as pleasurable as she looked with her curly black hair, light brown eyes and full lips. With her brown skin she reminded him of his ethnic group, the Sular Alam'ak (people of the sun) who lived in Vulcan's equatorial regions. He wondered how many hours of meditation it would take to remove her image from this mind.

Author's Notes:

This is a short tale and takes place in my 'Looking for ashau in all the wrong places' universe. Wrote this for fun since I'm still home with an annoying cold, reviews will cheer me up!