First Meetings: Sulu

He had gotten off alpha shift ten minutes ago, and Sulu decided to check on some of the newer plant specimens down in the botany lab. Since the only botanist on board was currently lying in Sickbay violently ill with Andorian shingles, he figured the botany lab would be empty and blissfully silent. Because of this, he was quite surprised when he entered the lab and heard someone talking.

"Come on, silly, I have to prune you. Don't you want to look nice? You're beginning to look rather wild." There was a moment of silence, then Sulu could hear leaves rustling.

"Why do you have to be so contrary?"

Curious now, Sulu walked back through the foliage to find a young woman standing by a cactus-like plant with a large pinkish-red flower on the top. As he watched, the flower closed up and retracted back into the base of the plant, leaving the woman standing there with hands on her hips.

She had bronze skin, large brown, almond-shaped eyes, and chocolate brown hair that fell all the way down to the small of her back. She looked like she probably came from somewhere in the Pacific, and wore a blue science uniform.

"Hello?" he called out across the room.

Startled, she jumped and stared at him for a moment before letting out a huff in relief. "Didn't anyone ever tell you it isn't nice to sneak up on people, Mister...?"

"Lieutenant Sulu, but can call me Hikaru, Miss...?"

She smiled. "Doctor Kameāloha but you can call me Leilani."

"Doctor?"

"Yes, I'm the new botanist."

Hikaru frowned. "I wasn't even aware we were getting a new botanist."

"I didn't know I was going to be your new botanist, either," she chuckled.

"Oh?"

"You guys picked me up at Starbase 28. It wasn't until your captain asked Commander Gilligan for a recommendation that I was offered the transfer."

Hikaru gasped. "But we stopped at Starbase 28 almost three weeks ago!"

"Yes, that sounds about right, Lieutenant," Leilani giggled at his shock.

"You've been here that long? Usually, the captain announces additions to the crew."

"Oh, well," she shrugged. "No big deal. Captain Kirk is a rather busy man, I'm sure. Besides, I'm not much for that kind of attention anyway." She reached out to gently stroke the stubborn flower in front of her hoping to get it to come out. It did not budge.

"Is Benjamin being contrary?" he asked with a chuckle at the perplexed look on her face.

"Oh, it's that it's name? Well, at least I now know you're a boy," she told the plant.

"Wait, you...don't find it weird that we name the plants?"

"Why should I?" she shrugged. "Back home, we have a pair of hibiscus bushes named Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, and my cutting from Lucy is named Lilo." She pointed to a small potted plant on the corner of one of the desks. "Oh, and Dad's palm trees are Larry, Curly, and Moe."

Sulu laughed. "He named the palms after the Three Stoogies?"

"Yep!" she answered cheerfully, picking up a pair of small garden shears. "Now, come on, Benjamin; I just want to get all that dying growth off. It doesn't look healthy."

The plant stubbornly did not move.

"Now, Benjamin, is this anyway to treat a nice lady like Dr. Kameāloha?" Sulu scolded the rebellious cactus.

"I didn't know Centauran cactus were so stubborn."

"Usually, they aren't," he told her. "She's just trying to do you a favor, you know," Sulu coaxed Benjamin. "If I were you, I certainly wouldn't say no to such a pretty lady pruning me."

Benjamin's flower "head" slowly eased partway out of his base. The tightly closed blossom turned as if to look at Sulu. It "looked" him up and down, then shook it's head. It clearly did not believe him.

"I'm being completely honest with you. She clearly knows what she is doing," he asnwered. "All your fellows have been pruned recently; I can tell. With Dr. Andro in Sickbay for the last week and a half, that means Dr. Kameāloha must have done some of it. Don't you want to look nice like they do?"

Benjamin paused, then nodded.

"Well, then, let her do it, silly!" Sulu laughed. "I will stay right here to make sure she does it right, if that will make you feel better." Benjamin nodded again and eased the rest of the way out of his base. Leilani made quick work of snipping away the little shoots coming off the flower's main stem.

"See, there; I'm done," she told the flower. "Was that so bad?" As if ashamed, the flower ducked its head and shook it.

"Yeah, you oughta be ashamed of yourself, being all stubborn to her," Sulu rebuke him. "Now, she's done something nice for you; what do you say?" The plant "looked" up at her expectantly. "Give him your hand; he says thank you by nuzzling it." Sulu told Leilani, who complied, offering her hand palm up. The flower nudged her hand until she turned it over. It then pressed the tip of its petals to the back of her hand.

"Oh, now you're gonna be a flirt, huh?" she giggled. "I know a kiss when I see one."

"Don't let Janice see you, Benjamin," Sulu said with a teasing grin. "She might get jealous."

Leilani quirked an eyebrow at Sulu.

"Benjamin has always seemed to have a thing for Yeoman Rand," he explained.

"Oh, I see," Leilani said, turning back to the plant. "I've met her; she very nice." She leaned down to the flower "Good choice," she whispered to it with a smile.

Sulu could not help but chuckle at her antics. He could tell Leilani Kameāloha was going to fit into the Enterprise botany team perfectly.

"Thank you for your help, Lieutenant," Leilani said as she put her shears away. "Was there something you needed?"

"Oh, no," he answered. "I just came for a visit."

"Well, you must visit often to know Benjamin so well. You clearly are not one of the other scientists."

"What makes you say that?"

She sent him a wry grin. "Well, unless both Dr. Andro and I were issued the wrong color of uniforms, scientists don't wear gold. Or go by rank."

Sulu glanced down at himself self-consciously. "Oh, yeah. Right."

"So, what brings you down here for all these visits?" she asked as she pulled herself up to sit on top of her desk.

"Botany is a hobby of mine."

"Really? Well, feel free to continue your visits then," she sent him a wide, genuine smile that suddenly made his heart perform a little flip-flop in his chest. "I love sharing my love of plants with people, and I know Dr. Andro does."

He smiled back. "Need any help around her today?"

"Well, the tropicals in green house three need watering, and with some of those-"

"It's best done by hand," he finished for her.

"Yeah," she nodded, slipping off the desk.

"Then, let's get started, shall we?" he said, suddenly glad that he was getting the chance to work with this new botanist.

The plant described here is in the first season of the Original Series. I cannot remember the title of the episode, but I think it was the one with the salt creature who kept turning into Bones old flame.