Chapter 10 Kirk, Captain….Lady Killer

Decks polished, hair combed, dress uniforms pressed, the officers waited for the runabout from Vulcan to land after having picked up Safak on the way. The craft similar to a shuttle craft but twice the size landed and opened. A tall young Vulcan male, slightly stockier than Spock wearing a brown and green Vulcan styled suit, sauntered out first. "I am Safak of New Vulcan." Immediately, he gave the Vulcan salute.

Kirk nodded. "Welcome Safak, we're pleased to have you on board.

Two German shepherds bounded out and sat next to the ramp. Sarek walked out behind them. "Welcome Ambassador Sarek," Kirk greeted. "We are pleased to see you again."

"You as well," Sarek replied. "There is some trouble aboard our ship. If someone could…."

"Oh no," Autumn yelled as she ran out of the shuttle. "The stasis field is losing even more power! My supplies will spoil!"

Scotty bounded into the shuttle followed by Chekov. Kirk went to the comm panel and ordered an engineering crew to the shuttle bay. "Chef Beaumont, everything will be taken care of. I'm Captain Kirk. Welcome aboard the Enterprise."

"Thank you so much Captain." She watched the tech crew run into the craft. "Are you sure they don't need my help?"

"The Enterprise has the finest engineering crew in the fleet. Everything will be fine." Kirk glanced to the dogs. "Do you breed them or are they just pets?"

"Well, they are my pets and I love them to death but they protect me. I got them on New Vulcan."

Sarek squinted at Kirk who readied to put his hand on Autumn's back to guide her out of the shuttle bay. "Spock, you would find them most interesting. They have some sehlat DNA in the breed to make them better suited to hot climates."

"Do they have the same fierce protectiveness that our pet sehlat did?"

"According to breeders, they'll rip the throats from anyone who touches Chef Beaumont." Sarek raised an eyebrow when Kirk stepped away Autumn.

The doors to the rest of the Enterprise swooshed open. Spock and Uhura flanked Sarek. Kirk took the lead with Autumn just behind him and Thor and Isis at her side. Safak trailed behind with Dr. McCoy. When they reached the botany department, Kirk motioned to the trails through the natural greenhouse which contained plants in every shape, size and color imaginable. "You may use the trails to walk your pets."

"Thank you," Autumn said quietly.

After that, they visited Zoology and the rest of the ship. The tour ended with a small private galley filled with stainless steel cookware and everything modern. The adjacent very large meeting room contained a long conference room table all done in with wooden trim with a motif of sea and space travel to give a warmer feel. "Captain, if you don't mind, could you clear out all this cookware? I prefer my own."

Kirk looked taken aback. "I thought this would be adequate. I was assured that this is a fully stocked kitchen."

"Oh it is but all the spices are freeze dried and I only use fresh. Stainless steel is nice but I prefer mostly cast iron and stone wear. You'll find that most chefs have their preferences when it comes to cooking." Autumn turned to leave. "If you'll excuse me, I'd like to get my supplies and set things up. I understand that Rishley will be boarding tomorrow and the Romulans the next."

"That's correct," Kirk replied.

"Thank you for the tour," she replied and quickly left.

"If you'll excuse me," Kirk said. "I'm sure you and your family have some catching up to do." He promptly left.

Now that his father was here, Spock wanted to take the opportunity to speak to him about his need for a bond-mate to keep his father from perishing in a couple of years due to Pon Farr. "Father, may I speak to you in private?"

Sarek knew he had to take care of a certain matter. "Of course but I need to take of something first." He rejoined Nyota and Spock did as well. "Chef Beaumont has offered to cook a private dinner tonight to discuss the cuisine for the Romulan ambassador. Would you like to join us?"

"We would love to," Nyota answered.

Though they hadn't bonded, attempted a mind meld or had any physically strenuous activities because of his recovery, Sarek knew Autumn quite well. For the two weeks prior to the trip, Sarek learned to recognize her moods. From the moment they toured the botany department, he saw her façade of calm cover distress and that's where he found her. In a far corner, beneath a tree with huge red spade shaped leaves, he heard muffled crying.

When she looked up, she wiped her tears and tried to look unemotional. "I was just on my way to the runabout."

"Autumn, there is no need to be ashamed of your feelings."

They touched fingers before she leaned into a hug. In a little while, her tears dried. "This is the first time I've been aboard a starship since the obligatory engagement tour. I guess it just hit me."

For little while she enjoyed a tight warm hug before she looked up with a smile. "Are you up for that cozy little dinner I promised for you and your family?"

"I look forward to it and so do they." Both of them agreed to the small dinner to see how things went before revealing their relationship. Sarek kissed her until he started to lose control which became obvious. "You should go ahead and unpack your supplies."

When Autumn reached her ship, Captain Kirk awaited her while an entire tech team worked on the shuttle. "Oh my, the stasis fields must be quite a problem."

"The stasis fields have been repaired. They just needed replacement parts. The technicians are giving the rest of the systems a tune-up."

Autumn walked over to her ship. "Well, I guess I should've expected it buying a used ship. Thank you so much." Inside, she pushed a wheeled cart down the ramp.

"We can get those for you." Kirk ordered some crewmen to help. "All of them?" he asked.

"Just these two," she answered.

"What's that?" He pointed to the maroon leather rolled cloth she removed from a drawer.

"These are my knives." She unrolled it to reveal various sizes of high quality cutlery. When he reached out to grab one, she smacked his hand. "If you think Chefs are fussy about their cookware, we're ten times worse about our cutlery."

"A sharpening stone in this day of laser sharpeners," he said pointing to the rather worn grey stone.

"Because of safety laws, laser sharpeners only get the knives so sharp but this works wonders." Autumn rolled up the leather and tied it tightly.

"So do you have any plans tonight?"

"Actually, I'm testing out the kitchen by cooking a small dinner. Every kitchen has its own personality." When she went back into her ship, Kirk followed.

Kirk leaned next to her. "So this intimate dinner, exactly what are you cooking?"

"Oh, just a one pot wonder: Kumquat Tagine but vegetarian with Monkey bread and figs in red wine sauce for dessert." Autumn exited her ship and made her way towards the private galley.

"That's quite a lot for one."

"Well, I wasn't planning to be alone." Once she blurted that out, she knew he would take it the wrong way. After all, she knew the type a charming smile and a couple hours of innuendo and he expected her to sleep with him. Little did he realize that she was the type that had to love and trust a man enough to hand over her financials before she handed over her body. All her life, she appreciated southern gentlemen and though Sarek was a Vulcan he possessed gentlemanly traits. Autumn practically ran to the galley.

"Then I'll see you at six," Kirk replied.

Alone in the private galley, Autumn soaked the figs in some red wine and clove honey. Then she grabbed her cast iron skilled and sautéed some onions, ginger and garlic together for a few minutes before adding coriander, cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper and cloves but in slightly extra quantities before adding plomeek, the Vulcan vegetarian equivalent of chicken. Then she coated her clay Dutch oven with extra virgin olive oil and poured everything in it and added the vegetable broth, kumquats, chickpeas and honey. Since she had several hours before dinner, she put the pot in the oven on extremely low heat so it would act as a slow cooker and set the timer.

Once finished, she made her way to the dorsal section of deck fourteen. The observation lounges had been turned into luxury quarters for the visiting dignitaries. Sarek would be just finishing his meditation. After buzzing his door and no one answered, she waited a few moments before she ran into Sarek on the way to his quarters. "Where were you?"

"Having Dr. M'Benga follow up to my surgery," he replied as he entered his quarters.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm completely recovered."

Autumn followed him into his quarters which opened to a mid-size living room that had a view of space which could also be a view screen. "That's wonderful." From what she could see, around the corner would be a bathroom and bedroom. "Sarek, I think that controlling emotions is a terrific thing sometimes."

"Really," he replied as he punched in a code to the door so the keypad would allow her access as well.

"That means you won't get upset about things." She knew he had feelings but suppressed them.

"Indeed, it does." Sarek cleared a space on the floor of the living room and unpacked a matt he used for meditating. "Now tell me what's troubling you."

"Well Captain Kirk started talking to me about this that and the other and I mentioned that I would be cooking to test the kitchen. Then he asked me about what I was cooking and I told him. Then he said that it sounded like quite a bit for one person and I said that I wasn't planning to dine alone and he took it as an invitation. How do I un-invite him? I mean he's the captain."

Sarek's irritation with Kirk nearly surfaced due to his lack of meditation that day. "Unfortunately, I am unsure how to handle the matter myself."

Autumn extended two fingers but he ignored her. "I'm sorry about this. Now, you're mad at me."

Sarek couldn't let her sense the anger and jealousy he felt or it would overwhelm her. "I am not angry with you. I simply find the entire situation disturbing." Sarek sat down and crossed his legs. "In the meantime, I need to meditate." Not only did he need to abate his irritation at Kirk but his excellent health and nearness to his potential bond-mate who didn't yet know the depths of Vulcan emotion posed another problem. Missing meditation reduced his emotional and physical control. "Autumn relax. Everything will be fine." When he saw the pout, he knew he had to take care of the situation but delicately. "Your suitcases and shopping bags are in the bedroom."

"OK. I'm going to unpack and take a nap."

After her nap, Autumn showered and dressed in a silky soft pink and black off the shoulder knee length dress, her hair down and a hint of soft make-up: entirely not Vulcan standard. Since she still needed to remove her cooking from the oven, she added her Kiss the Cook apron.

Sarek awaited her in the living room in a sienna high collar Vulcan suit just as handsome as ever. He stared at her outfit for a moment.

"I know: revealing by Vulcan standards but with seven hours of exercise a week, I deserve to wear it."

"Your outfit is pleasing. Kiss the cook." Sarek dipped her into a pulse pounding kiss.

"Only you can," she replied.

"While Captain Kirk will still be joining us, he won't get any ideas."

Alone in the turbolift, she hugged his arm. "Do you have a logical plan?"

Just as the doors opened, they separated so he could resume his Vulcan impassiveness. "Indeed," he replied.

A/N – Please R&R. I love hearing from you all. Its very encouraging as a writer.

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