The Final Frontier

by JulieGee

CHAPTER 12

"I haven't seen nearly enough of this planet," Merlin said as they beamed into a secluded section of New Orleans' French Quarter. The buildings had been preserved perfectly through the centuries. The original ironwork balconies were full of hanging plants, making walls of green along the streets. The sound of jazz filled the air. The captain could hear at least three different bands playing. Merlin's sensitive hearing could pick out five. People wandered the streets holding hands, enjoying the warm night.

"Sisko's is just around the corner," Arthur said. They paused at a string of curses. One of the bands in the square was trying to sober up their trombone player. It didn't look like they were going to succeed. They wouldn't be a sixth band for Merlin's listening pleasure. They walked up to the classic building and didn't even need to open the door. An elderly gentleman appeared in the doorway, silhouetted by soft candlelight from the restaurant behind him.

"Don't you even think of coming in here! I've got a table reserved on the patio. The only thing better than Louisiana catfish is Louisiana catfish under the stars! Oh, don't worry my Vulcan friend, I've got some wonderful vegetarian specials tonight."

"Thanks, Mr. Sisko. Just to let you know, I'm Romulan. And human, too."

"I picked up on the human part, but Romulan? I feel honoured! I've never had a Romulan guest. I've had lots of Klingons. They like their crawfish raw and mine are the freshest. They like food that bites back! I also carry a selection of Blood Wine they're fond of.

You're Romulan, though. Whatever shall I do you make you feel comfortable? If only there were something. Or if only you were with someone else," he said as he blinked innocently.

"Just bring him a glass of Romulan Ale," the captain said. "This Starfleet officer learned to look the other way years ago. Trade boycotts are popular, but they don't work. There's supply there, there's demand here and there's money to be made. You don't have to be a Ferengi to see that trade is going to take place. It's not like it's weapons they're smuggling. It's fancy beer. Fancy blue beer. Plus, there were a number of admirals with blue teeth for days after Terradin's bachelor party."

"I didn't expect you'd have a problem with it. You seem to be growing more flexible in your advancing years, Arthur. Or perhaps it's just the company you're keeping now," he said with a knowing wink.

He gestured for Arthur to join him as he walked back to the kitchen. The sound of pots and pans drowned out their conversation.

"I can remember you stealing cookies from my kitchen when you were nine, but I never thought you'd be robbing the cradle!" Mr. Sisko chuckled, apparently delighted. Arthur and his son Ben had been friends since they met at Space Camp when they were eight years old. The captain had spent a lot of time in his kitchens over the years.

"He's twenty! It's not like it's illegal or anything!" the captain replied defensively.

"And in terms of a human lifespan that makes him about seven years old. A very mature seven, but be careful anyway. He looks like someone who could get hurt easily. And he looks like someone you don't want to hurt ever," the older man replied with a grin.

"Just serve the food, old man," the captain grumbled, much to the amusement of the old man.

The captain sighed as he walked back into the dining room. Merlin was stunning in his new outfit and everyone was noticing the blond-haired young man with the swept-back ears. Two young women were watching both of them and they were likely thinking the same thing Mr. Sisko was. Robbing the cradle, indeed. Maybe it was time to give in and start using the dermal regenerator on the fine lines beside his eyes.

He returned to his seat, hoping the waiter would appear with their food soon. He was sure the evil restaurant owner would delay it by half an hour. He needed time to watch the results of his mischief.

Merlin sensed the change in the captain's mood. He reached out a hand and extended a finger, touching the back of the captain's hand lightly. His eyes immediately sparkled with amusement. He sent a telepathic message at the same time he spoke.

youarenottooold!

"You'll be commanding a Starship for decades if you choose to, assuming you'll live to be a hundred. I'll be eighty or so by then. Not too much of a difference in the long run, is it?" Then his eyes widened.

"I mean... Not that you'd want to. With me. That isn't what I... Damn!"

It was the captain's turn to be amused. Perhaps the ensign was learning a valuable lesson. That silence was preferable to filling awkward pauses with embarrassing comments!

Mr. Sisko was being kind. Their food arrived a few moments later. The waiter placed Merlin's meal in front of him. The ensign picked up a piece of the okra and studied it before tasting it carefully. His eyes lit up.

"It's delicious! And it's real! It's all real!" he said.

"How can you tell? They're the same, right down to the molecular level," the captain mused as Mr. Sisko glowered at him.

"Replicated food isn't like this. This is made with great care by a master chef, and it DOES taste different. I don't know why. Maybe just because it's made with love," he said as he glanced up at the owner. Mr. Sisko smiled and nodded at the ensign.

"Suck-up," Arthur muttered. He had a feeling Merlin would never have to worry about his food being delayed. Ever.

"If you'll excuse me for a few minutes..." the captain said.


Arthur's trip to the facilities was free of surprises. His return from them wasn't.

"What the hell happened?" the captain asked as he returned to an empty restaurant and a frantically waving Mr. Sisko.

"Your boyfriend happened!" Mr. Sisko whispered back as he pointed across the square. "Now be quiet and listen!"

"He's not my boyfriend! He's... Never mind. What's he up to now?" the captain asked with a sigh of resignation.

He looked where the older man was pointing. His jaw dropped. He had dressed the ensign to look like he should be playing jazz. He hadn't expected him to actually do it!

The soft, otherworldly strains of a Vulcan lyre filled the flower-scented air. It jumped up and down octaves, accompanying different instruments within its vast range. One second it called out the melody along with a trumpet, the next it thumped a harmony with the bass line. Arthur couldn't hear any other bands playing. Anyone with any musical sense had stopped what they were doing to listen. Most knew Vulcans who played the lyre. None of the Vulcans had ever played jazz, and Merlin's take on it was a fascinating interpretation.

"They asked if anyone would like to fill in for their tipsy trombone player. He borrowed the lyre from the musician over there. Captain, you'd better go get him after this number. There's an entertainment agent dining here tonight, and she looks interested. Really interested. You might lose your helmsman to a career as a musician if you don't watch it."

"Great. Just great."

"Oh, by the way, he's welcome to eat here any time he'd like. I'll keep a bottle of Romulan ale chilled for him. All he has to do is give me a day's notice and I'll arrange a performance. Jackson Square will hum the next time he visits!" Mr. Sisko said excitedly. He watched as a look of confusion appeared on the captain's face when the band started a new piece.

"Wait! I know that tune. It's so familiar, but I can't quite... NO! He didn't!" the captain gasped.

Mr. Sisko started to laugh. "I recognize it! I believe it's 'Hail Pendragon' isn't it? The anthem the Saridins play on Pendragon Day?"

A green "cockroach" the size of a large dog stopped to listen. It looked around frantically with its compound eyes, its antennae whipping through the air. It spotted the captain, squealed and hopped away. A tour group of its seventy-nine friends charged into the square a few seconds later. They always travelled in groups of eighty and much to the delight of the New Orleans travel industry they adored jazz! They looked around eagerly and saw the unfortunate captain before he managed to hide.

"Well, I never thought I'd welcome a bunch of cockroaches onto my patio," the restauranteur murmured as the Saridins scuttled towards them.

"SON OF A... Hello there! How are you?" the captain said to the young green Saradin who scuttled up to his leg and hugged it. Her antennae were twitching with excitement. A flurry of clicks followed, translated into Standard a fraction of a second later by her Universal Translator.

"Greetings HighQueen! Mother says you NestSaviour. Save WorldNest while I still egg,"

the Saridin teenager said.

"They prefer to be called 'bugs' and they never learned to skip the whole 'HighQueen' thing. They're convinced that I defeated the Borg Queen's plan and I'm 'worthy' of the title," he explained to Mr. Sisko, his teeth grinding before he smiled and replied to the excited bug.

"I had a lot of help from a lot of good people. A Starship full of them. Um, LightNest helpers enable me to save WorldNest. They worthy, too."

"One day I fly LightNest. I practice helm every day on holosimulator. 4.3 worthy now!"

"4.3! You only need 4.0 for helm. See NestMate with different ears making music? He only 4.1 worth. But still not so good. Crash LightNest first DutyTime. Holosimulation seem real, but harder in life," he said with a smile. "But NestMate learns quickly. Much better now."

"Not NestMate. Mate,"

she said as she corrected his grammar.

"What? I don't... NO! Not mate! NestMate only," Arthur assured her. She corrected the sexually confused human again.

"Mate."

"No, really! We're just..."

"Mate."

She touched antennae with another Saridin. He leapt across the square in one big hop. His antennae flicked around Merlin's leg. The ensign smiled at him and gave the bug a pat on the back. The captain didn't notice as Merlin stood and followed after it. The captain was too focused on the group of bugs studying him.

The Saridin hopped back and touched antennae with his NestMates. There was a brief chittering before he and his seventy-nine friends turned to the captain in unison and stated unequivocally,

"Mate."

"Only PerhapsMate!" the captain said firmly. "PerhapsMate!"

He rolled his eyes as the bugs started spinning their antennae in delight, "laughing" at him. He realized that in their family structure the concept of PerhapsMate translated to "a bit pregnant."

"Future OnceMate maybe. Not Mate. OnceMate only."

He heard a huff and turned to find an irritated Romulan glaring at him.

"OnceMate. I don't have to be a Saridin to understand what that means, captain. I thought I was something more, but I guess I'm just another once of your conquests after all," Merlin muttered as he walked back into the restaurant, fuming.

Now that Merlin had stopped playing the lyre many of the other patrons had returned to their now-cold meals. They stepped out of his way quickly as they saw him coming. The cute blond man they had been watching earlier wasn't the emotionally relaxed Vulcan they had thought. He was a Romulan and a very angry one. An angry Romulan was no longer cute. An angry Romulan was scary! The Federation guarded the Neutral Zone for good reasons, the cold glare of their unfriendly Romulan neighbours not the least of them.

"Ensign! That's not what I meant!" he called after the retreating Romulan stomping through the restaurant. Retreating Romulan. Almost a contradiction in terms. He had no idea why he was surprised. Merlin was a contradiction in everything.

"I'm sorry, but I have to go," he said to the Saridins.

"Understood, HighQueen. Mate angry. Must resolve or life hell. Same everywhere.

Good Luck and farewell!"

they said as they skittered away to tell the other tour group about their meeting with the HighQueen.

The captain grimaced. Hell, indeed! He ran after the annoyed ensign and reached him just as he was sitting down at the table. Mr. Sisko replaced their cold meals with hot ones as he had everyone else's. His customers always left happy, regardless of the cost.

Merlin started pushing the okra around his plate with a fork. He obviously wasn't hungry after hearing the captain's OnceMate comment.

"Ensign, I didn't mean it that way. They were just confused. Saridin family structure is very different. Nothing else would translate well."

"I don't care. I know what it means to me, and it's not exactly out of character for you, is it?" he said as his eyes flashed with anger.

Arthur growled. "That's not fair! You can't..."

"Both of you stop bickering in the middle of my restaurant. You're like an old married couple!" Mr. Sisko said as he finally intervened. The captain's growl had distracted everyone from their meals.

"My apologies. I'm just tired. Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Sisko," Merlin said politely as he tapped his communicator.

One of the young women who had been watching the two attractive blond men earlier in the evening shared her prediction with her friend.

"Watch this," one of them whispered to the other. "Just find the two hottest guys in any social situation and cross them off your list. They'll be going home with each other."

The captain overheard and blushed. "We will not be going home with each..."

"Energize!" Merlin said crossly.

The woman laughed triumphantly as she saw the air start to sparkle around both of them. "That sure isn't public transit! Like I said, you're going home with each other, boys!"

"DAMN! I really have to teach you about timing, ensign. Starfleet's reputation is taking a beating because of us. Stupid honesty thing," the captain muttered as they disappeared in a shower of light.

They reappeared moments later in the transporter room. The captain grabbed Merlin's shoulder before he could leave.

"At least let me walk you back to your cabin, ensign."

Merlin glared at him. "You'll be seen with me and I doubt you want people to talk. Particularly when all I am is a one night stand." The captain heard the hurt tone in his voice.

"You're not a one night stand, ensign. At the very least I've come to think of you a friend. A friend who seems to want to kill me, but a friend nevertheless," the captain said with a comforting smile.

Merlin paused to consider their new friendship. "Friend. That's enough. For now, PerhapsMate," the young Romulan said with a wink as his smile restored itself magically.

"For now."