Disclaimer: Paramount owns everything except Tia Anlor (pronounced Ahn-lore). I'm keeping her for myself.
Rating: PG13
Perspective: In 2002, this story was the second of two. The character became so popular that it is now the sixth (as of 8/2004) of a series of ten, making extensive revisions necessary to fit into the development of the 'Tia Anlor' series, due to the insertions of four stories, and to maintain consistency with the (so far) four to follow.
(Ultimately there were twenty six stories, but I didn't know that seventeen years ago. 1907.13)
This story takes place a month and a half after my story 'Golden Girl', a month after 'A Few Words' and 'Glistni' and 'Small Time', and two weeks after 'Acquisition.'. Tia has been aboard for some 6 weeks. Later works will include 'For Want of Kilyiis', 'Daasii', 'Noblesse Oblige', 'Roses and Thorny', 'Time and Again', 'House of Cards', 'Starlight Maiden', 'Armageddon', 'Luuru', 'Cross and Crown', et cetera.
Personal note: This story is dedicated to Janet Bianchi, my 'beta reader' and best friend. She passed away on August 3, 2004.
What do I do now?
By JMK758
Prologue
Tia Anlor, the Enterprise's Exo-Biologist, left her quarters at exactly 17:53. She noted the time carefully, wanting to make certain that she would catch Commander Tucker as he was leaving Engineering. She had learned his habits, knowing that it took a lot to drag him away from his engines. Fortunately, she knew that if she timed it just right, she would be able to catch him just as he was coming out the door.
She had something special in mind, and had been thinking about it all afternoon, hoping to get his opinion and his approval. She was not sure why it should mean so much to her, but it did.
She had to admit that she found him ... she didn't know how she found him. He was not like anyone she had ever known; but then two goslin, or human 'months' ago, she had never known any humans. Why then did this particular human's opinion of her mean so much?
She touched the material of the red dress she wore with a golden fingertip. It was a long, flowing red gown, cut low in the back and only covering her chest with two wide strips that met behind her neck, under her flowing golden hair. It was long; so long she needed red slippers with high heels to keep from tripping over the hem. Hoshi Sato had had loaned it to her, telling her it was excellent for special occasions.
She had to trust the other woman's opinion in this, not having any idea how humans dressed or what they considered special. All that she did know was that tonight was considered a special occasion by some of the Command crew, so she wore this in hopes of fitting in.
The shoes had required particular practice to wear without falling over the hem or twisting an ankle in a sideways misstep. She had fallen several times in her quarters before she got used to them, but she felt confident she had everything under control.
x
It had not been an easy task, this 'fitting in'. Sometimes she felt she was doing very badly, sometimes she knew she was. She was good at her job, but these people were not Aurans. She had been a slave to the Silurians, who having exhausted the available gold on her world, now harvested her people for the gold that to them was like the iron in the bodies of these humans. It was that gold that gave her the distinctive golden complexion, eyes and hair. Where humans were a very strange mixture usually based on some variety of reddish pink, her people were various shadings of gold, a much more attractive pigment.
Although she had to admit, she found that this red complimented her golden toned skin quite impressively.
Anyway, she had been freed by the people of this ship, in exchange for a massive amount of gold, more than she could 'repay' in twenty lifetimes, better than 1,027 years. But they not only did not want repayment, they had granted her her freedom unconditionally.
Having nowhere to go, she had sought permission to remain aboard Enterprise, using her skills as a Biologist to aid the crew and 'carry her weight'. As all Biology to her was Exo-Biology, not being Auran, she had specialized in that discipline.
No, fitting in professionally was not the problem; it was in learning their language (she could speak but not read it) and treading her way through the various muddy complexities of human relationships and behavior that was the problem.
But she thought she was, as Shar-les would say, 'getting the hang of it'.
Finding herself outside Engineering, surprised to have arrived while so lost in thought, she entered, the door sliding aside automatically to admit her. She'd hardly taken five steps into the chamber, the red gown swirling around her legs, when she heard it; a sharp whistle that ascended quickly up the scale and then slid down it in a long arc. She recognized it as one that Hoshi had once described as intending to express appreciation, which pleased her because appreciation was what she had been hoping to elicit. But she could not understand the clear annoyance in Charles' sharp tones. "Hey! There's a lady present."
"That's the idea, sir." Charles turned away from her toward the other man. Tia could not see his expression, but it clearly had a strong effect on the other man. "Sorry, sir," he said in an apologetic tone, and then looked at her. "I'm sorry, ma'am."
"I offended am not," she assured him in melodious tones, trying to take off some of the sting he must be feeling. Tucker turned to her, and his expression softened as he took in the sight of her.
"Wow! You look spectacular."
"Thank you, Shar-les," she said, suddenly unable to meet his eyes, looking down shyly. "I was you would like it hoping." She looked up cautiously, and was pleased to see the answer in his eyes.
"It's absolutely stunning."
"Wear it I to your party going to was, if like it you did," she said quietly through veiled eyes.
"Party?" he asked, taken aback.
"Yes, tonight," she answered brightly, her normal joie de vivre resurfacing with her reassurance. "Hoshi told me about it. Your ... what the word was? Yes, birthday party."
"Birthday party?" He hadn't known that they had even known it was his birthday. He sensed Hoshi's hand in this, remembering a time not so long ago that she had been involved in an elaborate scheme regarding Malcolm Reed's celebration.
"Yes, she me told. It a ... what did she say? Yes: 'Prize' Party is."
"'Surprise' party?" he ventured.
"Ah, yes, 'surprise party'. Anston – er, sorry I am; my English still good is not. It was I thought 'prize'.
"Well, anyone can make a mistake. Your English is coming along very well."
She looked down. "You me flatter. I know are there times I flibs still make."
"Flubs?"
"Ah, see? 'Flubs', 'flibs', so hard to keep straight. Sometimes open I my mouth and go off with half a cock."
How Tucker maintained a straight face he never knew, but it was a struggle, one that one of his crew lost. Fortunately, the man had the sense to smother it as he stepped behind the Warp reactor.
"Well, I, err, I'll see you later? We've a lot of work to do before the party."
"All right, Shar-les. I later see you will." She took his hand, turning it upward so she might touch her lips briefly to the pulse point at his wrist, then turned, heading for the door.
"Oh, Tia?"
She turned around. "Yes?"
He wondered; could everyone make a single word sound so musical? "Don't tell anyone you spoke to me about the party. Trust me."
"All right, Shar-les," she smiled, saying softly, "You I trust."
When she was gone, Tucker's aide turned to him. "Surprise."
"Don't worry, Billy. I will be."
Looking after where the pixyish girl had gone, Billy assured him: "I'm sure you will."
Chapter One
Girl Talk
After Tia left Engineering, heading back toward her quarters, she encountered Ensign Sato & Crewwoman Cutler. These two had been closer than most to her since her arrival, helping her to adjust to her new life and settling a lot of confusions. "Hi, Tia." Elizabeth exclaimed.
"Dampris qulara!" she exclaimed in high delight before catching herself. "Um, Good evening, I mean." She greeted both of them as she had Trip, a touch of her lips to their wrists, something they had grown used to though both felt it disingenuous to try to copy. Hoshi had noticed, however, that while she greeted several of the crew she considered friends in the same manner, the touch was sometimes the briefest of contact, sometimes a second longer. When she did it with Trip, however, Hoshi could not help but notice that the touch seemed to … linger.
Tia fell in step between the two taller women.
"I'm glad we found you." Liz told her section mate. "We're coming into orbit of a Minshara-class planet. We've picked out a likely spot for both flora & fauna, and the Captain wants to send down a survey team come planet dawn. Interested?"
"Daai!" She exclaimed excitedly, before catching herself. "I mean 'yes'."
"0700."
"I ready shall be."
"So. Visiting Engineering?" Hoshi asked with a clear undertone that made it plain she knew it was not the department the younger woman had been visiting.
"Yes, I Shar-les opinion wanted of this dress to get. Wear it I to the party you are planning want to."
"You look beautiful in it."
"One man so thought. He at me whistled."
"He did?" Elizabeth sounded delighted.
"Yes, he like this did it." She imitated the tones.
"Ah, the classic wolf whistle." Hoshi said with a confidential grin.
"Wolves like that whistle? Thought I Earth wolves barked and howled did."
"Err, they do. But ... well, we'll go into all this another time, o.k.?"
"O.k." She was silent for several moments as they walked down the corridor, debating if she wanted to raise the point, and deciding she should. "May I ulyans; no, wait. May I you a question ask?"
"Of course."
"Shar-les very angry the man who whistled with was. Do know you why?" Hoshi and Elizabeth exchanged glances, not wanting to be the one who answered first. Finally, Hoshi bit the bullet.
"You do tend to ask the tough questions."
"Sorry I am."
"No, don't be. It wasn't a criticism. Let's see. One reason might be that it is considered inappropriate for the workplace."
"Safe dodge." Elizabeth commented.
"Do better."
"Well, Trip probably considered that the guy was poaching."
"'Poaching'?"
"Boy, are you opening a can of worms," Hoshi muttered, shaking her head ruefully. They could see from her expression that Tia was trying to work out this idea, but Elizabeth gave her no time to waste on it.
"You've been seeing a lot of Trip, haven't you?"
"A lot of him? No. Seen I his head and his hands have. He his uniform at all times we are together wears."
"Oh, this is going to be good," Hoshi muttered even more quietly.
"No, I mean you've been hanging out a lot."
Tia looked down. Though the material started low at her waist, it came up in two wide strips that quite securely covered both her breasts, even with the gap between the strips. She had been assured that this was well within the norms of human decency, even if it did have nothing to do with the Auran view of 'appropriate attire'. She looked up to Hoshi, trying to assure her. "I have those portions of my body that you and I discussed covered in public kept."
Elizabeth looked imploringly at Hoshi. "Help me out, damn it."
"You started it."
"Wish I hadn't."
"Tia..." Hoshi began, trying to have mercy on her friend. "How do you feel about Trip?" She was silent for a long time.
"I feel … I feel… do know not. An Auran he is not, but makes me feel..."
"Feel what?" She looked down, her face coloring a bright golden hue. She hid her eyes behind her fingers, looking down.
"I do think appropriate is this for women to be discussing not," she whispered.
"Oh, this is going to be interesting." Elizabeth mused. "What is inappropriate?"
"The feelings that a woman ... for a ... man... has. Women discuss these things among themselves not." She had dropped her hands but continued looking down as they walked.
"Among humans, it's done all the time."
Tia stopped dead, shocked.
x
Sensing it was time to change the subject before they got too far along and said something that could not be retreated from, Hoshi tried a different tack.
"Let's say that an Auran woman has feelings for an Auran man, what happens? Does she tell him?"
"She have to does not. He knows."
"How?" She looked from one to the other, and then sped up from between them. They hurried to catch up. "Tia?" She stopped, unable to meet their eyes.
"He knows; that all is. He knows!" She was blushing furiously, pressing her fingertips to her eyes, her face down, her long golden hair falling to curtain her face, unwilling to look at them.
"All right, we're sorry. We're obviously stepping on some cultural imperative. We'll stop." Hoshi remembered the last time Tia had reacted like this, weeks ago, and figured she finally understood why. "Only, human males don't 'know'. That's all I'll say."
Tia looked up at Hoshi, astonishment plain in her expression; very obviously trying to wrap her mind about the concept. "Human males know what their females feel do not? Then how let them know when you find one ... interesting do you?"
"Most times we have to come right out and say so. Human males can be pretty dense."
She turned to Cutler, silently imploring the biologist to help her make better sense of it. "But what if the female does feel what the male does not?"
"Well, that's what heartbreak is all about." Elizabeth told her.
x
Tia took a few moments to get through this, and then laughed brokenly. "I so kalriis … so perverted feel to like this talking be."
"Thanks."
She hesitated, but Hoshi gave her no time to give in to confusion. "Go ahead."
"I was ..." She could feel her face heating in a golden blush, pressing her fingertips lightly to her eyes in an attempt to keep them from seeing her eyes and hating herself for it. She had always blushed so easily. But she had to press on, finding it actually easier if she couldn't see them. "If you … if feel you … attracted a man to, what do you would?"
.
Hoshi hesitated, trying to come up with a fair answer. This was not the time to go into seduction techniques, and all the million and one things that had developed over centuries. "Simplest thing? I would tell him. Flat out. No games, no tricks. I'd speak my mind." Tia dropped her hands, only now trusting herself to look up at the woman.
"And if he said 'no'?"
Hoshi looked into the girl's imploring golden eyes, trying to get the sense of what was behind her urgency, and having a pretty good idea that she knew. "I'd look for a friend, like Liz, and talk to her. Try to get over the hurt, and figure out what I did wrong."
"Even if … even if you to talk to her about lialu … having sex … with him were?"
"Even then."
She thought it over and finally shook her head, whispering: "So kinky."
She could not understand why both women laughed so hard.