I do not own, nor profit from any of Gene Roddenberrys works, or Star Trek
Two months had gone by since that night they danced, where John revealed the more sinister plan to Safiya. They worked closely together rebuilding the software, ensuring it would operate the same as it did under the original platform. It felt like every other morning, John was knocking on her door, clearly an earlier riser than she was, or wanted to be. She grumbled, peeling an egg she has boiled, and plopped down on the couch next to him as he brought up a 3-D display.
"What is that?" She furrowed her brow.
"That is new torpedo that will be on the Vengeance." He replied, letting her see the details.
"They're so... Big." She whispered. "What about the torpedoes we already have and use?"
"Safiya, please. There is no way the admiral would use those on a new ship. Especially not with what he has planned." He pulled up another model on the screen. Beside it was a regulation star fleet ship.
"Oh, god." Her jaw dropped in horror. The ship that he displayed was much larger than the ships they had now. Large, dark, and looming. Even in an image, it chilled her. "So, I take it, this is would be his militarized fleet?" She took a bite from the egg, chewing slowly her mind deep in thought.
John seized the opportunity and wrapped his lips around the other part of the egg, sucking it from her fingertips, and pulled back chewing.
"Hey! That was so not fair!" She cried, a smile breaking out on her face, but still shocked he had done that. "Well then, here, you can have your slobber back too." She laughed, wiping her fingers on his sleeve. John just nodded, satisfied, and pushed her shoulder playfully. "I'm so getting you back on the mat." She jokingly threatened.
This was, not at all like the John she had been warned about. This John seemed lighthearted today, in a better mood than he normally was.
"John, I have an idea... I don't know if you've already thought about it, and it will take some manipulation, but, what if..." She began to explain her plan, as they stared back at the model of the new rockets.
"EEK! I can't believe it! We HAVE to go, we just have to. I swear, Safiya, if you don't come, I am going to hold you down and tickle your feet until you are peeing yourself in front of John." Janet jumped up and down, clinging to Safiyas arm, holding a piece of paper.
"You want me to go to a winter formal?" Safiya rolled her eyes. "Isn't is for like, captains and such? And besides, who says I haven't already peed in front of John?" She laughed. Janet stepped back shocked.
"I'm not saying I have, but it would be a pretty weak threat in case I had." She smirked.
"Well, it's going to be held in Dover. On the cliffs is what it says. Many higher up people are going to be there. Just imagine it, I bet it will be lovely." She held the paper to her chest, swooning.
"I'm sure it will be as well. I just don't know." Safiya picked at her ponytail, not wanting to really get into personal matters with Janet.
Janet seemed to have a new man every month. That was how Safiya saw it. When she was in the Bahamas, she had met a defense contractor who just happened to flash enough cash to interest Janet. When the contractor left for business to the Americas, leaving Janet alone for a week, she met and just so happened to fall in love with a man who owned many high end restaurants. Well, naturally, as is the scheme of things with Janet, she found herself enamored by a young Captain.
Alas, this was the way Janet was ever since she first entered Star Fleet. A teenage boy crazy girl, who was just looking for love and acceptance in whoevers bed would supply it.
"Oh, you are going to LOVE James. He is so sweet, and has the sweetest eyes. Besides, if I am lucky enough, I can one day be on his ship." She rambled on about her new love, James Kirk. Of course, in Safiyas mind, it wouldn't last much beyond a week or two. A month at the most, but that was the most Safiya was willing to bet.
"Safiya, are you and John... you know... Together?" She finally stopped and asked, giving thought to her friends love life. "If you aren't, James has an adorable commander, he is Vulcan, though I hear he is annoying. But he also has a doctor on his ship that is a sweet man, from that James says, divorced, no kids, but a bit of a pessimist." She wrinkled her nose. Safiya just shook her head.
"John and I are not together, other than for work. I appreciate it, but I don't think I need to be hooked up for a party. I am more than capable of going on my own."
"Yes, but then you look like the sad girl that nobody wanted to ask out. Why don't you take Addams? I know he would love to take you." Janet smirked, twirling some locks around her finger.
Safiya thought on that prospect as they ordered frozen yogurt.
"No, I mean. He is nice, yes, but, I don't think he is my type." She finally sighed.
"Well, what is your type? I've never even seen you with a type!" Janet shrugged her shoulders, eyes wide. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say your type is hard, cold, dark, and does nothing but compute." She spoke between rolling the cold treat on her tongue.
"As much as I love software, I do have a type. I just, haven't quite found him yet." She shrugged off nonchalantly. "I mean, who knows. Maybe when this is over, and I can actually go out in the fleet on other projects, I'll find him. Who knows, maybe even that sweet doctor would be my type." She smirked.
"No, I think you would go for the Vulcan. Could you imagine, you on your computer racing against a Vulcan to solve equations!" Both women laughed heartily. The image that came to Safiyas mind had her near tears. A rumble of thunder broke in the distance.
"Well, if we are going to go to that ball, we may as well get get our dresses then." Safiya smiled, receiving a shriek from her friend, who excitedly dragged her towards the mall.
A storm had moved in while the women were shopping. The rain had began to pour down, the lightning cracked and the air was thick with thunder. Safiya enjoyed every drop of rain that graced her crown, but Janet forbade the rain from dampening her hair. The cab picked them up, and dropped them back off at their respective dwellings. Safiya entered her home, and hung her dress up, confident that she had made a flattering choice. She opened the sliding door to her balcony, listening to the storm, and turned on soft instrumental music. The couch welcomed her body as she laid down, being lulled into an afternoon nap by the storm.
Her communicator blared at her, shocking her from her slumber.
"Mm, Hello?" She answered thickly.
"Come now, is that any way to answer?" She heard Johns voice on the other line.
"John, hey, what are you up to?" She stretched, yawning.
"I am outside." He spoke, and hung up.
Safiya answered her door, and John stepped in, carrying a large sports bag. "You know, I gave you an override code for a reason. You are here so often, you might as well be able to just come on in." She smiled.
John stepped in and made right for her living room, closing the door and blinds so they were in privacy. "What's in the bag?" She finally asked with curiosity.
"I spoke with your doxy of a friend down in engineering. She was quite helpful in devising something for me once I gave her the blueprints." He opened the bag.
She looked at the apparatus. "What, the heck is that?"
"This, is a portable trans-warp beaming device. It has the same capabilities as a what you find on the fleet ships, but as you can see, is much easier to carry around. This is the only one of its kind." He explained. "However, I have more of a surprise for you." He grabbed her hand, and smirked as they were surrounded by golden rings.
Safiya felt cool sand beneath her feet, as her vision adjusted. It was very late in the day where they were. She looked about, seeing the sand dunes. "Are we..." She was caught off guard.
"Abydos." He turned her around to look at her home in the distance, light burning in the windows.
"Oh, John." She put her hands up to her mouth.
"Well, at least we know the device works properly." John said coolly, as he set it carefully in the bag, adjusting the settings.
"You mean you never tested it before?" Safiya turned to him in shock. "You could have gotten me spliced, or, or, half my body floating around Neptune for all you know!" She pushed him, but not hard enough to make him stagger.
"I'm just glad you at least came here with me as your test." She smiled, showing him she wasn't truly angry with him. She took in the scent of her home. The cool clean air blew across her. The moon shone brightly overhead, as the band of pink and orange quickly faded on the horizon. She tilted her head back, letting her senses acclimate to her surroundings.
"What are you doing?" John looked over at her, she definitely looked silly.
"I am absorbing the moonlight." She looked at him with a smile. "I have not set foot on my homeland, and soaked up moonlight in so long, John." She sighed.
"I don't understand why you do these things." He finally spoke, shaking his head, adjusting the strap on his shoulder.
"Well, John, myth, legend, history, nature... They all run very deep in my culture. Peace, for us, comes from peace with the world around us. My mother could tell you so much more, as I have forgotten a few of the old stories." She chuckled bashfully.
"I am sorry, but I would very much like that." John whispered, seeing a deeper side of Safiya than he imagined existed.
"Don't be sorry John. There is nothing to be sorry for." She shrugged.
"Are you ready?" He took her hand as they walked towards Abydos.
Abydos was a considerable settlement. Nothing at all like the large towers of London, or with the advancements of Star Fleet, but it was far from primitive.
They walked through the street, receiving curious glares and glances that followed them. Safiya took in the changes that had occurred over the time she had been gone. Some of the buildings were newer, and looked almost out of place for their high desert home.
At the end of the main road they walked along, was a long and wide building. It wasn't very tall, and looked as though it had been rooted in the same place for thousands of years.
To the right of the stairs, stood a tall round house with a light on in the window. "There," she pointed, a shadow casting across the cloth covered window. "That is my mothers home, the daughter of the chief. Lets go." She pulled on John to make him speed up, as she knocked on the door.
Moments passed when the door finally opened up, light washing over the step where the pair stood.
"My Fi, is that you?" The old woman at the door put a wrinkled hand to her mouth in a gasp. "Fi?" She choked.
"Yes mama, it's me." Safiya teared up, as the older woman took her into a tight embrace, shedding tears of happiness.
"Come, come please, come in. Who is this fine looking young man?" Ain looked at John, a smile in her lips and her eyebrows raised.
They stood in the entry now, as Safiya introduced them. "Mama, this is John Harrison, he works with me. and John, this is my mother, Ain Omari, daughter of the chief." She stepped back as the Ain pulled John in for a hug.
The three settled down in the living room. John tuned out, closing his eyes, as the two women caught up on their own lives. He did, of course, take the random sip of green tea that Ain presented them with. He was snapped back to the present when he heard his name.
"Mama, John wanted to know more about our people." Safiya sipped her tea, looking back and forth between Ain and her mom.
Ain sat back in a large stuffy chair, folding her hands in her lap, and looking off in the distance. "Oh, the story of our people is a long one, my child." She shook her head.
"Well, I don't believe we have any pressing matters." John looked at Safiya, and smirked.
Safiya crawled in front of the fireplace, laying across a small stack of sandcat furs, hugging a pillow tightly.
Ain began. "Back when Egypt was new, before pyramids had been built, before the deserts took over, our people settled here on this spot. It was wild, yes, but it provided for us. Our people had everything we needed, and we prospered. We had no use for luxury, gold, gems, nor did we care for it. We had nature." Ain sighed.
"Over the generations, The world around us grew, and advanced. With that, however, comes greed, and malice. So treachery grew in the hearts of those who sought gold most. But we, we here remained unaffected. We remained to ourselves, and remained with nature. Naturally, over time, we advanced. WE were unable to maintain our ancient way of life in all aspect." She stroked a PADD that Safiya had sent her one year.
"Our roots, however, remain the same. To cherish nature in all its forms, to remember the old ways, though the world around us changes." She sighed, remembering the world of her own childhood.
"Safiya, though, was a different child than all the rest." She finally spoke again. looking at her audience. "She was her fathers child, that seed of adventure in her heart. She would saddle up her sandcats and ride off to the other cities to learn, and observe. The day she saw her first Star Fleet officer, she said 'Mama, I will be in Star Fleet one day!' and so she was." She looked with pride at her child, who was laying there, as she had many times as a young girl, listening to her mothers stories, her eyes closed, smiling.
"Whenever she was done with her studies, she would train between her computers and fighting. I don't know how many broken bones we had to fix." Ain laughed softly, shaking her head. "Her fighting spirit was also her fathers gift to her. Fi, have you seen your father lately?" She cast an inquisitive look to the floor.
"Yes mama, I've worked with him many times." Safiya looked up. "He seems to have changed." She said quietly. It was not the conversation she wanted to have in front of John. She never spoke of her father, at least not in front of John, and she was not quite ready to begin doing so, a feeling in which Ain had picked up on.
She continued to tell her guests about their history late into the night. The fire had died down in the hearth, and the sky outside lightened.
"Oh, my, I'm afraid I've kept you all night." Ain laughed, looking at the sky outside. "Please, forgive me." John had not even noticed how the time went by, so engrossed in the stories Ain regaled them with. John stood up, stretching, not noticing how stiff he had gotten.
Safiya had long fallen asleep to her mothers comforting voice, her hands tucked up against her lips and chin. She looked like an exact replica of her mother, but now, next to her mother, and in her child like position on the floor, she looked much younger than her years. John reached down and shook her shoulder.
"We should leave Safiya. It has been a long night, and we have work to do." He watched as she aroused to the world, her eyes adjusting, stretching out like a lazy cat.
"Do we have to go already?" She sighed, holding her hand on her chest. John just nodded, helping her off of the floor.
She reluctantly said goodbye to her mother, and they made for the hilltop they arrived on. John set the destination, as Safiya looked over her home, with one last sigh.
"There are some kinks I will work out with this model, but I will make sure it is working perfectly before I take you back out." He said, looking back at the device on her floor.
"John, thank you. It meant a lot to be back at home if only for a moment." She smiled, getting to her knees to look over the device with him.
"Well, there was one other thing I wanted there." He mumbled, and withdrew a large glass jar.
"A jar of dirt?" Safiya chuckled.
"A jar of dirt from your home. So you may always have a bit of home with you." He held her gaze as she took the gift. She could feel the comfort radiating through the glass up her arms. It was the best she had ever felt in London.
Without warning, she caught his lips in an embrace with hers. A gentle tear came down her cheek in happiness, as her lips burned on his. She gave off a peaceful glow, as they pulled apart. Johns breath had indeed been taken, as he stood quickly, taking his transporter and leaving in a hurry.
Safiya sat on her floor. Perhaps she had severely overstepped her boundaries. She was just so happy at this gift. The greatest gift she had ever received. She would have to apologize to him the next time she saw him, so as not to ruin their working partnership. She went to bed for a few more hours with the jar next to her bed, a smile on her face.
John was still flushed from his kiss with her. He had never anticipated she would react to him in that way, though it was not the first time he had thought about it. He laid back in his own bed, with nothing more on than briefs. The scent of jasmine in her hair still lingered in his nose.
His body ached in need and tension, the scent of her lingering on his memory. Without hesitation, he took himself into his hand, and relieved himself of the desire that burned him.