The Calm Before The Storm

Posted on Thu Nov 27th, 2014 @ 4:17am by Master Warrant Officer Gaius Aquila & Lieutenant Commander Holly Gillo

2,992 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Mission 87 - Disaster
Location: Level 766, Aquila's Quarters
Timeline: MD Minus 2, 1800 hrs

Giaus Marcus of the House Of Aquila was a frantic man at this time. Luckily for him, the environmental controls cleared all of the smoke that accompanied the roast porcus. It came out perfectly, but a minute later would have been bad. He had the meat mostly sliced, and on the warmer. He does not remember doing it, but the table was set perfectly. A large serving bowl containing seasoned Oskoid tossed with utta berries were sprinkled with his family's own blend of olive oil. The center piece of the table was a Cameleon Rose, straight from Betazed. Holly was going to be arriving soon, and he was checking everything over, and over, and over again. He normally did not take first impressions as important, but tonight was different. The few quick lunches he had with Holly were very enjoyable to him.

He was already dressed in a Roman style leisure suit. He had an actual apron on, so that he would not make a mess of his clothing as he did the final touches. She was going to be here soon, so it was time to take it off. He tugged on the string to undo the knot, and nothing happened. He tried again, yet the apron remained secure on him. He thought to himself, okay, I have time. No need to panic just yet...

Seamed like Holly had finally met her match when it came to someone who she could somewhat relax around and not have to worry about accidentally hearing a thought or two. Giaus had proven to be very good company for her as her colleagues even commented to her that she had relaxed since meeting with him for lunch a few times. That was why tonight when he invited her to his quarters for dinner she didn't hesitate to accept. It is why that she had spent the better part of a half an hour picking out what to wear and how to put her hair up. Fussing over the details of how she looked as though she were an excited school girl. How silly she must have looked doing that and the thought of it just made her laugh to herself as she finally was ready to meet Giaus and see what he had in store for the evening.

Walking down the hall she got a few glances from passing crew members as they probably had never seen her like this before let alone out of her own quarters off hours. She wasn't a social butterfly nor one to go out for no reason. Tonight, though, was different as she had put on a nice floor length dress and did her hair up differently to impress him just a bit. Reaching his quarters she rang the chime hoping that she wasn't early and already somewhat smelling what he was up to.

Now it was time to panic. The apron stuck to him like a trap. "I'll be there in a minute." What to do. What to do. He scrambled to his bedroom, pulled his combat knife out of his bedside table, and expertly cut the string that bounded this demon apron on him. Free at last. After straightening his tunic, he made a bee line for the door. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door.

At this point, he viewed the goddess like figure that stood at his doorway. During most of their lunches and conversations, he was mostly focused on her wit and personality, which made him feel alive. Looking at Holly now transfixed him with her beauty. Managing to clear his throat, he said "Come in."

Now with over a decade in the Corps, one would expect spartan like conditions in his quarters. Not so with Giaus. The walls were decorated with various paintings. Some Roman weapons accompanied the paintings on the walls. The corner of the living room was the home to a make shift shrine that had a warrior like miniature statue, and three smaller figurines in front of it. An adult female clad in black, and two small boys. The dining room table had the salad, dining accoutrements, candles, and of course a Cameleon Rose in the center.

Holly smiled when he told her to come in and entered his quarters without hesitation she than spoke her attention on him, but at the same time she was taking in her surroundings, "Hope I am not interrupting something." Once she spoke she started to look around taking in all that was around her and oddly enough she was comfortable around it. Most human artifacts and weapons disturbed her deeply but for whatever reason this time she was very much at peace with everything.

Giaus was still hypnotized by Holly, but he did manage to pull a chair back at the table to offer Holly a seat. The flower at the center of the table was said to change colors based on the mood of the person touching it. While he did not know what the colors meant, he was curious what color it would change into for Holly. "This flower is from your home planet. I thought a little touch of home for you would be nice."

Holly couldn't help but smile as she took note of the flower as she sat down. It was good to have a bit of a home in a place where so much was not something she was use to. Softly she let her fingers brush against the flower before she turned her attention back to Giaus and took in what else he was saying touched by his gesture.

"Now, I am not exactly known for my culinary mastery, but I hope this is to your liking. Here is course number 1." Giaus said as he started to serve the Betazoid type salad.

Keeping the smile on her face she finally found her voice and spoke to him, " I am sure I'll like it. I know that I'm defiantly flattered by all the work that you've gone through so far to make me feel somewhat at home. I just hope I can return the favor." She wasn't use to all this and was trying really hard to keep her own emotions contained so not to project them out. Taking in the look of the salad she smiled more before picking up the fork and starting to eat it.

The first course came and went. So did the main course. If Giaus was paying attention, he would have noticed that he did an excellent job with the cooking. But instead, he remained transfixed with Holly. Her, beauty, her mannerisms, everything about her was the center of his thoughts. There was a comfortable silence during the first two courses of the meal. The powerful silence only broken for desert...

"I did not find too much information on Betazoid deserts, so I improvised." With that announcement, he brought out a three layered chocolate cake, with white chocolate icing. "I hope you like chocolate."

Holly couldn't help but smile at him the entire time that they were eating. This silence was both comforting and familiar to her. Then came time for desert and his interpretation on it which only brought a deep smile to her face and a slight bought of laughter before she spoke, " I love chocolate. You much have done your research." She said it in a teasing manner so he would know that no matter what it was that she was going to like it. After all she was very flattered with how much thought went into tonight so far and couldn't help but stair at him from time to time in amazement of how lucky she could have been to capture the attention of both a smart and handsome man.

A feeling of relief washed over Giaus who was worried about impressing Holly. He was happy things were going well. Now he was at an impasse on what to do next. After putting some of the dishes up, he played some relaxing music.

The after dinner silence was expected to Holly as she wasn't one to relax herself. She imagined it must be a marine thing to be so into work that when down time was given and liberty to pursue personal interests that it just put the mind at a loss as to what to do. She could read off of him that he was at an impasse as to what to do and Holly wished she could help him out with it, but knew that she couldn't. Expressing her own thoughts perhaps might help him. Getting up from the table and walking over to where he was at she put her hand in his and spoke to him, " Touch is very important to Betazoids. It's how we connect with the outside world. Had to re-learn this myself recently after the loss of my former commander in combat. How to enjoy these moments off duty to just be." She then decided to open the door for him to share if he wished, " I can tell where you come from has a long and proud history. Perhaps you can share some of that with me so I can get to know you better, Giaus."

As their hands touched, Giaus could not help but notice how soft Holly's hand was. He also noticed the energy he got from the touch. "Okay Holly. Well, are you familiar with Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development?

Holly just nodded her head not wanting to interrupt his thoughts and allow him to continue without interruption.

"Well, Magna Roma is a world very similar to Earth, including water and land density, and the fact that humans inhabited it. The only thing physically different was that the continents never drifted apart. As for the history, we had the exact same ancient civilizations that Earth had, including the Roman Republic. Well, James Kirk had one thing wrong. We never became an empire, so to speak. The Proconsuls, and the Senate remained the rulers. The lack of Emperors enabled our Rome to make better decisions, enabling the Republic to both expand, and more importantly, last. After the final conquests in the 11th Century, there were no wars or uprisings of any sort. We were pretty much happy on our own. Due to our discovery by Captain Merrick, and subsequent visit by Captain Kirk, we had to fast forward to the 23rd Century quickly, or become ripe for conquest. Since slavery was already on its way out, it only took its official end to be allowed to join the Federation. "

Giaus was impressed that Holly was actually listening to his every word. He was aware that Betazoid history and culture was also one with pride, and some class similarities. He continued...

"We still have a class system of sorts. The House of Aquila was always been in the middle of the nobility food chain. The infusion of Britanic blood into our line allowed us to be more flexible in the political scheme of things. Slavery in my family ended in the 8th Century. All our help is hired help. My father is currently a Prefect, kind of like a middle manager. The bulk of my house resides in Britania, but I grew up in Capua. Beautiful place, and full of vinyards."

He did not know if he was giving Holly too much information at once, but he had one more thing to get off of his chest. Something important.

"Holly, there is something that you need to know, since I feel like we are getting close. " He sipped some wine before he continued, holding her hand more firmer. "I was married for five years to a woman named Lavinia. Is was a very happy marriage. Happy enough to have two sons. She was killed in an accident many years ago. Now don't get me wrong, you two are totally different people. But that had not detracted from the fact that I am falling in love with you." He exhaled after speaking. "So, tell me about yourself," He said with a chuckle.

Holly smiled before she broke the brief silence from his talking before she started, " There is nothing really interesting about my family as we are not nobility by any stretch of the imagination. In fact if we were both Betazoid our two families wouldn't even want us to be together, because you would be considered above my class. Since we're not, and you're not scared of me I don't see why we can't continue to develop this." It took her a few moments to gather her thoughts feeling his hand in her's made her more comfortable because of the strength that came from it. Giaus might not know it but this was the most that Holly had ever talked about herself to another person.

"Personally, though, I have been off world since I was old enough to make my own choices." She took in a deep breath before letting it out, "I was in the marine core for a while, but then things happened. By things I mean a man. We were never married like you and your wife, but I let my marine carrier go because of him." It was then that she was able to look at him and smiled a bit, " Can call it we were in love even though neither one of us would have admitted to it. He was killed in combat, and I took leave for a while before this assignment."

Before it got too deep though Holly decided to switch the subject a bit but still give him some incite as to why sometimes she might scoot around things or go distant. " I am an extremely strong telepath even more so than a normal Betazoid. There are things I can do with my mind that people have read only in books. However, I conceal myself from other people and from the world around me so to spare people thinking that I am listening in so to speak when I'm not. Unless ordered to I don't do anything out of the 'norm'. It's considered rude to listen to someone who doesn't know you're listening."

Now another pause before letting him know where he fit into it, "With you I don't have to work at doing that so hard. So, I guess what I am trying to say is that your feelings I am returning, and is the reason why I have...spoken more about myself to you than I have ever spoke to someone before. Why you see the pain go away in my face when you touch me." Now she was going to stop before she got too deeply into things and scared him off. "So, tell me... how old are your sons?"

Giaus took a minute to take in everything Holly told him. To him, it looks like they had another thing in common with Holly, a complicated history. But it was nothing deter how he felt about her. He walked over the the shrine that had the figurines. He picked up the figurines of the two children, and held them in front of him. "They are both 13 years old. We were blessed with twins. Octavian has much of his mother in him. He wants to be a Senator someday. Now Titus, he is too much like his father. He wants to jump into the oceans of space, and travel the universe. I never got to see them too much since the bulk of my post war career was in clandestine operations. My father has done much of their rearing since Lavinia's death. Yet we managed to hold on to a close parent/child bond somehow. Now that my Marine life has somewhat stabilized, I plan to have them when the schools go on second season break." He smiled at Holly. "They would love to meet you."

Holly walked behind him after a short time of letting him be alone at the shrine and held him from behind letting her chin rest on his shoulder the best that she could. "I don't think that they even know about me right. I think that their father would love for me to meet them. Which I think would be a great honor." She then smiled at him before kissing him softly on the cheek her way of trying to reassure him that she wasn't going to scare away that easy.

Giaus remained silent, but looked deep into Holly's eyes. He was not a telepath, but he knew no words were necessary at the moment. He then commenced to kiss Holly on the lips. Softly at first, then with added passion as he embraced her.

There was no need for words between them Holly knew it as she could read him like a book. His mind interested her so deeply that when he looked at her before the kiss her eyes softened for the first time in years. She actually allowed another person in and for that she was rewarded with a passion filled kiss that melted her the rest of the way. Moved her hand to the side of his face without thinking and then leaned into the kiss as if they had been at it for years. It wasn't till the final kiss was over that she let out the breath she didn't even realize she had been holding all that time and just smiled at him. A smile that light up her eyes and melted the mask away that she had hidden behind for so long. Unable to come up with words she just allowed silence to fill the room and curled into him.

Giaus repeated, and continued his deep kisses as he held on tight to Holly. He then took her by the hand, and guided her to the bedroom. The lights may have been dim in there, but the fire of his passion was not.

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