Dalton Morris had his mind blown. And not in a metaphorical sense.  T’Sen had launched a generic program, on a large balcony overlooking an ocean. She had also launched Morris to the heights of ecstacy. The balcony had several large couches, day beds and and sun chairs. They had only needed a single couch for what could only be described as a frenzy of lovemaking.

When it was concluded, Morris wasnt even capable of forming full thoughts let alone sentences.

‘So that was…um are you….oh wow.’

‘I was experiencing Pon Farr Dalton. It is a very personal topic for all Vulcans, and with my partially Bolian heritage, it….complicates things for me.’ T’Sen final said after several minutes of silence.

‘Uh…complicates?’ Dalton marshaled himself enough to say as he noticed T’Sen had returned to ‘normal’. Though he hadn’t actually disliked any of the sex crazed emotion from T’Sen for the past hour either.

‘Yes, my Bolian side and Vulcan side have mixed in a fashion that cause instances of Pon Farr to arrive….more frequently for me then other Vulcans.’

‘Vulcans have that…Pon Farr… every 7 years usually right?’ Dalton said as he was beginning to recover his senses.

‘Yes. For me the symptoms begin every 6 or 7 months.’

‘Wha…you get like that every 6 months?…and wait, aren’t Vulcans usually pair bonded at an early age? Am I just some side guy you’re using to get over your Pon Farr. Do you have a husband?’

‘I am not bonded. My Bolian heritage also complicated matters for my family when trying to seek a potential mate for me as a child. Since the majority of vulcans are bonded or atleast have arranged bondings by the age of 12, the potential pool of vulcan mates for a woman of my age are…limited.’ She said.

‘A women of your age?’ Dalton asked, if she had been a human he would have guessed that she was in her mid 20s.

‘I’ll be 67 later this month’

He whistled in amazement, ‘so you just took advantage of an impressionable younger man then’ stretched and clasped his hand behind his head, elbows out, quite pleased with himself for nabbing a sophisticated older Vulcan lady. The embarassment with the Orion thief having disappeared from his thoughts entirely.

‘When factoring in our species life expectancies, we are comparable in age Dalton.’

‘Wait, thats twice now since…I helped you out here, you’ve called me Dalton instead of Morris…should I read anything into that’

‘I have become comfortable in your presence, and after assisting me in this fashion, I understand that humans often develope emotional ties based on situations like this and familiarity in general. Referring to you by your given name has been a tactical choice as our relationship has developed.’

‘Relationship? Like…wait, how does it work on Vulcan? Are we married now?’

‘I did not mean that in a romantic sense.’ She said.

‘Well…what about maybe…we do talk about it in a romantic sense. I mean, I’d be open to maybe explorin…’

‘I would be willing to consider you as a potential mate. Yes.’ T’Sen replied, rolling on her side to face him.

‘Oh shit, did I just propose to her, and did she just say yes, interspecies relations was never my strongest suit’ He thought to himself.

Turning and propping himself on his shoulder facing her. ‘I was kinna referring to maybe taking you out to dinner…’

T’Sen nodded ‘That is an acceptable starting point to exploring the prospect of marriage.’

Dalton then realized he essentially just asked for her permission to ‘court’ her, and she had said yes. He quickly began to consider if he may have just wondering the Pon Farr lottery.

((A few hours later))

The 2 were resting back at their ‘quad’, each of them taking the bottom bunk, Morris on the left side and T’Sen on the right. They had learned that they would be sharing their quad with a short stalky Tellerite named Fonk, and a Denobulan named Bloxx, who had both just gotten off duty and had headed for a shower and dinner respectively.

Just then a group of 4 men and 1 Bajoran woman walked up to their quad, and Morris could immediately tell who they were and what they were going to try and do. So he decided to pre-empt them.

‘I was wondering which group would make the rounds, What set you with?’ By ‘set’ he was referring to which group of the shadowy and age old organization known as the ‘Petty Officer Mafia’ they were apart of.

A burly Tragosian replied sternly ‘Rimward 3-5, whats it to you?’

‘I’m from Spinward 2-2, I’m out of the game though, I was on Chief Tanley’s crew. Is the ship yours or do you think another set is going to contest you?’

The group of 25th century ‘mobsters’ exchanged glances with eachother as if suprised by Morris’ question. The small ferengi with the padd was next to speak.

‘Yeah, the ships ours, we got the numbers, we aren’t looking for any trouble with Spinward but if you dont accept us as top kit we’re going to have a problem.’

‘I’ll accept you guys running the ship, and I’ll even report back to the Chief that you were gracious top dogs too. But in return, none of you mess with anyone in this quad. Sound fair?’

The Bajoran women, who obviously held some authority within their group smiled and replied ‘For treatment that gracious were gonna want 1/3 of your Holodeck allotments for next 6 months.’ Morris stood from his bunk as he realized they were in the negotiation stage.

‘I think a 1/4 is fair.’ Morris countered.

The Bajoran woman glanced amd her people, then back to Dalton and said ‘Done. First of each month, you can make arrangements with Ronn.’ motioning to the Ferengi.

Dalton then caught the Tragosian learing at T’Sen in a questionable way. ‘And she is with me, big buy.’

The Tragosian, put his hands up and walked backwards as his group was moving on down the corridor. ‘I’m harmless. I swear.’

As they got out of earshot Morris let out a big sigh, as if he had just faked his way through a high school exam and had somehow passed.

T’Sen had been lying on her bunk reading a Padd during the entire exchange, she layed the padd on her chest and looked at Dalton. ‘Am I correct in assuming that you have just extended extra judicial protections from potential criminal activity from an underground Starfleet group? And you have also warned the Tragosian to stay away from me?’

‘Uh…yeah…yep, thats about the extent of it.’ He replied.

She picked up the padd again ‘I understand, in the future I ask that you please consult with me before extending protections from your….gang to me.’

‘I’m not in the gang…never was. I was friends with the Chief though, he told me to say all that jazz if I ever got hassled.’ He sat back on his bunk.

‘Well Dalton, from my perspective it appeared as though you played the role quite convincingly.’

‘Aww thanks dear’ He said.

‘Please refrain from referring to me by pet names until the 3rd date, and never infront of others. My family may embrace IDIC and inter cultural breeding more then some others, but we still have a reputation to maintain’ Her Bolian side came through a bit and she couldnt help but crack a smile.

Dalton sighed again, grabbed a Padd, layed back on his bunk, and downloaded a copy of the holobook ‘Dating Vulcan Women For Dummies’ from Fedtube and began reading.

After a moment of quiet T’Sen added ‘Thank you Dalton.’