Lieutenant Commander Vernon Reid walked into the Station Operations Center with a slight spring in his step after having a delightful lunch. The food, this time, had not been the highlight of the experience, but rather the company that he’d had for his midday break. He’d been given the privilege of watching a newly cemented couple sharing an emotionally meaningful meal that his wife Tessa had thrown together to make their day special. That was why, when he noticed his Bolian friend’s face, he couldn’t help but be confused.

“Why the long face, Jak? Something happen while I was out?” Vernon asked as he stepped up to the master display console sitting at the center of Station Ops.

Lieutenant Commander Jakrin Holv looked up from whatever it was he’d been reading, “In a manner of speaking…”

“Alright…” Reid said, leaning against the large electronic table, “In what manner are we speaking? Was there a fight, a fire, did someone ram into the docking port walls again?”

“Nothing quite so exciting,” Holv said with a shallow shrug, “More perplexing than anything else.”

“Okay…” Vernon drew out the word, prompting further explanation.

Jakrin straightened up to look at Reid head on, “Right now, it’s just a shipment dropped off in our cargo hold that the dock workers can’t figure out where it came from or who ordered it. I already asked Vahna to get clarification from the ship that dropped it off, but it appears that it’s already halfway out of the sector.”

“Is it anything dangerous?” Reid’s brow darkened a bit.

Holv shook his head, “No no, nothing of the like. Everything on the manifest is completely normal. That’s what makes it so bizarre. It wasn’t addressed to anyone specific, merely that Starbase 11 was the drop-off point. No customer contact information, and oddly enough, no record of where the containers came from. Just that they were brought aboard the delivery vessel at some point along their trip here… and even those logs are a bit suspect.”

“Smuggling, maybe?” Vernon suggested.

“If that were all it was, I wouldn’t be standing here scratching my head. There’s not a single illicit or illegal thing about any of the stuff they dropped off. All of it is so above board that it’s suspicious simply because of how banal it all is. That’s why the cargo technicians flagged it,” the Bolian explained.

“Let me see the manifest,” Vernon said as he walked around the table to stand next to his friend.

Holv motioned for the display to expand, doubling the size of the holographic window hanging just above the situation table. Reid scanned the expansive manifest, his eyes never really lingering on any one item for more than the time it took his brain to register what he’d read. By the time he’d scanned through a little more than a third of the manifest, Vernon couldn’t help but shake his head.

“You’re right, nothing in here is even worth the cost of shipping it here. And M-11 doesn’t have a criminal underworld to speak of, so we can rule out some elaborate smuggling operation. It’s just… weird,” Reid said, his voice mirroring his confusion.

“What do you want the cargo crew to do with it?” Jakrin asked.

Vernon’s first thought was to just get rid of it all. Without a clear owner listed, nor any tangible means to locate them, the crates were just occupying space that could be used for cargo that the residents of the station or the planet below actually needed. But as soon as he went to voice that opinion, he paused. Doubt began to take root in his mind as he contemplated how he would explain to the intended recipients that he had simply had their items removed or destroyed simply because getting answers seemed too hard at first glance.

“Put them in one of the storage bays. As much as I hate the idea of weird cargo taking up space… We might figure out who it belongs to… or who thinks it belongs to them in the next few weeks and I don’t want to have to explain to anyone why we threw their crates out an airlock just because of a paperwork error,” Vernon said after giving it some thought.

“Easy enough, I’ll pass the word on down,” Holv said, his breezy acceptance feeling just a tad out of place to Vernon. The fact that he didn’t immediately point that out to his friend seemed odd to him as well, but he forced a mental shrug and a change in topic.

“So I guess this little mishap is why you didn’t join me for lunch,” Reid surmised as the Bolian sent words to the cargo team.

“You guessed right,” Jakrin nodded as he finished his instructions for the team that would handle the cargo, “How was it? I mean… it’s Tessa’s cooking we’re talking about so I’m sure it was stupendous as always, but still.”

“You aren’t wrong,” Vernon chuckled, “But that wasn’t what made it a meal to remember. I told you I was going down to meet our two early arrivals, didn’t I?”

“That you did,” Holv nodded as he pulled out a chair from the table’s hidden collection to take a seat.

“Well, I paid them a visit at their quarters, since they’re living together,” Reid continued briefly.

“Are they? I don’t recall seeing a marital status listed in their orders,” the Bolian followed up.

“Neither had I, so I was obviously a little curious as to what that was all about. So when I was invited inside, the décor practically gave it away before they even mentioned anything. I have to say, I haven’t seen Human and Klingon cultural aesthetics blended in such a harmonious way before. I was really impressed,” Vernon said, nodding to himself as he recalled the encounter.

“Interesting,” Jakrin said with a contemplative look of his own, “I’ll have to find an excuse to stop by myself. I’d love to see that.”

Reid laughed, “I’m sure you’ll think of something. But anyway, back to my story. I was talking over their delayed report, and we somehow got onto the subject of food and if I had any suggestions as to a good spot.”

“And of course you recommended Ember’s.”

“You know me so well,” Reid smirked. “But yes, I took them to Ember’s so we could share a meal and I could get to know them a little better in a more relaxed setting. Lieutenant Khar didn’t look too pleased with my intrusion into their little love nest when I first stopped in. Man’s a bit intense… which is good since he’s gonna need to deal with all the personalities we get passing through the station.”

“I still don’t see how any of that made it a meal to remember,” Holv said with a skeptical look.

“Don’t get impatient, I’m getting to that,” Vernon said, waving the comment off. “So Tessa came over to say hello, as she always does, and I sort of introduced the two without actually doing it. You know how Tess likes make grand introductions.”

“Yes, and I’m sure she did so at your expense,” Jakrin chuckled, grinning.

Reid nodded, “That she did. But in doing so, she managed to pull out a very juicy bit of information.”

The Bolian folded his arms in mock consternation, “Well don’t leave me in the dark.”

“Well, our new Klingon friend declared in front of the wife and I that they were both ‘of House Toreth’, and Lieutenant Grant clued us in that it was only something they decided today. So naturally, Tessa went all out,” Vernon explained.

“Now that is a memorable event,” Jakrin said with a deep nod. “I truly am sad that I missed out on that.”

“You might not say that knowing that Tessa managed to get ahold of some kind of squirmy worm looking stuff for Mister Khar… qagh, I think they called it. That was a bit… much…” Reid said, turning a little pale.

“I’ve had that before. It wasn’t… memorable in a good way, let’s put it like that… but if it were a choice between that and starvation, I’d probably try it again,” Holv said with a casual shrug.

“I’ll just starve,” Vernon said flatly, “But that wasn’t the point. The point was, you missed out on the start of a new couple aboard the station. And while I admit, that’s hardly a new thing around here, I don’t think we’ve ever been on the ground floor of one of our division heads starting down that road… let alone two, together.”

“You are not wrong there,” the Bolian chuckled. “It really is a shame to have missed that. But I suppose I can always make up for it at the wedding. Do you think they’ll have one?”

“Not sure…” Reid said with a contemplative frown.

“Bah,” Jakrin waved it off, “There’s plenty of time to figure out all those details, for us and for the happy couple. No need to rush them, or for them to rush it.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Jak?” Vernon said teasingly.