A Post Velocity Hot Tub (backpost)

Posted on Mon Sep 14th, 2026 @ 6:12am by Lieutenant Rala & Lieutenant Mark Valleroy
Edited on on Mon Sep 14th, 2026 @ 6:22am

2,361 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: The Next Interim
Location: Deck 4, Holodeck 4
Timeline: Immediately after "A Game of Velocity"
Tags: Rala,Mark,holodeck,hot tub,chitchat

It wasn’t long before Rala emerged from the changing room in her usual one-piece swimsuit, gray and white with gold trim, covering about eighty percent of her front and about ten percent of her back. She found Valleroy just exiting the other changing room. “Shall we?” she asked, gesturing toward the hot tub as she started walking in that direction.

Mark, having exited in a pair of sold blue swim trunks that went to about mid-thigh, nodded. "Lead the way," he told Rala. "So, you come here often?" he asked, slipping into the hot tub when they arrived. It was on the warm side, and Mark tried to remember if the Draakri, as a reptilian species, were cold-blooded as many known reptilians tended to be.

Rala let out a soft sigh as she settled into the hot tub, enjoying the warmth. “Only a few times, since I made the copy,” she replied. “I have my own program I usually go to for swimming—an approximate replica of part of my homeworld—which I’ve been gradually tweaking, and occasionally I load up the scans from that O-class planet we stopped at on the way to Tial. But every now and then I get the urge to do something that the pool here is more suited for—swimming laps, for instance—but just relaxing in the hot tub? Life’s been a little hectic lately, between Tial, and the promotion, and Ops, and the Maru...” She trailed off, sighing again. “It’s been a while since I’ve felt like I had the free time for something like this—the Velocity match or the hot tub.”

"I do know the feeling," Mark said. "If you think being a department head is fun, throw in being second officer on top of that. Besides my own department, I have to be aware of what the other departments are doing at least on a basic level. Then I've got two adolescent humans to watch over, and there are times where that seems like a full-time job in and of itself. And then there's the usual insanity that goes on around here on this ship anyway, and...well, sometimes it's amazing I have any spare time at all."

Rala giggled at the mention of the adolescents. “Younglings being handfuls seems to be a fairly universal constant among most species. Imagine if yours had another pair of hands,” she said, lifting all four of hers out of the water briefly. “Sometimes I think that’s the main reason we usually raise ours in groups. Easier to manage a handful of them when they’re outnumbered by the adults.”

Mark nodded. "Even on Earth, children are often raised by a couple of adults who are either the biological parents outright, or who at least function as the parents if circumstances prevent one or both biological parents from being able to fulfill the role. In some cultures, it's even common for other adults, such as extended family members or other members of the local community, to also provide assistance in raising children. There's an old saying about how it takes a village to raise a child. I can definitely understand how such setups can occur. Don't get me wrong —my two nephews are good kids, but sometimes they can be a handful at their age."

Rala tilted her head in acknowledgement, then tilted it the other way and asked, “How old are they, again?”

"Corey is 13, and Connor is 11," Mark replied. "So by human biology, they're just getting into the years of rapid growth brought on by puberty, hence why they can be a handful at that age. Though I suppose the same could be said for a lot of species."

“So, similar to Draakri of late teens, maybe twenty,” Rala said, doing a quick mental conversion and nodding. “I imagine raising them in an environment like this has some...unique challenges.” She pondered for another few seconds, her thoughts changing course. “The difference in development between Draakri and most other Federation species keeps catching me off-guard, when I stop to think about it. We live almost as long as Vulcans, but our younglings, our children, develop much slower than most of you.” She glanced more directly at Valleroy. “I’m thirty-four, but in many ways I’m functionally closer in ‘age’ to Michelle or the Kellerman twins...unless we’re talking about raw elapsed time. It feels strange sometimes.”

Mark nodded. "I understand that there are entire fields of study that look at not only how an individual species grows and develops within 'itself,' so to speak, but also how that relates to other species, particularly those with different lifespans. I'm not going to say that it gives me a headache while trying to think about it all, but at the same time there's a reason I'm in charge of ship's security department rather than ship's counseling or medical departments."

Rala chuckled, shifting a bit to get one of the water jets on a different spot. “That’s fair. I’d much rather be examined by Doctor Kellerman anyway,” she said, smirking slightly.

"Hey," Mark said, pretending to sound hurt, "I think most women on board would love to get examined by me! It's a good thing I'm security, so I know how to fight them all off if I have to!"

Rala let out a genuine laugh at that. “Don’t get me wrong...” she hesitated, then erring on the side of caution, continued, “...Sir. I may still be...’calibrating’, I guess you could say, my sense of what traits humanoids consider ‘attractive’ among other humanoids, but I can say with reasonable confidence that, yes, you meet the most common criteria. And,” she said, eyeing him briefly, “there is a fair amount of overlap with Draakri standards.” The tip of her tail came up to the surface to flick a tiny bit of water in his direction. “I’m just generally more attracted to the feminine side of things.”

"I'm not sure whether to be flattered or hurt," Mark said with a grin to show that he wasn't actually hurt at all by the comment, before 'casually' striking the surface of the water in such a way that it sent a splash of water back in Rala's direction. "Certainly there are many people of different species who would find you quite attractive as well." After a moment, he added, "My two nephews would be interested in you as well, though less for romantic reasons and more because you do look like a dragon out of the mythologies of several species, including humans."

Rala’s ears quirked in different directions as she tilted her head. “I know Humans have creatures in your mythology that resemble us—four years on Earth made sure of that—but if anyone mentioned the same for other species’ mythology, I missed it.” A hand came up to idly scratch at the side of her snout. “It’s remarkable, how many species in the galaxy have so much in common. Makes one wonder...” she trailed off.

"Well, I do remember reading something while at the Academy about Hodgkin's Law of Parallel Planetary Development," Mark replied. "It's the idea that when similar conditions exist on different planet, things tend to develop along very similar lines, even when said planets are hundreds or even thousands of lightyears apart."

“Convergent evolution definitely happens, but I recall something from my own time at the Academy about a...‘Progenitor’ species, I think they got called? ...Who did something in the distant past that caused some kind of bias toward—” she gestured toward him again, “—this general shape for intelligent species. Although...” she briefly held all four hands out of the water, “...between this and the odd stellar phenomenon that kept Draakrona hidden for so long, it does make one wonder if they had any influence on us, and if so, how much?”

"Yes, I heard about them, too. Developed FTL capabilities and found themselves the only sentient species in the galaxy, so they seeded their DNA across countless worlds, which certainly explained both the abundance of species that not only look similar in form but who cal also actually procreate with each other. Of course, as you said, how much influence did they have on species like your, or the Gorn? Or even species that don't even look like us at all, such as the Tholians or the Horta?"

“Aren’t both of those latter species silicon-based, rather than carbon?” Rala said, tilting her head. “I feel like integrating foreign carbon-based genetic code into their ancestors would be a whole other level of challenge.” She shifted, finding a more comfortable position for her tail, then settled herself again. “Now, if you want an example of a species that’s definitely carbon-based, but I’m fairly certain developed with no meddling by the ‘progenitors’, look at the Pahkwa-thanth,” she continued, recalling the image she’d seen of the Titan’s Chief Medical Officer, who was even less ‘humanoid’ than she was.

"Tholians and Horta are silicon-based." Mark said. "What might be particularly interesting to think about is how life - and particularly sentient life - might have developed if the progenitors hadn't done what they did. How many different types of sentient species would there be if not for that, or would there there even be nearly as many as there are?"

“That...is a very good question,” Rala replied. She fell silent for a moment, then shook her head. “Fah, thinking about things like that for too long makes my head spin,” she said. “Tell me, sir, what else do you do for fun, besides Velocity?”

"Well, when I have the time for fun," Mark said with a short laugh, "there is reading, martial arts, and a few other things on the holodeck, particularly an Earth sport that's gone by a couple of names including soccer and futbol. This has actually been the longest time that I've been doing something that wasn't a responsibility in...I can't even remember. How about you? Any particular fun stuff that you enjoy?"

“Reading also,” Rala replied. “No specific martial arts—not for recreation; I do try to keep up some hand-to-hand combat training...although I’ve been slacking on that. And...I guess, technically, there’s my swords, which I barely practiced with before Tial, and haven’t had time to practice with since. I wore them down to the surface as, effectively, ceremonial dress, and subsequently agreed to a sparring match with a war priest named...” her gaze wandered as she thought; “...Vermes, I think it was? I surprised myself by managing a draw against him, and said I’d need to practice in case the opportunity for a rematch arose in the future.”

"I have some sword training myself," Mark said, "so I'm certainly up for being an opponent if you want to. Just let me know."

Rala tilted her head at him. “I’ll keep that in mind, thank you. As for sports,” Rala continued, “For a long time, I didn’t bother with any; if I felt like being physically active, I’d just go for a run, or a swim, or do some climbing; and if I didn’t I’d either be reading or tinkering with something. Lately, I’ve been meeting with Cal—the Captain periodically for tennis lessons, although that’s at least as much for the companionship as for the sport itself—although that, and a conversation she and I had after one session, did inspire me to try adapting a Draakri sport to play here.”

"You'll have to let me know when you're done," Mark said. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but sometimes I feel like you get to see so much of our culture while we don't get to see a lot of yours."

Rala tilted her head, remaining silent for a few seconds. “I...” she started, settling slightly lower into the water; “...I guess I’ve just always been more interested in experiencing other cultures than introducing others to that of the Draakri.” She glanced up at him. “I never did participate in Draakri culture very much in the first place,” she said, looking away again, “not in the manner most people tend to think. I tended to keep to myself more than most; never really felt like I fit in.” She shrugged. “Plus, out here I’m surrounded by, immersed in other cultures—predominantly Human, since you make up more of Starfleet than any other species, at least in most places, and I’m just one Draakri.”

"If there's one thing that history has shown many times over," Mark replied, "it's to never underestimate the power of one individual. You may not have participated as much in Draakri culture as others think you have, but you've still participated a lot more than the rest of us. It is our many unique backgrounds that make us...well, unique! So don't sell yourself short."

Rala gave him a faint smile. “Thanks. I can’t make any promises as to how quickly you’ll learn about Draakri culture from me, but I mostly don’t mind talking about my own experiences and the like, I just need prompting sometimes. Remind me to show you my Tikkana tree program sometime.”

"I'll have to do that," Mark said. "This has been a good outing, and I really do hate to end it, but I'd better get going. There are two young humans back in my quarters who have probably reached the amount of time that they should be allowed to go unsupervised. I'd better get back while I still have quarters to get back to."

Rala chuckled. “Fair enough,” she said, seeing him move to climb out of the hot tub. “Tell them I said hi.”

"Will do," Mark said with a nod, climbing out and heading back to the changing rooms.

 

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