“Good Morning, Captain!” Lieutenant JG Jessica Torres said as she beamed up at Tyr. She was cute, perky and bouncing off the bulkheads. Even though Tyr was a morning person, he found Lt JG Torres was a tad too bouncy.
“What brings you to our little neck of the woods, today?” she asked. Tyr made it a daily habit of stopping by to pick up fresh fruit and vegetables for his meals. Now that he had a consort. . . . . . . . .
No matter how many times he'd been there before, Tyr never ceased to be amazed by Hydroponics. It occupied half of Deck 9. Trees, plants, flowers, fruit bearers and vegetables encompassed not only the deck under his feet, but the bulkheads and the ceiling. So it was amazingly easy for one to lose one's horizontal orientation in there. Torres's subordinates standing on anti-grav platforms, were misting, spraying, watering, trimming and picking.
Tyr leaned down and whispered to Torres what he wanted.
“Come with me, Sir. I know exactly what you need.” she said. She led him down what seemed like a series of endless aisles. Tyr smelled them long before he saw them. Roses.
“Here on the Insurrection we have 23 different varieties of roses. Not only because they are pretty, but some races use them for food, steep their leaves for tea, and use them medicinally.” Lieutenant JG Torres said, as if she was giving Tyr the cook's tour.
“Here's what you want, Sir.” she continued as she stopped and stood in front of a particular rose bush.
Tyr marveled at the color of the flowers. They definitely resembled roses in every way except for the color. They were so translucent that they seemed completely colorless, yet saturated with colors.
“They are called the Altiarian Peace Rose. Traditionally they are given as a peace offering between warring Altiarian Tribes.” Jessica said. “The color of the flowers will change when you present them to the other party, to their favorite color.” she continued.
“Indeed? And how is that so?” Tyr asked.
“Starfleet botanists who have more degrees and higher pay grades than I, have been have been trying to figure that out for the past two years and haven't found an answer. Me? I think it's just a chemical reaction. But who am I?” Jessica replied, as she began to carefully snip away at individual flowers.
“Is this good, Sir? Or would you like a few more?” she asked.
“Two more should do it.” Tyr replied. He watched as Jessica added them to the bunch she already cut, then expertly wrap them.
“There you go, Sir.” she said as she handed the bouquet over to Tyr. “Watch out for the thorns.” she added.
“I will. And thank you Lieutenant.” Tyr said, as he took his leave.
“I will indeed watch out for the thorns.” he thought, as he smiled to himself.
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