An Evening Among the High-Brow

Posted on 07 Nov 2026 @ 5:20pm by Lieutenant Thex sh'Zoarhi & 1st Lieutenant Gavin Ross Dr.

3,585 words; about a 18 minute read

Mission: Out of Character Discussion
Location: Starbase 51 – Federation Art Institute / Station Brass Lounge
Timeline: Shore Leave

[ON:]

Ross tugged at his cuff one more time as the turbolift doors opened onto the upper promenade... The suit was quiet on purpose... deep charcoal... nothing flashy... just clean lines and a little bit of shine if the light hit it right... The watch on his wrist was the expensive kind that only other people who owned one would ever notice... thin gold... understated... Matching shoes finished it off... He looked the part... mostly... and still felt like he was pretending a little...

He glanced over at Thex and whatever smart thing he had planned to say just sort of left him for a second...

That dress... the one he had sent over earlier... was doing exactly what he had hoped it would... Soft black fabric that moved when she walked... a neckline that stayed elegant but still showed enough of her upper chest to make his thoughts skip... and a hem that caught her legs just right... Subtle... a little sexy... completely on purpose... He had spent way too long picking it out... and now he was paying for it with every other glance he could not quite stop...

“You look...” Ross started... then let out a quiet little laugh at himself... “Yeah... there is no smooth way to finish that without sounding like I practised it in the mirror... So I will just say the dress is unfair... Thexy... Completely unfair... I knew what I was doing when I chose it... and I am still not ready for it...”

Thex smiled as she twirled slightly to let Ross see the results of his choice. He certainly knew her body. " A most excellent choice, my dear doctor." She answered.

He offered his arm... the gesture easy and familiar... and walked with her toward the wide glass doors of the Federation Art Institute... Soft string music floated out into the corridor...

The air inside smelled like polished wood and expensive perfume and that clean... careful scent places get when they are meant for important people...

The first gallery was already half full... dress uniforms... formal civilian clothes... quiet voices that never quite rose above a murmur... Abstract sculptures floated on their little anti-grav pads... Big canvases in greys and single streaks of colour lined the far wall... Ross tilted his head at one of them and the corner of his mouth pulled up...

“That one...” he said... leaning a little closer so only she could hear... “is either saying something deep about the emptiness of existence... or someone spilled their raktajino and decided to charge twenty thousand credits for the privilege of staring at it... I honestly cannot tell...”

He kept his voice low... the humour private... just for her...
“My parents would eat this place up... Both of them are Starfleet Medical royalty... They have spent half their careers in rooms like the Brass Lounge... dignitaries... admirals... the occasional ambassador who needs to be impressed... I got the invitations by default... Never quite got the part where I take all of this completely seriously...”

Ross looked at her again... softer this time...

“I am really glad you said yes... Thexy... The art is questionable at best... The company is not...”

He guided them a little deeper into the gallery... the soft sound of his shoes on the polished floor the only thing marking their progress... A waiter in white passed with a tray of champagne... Ross took two glasses without thinking and held one out to her...

“We do not have to stay long if this starts to feel too stiff... After this there is the Brass Lounge... invite only... the station banquet hall where admirals pretend they do not have favourite wines... I thought we could end up there... Somewhere quieter... Somewhere I can look at you in that dress without pretending I am interested in the sculptures...”
A small crooked smile showed up...

“No pressure though... We can wander around these questionable masterpieces as long as you want... I am in no rush... as long as you are right here beside me...”

Thex smiled at Ross before stopping to look at one of the artworks. A swirling image of two oceans colliding. " It is beautiful, even if my knowledge of the arts is the moving variety. Still any time i can spend with you is worth it my dear doctor."

Ross guided Thex past the colliding oceans toward a slowly rotating sculpture of interlocking alloy rings that caught the gallery lights in sharp flashes...

“At least this one does something!" He shook his head at the place... "You figure the artist had a point, or just got paid to make expensive mobiles that spin forever?” He laughed to himself, glancing at Thex in her beautiful dress.

" Hard to say." Thex replied. " Many an artist will take a job they don't want in exchange for something. A trade, money or something else. "

Ross nodded.. He looked at his glass of fine dry white Riesling, Federation vintage 2301... Holding his glass upward, the shining gallery lights above, twinkling the glass of gold liquid in the glass... "I'd rather keep this..." Gavin downed the glass, and then set it aside on the nearest pedestal stand of artwork, a bronze couture Andari Sculpture... "That stays there..." He swallowed.

"What in here do you like, Thex?" Ross inquired... He looked around. There was so much...

"Besides the company of my playmate?" she replied with a wink before she looked around. Her blues locked on one of the sections. " Ohhh i had no idea someone was making art in the pre-syndicate Orion style. " She said, leading Ross over.

Ross let her lead... no words at first. He had heard every bit of it... the wink, playmate, that spark when her blues found the Orion pieces.

The alcove sat warmer... deep greens and hammered golds. Figures that looked like they had once been alive, not spilled concepts on a wall.

He stopped beside her... jacket sleeve brushing the black dress he chose.

“I heard you,” he said quiet... eyes still on the painting. “Both parts. Company line I already knew. Orion part I did not.”
Head tipped a little. “Pre syndicate... yeah. Most people on a station like this only know the later reputation. This is older. They still knew how to make something beutiful on purpose.” He glanced at her... mouth pulling up. “You spotted it in three seconds. Tells me more about you than twenty minutes of floating sculpures did.”

Eyes dropped one second to the neckline... light sitting on her collerbone, then back up.

“Fair warning Thexy... you keep finding things in here that have a pulse and I am going to have a harder time pretendng I want to leave for the Brass Lounge.” Arm offered again, same easy gesture. “Show me the rest of what caught your eye. I am listening.”

" Well..." Thex pondered as she looked at the artwork. " This one is of the Orion goddess of the hunt," she replied, looking at one of the sculptors, A rather radiant-looking Orion woman with a hunting spear and several rather vicious hunting dogs at her heels.

Ross followed Thex’s gaze to the sculpture and... stopped a half step behind her, hands in his pockets. He took it in the way he took in a scan... quiet, unhurried, no need to fill the air. The piece sat on its plinth like it had been caught mid-turn... pale metal catching the gallery light in long, clean lines. It looked expensive if you knew what you were looking at. Most people wouldn’t...

“I like this one...” Gavin said, simple, almost offhand. “The balance on it... doesn’t try too hard.”

Gavin glanced at Thex once, reading the way she had settled on it, then... looked past her toward the attendant near the desk. No fuss. No raised voice. Wealth in his family had always been the kind that... stayed off the uniform and out of the conversation.

“Could I get a purchase PADD...?” he asked when the attendant came over, as if he were requesting a hypospray refill. “Send it to Lieutenant Thex sh’Zoarhi... Quarters, USS Tomcat.” He signed without looking at the total and handed the PADD back...

“That’s all... thank you.”

Thex beamed as she gave her playmate a kiss on his cheek. " You spoil me, Doctor Ross. "

Ross’s mouth ticked at the kiss… small, private. Didn’t make a thing of it.

“That’s not… spoiling,” he said, quietly. “Just noticin what you look at…”

He glanced toward the gallery doors… hands still in his pockets.

“We should… head to the brass level dinner now. They’ll notice if we're late Thexy…”

Thex wrapped her hand around his arm. " Well, we better not keep them waiting. Lead on Doctro Ross."

- Starbase 51 – Station Brass Lounge -

The Brass Lounge doors opened on polished wood and low gold light. Admirals, senior officers, diplomats. A steward scanned Ross’s badge, it chimed once, and they were waved through.
He kept Thex on his arm, proud of it. She was wearing the black dress he had sent over, soft fabric, elegant, moving when she walked.

The long table was already full of faces that knew him.

"Gavin Ross," an older surgeon said, lifting a glass. Silver hair. Federation Medical family written all over her. "It is good to see you here, Doctor... How are your parents doing? "

Ross's mouth grinned... "They are doing well, Professor Katherine. It is good to see you as well... I will let them know you asked about hem." He pulled Thex's chair and sat... "Station chiefs, Prof Katherine... this is Lieutenant Thex sh'Zoarhi. A very talented Engineer on the Tomcat. She has single-handedly gotten our crew out of many terrible situations."

A medical officer two seats down nodded. "Didn't think we'd see you up here this leave. You always get the invite though."

Ross glanced at Thex in the black dress. "Some doors stay open. Family thing... Me and Thex were looking at Art... Now we're here. Appologies on our lateness."

" Dr Ross really appreciates a fine piece of art. " Thex replied completely playfully, giving a hidden smirk at her doctor.

Ross looked at her when he answered this time… a small, honest smile… “You are not wrong,” he said. “I do appreciate good art. Especially when she is sitting right here next to me.”
Down the long table the talk was already split into pieces… admirals at one end… medical staff in the middle… a diplomat laughing at a story that never reached this side. Ross let it pass, then turned back to Thex.

“Thex, we just walked out of that gallery and into this. What do you make of the difference?”

" Other than being surrounded by fellow Starfleet. " Thex replied with a smirk. (can't think of anything at the moment.)

Ross nodded… “That is a fair way to put it.” He lifted his glass toward the nearer stretch of table… not a speech… just enough for the people actually listening… “To a night that stays off the duty roster,” he said. “And to the people who still show up when they do not have to.” A few glasses answered him. Professor Katherine tipped hers. Two seats down, someone was already back to a supply contract.

He turned to Thex as the first plates landed… “They are pouring three different whites on this side of the table. Which one do you want with dinner? I will tell them.” He glanced toward the service door, then back to her… “They have exquisite Andorian cooks on standby as well… for whatever you desire. You only have to say it, Thexy. You should have what you actually like… not whatever I picked first.”

" I'll have the white wine and some Redbat steak if they have any." Thex smiled in reply.

Ross, in a quiet confidence, made eye contact with one of the Federation dining room staff. The officer then walked in and leaned between both Ross and Thex.

"We will both be having your specialty of Redbat steaks, along with any other Andorian specialties you decide to surprise us both with," Ross said as he then took a sip from the wine that was now being poured for both of them.

"How would you like your Redbat steak? Well done, Medium, or Rare. Ma'am, Sir?" The male human waiter asked casually.

"Myself, I do enjoy a nice rare Redbat steak. As for Thex..." Ross nodded his head her way. She looked like Royalty underneath the overhead twinkling designed table chandeliers.

" Medium please," Thex added.

"Very well, Sir, Ma'am. Can I offer you anything else to drink? I have also taken note that our in-residence chef from Andoria tonight does have several specialties. Surprise for the rest of it." The waiter simply stated, taking a mental note of their order.

" I'll have a white wine any vintage." Thex replied.

As the waiter then left, Ross relaxed a bit more, placing his arm around the back of Thex's chair, not in full view, but just a comfort to himself. "Admiral Je'Darian. He was one of the first Council Members on the Special Committee for the Treaty of Ulan of the Ularia conflict in the Jenos Sector. He nearly lost his life when the Ularian Negotiator was offended by his apparently... undistinguished dialogue... You can see he has no opposable thumbs." Ross quietly stated, his eyes watching the Admiral while telling this to Thex.

The Admiral glanced at Ross and Thex's way, as Ross then simply held up his glass of wine and then mouthed 'Admiral... Good to see you...'

" Admiral." Added the Andorian politely before she leaned in to talk Ross more quietly.

"His thumbs were sliced in offense to his treaty negotiation terms, and thus, the Ularians ate his fingers as is their custom." Ross furrowed a brow.

" Sound like a charming people." The andorian added with her own furrowed brow.

He leaned in gently as they both talked. "Yes. Admiral. He is Medical. Yet he commanded the USS Pasteur C. It was once commanded by the notorious Dr. Crusher. An icon within Starfleet Medical." Ross noticed Thex's blue lips.

As the evening went on, Ross lent his hand to the back of Thex's dress straps, ensuring that nobody else in the room could see...

Just then, their dinners were served. Plating had begun exactly at 1800 hours on the dot. "I knew something had smelled good. And not just your perfume, my dearest playmate." Ross then turned to the food. "I am starving!"

Ross then took a piece of his steak, Redbat steak, and gently gave his first prime slice of it to feed Thex. He didn't care; he was in his own little world. "I want to see if you approve. If you do not like it. We can send it back and order something else." Ross focused on her. Damn. He was so lucky!

As the wine was poured, he then took a sip of his own, enjoying the treat. It was all real vineyards from Starfleet fields back on Earth.

Thex took a slice before popping it into her mouth. Smiling, she swallowed. " Very nice. Just the correct texture to really bring out the flavour."

"Good." Ross smiled, and then took a bite himself. It was definately good. Then again, he did have a penchant for Andorian finer things.

Thex smiled as she enjoyed her steak and the flavourful wine. " Thank you for the wonderful night my dear doctor."

"Certainly, Thex. You are my everything, my Dear." Ross smiled. He truly had intentions but he was still keeping them to himself.

"I hope you are saving room for dessert later. I have reserved the station Ambassador suite. It is not Starfleet regulated. It is a part of the station's Ambassador department on Ring Level One... There is a window that overlooks the whole suite; it allows us to see the Stars in the sector." Gavin grunted with a sly grin.

" My doctor Ross you certainly know how to spoil a girl." Thex replied, making a cheeky nipping motion with her mouth as she did so.

Ross nearly lost it. He shivered in heat. "I... Well then... Let's bust this joint... That is... If you have gained enough energy." He whispered, leaning in... "The last thing I want is to get into the after-dinner talk, where the Ambassador once again tells us his story for the third time, how he lost his fingers. And then all that smoke from replicated Cigars. They really can act over the top." He grunted, lending his hand underneath the table to gently, slowly rub along Thex's thigh, slipping just gently nearing her hemline...

" My my Doctor Ross. " Thex replied in her sultry voice, shifting her thigh slightly, somehow indicating she loved his touch but to go no further. "Eager to have another treatment for your Thex fever?"

"Burning up my dear... Burning up, my dear..." Ross bit his lower lip...

As the evening had progressed from that point, Ross had taken a graceful exit from the Brass Lounge. He was happy to have met up with some familiar faces that he had long since been introduced to by his parents, who were in the Medical realms of Starfleet Command.

As they exited, the doors closing, Ross turned to Thex and nearly accosted her, saddling her by the door frame, now out of sight of the dinner guests. Ross slid his hand upward Thex's slender body in her soft black fabric that slinkly clung to her Andorian figure...

"You have a certain quality... Thex... Not just in body, but in person." He gently held the back of her neck, placing a soft, at-first kiss to her luscious, supple, warm, moist lips... Tasting her sweetness, he breathed out as he sighed, closing his eyes; his other hand reached out to her hand, clasping it into his...

Breaking the kiss, he composed himself, only to see one of the attendants of the lounge outside staring at both Thex and Ross. Ross's face immediately blushed red. "Well now. I think you are cured, my dear." He spoke loudly enough for the attendant to hear.

"By all means." She then let out a slight giggle, the human.

"This is what happens when I accost you in public spaces!" He grunted.

" Don't pretend you don't love it." Thex grinned as she straightened her own hair and dress.

"The only thing I have... pretended was talking to those jaw wagglers in there." He replied.

- Starbase 51 - Admiral's Suite -

The suite doors hissed open and Ross stepped through first, one hand still resting low on Thex's blue skin and dressed back. Place was ridiculous. Floor to ceiling viewport, whole sector just hanging there in the dark. Soft gold light from somewhere near the floor. Big curved sofa in that real leather that creaked when you sat, and the bed was massive, set low, sheets already turned down like the station knew they were coming.

He let the doors close. Quiet. No more lounge noise. No more people.

"Yeah…" he said, voice rougher than it had been outside. "This is better." He turned, eyes dropping to the dress he'd picked, the way it still clung. His hand slid up her arm, slow, then over to the strap again... Thumb hooked under it. "Been thinking about getting this off you since the gallery."

" I occupy your thoughts so much my dear doctor?" Thex replied with the flutter of her eye lashes that she knew drove him crazy.

Ross's mouth twitched... He stepped in closer, free hand finding her waist, pulling her in until there wasn't much space left between them. Stars behind her. He could feel her heat through the fabric.

"Thexy. You can keep the view," he murmured, leaning down, lips brushing just under her ear. "I got what I wanted right here."

" Then take it." She softly replied before kissing him firmly

Ross kissed her back hard, one hand already working the strap of the dress down her shoulder while the other locked her hips tight against him."Then I am taking it," he said against her mouth, voice low and rough.

"Right now."He walked them straight to the bed without breaking the kiss, the soft black fabric sliding under his palms until it fell away. Her blue skin was warm against his hands and he did not slow down. He laid her back on the sheets and followed, covering her body with his own."Look at me," he told her, eyes locked on hers as his hand slid up her thigh.

"Been wanting this all night Thexy. You said take it and that is exactly what I am doing."

" Take it. " she whispered softly his touch driving her crazy.

"Say it again my playmate," Ross murmured, dominant and sure as he settled between her legs. "Tell me you want it."

" Take it."

Gavin took her then, not waiting any longer. "Thats it," he said, breath rough against her skin. "You are mine and I am yours."

Thex replied by kissing him hard as she returned every thrust just as hard as the two engaged in the throes of passion.

The twilight of the stars shone into the room magically...

[OFF]

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