Crisis Brings Closeness

Posted on Thu Nov 14th, 2019 @ 11:55pm by Captain Gary Alexander & Lieutenant JG Alexandra Campa

1,373 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Mission 1 - Leaving Sigma Iotia II
Location: Shuttlebay
Timeline: 2168/07/26 1100

Alex Campa had her head buried in the innards of the Archimedes. The shuttlepod's floor hatch was to one side and her dark hair was tied back. A spanner was in one hand while the other kept her steady. She had been double and triple checking everything in the pods over the last few hours before fully implementing the power-saving measures in shuttlebay. After this, she would grab a brief lunch, check in with her people, and then formally submit her full report to KAT.

She had thought she was alone and her head jerked up sharply when she senses a presence. It was times like these she really hated the skirts Starfleet seemed to prefer for its female officers. "I told you someone needs to be on the bridge!" she started sharply, apparently assuming one of her junior helm officers had come to speak with her.

"The bridge is fully staffed, I assure you, Alex," a familiar voice told her. "I do appreciate your concern, though." The Captain smiled at the Chief Helmsman and then grinned wider, expecting to see her shock. "Were you expecting someone else?"

"Yes, sir," she said as she stood. She tugged down needlessly but a little self-consciously on her skirt and reached up to mess with her hair slightly."Nothing much to report. The pods are both fine. I've been trying to make them more efficient but aside from letting them run a little colder there's not much to be done. The model is only so versatile. I've been toying with the idea of not using them for short range atmospheric flight if we can help it."

There was something irresistible about the way Alex tugged on her skirt and messed her hair. It was almost as if she was inviting the Captain to take her here and now. While that idea was desirable, he would have to hold his hormones at bay while trying to deal with the crew's new situation. Of course, if it helped her to transition, he was not opposed.... "Do you remember our first conversation?" he asked her.

She'd actually been trying to be a bit modest. She was very aware he'd come up right behind her with her head down and her bottom up in the entirely too small uniform skirt. Maybe she could switch to trousers when they had to turn the temperature down. "I do. I think we could jury-rig some things. Perhaps on a planet's surface, even, so the pods don't have to carry the extra weight."

"We may even have to resort to converting to hard fuels and such. Maybe make that gasoline powered car that we both desire," Gary told Alex with a half-hearted smile. "But I am glad to hear that you are thinking about our realistic situation."

"We have to find hard fuels as well, sir. If find a good supply for petroleum, we can refine gasoline, but I was thinking even more primitive but still effective, especially with support from shuttlepods still useful in emergencies. We could conduct exploration at least a few hundred miles from a landing sight on a planet by balloon." There's a small blush. It sounds silly almost to say it in this century. But there is the realistic situation to think about. She sighs heavily. "About that, sir, I didn't want to belabor the point in the meeting but are we really already so pessimistic? We got here, didn't we? Why should we assume that phenomena was utterly unique?"

"Why shouldn't we?" Gary replied, countering the question with the question. "Have you ever heard of anything like this before? Where did our buoy end up? It disappeared first. Barring a wormhole, a black hole is usually a one way trip into oblivion. Even the wormhole may not be two way. Whatever this was, it didn't effect Sigma Iota II from a relatively close distance. What are the odds of finding one again, or even the same one and returning? I'm sure that a Vulcan could calculate it. I cannot."

'A Vulcan might do a lot of things," Alex said, although she'd only met one or two in her life and had not known them well. Perhaps she would never meet another. She looked at him for a long moment, biting her lower lip before letting out a deep sigh. ""But it's not the logic of the situation I'm struggling with. It's these pesky human emotions. When I'm working, I can focus on what's in front of me. Even when I'm planning, thinking of power sources and vehicles, balloons and gasoline and rafts and whatever else we can improvise until we can find dilithium somewhere in this planet, I'm thinking of a long-term stay, like I should be, but it's the next year or the next five years or the next ten years and I can think about that because in the back of my head there's always this idea that eventually we'll fine something. Eventually something will change. It's when I stop, when I try to sleep or eat, that the thought comes on me that I might not, probably won't, ever see home again. It's, uh, I guess it's grief, but for a place and people who are still out there, just unreachable."

She smiles a little sheepishly and her cheeks color. "I'm sorry, sir. I've been holding that in for awhile. But the way you looked at me for a minute there...I just...I don't know anyone here that well. I could really use..." She bites her lower lip again and lets that thought trail off as well. She reaches up to adjust her hair once more and leans back against the shuttle pod, stretching out her legs and crossing them at the calf. She smiles up at him. "Anyway, it's been a few years since I've operated a hot air balloon, but I remember it well. The first human flight, if you ask the French, though Americans don't like to count anything until the Wright Brothers."

"You could use what?" Gary closed the distance between the two of them. He looked down into Alex's black eyes deeply. He spoke with an understanding and soothing voice, "A ride in a hot air balloon? Or something else?"

She looked up and met his gaze in deep silence for what seemed like an eternity but she she lowered her eyes once more. When she spoke, it was soft. Scarcely more than a whisper and just a single word. "Comforting."

Gary moved forward and wrapped Alex into a comforting hug. "We all could," he told her softly. "None of us expected this and assuming this all stays as it is, there will be a lot of uncomfortable adjustments."

She pressed her body tightly to his. She could feel his breathing and the outline of his muscles. She rested her cheek against his chest as she wrapped her arms around him. "We all could, captain. Thank you."

You could have her here, Gary. She's ripe for the taking. She's gorgeous and you know you want her. Take her. Yet, he found himself saying, "You're welcome, Alex." He cleared his throat and then gave her a comforting kiss on the top of her head. "Perhaps you might want to come for dinner and we could, talk more?" He did not let Alex go but his body language indicated she could leave if she wanted.

"I'd like that, sir," she said, smiling up softly as he kissed the top of her head. "Thank you." She didn't let go immediately but she did slowly disentangle herself. "I should get to back to work if I'm going to be free for dinner." Under the circumstances, like most of the crew, certainly most of the senior staff, she was working far beyond her normal shift.

Gary smiled at Alex, giving her his best winning grin. "Indeed. Work first. Play later. Until tonight." He told her, still staying very close.

"Yes, sir," she answered. She didn't seem to mind the closeness. She let it last another moment. Then she pulled away more decisively and headed for the exit. "Until tonight."

Lieutenant JG Alexandra Campa
Chief Helm Officer

and

Captain Gary Alexander
Commanding Officer

 

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