Note: I started writing this shortly after Beyond came out but never published it. Something about seeing a half-naked Chekov get thrown from an Orion woman's quarters in the opening scenes of the film triggered my muse. A lot of angst with a happy ending.

2257
The glacial air of the computer lab on that Sunday morning reminded him of a Novosibirsk spring. His fingers were sluggish and tingling – it was a wonder he couldn't see his breath.

He was running his ninth simulation, knowing it would fail like the others. It didn't matter: the joy was in the attempt.

Despite solid experiments describing the quantum behavior of the gravitational field and the unification of the three non-gravitational forces within a single mathematical framework, no Federation scientist had yet found a way to link the two theoretical constructs. A theory of everything.

Why should he, a sixteen year-old from southern Siberia, be the one to complete the puzzle of the universe in a frigid basement at Starfleet Academy on a random weekend morning while most of his classmates slept off their regrets from the night before? While others might ask why, Pavel Chekov preferred to ask why not. Why not him?

A soft chirp from the terminal alerted him to his ninth failure. He groaned, toggling back to a recent research paper on causal dynamic triangulation.

A beep, a swoosh, and a clicking of shoes on the hard floor captured his attention. A janitor, perhaps?

He turned in his seat. No. Her.

The cadence of his heart faltered as she came into view. Her green skin and vivid hair accentuated the vibrant personality that had drawn him to her from the moment he'd first laid eyes on her two years ago.

He whipped around in his chair and stared at the screen, trying to appear casual. She turned the corner and approached the long bank of computers and yelped.

He froze, his muscles contracted and eyes wide. "I deedn't mean to scare you."

Her high-pitched laugh echoed off the room's hard surfaces. "You didn't! I wasn't expecting to see anyone here. How are you, Pavlov?"

After two years and many shared classes, she still didn't know his name, but then again, after two years and many shared classes, he'd never worked up the courage to correct her.

She strode down the narrow aisle of computers to take a seat next to him, allowing her fingers to drift over the touch screen monitor and ignite the hum of the duotronic equipment.

"I am good."

"Great! What are you working on?"

"I- uh-" He wasn't eager to explain his audacity in thinking he could solve the biggest physics question sentient beings had ever devised, so he took great care to limit his accent and replied instead, "Extra credit."

"Ha, like you of all people need extra credit," she grinned. "I'm struggling just to pass Spock's Advanced Programming Language Theory class, but I bet you had the highest grade on the last test."

He gulped and nodded. Not only had he had the highest grade on Commander Spock's most recent exam, he'd received perfect marks.

"I deed ok."

She bumped her shoulder into his in a swinging, playful motion, rolling her head to look at him. "Do you think you could help me with my midterm project then?"

His pulse quickened and he noticed just how dry his mouth felt. "I- uh- ok."

He'd never denied how completely enamored he was with Gaila, but he'd also never denied the fact that almost every other male on campus was too. And a lot of the females.

The rational part of his mind knew it was likely a trick of her unique biology, but his youthful, curious side saw the toss of her red curls and the moisture on her golden lips and threw rationality aside for the prospect of something more.

She produced a jumble of code, pouted, and murmured, "I've been working on it for weeks and I'm out of time: it's due tomorrow."

His eyes scanned the long strings of characters. He could feel her eyes on him, hopeful and probing, and despite the cold, he realized he was sweating. Orions had superb olfactory senses. Would she notice?

"Uh- m-may I?" he mumbled, pointing to the monitor.

"Of course," she beamed, leaning back in her chair to permit him to reach across her and scroll through her work.

It was a mess. Debugging his own tidy lines of code was tedious enough, but Gaila had created a gauntlet of functions and stacks that made little obvious sense and had annotated none of it.

"I'm not keeping you from anything, am I?"

He glanced back at his own computer. Proving a theory of everything and debugging Gaila's code were both virtually impossible tasks, but given the choice, he'd take the one with the beautiful woman attached. "Not at all. Let us start from ze beginning, ok?"

She pushed her chair back, allowing him to move closer to the computer. And her. Once she even leaned in close enough to allow her thick coils of red hair to tickle the back of his neck. The effect was electric. He wasn't sure whether she was oblivious or accustomed to her natural charms, but he found himself purposefully skipping over errors just to extend his time with her.

They kept their heads together for hours, trailing line by line through the jungle of code she'd created. The more he explored, the more he realized she was smarter than she let on; her only problem was that she was careless. Unfortunately, he couldn't keep up the charade forever, and by late afternoon, Gaila had a functional program.

She reeled back in her seat and gave him a pointed look. "I don't know what I would have done without you, Pavlov."

His eyes flicked around the lab. A few others had come and gone throughout the morning, but they were once again alone. He could feel the beats of his heart thundering in his chest as he forced himself to make eye contact with her bright, blue eyes. Boldness surged through him and his mouth started to form words almost as if on instinct.

"I- I- I think you are… wery beautiful."

His confession earned him a look of lively surprise. Why had he said that?

"Why thank you."

He could feel air whistling through his open mouth and the pop of his knuckles as they twisted into nervous fists. Then her golden lips did something he'd never dreamed and delivered a chaste kiss to his right cheek.

"You're the best, Pavlov."

She swiped her slender fingers across the screen to save her project. She was leaving – it was now or never.

"Gaila-"

She canted her head in his direction, traced her bottom lip with her top row of teeth, and blinked slowly several times.

"Gaila, would- I would like- would you-"

"You're a really sweet guy, Pavlov, but you're just a kid," she interrupted. "Aren't you only fifteen?"

Though there was no hint of scorn or mocking in her melodic voice, her words cut through him like a chainsaw.

"Six- sixteen."

She frowned, offered a sharp sigh, and allowed her seductive eyes to skim along the features of his face. "Maybe you could come find me in a few years, you know? But in the meantime, don't go missing something you never had."

Time stood still as she cut the hole in his heart even deeper. "I- I- uh-"

Her eyes narrowed. She cradled his cheek and considered his face before leaning to whisper in his ear, "The galaxy is full of beautiful women who deserve you more than I do. Go find them."

Then she was gone. He sat alone in the lab for several minutes, listening to the staggered rhythm of his heartbeat. He wasn't ready to take her advice. Yet.

But maybe someday he would be.