Rule 3b
Summary: A shuttle crash and war games and a wedding – oh my. Life in Starfleet Security is always interesting, especially for Cmdr. Sam Giotto, the Security Chief of the Enterprise.
I always thought the Security Chief ought to have been given a bit more of a roll in TOS. Giotto is one of the few TOS characters with nearly all gray hair and since I have some myself, I got to thinking about what it would be like for him in the AOS serving on a ship full of rookies, including a very young version of Kirk. I have a soft spot for redshirts and Giotto has taken on a life of his own in my imagination. The first story was Rule Three and there is now a pretty extensive series of shorts about his experiences, but I intend to weave enough background in that you shouldn't have to read any of the others first. Technically this story comes after Sneakin' Around, and for those who have read it, I promise that this time around Sam and Denise are ones getting married.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek (except in my dreams), but the plot and OCs are mine.
Phil Groesner looked from Giotto to Spock and then folded his cards with a resigned sigh. Giotto resisted an urge to sigh as well. On the past few away missions his third in command had proven himself to be an intelligent and resourceful field commander, but he couldn't bluff at poker to save his life.
Jenkins shook his head in mock sadness. "Phil, you're pathetic."
"Shut up, Dan. At least I know when to fold."
"Boys play nice," Giotto gave them a warning smile. If they were going to keeping calling him 'Pop' behind his back, it was only fair if he occasionally treated them like they were kids (although Sam didn't like to think about the fact, that wasn't too far off - the next oldest person at the table tonight had been born the same year he'd enlisted).
Dan smirked at Phil. "I see the bet and raise two."
Giotto's Second was a skilled tactician who had originally won the position because of the solid good sense he'd displayed in actual combat, so Dan's tendency to push his luck when it came to gambling was a personality quirk that Sam was still trying to figure out.
"The bet's to you, Mr. Spock."
The person with the best natural poker face on the ship calmly regarded the other players. It was a measure of how far Spock had come in using these poker sessions to improve his understanding of humans that he focused on Phil to assess the level of Dan's bluff. Although they bickered like brothers, Groesner and Jenkins were such a natural team that they sometimes gave the impression that they could read each others thoughts.
Slanted eyebrows rose slightly. "I hope, Mr. Jenkins, that when it comes to ship security your command of risk assessment is not so deficient."
There was a brief pause before the most of the players decided to laugh. Spock had recently begun using his standing invitation to poker night to work out the human practice of ribbing one's comrades, usually with mixed results.
Jenkins chuckled. "And I hope, Mr. Spock that I'm within earshot if you ever decide to use that command of snark on the Captain."
Spock had in fact attempted a mild joke at Giotto's expense the last time the Captain had dragged most of his command team out on a leave together and the surprise on Kirk's face had been priceless. Sam grinned at the Vulcan. "It's the last hand of the evening, Mr. Spock. If you want to make things interesting, we could put that on the table against whatever you choose to name for the rest of us to do."
Given their XO's sense of propriety, there wasn't much actual risk in losing that bet. However the suggestion caused a rare break in Vulcan composure, which quickly gave way to calculation as to what the offer meant with regard to contents of his opponent's hand. The other measure of Spock's progress was that he spared only a glance at Sam (who after many years as Security Chief had an excellent poker face) before studying the two women at the table. Giotto had personally recruited his aide, Jessy Hanlan, and sponsored her admission to the Academy. Although Sam didn't like to admit it, she was probably the closest thing he had to a daughter. However the ship's diplomatic officer, Denise Marshall, was the person on the Enterprise who knew him best. At the moment both were too amused to give anything away.
Spock's head tilted in an attitude of contemplation. "I note Mr. Giotto that you rarely lose after an offer to 'make things interesting'. Therefore I believe the wisest course of action would be to fold."
"I'd be a fool to ignore that kind of logic," Jessy chuckled, laying her cards down. "Especially with this hand."
Denise saw the last bet and lifted an extra chip, a mischievous smile spreading her lips. "Do you still want to make things interesting Sam?"
Giotto weighed mutual affection against the fact that ever since they'd met a few years ago she had made it a sort of personal mission to force him to loosen up a little. "What did you have in mind?"
"You have a nice voice Sam." She looked innocently upward. "It's a shame more people don't get to hear it, especially since the crew enjoys having music in lounge." Her smile widened. "I get to choose the song of course. And if Dan doesn't fold, it can be a duet."
Giotto exchanged a glance with his Second. They were both acquainted with Denise's sense of humor, but that didn't necessarily mean either was going to fold.
"Pretty high stakes," Sam pursed his lips a moment as though considering his cards. "But you used to be in chorus, so I think we should name different stakes for you."
"Like?"
He looked up thoughtfully. "The Captain's been a little down since that incident on Gideon. I imagine it would really raise his spirits if a cheerleader were to do a little rah-rah routine for him." He looked at Dan with an evil smile. Denise might still call, but no way was he chancing a duet. "If Dan doesn't fold, we'll find a miniskirt and poms-poms for him too."
Jessy hooted laughter as Phil pounded the table and then looked upward in mock reverence. "Oh dear God, please let the Chief have four aces."
"If I don't fold," Jenkins widened his eyes at Giotto, "I'm going to make you and Marshall disco to Staying Alive in the rec hall - tasteless period costumes and all."
Jessy laughed. "It's a shame you're bluffing, because there are people who would pay to see that."
"Oh Dan, you're too smart not to fold." Denise waved a dismissive hand and shifted her eyes back to Sam. "I'm thinking show tune - maybe something with a little dance routine - and I get to send a recording to Adm. Pike."
That last bit was just far enough over the top that he was sure now that she was bluffing. Sam grinned at her. "I think the cheerleading should involve one of those call and response routines where you get people to spell out the Captain's name and then bounce up and down waving pom-poms."
She cocked an eyebrow. "Waving poms-poms."
"Oh yes. Big, sparkly, pink ones."
Denise pressed her lips together, but her eyes said that he hadn't heard the last of this. "Too rich for my blood - fold."
Giotto grinned at Jenkins and held up a chip. "Pom-poms Dan?"
"God no," Dan gave an exaggerated shudder. "Fold."
As Giotto gathered the pot, Spock looked around with a puzzled expression. "I fail to understand why the use of pom-poms is so much more abhorrent than any other illogical human practice."
"It isn't to everyone," Jessy explained. "Just men and those of us women who have some unpleasant associations when it comes to cheerleading."
The Vulcan's brows remained drawn in a vee.
Jessy put her remaining chips back in the container before moving toward the door. "Phil and I need to check the duty stations before the next shift. If you walk with us on your way back to the bridge, we'll try to explain."
"I would appreciate your insight," Spock rose to join them. He inclined his head slightly before leaving. "Thank you for another interesting evening. It has given me a great deal of new data to consider."
"Good luck tomorrow," Jessy added. "And try to keep Len from freaking out."
Sam snorted. "I don't suppose you could slip a sedative into that hip flask of his?" In his opinion, forcing the Doctor to go anywhere in a shuttle really should involve drugs, especially for everyone else who had to be in the shuttle with him.
"I'll see what I can do - 'Pop'." Jessy slipped out the door before Giotto could reply with more than lifted brows.
After they left, Jenkins glanced at Denise quietly putting the cards in order and then turned to Giotto. "I guess you've got enough help cleaning up, so I should probably get some sleep."
"Yes," Sam agreed seeing him to the door. "You're in charge of the department while I'm off with the Captain and you know how that usually goes."
"Yeah, there's bound to be some excitement." Dan gave him a half-smile. "Don't worry; I'll keep the ship in one piece until you get back."
"I know you will." The response carried confidence that his Second could handle for the job. If Dan's game had been a little off tonight it was because the orders had just come through naming him Chief for the Farragut when the yard finished its rebuild in a couple months. It was a rapid promotion, but necessary given the times. Ships could be rebuilt faster than office corps and a lot of junior people were being pushed into senior positions. A year and a half of mentoring would have to be enough. At this point the only other help Giotto could give him was a little arm twisting to get Phil placed as Dan's Second.
.
After the door closed, Denise waited for Sam's arms to fold around her before giving him a sly smile. "You know, I think Dan is on to us."
There was nothing technically illicit about their affair but a Security Chief couldn't allow his private life to be anything but private. Of course, intensely private by nature, Sam tended to take that a lot farther than most, but in that they were well-matched. Denise had broken her own rule about avoiding shipboard romances for him.
"Dan's smarter than he looks," Sam laughed. "He knew before I did that Jessy was going to fall for the Doctor. And I suspect he was on to us before we were."
"You mean before you were," she teased, running her hands across his chest. Sam worked out (almost literally) like a gladiator to keep in fighting trim and among this unusually young crew 'Rule 3' had become shorthand for the mistake of presuming that youth was any real advantage in a fight. How someone with Sam's reputation for knowing everything could have imagined that she had her eye on someone closer to her own age when she had all but drooled watching him teach that lesson was still beyond her.
"I mean," Sam grinned, "That he was at least on to me before you were."
It hadn't been that long since she had despaired of being more than friends. Having once watched from the wings as Sam had carefully but politely ignored a junior officer's crush, she had begun to fear that he was trying to spare her feelings. But then Spock - bless his naive Vulcan heart - had innocently remarked during his first practical lessons in poker that Sam observed her with a 'higher frequency than the other players'. When Dan had muttered something about Spock getting a handle on the observation side of things, Sam had blushed - just slightly, but it had been enough to make her think that maybe her feelings weren't entirely unrequited.
"I suppose it's good that he's better at keeping secrets than at bluffing," Denise draped her arms around Sam's shoulders and widened her eyes. "Otherwise the whole ship would know that I'd fallen for the sort of evil, twisted person who would suggest big, sparkly, pink pom-poms."
"I knew I was going to pay for that," he chuckled and gave her a playful grin. "I guess now would be a bad time to ask you to move in?"
She kissed him softly. "I'm willing to move as far as the bedroom, for about an hour."
His lips brushed her ear. "I think I can settle for that."
.
Sometime later, Sam held her quietly, enjoying the last moments before she would go. While he'd hardly been a monk in the years since his wife had died, he had grown accustomed to the idea of basically being alone. Lately, however, some less cautious portion of his heart had begun questioning that idea.
Denise kissed him as she slipped away. "Be careful tomorrow."
Though she tried to hide it, Sam knew that she resisted becoming more serious in part because she wrestled with the distinct possibility that his job might finally manage to kill him. "It's just a meeting. The only trouble I'm likely to face is pulling Kirk out of the station lounge."
She rolled her eyes. "Then be especially careful."
He kissed her hand and grinned a little. "Yes mom."
The careful, rational part of him knew that they were friends who had become lovers, and given the differences in age and background, that should be enough. As he moved to block the pillow she'd aimed at him, he hoped it would be enough for a long time to come.
AN: Gideon is a reference to the TOS episode Mark of Gideon. A slightly long first chapter, but there was a lot of background I wanted to work in. The main story starts in the next chapter.
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