The Bumbling Betazoid
another fun Elsannafervor AU by Jessica X

NOTE: All characters and universes are © their respective sources. Story and plot © me.

Yet another one originally posted to the EF blog! Had a lot of fun writing it; if you delve back through my archives, you'll see this isn't my first trek into Trek. Hopefully those of you who aren't fans will still enjoy the Elsanna fluffiness!

Anonymous said to elsannafervor: a star trek AU where elsa and anna are starfleet officers

Ooh, I'll take this; luckily you have a Trekkie amongst us admins! Let's put them both on an Ambassador-class vessel...

Lieutenant Commander Elsa Chapel had quite the legacy to live up to, and everyone in Starfleet was well aware. Years of fighting the stigma of her great-grandmother's legacy, of enduring the ceaseless "Why aren't you studying to be a doctor?" comments when she made her way up through the Academy. By the time she finally graduated and entered the field as a science officer, it was more grim determination than shining hope that got her there.

Additionally, there was the fact that she was one-eighth Vulcan. Emotions did not come so easily to her as they did to her peers. Though she rejected all Vulcan ancestry and identification within herself, fought hard to live as normal a human life as possible, sometimes biology won out over personal desire. Those who knew her lineage would sometimes call her "Vulcanish" or "Slightly Vulcan". Most of her former fellow cadets merely called her "Ice Queen", not being able to tell she was not fully human and taking her sometimes-emotionless bearing at face value. That didn't do her any favours.

But it did help her with her studies, and her training. She could focus like none of her human friends, excelled at anything she put her mind to. By the time she was stationed on the USS Barrett, people avoided her like the plague. She'd resigned herself to that life, to being friendless because she simply could not comprehend human behaviour sometimes, despite her earnest wish to do so.

And then along came Ensign Anaa.

The first week aboard their ship, Anaa had managed to break a turbolift. No one could figure out how, but it happened all the same. Though she apologised profusely and had promised to fix it herself, she had only the most basic of engineering training and somehow managed to whack Security Officer Kristoff in the knee with a tricorder while she was picking up her things from the stalled lift. Chapel chuckled, but tried to hide it immediately as she ordered her to return to her post at tactical.

Then there was the mess hall incident, wherein the Betazoid redefined the word "mess" within that context. The cleaning crew had to work four hours, all while the engineers did their best to stop the replicators from spewing out more tapioca pudding.

Things had been quiet for a few weeks. The ensign was finding her feet, making less obvious (and less scandalous) errors, doing her job to the best of her energetic ability. Elsa began watching her more closely after those two incidents - both because she was a threat to their entire ship if she kept wrecking equipment, and then because she felt invested in tracking her progress. Perhaps it was the scientist in herself, or perhaps it was just that she had grown attached to her after watching her for so long.

Chapel had just been promoted to Lieutenant Commander when it happened. Anaa forgot to set the privacy settings properly for her latest holodeck adventure, and poor Elsa wandered right in, seeing that she was reenacting a simple native wedding ceremony. She wasn't scheduled to report for duty for another hour or two, and her scientific curiosity wanted to know how the ritual was performed. It seemed safe enough, right?

Wrong. Apparently, she had forgotten a few key sections on Betazoid culture from her pre-Academy studies. One eyeful of a naked ensign's smooth, toned back was enough to make her turn and fling herself back through the archway.

"Oh my GOD, I'm so sorry, Commander!" the girl breathed as she ran out after her a few moments later, a silky pink robe clutched around her body. "This wasn't- how did you even get in there?! The deck was supposed to be locked out to all who don't have security clearance to override!"

"You..." Taking a deep breath, she leaned against the wall, trying her best not to meet the younger officer's eyes. "Ensign, you neglected to properly lock in the security settings. Granted, you weren't engaged in anything... unseemly, but it does count as immodest according to Starfleet protocols!"

"I know, I know," she sighed. "But Lwaxana's ceremony has been widely known as one of the most beautiful events in our history, I..." Gulping, she looked down. "You have my sincere apologies."

"Apologies only go so far. You have to adjust your behaviour if you hope to remain on a ship of this class for much longer. I say this not as your commanding officer, but merely as a dose of friendly advice. Putting your body on display and wearing out our replicators are not how you make Lieutenant!"

Anaa was quiet for a few seconds. When she never responded, eventually Elsa did glance over at her - and found tears were sliding down her lightly-freckled face.

"What? Officer, I must say, this is a most unbecoming and unprofessional thing to do here in the hallway!" Luckily for Anaa, no one else was around, but her point remained true.

"I'm... I'm never going to make it here! I know my stuff, can quote the Starfleet manual word for word, but... every other day, I'm d-doing something stupid, messing up, I don't know what's wrong with me!"

"Don't be silly," Elsa told her, though her voice was quiet. "You... haven't done anything nearly bad enough to-"

"Yes, I have!" she shouted, looking up at her with those wide, black-irised eyes that seemed to devour her soul. "You know it's true, you know I suck more than the vacuum of space! I've felt everyone's disapproval stabbing into me like knives, I'm... my mother was right, I should have gone into counseling like the rest of my kind!"

Her heart squeezed when she thought about that. Betazoids can sense the emotions of others, and here she was, widely known as "The Bumbling Betazoid" and mentioned as a sort of court jester among the rest of the crew. She had to have felt it around every corner, during every briefing and every interaction. Scorn, derision. Disapproval from every senior officer. Sometimes people could be so callous.

"No," Anaa followed up, wiping at her cheeks angrily. "Don't feel sorry for me. That's worse than thinking I'm stupid... that I'm so pathetic I deserve sympathy. I'll transfer back to the Academy, or onto a smaller station somewhere. Figure out a job I can do without ruining everything all the time."

"Can... you turn that off for a bit? It makes me uncomfortable."

"Oh," she snorted. "Yeah, I can; it's just hard when I'm upset. Should have known it would be harder for you to put up with."

Both of Elsa's slightly-pointed eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Harder for me? As your commanding officer?"

"As part-Vulcan."

"You... know about that? Guess word travels fast." But the ensign was shaking her head. "It doesn't?"

"Maybe, but that's not how I know. I read your file. You're kind of the best ever, and I know you'll make Captain in a year or two at this rate. So... yeah, I know your lineage, too."

"Why? I mean, why the interest? I'm just one Lieutenant among many."

"Because... I felt your sympathy before. On the turbolift. Everybody there thought I was ridiculous, and that I should have known better, done better. But you were the only one who actually felt bad for me; it stood out." Shrugging, Anaa retied the belt around her robe, trying to make sure it wouldn't slip. "So I wanted to know more about what kind of person you are - what kind of officer. Is that weird? Did I do a weird thing?"

It took her a moment to decide upon an answer. "Well... I suppose not. My file is a matter of record, open to all of Starfleet. It's not as if you sent inquiries to my parents or anything of that prying nature."

"Now who's being silly?" she chuckled. "Though I'd love to meet them. Tell them what an awesome daughter they raised."

"Stop flattering your superiors, Lwirri; that won't get you anywhere in Starfleet, and doesn't work with me."

Now was Anaa's turn to blink. "You... know my first name?"

"What? Oh." The tiniest tinge of pinkness crept into her pale cheeks. "Well, I may have taken a peek at your file, as well. As one of my subordinates, it seemed prudent."

"Oh, did it?" she replied, voice clearly dubious. "You've seen mine and I've seen yours. Guess we're even."

The innuendo wasn't missed, but it had been so subtle that Elsa felt as if pointing it out would only be more telling about her own state of mind. "Suppose that's one way of looking at it."

"Hey, do you wanna join me for the rest of the ceremony?" When the Lieutenant Commander's blue eyes shot wide, she held up her hands. "Kidding! I mean, you obviously wanted to see it, but not to see me in it, right?"

"I was curious, and have quite satisfied my curiosity on that point, thank you very much!" she blustered, which only caused Anaa to giggle. "And don't you have some paperwork to process?"

"Come on, you know neither of us are on duty." When Elsa arched an eyebrow, she shrugged. "I'm not, and if you were, you would have gone back to your post by now instead of standing around and talking to the nudist."

"Well... alright, that's a Holmesian bit of deduction I'll grant you. But no, I do not wish to see any more of the ceremony. Thank you for the offer."

Chagrined slightly, the young redhead lowered her eyes as she said, "Sorry about flustering you, by the way. I'm..." She paused to clear her throat. "I didn't know anyone would come in and my powers were flowing free, so, um, I felt what you felt when you saw me. Just please believe that it wasn't on purpose, okay?"

"What I felt when..." Then Elsa felt the blood draining from her face. She honestly hadn't given much thought to her own reactions at that time, couldn't quite remember what they were, but now she had a sneaking suspicion. "Ah."

"I won't tell anyone," she whispered softly, earnestly. Her face was as serious as Chapel had ever seen it, and even though it was a little comical it also made her innate beauty quite stark. "It's none of my business, and definitely none of anybody else's. Just wish... wish I'd known you were coming in, or something. Useless to say that now."

Passing a hand over her face, Elsa breathed, "Thank you for... your discretion." Then she looked back to Anaa again, to her earnest eyes, and found herself babbling, "It wasn't you, though - I don't... y-you aren't- I'm not harbouring those feelings for you specifically! Your body, however, it's very..." The redder her face got, the less she seemed to be capable of coherent speech. What was the matter with her?

"So I've been told," Anaa said with a wide grin, her own freckles a little brighter than usual. "Thank you, though. And, um, it wouldn't take an empath to tell what you're feeling now, so do you want me to change the subject?"

"PLEASE."

"Okay. Can we go get some raktajino in the mess hall? I promise not to put tapioca in yours."

Chapel considered. So far, it had been her policy not to mix business with pleasure - partly because she had no close friends on the ship, and partly because fraternizing with immediate subordinates tended to complicate working relationships. However, she didn't want to stop talking to the ensign quite yet. It felt... nice.

"Very well, on one condition." Anaa merely cocked her head to one side, so she followed up, "You get back into uniform."

"Oh? OH!" Glancing down at her nearly-bare legs, she laughed and backpedaled toward the arch. "You got it, Chapel! Aye, sir!" Saluting, she let the doors swish shut.

Thirty minutes later, they were sitting across from each other at a table, sipping the hot liquid and discussing anything other than the birthmark on Lwirri's lower back. Even when she asked why Elsa was suddenly blushing again, the topic was deftly avoided.

~ End ~