Author's Note/Foreword: It's been almost one year since I discovered this site and all you great people. As a small thank you, I've written this. It's dedicated to all of you: the readers, reviewers, writers, lurkers, and anyone else I left out.
It is written with tongue planted firmly in cheek. I tease because I love you all, even when you make me crazy. Thank you for a wild year of binge reading and writing, and asking my husband disturbing questions about gunshot wounds and defense techniques. You all rock.
Endish of season one, I don't own anything etc. etc. etc.
The group was nearly silent for an hour. Only the sounds of rustling paper and heavy sighs could be heard. Finally, Commander Ford tossed down a binder of typewritten sheets in disgust. "This is crazy. Why are we even bothering with this?"
Admiral Noyce nodded from his vantage point on the vid-screen of the wardroom. "I understand your resistance. The UEO thinks this is a great chance for them and the SeaQuest to gain some good publicity and possible funding."
"But this?" Katie shook her head, tossing her packet down. "Maybe you better explain it again now that we've had a chance to read some of them."
Noyce blew a lung full of air out and clasped his hands together. "The brass found out about some… I'll call them underground fans of the ship. They wrote stories, screen plays if you will, about things you may encounter on the ship. All you have to do is act some of them out. We will supply the camera crews. Think of how much support you could garner. Treat it like a promotional video, if that helps."
Since he only received annoyed stares, he cleared his throat. "I'll give you some time to decide." The screen clicked off, showing the UEO label.
"How do they even know about these missions?" Nathan asked, paging through the stories in front of him. "A lot of this was classified."
Lucas shrugged, "word travels fast. All they need is one person talking about it online and everyone knows." He pushed away several packs of the paper. "All I want to know is why I'm either getting the crap beaten out of me or crying in all of these."
"You're young and cute," Ben pointed out, "it creates a good strong emotional connection." Lucas raised an eyebrow, "or so I've heard."
"I have the same here," Kristin said, wrinkling her nose distastefully. "Although, I get a pet kitten in this one, that's rather sweet. And some of them are quite romantic." She shot a mischievous glance to Nathan, and passed him a story under the table.
Ford huffed, "they think I'm only all about rules. It's almost insulting, I have fun."
"Your shirt is untucked." Ben informed him with a smirk.
The commander's hand flew to his waist before he realized Ben was toying with him. "I won't forget that," he glowered, but couldn't fight the grin spreading across his face.
Miguel leaned back, resting the back of his head in his interlaced hands. "I'm ok with most of them. They seem to find me pretty erótico." He flashed a smile, "I can't blame them."
"Who are these people?" Lucas muttered to himself. "If I'm not getting brainwashed, shot, thrown off a cliff, fighting snakes, or demons, I'm just knocked out. Geez, I even turn into some kind of dog-monkey-monster thing in this one… Are we sure they're fans?"
Tim interrupted the conversation with a shill cry, he recovered himself in time to see the eyes on him. He shuffled a particularly thick story to the bottom of his pile. "Sorry, something surprised me." He turned a deep red, and refused to look up again.
"What is it?" Miguel asked, intrigued by the expression on his friend's face. He reached out to pull the offending story loose, but Tim tugged it away.
"Nothing, it's… um… it's really long. It's good, but long, and I don't think it's finished. You shouldn't see it." His blush continued to deepen until his completion was nearly purple. When he started mumbling to himself about shipping and OTP, the others decided to move on.
"I'm not sure if we should be flattered or worried about all this." Ben said, waving his hand over the paper covered table. "I mean, they like us enough to do all this, but it's a little overwhelming."
Katie smiled warmly at the story in front of her, "I think it's their way of giving us happy endings. Even the ones that have us going through horrible things end well. Or they end hopeful at the very least. They've fixed things we've screwed up. It's kind of nice."
"Does that mean we're doing it?" Nathan asked, "this isn't a mission situation, we have to all agree."
Reluctant nods circled the table. "Can we just find a fun one with no crying?" Lucas asked, hopefully.
"I think we have a lot more reading to do." Kristin sighed, and opened another story.
*Raises a glass* Here's to another year! :)