Hi all, sorry I've been MIA for a while. In case you didn't know, school is hard. I told you guys about this fic a while back. I've been playing with it (I have a beginning and an end, no middle) and finally decided to post. Let me know what you think, read and review. Hugs and butterfly kisses, ravenclawdancer4999.

A young woman dashed through the halls of Starship 15A2, her bag of tools repeatedly thumping against her right hip. She was going to be late if she didn't run.

Officer Julia Anderson was a graduate of the Academy, an elite military school run by the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration, or, the GLEE, for short. On the day of graduation, she was enlisted to be a member of the crew of Starship 15A2 by none other than Commander Up, the famous war hero that had led the GLEE to victory during the Robot Wars. She recently reached her one-year anniversary of working on the ship as its resident engineer and technology specialist. The Commander had just paged her, telling her to be in his office in five minutes.

The girl wore the issued engineer uniform, but due to her short frame, the pants pooled around her ankles, nearly tripping her and the sleeves had been rolled several times to keep them out of the way. Her very short auburn hair curled tightly against her head and thick, almost goggle-like glasses slid down her freckled nose as she ran. Julia hastily pushed them back up on her face and hurriedly slid open the door

"I am so sorry sir," she panted, bursting through the door of Commander Up's office, "I was in the ship's hull working on the engine when I received your page. I had to run up seven flights and-"

"Don't worry about it," Up chuckled, gesturing to a chair opposite his, "Sit down, I'd like to talk to you about a new assignment."

"What is it, sir?"

"There is a new private on our starship, his name is Joseph Krayonder. I'm pretty sure that he graduated from the Academy the same year as you, but he hasn't been enlisted until now."

"Pardon my asking, Commander Up, but why not?"

"He earned extremely high scores on his physical exam, some of the best in your class. However, he failed nearly all of his written exams and hasn't been asked to join any crews, that is, until I asked him to join ours. I made him a deal, that he could join Starship 15A2 if he re-took his classes and passed his exams."

"But sir, why?"

"Call me crazy, but, I see something in him. Everyone deserves a chance to prove themselves and I can see that he wants to do just that. I'll also kindly remind you, Julia, that your physical exam score was less than fantastic when you became a member of this team, but I was still willing to overlook it due to your astounding written exam scores." Julia flushed red, being reminded of her below average grade on her practical exam.

"What do you want me to do, sir?"

"I'm afraid the boy isn't taking the classes seriously and is still doing poorly. I want you to tutor him, say, three nights a week from 1800 hours to 2100 hours. I've already given Private Joseph this information and he has agreed to meet you tomorrow night in the library. Hopefully, you can help to motivate him and raise his grades. Are you willing to do this for me?" Julia thought for a moment before nodding and giving him a nod, then a formal salute.

"Yes sir, you can depend on me. I won't let you down." Julia left the office, feeling quite important that she had been given a new assignment from the Commander. The next evening, she gathered her study materials and swept away to the library.

She strolled in and took a seat at one of the tables, carefully arranging the books she had brought into a neat pile. Checking the clock on the wall, she was roughly ten minutes early. Julia shrugged and took up a thick textbook on starship construction and mechanics. For the next thirty minutes, she continued to look up at the clock every two minutes or so only to see that it was getting later and later.

Finally, nearly twenty minutes late, Julia heard the air-locked door slide open and someone walked in. As he turned a corner around the bookshelf, she locked eyes on Private Joseph for the first time.

He was reasonably tall, at least compared to her he was, and had a lean, athletic build. The private had tan skin and sandy blonde hair that looked extremely rumpled. He wore the issued uniform for rangers, with the addition of a zapper slung across his back and a camouflage cap sitting sideways on his head. As he approached, Julia noticed his eyes, which were like small shards of ice, the lightest shade of blue without being silver.

"You're Private Joseph Krayonder, I presume?" she prompted.

"In the flesh," he replied lazily, sizing her up in two seconds, "And I suppose you're the tutor who is going to teach me the error of my ways?"

"My name is Officer Julia Anderson, for the record, Joseph."

"Don't call me that, I can't stand that name, I go by Krayonder."

"Well, Krayonder, you're late."

"I was practicing my shooting in the gymnasium," he answered, grinning, "Man, I got some of my best shots yet."

"And I suppose it didn't cross your mind that it was time for your tutoring session?"

"Yeah, it did actually."

"And you still arrived late?"

"Wow, for someone who's supposed to be so smart, you suck at figuring out the obvious." He leaned in, close enough so that she could feel his hot breath on her face. "I don't care, and I'd honestly rather polish all the weapons in the helm then be here right now." Julia was aghast; to her knowledge no one had ever been so impertinent to a superior officer before.

"I'll thank you to mind your sass, soldier. Especially when someone superior in rank is talking to you."

"Well, excuse me, should I bow or curtsy?"

"That's enough out of you," Julia growled, grabbing one of the thinner books, "Let's begin with the basics of calculus."

"Whatever you say, Specs," he countered dryly.

"My name is Julia and I expect to be addressed as such."

"Jeez, who spit in your canteen?"

"Pardon me if I actually of a sense of pride in myself and what I do, even though you can't seem to wrap your miniscule mind around that concept."

"Nerd," Krayonder muttered.

"What did you just call me?" Julia asked hotly.

"Nerd," he taunted, louder this time.

"Ignoramus," she retorted.

"Geek."

"Narcissist"

"Freak." This struck a nerve; her face growing hot with anger, Julia roughly grabbed the stack of books of the table and slung the bag of tools over her shoulder.

"I refuse to sit here and be insulted by the likes of you," Julia glared at Krayonder angrily, "You can forget passing your classes; fail them and be kicked off the crew for all I care. And don't think I won't be informing Commander Up of your behavior."

"Fine by me, I have better things to do than be bored to death by some dorky, stick-in-the-mud like you!" Krayonder shouted after her as she stalked out of the library.

Talk about starting off on the wrong foot...