The Peace of Centaurus
A fan fiction story set in the Star Trek Universe (in progress) by Tarisian Dreams
"In case you never get a second chance: don't be afraid!"
"And what if you do get a second chance?"
"You take it!" - C. JoyBell C.
"...And though we commend you for attempting the switch, it didn't go quite as you planned. Were it not for the actions of Commander Riley, you'd have gotten yourself killed for your trouble, along with the children you attempted to help." Mouth kept in a tight purse, careful of not letting it slip into a pout, Jenny Hogan shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "As it is, we're concerned that Admiral Kirk hasn't clued in. Thankfully, he's been preoccupied with other things than to have to wonder about one of World News' producers." Here it comes, she thought. "That is, unless you continue to see his Chief of Staff."
I knew it! "I'd hardly call two lunch dates 'seeing' him. I'm sorry, sir, but really... I think if anyone would have thought anything was up, we would have heard by now. No calls to the show have been even close—."
"Consider yourself fortunate, then, Miss Hogan." Jenny clenched her eyes shut at the way her name was said, and she looked back up to the indiscriminately clothed man who represented the ones who were both her guardians and sentries. Just when she thought she had a normal life again, one wrench gets thrown into the cogs and they have to rear their ugly heads. "Next time, try letting someone else be the hero. You're out of shape for it." Well, thanks to you I am! The redhead scowled and with a call coming in from the station, she quickly excused herself.
As she walked into her office and greeted the primly dressed Orion office assistant, Jenny threw her briefcase and purse onto her desk. "Hiya, Kav. Got any Joe?" The green girl blinked, wondering if Miss Hogan was referring to a man or not. "Coffee, Kav." Kav smiled and poured a fresh cup, handing it over. Jenny drank it straight, her nose wrinkling.
"Don't you usually take that with cream and sugar, Miss Hogan?"
"No time for it. What's our two o'clock?" Kav brought up the information on her PADD and started detailing the two o'clock hour's schedule.
"Riley, do you have any plans for the next couple of weeks?" The lieutenant commander glanced up into the twinkling eyes of his CO and wondered what James Kirk was on about. Kevin Riley answered the negative and that seemed to perk the admirals ears. "Great. Well, pack your bags, then."
"My bags, sir?" Riley followed Kirk as the older man walked over to grab himself a cup of coffee – even though Riley could easily have done that for him. Kirk was on a roll.
"Bags, luggage. Suitcases. I wonder if anyone even calls them suitcases anymore. We should bring that word back, don't you think?" Kirk clapped Riley on the back, "The flight information you sent to my PADD won't do. I need some peace and quiet and that transport is just too cramped. I pulled some strings and we'll be taking our own shuttle."
"We, sir? To Centaurus?"
"Well, I don't want to go alone. It's a long drive. ...Hm. But we can't have you being a third wheel. Admiral Ciana would never approve. Why don't you call one of your buddies?" Riley stammered. He wasn't even sure who would qualify as a 'buddy'. Was it bad that he thought of the bartender from O'Reilly's? "No, wait. Even better. Who's that girl you mentioned?" Riley gave an alarmed look. He'd never mentioned Anab to Kirk, and well... He hardly had even allowed himself to think of Jenny Hogan in such a way. Guilt still tore at him, so there'd be no way he'd mention her to his C.O. Especially when he hadn't even mentioned his failed marriage to Anab. "Wait. That's right. Nan Davis told me. I'm truly sorry. You weren't the one who told me about her—that producer... what was her name again?"
Riley had the urge to tug at his hair. Good for him, he was disciplined enough not to do so in front of Jim Kirk. "...Jenny Hogan, Admiral."
"Invite her along. It'll be a working vacation for you." Riley was about to express how it probably wasn't the best idea. As much as he was attracted to Jenny, he still felt it too soon to ask her out, much less invite her on holiday. Kirk took Riley's hesitation as modesty, which the admiral would not stand for, in this case. "I insist." As the Irishman figured that he wouldn't be able to get away without doing as Kirk asked, he gave a nod to his head.
"Aye, sir."
As she swirled the frozen cream about in its waffle container, Jenny Hogan had the distinct feeling Riley was putting off telling her something. Or asking. She couldn't decide which. The closer it seemed to his actually broaching the subject, the more nervous he got and backed off. He was fumbling like a teenage boy, which would have suited his babyface, had it not been hidden behind an auburn-shaded beard. Riley, for his part, noticed how quiet Jenny was today. She was usually animated, and though he supposed it could have been due to the hostage crisis they'd both been in, he doubted that. They'd met up for lunch after everything settled down and had behaved as old friends. Something else was bothering her, and Riley was beginning to think she knew he was attempting to take things to another level. ...But he'd gotten that she was disappointed that all they could be were friends, before. So that didn't quite make sense.
Finally, her patience run out, Jenny pushed a spoonful of soft ice cream into her mouth and talked around the utensil, "Out with it."
"Huh?" Riley blinked, taken aback.
"You want to say something to me, what is it?" Riley gave a heavy sigh. He wasn't sure if he wanted Jenny to agree to coming with him and the admiral on this 'working vacation' of his or not. "Oh my god. Someone didn't die, did they? I'm sorry..."
The starfleet officer looked up with a wrinkled brow. Did I really look like I was about to give her news that bad? Riley absently wrung his hair with his hands and Jenny shrank in her seat.
"Oh." She chagrined and looked away, figuring he was going to say he liked someone and it wasn't her.
Riley seemed to notice and sat up straight, "N-no... It's not that."
"Then what is it, Kevin? I'm a patient girl... well, when I need to be. But only for so long." Jenny smiled and Riley felt both a pang and a flutter. He didn't know what to make of that.
"Admiral Kirk is going on vacation. He wants me to pilot him to Centaurus, so I'll be gone for a couple of weeks."
"Oh, is that all?" Jenny relaxed completely. A couple of weeks to think over what was going on and how to figure where she and Kevin Riley stood would be perfect. "You know I like you, but I'm a big girl. I can get along without you for a couple of weeks." She was teasing him now, but the look on his face betrayed that there was more.
"He suggested you to come along. ...Actually, he insisted." And that was when Jenny Hogan's brain broke.
"I can't go."
"Is that what you told him?" Kav stirred her tea as she looked up at her boss and friend's face. Jenny shook her head. "Then why did you say you'd go?"
"And say no to the guy I have a thing for... make him say 'no' to his CO who happens to be an admiral and 'The James Kirk?'" The last was said with a flash of hands to outline the title. Jenny scrunched her face and fell onto her hand, leaning on the table. "I checked with Bob," the CEO of World News, "thinking he'd tell me I had too much work to do here at home and that I couldn't go."
Kav cut into her food, glancing up to reply, "And what did he say?"
Jenny gave a sarcastic grin. "He insisted I had to go and try to get a story out of it in the process." Kav wrinkled her brow and smiled in sympathy.
"You have to go, now."
"I know... Only I can't." With that pout on her lower lip, Jenny looked nearly like jail-bait, not the twenty-eight year-old she was supposed to be.
"Why not? It sounds like you want to go. Kirk wants you to go. Maybe even this Riley guy wants you to go."
"Oh, I wish he did, but I have my doubts. He's got a lot to deal with without tossing me into the mix."
"So is that why?" Jenny wanted to say it was, but Orion women could be nearly as bad as empaths on picking up when you lie to them, thanks to their heightened pheromone senses. Kav knew better. "It's not, is it?"
Jenny smirked. "I can't tell you the details, but... Remember how I said that the job at World News was like a brand new life for me?" Kav nodded. "Well, it really is. There's a chance, a small one, but still there, that Admiral Kirk might recognize me from my old life... The people who gave me my new one don't want that to happen."
"Were you in Starfleet?" Jenny gave Kav a look. "Right, no details. Sorry. But even if he did recognize you, you could say you have a new life and leave it at that?"
"I wish it were that simple." And Jenny couldn't even explain how it wasn't. Too hush-hush.