Author:
Jadelyn Ja Lee
Story:
Birthright
Pairings:Piper/Eli,
Claudia/Kelson, Nikki/Troy, Sky/Aimee, Tommy/Kat M.
Disclaimer:
I own no one.
Summery:
Second in the Heritage Trilogy.
A/N:This is the second
fic in a trilogy and if you haven't read the first fic,
Inheritance, or the prequel to the trilogy, Through Her Eyes, then
you're going to get very very confused.
"Hey Piper?" Nikki called. Piper was staring blankly out the window of the bridge.
"Yeah?" she asked, not moving. Nikki looked at her, her expression full of bemusement.
"I told you they weren't gonna leave well enough alone," she replied. Piper's eyes widened and she scrambled up to see what Nikki was looking at.
"They didn't!" she groaned, looking down at the video feed. Eli, Ella, Claudia, and Alycia were sitting in a tangle of limbs in one of the engine room storage bays. She blinked as her gaze caught something.
"Is that TROY?!" she asked incredulously. Nikki didn't answer. Piper glanced at her; the other girl didn't look very happy. A sudden beeping caused both girls to jump and Piper glanced around suspiciously; she still didn't know what half the terminals were for.
"It's the Commander," Nikki announced. Piper glanced back down to the screen and made a face. She suddenly had a thought; lips twitching, she gave Nikki a curious stare.
"Do we have a main screen?" she asked and Nikki nodded. She pressed a few buttons the expanse of space that previously took up the entire front window of the ship was replaced by her grandfather's face. Piper beamed.
"Just like Star Trek! Hi grandpa!" she chirped, moving to stand in front of the screen. He chuckled.
"Have you found your stowaways yet?" he asked, amused. Piper made a face.
"You knew?!" she demanded. He gave her a look.
"I told you, leaving behind your team never works," he scolded lightly. Behind her, Piper heard the other girl snort.
"That's the truth," she muttered. Piper ignored this, and the subsequent chuckle from her grandfather.
"I can drop them off Station 6," she suggested, mentioning the nearest station to Earth. Tommy scowled.
"Piper," his voice was annoyed and Piper made a face.
"Granddad, I've gotten them into enough—this is going to be dangerous. Apate is not gonna let me just get the stupid crystals without a fight," she pointed out. Tommy nodded.
"Exactly; you need a team to watch your back. That's them," he shot back. Piper grimaced.
"But—" she began but was cut off by Tommy.
"That's enough Piper. Deal and move on," he ordered. Piper pouted.
"Fine," she replied sullenly, crossing her arms. Tommy eyes twinkled as he looked at her.
"If you start whining, I'll tell Andros to send your skinny behind back to Earth and we'll send someone else to get the crystals," he warned. Piper glared at him and uncrossed her arms.
"My behind is not skinny," she grumbled and looked over her shoulder to glare at Nikki when the other girl snickered. On the screen, Tommy looked skywards.
"This is Karma, isn't it?" he asked. Piper gave him a puzzled look; he shrugged.
"My parents always said I was going to regret my actions as a teen," he told her lightly. Piper and Nikki snorted.
"What about Troy?" Piper asked suddenly, hopefully. It was Tommy's turn to make a face.
"He stays with you guys—Thomas has taken his spot as Blue and Kelson has taken Thomas' as green," he told them. Piper opened her mouth to argue and Tommy glared.
"That's my decision Piper—he's your brother and you need to deal with the fact that if we can help, we're going to," he reprimanded her. Piper sighed.
"I get that, really I do. But…do you realize how annoying its gonna be having my big brother along for the ride?" she asked. Tommy snorted.
"You're the one in charge Piper," he pointed out. She brightened.
"I am?" she asked, excited. Tommy nodded, looking bemused.
"You own the ship, not him. Just point that tidbit out to him and then threaten him with the airlock—he'll behave," he suggested. Piper grinned and Nikki snickered.
"Besides, at least now Eli's not the only guy," he added, causing Piper and Nikki to crack up.
"Grandpa," Piper wheezed, "His four best friends are female; I seriously doubt the estrogen would do him in."
"Yeah, well, wait until he has to deal with five young woman PMSing at the same time then we'll see how well he deals," he commented dryly, sending Piper and Nikki into fresh peals of laughter.
An hour later, Piper was inspecting the various terminals. She and Nikki had decided to let the five stowaways stew for a while down in the engine room. After convinging Piper that turning up the temperature in the room as a mini-punishment for tagging along would be a bad idea, Nikki had headed down to her room to unpack, leaving Piper to inspect her new ship properly. The ship had arrived on Earth the day before so she hadn't had time to thoroughly go through everything.
The bridge had been designed with familiarity in mind, according to Trey—he'd known how much she'd enjoyed the Next Generation Star Trek show when she was kid. It was shaped in an octagon, with the front side holding the window slash viewing screen, the back side holding the door to the lift, and the six other sides holding computer terminals. The center had three chairs and another terminal directly behind them, the weapons terminal. In front of the screen was two pilot stations.
After a quick inspection, she discovered the six side stations held the security station, a bridge medical station, engineering, basic operations like life support and shields, long range scanners, and a private communications consol. Every station except for Weapons had chairs that magnetically stuck to the floor.
Sinking into the center seat, Piper sighed. It was clear from the size of the bridge (not to mention the number of beds in the bedrooms) that Trey had meant for her to have an actual crew on her trips, not just her, her brother, and her five friends.
Thinking about the living quarters made her think about who was gonna be where. The living portion of the ship was designed like a house-it was in the center of the ship and was roughly rectangular shaped. You entered on the one side of the rectangle to find yourself in the living portion—thick couches lined a entertainment screen. There was no walls to separate the living area with the dining area nor the kitchen. I was simply one huge, open space. Along the two side walls were four color-coded doors with a fifth door at the far end by the kitchen. The doors on the side were blue, yellow, green, and red with the far door a vibrant gold.
The gold room was the only private room and was intended for her use only—she'd realized that immediately upon walking inside. It held a large bed with a golden canopy, an office area, and a private reading area, complete with couch. It was also decked out almost exclusively in gold and white. It looked like it could have been a set from the old TV show Stargate.
The other four rooms each contained two bunk beds, two tall dressers, two desks, and a door that led to a private bath. Nikki had already moved into the green room, feeling it appropriate considering the history of the color. Piper had merely shrugged and told her she didn't care which one she chose.
"Now I have to figure out where everyone else is going to sleep."
End Notes: Thanks to Tierra, Lauren, general-josepth-dickson, writerpayne, and garnetred for the reviews!
general-joseph-dickson: Apate was given her own body at the end of Inheritance so there is no need to her to possess anyone anymore. Besides that, she can't.
Also, a side note, I wrote a 7 1/4 page interlude to Birthright--called Reunions. It's somewhat based on what Tommy's doing during a few of the chapters of Birthight and it's posted on Additionally, I swear I'm working on the website! It's just not going as fast as I hoped it would. (makes face) Coding is evil...
