Part Two – Vega

I stretch and walk into the secretarial office for orientation, I'd taken Bremerton's advice and gotten myself into the rotation, what surprised me was how fast my name came up… it made me wonder if Commander Fletcher had a hand in it.

"… and this is where I keep the comics if you are going to read some, please, please, please put them back in order. When Saratoga was last in here she thought it'd be a fun prank to mix up the order… It took me so long to find and put everything back in order." Reno told me as she had her hands on her hips when she mentioned Saratoga.

I nodded, I knew that Sara could be a bit of a trickster sometimes, but I didn't have any intention of going through them, Casablanca had loaned me the next book in the series I'd started reading and I wanted to know how things were going to turn out for Ilsa. Reno smiled at me and asked, "Anything else you'd like to know?"

I shook my head as I told her, "Just one, what time does the Commander usually get in?"

Reno looked at her phone and told me while she got on her jacket, "In about ten minutes… Have fun!"

With that, she was out the door and I went into the kitchenette to see if there was anything in the fridge once I had the computer turned on and warming up. I had just opened the fridge and bet at my hip to take a look in there when I spotted some orange juice, cream, milk, and something that looked like an experiment to develop some kind of new mold. I was so wrapped up in looking in there that I missed the sound of the door to my sub-office opening and closing and when I heard his voice, "Intrepid?"

I jumped, hitting the back of my head on the inside of the fridge I yelped out in both pain and surprise before promptly spinning around and seeing him standing there. I felt my cheeks get hot as I remind myself that I had hung up my cloak. That was when it hit me, the dress I wear as my uniform can be a bit short when I bend over… oh god, no, no, no! Did he see it? I look at him and see his cheeks are bright red and I gulp and ask, "Did… Did you see anything?"

I notice that he's avoiding eye contact with me while he brings up his hand to clear his throat. I feel my cheeks get really hot as he mumbles something, I just know he saw my underwear, at least they were clean, if not very flattering, but I was waiting on laundry to be done. I take a deep breath as I cross my arms under my bust, lifting it slightly and his cheeks get redder as I ask, "I missed that…"

He looks down at the floor as he tells me, "You've got a mole…"

My cheeks get so red, I feel both furious and embarrassed at the same time and I let my mouth run, "You…" I sigh in the middle, taking an arm from under my bust to pinch the bridge of my nose as I add, "…I'm way more inclined to beat you to a pulp than to praise you for your bravery you know."

He clears his throat again, still not looking at me directly as he asks, "Let me make it up to you, is there anything you like to do on your time off, aside from stargazing?"

I felt a flutter in my belly, I mean he is easy on the eyes and seems like he tries to be a nice guy… so how do I want to present myself to him? Do I want to go the bitch route or maybe be a bit friendlier, or be the flirt like Marblehead…? I can't do the meek thing, I already tossed that out the window with what I just said to him… maybe I should just be me?

He blinks at me a couple of times, oh crap! I'm taking too long to answer, I run my hands down my dress to make sure that it's flat against my legs before I answer him honestly, "During my free time, I like to read, watch movies, and stargaze. But you don't need to make up for anything; it was my own fault for bending over like that and not paying attention."

He takes his right hand and rubs the back of his head, his cheeks still bright red and still looking at the floor as he asks, "If you're sure…"

I reach out and touch his left arm, I can feel the muscle definition under the uniform jacket, the memory of the night we made out coming fresh to my mind causing me to blush brightly again and I try to defuse the situation with a joke, "Then, how about a martini – shaken, not stirred? Just kidding!"

He laughs, and laughs hard before he retorts with, "I would've figured you for Miss Moneypenny…"

Hearing him laugh brought a smile to my face, but his words made me blush as well as show me that he likes some classic movies or books. After a few moments, I clue in that I was still touching his arm and draw my hand back, quickly as I apologized, "Sorry Sir."

He shook his head before looking around quickly and saying, "We've done more than touching arms, I'm okay with it."

Oh crap.

I feel all my blood go right to my cheeks, but he gives me an out as he says, "But don't worry, I'm not going to try and act on anything."

I let out a breath I'd been holding apparently as he steps back and turns around to head into his office as he says over his shoulder, "But careful with hitting your head, alright?"

I touch the back of my head automatically but relax when there is no pain as I tell him, "I'll try."

Once the door closes I look up and groan before taking out my phone and sending a DM to Bremerton with something I know will get her attention, 'He saw my mole!'

Now I just needed to wait, so I took one of the little bottles of orange juice and sat at the desk, starting to go through the messages when my phone trilled, 'Everyone's seen it, it's on your boob.'

'Not that one!' I send back.

'With or without underwear?' She sends back.

'With, thankfully… basic white if you were going ask.' I send back to her as I cross my legs at the knees and tilt my chair off to the side. I know I really shouldn't be on my phone right now, but nothing was pressing in my inbox at the moment.

'And?' she asked me via DM.

'And what?' I ask her back, taking a moment to look at his office door.

'Did he say anything? Geez… why are you making this so hard? Or…' she sent back with an eggplant and a peach and a face making an expression like it was... oh god!

I was blushing so much, sure I'd thought about it, even after that night I thought about it. I figured the best way to avoid this subject right now was to put the brakes on this so I sent back, 'The office isn't the place for that!'

My mouth hung open when she sent me back a .gif of a couple doing it on a desk as well as the words, 'sure it is.'

I hung my head and sent back one last message, 'I'll talk to you later Bremmy...'

I got back a winking face, a hand making an okay gesture, and another hand pointing at it… it took me a moment to figure out what she meant with that one. I give off a loud groan, probably louder than I should've as I heard his office door open and he poked his head out, looked at me, and asked, "Everything okay?"

I look back at him, the phone still in hand, .gif playing still in the chat history, his face went bright red, his deep blue eyes darting forward to try and avoid looking in my direction as his voice sounded like he was trying to tip-toe around something as he suggested, "Umm, Intrepid, perhaps that kind of material should be left to when you're not in the office…"

My brow twitched slightly and I looked back at the screen on my phone, my cheeks went super-hot as I clicked it off and tripped over my own tongue as I said, "That's... It's… I wouldn't…"

I lean back in my chair and groan again with my eyes closed as I say more to myself than to him, "Damnit, why did you have to turn out to be my Commander…"

I heard him sigh as he said, "Why did you have to be the girl to make out with me?"

Huh… I hadn't thought about it from his side of things.

I open my eyes to look at him, upside down, leaning my chair back just a little more… oh no. I heard the wheels move as the chair continued to go back with a crash to the ground. I watch as his head tilts to the side and he asks, "Are you okay?"

I blush and sigh out, "Yeah… just unlucky."

He smiled at me and I could tell he was trying not to laugh, I found myself smiling back at him. If you think about it, this is kind of funny and kind of sad that every time I'm around him lately I do something to embarrass myself. He shrugs at me as he says, "I don't know about that, you didn't hurt yourself every time I've seen you fall backward or hit your head."

I get off the chair and put it back upright as I sigh out, "You're right, still…"

"I get it. I'd like to be lucky in a different way too." He says to me as he moves to sit on the other side of my desk.

I take a seat in my chair again and ask, "How so?"

He shakes his head; he looks like he wants to say something before looking back to his office and asking, "Can I be honest with you, and what I say has no bearing on our working relationship?"

Interesting, he's worried that what he could say next could be a problem… I lean back against the back of my chair and stroke one of my pigtails as I nod while telling him, "Sure."

He leans forward, rubbing his hands together, a blush on his cheeks as he tells me, "You are the first girl in a long, long time to give me any attention like you did on the hill."

Oh, wow. I feel my cheeks get hot and I look down and see that even my chest is red, I bit my lower lip as I tell him, "To be honest, I did that on a lark… I heard some of the other girls talk about doing that kind of stuff with guys from the town and I figured, why not."

He nods his head up and down as he says, "I figured as much."

He's quiet for a moment before asking, "Do you regret it?"

I shake my head as I say, "No… and honestly I think about it, a lot. I enjoyed it, a lot."

He smiles at me, god he's cute when he smiles at me… his deep dark voice is so sexy… Wait; hold up, I'm going down this rabbit hole again… He leans back up, rubs his chin, and says to me, "I enjoyed it a lot too."

I blush again, shift a little in my chair and keep stroking one of my pigtails and I offer out, "Maybe we could take in a movie night on the base next time?"

He nods and gets out of the chair, heading back to his office as he says, "Sounds like a plan."

I smile to myself, once he's out of sight I whisper to myself, "It's a non-date."

Now to tackle the non-important messages…

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I don't know how long I spent working away on these messages; I only noticed when my belly started to rumble seconds before something cool touched my forehead causing me to jump slightly. I turn my attention to see a can of oxi-cola in the left hand of Bremerton, a smirk on her lips as she asked, "So?"

I sigh and take the can, popping it open and taking a sip as I say back to her, "You know you made things super awkward when he saw my phone screen with our chat history up…"

Bremerton blinks a couple of times before starting to laugh and tells me, "Tell me everything!"

After I fill her in on everything she puts her hands on my desk and tells me, "We are so going shopping this weekend to get you some new panties… maybe a new bra or two too."

I lean back and fold my arms under my bust while Bremerton tilts her head to the side and asks, "Did you put on weight, or maybe you grew a little top-heavy?"

I look down at my bust, sure it seemed a little bigger lately, but they were still smaller than Bremerton's and I ask her, "Why should I go and spend money on some new underwear?"

She grinned at me as she said, "At the rate, you're going, he's going to see more of them. You should have some sexy ones."

I blush brightly, sure I had one or two pairs that would fall into that category, but they weren't that comfortable to wear all the time. I reach up and make sure that my pigtails are still tight as I say to her, "That's all well and good, but if I could find a comfortable pair that'd go a long way to making me more likely to actually wear them. As for a bra, support is more important."

Bremerton nodded and sighed out, "Tell me about it, why do we have to pick between support or sexiness… it makes me so envious of girls like Brooklyn and Casablanca that can get both in one package."

I tilt my head to the side and ask a question that had been nagging at me ever since I first talked to Bremerton about this, "So Bremmy, why are you so interested in this?"

That must've struck a nerve; she shifted how she sat in the chair quickly, looked to Commander Fletcher's door before leaning forward and whispering to me, "When was the last time you fooled around with anyone?"

I blink a couple of times, and really search my mind before I blush and whisper back, "I haven't."

She smiled at me as she said, "That's why. You are into him… and I want to help you explore that. You're my best friend Intrepid, so I want to do everything I can to help and live vicariously through this."

I go to say something to her, but no words form, closing my mouth I try again to form some words and again nothing. I mean fine, I'll admit it; I'm hot for the Commander. I hang my head and sigh; I need to look up the regulations to see if there is a way I can figure out so that I can explore this if he's willing to. Thankfully my stomach growled again and Bremerton grinned as she said, "Go see if he needs something to eat, then the two of you go have lunch together."

"I can't do that!" I say to her as I try to look horrified at the idea, I'm not sure I can sell it though.

"Sure you can." She says to me as she gets out of her chair and goes to the exit and winks at me over her shoulder as she adds, "Good luck!"

With that she was gone, I close my eyes and take a deep breath before I get out of my chair and knock on his office door and wait till I hear him tell me that I can enter. I take a moment to adjust my dress and take another centering breath before I push open the door, I see him sitting there, his cap tossed haphazardly to the couch, I do a quick scan of the room and I see files spread all over the room. He looks up from his computer, those deep blue eyes of his taking me in, I did my best not to blush or smile but I liked his eyes on me. Crossing more into the room I almost trip on a trolley, not this time! Trolley's nine, Intrepid, one!

I clear my throat before I ask, "Commander, would you like to get some lunch with me?"

He blinks a couple of times, he actually looks surprised that I asked him. I watch as he gets out from behind his desk, grabs his cap, and smiles at me while he says, "Let's go."

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With our trays in hand, we found a spot in the mess hall and sat across from each other and I suddenly found myself feeling nervous about sharing a meal with him. I sigh inwardly and poke at the meatloaf that was on my tray with a fork as I wonder to myself about how this might look to the others in here right now.

I think he was in much the same way as we both ate in silence, avoiding eye contact with each other. I mean I know that I wanted to lean over the table and kiss him again and I felt a little guilty that this was still on my mind. I'm brought back to my surroundings by him asking, "Can I take your tray?"

I blink my eyes a couple of times, look down and see that somewhere or somehow I had finished my lunch, I blush a little and nod as he takes it and puts them in the tray trolley. I get out of my chair and hurry over to walk with him back to the office.

Once we're outside, I check my phone and see that we still have nearly half an hour left on our lunch break so I ask, "Do you want to take the long way back?"

"Sure." He says back to me, short and to the point.

I fold my hands in front of me as we walk along the path back to the command center, I look at him every few minutes, wondering what he's thinking about. As we get past the fountain I bite my lower lip and let go of my own left hand and let it swing to brush his right hand. Nothing… so I brush his hand again as I get closer to him, this time he turns to look at me and I do a quick scan of the area before I get on the balls of my feet and kiss him.

His lips are just as soft, just as moist. His scruff is a little pokey and scratchy, but well it's kind of nice… and he still has that hint of Beachwood… god I'm starting to love that smell. He starts kissing back almost immediately, his hands go right to my hips and I press myself harder against him, deepening the kiss in the process. The Commander starts to walk back a little while we are both starting to make little noises like we are enjoying this, a lot. I feel him bump into something and sit down, breaking our kiss, leaving me panting. Looking around quickly again I straddle his lap, letting my feet dangle into the fountain, and go back to kissing him, his hands slide off of my hips to my thighs, down them to my knees and back up. His touch sends a shiver down my spine causing me to shutter slightly, grinding against him and he moaned as I did that. I break our kiss as I'm starting to feel something hard pressing against me down below, he starts kissing down the side of my neck, I close my eyes and moan a little when he gets to where my neck meets my shoulder, my hips start moving on their own against him. I start rubbing harder against him and he stops kissing my neck and shoulders and pants out, "We… need… to... stop."

Oh god, I don't want to, this is feeling too good. But I know he'd stop if I asked him to, I place my hands on his chest and lean back a little, and tilting my head to the side as I ask, "What's wrong?"

He's blushing brightly as he says, "If you keep that up, I'm going to make a mess in my pants."

It takes me a moment to understand what he's talking about, then it hits me, the talk that Vestal had given me about the differences between human males and us kansen and how humans reproduce. My cheeks get so red before I get off of his lap and see a damp spot on his crotch where I was sitting, he looks down and sees it and blushes back at me before he stands up and gave me a little smile as he says, "I think that was better than the last time."

I quietly nod my head; it was better and more fun than that time on the hill, looking around again I say to him, "I'm going to see if there are any regulations we need to follow, but I want to explore this… if you're okay with that."

He takes my left hand in his right and squeezes it as he tells me, "I'd like that too."

Once we were back in the office he went back to his office and I stayed in mine, but oh god I was still turned right on… I kept thinking about doing more than what we did on the fountain and I started to think about shopping with Bremerton this weakened, but more importantly, I really need to dig into the regulations and figure out what my standing is.

I must've spent close to an hour digging through Eagle Union, Royal Navy, Iron Blood, and Sakura Empire reports on this subject, just what are the kansen, there was no unified consensus on this. What sent a shock through me was a report from the Sakura Empire that claimed that a kansen became pregnant by her commander during such an affair.

Oh crap! I'll need to make sure we use a condom if we do the deed…

That report lead me down a rabbit hole of looking into other reports of such things, I found a veiled reference to something like that happening from each faction, but only the Sakura Empire was explicit that it happened. But that didn't help with trying to figure out if I was a person or hardware… I mean my name is literally U.S.S. Intrepid… but I have hopes, dreams, fears, and apparently a working reproductive system that is compatible with a human male.

I put my head on my desk and groan this isn't helping me to figure out what I am as far as the U.C.M.J. is concerned. If I'm hardware, then there is nothing against it, but well that would likely cause some strange looks because how many people have tried to be in a relationship with a machine? But if I'm a person, then we could get in a ton of trouble because I'm under his command.

With a heavy sigh I say, "Why can't things be simple?"

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A/N: Intrepid admitted that she likes her Commander, but is still not sure on where she stands on the person/hardware front.

So my question to you, dear reader, is how would you classify the kansen, person or hardware? Your answer will have no impact on the story, I'm just wondering what you would think, if you were in place to make a decision of them in that regard.