Trigger – Chapter 4
"Cadet Ward!" Marisa was on her way to the Engineering Bay when she heard her name called. A scowl flitted across her face as she kept walking, her footsteps echoing loudly in the narrow hallway. She had nothing to say to him, after all. Unconsciously, her hands balled into fists at her sides. She hadn't spoken to the captain since the introductions yesterday morning, and she was planning to keep it that way. Unfortunately, it seemed like the man had a different idea.
"Ward!" He called again, closer this time. Marisa kept her head up, her back straight as she walked, purposefully ignoring him. He was probably just going to ask her out to dinner again, or make some lewd comment about just how damn short the Star Fleet uniform dresses were. She internally cursed whoever the hell had designed them – like Kirk needed any more encouragement.
"Ward," he repeated, and Marisa felt her spine stiffen. He was right behind her. Suddenly, a large, calloused hand wrapped itself around her wrist, effectively stopping her from ignoring him any longer. Still, Marisa would be damned if she couldn't try. She pressed her lips together, staring stonily down the hall in front of her, despite the fact that she could see the captain's handsome face out of the corner of her eye.
"You can't ignore me forever, Ward," he told her with a cheeky grin, tugging at her wrist until she faced him. Jerking her chin up, Marisa glared at him, her green eyes meeting his startling blue ones. For a moment, her breath hitched in her throat. His eyes were too damn bright, that was it. One of these days she was going to go blind. He seemed to notice that she had been momentarily derailed, causing the smirk on his face to widen. It was just the thing to cause Marisa's anger to flare up again. How dare he!
"I can certainly try," she retorted heatedly. God, he was infuriating. He pressed his fingers more tightly into the skin of her wrist, reminded Marisa he still had a firm hold on her. Her eyes sparked again as she tried to yank her wrist away. Kirk held on tight, though, preventing her from running. She tugged at it again futilely. Huffing, Marisa balled her hands into fists, leaning back to look in him the eye again. She was planning to lay into him for manhandling his crewmembers, but whatever nasty insult was hovering on the tip of her tongue was quickly forgotten. His face was a hell of a lot closer than it had been a moment ago, and Marisa was taken aback.
"Considering I'm the captain," Kirk replied, his face hovering dangerously close to hers. "I highly doubt that." The corners of his mouth curved upwards slowly, his blue eyes sparkling with mirth as Marisa scowled. It seemed like the angrier Marisa got, the more Kirk enjoyed it. What kind of sadistic ship had she landed herself on? Anger surged up inside her again – anger at him for being such a pig, for grabbing her, for hitting on her, for not being sorry about it, for having eyes that were so damn bright. Marisa snapped.
"Listen, Kirk." She used her free hand to poke him in the chest. "I'm not some airhead cadet you can take advantage of. I'm on this ship because I'm damn good at what I do, and I'm not going to let some sexist, chauvinistic pig get in the way of that." Her green eyes flashed angrily as she glared at him. "So I would appreciate if you left me the hell alone." Her last words were almost a hiss, her green eyes narrowed into slits. Still glaring, she ripped her wrist out of his grasp, turning on her heels and marching down the rest of the corridor. If she had looked back, she would have seen Kirk standing in the exact same spot she left him, staring after her.
XXXXXX
"How do you put up with him, Scotty?" Marisa moaned, grabbing the wrench from the floor next to her. She had made it to Engineering without further incident, thank goodness. To her surprise, she had immediately hit if off with Montgomery Scott, the Head Engineer, who was currently teaching her how to repair the weapons system on the Enterprise. Apparently, not everyone on this ship was an asshole like the captain.
"Eh, you get used to 'im," Scotty replied, shrugging as he took another bite of his sandwich. "I mean, aside from the fact that he still hits on every woman he sees, he's gotten much better. He even follows rules now, occasionally." Scotty laughed, leaning back in his chair, he feet propped up on the messy desk he sat behind as he watched Marisa work.
"Well," she frowned, wiping her sweaty forehead with the back of her hand as she sat back on her knees. "I suppose that since he's never hit on you, it hasn't really been a problem." She glanced over her shoulder, shooting Scotty a little grin.
"Yeah, I suppose," he agreed through a mouthful of turkey and cheese. "Though from what I hear, you sure put him in his place." He grinned, chuckling to himself as he watched a scowl flit over his newest cadet's face. Marisa set the wrench down, sifting through the pile of tools until she found the right sized screwdriver.
"Yeah, but he seems like a pretty persistent guy," Marisa pointed out, leaning forward once more. Her green eyes narrowed in concentration as she located the screw she needed. A few deft twists of her wrist later and the little metal piece popped out, landing with a clink on the floor. Marisa quickly put a hand down to stop it from rolling away, shoving it her pocket so it wouldn't get lost.
"Eh," Scotty shrugged, setting his half-eaten sandwich down on the manual he had spread out on the table in front of him. "He's not really a bad guy deep down, you know. Yeah, he's a bit arrogant, and he doesn't really know how to treat a lady." Marisa snorted as she heard Scotty's words. That was a bit of an understatement. "But really, he was made captain for a reason, ye know." Marisa looked up, glancing over her shoulder to see that the engineer was staring right at her.
"What do you mean, Scotty?" She asked, frowning slightly. She wasn't quite sure if she was asking to clarify what he said, or the look he was giving her.
"Just don't be too hard on him, that's all," he told her briskly, standing up from his desk and walking over to where she was working. He placed his hands on his knees, leaning over to survey the machine. "How's it coming?" He asked, his fingers fiddling with a few of the controls.
Marisa sat back on her heels again, explaining to him what she had done and why she had done it. Even as she spoke, however, her mind was replaying the conversation. What the hell did Scotty mean by that? She knew that the man was friends with Kirk, but she didn't get how he could stick up for the captain after hearing what he'd said. He was captain for a reason? Marisa had yet to see why. So far, all she could see was a sexist, womanizing, arrogant, obnoxious man who did what he wanted when he wanted with absolutely no regard for anyone or anything else. It seemed that Kirk had everyone else under his spell, however. Just thinking about him brought a scowl to her face.
"Alright then, Cadet," Scotty smiled at her, breaking her from her reverie. "It's almost time for dinner, so I'd say you're done for the day. Nice work," he told her, a broad smile stretching across his face. Marisa picked herself up from the floor, setting the screwdriver back with the other tools before brushing herself off.
"Thanks, Scotty," she told him with a grin. "Both for teaching me and letting me vent." She wrinkled her nose, laughing slightly, and the man joined in.
"Not to worry, my dear." He clapped her on the shoulder. "It was my pleasure." Marisa warmed inside, smiling to herself. She liked working with Scotty. He was kind and funny, and she felt comfortable working among the weapons system. And the man she had met yesterday at dinner, Chekov, seemed nice too. Of course, there was always Nyota, who Marisa already felt comfortable with. Maybe working aboard the Enterprise wasn't going to be as bad as she first thought it was.
"I'll see if you in the mess hall, yeah?" Marisa asked him, raising her eyebrows. The engineer nodded, and Marisa headed back to her room to wash up before dinner. After all, she was covered in dust and grease and who the hell knows what else that was down there. A shower sounded like just the thing she needed.
XXXXXX
When Marisa got back to her cramped little room, however, she didn't immediately head for the shower. Her sharp green eyes had caught the flashing red light on her PADD – she had a message. Immediately, a smile stole over her face. It had to be Kim! Forgetting that she was covered in grease, Marisa flopped down on her narrow bed, grabbing the PADD and opening up the messaging screen. Before her eyes, Kim's peppy, overdramatic words filled with screen.
Hey Missy!
God, it's so good to hear from you. I know it has only been one day, but I miss you so much already. I know you're doing great on the Enterprise, though, so I don't worry about you too much. Not that there's much time to worry anyway – there's always so much to do! Of course I've already been to the medical bay. It's where I work, after all! The doctors and nurses are all really nice, especially Dr. Hernandez, who's just the sweetest old man you've ever met. So far, no strange rare alien diseases, but I'll keep my hopes up.
Oh. My. God. How could you forget that James Kirk was captain of the Enterprise? Well, truthfully, I sort of forgot as well, but that's only because I was a bit distracted with my own life. But now that you mention it, of course, I remember the story exactly. God, he was so brave. And that's the reason he is captain, Missy – he's not a boring, stiff, rule-following droid like most captains are. He's bold and daring! Personally, I probably would have fainted if he asked me to dinner. Especially if he's still as dreamy as he was in school.
Sorry. This probably isn't helping any, is it? Anyway, it's a shame he was such a jerk to you, even though you think all men are jerks and therefore are probably just overreacting as usual. Good luck avoiding him, considering he's your captain and all. Here's a solution – why don't you just set him up with me instead? I'd gladly take him off your hands! That man is FINE.
Despite having no one quite as yummy as your Captain Kirk, I already love the Farragut crew. Everyone's so nice and welcoming, and I've already met tons of great new friends. No best friends, of course – you know that will always be you. And have no idea what you're talking about with that whole broken hearts comment! Although there is this one cute communications officer…Anyway, I'll be sure to fill you in with all the gory details about the surgery I'll be helping with later this week, and I'm expecting more reports about one handsome - sorry, I mean infuriating - James Kirk.
Love, Kimmie.
Marisa just rolled her eyes. Figures that Kim would completely overlook the fact that the man was a Grade A Asshole and instead concentrate on how dreamy he was. People really needed to get over that. The man was human, after all. And the girl had absolutely no idea what she was talking about – Marisa was not overreacting. Kirk acted like a testosterone-fueled teenage boy and she failed to see how that made him a good captain. In her mind, good captains were levelheaded and calm, commanding the respect of their crew members while still getting along with them – which did not include hitting on them in the hallway.
No matter. It was not like Marisa could do anything about it. Kirk was the captain, and she was stuck with him, whether she liked it or not. Which is why she had decided to simply avoid him as much as possible. That way she could get her job done without feeling the urge to break the damn man's nose. With a press of a button, the screen went blank, and Marisa tucked the PADD back into her bag. Still grumbling about Kim falling under Kirk's spell as well, Marisa made her way to the tiny bathroom. After a nice hot shower, she could head up to dinner and get started with Operation: Avoid Kirk. After all, Kim may mean well, but she had no idea what she was talking about.
AN: Alright! So I finally figured out where I want the story to go, so hopefully things will start picking up a bi.! Thanks for all of the reviews, guys – you make my day! :)