AN:Sorry about that long break, I got horrible writer's block on this story. The epilogue is the only chapter left.
"What are you doing?" Hiri asked with a chuckle.
"Nothing," Jamie sighed. She pressed another kiss against the back of his neck. He was in the arboretum working on one of his many botany projects. Jamie was content to just stand there with her hands holding onto the side of his uniform and her head resting between his shoulder blades.
"You okay? McCoy said you got your brain rattled down there," Hikaru said after a few minutes.
She scoffed, "So that's what he calls being tortured."
The Enterprise was on a routine cargo drop to the Tantalus Penal Colony when they managed to get pulled into some craziness. One of the doctors from the colony, Simon Van Gelder, stowed away on the ship demanding asylum. They learn that Van Gelder was a former associate of Tantalus administrator Doctor Tristan Adams, assigned to the colony only six months prior.
Bones pulled his medical authority to launch an investigation into why Van Gelder was injured and mentally unstable while Jamie took one of the psychiatrists from Bones' staff, Doctor Helen Noel, down to the colony. They met with Adams, who told them that Van Gelder injured his mind by testing an experimental therapy device on himself, the neural neutralizer.
Jamie and Helen figured out that it was Adams using the device on people, including Van Gelder, when the man used it on Jamie in an effort to mentally condition her. Fighting off the suggestions put in her head by Adams, Jamie called Helen through the air conditioning ducts, in the hope that the other woman could find the power controls and deactivate the security force field that protects the facility and prevents transporters from operating in it.
Helen took care of the guard and deactivated the field long enough for Jamie to escape the torture and for Spock, with a security team, to beam down and secure the colony. Sadly, Doctor Adams died of exposure to the neural neutralizer when they turned the power to the facility back on. Doctor Van Gelder was cured and resumed his responsibilities at the colony. His first act was dismantling and destroying the neural neutralizer equipment.
"You want to talk about it?" Hiri asked.
Jamie chuckled, "Not really but I guess I probably should. My head feels like it's all over the place with thoughts that don't belong to me. Man, was it painful. I'll sort it out eventually."
"That's Jamie code for 'I'll ignore it until it eats me alive.' You can tell me," her favorite pilot said.
"The people down there were like mindless zombies. The fact that he almost did that to me scared the crap out of me. All I've ever had was my brain and my instincts. The idea of being stripped of what makes me me is… I don't have the words. It was worse than getting wammied, this time I knew what was happening to me and I couldn't stop it," she told him.
"'Is this a dagger which I see before me, the handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee. I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible, to feeling as to sight? Or art thou but a dagger of the mind'…" Hiri said.
Jamie chuckled, "A Macbeth soliloquy, that's appropriate. I do love it when you quote Shakespeare."
"I'm glad Adams didn't take that from you because I love quoting Shakespeare for you. I guess it's a good thing you have such a hard head," he quipped.
"Bones beat you to that one, babe," she said as she rolled her eyes.
Hikaru smiled, "You know what they say about great minds. Something was bothering you before all this happened. You wanna tell me what's up?"
"I suppose I could," she told him. Sometimes, she really hates that he can read her so easily.
Jamie explained that his execution of the war game got the brass' attention. With the shortage of leaders thanks to Nero, Marcus and Khan, exceptional command officers stick out like sore thumbs. And because of the close eye that the Federation had on her, Hikaru stuck out even more. She was notified that she might need to start training a new Alpha shift helmsmen to take over for Hikaru because he was being vetted for the first officer position on the USS Courageous under the command of Captain Michael Caulder, among a few other positions on various ships.
"They want me to be the first officer… on a Miranda-class cruiser?" he asked in amazement.
"Don't sound so surprised, Hikaru. I told you it would happen," Jamie said. The pilot turned around so that he was looking at her and searched her face, for what, she wasn't sure.
"What do you think?" he finally asked.
She sighed, "As your commanding officer or as your girlfriend?"
"Both," Hiri answered.
"As your CO, I have no doubt that, should you be selected as the Courageous' first officer, you will show the same dedication and attention to detail there that you do here on the Enterprise. Replacing you the helm is gonna be a bitch though." Jamie smiled, "As your girlfriend, I'm very proud of you and I think it fuckin' rocks. I might not like the idea of us being on separate ships but we always knew it was a possibility since we're both so awesome. Sleeping without you will take some getting used to but you know what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder. It hasn't been decided but the chances are good. You're not supposed to know yet, so act surprised when the official word comes down."
"You really think I'll get it?" Hikaru asked.
She nodded, "I know I'm a little bias but they'd be crazy not to give it to you."
"Well, that sounds like a reason to celebrate," he told her.
"What do you have in mind?" Jamie asked.
Hiri thought for a second, "We need a date."
"We're on a ship in the middle of uncharted space," she reminded him.
He chuckled, "Are we? I think we're in a garden. And I think it's the perfect place to dance."
"You know good and damn well that I'm a horrible dancer. Dancing with me is dangerous," she told him.
Hikaru nodded, "Yes. But I also know that you do well in my arms. I'm dancing and so are you."
"Don't you dare laugh at me," Jamie told her best friend. She was standing in the decon chamber covered in pink slime. Actually, covered was a nice way of putting it, the stuff was seeping through her uniform.
Hikaru smiled from the other side of the transparent polymer, "You aren't gonna try to kill us are you, Vido?"
"First, Winston is the one who got pulled into the flowing river of slime and Ray and Egon jumped in after him. Two, there aren't any babies on the ship for me to possess until it's time for me to take over the world, so I think you're okay, Venkman," Jim said.
"I always knew Venkman and Vido had eyes for each other," Hiri chuckled. Jamie laughed at the look on Bones' face.
"What the hell are you two talkin' about?" her grumpy best friend asked as she peeled off her clothes in the tiny room.
"Ghostbusters Two," the pair of command officers answered at the same time.
"Never saw it," Bones told them.
Jamie groaned, "Seriously? That's like a crime against humanity."
"You're killing me, man," Hikaru sighed. "Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver. It's a classic. As soon as you let her out of there, we're gonna have a movie night. Never saw Ghostbusters Two… That's just crazy."
"How old is the movie?" the doctor asked.
Jamie sighed, "Little over three hundred and fifty years old. It's still a good movie. Wouldn't still be relevant if it wasn't."
"That so?" her best friend asked.
"Yep. It's about a group of parapsychologists and their organization which combats paranormal activities. But that's not the important part," the captain told the doctor.
Hiri nodded, "They were different. People accepted that difference as long as it was helpful but they were generally considered crazy by the powers that be, sued for damage to the city and barred from studying paranormal stuff. That was until an evil took over the city and the only people who could fix it were the Ghostbusters. They used science and positive thinking to save everyone."
"Kinda like me, huh?" Jamie asked.
Bones snorted, "Except you really are crazy."
"You keep staring at your PADD, Jim. What's the deal?" Bones asked her at lunch.
"Captainy stuff," she shrugged.
He rolled his eyes, "Captainy stuff my ass. What's going on?" She was about to answer him when the device pinged, drawing the whole table's attention in her direction.
"Well?" Hikaru asked. Jamie read the words on the screen and she wasn't surprised as what she saw.
"'Lieutenant Commander Sulu is directed to report to Starbase Twenty-Five in fifteen days to rendezvous with the USS Courageous for duty as the ship's executive officer.' Looks like we're dropping you off on our way back to Earth. Barnett sent this himself," she told him.
"Vhat does zhat mean?" Chekov asked after the group of officers congratulated the newly promoted officer.
Hiri smiled, "I'm a first officer. Any advice, Spock?"
"I have never served with Captain Caulder. He and Captain Kirk are very different officers. My advice is to contact him, it is the only way you will have any clue as to how your tour on the Courageous will go," her first officer told him.
Jamie nodded, "That's good advice. Spock and I had to skip that part because of Nero but it's essentially the same. We managed to get a feel for each other… too bad we were being shot at."
"Should I comm him now?" Hiri asked.
Scotty chuckled, "Dinnae see why not, lad." Hikaru shot out of his seat to go comm Caulder.
"You okay?" Uhura asked her.
"He earned it," Jamie said with the best smile she could muster.
Bones sighed, "That's not what she asked, kid. Are you okay?"
"We're officers… command officers. It's a reality of the path we've chosen. One day, you guys will all get offered jobs on other ships and starbases. As much as I'd like for our little family to stay like it is, nothing lasts forever. I know that better than most."
"You do know that I can find you even when you turn off your locater, right?" Hikaru asked as he sat next to her in the empty observation lounge.
"I know," she whispered.
He chuckled, "I thought you'd be happy for me."
"I am happy for you," she told him.
"But?" her favorite pilot asked. She looked out at the stars.
"The reality of it is scary. You've had my back since before I got the chair and you were supposed to be there when we got home. Sometimes I wish you weren't so awesome. That way I could keep you to myself."
"I'm sure that would have its advantages but you don't mean it. You like that I'm awesome. You're just scared that this is the end of us, aren't you?" he asked. Jamie shrugged but didn't say anything. Hikaru chuckled, "What's it gonna take for you to get that I love you too much for that?"
She sighed, "I have no doubt that you do. It doesn't make it easier to be away from the person you love."
"Especially since we've practically been joined at the hip for almost six years," Hiri said.
Jamie nodded, "There is that."
"Odysseus and Penelope," he smiled. She looked at him and smiled as he continued. "Husband and wife torn apart for twenty years by war before they were reunited."
She chuckled, "Let's hope we're not apart that long. And no hanging out with goddesses."
"Can do," Hiri said. "I already have my goddess."
"Are you watching me sleep?" Hiri asked as he blinked his eyes open.
"I am. Today's the big day," she whispered.
He chuckled, "I know, babe. You know it doesn't change anything."
"It does. Not necessarily bad though," Jamie said. "I mean, if we can make it work from opposite sides of the galaxy then there's nothing we can't do."
"That's very optimistic of you," Hikaru smiled. "Who are you and where is my Jamie?"
"Ha ha. Believe it or not, I called my mother. She's the only person I know who's in a relationship that isn't with her spouse all the time. She gave me some advice and, after thinking about it, I guess she's right. Being together in the same place is the easy part but being together when you're far from each other only works if you make it."
"That's good advice. My dad's advice was to keep talking. No matter what's going on, talk," he said.
"I think I can do that," she whispered against his neck. "I love you, Hikaru Sulu. I love you and I'll kick your sexy ass if you die on me."
"I can't promise that, but I'll try to stay safe," Hikaru said before he pulled her into a kiss. "I love you, Jamie."