Leyenar De Vil, at her workshop in the Leyenarville Town Hall, sighed as she plopped down onto the comfy chair of her working desk. "Damn," she mumbled. "Fuck my life."

She then turned around in the chair to address the readers, and spoke. "Ollo, everyone, as y'all might thought, I promised that I'd update my DC stories one at a time, but while working on my Dawnbreaker Jaylah story, I fell off track and got into my Star Trek era again, and after posting a buncha one-shots on AO3, I decided it's time to return to this not-so-little story of mine. After I finish Parts 1 and 2, I'll be taking to my second account here to update my Quirk AU. BT-dubs, I hope I can get an authentic transcript of the Blue Beetle movie soon."

Mistress, said her AI assistant Phyllis, you have an oncoming call.

Leyenar sighed and picked up her cell phone. "Ollo? Khan? Yes, yes, I can arrange for that. No problem, barely an inconvenience. Love ya!" she said into it, and ended the call.

Pierce stared at his Romulan, a longing in those sapphire eyes that S'Tyge knew all too well, and could feel that there was a song coming on. Sure enough, the captain opened his mouth and began singing.

You don't have to sneak in the door,

Just come on in to the room,

I've been lying in our bed in the dark all alone,

And I've been waiting, I've been waiting for you,

There's been no reason to move,

It's been as still as a tomb,

I needed you oh-so-badly tonight,

But I guess you had better things to do,

I should have know that it was coming to this,

But I must have been blind,

I bet you still got a trace of her love in your eyes,

And you still got her eyes on your mind,

You swore you'd be with me at seven o'clock,

Now it's a quarter to three,

Well, whatever you got and whoever it was,

I guess you couldn't get it from me.

Whatever you got and whoever it was,

I guess you couldn't get it from me.

I know that you love me,

There's no need to talk,

I see the look in your eyes and I got the proof,

And there are no lies on your body,

So take off your shirt,

I just want to get at the truth.

"Isn't this romantic?" giggled a female ensign as she read through Chapter 7 of "Break In Two:Electric Boogaloo", then sang out loud "I know that you love me, there's no need to talk..."

"Yeah!" her friend joined in. "Whoever this NastyNellie2424 is, they're a real gem. One has to wonder why they haven't got this formally published yet!"

"Have you read their Blue Beetle fic yet?" asked a third, a doe-eyed boy. "Seriously, Jaime Reyes in that one is the luckiest. He's got this crazy protective bug boo that's stuck with him, both literally and figuratively..."

"I did." said the first ensign. "Truth be told, I'm a big Nellie fan. The Enterprise Saga's just my favorite. I sometimes wish I got a Pierce and a S'Tyge instead of a Kirk and a Spock!"

"Yeah, they're so boring." said another ensign.

"Mates?" said a thick Scottish brogue from the other side of the engineering section. "What are ye all gossipin' on?"

The first ensign turned her head to see Montgomery Scott. "Oh, it's nothing. Just another NastyNellie2424 classic. Captain Pierce's trying to seduce Commander D'Varo again..."

"Lassie..." Scotty sighed. "If ye like that writer's work, I be in no position ta judge ya but th' way they be portrayin' me Enterprise, I dinnae like it."

"What's wrong with the Enterprise being a warship?" asked the first ensign. "If anything, Nellie made her even more badass!"

Scotty face-palmed.

Meanwhile, at a cafe, Gaila was chatting with some of her lady friends about the side character from NastyNellie2424's Enterprise Saga, Savna the red shirt. "She's such a superhero." she sighed. "Like, Tony Stark but if he was a female Orion. The book doesn't even have her using her beauty or pheromones to her advantage! I have a feeling she'll reject all her suitors, male and female both, and fall in love with the Enterprise instead. Nellie's Enterprise, that is."

"Makes sense." said an Asian woman named Lydia Kuze.

"It's honestly amazing." Gaila said. "Her father smuggled her out of an arranged marriage and brought her to Earth where she enrolled in Starfleet Academy and grew into the woman she is today, so much like me!"

Keisha O'Neil, another woman with caramel-colored skin, sipped her mango ade. "Nothing wrong with some good ol' badass women." she said.

"Hey, girls!" said a fourth woman with short pale blonde hair as she joined the three. "What's so amusing?"

"NastyNellie2424." said Keisha. "Have you not been informed of any of their literary works? Seriously, they write the most spectacular, most epic, most ambitious, most mind-numbingly bizarre diarrhea hurricanes, they belong right up there with Hemingway, Dickens and Shakespeare."

The blonde took a seat that was left vacant, and Lydia gave her her PADD. "Break In Two:Electric Boogaloo's all the rage these days, but to understand it, you must read From Arinne, With Love first."

"OK." said the blonde, and looked over the summary of From Arinne, With Love. "Hmm, let's see, S'Tyge of clan D'Varo, a disgraced Romulan warrior, once a decorated starship commander but now a social outcast, joins Starfleet just to give everyone who rejected him the biggest middle finger of their lives. There, he meets this beautiful cadet named Jamie Pierce who, for some STRANGE reason, never fails to piss him off Every. Single. Time. Then one day, their mutual mentor, Admiral Salazar, is taken hostage by a villainous organization known as Octopus, led by a man named Noroi, so S'Tyge and Pierce have no choice but to join forces, overcome their differences and ride their hoverbikes through an alien volcano to defeat Noroi and save Salazar, the shared experience of which cause them to fall in love. Not bad."

"And there's also a lot of steamy hot scenes between the two leads! Oh, the unforgettable moment where S'Tyge finally gives into his desires and outright asks Jamie if he can have sex with him..." Keisha squee'd.

The blonde snickered. "Looks like you've piqued my interest."

"Indeed, Carol, Nellie is seriously a gifted person." said Gaila.

"I'll give them a chance." said Carol.

Watching them from afar, Nyara Pike smiled. Looks like she was doing the rounds on unassuming Starfleet officers. She turned and started on her way, listening to a Taylor Swift song, a spring in her step. She was going on her first date with the woman she met at a bar about a week ago.

Cruel Summer-Taylor Swift

Fever dream high in the quiet of the night,

You know that I caught it,

Bad, bad boy,

Shiny toy with a price,

You know that I bought it,

Killing me slow, out the window,

I'm always waiting for you to be waiting below,

Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes,

What doesn't kill me makes me want you more,

And it's new, the shape of your body,

It's blue, the feeling I've got,

And it's ooh, whoa, oh,

It's a cruel summer.

It's cool, that's what I tell 'em,

No rules in breakable heaven,

But ooh, whoa oh,

It's a cruel summer,

With you.

Hang your head low,

In the glow of the vending machine,

I'm not dying,

You say that we'll just screw it up in these trying times,

We're not trying.

So cut the headlights, summer's a knife,

I'm always waiting for you just to cut to the bone,

Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes,

And if I bleed, you'll be the last to know,

Oh, it's new, the shape of your body,

It's blue, the feeling I've got,

And it's ooh, whoa, oh,

It's a cruel summer.

It's cool, that's what I tell 'em,

No rules in breakable heaven,

But ooh, whoa, oh,

It's a cruel summer.

With you,

I'm drunk in the back of the car,

And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar, (oh)

Said, "I'm fine, " but it wasn't true,

I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you,

And I snuck in through the garden gate,

Every night that summer just to seal my fate, (oh)

And I screamed for whatever it's worth,

"I love you, " ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?

He looks up grinning like a devil,

It's new, the shape of your body,

It's blue, the feeling I've got,

And it's ooh, whoa, oh,

It's a cruel summer.

It's cool, that's what I tell 'em,

No rules, in breakable heaven,

But ooh, whoa, oh,

It's a cruel summer.

With you,

I'm drunk in the back of the car.

And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar. (oh)

Said, "I'm fine, " but it wasn't true,

I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you,

And I snuck in through the garden gate,

Every night that summer just to seal my fate, (oh)

And I screamed for whatever it's worth,

"I love you, " ain't that the worst thing you ever heard?

Nyara arrived in front of a fancy movie theater. Her date, Isana Rei, was waiting for her there. "You ready for the time of your life?" she asked.

"Hell yes." replied Nyara. They were going out to watch the newest summer blockbuster action comedy movie, "Nacelles Of Glory" directed by one Z. Snyder, which told the strange case of a red shirt named Ensign Nicky Lane and a half-machine, half-god named Aris—a mismatched pair of social rejects who team up upon discovering a loophole that will change the fate of the galaxy forever. Their opponents were the ruthless Captain Stranz LaRocca and his sister and first officer Nightly, who had been up to some shady business behind the backs of everyone in Starfleet.

The two women walked into the theater, got some popcorn and two bottles of Mountain Dew, settled down into their seats, and waited for the movie to begin.

And begin it did. Nicky Sanara Kaiwa-Lane, child prodigy, born to warrior princess Juni Kaiwa and engineering genius Jackson Lane, enlisted in Starfleet at the tender age of 14, only to be stuck in the lower decks, a most unfair treatment. He was a superstar, just like his parents, but unfortunately, no one aboard the USS Dickweed (yes, that was the ship's actual name) seemed to recognize his brilliance. Then he met Aris, a stowaway on the ship, and from the get-go, it was clear they had no way of getting along. Then they overheard the LaRocca siblings' Evil Plan™, forcing them to team up for the good of all red shirts, and to save the Federation from getting dragged into an unnecessary war.

It was a great movie, with a lot of action in it, and it was two hours and forty minutes long. At the climax of the movie, Nicky suddenly grabbed Aris and exclaimed "By the way, I'd like to say I've always found you extremely attractive!" before kissing xem fiercely, full on the lips, much to the disgust of Nicky's fellow red shirts, as "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" by Aerosmith played in the background.

"Now that's closure." said Aris as xe chuckled dreamily, totally dazed. Little pink hearts manifested around xem.

Nyara blushed a deep purple, a doofy smile plastered on her face, eyes glued to the screen, utterly lost in the moment. Her date, on the other hand, looked uncomfortable, disgusted even.

LATER...

"Oh, honey, what's wrong?" asked Number One as her daughter entered the Pike household, head hung low.

Nyara said nothing, and just looked at her mother with large pleading eyes. Number One, noticing that something was wrong, wrapped her in a hug and they stayed that way for twenty minutes before breaking apart, and Number One asked "Lemme guess, your date stood you up?"

"Yes, Mother." Nyara said. "Well, sort of. We walked out of that movie and she said, "no, I don't wanna go through the pain of losing a significant other to death again", and broke things off with me. Why do red shirts always have to look death straight in the eye?"

"We may never know." said a new voice, and Nyara turned to see her father.

"I'm gonna live." said Nyara, a hint of fire in her eyes. "I'm gonna wear red and survive the dangers of outer space and die an old lady warm in my bed. I won't let the color of my shirt decide my fate."

Pike patted his alien daughter's head. "That's my girl." he said. "Now, come on, get ready, the kids are coming for dinner."

Nyara nodded. She knew what her father meant by "the kids"—he was obviously referring to the main crew of the Enterprise.

Soon enough, the crew piled into the little suburban house, carrying presents—Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, and another Vulcan who Nyara did not know. This second Vulcan was a dark-skinned woman with freckles, and she kept her long purple hair in thick braids. The red mark on her right arm and the blue mark on her left arm shone of ruby and sapphire while her eyes shone in an emerald color, lined with gold glitter. The tips of her ears were also gold.

"Welcome, ladies, gentlemen, and...one girl I'm not acquainted with." said Number One as she greeted the crew.

"Oh, I'm Ensign Sophie Sophus, seventeen years old." said the dark-skinned Vulcan woman. "You can call me by my birth name T'Ren, but I prefer Sophie."

"O-o-h, that's when you met Captain Sophus!" said one of the kids.

"Indeed." said the admiral. "She was one of the best things that happened to me. Are you ready to hear all about her?"

"Yes!" the children all exclaimed, despite having heard the entire thing before, more than once.

Nyara chuckled. "OK, kids, you gotta buckle up, 'cause this one can get a bit dark."