Trekking through the Stars

by omaster43

The galaxy is a big space filled with heroes, but those heroes need to start somewhere, and that place is the bottom. Have fun with Nathaniel and the crew of the Cerritos fumbling their way to victory... or an early grave, whatever comes first. I just wanted to do this because I like Lower Decks, fun show with fun characters that don't take things too seriously, even if they should

3. Chapter 3

Ch 3

Nothing like a Party~

-/-

Nate Witt POV

"Shit, shit, shit!" I dodged around the crowd of people shopping in the market square. "I'm so late! Excuse me! Excuse me!" I danced around a group of people, keeping my package secure.

I finally reached my destination, K'Tuevon Prime's nicest event silo, my cousin got married there.

"You're late," my Half-Prime half-human cousin, Nancy, huffed.

"Getting the Cake was impossible!" I opened the box revealing the perfectly reserved cake with the words, 'Congratulations on the escape, imperial magistrate Clar,' written in Prime. "They got the name wrong, I swear that old lady needs a hearing aid."

"Just go deliver it, the etching is almost over, I think your friends are idiots, I'm going to see if we can extend our time" She shooed me toward the main stage as she went towards the reception desk.

"...You clearly want us to say that the captain and her crew messed up, but we simply don't have the full story, and that's the truth!" Boimler was giving a rather impressive speech about something. I snuck over to the food table and gently put the cake in the center. "Whatever they did, I guarantee you it was all for good. You have shown no evidence that they're guilty of a crime. In fact, I find you guilty of trying to take them down with this sham of a trial! Drumhead!" he dropped the Horn of Candor.

What the hell did I miss!?

"What... you think this is a trial?" Clar asked.

Oh my Q... my friends are idiots.

"Uh, yes?" Boimler whispered.

Clar sighed, "Can someone bring up the light?"

The silo lit up, showing off all the decorations for Clar's epic escape party.

"Nate!?" Tendi called out.

"What the hell man!?" Olly screamed. "How long were you there!?"

"I gave testimony!" Rutherford panicked.

"I GOT EELED!" Becky hissed. That didn't surprise me.

I looked over at the large container of eels in the silo. "Really Clar?" I sighed.

"You told me your friends were smart; they thought this was a trial!?" Clar hissed.

"Don't you hiss at me, I know you've been kidnapped by by Romulans a year ago, but you can't just expect people to know Prime culture!" I hissed back. "Also, I got your cake."

"Thank you. AND YOUR FRIENDS SHOULD KNOW BETTER!"

"STOP YELLING!" I yelled... calmly. "Have you done any etching!?" I looked at the wall. "Oh, my Q, you haven't written a damn thing. 'No, we should make it a big event,' you said. How much time do we have left?" I hissed grabbing the nearest etching tool.

"30 seconds," the unimpressed receptionist walked into the room, an annoyed Nancy walking behind him.

"'No, 22 minutes is plenty of time,' you said," I muttered under my breath. I tried remembering everything from the mission briefing. I just kept it simple. "Imperial magistrate Clar was saved by the brave crew of the Cerritos against the villainous Romulans in an epic battle of strength and wit."

"Okay that's enough," The receptionist called out.

"But we didn't get into the details!" Clar whined.

"That's not my fault; we offered some scribes but you wanted to do it yourself. Other people wanna etch you know." he shooed us out of the silo.

Clar and Mariner arguing the whole way.

I knew I should have just sent Nancy.

We were escorted back to the Cerritos by the captain before we were dumped in eels.

"I leave you guys alone for 30 minutes and you're nearly killed by eels!?" I sighed.

Captain Freeman let us go with a warning about paying more attention to our surroundings and promising to be more transparent about our future missions. That wasn't going to last, The Bridge crew never tells lower decks anything, mostly for plausible deniability, somethings Starfleet do are iffy on the legal side of things, most people wouldn't consider them crimes, but it could ruffle a bit of feathers.

"Why didn't you tell us about the trial?" Boimler hissed.

"I DID! But none of you were paying attention!" I huffed. I pointed at him, "You were too busy flirting with Barb," he looked away in embarrassment," I pointed at Rutherford, Olly, and Tendi, "You three were way too into Prime tech."

"Why was it glowing!?" Tendi yelled.

"And blue?" Sam added.

"The energy had a weird taste," Olly muttered.

"And you," I looked over at Becky.

"I was paying attention!" she huffed.

"You were sleeping with your eyes open," I countered.

"I've gotten good at it," she smirked.

"You look like a creepy mime," I corrected.

"Yeah, you don't blink," Olly nodded.

"And sometimes you smile," Tendi shivered.

"I was having a good dream," Becky shrugged.

"Yeah well, it was creepy," Boimler huffed.

"Next time I'm going draw a mustache on your face," I warned.

"He'll do it," Rutherford nodded.

"I'm beginning to worry that you're being too Riker and not enough Kirk," I huffed at Mariner.

She scoffed. "What does that mean?"

"Kirk reads his mission briefings and tries to keep to the job before getting into trouble, Riker almost makes it his goal to get into trouble during his mission. What's going on with you? What's going on with us~? I feel like our teamwork has hit some kind of wall. Who has their rope?" I pulled my rope from my belt.

"Uh," she checked her waist. "Oh, come on~. I forgot."

"Mariner~," Boimler sighed, holding up his rope, along with everyone else.

"You all remembered your ropes!?" she gawked at us.

"After the ship became a jungle it kinda became my comfort rope," Rutherford answered. "As long as I have it, I can do anything, or at the very least escape."

"So what's going on?" I asked.

"Nothing is going on! I just forgot some stupid rope." We gasped. "It's just rope!"

I cupped her face, "I challenge you, Beckett Mariner!" I squished her face in annoyance.

She put her fingers in my mouth and stretched them as far as possible.

"I ACCEPT!"

-/-

Beckett Mariner POV

Stupid Nate and his stupid face and his stupid challenge. I'm going to beat him up and make him apologize, I'm not sure for what but he's going to apologize.

"Mariner, maybe you should just apologize, the whole trial party thing has us all wired up," Boimler begged. He and Rutherford were my coaches; they were not doing a good job.

"No way," I huffed, stretching out my muscles. We were in the holo-gym getting ready for Nate's stupid challenge. Shaxs was here acting as the referee, also a bunch of people were here acting like a peanut gallery. Turns out Nate had way more fans than me, and by more fans, I meant everyone else on the ship. Yeesh, I didn't think I made that many enemies.

"Did you insult his mother or something?" Ruther whispered to me.

"No, why?"

"Because he looks ready to bury you."

We looked over at Nate who stood next to a worried Tendi and Olly, glaring at me like I slapped his mother, a tint of rainbow energy sparking off him.

"He's going to kill you, and then he's going to kill us for talking to you," Boimler panicked.

"I'm too young to be murdered," Rutherford cried. "I always thought I was going to die discovering Warp 17!"

"Relax, I got this," I scoffed. Nate didn't scare me, no matter how much cosmic power he had, he was still human... ish, I think he's part Betazoid, I wasn't sure, but he was only 29, so he was basically human. I looked around our battlefield, "What kind of battle is this anyway? Good ol' fisticuffs? Weapons? Diplomacy?" Q, I hope not.

Boimler sighed, "I don't know why I explain things to you if you're not going to listen. It's a simple obstacle course, best two out of three, all chosen by Shaxs."

"What kind of obstacle race?"

They shrugged, "That's up to Shaxs, it could be fighting-"

"Yes~," I fist pumped.

"-Or diplomacy," Rutherford finished.

"No~," I groaned.

"It could be anything really," Boimler shrugged. "You just have to be ready for anything."

"You guys are no help," I huffed.

"Hey, we're not the ones who insulted our emergency rope." Rutherford crossed his arms.

"It's just rope!" I hissed.

Boimler groaned. "It's more than a rope you idiot, it's-"

"Coaches, move away. We begin," Shaxs cut him off.

"Relax, I got this." I stretched out my muscles. "I'll give him a good butt-kicking and will be back to normal by dinner." Boimler and Rutherford shared a look before moving out of the way. What a bunch of babies, Nate's a big boy he can take a bone-crushing defeat.

"First challenge, Finding the perfect Birthday gift," Shaxs called out.

"OH COME ON!" I yell, "You're just making us do chores!"

"Probably yours," Nate agreed.

"I get to choose the challenges," Shaxs huffed, passing us a list of the bridge crew. "And they better be heartfelt. Return here for judgment, 30 minutes, BEGIN!"

Nate took off, probably heading to the nearest replicator. I followed after him, looking at the list, Ransom.

Weights, duh. I looked up to find Nate missing. Did he take a different turn? The nearest replicator is just down the hall.

Whatever. I quickly replicated some weights. Next, Dr. T... shit, catnip? Mom, uh... old-timey Captain's hat? Billups... Scanner? Dr. Migleemo!? I didn't even think they even talked. I'll just get him a fruit salad.

I gave my gifts a look and shrugged, good enough. I returned to the gym, beating Nate.

"First!" I gave my stuff to Shaxs with the rest of the Bridge Crew standing next to him, looking bemused at his challenge.

"Let's see," Shaxs muttered. He handed the gifts out.

"Weights?" Ransom muttered. "How original~. 4 out of 10."

"What, you work out all the time!" I huffed.

He started lifting the weights, "Yeah, I have a million of these, you and every other Ensign looking for a promotion gives me one."

"Beckett," Mom held up her gift, "Did you know this was a pirate's hat?" she pointed to the skull and crossbones on the hat.

"Uh... it goes with your uniform?"

"3 out of 10."

Dr. T gasped, and hid her gift, "10 out of 10. No more questions."

"What did she give you?" Shaxs asked, his eyes narrowed.

"I SAID NO QUESTIONS!" Shaxs quickly grabbed her. "HEY!?" she hissed trying to claw out his eyes.

"What did you get her!?" Mom demanded.

"Catnip."

"YOU CAN'T GIVE A CAITIAN CATNIP!" she roared, helping Shaxs remove the gift. "Their sense of smell is nearly 15 times better than a human's!"

It took a few seconds but we were able to wrestle the Catnip from Dr. T's claws. Everyone came out with some scratches.

"That's still a 10, right?" I asked.

They glared at me.

"Is this a scanner? I already have a scanner, a T88 that I got... legally," Billups muttered, looking side to side. "2 out of 10."

"Fruit salad?" Migleemo muttered, eating some mango. "It's okay, I guess, nothing new or stylish. 2 out of 10."

"11 out of 50. Not a great turnout ensign," Shaxs muttered.

"I guess we're not counting that 10 from Dr. T~," I teased, they did not look amused.

It took 20 minutes but Nate finally returned.

"Sorry it took me so long, they had me on hold for longer than I wanted," he muttered. "What happened to you guys?"

"Nothing, continue," Mom huffed.

"Okay~," he pulled out some tickets, "Captain Freeman, we're due in Douglas Station next month for our stress test, I was able to get you dinner reservations at the Jazz Walk, for you and your husband."

She swiped the ticket right out of his hands. "The Jazz Walk!? How did you get these!? I've been trying for months!"

"I used to work there when I was stationed on the base, the owner owed me a favor."

"Solid 10!" she gave him a thumbs up.

"Dr. T, I got you that, uh, box you wanted?" he shrugged.

She patted the wooden box, "Oh~, is this walnut? Nice. 8."

"Billups, tickets to Engineering Con, for next month, I know you wanted to go after the ship's stress test to unwind, unfortunately the VIP tickets have been gone since January. Yes Sam, Olly, I got yours!"

"Alright!" they cheered.

"That's a 9 from me," Billups cheered, holding up his pass.

"Dr. Migleemo," he passed the bird man a steak, "I'm not the best chief, especially by Klowahkan standards, but I know you appreciate something hand-cooked."

"Mmm, medium-well, a bit charred on the edges, but I would eat it in an emergency. 5."

"Thank you, sir. And Commander Ransom, I know you wanted to go to this year's Mr. Universe contest, but I thought you were selling yourself short," he passed Ransom a poster with a number on it. "So, if you want, I have added you to the beginner's section of the competition. You have the body and determination."

Ransom just looked at the card in his hand, "10," he whispered, wiping away a tear.

"Nate's 42 to Mariner's... 11. Nate wins. This also counts as my gifts for the year." the crowd cheered.

"11?" he muttered to me.

"Shut up," I hissed.

"I want my apology in writing, I want to frame it over my bed," he teased.

"Get bent."

"Madame~, I'm married," he huffed.

"To a wife I hooked you up with," I muttered.

He giggled a bit, "Was my wedding nice, I couldn't be there."

"Yeah, too busy hiding from your ex," I scoffed.

"Like a man."

"You got lucky with the first challenge."

"You got an 11, I could have gotten them lunch and I would have scored at least 15."

Lunch! How did I forget about lunch!?

"Next Challenge!" Shaxs called out. "Combat!"

"Yes~," I fist pumped, I know Nick was tough, I'm not denying that, but all them big muscles slow him down.

"Defeat the enemy and escape, safety parameters... low. Begin!"

Wait what? He didn't tell us what we're fighting? The gym disappeared, replaced with a rocky desert landscape.

"Great... how very nondescript~," I muttered.

"RAHHH!" I turned to find a Gorn on top of a rocky cliff. And here I was without a phaser rifle. Normally you don't fight a Gorn on foot, they tend to be faster, deadlier than most humans, and they love hand-to-hand combat.

But I've fought my fair share of Gorn. I took off through the cliffs, looking for the coldest spot I could find, I spotted a cave. That will do. Fun fact about deserts, they're hot, like, really hot, over a hundred degrees, but caves are cold, about an average of 50 degrees, going into a cold place after being in a hot can be a shock to the system, and we're warm-blooded. A Gorn tends to freeze at the change, just for a second. One tiny second.

I grabbed a sharp rock and dipped into the cave, the Gorn hot on my heels. The sudden cold froze the sweat on my skin. I turned to find the Gorn hissing at the sudden temperature change.

Giving me the second I needed to shove the rock into its earhole. It gave a single twitch, before falling dead. I quickly checked its body, I doubt Shaxs would have put more than one in the challenge, another Gorn would have made it impossible.

"There it is," I pull out a ship beacon. It took a second for the ship's transporter to grab my location.

The desert began to fade away, I won.

I turned to see Nick covered in energy, prying the Gorn's mouth open with his bare hands. His shirt was torn and his muscular chest gleamed with sweat and blood.

"RAR!" he snapped the Gorn's neck. The reptoid gave a final gurgle before fading, the desert turning back into the gym. "Damn~," he hissed, tearing off the remains of his uniform top. He hissed as the claw marks on his chest healed themself. Oh, come on, Cosmic energy is such a cheat. Even the scars faded, which was a shame... those were some sexy scars.

I ran my eyes down his chest and all his... sexy... sexy scars.

I looked away, he was still married, it's a fake marriage, but still married.

"5-minute break," Shaxs called out.

"Holy Q that was scary," Brad and Sam came running over giving me water and dabbing me with a cold towel.

"It was just a Gorn, I fought worse," I huffed.

"Yeah, no. I was talking about Nate," Brad huffed.

"You couldn't see it but Nate fought that guy with his bare hands,"

"It was a freaking gladiator fight," Sam muttered.

"I've never seen anything like it," Brad muttered. "You're not supposed to fight Gorn like that."

"2-minutes," Shaxs warned, "And grab some hiking gear." he dropped two rucksacks.

Sam picked it up for me, checking what it had.

"Shit~," I huffed. Stamina test. I looked over to Nick, thanking Tendi for getting him a new shirt. Shame~... god I'm thirsty.

"Here you go," Sam gave me a rucksack. "It has a bit of climbing gear."

"Couches!" Shaxs jutted his thumb to the stands.

"Good luck," Brad patted me on the back.

"You got this," Sam nodded.

"You can still give up~," Nick teased, standing next to me.

"Scared?" I smirked.

"Of you? Hell yeah. Did that Gorn hit you on the head causing you to forget how badass you are?" he smirked back.

I elbowed him in the ribs. "You're not so bad yourself... I'm still going to beat you~."

"Oh, it's on."

"GO!" Shaxs yelled catching us off guard.

The room changed into a mountain path.

We took off. Like I said, Nate was tough but slow. I quickly pulled ahead, but Nate wasn't a slouch, keeping a steady pace behind me. The first test was a rope bridge over a river. I didn't know the safety settings, so I wasn't going to test fall damage. I'm just happy I wasn't scared of highs.

One foot ahead of the other, I did slip up a bit when Nick climbed on the rope but I quickly regained my balance, I had to fall into Nick's heavier rhythm or be thrown off. I could feel the bastard getting closer.

"Fee fi fo thumb!" Nate laughed.

"Eat a dick!" I flipped him off. Getting to the other end I followed the path... until there wasn't a path anymore. "Fuck," Did I make a wrong turn?

No, this was probably another test. I started looking for clues.

I quickly looked through my pack. Rutherford was right this thing was filled with climbing gear, so wherever the finish line was, I had to climb to get there.

I looked around but only found trees. Shit, I quickly climbed a nearest tree, trying to get my bearings. It didn't take me long to find a gorge, and Nate, used his cosmic powers to jump over the tree line, heading for the gorge. Why was going down a tree harder than climbing up?

The gorge was due west from here, I just had to follow the shadows, or Nate's heavy clomping. The bastard was cheating.

The gorge was about a half mile out and by the time I got there, Nate was setting up his gear.

I just dropped my pack and started climbing down.

"Becky? What are you doing!? The walls are wet!" Nate warned.

"I ain't scared!" I laugh at danger.

And then my hand slipped, Gravity, being the bitch it was, dragged me down. I know I said I wasn't scared of heights, but falling from a high place makes you rethink some fears. I looked up at the blue simulated sky, wind flooding my ears... the floor was going to hurt.

Nate's glowing body came into frame, tackling me in the air, clinging to me like a spider monkey. The rope around his harness went taught and swung us into the cliffside. Nate held my head to his chest, protecting me from most of damage.

"Nate!?" I held on to him. Something warm dripped on my face.

"Where is your rope," he hissed.

His head was bleeding.

"Oh my god, Nate you're bleeding," I put pressure on the gash on his forehead. He hissed.

"Where is your rope?"

"Who cares!?" the blood was still coming out.

"I DO! YOU IDIOT!" he roared. I've never seen him so angry... and scared.

Oh... oh.

I'm an idiot. I just held on to him.

"I'm sorry," I held him close. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay." he reached out and grabbed the wall, "Come on, we still need to get down."

The climb down was slow, with my hand keeping pressure on his head, but we got to the bottom, the simulation coming to an end.

We both got yelled out. Mom was furious... and scared, seeing your only daughter falling into a gorge tended to spike the blood pressure.

Nate was fine, the cut wasn't very big, but the face had a bunch of blood vessels so it wasn't too surprising, Tendi patched him up in less than a second, it didn't even leave a scar.

The challenge ended with a tie.

With everything over with and the day finally coming to an end, I laid in my cubby. Nate's bleeding face kept me awake.

I slowly got out of my bed and made my way over to Nate's room. I just needed to make sure he was okay.

Entering the code Tendi gave me on the door's pad, I was greeted by a huge room.

This place was so unfair, it was easily as big as the captain's room, maybe even bigger.

I found Nate, Tendi, and Olly sleeping in the same bed like a couple of puppies trying to stay warm, it was cute.

"Nnn, Mariner?" Tendi squinted at me half asleep. "Is that you? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, uh, no, I just, uh, wanted to make sure Nate was okay," I whispered.

She blinked at me, before moving over a little, giving me space to climb into between her and Nate. "I know the fear." she patted the bed. "We have to get up in... 5 hours, come on," she yawned.

I crawled into the bed, Tendi spooning me from behind. She was slightly cool, but Nate's above-average warmth made up for it.

"Night," She whispered.

"...Night."

Nate's deep breaths and rocking chest put me to sleep.

I don't know if there is a god, but... I thank them for the Witt Clan.

-/-

Warm~, was the only thing that came to mind as I woke up. Opening my eyes I found myself spooned by Nate and Tendi. Nate must have moved during the night. I looked up at his sleeping face. I managed to wiggle my hand up to his face, my fingers grazing his forehead. I still remember the warmth of his blood pouring through my fingers.

Nate gave a tiny groan. He gently cupped my hand and started kissing down my arm. He was still asleep; it was probably something he used to do with Durga.

I should stop him... I should say something... he reached my neck. Damn it, how long has it been since I got laid? His kiss was tender, at first. The second I opened my mouth, he attacked me. I might not like Durga, but she taught him well, a soft moan coming from Tendi reached my ears.

As Nate let me breathe, I turned my head to find his hands wrapped around me, landing around Tendi's butt. Whoops~. I turned back to Nate... one more kiss couldn't hurt, right? Just one, just... one. I looked over Nate's shoulder to see Olly smirking at me.

Shit~.

She didn't say anything, just pressed a finger to her lips, and kissed Nate's shoulder, getting him to hunt her, where she locked lips with him. He disentangled from Tendi and me, trying to grab Olly, but she gave him a pillow, and like a confused snake, he spooned it.

She tossed me a wink and poked out her tongue. She got out of bed and walked to their private sonic shower. She beckoned her finger at me, telling me to follow her.

I shouldn't.

It wasn't hard to latch Tendi to Nate, he was warmer than me, and that did most of the work. Walking into the showers I didn't see Olly, only for her to appear behind me, wrapping her hands around my waist.

"Someone's been naughty~," she whispered into my ear, as her hands worked on removing my tank top.

"It's not like that~," I moaned. Her fingers danced up my body reaching my breasts.

"You wanna know a secret? Tendi does the same thing, she acts innocent, but I've caught her more than once." she pinched, sending tiny jolts of lightning through my body.

"Olly~," I whimpered.

"Next time~," she whispered before an alarm clock went off.

-/-

I opened my eyes, to the ceiling.

...FEEEEECK~. I'm having wet dreams now!? What am I, 15?

"Work time~," Nate groaned.

"No~," Olly whimpered, covering his mouth like it was an alarm clock.

"I have morning rounds with Dr. T'ana," Tendi whimpered, hugging me close and shoving her head in the crook of my neck. "You smell nice."

"Thanks~," I smirked.

Nate quirked an eyebrow but didn't open his eyes. "Becky?"

"Yeah?"

He leaned over and sniffed me. "Cherries~."

"Let me get a sniff," Olly slithered over.

"Don't sniff me you weirdos~," I huffed, pressing myself deeper into his chest, but didn't shove them away, it was three against one and I didn't have the energy.

"Don't you have bridge duty today?" Nate asked.

"Ugh~, Don't remind me."

Tendi hugged me close whether to comfort me or steal my warmth I wasn't sure.

"You'll do fine," She placed her head in the crook of my neck, as her legs moved up to my thighs. Yep, she was stealing my warmth. I tried getting up, but she held me down.

"Tendi?"

"Mmm?" she tickled my neck.

"I need to get up."

"Mmm," she huffed.

I rolled over, placing her on top of Nick, she let me go and latched onto Nick. Thanks for your wisdom, Dream Olly.

I got up from the bed. For the first time in a long time, my back didn't hurt, what the shit? Couple rooms have the best stuff, I should have lied and been Nate's wife.

"Tendi~, it's breakfast time," Nate teased, trying to wake his fake wife.

"No," she hissed.

Nate laughed, "Okay~." he got up anyway, Tendi hugging him like a sloth. "What do you want for breakfast?" he asked, walking over to the kitchen.

"You're not even going to ask why I'm here?" I huffed.

"Nah, I trust you. If you needed to be here, then you needed to be here. I'm thinking hash browns, with some bacon, eggs, and sausage." he put an apron around himself and Tendi, taking the food out of the fridge.

"Why not replicate the food?" I asked.

He shrugged, "It feels more special if you cook it, ya know?"

"What a dork," I teased, sitting at the kitchen counter, watching him cook. The smell was great, it even woke up Tendi, much to her annoyance.

Breakfast was good, would have tasted the same if we replicated it, but then I wouldn't have Nate in an apron, so I approved.

Things kinda continued like this for a couple of days. I would go to sleep in my cubby, but I would always return to Nate's room. At first, I would just say it was to make sure he was okay... but then the wet dreams continued. They became more and more vivid, lasting just that little bit longer. One night I woke up dry-humping Olly, it didn't help that she was massaging my butt in her sleep.

I had to go cold turkey and return to my cubby.

The first night back in my bed I had a nightmare. Nate's head cracked open on the gorge's rocky walls, holding me in his death grip. Woke up crying and sweating. It was terrible, I felt sick, I ran right back into their room, and held on to him the whole night, we even called in a sick day so we could just lay in bed.

He didn't ask any questions and just held me.

I didn't know when it happened but one day I realized that a good deal of the stuff I got on my away missions had been hung up around the room. When I asked the others they just said it brought the room together. I even had my own little clothes drawer.

...Son of a bitch! I've been domesticated.

Well, I'll show them! Beckett Mariner is no one's loving hero wife!

-/-

...Okay, I may have gone a bit too far.

I caused a tiny little uprising, but in my defense, those Lizard people were dumb and adorable and enjoyed basking in sunlight! They shouldn't be eaten by some rat bastards.

Still, plunging an entire planet into a civil war was a step too far.

Thanks to that I was ordered to attend therapy with Dr. Migleemo. He really was the worst therapist in Starfleet, I mean he would probably be great as a chef's therapist and food judge, but the man knew nothing about helping people in a Starship.

"Still upset?" Nate teased, shouldering his shotgun and blowing his clay target to dust. Most of our group was in the holodeck letting off some steam, shooting clay pigeons with Leonardo da Vinci.

"Ugh! They were eating those guys!" I hissed.

"Yeah, but you need to get that in writing," Olly smirked, taking a shot but missing. "Dip~," she cursed.

"WHY!?" I demanded.

"Effort," Nate answered. "Sure, you brought freedom and justice, but when does it end? Should the Lizard people kill all the Ratfolk? Can you even stop them?"

"...No," I muttered.

"Are you going to rule over them?" Rutherford asked, taking a shot.

"No!" I scoffed.

"Then you are going to need someone to keep order, a lot of someones, like... Starfleet~," Olly teased.

"UGH!" I threw my hands in the air. I hated it when they made sense.

"You shouldn't feel too bad, those rat guys were eating other sentient creatures, there has to be a law against that," Tendi nodded, blasting her target to dust.

Rutherford aimed his gun, destroying his target. "How'd you get on the planet in the first place? If it was off limits then Lundy would have never beamed you down."

"Aren't Anticans, the rat/dog people, part of the Federation?" Nate asked. "Picard brought a group of them to a peace meeting like 10 years ago."

"THANK YOU!" I pointed at Nate. "Someone's making sense."

"Yeah, but did you know that at the time?" Olly asked. "It sounds a lot like you were loose cannoning all over the place."

"You said that you got a mission on the planet, right, is there a paper trail?" Nate asked. "Something that proves you were supposed to be there?"

"Would that even help at this point?" I groaned.

He passed me his gun. "I'll see what I can do, for you to be on that planet, multiple things must have failed." he raced out of the room, dancing around Brad who walked into the room.

Da Vinci popped off a shot, hitting his target. Pretty good for a man who lived in the time of the flintlock.

"Nice shot, Da Vinci," Tendi complimented.

"Grazie," Leo tipped his hat.

"Hey, guys," Brad greeted. "Do you mind if I take over the deck? I got a big evaluation with Captain Freeman this afternoon. She's selecting eager-to-please candidates for her advanced diplomacy workshop. Problem is, I don't know how eager to please," he whined.

"Brad... That's the nerdiest thing I have ever heard, and I got lectured by Tendi about how the appendix used to be useful," Olly huffed.

"Appendixes are cool!" Tendi countered, Da Vinci nodding in agreement.

"Oh~," Olly hugged her. "Of course they are sweety." she shook her head at us.

"Are you shaking your head?" Tendi asked.

"No~." she nodded.

"Da Vinci, if you won't mind," Brad asked, putting in his code in the Holodeck.

"Chase your dreams with open eyes Bradward," Da Vinci faded. As a simulation of the bridge and her crew replaced the villa we were popping shots at.

"Ugh, you simulated the crew," I muttered.

"Yeah, that way, I can pre-interview so I don't make any mistakes when it's for real. I uploaded seven years of entries from the entire crew's Private logs..." he was way too excited.

"Aren't those Private?" Rutherford asked.

"...and it Algorithmically created a perfect simulation of everyone on the Cerritos," he answered, ignoring Rutherford's question.

"Ah~," Sam nodded, walking over to fake Shaxs. "Hey, buddy. How's it going?"

"DON'T TALK TO ME! I'M PISSED OFF!" Shaxs yelled.

"Whoa!" Sam smiled. "Amazing! We had that exact same conversation an hour ago."

"Yep~," Brad smugly groaned, "All I got to do is feed it any scenario, and the simulated crew will fill in the blanks. It will give me an edge in my interview."

"There had to be easier ways to do this~," Olly muttered, snapping her fingers in front of fake Ransom's face.

Any... Scenario? "Perfect Simulation?" I asked, looking at my mother's annoying hero look she does on the bridge. An evil laugh may have escaped my lips.

"I don't like that look," Brad muttered.

I raced to the holodeck's computer and started typing away.

"Hey wait, what are you doing!?" Brad rushed over. "Interior. Rickety metal catwalk. Night? Mariner! You can't write that about the captain."

"Why waste this on some dumb interview prep?" I scoffed, "I'm putting in my own parameters." she wants me to work out some stress? I'll work out some stress.

"If Freeman sees this, you'll get court-martialed!" Brad panicked, "What did she ever do to you?"

"You say I need Therapy? Okay, I'll go to therapy." I show you how I feel.

"Mariner, don't touch my code! Don't touch my-"

"THERAPY!" I gave a battle cry. The holodeck went dark as my program started.

"What did you do?" he whispered.

"I made it into an awesome movie!" I cheered. As opening credits flew overhead, which I had to dodge, maybe I should have added a few more parameters. One of the letters beaned Brad over the head, the threat level should be mid, right?

CRISIS POINT: THE RISE OF VINDICTA

Flew through the air. Oh, I'm going to work some shit out.

"Nice font," Rutherford muttered.

"A movie?" Brad guffawed, "What, did you write a whole script in two seconds?"

"Nah, I just, like, hit the act breaks, Couple set pieces." I shrugged; I wasn't going to blow my own horn but it was pretty good.

"Set pieces!?" He scoffed.

"The computer's filling in the rest. I made parts of the crew and us! It's going to be great!"

"I don't want to do a movie~," he whined. What Barb sees in this man, I had no idea, but I wasn't going to kink shame.

"That's okay," I waved away his fears, "You were kind of a Xon, to be honest. You probably weren't gonna make the final cut."

"Who's Xon?"

"Exactly~," I drawled.

"OOH!" Tendi cheered. "I always wanted to be in a movie! Can I be the voice of the ship!? Red alert! Red alert!" she called out.

"No, no, I got the perfect part for the three of you. You are going to love it." I led them away as Boimler kept whining. I'm sure the holodeck would create a roll for him.

-/-

"Uhm, Mariner?" Olly muttered, adjusting her toga, "This is a bit... drafty."

"You're telling me," Tendy muttered playing with her loincloth and leather top.

"You look great!" I complimented, putting on my face makeup.

"I don't know," Olly muttered, looking Tendi up and down, "putting an Orion in sexy clothes is kind of a cliche isn't it?"

"Well, if Nate was here, I would have put him in this," a hologram of Nate in a banana hemic and covered in jewels connected to a choker appeared.

"Whoa~," Olly muttered, blatantly eyeing our friend.

"Uh," Tendi blushed. "Why is he dressed like that?"

"It's a movie, and since you're the male eye candy, Nate was supposed to be the female eye candy. But since he's not here, the computer will place him somewhere else," I explained.

"Will he still be eye candy?" Tendi asked.

I shrugged. "Probably, why~, you wanna look~," I teased.

She gasped. "Mariner!"

I laughed, "Oh, come on. You've been married to the man for nearly 6 months now, are you really going to tell me you haven't seen him in the shower?"

"It's not like that!" she pouted.

"Then why are your cheeks on fire~," I teased. She covered her face. "What about you Olly? Have you seen anything?"

"I think we've all seen something, he walked around naked for nearly a week," she scoffed.

"That's different," I huffed. "He was a half-crazed sleepwalking Zombie. I'm talking about a real nakedness, fully awake and ready for action," I bounced my eyebrows.

"Every morning," she shrugged.

"OLLY!?" Tendi gasped.

"What? He's a man sleeping with two, sorry, three beautiful women, hasn't been able to relieve some stress, and we're never a few yards away. He's at full mast every morning. Didn't you feel it when you were in his body? I swear, if my powers didn't need self-control, I might have done some real naughty stuff. I'm just happy Nate allowed me to jerk it."

"Nate let you do that!?" Rutherford and Boimler made it very clear, that I wasn't allowed to touch anything I wasn't supposed to.

"Oh yeah~," Olly smirked. "Trust me, you can see a million videos but nothing is like the real thing."

"Can we please talk about anything else," Tendi begged.

"Fine, we won't talk about your sexless marriage," I teased. "How's your sister doing on earth?"

"She's fine, better than fine even. She's taken to officer training like a fish to water. You might have some competition in being the Ship Badass when she gets here."

I scoffed, "Bring it, I'm tired of having to compete with Nate and Shaxs, I want a real challenge." A tiny green light flashed over our changing room, "It's time people, to your places!" we ran into the bridge of an old-timey bird of prey, Rutherford was already waiting for us, doing some stretches. "Is my cape okay?" I asked.

"You look fine captain," Shempo, Boimler's stand-in, answered working the fake controls.

"Alright people, here we go, Remember, we're evil. Shempo, decloak us, and put us on screen."

"Enemy ship shields are up," Shempo answered, as the crew of the Cerritos appeared on screen with Boimler on the ship's controls. Clearly not happy with being here.

Time to work out some aggression, "HAHAHA! Like a rat to the bait, Free-man." I taunted. "Predictable as always!" I laughed some more.

"Who is this Marauder, Captain?" Shaxs glared at me.

"I... don't know," Mom muttered.

"I am VINDICTA! Vengeance personified! At last, Free-man, I will bathe in your blood!" I laughed some more.

Boimler rolled his eyes.

"BEHOLD! My four henchmen of the Apo... uh... of the Vin-Pocalypse!" I gestured to Tendi, "Tendi, my savage warrior queen, who comes from a long line of thieving Orion Pirates!"

Tendi looked shocked at my description, before controlling her emotions. "Yeah, nobody messes with Orions. I'll steal from anyone and never give it back. Theft!"

Oops, I think I may have touched a nerve.

"And, uh... B-Bionic 5, half Man-meat, half robot-meat, all pain!" I gestured to Rutherford.

"Tremble at the sight of the great Vindicta!" Rutherford cheered, getting into his role.

"And Olly the... uh, Destroyer of Olympus!" I gestured to Olly.

"Prepare to be sacrificed," Olly glared, tiny bolts of lightning dancing on her fingertips.

"And... Shempo."

"Hi, I'm Shempo, I was supposed to be played by Boimler." Boimler did not look happy. "I love my girlfriend, and I don't want to be doing this." Boimler sighed and nodded.

"You're posing at Starfleet. Why?" Mom demanded.

"Because I do what I want! Ugh, You're a jerk, Free-man." that... may have sounded a bit too whiny. "You are nothing but a propped-up errand girl, blindly licking Starfleet's boot and begging for heel!"

"OOOH! Vindicta got your ass~," Rutherford teased.

"Look, There's no need for theatrics, all right? I'm sure you're a reasonable-"

Shempo cut her off, handing me a cup. "Shempo got you tea, Master."

I took a sip, before spitting it out. "This is coffee!" I pulled out my disintegrator and dusted him.

"I was Shempo~," he wheezed into nothing.

Mom was going to say something, but I already put up a recorder of me saying some line from a poem or whatever and led my team to the drop pod.

"Yeah, quick question," Olly spoke up as the pod drilled through the Cerritos's hull.

"Yeah, what's up?" I checked my equipment.

"If Nick isn't with us... then he must be on the ship, right?"

"...I... guess," I answered.

"... what threat level is the movie? I'm only asking because we saw him kill a Gorn with his bare hands a few weeks ago," Olly muttered.

"Uh... it's low, so we should be fine." I hope. The pod jerked as we slammed into the ship. The door opened to a shocked crew, because of course Ma didn't warn the ship of a potential enemy intruder. I gave an evil laugh and shot the first person I saw, turning them to dust. "Free-man! Bring me Free-Ack!" my cape caught on the door. "God, these stupid capes. So much fabric," I whined, removing the cloth. Quickly dodge a small hail of phaser fire from the crew.

I was going to return fire, but Olly fired a beam of lightning, knocking the fighters on their ass.

"Gods I hate Robert, dude can't take a no," she muttered.

"Give me Free-man and I'll let you live!" I demanded.

"Never, witch!" Fake Lundy roared trying to take me down in CQC, but I wasn't called one of the best fighters on the ship for no reason.

I turned to the others talking, as Rutherford took off somewhere.

"Tendi, come on. Pirate it up. Make some slaves," I encouraged.

"Oh, uh, you know the whole, 'Orions taking slaves' thing? It's not something I really like to...

"Dirty Orion!" Lundy hissed.

"Lundy!?" Tendi gasped.

I was going to blast him, but Olly bet me to it, grabbing Lundy by the head and flooding the man with lightning.

"WASH YOUR HANDS BEFORE YOU USE THE TELEPORTER!" she roared.

"Whoa~," we muttered. I think I might not be the only one with some pent-up emotions.

"oh~, that felt good," Olly hissed. "Now," she cracked her knuckles, "Where's Nate?"

"You're angry with Nate?" Tendi asked.

"A woman can only see a man in a naked apron for so long before she gets cravings for more than eggs," She hissed.

"Yeah... I get that," I sighed. He wasn't really naked just shirtless, Tendi doesn't 'do' shirts for some reason, probably to get more of his heat, and Nate can't be bothered to put on a shirt in the morning, so it looks like he's going commando when he puts on his apron for morning breakfast.

"Strike force Ram!" Ransom ordered. We turned to see a pissed-off glowing Nate.

"Oh damn-ACK!" Olly gagged as Nate gave her a dragon kick to the stomach and strike to my chin that had me seeing stars.

"You pick the wrong ship," Nate hissed. He raised his foot to crush my head but was stopped by a blow to the liver courtesy of Tendi. "WHO!?" he gasped. "...I know you."

"No you don't!" Tendi panicked.

"What is someone like the Lady of the Winter Constellations bumming it with a no-name raider?" he hissed.

"Hey-ACK!" he pressed his foot to my neck.

Tendi looked completely spooked. "I have no idea who you're talking about!"

"I don't know who you're trying to fool, but I'm giving you this one chance, Give up-"

"AAAAAAAAAHH!" Olly unleashed a small lightning storm at point-blank range knocking Nate through a wall. "How... was that... ya bastard?" she huffed and puffed, lightning dancing off her skin.

"Whoa~," I rubbed my neck. I know the threat level allowed pain, but holo-Nate was pushing it. "You got him."

"His not so-ACK!" Nate cut her off as he came flying out of the hole and tackled Olly down the hall.

"We- ah!" Tendi ducked as phaser fire came from down the opposite hall. I turned and started laying down covering fire, forcing Ransom and his team to hunker down.

I still had a mission. "Go after Olly, I got these guys."

"but-"

"Tendi," I gave her a wink, "I got this."

A blush crossed her face. "... okay, but don't do anything stupid," she nodded and ran after Olly and Nate.

I need to ease it with the charm, I can't date married women... again. The threesomes were nice though.

-/-

D'vana Tendi POV

I followed the destruction to one of the ship's gym, a deck below me. Nate wasn't a master at controlling his power, his telekinesis had a lot to be desired, but increasing his physical strength and durability was second nature.

"You can't tease women in the morning!" Olly unleashed another bolt of lightning, but Nate slapped it away.

"Leave it to an Olympian to whine about their lovers," Nate hissed, dodging another bolt and getting in close, landing two quick jabs to Olly's chest, quickly backing away as Olly covered herself with lightning.

A death by a thousand strikes, but I could tell Olly wasn't going to last that long. I jumped down and aimed a strike to his head, but he ducked left and put his back to the only door.

"Mistress of the Winter Constellations," he glared at me.

"Don't call me that," I hissed.

"It's who you are."

"NO IT'S NOT!" I roared.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU HERE!? Why is one of the syndicate's greatest assassins working with a nobody? Attacking ships, but not taking anything?"

"Greatest what?" Olly asked.

My breath caught, I forgot she was here. I turned to her, only for her eyes to grow huge, a bit of static running up my spine. I ducked, as Nate's glowing fist sailing overhead, I've trained with him long enough to know a distraction. I swept his feet, but he cartwheeled away, I didn't let him escape. I had to stay close and keep up the pressure, If Nate gained control of the fight, it was over.

Movies made fights this long epic affair with powerful decisive blows. In truth, Fights, at least real ones, are quick and exhausting, and I hate to say it, but humans were made to fight. Human endurance is legendary throughout the Galaxy, even Klingons keep fighting with humans quick.

"Tendi, I can't get a shot!" Olly warned.

Nate trapped me between them, I kept trying to move away but Nate was quick on his feet, throwing quick jabs and keeping me locked in place, so I pushed my advantage using my smaller body to get under his massive guard, but he wasn't making it simple. Unlike training where he took it easy on us, here he was the monster that was trained by Klingons and Romulans.

I got sloppy, he clipped me and while the Holodeck didn't let him kill me the pain left me open for a grapple. He locked me to his chest facing a sparking Olly.

"Move and I snap her neck," Nate warned, his arm hold digging into my neck. There was a stillness to the room before Olly powered down. "Smart. Why are you attacking us?"

"Vindicta wanted revenge on Captain Freeman," Olly hissed.

"The Captain? Why? From what I saw, Vindicta couldn't be over 28, too young to have fought against the captain in any serious battles, in fact, I've never even heard of her."

"She's-" he tightened his grip, why did that feel good? "She's new," I answered.

"New? You expect me to believe D'Vana Tendi, the greatest battle assassin this side of the galaxy would work with a no name, don't make me laugh."

"Greatest assassin?" Olly muttered.

"You really don't know?" Nate muttered. I tried to kick him in the head, but he was able to grab my foot with his free hand and held me in a rather... inappropriate way. "Are you ashamed of being who you are, D'Vana," he whispered, his warm breath tingling my ear.

"I... I always wanted to be a science officer," I whimpered.

His hands tightened, "Then join me," he demanded, "The federation is a place for new starts, to a better life."

"I... I don't think I can," I whispered.

"Then I'll take you!"

I gasped. "W-What!?"

"I'll take you, by Orion rights You'll become mine."

"H-hey!?" I tried to wiggle free, "Do you have any idea what you're saying!?"

"I do. I'll marry you, giving you the freedom," his glowing green eyes looked down at me with a seriousness that made my heart skip a beat.

"They'll hunt you," I warned.

"They'll try."

"...Whoa~," Olly muttered. "Do I get that deal?"

"You killed Lundy, sure no one liked the guy, and he was a secret racist, but was still part of Starfleet, you still have to answer for-"

"EVERYONE BRACE!" Captain Freeman called over the ship's speakers before the ship rocked hard. Nate cupped me and Olly into his chest as the ship fell onto the planet.

"Hold on," Nate whispered, "I have you."

And I believed him.

And then the ship landed, and I blacked out.

.

.

.

"Tendi, Tendi!?"

I woke up, on the ground, looking up at Rutherford and Olly.

"What... What happened?" I groaned.

"Rutherford got us out," Olly answered.

"Nate?"

She looked over at what was left of the ship, "He gave me his communicator and went looking for survivors."

"That idiot," I hissed. "he would." she helped me sit up, looking at the burning ship.

Idiot, you can't steal a wife only to run off.

-/-

Beckett Mariner POV

So... I fought my way through the ship, killed an unknown number of people, got to my mom, and right before I got to relieve some stress, Holo-Mariner showed up out of nowhere and spirited her away.

To say I kicked her ass was an understatement, it was like she wasn't even trying.

I slowly walked up to my beaten fake self, picking up a sharp metal rebar knocked loose from the reentry.

"Hahaha~," she laughed.

"That's it, keep up the act," I hissed. Q, was I this annoying? Maybe Ma has a point.

"You know much about me~, but you missed one big thing," She choked out laughing.

"Oh yeah, here we go, one of your snarky jokes," I hissed.

"Yeah, I may hate protocol, but I don't hate the ship," she coughed up some blood, "I don't hate the crew! I work with my best friends! The captain is my mom, I would do anything for her!"

I grabbed her and slammed her against the wall, "Oh come on, you complain about her all the time! It's like your whole thing!"

"Yeah, I mean, she's hard on me, right? But she's the Captain, and I'm a pain in the ass, but if she kicked me out of the Cerritos, I would be done in Starfleet."

I lifted the rebar to stab her in the face, but it got caught on something.

Before a fist launched me away.

"You're not going anywhere," Nate hissed. He was shirtless and bloody, his glowing rainbow outline lit up the bridge.

"Nate!?" Holo-Mariner gasped. "What are you doing here!?"

"And leave my future captain to fight this nobody alone? Never."

"You idiot," she coughed, "I set the ship to blow."

I finally noticed the countdown on the screen behind her.

83 seconds and counting.

"Then we're going to have to make this quick."

I growled, "You think you can take on the might-Ack!" he tackled me into the wall, before unleashing two blows to my chest followed by a knee. Holy Q, he wasn't holding back. I dodged a blow meant to crush my head into the wall and unleashed my own knee into his ribs, getting him to hiss.

It was crazy, I gave myself Khan-level strength and he just took it to the chin. How strong is Nate?

"Come on, come on!" I spotted Holo-mariner playing with the communicator. I rushed at her only for a big meaty hand to grab me by the neck and toss me across the room.

"Becky~," Nate called out, "Any time now."

"Damn thing is bugging out! Because of course it is!"

"Use this one," he tossed her a different communicator... I slapped my collar... my communicator. Son of a bitch took it from me. I rushed at them, but Nate wasn't having any of it, meeting me halfway there, fist to fist.

Bastard has been holding back in training, for every strike he had a counter and wasn't shy on taking blows if it meant he got to give as much as he received. It was a game of endurance, and he was winning.

"TWO! TWO FOR TRANSFER! DAMN IT! Nate something is wrong," Holo-mariner cried.

"Hehehe, did you really think it was going to be that easy," I teasedm spitting out a glob of blood, "That's a one-way jumper, meant for one."

Nate glared, "Double punch!"

I was able to block one but the other landed perfectly in my throat, causing me to gag and back away. By the time I looked up, Nate was next to Holo-Mariner.

"I'm only going to get to do this once."

"Nat-mmm!?" Nate kissed her, it was deep and passionate.

Whoa.

"One for Emergency Transport," he pressed the communicator.

"NATE-" and she was gone.

Leaving us alone, the countdown reaching 10 seconds.

"Why? She's a failure, a rule breaker, all she does is mess everything up," I yelled at him.

He gave me a smirk, "You really are an idiot, she's the best of us. She cares with all her heart, she wants the galaxy to be a better place, and she wants Starfleet to be the force to do it, for that, I will love her forever. For her... I would give my life."

I could only look at him as the countdown reached zero, and the world turned into a fireball, dumping us back on the holodeck.

I just stood there, taking in deep breaths, ribs slightly bruising.

"Mariner!" Tendi came running over, "Are you okay?" she checked my injuries. I brought her into a hug. "Mariner?"

"I'm okay... Just, learned somethings."

She hugged me back.

"Whoa~," Olly teased, joining our hug, "A rare Becky hug, Nate's going to be upset he missed this."

"That was awesome!" Rutherford cheered, joining our hug.

"I got thrown off a cliff," Brad whined, slumping into our hug. "Also the captain is allergic to chocolate."

Don't remind me, I wasn't allowed to have any until I joined the academy, I missed out.

"Who wants a drink?" I asked.

"Let's get sloshed!" Olly cheered, leading the way to the bar. She opened the door to Nate on the other side.

"Hey," he smiled, holding up a PADD, "Guess what I found~."

I didn't say anything and just hugged him. He just returned the hug.

"You're an idiot."

He laughed and carried me in his arms, "Let's go get you a drink."

I nodded into his neck.

-/-

So... as it turned out, I didn't do anything wrong... okay, I did do a few things wrong, freeing the lizard people wasn't my mission, but the damage was way less than we thought. The Antican was doing some illegal cloning of sentient creatures, the lizards, for eating, and it wasn't a planet-wide civil war I started, just a little rebellion in the general area. So, we got away with a slap on the wrist.

Lundy did get into trouble though, he beamed me down way outside my landing zone, Nate used some Regulations about dealing with crime and as a Starfleet officer it was my job to help the innocent, I still had to go to therapy but I was able to do it with one of Nate's aunts. To say she was better was an understatement, no more food metaphors.

"Eggs?" Nate called out from the kitchen. I looked over to see him wrapping his apron around his shirtless frame.

I put down my work PADD, "3, and some bacon," I answered, playing with Tendi's hair. She was latched on to my chest and wasn't going to let go until the smell of breakfast hit her nose.

This was wrong... sure we weren't dating or anything, but this was just shy of that, it was more like, emotional dating. My hand danced down Tendi's smooth skin, getting a soft moan as she tightened around me. This was wrong... but... Why did it feel so right?

Olly came out of the shower, a towel around her body. I studied every one of her curves, she spotted me checking her out and gave me a wink.

Olly was... something else. We haven't done anything, but she's been pushing it, every time we sparred or hung out, she would use any excuse to touch me, hold me, whisper into my ear. Dating friends never ended well; I watched her bend over just enough for her towel to hide her butt; but she was making it hard.

"Rough~," Tendi moaned.

I realized I was squeezing her rear, "I'm sorry~," I whispered.

"Nice~," she muttered in her sleep. I looked back at a smirking Olly putting on her underwear, giving me a show.

"Whoa~," I whispered.

"Olly, how many eggs do you want?" Nate called out.

"4~, and lots of bacon and sausage, we got that away mission to Beta 3 today and I'm 50% positive those guys went right back to worshiping that computer," she huffed, getting dressed.

"Starfleet, good at observing and bad at maintaining," I huffed.

"Oof, don't get me started," Nate teased. "But that's why we have you. Your Side mission just got approved," he waved his PADD.

"For the school supplies?" I checked my PADD. A new email blinked at me, Admiral Witt and mom signatures on the dotted line. "Kick ass!"

"No~," Tendi slapped my face, "Sleep~," she whined like a sleepy kitten. It was the cutest thing I have ever seen, I wanted to hold her forever.

"Tendi~," Nate called out, "Breakfast time."

"No!" she cuddled deeper into my neck.

He came over with a cooked sausage, and like a puppy she locked onto the treat, trying to eat it without waking up, but it was pointless.

"Nate~," she shined, waking up.

"Sorry sweety~, but we have... training," he teased.

That woke her up. Right~, her sister was due to arrive about a week after this mission, and we've been doing 'Married training', acting all lovey-dovey, since the Vancouver, about 3 months ago. I like to think they were doing a good job, looking like a real couple... a bit too real. I am sure Tendi has a crush on him, but Nate is a bit harder to read, mostly because he treats everyone the same. I have seen him steal glances at us when we come out of the shower, or when I show off a bit too much cleavage, he was still a man after all. Still, he has been more affectionate lately.

"We're doing... kissing... today," she whispered a bit too loudly.

"Don't worry, it's only on the cheek," he teased, returning to the kitchen.

"Right," she deflated.

I patted her on the back and gave her a thumbs up. "You still have a week," I teased.

"Mariner!?" she squeaked, a blush crawling up her face.

Breakfast was great, but it had to come to an end.

-/-

Nate Witt POV

Bridge duty was slow today; Captain Freeman had to stop the people of Beta 3 from continuing their 'red hour' most of the morning, leaving us with nothing to do.

"Captain on deck," Tendi called out.

The captain waved us back to work.

"Set Coordinates for Dougles Station," she ordered.

"Sorry Captain, we still have people down on the planet," I countered. "For side mission: Color."

She sighed, "Right, helping the arts. Can you get in contact?"

"One moment," I played with the controls keeping our conversation quiet, "Ensign Mariner, this is bridge, can you hear me?"

"You get crayons, and you get crayons, and you get crayons, everybody gets crayons!" Becky cheered. I smirked at her enthusiasm.

"Becky, can you hear me, this is Nate," I called out again. I checked her location's temperature, "87 degrees~, she probably took off her jacket."

She sighed, "Hoo boy, incoming lecture in 5, 4-"

"Who wants crayons?" Brad called out. "Here you go, kids. Way cooler than the Red Hour."

"Brad? Ensign Boimler can you hear me?" I didn't get a response, which was weird, Brad was always on top of things.

"Is something wrong Ensign?" the Captain asked.

"Not really, Planet's just warmer than what our uniforms could cool, there's a good chance they took off their jackets to keep cool and not intimidate the locals," I answered.

"I know your secret," Brad teased.

"Oh dip," I muttered.

"What was that?" the captain heard me.

"Nothing! Just uh... static, spooked my ear," I lied.

She narrowed her eyes at me, "You and your mother have terrible poker faces. Patch the call to the bridge."

"UUUUH, I can't, because... space... weather," I panicked.

"Ensign... that was sad," Ransom shook his head at me. "Patch the call."

"I can't, Power malfunction," I slammed my hand into the controls.

"ENSIGN WITT!?" The captain roared.

"Sorry captain, I didn't know my own strength," I saluted.

"Don't worry, I can patch it through on my end," Tendi called out.

"NO!" I raced to stop her, but I was too late, as Boimler's voice came out of the speakers

"The captain is your mom, your dad is an admiral, you're practically Starfleet royalty-" I cut communication. The bridge going quiet.

"Please tell me that wasn't ship-wide."

"...Sorry," She whispered.

I took a deep breath. "Feck."

-/-

"I'm going to wring his little neck!" Becky hissed.

"Breathe," I whispered, carrying her around our room. "1,2,3,4,5-"

"NATE! I don't want to count!" she latched onto me and screamed into my neck. "I'm so angry."

"I'm so sorry!" Tendi begged, following right behind us. "I should have picked up on Nate's panicked tone."

Becky slumped on my shoulder. "It's not your fault," she groaned. "You didn't know, no one did, that was the point~."

"I'm sorry your secret got out," Olly muttered, "You wanna work out that anger and not kill Brad."

"I wanna work out and kill Brad," she countered.

"Well, okay, we're not going to do that~," I huffed. I wrapped my emergency rope around her and myself. "There."

"I'm not a dog," she hissed.

"I know, you're a kick-ass space officer who could kill one of our friends in an act of fury, so I'm going to keep you close until we reach Starbase 77 and you cool off."

"Starbase 77 is a week away."

"I know," I nodded. "And until then we'll be latched together."

"We have different duties."

"I'll take vacation days."

"I'm not going to kill Brad!"

I pulled out a picture of Boimler only for her to tear it apart with her teeth.

"...a week."

Her PADD went off. "...Mom wants to meet me in her office... alone."

I picked her up like a princess. "Nope."

"Put me down right now mister!"

"Nope, the whole week." I marched out of our room.

"This is embarrassing," she hissed.

"Get used to it."

"Can you carry me like a princess?" Olly teased.

"One princess per ride," I smirked.

"I call next," she laughed.

"Don't worry, most of Nate's family is Starfleet famous and no one cares about that," Tendi answered.

"That's different," Becky huffed. "Admiral Witt isn't here, my mom is. No one can butter Nate up in the hopes of a promotion or to get on the Admiral's good side."

"Grandgramps is more of a merit kind of guy anyway," I added. "Someone like Becky is right up his alley. Hard worker, punches when words fail, good heart, she has all the makings of a top officer. Kirk was promoted and demoted every other month."

We had a bit more small talk before Tendi and Olly had to return to their duties, and we reached the Captain's office on the bridge, everyone whispering and pointing at Becky, but I ran them off with a glare, warning them to get back to their duties.

"Witt, why are you here?" Captain Freeman asked.

"Making sure my friend doesn't snap one of my other friends in half."

The captain sighed and sat on her chair. "Ugh. Why did we ever keep this a secret in the first place?"

"I just wanted to fly under the radar~," Becky hissed.

"And I didn't want anyone to know the most demerited officer in the fleet was my daughter," Freeman groaned.

"Captain," I cut in. "It's not the worst thing in the world to work with family."

They looked at me, "How do the Witts do it?" Becky asked. "You guys are everywhere, in all levels of Starfleet, how come I never see anyone trying to butter you up?"

I smirked, "You've never seen a Witt promotion before, have you? The promotion is guaranteed... if you survive."

"Survive?" she asked.

"Promotions aren't jokes, if you must know just ask your dad, how do you think he became an admiral at such a young age," I teased. Admiral Zo's promotion was talked around the Witt family water cooler for years.

"Mom?"

She sighed, "Most of it is classified, but all I do know, is that he needed to make peace between a group of Romulans and Vulcans."

"That's crazy!"

The captain shrugged. "He's your father."

"So, if I want people to stop annoying me, I have to make any favor anyone wants to be impossible," Becky muttered.

I shook my head, "Nah, trust me, this will be annoying for a few weeks, but it will pass."

"Really, why?"

"Oh... Becky~." I cupped her face. "You know I love you right?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Watch it~."

"You have a horrible reputation, if you ever flash someone your name, they will probably get a demotion."

She slapped my hands away, "Screw you."

"I'm just saying. You might be a Kirk-level badass, but you don't have his charisma. You are rough around the edges."

"It got me this far," she huffed.

"...You mean transferred through 5 ships, and promoted and demoted over a dozen times?" I teased.

"You're lucky you're married to my best friend," she threatened.

"I'm just saying that this will blow over when people realize you're a poison fruit."

She shook her fist at me. "You're asking for it now."

"Bring it, I ain't scared of you," I huffed.

She got ready to tackle me.

"Enough!" the captain huffed.

The door opened to Ransom, "Captain... captain's daughter."

"That would be a funny Nickname," I teased.

Becky punched me in the shoulder, "Don't even think about it."

"Out~," Captain Freeman ordered.

I swept Becky off her feet. "I can walk you dork!"

"I know, but I like your pout."

"No one will find your body."

I just laughed.

-/-

Olly POV

"... So~." I rested my head on top of Tendi's hair.

"...I'm trying to eat," she huffed, shoving pasta into her mouth. I was finally able to corner her in the bar, she's been dodging the whole 'assassin' conversation.

"Tendi~," I whined.

"Olly... Do you really care?" she muttered.

"No, but I want to know more about you. We've been lovers for nearly a year and you never tell us about your past," I huffed.

"We're not lovers," She pouted.

"Then why you do stare at my ass when we're in the shower," I teased.

She blushed and looked away, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Fine, keep your secrets, but just know that I love you for you," I leaned closer to her ear, "And I'll be thinking about you in a tight leather onesie."

"OLLY!?"

I giggled at her blush. She really was too cute.

"Hey guys." Brad snuck into the chair across from us, keeping an eye out. "Is Mariner around?"

"Nah, Nick has her crawling through the Jefferies tubes looking for Rutherford," I answered.

"I messed up you guys~," he groaned, slamming his head on the table.

"Have you apologized?" Tendi asked.

"Yes, but she gave me a look that promised death."

"It didn't promise, it suggested," Mariner huffed, appearing behind him, nearly giving the man a heart attack.

"Mariner!?"

"Bradward~," she hissed the whole word. It would have been more intimidating if she wasn't being held like a princess.

"Hey! You can't be mad at me, you're the one who wanted to make the movie, I just wanted to ask some questions, I had no idea the program was going to spill your secrets."

"Maybe that's why private logs are private," Rutherford teased, digging into his lunch.

"Dude, be happy you weren't demoted to a cadet for that," Nate huffed, "I have embarrassing stuff on them." he put Mariner on the chair next to me.

I gasped, "Like what?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," he smirked. He reached over and kissed Tendi on her cheek. The poor girl froze like a Klingon in a formal party, her face could heat a planet. She tried to play it off, but it was terrible, shoving spoonfuls of pasta on her face.

"Tendi, you really need to work on that," Mariner huffed, "How are you supposed to trick your sister if a tiny kiss throws you out of wack?"

"It's not so easy!" Tendi pouted, cleaning herself.

"Girl, you have been married for months, most newlyweds would be going crazy with one another. A kiss is the most basic form of affection," Mariner sighed.

"And how would you know?" I teased.

She shrugged, "I dated a bunch, and kissing was just something people do. Is Nate your first fake boyfriend?"

"No... Kinda... yes," she whispered.

"...Really?" I muttered. Tendi was beautiful, the type of beautiful that should be painted and hung in museums.

She started playing with her fingers. "Well... I never had the chance to date, before, working with my family most of my life and when I got into the academy, I put all my attention to my studies, dating was never part of my plan."

"...okay... this might be a bit harder than I thought," Mariner sighed. "How do you sleep with a shirtless Nate?"

She cocked her head, "We're sleeping, why would that matter?"

"My heart!" she was too adorable!

"Are shirtless men normal on Orion?" Rutherford asked.

"Oh yes, Orion is 8 degrees hotter than Earth, that's why I'm cooler than most humans," she answered.

"So, there's just a bunch of hunky shirtless green men and women on Orion?" Mariner asked.

"I... Guess?" she shrugged.

"Nice~," Mariner and I whispered.

"Keep it in your pants," Nate teased.

"I know where to keep it," I smirked.

"If we want D'Erika to believe you guys are a loving couple, we're going to have to ramp up our training," Mariner started giggling.

"I don't like the sound of that," Brad muttered.

"That makes two of us," Nate added.

-/-

D'vana Tendi POV

"You ready?" Nate wrapped his hand around my hip, a slight shiver ran up my spine. Mariner's training was... intense. Hand holding, eating together, hanging out, touching... kissing. It was just too much... but... it was really nice. His hands were warm, and he was a great listener... and his lips were soft.

"Mmph!" I nodded.

He nodded to the incoming shuttle. "Here we go, and Rutherford, for the love of Q, stop playing with that thing!" he walked over to Sam, who was playing with his Oculus.

"I'm just trying to get the Mood adjuster to work." he played with a switch.

"Stop playing with it before-"

Snap

A piece came off.

"Whoops."

"That happens. Hold still." Nate walked over to him.

I focused on the shuttle as new ensigns walked into their new home. I spotted a patch of green and rushed forward, D'Erika's grumpy face came into view.

"My baby sister!" I picked her up and swung her in a circle.

"D'vana!?" she squeaked. "Put me down!"

"Oh, I missed you so much!" I hugged her tightly. "I can't wait to show you everything!"

"Curious."

The galaxy came to a hard stop. I slowly turned to the one Vulcan in the galaxy I would happily throw into a lava pit.

"Durga," I hissed. Next to her was an embarrassed Ramsey.

"C-Crushing~," D'Erika wheezed.

"Oh, Sorry," I let her go. I turned back to Durga, "What are you doing here?"

"I asked for a transfer to the Cerritos," she answered.

"I have to keep an eye on her," Ramsey muttered. "Admiral Witt wasn't happy with the transfer. I got stuck with babysitting duty~," She pointed to her three solid pips, "I GOT DEMOTED!" she cried into my shoulder.

I patted her on the back. "It's okay."

"Is... is Mariner here?" She asked through big heavy tears and snot.

"uh... Yeah, she's at the gym," I muttered.

"Okay... I'm going to go have sex in your room."

"Huh?" I watched her walk away. "HUH!? Don't you have your own room!?"

She sniffled, "No, the Cerritos doesn't have spare rooms at the moment, so me and Durga are bunking together."

"Then use your room," I huffed.

"Not after I slept on yours. Way better than any cubby." she ran into the Cerritos before I could stop her.

"Uh, are you going to let her run off like that?" D'Erika asked.

"I'm sure Mariner won't do anything crazy... probably. Anyway, allow me to introduce you to, MY HUSBAND!" I yelled at Durga, her eyes twitched.

I lead D'Erika into the ship proper. I spotted a worried Nate, his eyes flashing to the woman behind me. I quickly ran over to him and captured him in a hug.

"I'm here," I whispered into his ear, trying to give him comfort. He hugged me back.

"Nathaniel," Durga answered.

"Durga, you look well," Nate nodded, holding me close, and using me as a shield.

"So~, you're my sister's husband," D'Erika teased.

"D'Erika, right? We met once," Nate smiled.

"Right~, you were half naked with sex cream all over your face."

"It was whipped cream!" I corrected.

"Yeah, for sex," she smirked. Durga was just glaring at me. It made me feel happy.

Nate laughed. "The very same. It's a pleasure to meet you. Ready for your tour."

"Mmm, Yeah I guess," she scoffed.

"Durga, you know the ship, if you want, Rutherford messed with his Oculus," he nodded to Sam.

"Howdy pilgrim," Rutherford nodded.

"Handle that will ya." he quickly scooped me and my sister up and ran away.

It was still crazy to see someone like Nate run away from anything.

But to be fair, Durga was someone I didn't want to deal with either.

This got a whole lot more annoying.

"Nate! To the gym!" I ordered. He didn't question me just turned to the elevators, a flash of a smirking Ramsey going down. "Damn it! Take the next one!"

"What's going on!?" D'Erika screamed.

"She's trying to sleep with one of my friends," I answered.

"So?"

"In my bed," I hissed. "That's so rude!" Nate laughed, sliding into an elevator. "It's not funny, if they do it once, they'll be doing it all the time! Computer, Gym," I called out, the elevator dropping.

"Anyway, that was the east shuttle bay," Nick informed D'Erika.

"Oh, right, the tour!" I looked at the elevator, "This is an elevator."

"You don't say~," She drawled. "So... How'd you two meet?" she started digging, leave it to a Prime to get information.

"First day on the Cerritos, she was trying to do a log entire, it was cute," he giggled.

"Hey! Don't remember embarrassing things!" I huffed.

"So... it was 'love at first sight'?" she asked.

"Well, not really, I've known of D'Vana for years, kinda. I used to be a plunder sorter on my aunt's ship, the Green Thorn, when I was younger," he answered. "My cousin, Tissi, is a huge fan, and had a poster of D'Vana over her bunk, so I kinda knew her through word of mouth. The stories don't do her justice. The day I met her..." he smirked. "I knew I had to marry her."

I felt my cheeks burn, I know we were acting but... come on~.

"How... Romantic," D'Erika muttered. "So, you didn't want her connections?"

"To what?" Nate teased. "D'Vana left that life behind, she wanted to be a Starfleet Officer, I couldn't care less what she used to be. I hope you're not too offended but, I am really happy she chose this world. I got to meet the love of my life and best friend."

This bastard, I was turning red.

"Stop it~," I covered his face, and he just laughed. That dumb idiot.

"Ugh~," D'Erika gagged, much to Nate's enjoyment.

The elevator door opened.

"Mush!" I ordered Nate down the hall. "That's OPs" I point to a door, "Ops, ops, ops, most of this floor is ops. Ramsey," I pointed to the commander as she landed on Nate's back. "RAMSEY!?" I panicked.

"As your commanding officer, I demand for you to take me to the gym!" She ordered.

"Ehhh~," Nate drawled, but didn't stop, "Why should I? You wanna do unspeakable things on my bed."

"Because I'm your commanding officer, that's why." she covered his eyes and steered him down the hall.

"WALL! WALL!" I pointed to the wall ahead of us. Ramsey jerked us to the left.

"WHY DON'T YOU JUST STOP!?" D'Erika yelled.

"Because this is funnier," Nate teased.

"YOU MARRIED AN IDIOT!" she yelled at me. "FLOOR!" she pointed to a group of workers fixing a floor panel.

"Jump!" Ramsey ordered, pulling on his ears. The air danced through my hair as we leaped over the confused workers, and landed on the other end. "Woo! That's what I'm talking about!" She cheered, as Nate kept running.

"Here!" I pointed to the gym, "SHIT! I GOT CAUGHT UP IN THE FUN!" I facepalmed.

Nate came to a stop as we entered the Gym.

"In record time!" Ramsey cheered.

"What are you idiots doing?" Mariner asked, wiping the sweat off her face, Olly joining her.

"Beckett!" Ramsey greeted, jumping off Nate.

"Amina? Oh my god!" they embraced, "What are you doing here!?"

"...I got demoted~," she sighed into Mariner's neck.

"No way! You? How?"

"You're going to love this," I hissed. "Durga's back."

Mariner blinked at me and looked back to Ramsey. "Really?"

"You have your friend, I have mine. I don't agree with what Durga did, make no mistake, but she's still my friend, and I want her to be happy."

Becky narrowed her eyes. "Are you standing against me... Amie?" she pressed her body against the commander.

Ramsey didn't back down, leaning against her until their noses touched, "You don't scare me... Becky~."

Nate picked up Mariner like a cat.

"Hey!?" she panicked.

"No sex in our room," Nate huffed.

"Wha-What are you talking about!?" Mariner blushed. "You're the one covered in sexy Orions! Hi, I'm Beckett Mariner, nice to meet you." she shook D'Erika's hand.

"D'Erika Tendi, pleasure. Is this normal?"

"...For the most part," she shrugged.

"Promise me~," Nate huffed.

"That's not fair, you have sex on your bed all the time, why can't I?" Mariner huffed.

"Because it's my bed!" he put her down and started mushing her face. She in turn started stretching out his cheeks.

"5 favors!" Ramsey offered.

"10, per night, and you have to clean after yourselves," Nick countered.

"I can't afford that!" Mariner hissed.

"I know," Nate scoffed, "You never gave Volis a chance and I haven't seen you going out with anyone, so I know you're about to pop. Might as well use this to never have to do Holodeck waste removal for the next few years."

"You bastard," she growled at him.

"10 favors~, and a time schedule, we've already seen both your glutes, don't have to see them twice."

She tisked, "I don't need the room."

Nate shrugged, "Good, but if we catch you, that's 30 favors, each time."

"WHAT!? You tripled the price!"

"I'm so happy you can do math," Nate teased.

"That some high space robbery," D'Erika muttered, "I approve."

I rolled my eyes. "Alright, alright~," I started shoving D'Erika out the room, "Nate, strip them for everything they're worth," I glared. He gave me a thumbs-up. "And that was the gym," I smiled.

"This is a madhouse," She sighed. "What was with the Vulcan?"

"She used to date Nate, made a mistake, broke his heart, regretted it, and is now making it my problem. Come on, I'll show you my room, I need to change my uniform."

"What's wrong with the one you have now?"

I looked down at my normal uniform. "You don't go to war in plain clothes."

-/-

Nate Witt POV

I left Mariner with Ramsey and headed to Repair Bay 4 with Olly to help Rutherford with the Sequoia, we finally got the thing space-worthy, but its warp engine was shot, I blame the Dilithium intake.

"You okay? It can't be great with your ex showing up out of the blue," Olly patted me on the back.

I sighed. "I'm okay, I knew Durga wasn't gone forever, just... damn it man." I rubbed my chest. The longing ache was still there, I just wanted to hold her, kiss her, just to... just to love her. "It's not fair, I don't want to feel like this."

She bumped shoulders with me, "don't worry, we're here, we'll save you from her claws," she teased.

"Her? No, you have to save her from me."

"Huh?"

"I've been in a dry spell for over 3 years. I've been hanging by a thread; do you have any idea how badly I want to go on a date? I want to love~, I want to dance, I want to laugh. I feel bad... I've been using you guys to scratch that itch."

"That's... a strange itch to scratch," She teased. "You want to go on a date, why not just ask? Next time we're docked, we can go on a date, eat out, hit a comedy show."

"Oh Olly, you adorable bolt of kindness, you have no idea what the heart of a man is like. I want tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that! I want to wake up every day next to you, kiss you good morning, joked about your bedhead, and make you breakfast."

"...The galaxy really lucked out on limiting the number of Witt men, I can only imagine how much bigger your Clan would be if there were more men in your family. You would take over the galaxy," she sighed. "Nate did you ever think about... just... ya know... asking someone out."

I scoffed, "Duh, but it's not that easy, I've been out of the game for so long and I'm married now, married men don't date~."

"Date your wife! Shit, your whatever great-grandfather had 12 wives, that man had no chill, who says you can't do the same, who said you can't have it all? Society? Screw society, sleep your way through the galaxy," she huffed.

"...You really are the granddaughter of Zeus," I teased.

She elbowed me in the ribs. "Shut it, and stop worrying about what happened and what might happen, we're Starfleet, and we face danger every day-" The ship jerked hard as the red alert flared overhead. "HADES!?" she cursed.

I ran to the nearest window spotting debris... and bodies. "BATTLE STATIONS!" I roared down the hall. People jumped into action.

"Nate!?"

"Olly! Get to Rutherford, I need to get to Shaxs." she nodded, but before she got too far, I grabbed her hand and brought her into a kiss. It was long and passionate, "For luck," I whispered.

"Don't die," she hissed, giving me a kiss on the cheek, "I demand more." she took off toward the repair bay.

As I raced to the bridge, I got halfway there before three Pakleds, of all people, started beaming aboard.

"The hell?" I hissed.

"AAAHHH!" one of the Pakleds lifted his war axe at me. "This ship is-ack!"

I unleashed a hard right, shattering his jaw, used his axe to kill his friend next to him, and launched the axe into his third friend. I grabbed a fallen axe, stabbed the fallen Pakled, and continued my way to the bridge.

I turned the corner to find the bridge crew fighting a group of Pakleds.

"MOM!" Becky called out.

I focused on the Pakled that cornered my wounded captain. Digging deep, I covered myself in cosmic power, blitzed forward, and shoved my hands through the Pakled's armor, into his chest, grabbed his ribs, and pulled him apart, splitting him in two, covering me in gore.

Just for a moment, the fighting came to a pause.

"You fucked with the wrong ship." I dashed forward and buried my knee into another Pakled's face, peeled the axe from his hands, and shoved it through him and his friend, leaving them attached to the wall. "Weapon!" I watched Boimler cut the neck of a Pakled before sliding me the corpse's axe, which I used to block an overhead strike, giving D'Erika the opening to shove her daggers into the Pakled's ribs.

"Nate! Carry my mom!" Becky ordered. I didn't question her, just tossed the axe to Shaxs who used it to log it into another Pakled's neck. "Sickbay," she ordered, as I picked up her mom.

I was going to rush forward, but a hot plasma blade tearing through the ship forced me to take the long way around.

"Captain, you with me?" I asked running down the halls.

"Nnn," she hissed.

"Mom," Becky whimpered.

"I'm going to make love to your daughter!"

"What?" she hissed, she glared up at me.

"Nate!?" Becky gasped.

"Make her want to live to kill us later," I ordered.

"I had sex in your office!"

"WHAT!?" oh she was awake now. "Beckett Mariner Freeman!"

"Maybe put cameras in your office next time!"

"I'm going to demote you, both of you, what's less than cadet? Dirt? Your dirt now!" she ordered.

"You need to stay alive to do that," Becky answered.

We burst into the Sick Bay as Ransom and Shaxs guarded the door.

"Biobed!" Dr. T pointed to the nearest bed. Tendi rushed over with a needle, injecting pain relief drugs into her body.

I gently placed the captain down, and headed to the nearest replicator.

"Security 2283-A, Phaser rifle!" and out came a warm weapon, which I used to guard the door as everyone else was thinking of ways of getting us out of this cluster. "Warm water!" I dumped the water over my head, wiping off the Pakled blood off my face.

"Got it! One illegal Virus!" Rutherford, Durga, and Olly popped out of the Jefferies tubes underneath the floor. He was holding up some kind of data chip. "But someone has to take it to the ship~!" he sang, his oculus still messing with his brain.

"Can we download?" Brad asked.

"They would have to accept the download," Durga answered.

"These guys look stupid enough to do it," D'Erika muttered.

"Maybe a drone?" Ramsey suggested.

"The Pakled ship is scrambling communications, I doubt will have the range," Becky hissed.

I walked over and plucked the data chip from Rutherford's hands, "Then we do it manually." Tendi's hand snapped around my arm in a death grip.

"Where are you going?" the fear was clear in her eyes.

"D'Vana..."

"I'm back!" Rutherford cheered, "I told you random button pressing would return me to normal."

"I told you it was dangerous and could cause brain damage," Durga corrected.

"...oh." he shrugged, and plucked the data chip from my hand and shoved it into his implant.

"Have you lost your mind!?" D'vana roared, "I'm surrounded by idiots!"

"...Maybe, but it doesn't matter, Nate will never be fast enough to break the Pakled firewall. It needs to be me."

"I got you." I tossed him over my shoulder.

D'Vana's hands locked onto my arm, freezing me in place.

"No, I won't allow it." she meant it, she was crying, with anger or fear, I wasn't sure.

"D'Vana... I'll be right back," I leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips. The action caught her off guard, getting her to let go of my arm. I took that moment to run.

"NATE!" was the last thing I heard as the Sick Bay sealed behind me.

"Shaxs! We have a goal; I need a hole to the nearest shuttle!"

"REPAIR BAY 4!" Rutherford yelled from my shoulder.

"LET'S GO!" he cheered, the man was in his element, knocking out or killing anyone who got in our way.

Everything was a mess. I don't know who taught the Pakleds combat, but phasers beat axes everyday, and security was doing good work keeping them suppressed.

Arriving in the Repair Bay we quickly jumped into the Sequoia.

"Shaxs, you know how to drive this thing, right?"

He slammed on the controls, the shuttle coming to life.

"HAHA!" he smirked, "I can fly anything... once~."

"Oh boy~."

"LET'S GO HUNTING, MY CUBS!" he activated the lasers, blasting us into open space, between us and the Pakled ship that looked to be made up of garbage, it looked like a bunch of random ship pieces slapped together and held with hopes and dreams. Damn thing was ugly, but still dangerous as multiple claws tried snatching us right out of space, but Shaxs was a crazy rebel fighter his whole life and doing some crazy maneuvers was nothing new to him.

He made the tiny shuttle dance past whatever the Pakleds had, but his landing could use some work, slamming us right into the side of the ship. Damn thing must have been made of wet tissue paper because we popped right into the side of their ship, they didn't even have a buffer zone between space and the internals, coming right into some kind of control room, it looked like a Romulan ship.

Shaxs and I jumped out and started blasting as Rutherford rushed to the nearest computer. Freaking Pakleds added all the computers to their systems, this ship was a freaking madhouse.

I don't think the Pakleds thought anyone was going to breach their defenses, because we ran into a pitiful number of guards.

"-Because you snapped my NECK!" I heard someone yell.

"How's it going over there?" I called out, shooting a Pakled warrior in the face.

"We don't have forever," Shaxs added.

"Damn it, Badgey, we don't have time for this!"

"Badgey~, you didn't delete that stupid thing!?" I hissed. Damn thing nearly killed him and Tendi when he helped her with spacewalking. I snapped the neck of a Pakled.

"You want me to disable their systems?" that damn AI looked manic. "Fine, I'll do it... EXPLOSIVELY!" the entire ship went on a red alert.

"Oh crap~."

"He's going to blow us up!" Rutherford panicked.

"Not if I have something to scream about it!" Shaxs jumped at Ruthford and tore the oculus from his head, if he didn't have brain damage before. Luckily, the pain knocked him out. "We're leaving!" we raced back to the shuttle.

"NO! HE'S MINE!" the AI screamed.

"Come on, come on~," I started playing with the controls, but that crash did more damage than I thought, "COME ON!" I slammed my hands on the controls getting the ship to come to life. "THAT'S MORE LIKE IT!" I slammed the shuttle in reverse as a fireball raced out at us, the Pakled ship turning to space dust.

The shuttle threatened to shake us to pieces, but I had to give it to Rutherford and Olly, they knew how to build a ship.

"Readings?" Shaxs ordered.

"Not great," I hissed, "Left blaster is busted and we're not warping anywhere soon."

And to make things worse three more Pakled Ships came out of warp, latching onto the Cerritos.

"We can take them," I bluffed. We were boned.

"Love that confidence," Shaxs laughed.

I turned the Shuttle and aimed at the nearest clamp latched onto the Cerritos and took aim, but I shouldn't have bothered as the USS Titan came out of warp and immediately started firing, no questions asked. A couple of phaser blasts and Photon torpedoes and the Pakleds beat feet, it was one thing to gang up on a Cali-class ship, it was another to challenge a fully suited-up Luna-Class fighter.

And as quick as it started, it was over.

With Shaxs cheering at the Pakleds retreat.

-/-

Okay, so it wasn't over-over.

"I AM GOING TO SHRINK YOU DOWN AND PUT YOU IN A LITTLE BOX!" D'Vana yelled at me. We were able to limp back to Douglas station where the Cerritos was getting the TLC it desperately needed. "AND THEN I'M GOING TO PUT YOU IN MY POCKET, THAT WAY YOU STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!"

So... Tendi was a little angry on how I ran off on her. She's been yelling at me since we entered our temporary room.

In that time, I was able to take a shower, eat some food, and change into my PJs. She didn't stop for a second, joining me in the sonic bath, I was too tired to care.

I finished dinner.

"Are you listening!?" she pouted.

"Yes~, and I'll be very happy in your pocket. Eat your steak, we had a hard day today."

"How can you eat!?" she hissed.

I cut a piece of meat and fed it to her, she nearly bit my finger off. "The adrenaline has worn off," I warned. "you need to eat and rest."

"Nate!?" she growled, oh, wait, that was her tummy.

I sighed and brought her into a hug. "D'Vana, it's my job to keep you safe. I knew the risks when I joined Starfleet."

She hugged me tighter. "I don't like it."

"I know," I kissed the top of her head. "I know."

We stood in the quiet.

"Where's Olly?" she whispered.

"With Becky, they had to look some stuff over for the ship design. I think they're going to try and make our room bigger," I teased.

"... good." She reached up and pulled me into a kiss. It was... somehow too wet and dry at the same time, forceful but timid, with equal anger and passion.

I needed more.

Something in me snapped. I grabbed her ass and carried her to bed.

I needed so much more.

-/-

Beckett M. Freeman POV

"Oh... Oh my Q I needed that." I laid in my temporary bed in Douglas station, Ramsey on my left and Olly on my right.

6 months~... never again.

"That was amazing~," Olly kissed up my sweaty neck.

"So forceful, you were a wild animal~," Amina teased.

I heard my PADD going off.

"Come on~," I whined. There was a zero percent chance I was going to get up.

"I got it~," Olly teased. I watched her get up, a swing to her hips.

"Nice~," Ramsey whispered in my ear. I had to agree, Nate took Olly's training seriously and sculpted her into a Greek hero. Soft but hard in the right places.

"Nate, Ship's ready, Vacations over, and... hey~, Rutherford's back on his feet," she smiled. Thank Q, we've been at his side for days. "Oooh~, memory loss... a lot of memory loss," she sighed. "I'll get dressed."

"Aw~," we whined.

She smirked. "Your mom also wants to see you~."

"Aw~," I groaned, "You're ruining the sexiness~."

"I could use help taking a shower~," she walked into the restroom.

.

.

.

Amina and I raced out of bed.

-/-

"Please tell me you didn't have sex in my office," Ma hissed.

"No~," I scoffed. "I can't get a grip on anything."

"Beckett," she warned.

"No sex~," I teased. She sighed. "how's the injury?"

She rubbed her lower rib. "Cracked rib, bruised organs, it looked worse than it was."

"You were bleeding out," I countered.

"Small cut."

"I'm a big girl you know, I can take bad news."

"Really?" She dumped a stack of PADDs on her table. "Contraband hidden throughout the ship-"

"Ah what, Seriously~!?" I'm being read the riot act!?

"-Illegal weapons, Illicit drugs... a Tribble?" she cocked an eyebrow at me.

"It's for personal use!"

"I got a year's worth of your insubordinations right here," she waved her PADD.

"Yeah, but without those 'insubordinations,' we would be dead right now!" I slammed my hands on her desk and stood up. I wasn't going to take this.

"I know." she... agreed? "I told Admiral Witt the same thing, and he agreed." she put away the PADD. "Scrubbed your name from the report and called it a day."

"He can do that?" I didn't know anyone could do that.

"He's been around the block longer than most, he's been playing the system since my father was a sparkle in your great grandfather's eye. Of course, that means you don't get a promotion."

"I can live with that," I slumped on my chair.

"He also wanted me to give you this," she passed me a PADD.

"Operation: side quest?" I read the title.

"You aren't the only one annoyed at Starfleet regulations. Did you know that Starfleet considers Beta 3 a 'known' Culture?" she scoffed. "They had no idea they regressed. And the Pakleds!? Well, the Pakleds murdered the entire crew of the Solvang because everyone assumed they were a joke."

"Yeah, well, that's Starfleet. Good at observing and bad at maintaining," I huffed, reading over the mission. "You know, we can't just assume people are gonna keep doing the right thing a generation down the road."

She nodded. "I agree, that's why I'm take on Operation: Side Quest, and I want you to lead it."

I skimmed the PADD, my eyes growing wider by the second. "Hold on... this is-"

"Mmm," she nodded. "Admiral Witt is impressed with your want to help the people. We may do second contact, but that leaves a lot up to interpretation, and Starfleet loves a good PR move. Your job, if you want, is to figure that out. Whether that's helping farmers, giving out colored pencils, or crafting a dam. There are still rules to be ironed out, being the first to really do anything like this, meaning you will need to attend real meetings with Admiral Witt and me... and listen. No more of this Robin Hood nonsense, it needs to be above board."

I gulped. This... this was really happening.

"... Okay," I nodded. "I accept."

She smirked. "Then get a team, AND DON'T FORGET," she stopped me at the door, "This is besides all your other duties, all this is still new, so we don't know your new work schedule."

I saluted, "Don't worry, I got this!" I yelled running out of the bridge and headed to the bar where the others were waiting.

Entering the bar, I was greeted by my group at our usual table.

"Hey! It's Mariner!" Rutherford waved at me, "We work with her, Mariner over here!"

I tossed Nate the PADD, "I need a team, and of all the people I know, you have the least to do, no overtime or holiday pay," I joked.

"Ah, what? No useless paper that holds any intrinsic value? Who would take a deal like that?" he smirked, reading over the PADD. I could see his eyebrows rising inch by inch, "Oh damn~."

"That's right! THINGS ARE COMING UP MARINER!"

"Drinks!" Boimler cheered.

"Drinks!" we cheered.

-/-

"I'm going to dip your face in lava!" I yelled at my PADD. "Do you hear me Bradward Boimler! Lava! I got a guy, and have you told Barb? She is going to kill you! BRADWARD! PICK UP MY CALLS! I WILL FIND YOU!"

Riker, that damn good for nothing, skimmed Brad right from under me and promoted him to the Titan. I wanted to kill someone.

"Becky, my love~." A tired Nate reached out, turned off my PADD, and cuddled me and Olly. "Bedtime, we have work tomorrow~."

"Sleep, sleep," Tendi hissed, nesting on my chest.

"Warm~," Olly hummed in my ear, nibbling on my neck.

Ugh... I'll be angry in the morning.

I got comfy, I had a whole lot of things to do tomorrow. I felt Olly's smooth thighs wrap around mine.

... This is going to be a long night.

-/-

A/N: Season one is down~, huzzah!

Still love the show, it even got me to watch other Star Trek shows.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes, I'm just a man.

I have Art of my fic on DeviantArt and have been adding audio videos on YouTube, so far I only have New Start Plus but I will be adding this one and the others too.

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