Chapter Six
Captain Sharp stood rigidly still as the last whispers of air reclaimed the hanger bay from the airlessness of space. The faded green light flickered on at the top of the airlock hatch, signaling the bay was safe to enter. The shuttle was already parked on its rack.
The officers accompanying the Captain were all smiles. He hoped they’d have the presence of mind to wipe them off their faces before they came within view of the shuttle’s occupants. As they reached the final steps of the platform leading out to the courier, he saw that they had masked their entertainment.
The Captain, exec and helmsman halted aft of Shuttle Eight and waited till the hatch snapped open. Mister Ford hopped forth when he saw the navigator struggling to make egress with his travel case in hand.
Ford took the black case and stepped out of the way. He was back to grinning. Mister Davenport slid out of the copilot’s seat and met his friend’s eye for a bit while Ford made a quick show of sniffing the air and covering his nose. The smell of sex had already reached Sharp’s position. He felt like flushing, but thankfully didn’t. His color wasn’t dark enough for that to go unnoticed.
“Wasn’t Davenport in the pilot’s position when they—“
“Commander.” He warned the XO. She smiled.
The two ship’s pilots stepped out of the way of the tiny hatch as Ensign Lania slid out of the cockpit. She stood before them all, calm and collected, her color its normal pale with a hint of green. She smoothed out the one-piece leotard as though it were formal attire and strode forth.
She halted before the Captain.
“Permission to come aboard?”
“Granted, Ensign. Your condition?”
“The situation has passed, sir.”
“How soon would you like to return to duty?”
“I would like to rest for the next day, Captain. And may I ask that my cabin remain single occupancy for as long as possible?”
“I see no problems with that, Ensign. We have plenty of berthing space.”
There was ulterior motive in the Vulcan’s eyes, Sharp knew. But her request posed no problem. More privacy for her would certainly be an asset.
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Carry on, Ensign. You will be added to Friday’s duty roster for your normal watch.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
And she turned and walked primly away. As though nothing odd or unplanned had ever happened to her. Sharp shook his head a bit, refused to meet his exec’s gaze. He looked then to Davenport. The navigator was coming near, Ford at his side, still carrying the case. Ronald had his thermos in hand.
“Gonna take a week to clean—“
The ensign cut his friend off.
“Oh, shut up!”
“Hehehe!” The helmsman’s laugh was guttural and happily sarcastic. There was no way he’d let this go soon. Sharp kind of pitied Davenport, but also envied him the comradery.
At last, the men stood before their captain. Sharp had been dreading any sort of confrontation, and did not know what his navigator’s ultimate reaction was going to be. At face value, he was mostly nonplussed, seemed perhaps uncertain himself. If he had harsh words, though, Jon had decided already that he would suffer them. He deserved whatever he got from his decision.
“Any issues, Navigator?”
Ronald held up his still half-full thermos.
“Ran out of coffee, sir. Took too long of a nap and…had to alter the flight plan.”
“I see… Any other issues.”
Ensign Davenport stared at him without obvious expression for some time. He obviously didn’t know where to go with this conversation. No more than Sharp did himself. Commander Ellyson was having a fierce and losing battle with the grin on her face.
Ronald gave her a glance, then looked back to his captain.
“Not a one, sir.”
Ford chuckled.
Sharp worked to pretend not to notice anyone’s levity. Ronald did as well. Finally, he nodded to his junior officer.
“Very well then, Ensign. Since we’ve already worked the duty roster around you, you may…take tomorrow off as well. Get some rest.”
“Aye, sir!”
“Yeah, looks like you need it!” Ford agreed, clapping his friend on the shoulder as they headed for the turbolifts.
Sharp signaled for the hanger techs to snap to their waiting shuttle and allowed Commander Ellyson to fall into step with him. He headed for the furthest hatch leading into engineering.
“Was that a bite mark on Davenport’s neck?!”
“I was trying not to notice.”
“You did a good job, too.”
He made a noise that was half grunt, half laugh.
“She had one too.”
“What?!”
The Captain triggered the hatch control and looked fully at Susan.
“Commander, we’ve dallied enough here. Best speed for Starbase 12.”
“Aye, sir!”
END
And that is all I've written with the Cleo, as yet. Am glad y'all enjoyed. Next, I'll be posting some stories set about 10 years or so later. I intend to do some more Cleo stuff in the future, but I'm not there yet.
And, sadly Frank, there is, as yet, no unrated version. Just that wee teaser.
--guv
Topic: Cleopatra #3 (Read 15176 times)