The errant hunk of rock had been avoided at minimal cost and the entire crew breathed a sigh of relief. One more disaster avoided through the quick action of one Ensign Sarah Masters. It was her voice that had warned everyone to brace, even as she overrode the control lockouts to maneuver the ship in a way it had never been meant to move, against the direct orders of her captain. Right now she was literally shaking in her boots as she awaited her captain’s displeasure in the captain’s very own ready room.

Chapter 9

Pandemonium ruled for a brief instant before the crew drew themselves together to deal with some new unknown emergency. Despite the careful plotting of every hunk of orbital debris, something had sneaked through the systems and the alert attention of the Sensors officer to throw an unexpected missile at the Hermes and some fairly extreme evasion maneuvers had been required at the last moment to prevent serious damage to the ship. It was only through the greatest stoke of luck that the serious casualty list was limited to 2, one very unlucky sailor who had been in the process of unsuiting and one marine who had been wandering around in the gardens.

The errant hunk of rock had been avoided at minimal cost and the entire crew breathed a sigh of relief. One more disaster avoided through the quick action of one Ensign Sarah Masters. It was her voice that had warned everyone to brace, even as she overrode the control lockouts to maneuver the ship in a way it had never been meant to move, against the direct orders of her captain. Right now she was literally shaking in her boots as she awaited her captain’s displeasure in the captain’s very own ready room.

She was literally so scared she was about to piss herself waiting, but in any case, the nearest head would be a welcome sight. Her attempt at iron self control nearly gave way when the hatch slid open and she was confronted with the person of the Captain herself.

“Lieutenant Masters, please take a seat” . By this time her fear had magnified many times and she was literally about to piss on the floor, but somehow, the statement of rank penetrated through her state of terror.

“Maam, I hate to correct you, but my rank is Ensign and I really need to use the bloody head before I piss on your nice carpet.”

“Of course Lieutenant, it’s over there”. She gestured toward the facilities, which were labeled, as was protocol aboard any ship. She waited for a moment while the youngster did her toilet, a wry smile crossing her face as she remembered her own first posting fresh out of the academy and how she had herself been terrified of her captain. She adjusted her face back to a stern countenance before the young officer came out of the head. She was wasted at Sensors, she should truly have been Tactical Officer, especially given her delicate maneuvering of the ship to avoid that incoming bolide. She doubted that she herself could have done as delicate a job at evasive maneuvers.

She reappeared, adjusting her uniform hurriedly, a worried expression on her face. “Maam, I know I failed in my duty, there was a piece of rock I just didn’t see and I nearly cost the entire ship because of my stupidity, I know I must have caused some casualties, but I had to move the ship, it was either that or allow it to hit us and that would have been so much worse. I will put myself on report and confine myself to quarters until you can decide on the proper disciplinary action maam.”

By this time Helen was trying to decide whether she should be amused or irritated. She settled on amused. “Lieutenant Masters, please take a seat.” The bewildered young woman found a seat through her fog of tears, still convinced she was as deep in trouble as it was possible to get. The repeated use of Lieutenant as her rank had not quite penetrated her conscious mind. She still did not quite understand when she found the captain standing over her pinning new badges of rank on her collar.

“Maam, I don’t get it, I’m just an ensign who overstepped her bounds, what the hell is this bit?”

“No young lady, you are just an officer who did what had to be done to save this ship. That you had the courage to do so without orders and without needing to ask for permission makes you an officer I want on my bridge and one I hope will make better decisions than some of the monkeyfuck jobs I’ve made of things the past few months. You deserve this promotion and I won’t allow you to refuse it. Wear those silver bars with pride, young lady. You have earned them, Lieutenant Masters.”

With that, she straightened and saluted the woman she hoped would follow her in command rank. Sarah stood and gave a still somewhat teary salute back to her before she squared her shoulders and marched out of the Captain’s cabin, so overcome with emotion and pride she couldn’t see where she was walking.

The inevitable result of this was that she wound up marching straight into an unyielding mountain of muscle that called himself James Bosphors. The collision wasn’t exactly spectacular, but the corridor echoed to the sound of her bouncing off his bulk and suddenly sitting down on the deck with a little yelp.

James hadn’t seen her in time to react, so bound up in his own thoughts that he only noticed her presence after she bounced off of him. Ironically, his thoughts had been of her. He had been enchanted by her beauty and competence. He was fairly sure he was falling in love with her and had no idea what to do about it. She never even seemed to notice him unless they had to interact on shift and then she was professional and crisp, the only emotion in evidence going to her control boards. The only time he’d ever seen anything crack that cold, efficient veneer was when the strikes had been launched and when she was watching the rescue of that poor child.

Yet here she was, sitting on the deck in front of him, crying. He wanted so desperately to gather her in his arms and hold her, to soothe whatever hurt she was feeling. Instead, he offered his hand to her to help her up, his face burning with embarrassment. It was his curse, to be this great oversized mass of a man who couldn’t ever seem to connect with anything other than his console.

It was one of those things that had become a shipboard legend. They both longed for the other and it was obvious to all those around them, but neither of them had a clue. There was actually a standing bet among their crewmates as to when or even if they would get together. She took the offered hand, pulling herself up and blushing as she thought of what she wanted those great mitts to do to her. In her mind, he had scooped her up off the deck and hugged her while she wrapped herself around his bulk, but in reality, she simply accepted the hand up and scurried on down the passageway, blushing furiously and rubbing her sore posterior. He watched her until she went out of sight, wishing it was his hand that was rubbing that magnificent bottom.