"Lieutenant York, I was just thinking about you," you compliment her honestly.
"I was wondering -- could we get together some time?"
You sigh, wondering at your good fortune. In some other life ... "Honestly, I have to ask you: what singles me out for such keen attention?"
"I do my research. It may possibly have something to do with your mother -- not to mention your father being special counsel to the Federation President."
That relaxes you a little. Maybe this isn't rampant lust after all, maybe it's just good old networking. "I feel safer already. But I must pass. I've been busy -- I just got out of Sickbay, where I just learned my wife is pregnant."
You study her response to that phrase "my wife is pregnant." Her smile holds but she's shifting her attitude towards you even as you speak. "Congratulations," she replies.
"Thank you, and thank you for taking an interest. Duty calls."
"Same here. See you."
Take it easy, you counsel yourself in the turbolift. Even a flirtatious officer may just be looking to make the right connections.
You arrive at the bridge and automatically notice Navigator Yuna looking back at you. There is a distinct smiling curiosity about her -- and something new to wonder about. However, business comes first.
You approach Captain Li. "Captain, the Chief Medical Officer has declared me fit to carry on with my duties."
"So I hear." Still, she looked a little dubious. "Any ... nodal ... problems?"
"Evidently nothing the good Doctor can't handle."
"Very well. You may be called upon later for ... testimony. Take your -- "
"Begging your pardon, sir."
"Yes, Lieutenant Quinn?"
You're a bit stunned at how you could have failed to notice Lieutenant Quinn, who you recall from your briefing as the Science Officer. Going clear against the bookworm stereotype, Quinn is not only a very shapely blonde but clearly something of a Wunderkind, astonishingly young for so high a responsibility, a faint trace of freckles reinforcing her youthful appearance. There is something about her that vaguely brings to mind a cute engineering student you once knew named Leffler, and once more you have to wonder, What is it about this ship, and has T'Van really figured any of it out?
"Captain," said Quinn, "I'm picking up a strange reading." |