-= Temporary Quarters, Starbase 01 =-
“For fuck’s sake, Tonx.”
The first three words came out as a portmanteau: a series of words slung
together with syllables missing. Normally they combined meaning to
create a new word. In this case Felix de l’Isle was swearing at his
security chief so rapidly that they merged.
“What did I tell you on Ballis Nine? What did I tell you?”
Tonx folded her arms across her chest and looked at a small stain on the
carpet as Felix bit into her. On the one hand, she deserved the chewin’
out, but on the other? It’s not like she went looking for trouble.
Trouble just had a way of finding her. Letting go a frustrated sigh, she
sort of shook her head as she replied, “What didn’t you tell me, Felix?
Don’t shit where you sleep. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. .
.and what was the last one? Someone else’s spouse makes bad grouse. But.
. .”
The Lone Star CO cut her off. Irritatingly, all of those were things he’d said.
“And you laughed.” Felix raged, nodding angrily, “and we had a long…
exchange over the matter. It was a good laugh at the time and this isn’t
about that night.”
His words piled onwards, anticipating any smart reply she might have.
“This is about banging the spouse of a fucking flag officer – not just
any fucking flag officer but the deputy chief JAG – and getting caught
red-handed and then doing it twice more. Twice, Tonxs.”
‘Twice’ seemed to offend Felix in particular. The Commander had served
with him for nearly five years by now. It was that word for which he
seemed to want particular explanation as he slammed his open palm loudly
on the bulkhead. The noise ricocheted around the empty brig and Felix
growled, rolling over the permutations.
“If you want me to pull you out of the pile of crap that’s coming in
your cards, this answer had better be the best that’s ever come out of
your mouth, Tonx.”
Tonx gave Felix a flat look, “I thought you knew me better than to jump to conclusions, Felix.”
For a nanosecond they were both naked, only a few light years away from
Utopia Planitia, and she had him pinned against a bulkhead. “I knew you
well enough to jump you where Starfleet wouldn’t be able to see.”
The Commander couldn’t help the short laugh, “Ah. Right. Look, Maddie
came on to me. I didn’t know she was married, much less to a fucking
flag officer. Had I known, I probably would have run the other way.”
Probably. Not definitely. Maddie was damn near a ten, after all.
The woman’s lips twitched and she couldn’t help but smirk, “OK, so the
first time, I didn’t know she was married. She came to me the second
time. And the third time. As far as she’s concerned, her marriage with
the admiral is on its last legs. He’s not touched her in like. . .six
months?” At this point, Tonx closed her eyes and bit her lower lip, “No
way I was turning her away. I couldn’t make the most of my leave by
going out and pulling someone, but then I didn’t have to. She pulled me.
All. Three. Times.” She had no regrets. And she would have done it
again.
“Come in, Felix. You know what it’s like. . .a piece of the forbidden
fruit, and all that? It’s not like I actively chased her. She chased me.
I. . .just let her catch me,” Tonx replied. “Three times.”
Felix groaned, at least partly in sympathy. He knew exactly what it was
like. He also, as she’d pointed out, knew her. Other COs hadn’t been
able to put up with her proclivities but she’d shone on the Lone Star.
She kicked ass but, more crucially, she picked up on everything. As a
result she’d saved the ship’s bacon more times than every previous
holder of her position put together.
“Surely – you must have asked. Or noticed,” de l’Isle emphasised. “The
first time was in the Admiral’s damned house. You aren’t telling me she
slipped every pictureframe over while you were busy finding where in her
pants she keeps the magic? That he isn’t the kind of self-important
son-of-a-bitch who’s got a giant watercolour of himself in the hallway
so he can rub one out on the way to work?”
This was, to him, the point. Felix crossed his arms.
Tilting her head, Tonx arched a brow, “Hello. My name is Tonx. I’m the
chief security officer with a reputation for picking up on the obscure
and using it to my advantage.” Her tone was dripping with sarcasm, “You
know me, Felix, and I know I’ve said that once, but it bares repeating.
If there was any hint that she was married, I wouldn’t have gone there.
I may get around, but I don’t fool around with married people unless
the spouse is aware and gives the all clear.
“The quarters she took me to looked like temporary quarters. I didn’t
see anything in the way of decorum to suggest otherwise,” she added.
Frustration wasn’t going to take him much further. “You still should’ve
done your due diligence. You’re a big girl now. You ask. You find out,
in case it compromises security. What if next time it’s a spy?” Felix
figured he’d tell her about his Intel stalkers at another time. “Don’t
answer that.”
To this, Tonx rolled her eyes, “If it’s a spy, then they gotta be damned
good to get around my radar. Maddie. . .look, Felix, you gotta give me
the first time. You would have walked out of the party with her as quick
as I did. I take full on responsibility for the second and the third
time.” She folded her arms across her chest and let go a sigh, “Can you
honestly tell me you’ve not found yourself on the wrong side of such a
trist?”
A rhetorical question. She knew full well that he had been in a serious
relationship with his CO, Captain Desiree Taliano, when he’d been her XO
on the Artemis. Felix cocked an unamused eyebrow. This wasn’t about
him.
“My due diligence? Make sure she’s consenting with me. She was. Whatever
is between her and her husband isn’t my business. She clearly didn’t
want anything to do with him and everything to do with me. . .at least
for those two nights.” She couldn’t help the smirk.
There was a beat of silence. He was going to have to break the news to
her. A ship moved outside the quarters, blocking a light source into the
room. As it re-established Felix was glaring at her with accusation and
regret. “I’ve done all the damage limitation I could, Tonx. On your
feet, now.”
The security officer couldn’t recall a time she’d seen Felix this hot
under the collar, and she couldn’t understand it. He had a tendency to
play just as fast and loose as she did. Pushing herself to her feet, she
wondered what he meant by limiting damage, and realized the fallout was
likely about to be more than a simple slap on the wrist. “What is it,
Felix?”
Although sulking, Felix had a decently captain’s face these days. She’d
be able to read the frustration, or something further, in his eyes, and
that it wasn’t his style to be immovable or dispassionate. “Lieutenant
Commander Greer McKenna.”
Oh shit.
Tonx knew that expression, and Felix was not Felix in that moment, but
Captain. She met his gaze. She would not look past him, would not look
away him. She was a big girl, and she’d accept the repercussions of her
actions, even if she didn’t think those actions represented a serious
offense.
“You are hereby demoted to the rank of Lieutenant. Your free time and
relaxation privileges are rescinded for a duration of three months. You
will attend a schedule of mandatory counselling appointments and
character rehabilitation exercises on the holodeck.“ Felix, even,
wondered what short hell those might contain. The next was, for him, the
worst.
“Finally: as of now, you’re suspended from the Starfleet command track
and are out of contention for the Lone Star’s 2XO.” The reason for his
anger now loose, Felix stepped forward and pulled the third pip, perhaps
a little roughly, from her collar. When he returned to his original
spot his glare was intense with disappointment.
Each statement felt like a gut punch. Her blood drained from her face
when he told her she’d lost a half pip, and she closed her eyes when she
learned she’d not get any R&R for three months. Her eyes snapped
open when she learned about the counseling and rehabilitation. What the
hell did she need to rehabilitate from?!
What got the strongest reaction, though, was the last one. It wasn’t
just a punch to the gut, but a sucker punch followed by a gut punch.
“WHAT?!” She’d been working towards 2XO for ages, taking on added
responsibilities, finishing the required course work and getting the
last few things lined up before formally applying for the post. “Come on
Felix. . . Captain. You can’t be serious?!”
There was probably a good word in another language that summarised
‘professional heartbreak’. Whatever it was it summarised Felix, too. He
had no other card to play. Tonx had been his friend and his unabashed
project for years: proof that the Lone Star could achieve things no
other ship could. That bring weird wasn’t out of the ordinary. That
rabid smarts could lead to more than impetuousness. That being a bit
Kirk wasn’t entirely a bad thing.
“Fair or not fair, you’d be at Yakasi Mai if I hadn’t wormed you out,
Lieutenant.” Felix had spent six months at Starfleet’s finest
penitentiary. Sometimes, he wondered if it wouldn’t do Tonx a pinch of
good. “When I say this was the best deal I could get out of them, I mean
I saved your bacon. Pulled the favours, sweetened the talk. The best I
could save was your career.” He mirrored her petulance. “I hope that was
okay.”
Yakasi Mai for sleeping with an admiral’s wife? A bit extreme, ain’t it?
Tonx nearly asked the question, but the thought slipped from her as
Felix continued. He saved her career. It was ridiculous the admiral was
looking to end her career, but the green-headed monster could cause
people to do crazy things. Finally, she looked away as she let go a
defeated sigh, “Yeah. Okay. The admiral can go fuck himself, childish
bastard.” She was deflecting. Right now, she just wanted to get lost in a
bottle, and find someone to help her forget the evening, but that
wasn’t likely to happen, was it?
That was about as good as he was going to get, and Felix knew it.
“C’mon.” He smacked her arm. “Three months of good behaviour and we’ll
take it from there. As for the rest, I’ve made my point.” There wasn’t
much point in telling Tonx that he’d drive the getaway shuttle. She
should’ve known that already.
His hand rested on her arm for a second longer than it should have. Felix looked at the replicator, then back at Tonx.
“Whisky?” It was the first cure he could think of. For both of them. Even if it wasn’t the only one.
He was trying to get her to see the upside, and it was only for three
months. There was a petulant child screaming within, throwing the
biggest tantrum she could, but outwardly, the woman gave her captain and
friend a flat look, “That the strongest you got?” Her lips quirked up
into her characteristic smirk.
Felix snapped the commbadge off his uniform. Captains were decisive, he
reminded himself. They wouldn’t have this chance again for a while. He
flipped the badge onto a table and stepped into her personal space. She
was taller than him by a couple of inches. They weren’t touching, yet.
Her smirk was still a breath away from his lips.
“Nah. This is.”
The smirk broadened as she met his gaze with hers. Part of her noticed
how his breathing changed the moment he stepped into her personal space.
Her own breathing had deepened in anticipation and her voice went a bit
husky, “Works for me. You’re top tonight.” Her brows wiggled.
Lt. Greer “Tonx” McKenna
&
Captain Felix de l’Isle