Erratic Nerd Writings

{{First off, I had to add a small bit to Chapter 2 a couple of nights ago, as the original beginning to this chapter I realized needed to be at the end of the last.  So, if you missed that, make sure to check that out before proceeding.  Secondly, this was a tough chapter to write.  Some personal things kept coming back as I was trying to write through these events, so it took more effort than normal keeping things on track and in-line as they should be.  Hopefully I was successful in keeping things separated properly.}}

Kanor stared straight ahead as the turbolift car he was sharing with Skid took them down to the ship’s armory.  Short of ordering the turbolift car where to take them upon entering, Skid hadn’t said anything since they had left Selorus in Kaz’s office.  He wasn’t about to engage her in conversation himself.  Deck seven wasn’t that far of a ride.

“Well, boyo, looks like we’re going to get the warm, fuzzy pleasure of each other’s company after all.”

Kanor didn’t really understand the point of the statement, so he decided not to say anything.  If he showed no weakness in responding, perhaps she would be inclined to resume silence.

Her expression and tone of voice changed.  “I can tell already it’s going to be a rip-roaring good time…”

He couldn’t help but frown at that.  “Human women engage in a form of roaring?”

She snorted.  “Only when they’re pissed.  And who said I’m human, hmm?”

Kanor’s eyebrows raised up as his eyes swept over Skid’s body, looking for any signs he may have missed of an alternative ancestry.  While the jumpsuit prevented him from seeing everything, of course, he couldn’t detect any anatomical oddities, though he supposed the garment was somewhat loose.  “You appear human in every way; I wasn’t aware you possessed an alternative gene pool.”

When his eyes returned to Skid’s emerald gaze, he found her smirking at him.  “Was that a poor excuse to check me out again?  You don’t need my permission, ya know.  Or an excuse.”

Kanor’s eyes widened at her implication; he hadn’t meant that to be implied at all.  “Not at all, I was simply…I was NOT asking permission…”

She outright laughed at that.  “I may appear human; I assure you, I’m not.  It’s good to see you CAN blush, at least.”

Kanor’s brow furrowed as he reached up to touch his right cheek with his hand.  He didn’t blush; he was quite certain Klingons didn’t even possess the capability of such an act.  The turbolift eased to a stop, the doors whished open, and Skid promptly stepped out onto the deck.  He frowned deeper as he followed her. 

Skid greeted a couple of passing Tellarite crewmembers who walked by, a male and female, each wearing white leotards of some kind.  Judging from the grey towels around their necks and the pungent porcine scent that assaulted his olfactory senses, he guessed there was a gym or workout center of some kind on this deck as well.  They seemed happy to see Skid, but their beady little eyes didn’t know quite what to make of Kanor as he followed in her wake. 

“Ya know, ya could try smiling every once in a while.  Surely your mouth isn’t frozen into place like those ridges on your forehead, right?”

They were going down a long curvature in the corridor, now; Kanor guesstimated this deck seven was in the middle of (or near to it) the saucer area of the Enterprise.  There were several crewmembers milling about, now; some going the same direction, others the opposite.  A few here and there were simply standing to one side of the corridor conversing.  People seemed to be at least partially aware of each other, and would lean out of the way to make room as others passed, or simply step aside, in some cases.  Everyone seemed to be getting well out of their way, however; judging by the cordiality and smiles shown towards Skid by each crew member they passed, Kanor assumed it was him.  Well, he was a tall, broad-shouldered humanoid.  And he had yet to see a single Klingon anywhere. 

“Of course it isn’t.  I simply don’t see the point in it at this moment.”

“Really?  Your life that terrible, then?”

“It has been better, but it is not terrible, no.”

She snorted through her nose again.  She seemed to do that a lot; he determined it was derisive in nature the majority of the time.  “What happened to that pleasant, I’d daresay-flirty-fellow who was being held up at phaser-point earlier, hmm?  The swashbuckling rakish rogue?”

“You clearly don’t like me, or my presence aboard your ship, your…Lady.”

She glanced back at him, an eyebrow arched.  “She is a Lady; you’d do best to remember that.  Not mine, but absolutely a Lady.”  She turned right down a branching off corridor, and he followed along behind her, of course.  “You scared the piss out of poor Ash earlier.  And you assaulted Munson-AFTER somehow transporting right out from under his nose.”  She shot him a scathing look.  “Don’t think we missed THAT little ability you seem to have utilized.”  She turned left, heading down a much smaller corridor that didn’t seem to be nearly as well trafficked.  “No, I don’t take kindly to my mates being attacked.  Especially my drinkin buddies.”

“In my situation, I am sure all of you would have done the same.  Keep in mind, I incapacitated Mister Munson, I did not injure or kill him.  As for your Bolian friend…”  He frowned a bit.  “He should not have been there.  Sh’lan chose poorly in including him on that guard detail.”

“Hmph.  Sh’lan chose poorly quite a bit.”  She stopped a few meters short of the end of the corridor, where a pair of heavy-duty blast doors stood closed.  “You know how to use those weapons of yours we confiscated equally as well as those hands, I take it?”

Kanor felt insulted by the mere suggestion he didn’t, and didn’t bother to try and hide it.  “Of course I do.”

Skid stepped up closer to him, her face getting right up into his.  At least, as close as it could; she seemed to be of average height for most humanoids, but he was significantly taller.  He felt a wave of some…earthy scent reach his nose, spiced with a splash of wildflowers of some sort.  Natural, not artificial.  “Then know if you ever try to use them against me or mine, you will find yourself being bloody well tested on their use very thoroughly. “

From anyone else, he may have laughed; or at least been amused.  But he could hear the absolute certainty in her voice as she stated that matter-of-factly; could see those vibrantly emerald eyes flash with a fire that seemed to match the waves of hair falling from her scalp.  He had seen the way she handled his mek’leth earlier; had witnessed her accuracy with a firearm.  It was no idle threat, more like…a promise.  Despite himself, he couldn’t deny the urges that seemed to stir in his blood.

“Then I almost wish I was intending to, so I could be.”

A slow, beguiling smile creeped over Skid’s face in the silence after his response.  “There he is…” she murmured.  She “harrumphed” as she stepped back away from him.  “Sit tight a sec.”

She spun around and continued the rest of the way to the console on the right of the armory doors that ended the corridor.  Making sure to use her body to block his view of the control panel, he heard her fingers punch in a sequence on the controls, followed up by voice authorization.

“Commander Skid, alpha beta beta three.”

The earlier reference to him as a “swashbuckling rakish rogue” was perplexing.  He had no facial hair, and he was no pirate.  An image of dueling Skid flashed through his mind abruptly; blades clashing, the two of them circling each other, looking for an avenue of attack, testing each other’s physical and mental strength…

“Commander Skid, ma’am; once again, I respectfully request the decision to re-arm this…person be re-evaluated.”

Kanor was snapped out of his reverie by the sound of Ensign Munson’s voice coming from up ahead, where the armory doors had opened.  His lips tightened into a thin line at his indiscretion.  Entering into a hostile situation, and he was thinking about mating overtures.  It hadn’t been that long; he needed to get control of himself.

“Trust me, Mister Munson; I’d like nothing more than to side with you on this one.  However, this came from above.  You know how stubborn he is.”

Kanor assumed they were referring to Commodore Kaz.  Munson stood at a small workstation, located on the far side of a small foyer-like area within the armory doors.  The Ensign grimaced as he looked past Skid to Kanor, who simply stood where Skid had instructed him to wait, his arms akimbo.  Munson sighed, then reached out to tap in a sequence of commands into the console in front of him.  There was a shimmering in the air as a forcefield was deactivated, then Skid stepped into the foyer, past where Munson stood facing Kanor still, and through another set of doors behind Munson, which closed behind her.  Kanor was itching for a fight; Skid had made him restless.

“Well, this certainly seems familiar, doesn’t it?”

Munson had shifted into a military “at ease” pose as they both waited for Skid to retrieve Kanor’s possessions, but it was clear he was tense and on-edge.  His eyes narrowed, but he made no move to reach for the phaser holstered on his hip.

“Better not blink, wouldn’t want me to storm the armory doors or anything.  Or who knows, maybe I’ll simply just appear behind you and…”

The twitch in Munson’s left cheek was stopped by Skid walking out of the inner doors again.  She stopped short, her gaze moving from Munson to Kanor quickly, before frowning as she continued through the outer doors.  She punched the package of Kanor’s items into his chest as she walked by, growling.

“We’re going to your quarters.  Now.”

Kanor’s eyes flashed at the sound of Skid’s growl.  He really wanted to get violent.  She was already halfway down the corridor, however, and he doubted anyone would like it if he got in another physical altercation with a member of the Enterprise’s security personnel. 

“Next time, reactivate the force field once the officer has entered!”

Munson visibly bristled at the reprimand as the armory doors began to close, but Kanor had already spun around to follow Skid, his long stride easily eating up the corridor length between them.  He was basking in the insult he had gotten to deliver to Munson in departing; turning his back upon him, physically scoffing at Munson’s abilities as a warrior and deeming him unworthy as a threat.  It made his fingers clench around the container he carried as he grinned broadly.  Skid made the right turn ahead of him that led away from the armory corridor.

“This Ensign Munson has been relegated to armory guard duty, then?  A fitting…”

A booted foot hit him squarely against the side of his jaw as he rounded the corridor corner, making him stumble slightly.  His eyes flashed, his blood practically boiling inside, as he dropped the package he had been carrying.  The fist that Skid sent his way almost immediately as a follow-up to her kick was instinctually captured by his left hand, and he promptly jabbed his right hand out to Skid’s left side.  She twisted her body to deflect the worst of the blow, in turn trying to free her right arm, but he wouldn’t let go.  Her left arm jabbed out to hit his solar plexus, but he simply let her land the blow; he was still wearing his armor.  Instead, his right hand darted out to grasp her mane of red hair, yanking her hair back, baring her throat. 

“You will learn some bloody fucking respect for the members of this crew!” she snarled.

Kanor’s nostrils flared, his body humming with the song of battle, his lips curling to bare his teeth as he grinned.  Oh, this was glorious!  “First you must EARN it!”

She growled, jamming the heel of her hand up towards Kanor’s face.  Kanor saw the blow coming and ducked his head, taking the blow on his thick cranial plating.  A belly laugh bubbled up from Kanor’s thick chest as he used his greater strength to slam Skid’s body up against the far wall of the corridor.  He brutally tugged her hair down and pushed against her upper body using the arm of hers he was grasping, forcing her cranium to smack against the surface he had her pressed against.  He savored the feel of her body against him, the pained fury he saw in her eyes.  He was just about to repeat the head slam again, when he felt five pillars of pain burrow into his groin area, immediately making his hands go slack and his eyes widen as he gasped.  Skid bared her own teeth as her eyes flashed with triumph.

“GET. YOUR. HANDS. OFF. ME!”

Kanor’s broad chest heaved as he greedily sucked in air, his fingers splaying out as he held them up in the air and away from Skid.  A gurgling noise bubbled from his throat as she clenched her fingers and dug them in even deeper against his body, but he refused to vocalize his pain.  The swelling bosom of her overalls rose and fell rapidly as she tried to regain her own composure, but their glares never left each other’s, neither willing to be the first to back down.  She shook the hand he had been clasping, where the outlines of his fingers could be seen in stark contrast on her pale, lightly freckled skin.  She reached behind her hand to touch the back of her head carefully, and her fingers came back with small traces of red blood upon them.  She growled, not looking at them, not breaking their stare-off, but feeling the warmth of the liquid. 

“I’ll say it one more ti…”

Skid was interrupted by the clearing of someone’s throat.  “Uh…Commander Skid, sir?”

“WHAT?!”

“Should I uh…call security, ma’am?  The bridge, maybe?”

Kanor could see someone standing on the edge of his peripheral vision, but wasn’t about to back down or submit to Skid and look, vise-like grip on his genitals be damned.  Skid, apparently, wasn’t willing to either.

“What is your name and rank, crewman?”

“Uh…Dieter, ma’am.  Chief Petty Officer.  I’m a nurse.  I was passing…”

Skid’s eyes flicked away, and Kanor felt a momentary surge of success, especially when he felt her grip on his genitals loosen.  However, even as he attempted to ignore the buzzing, piercing pain between his legs, he felt Skid’s shoulder slam into his gut.  Feminine hands grasped his body, and he was abruptly airborne.  He landed flat on his back, the impact rattling his teeth, making his vision blur momentarily as the wind was knocked out of him.  She had thrown him!  He could count on one hand the number of individuals who had thrown him before!  Dazed at the turn of events, Kanor blinked, seeing a blonde man’s spiked head peer down over him as the red-faced and sweaty Skid leaned over as well.

“Well, then, Chief; help me get this oaf over to Sickbay.”

Skid was panting as she drew a phaser, adjusted a dial along the side, then pointed it at him with her left hand.  Kanor gritted his teeth at the pain in his crotch, but forced himself to sit up.  A flash of red light flooded his vision, however, and he fell back down to the deck with a thud.

                                                                           ***

“…already waking back up?!  Bloody fookin marvey, he’s like a fookin sonuva…”

Kanor grunted as red exploded on the insides of his eyelids before he could reopen them.  His head thudded back against something hard.

                                                                           ***

“…around again, sir.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Skid, put that thing away!  It’s my Sickbay, I’ll take care of it.”

He heard the faint hiss of a hypospray, and managed to crack his eyes open just enough to see silky, shiny black hair move in his field of vision before he felt everything go fuzzy.

                                                                           ***

 “…nor, I’ve detected you’ve gone unconscious three times in the past hour.  Due to your lack of response in the past twenty minutes, I have administered a stimulant.  Though your captors have vacated the immediate vicinity, I have concluded they will notice the change in your levels within minutes, if not seconds.  The probability they will then discover my presence is nearly absolute.  Again, Kanor, I’ve detected…”

Cypher was speaking to him.  He fought back the urge to moan; his genitals still throbbed with pain, and his head felt like it had photon torpedoes exploding inside of it constantly.  Cypher was still repeating her speech of his current situation, but he was tuning it out.  If what she said was true, he needed to move, and responding to her verbally might alert the Enterprise crew before they otherwise would be.  His eyes opened, and he blinked, trying to quickly assess the area as his vision started to clear.  He was in a sickbay, on a biobed.  Looked Federation-style, though not one he had seen before.  When he tried to sit up, he discovered a restraint had been placed across the majority of his torso.  His motions started a beeping sound to come from monitoring equipment above his head, and he growled in frustration.  At least Cypher had stopped repeating herself.

“My oh my, you do seem to wake up remarkably well, even when I’ve administered some drugs that should have kept you down for a good hour, at least.”

Doctor O’Neil came walking into the room from a doorway on the right beyond his feet.  There was that smile that seemed to light up a room.  As enjoyable of a sight as he found it to be, his lips formed a deep frown.  He slammed his arms up against the restraint that arched over him keeping them pinned against his torso.

“I demand to be released!”

She leaned over, resting her arms along the restraint above him, and tilted her head at him admonishingly.  “Now Kanor.  I put you in restraints because I knew this was how you’d react upon waking up.  I’ll happily take them off, but you’ve got to cool down some first, mister.  No angry rants in my Sickbay.  Especially no violence!”

Kanor scowled.  “Am I injured in some way, DOCTOR?”

“I told you to call me Marcie.  I don’t let just everyone call me that, so consider it a privilege.”  She glanced up past his head to the monitors set in the wall above the bed.  “Huh.  You shouldn’t have that in your system for any reason…”  She looked back down at him, a mischievous grin spreading over her features slowly.  “Sneaky.”  She chuckled, smirking.  “And to answer your question, no; I mean I’m sure you’ve got a whopping headache, and you’ve definitely got bruises.”  She glanced behind her shoulder for a moment, then leaned in even closer to him, her eyes seeming to dance.  The scent of cinnamon seemed to waft up to his nostrils.  “Between you and me, your twig-well, tree-and berries are pretty bad, but I’ll give you some ointment to put on those, since I’m assuming you’ll want to use them for pleasure again someday.  Should cut down the worst of it to a few hours, at most.”

Kanor’s eyes widened, the heated retort he had on his lips halted dead.

“Aww, you CAN blush!  I wonder if that’s the Vulcan or Human aspect of your genes?  Klingons, of course, don’t have that capability.”

Kanor closed his eyes for a moment, taking a slow, deep breath and trying to exert some control over himself.  He used one of the multitude of exercises his mother had tried to teach him that he had never been good with.  It certainly had never become one of his strong points over the years since.  When he opened his eyes again, the Doct…Marcie, he corrected himself, was watching him quietly.

“Marcie, why am I here, then, if I am not injured?”

She grinned again.  “Decent; that almost sounded polite and civil, versus brimming with hostility.  We’re going to be good friends, Kanor; just you wait and see.”  She straightened up and reached up past his head to hit a few switches on the equipment above him, glancing over them briefly.  “For the most part, you’re pretty much fine.  Skid brought you here because SHE’S the one who needed some medical attention.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone beat her up like that before, not even Sh’lan, and he was probably the only one that ever came close to one-upping her.”

Kanor frowned.  “Yet I am the one who was knocked unconscious and forced to back down.”

Marcie shrugged.  “Well sure, when she grabbed that beast and his buddies between your legs.  Last resort kind of move.  Dieter had to give her a stimulant once you were out so she’d last long enough to help him get you down here.”

Kanor couldn’t help but grin at that.  So, she had reacted that way because she had felt cornered.  She had the fire of a Klingon woman in her veins!

“You actually LIKED that, didn’t you?”

Kanor was startled out of his reverie as he turned to find Marcie grinning broadly down at him.  “What are you implying?”

She punched his shoulder with a suppressed giggle.  “Oh man, I’ve always heard Klingons like it rough, but sheesh!  Did you think she was trying to mate with you?”

Kanor frowned.  “Neither of us bit each other!”

Marcie rolled her eyes and shook her head.  “Wow.  Looks like I’ll have to polish up on my knowledge of Klingon mating rituals.  Okay, humans don’t initiate sex by throwing kicks and punches, or trying to kill each other.  Well, not most of the time, anyways…”

Kanor arched an eyebrow at her.  “I thought Skid wasn’t human?”

She waved a hand dismissively.  “She’s close enough.  And if, supposedly, you weren’t trying to fuck her, we DO have facilities aboard where you can go to get some of that aggression out.  Kick some butt, do some fighting...and NOT send anyone to me in here.”

“What’s the point, then?”

Marcie sighed.  “Alright, look.  Can I release these restraints without you going ape and throwing stuff on me?”

“I am clearly not an ape, nor do I fling excrement; but yes, you can release the restraints and I’ll behave.”

 “Alright, then.  Kaz left a few minutes before you woke up; he gave Skid quite a talking to.  I’m assuming she’ll show you to your quarters and call it a night, providing you don’t try to kill each other again.”  She reached out to tap a specific sequence into a control panel along the side of the bed, and the restraint pulled back, recessing itself back into the biobed.  As he sat up and swung his feet around and off of the bed, she took his left hand and placed a small bottle into it.  Again, that uncomfortable sensation as their flesh touched.

“I would have put it on myself earlier, but I took a little too long to gape in awe, and didn’t want to give the wrong impression when Kaz looked in on you.”

Kanor averted his eyes as he took the bottle, his brow knitting at that unsettling thought, as well.  This woman had seen parts of his body bared few had.

“Just uh…apply all over the erm…problem areas.  Like I said, should make that pain go away by bedtime if you apply it now.”

He got to his feet, glancing up to see Marcie simply standing there, her hands on her hips, looking at him.  He looked at her questioningly.

“Rrrrright.  I mean, I’ve seen everything already, I had to, but you probably want some…yeah.  Okay.”  Her own cheeks flushed, Marcie turned and walked back through the doorway she had come in.

Once he was sure she was gone, Kanor took stock of himself.  His body ached, but it felt good, in its own way.  He’d deal with the headache, and hopefully this balm would help with the throbbing below.  The stimulant Cypher had given him, and whatever Marcie had injected him with, were probably keeping the worst of it at bay for now.  His armor had been removed, but it was sitting on the floor, propped up against the wall.  He should really revisit wearing his crotch armor regularly; the initial discomfort would be worth it.  Marcie had left on the black formfitting clothes he normally wore beneath his armor, though they weren’t sitting properly on his frame.  After readjusting it all, he carefully did some self-inspection downstairs. 

Skid had indeed done a number on him.  He unfastened the bottle, his nose scrunching up at the atrocious stench that seemed to emanate from it, and delicately applied the balm.  It was an unpleasant sensation, having the cold gel-like substance against his flesh, but he had no intentions of letting that part of his anatomy get damaged permanently if he could help it.  Occasionally he would apply too much pressure or bump something down there just right, and grimace at the sensations it caused; he tried to convert that to determination and resolve.  He would need to deal with Skid again afterwards.

After donning his armor, noting that the balm seemed to be helping to some degree already, Kanor made his way through the door Marcie had left through earlier, as it was the only one in the room.  He was at the end of a short hallway with a couple of other neighboring rooms to his left, but he headed for the exit down the hallway that was on the right.

“There he is!  You must really like that armor; you know, you were a bit…musky when I got it all off earlier.”

Marcie was in an open office to his left, sitting behind a desk perpendicular to the door, facing him.   In front of her, sat Skid.  Her back was to him, initially, but she turned in her seat to look at him coolly.  Kanor looked back at Marcie, who was getting to her feet. 

“I have had it on for quite a while, doing many extraneous activities.  I sweat.”

“What, Klingons have never heard of antiperspirants?”

“Antiperspirants haven’t heard of Klingons, is more appropriate.”

“Can’t say I’ve ever heard of a Klingon, or his ship, that didn’t smell like arse.”

Marcie made an admonishing sound at Skid as she came around the desk, stopping in the doorway to the office.  “I didn’t say he smelled bad, I said he smelled musky; very distinct difference.”  She stepped up to him, glancing down at his hands, her nostrils flaring slightly as she sniffed.  “Besides, now he smells like potpourri!”

Kanor frowned.  “That smelled absolutely awful, if that’s what that stench was.”

Marcie’s expression seemed to falter at that.  Skid, meanwhile, got to her feet behind Marcie and turned to face him.  Marcie was short, he’d estimate around one and a half meters; so he had an unobstructed view of Skid’s face as she looked at him.  It was tight, pained; and annoyed. 

“I apologize for assaulting you in the corridor earlier.”

Kanor’s back straightened at the unexpected apology.  Judging from the look on her face, he assumed this was not something she was doing on her own, or because she genuinely wanted to.  She continued before he could think of a response.

“As your escort, it is my duty to show you the different areas of the ship, and assist you in the task Kaz has placed in front of you for your part of the payment.  Not correct your…behavior.” 

She seemed to spit that last word out.  Marcie, meanwhile, bit her lower lip and stepped to one side.  “If…you two are going to behave, I think I’ll go clean up Kanor’s room, since I let Dieter go off-duty early…”

They both seemed to wait until Marcie had disappeared down the way Kanor had just come from, so Kanor made sure to speak first.

“I apologize for the way I was…behaving.”  He paused for a moment, his jaw working as he tried to think of a better way to say what the issue was.  His parents had been the diplomats, not him.  “I let my own…personal issues get in the way of performing my duty to your ship and crew.”

Skid, though she seemed taken aback by his response, couldn’t help but interject.  “What the bloody hell do you have against Munson?”

Kanor spoke through clenched teeth as he simply stared straight ahead at some decorative piece Marcie had in her office on the wall next to a dark viewport.  “Your…presence, elicits a…physical response.”

“So ya get angry and ridicule my friend?  Nearly beat the shit outta me?  I don’t know how Klingons charm a girl…”

“You seemed flirtatious before.”

“Well I was, that doesn’t mean…”

“Our…sexual interactions are usually very physical.  Oftentimes, violence, seduction, and intercourse go hand in hand.  You threatened me…”

“Yeah, I was fookin threatening you!”

Kanor moved his gaze to look at her directly, his eyes flashing.  “Yes, and it was exhilarating!  Passion, bravery, heart!”

Skid’s eyes widened as she stepped back a bit.  “That turned you ON?”

“I…felt the strong desire to get violent, to…exert my dominance.”

“So what, you exerted it on Munson?  I didn’t think you were interes…”

“He is a male; I am clearly more powerful than he is.  I was asserting myself to you as the worthier choice.”

“Of COURSE you were!”  Skid snorted, throwing her hands up in the air.  “So clearly, after getting kicked in the face, you decided to assert it even more.”

Kanor cleared his throat.  “Klingon women express a desire to mate with dominant males they find attractive by biting or striking them.”

Skid looked at Kanor in disbelief, her mouth open.  “Wait wait wait, you thought I was trying to have SEX with you?  You nearly knocked me unconscious!  I’m lucky you didn’t give me a concussion!”

“My mates usually have much thicker skulls than you do.  In the heat of the moment, I did not think to compensate.”

They were silent for a few moments after that, each of them trying to reconcile what had happened.  Finally, as the guilt gnawed at him more, Kanor had to ask.

“Are you going to be alright?  It was not my intent to…permanently injure you.”

Skid sighed, nodding her head.  “I’m beaten up and sore, but for the most part, I’ll be fine eventually.  My skull is pretty bloody thick.  Besides, Marcie’s good, though she told me I should relax the rest of the night after I take you to your quarters.”

Marcie chose that moment to come back down the hallway.  She looked between the two of them as she passed by on her way back into her office.  “Aren’t you two gone yet?  Once you eat, you should both be in bed sleeping, or at least on your way there.”

Skid turned back to look at him.  “Ready to try this again?”

“Yes.  Although I seem to have lost my things yet again.”

She waved a hand dismissively.  “I had an Ensign take them to your quarters.  You’re fookin heavy; Dieter and I had to get a stretcher to bring you down here, but we still had to hoist you onto the thing in the first place.  Wasn’t about to mess with that, too.”

“Then let’s listen to the Doctor.”

Saying their goodbyes to Marcie, Skid walked towards a doorway that was slightly off-centered from the doorway to Marcie’s office, with Kanor not far behind.  As they stepped out into the corridor beyond, Kanor noted how differently Skid seemed to be moving.  Though she wasn’t voicing or otherwise expressing it, she looked sore.

“Marcie indicated there were exercise facilities aboard, as well?”  The corridor didn’t seem to be as crowded as before, so he decided to walk beside her as they navigated it.

She glanced over at him with her eyes for a moment.  “There are.  I usually make use of them myself every day, though I can’t say it prepared me for close-quarters combat with a brute as well as I would have liked.”

Kanor felt odd at her having referred to him as a brute, though he didn’t quite understand why.  “Perhaps you could show them to me tomorrow so that I may use them myself.  I am not used to having specific facilities to practice in.”

“Tomorrow, then.  0700. You’ll want to bring anything you’d like to use with you.”

They turned into a small alcove where a set of turbolift doors were stationed.  The car wasn’t there at the moment, so they waited within the sensor’s detection range until one was routed to them.

“Does the Enterprise operate on a twenty-eight hour per day system?”

“Twenty-four, actually.  Kaz loves his human culture.”

“Ah.  Where are your chronometers located, then?”

“All over, really.”  Kanor heard the faint hum of a turbolift car approaching as Skid tapped a couple of buttons on the panel next to the closed doors.  “There.  19:17.  Any computer panel will work; or you could just ask the computer directly.”

Kanor did some mental calculating in his head as the turbolift doors finally swished open to reveal the empty car, and the two of them stepped in.  He was not used to paying much attention to time schedules of different planets and stations.  He slept when he was tired, and was awake when he wasn’t.  However, occasionally he would need to adapt for the needs of a specific mission or job; this would be no different. 

“Understood.  Where am I to meet you at 0700, then?”

Skid twisted one of the turbolift handles.  “Deck five.”  She looked over at Kanor.  “I’ll stop by your quarters.  Be ready for a workout.”

Kanor tilted his head to one side.  “You intend on participating, even in your current condition?”

Skid gave him an admonishing look.  “My ‘condition’?  I’ll be fine, Mister Kanor, don’t you worry your wrinkly little head about me.”

Her demeanor still seemed a bit clipped.  Kanor speculated whether or not he had damaged her pride with their earlier encounter.  That she seemed determined to continue with her daily routine spoke well of her, however.  He wondered whether or not his admission at thinking of her as a potential mate bothered her, as well.  He had not spent much time around non-Klingons; it was difficult to interpret other cultures values and social niceties. 

The car stopped, and they exited onto deck five.  Skid still hadn’t said anything else, so he simply walked beside her to wherever they were going.  For whatever reason, this time the silence bothered him. 

“I was told I’d be able to access my ship at any time?”

“It’s in cargo bay five.  There’s nothing else there, so you shouldn’t have any problems.”

“At what time will we be arriving in Independent Fleet space?”

She stopped, finally, at a pair of doors, and proceeded to enter some commands into the computer interface beside them.  “Our e.t.a. is 1500 tomorrow.  I’m sure Kaz will call upon you before then.” 

The doors to the room opened as Skid gestured inside with her hands.  He didn’t like the notion of Kaz “calling on” him tomorrow, but, in the interest of smoother relations, he ignored it.

“These will be your quarters while you’re aboard.  Just inside you’ll find a food dispenser unit and a replicator.  We don’t have any Klingon dishes, but I’m sure you can find something palatable.  Your belongings should be just inside.  I assume you’ll be able to figure everything else out; the computer system has a help menu.”

She clearly wanted to be rid of him as soon as possible.  While he couldn’t blame her, he was curious as to what was running through her mind at the moment.  “Thank you.  I assume I’ll see you at 0700, then.”

“I said I’d be here, I’ll be here.”

“Then I hope you feel better in the morning, Commander.”

She seemed irritated at that.  “I said I’m fine.  Use the intercom if there is a problem.”  With that, she turned and headed further down the corridor.  Kanor watched her for a few moments, but turned his head away when he found his mind wandering to what she’d look like outside of that jumpsuit.  Time to investigate his temporary new living quarters.