Between Jobs

Posted on 29 Sep 2017 @ 5:25pm by Petty Officer 3rd Class Constantin Vansen

955 words; about a 5 minute read

“So…let me get this straight. You’ve been put on shoreleave and you have no idea about your next posting?” the woman leant against the wall, her long dark hair covering a bare, tanned shoulder. She seemed unashamed in her undressed state, dark eyes watching the man who was getting dressed. He was of average height, for her he was even a bit short. His limbs were long though and if you had intimate knowledge of a human you knew something wasn’t quite right. Still, there was muscle there too, not so much to mistake him for a Marine, not so little that he couldn’t maintain the standard if Starfleet.

“You know how it goes,” the man stopped pulling his trousers long enough to hold his hands out and shrug with them, rather than his shoulders. It looked odd, but she knew him. She knew that he was expressive with his body because when you were wearing a suit out in space, no one could see you shrug or shake your head. He had gotten better though, she knew it. Had gotten better at passing for a Terran. When she didn’t reply he looked at her with bright, warm eyes and a quick smile that showed off a row of pearly white teeth. “I need the time at Starfleet Medical anyway to get poked, I might as well just have it as my address until they reassign me. I do not know how long it will be before they clear me and it makes more sense for them to sort out where I am going after I have had my medication readjusted and been given the all clear.”

“Constantin…” she pushed herself from the wall, reaching to stroke her hand over his pale shoulder. “You are okay, aren’t you?” there was concern creeping into her voice. Those that knew him, those that really knew him, knew about his…condition. And she was close to him. At least physically.

Constantin Vansen’s smile didn’t waver, instead he chuckled deep in his throat and leant close, kissing her quickly as if to silence her concern. It was unnerving on her, one of the women who would just as easily knock him down as hug him. “I am fine. It’s just a check up, make sure I tick. And we knew that this, us, was temporary. Not exactly meant to be either, you know.”

“Hm,” she shook her head before kissed him back and moved to the bed, lying down and stretching her legs out. After a moment she reached for the sheet to cover herself, not because she wanted to, but because there was a chill coming through the quarters. She watched as he got dressed, studied the way his body moved as the uniform came back on. “Well, for the record, we on the Carolina will miss you. Not a bad thing, having a space rat among us…handy in a crisis.”

Constantin stopped, the jumper almost covering his head. He tugged it down firmly to look at her, the brown hair a mess. “Handy? I single handily repaired the outer hull of this rust-bucket!” he declared.

“No, you didn’t! You just floating up to the high bits and did them, the whole team did the work!” she laughed and reached for the pillow, throwing it at him. “Don’t go spreading that lie around, Constantin, all you need is a Chief with half a brain crack a peek at your record and then put two and two together. Incident report will tell it all after all. The truth!”

“Aw…” he reached for the uniform jacket and shook his head. “Such a spoil sport. I was going to start my new posting, wherever and whatever it is, as a hero. Now I am just another little enlisted with a toolkit.”

“Tool anyway,” she countered before she stretched, pouting. “So. This is it then? Shuttle leaving soon?”

Constantin nodded, finishing dressing and moving to take her hair brush, to brush his own hair…or try and tame it a bit. “Yep, first to Mars and then I am on Earth,” he said before he looked at her, putting the hairbrush down. “Listen, Lill…it’s been good. You, me…it’s been good.”

“Oh, spare me!” she sat up, letting the sheet fall down and watching his intake of breath. “It was a hate shag. Because you are the most frustrating man I have ever come across. But…it was a good hate shag.”

“You don’t hate me…” he grinned and walked over to her, leaning close and moving over her, to kiss her. “You don’t love me, but you don’t hate me. And I am not the most frustrating man…that would be the Captain. You just can’t ‘shag’ him as you so delicately put it.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, her leg stroking against his hip before she pushed him away. “Don’t…be a stranger. I want to hear how Starfleet Medical treats you,” she said and motioned to the door. “Go, Vansen. You will be late and miss your shuttle and then you will never reach Mars and then never reach Earth.”

He sighed and nodded, touching her knee for a moment. “I hate to leave this behind…” he said and winked before pulling away, heading for the door. “Don’t do anything stupid once I am gone! Don’t blow up a ship, don’t take candy from aliens during first encounters, don’t break the Prime Directive, don’t-“

“Shag annoying Operations officers!” she called out and laughed as the doors opened and then slid close behind him.

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