Hot Dog
So it started about a month back. I was in the mess, Spiegel, Stace and Noelle all seemed to be working conflicting shifts, so I was all alone at a table in the corner under the window. Up walked the tall, fair haired, Texas bean pole, and he asked if he could join me. He was easy enough on the eyes, and his pulled pork sandwich smelled good, so I shrugged my shoulders and he sat down. He introduced himself as Tom, and we ended up having a rather animated conversation over the course of our meal. I had assumed that he was just seeking to add himself to my rotation of fuck buddies, but when he excused himself to head back on duty without so much as a "let's fuck", I was perplexed.
That night, Giannini and I met up for our usual, and as we lay in bed afterwards, he expressed awe that I'd been having a conversation with one of the Tactical officers at lunch. I hadn't asked Tom what department he worked in, and he didn't offer it up, so I was surprised to find out. Curiosity got the better of me, and I picked Giannini's brain about the man. So, when about a week later, same shift as last time, Tom showed up at my empty table again and asked to join me, I welcomed him and started asking him all about himself.
He confessed to having been watching me since I arrived on the ship, particularly noting my lack of love for his boss. He managed to convince me to tell the tale of the bastard's betrayal again, taking much amusement when I also continued to tell him of how I told the story to the bastard's clan while on the away mission on Andor. Then it was his turn for a tale of woe and backstabbing; originally it had looked that he was supposed to take over Tactical, but Vasili retired with little warning and the Captain made an upset move by promoting the bastard into the position. We ending up sharing a laugh that we both had reason to hate the bastard.
We had lunch together a couple more weeks after that, just talking and enjoying each others conversation, until yesterday when he asked me if I wanted to join him for dinner. Weirdly enough, because our lunches together had become such a regular thing, and he hadn't made any move before that, his invitation took me quite by surprise. He promised me rare steak, baked potato and a peach cobbler, so even if he was going to be a gentleman and not fuck me on the first date, the meal sounded good enough that I couldn't help but agree. I did surprise him when I leveled with him before lunch was over, and asked to know his intentions. I think part of what surprised him was I had already accepted the invitation before I started down this path of interrogation. I might have even made him uncomfortable when I drilled down until he confessed that he did aim to fuck me, though he did phrase it more delicate than that, which was odd, since until we hit this particular topic, he had been delightfully blunt, sharp witted and sarcastic. I think I made him blush five shades of red when I pointed this out, and he mumbled something about southern manners before excusing himself to head back on duty.
Dinner went well, I dressed to kill and he figured out that he didn't need to be a gentleman. We were on the brink of getting to the fucking, having only teased and taunted thus far, when my evil combadge yelled at me that the Captain wished for me, and the bastard, to join her in the ready room. I assured him I'd be back after whatever this was, was sorted, if he was okay with that, and he told me to give him a call when I was done to see if he was still up, otherwise we could reschedule.
I received a look from the captain when I showed up in her ready room, unashamed, in spike heels and a slinky small midnight blue dress. The bastard wasn't much better presented, a silk bathrobe that implied more taste than I could picture him ever having, and a pair of pajama pants. The exchange I had with the bastard while the captain finished consulting with Sadik for the preliminary briefing did amuse me though. When I was grumbling, and Tom's name came up as to who I'd deserted, the bastard actually had the gall to ask me how he was performing for me, and bragged about adding more of his men's training regimen. He didn't have a response for me when I pointed out that Tom may serve under him, but he wasn't one of his. The briefing itself wasn't anything of interest though, all the important details were on the PADD I was given to take with me. I get to lead an away mission.
Tom was still awake when I was let go, and so I headed back to his quarters. I had remembered him mentioning something about not having been sent on an away mission for nearly a year, but there was nothing to actually prevent him from going on one. Having skimmed the contents of the PADD on the turbolift ride down, I started interrogating him the moment I strode through the door, and while he was disappointed we weren't picking up where we'd left off earlier with the lasso and spurs, once he worked out what my goal was, he was more than happy to answer my questions until I was satisfied he'd be of use on my team. Once that was settled, he let me use him as a sounding board to assemble the rest of the team, even though I'd more or less already put the list together in my head while in the turbolift. He only challenged me on two choices: Spiegel and Stace.
With Spiegel, it was a fairly valid question. The mission outline I had already did lay out the possibility for hostile competition for reaching our prize, and did strongly suggest a high combat rating. Tom had overheard me going back and forth with Spiegel on multiple occasions about his unwillingness to let me teach him the finer points of combat. When I explained to him how I met Spiegel to start with, during the Klingon-Federation war, and how he was my partner for most of the two person sabotage and reconnaissance missions I ran, he relented. Stace seemed to be more of a concern about how annoying he is, as his linguist skills and familiarity with the area more than outweighed any lacking in the combat skills he suffered from. As the only objection he could give me for Stace was how annoying he found the man to be, not an uncommon opinion across the ship I've come to find out, I simply elected to ignore his counsel on the matter, and instead jumped into the sex we were almost at when so inopportunely interrupted by the Captain earlier in the evening.
When we finished with that, I started making calls to get my team informed they needed to report for the briefing in the morning. Oddly enough, Noelle and Stace were both wide awake. Noelle seemed chipper to accept the position on the team, and while Stace seemed confused at this concept of him going on an away mission, once I managed to convinced him that I was not joking, he assured me he'd be there for the meeting in the morning. Giannini and Spiegel both failed to answer their comms, so I had to excuse myself from Tom, despite his request I stay the night, and rouse both boys from their beds to make sure that they'd both be there in the morning. Spiegel grumbled, cursed me for waking him, and set his alarm while I was still standing in his door before crawling back into bed. Giannini was sleeping like the dead when I let myself into his quarters, after he failed to be roused by the door chime. I ended up having to wake him up with a blow job, which only served to really confuse him when he found out that all I wanted was for him to show up at a briefing in the morning, and that I wasn't just in his quarters for an impromptu fuck.
When it was all said and done, it was nearly 0200, so I headed back to my quarters to crash for four hours. Tom called me up about 0645 to invite me to join him for breakfast in the mess before the briefing, so I'll be headed out the door in a few. I suspect that I'll run into most, if not the rest, of my team in the mess when I get there. Might not be bad to make sure everyone knows each other before we hit the briefing.