Fic: Fate Protects Fools - 1/4
Title: Fate Protects Fools (Small Children, and Ships Named Valor)
Author: sunryder
Artist: pyalgroundblz
Crossover: NCIS/Hawaii 5-0 fused with Star Trek
Type: Slash
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 21042
Characters/Pairings: Tony/Gibbs, Steve/Danny, Ducky, Abby, Tim, Jenny, Cait, Ziva, Morrow, Chin, Kono, Gracie, Jameson, Joe, Kamekona, Max
Warnings: I don't particularly like Jenny
Spoilers: None
Summary: The Federation Starship Valor was one of the crowning jewels of the Fleet. Her Tactical Chief was a Bajoran with a penchant for blowing things up and asking questions later, her Security Chief was a human who'd followed his daughter halfway across the galaxy and now was relegated to serving drinks in Ten Forward, her newest officer was a Trill with a bright smile who teased the Captain far too much, and her Captain... well let's just say Gibbs wasn't a happy man.
Author’s Notes: A thousand thanks to ellie_pierson for being my beta, and loving the story even when I decided I didn't like it anymore, which brought me back to the writing. And to beautiful, beautiful, pyalgroundblz who's art powered me through the last week of editing and is better than the fic itself.
Link to Art Master Post: HERE
Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Tony Gard meandered down the length of the bar with a filthy grin. The occasional sauced patron would stumble into his path and run bobbing fingers over the spots that trailed down the sides of Tony's face and ask obscene questions about how far down they went, but with over a dozen lifetime's experience Tony shifted them off with a grin and went on his way. As a species, Trill weren't known for being particularly sexual compared to some of the other species in the Federation, (Deltans drove their partners insane, and Orions released addictive pheromones), but people found something appealing about a species that could live for a few hundred years like the Trill.
Tony roamed down to one of the, still populous, but less obvious sections of the bar and leaned into Steve McGarrett's space, pressing tight to the other man's side with a grin. Steve wrapped an arm around Tony's waist and pulled him even closer, giving Tony the perfect chance to press his lips to Steve's ear and murmur, "Your contact just walked in downstairs. He's got one guard with him and another watching the door, waiting for whoever it is they're expecting."
Steve smiled like Tony had been whispering something far different and gave a whisper of his own, "Then let’s cause trouble."
If Tony had been working this op with anyone other than Steve McGarrett he probably would've tried to distract them and handle the questioning himself, but McGarrett had a pinched look to his face, only aggravated by the creases along the bridge of his nose. That look meant Steve was one sarcastic comment away from pulling out the phaser he had strapped to his ankle that he thought Tony didn't know about and shooting people until they started answering his questions. (A surprisingly effective method for Steve, but one that didn't so much work for Tony.)
As it was, Tony wasted his breath on a quick murmur of, “Are you sure this is the right guy?”
“My handler said he was the guy to contact.” Steve shrugged, and since Steve was never one for sharing information, Tony left it at that.
Two weeks ago Steve had turned up at the Deep Space Nine space station with a magical piece of paper granting him immunity and means, and Tony's captain had been all too willing to bend over backwards to accommodate him. (Partly because DS9 was in orbit around Bajor, and Steve was one of Bajor's favorite sons, but mainly because the man was a spineless worm.) Steve's magical paper gave him the right to ask for anyone or anything on the station, but all he'd wanted was Tony. The two men had run a few operations together before, and Tony was the only person Steve trusted for whatever suicide mission he was up to now. The two of them had thrown on civilian clothes instead of their Starfleet uniforms and hitched a ride on a slow shuttle to Bajor, the favorite stomping ground of their target, a Cardassian trafficker named Sang Min.
The two of them had been slumming around Bajor ever since, trying to track down the man who had just stepped in down the bar. Steve and Tony were both tired, bored, tired, and more than ready to get back to their real lives, which might have been why , instead of tailing their target or planting a listening device, Steve strode right up to the Sang Min and slouched against the bar beside him in a way that translated as lecherous, no matter the species.
With a sigh, Tony leaned against a wall out of the Cardassian's sightline but still in easy view of Steve, ready for the whole situation to fall apart. Steve ran his eyes slowly up and down the Cardassian in question and smirked out, "Hey."
Tony rolled his eyes at Steve's inept attempt at seduction. Steve was Bajoran, the species Cardassia had tried and failed to conquer half a dozen times over the last two hundred years, and the approach Steve was taking with their Cardassian trafficker was flirting. Idiot. Sang Min loomed over Steve (no small feat given the man's height) and sneered, "Run away now maket, before I break you."
Steve licked his lips and leaned in, "I think letting you break me could be fun."
Sang Min quickly shifted his weight and put Steve up against the bar, twisting fingers through Steve's hair and bending him back at an awkward angle that exposed his throat. "Your people are for hunting, not for mating little maket."
Steve gave Tony the barest flash of a glance, and Tony got out a put upon sigh before Steve smashed the heel of his hand into the ridges that swept down the Cardassian's neck and shoulders. The alien keened in pain for half a moment, just long enough for Steve to whip around his elbow and smash it into Sang Min's nose, sending him reeling back in pain.
Tony leaned over to the next table and grabbed their thick bottle of Andorian whiskey with a bright, "Sorry about this," then turned and bashed the bottle into the temple of a Cardassian on his way to help Sang. Tony's Cardassian stumbled with the blow and twisted around with a roar to confront Tony, who just gave him a bright grin before he scampered back over the table that he'd just stolen the liquor from. The Cardassian charged and Tony kicked out at the table between them, sending it crashing forward into the Cardassian's armored stomach, which did no good at all. Except, the Cardassian looked up at Tony to mock him for the move and got a steady swing of the still intact bottle to his neck ridges, and then another to his face.
The Cardassian stayed down, probably not for long, but enough time for Tony to dart over to Steve, who was in an inconvenient headlock from another Cardassian while Sang Min pulled back his fist to pummel Steve into a blob of useless Bajoran operative. Steve tossed all his weight back into his captor, buying him enough space to curl up his legs and thrust straight into Sang Min's chest. Straight into the same armor that Tony had had trouble with just moments ago.
Sang Min laughed at Steve for the effort, distracted enough by Steve's glower that he didn't see Tony charge and smash Sang Min up and over the counter. With that the other Cardassians who'd been mildly amused at watching a Bajoran and his Trill friend pick a fight with three Cardassians decided it was time to interfere. Steve wrenched out of one Cardassian's grasp only to be punched by another, and then Tony got distracted dodging punches of his own.
Tony forced one Cardassian back long enough to shout at Steve, "I told you we should've let me do the talking."
Steve dodged out of the path of a diving Cardassian, "I can talk!"
Tony grabbed a bottle from behind the counter and crashed it into someone's head before twisting around and planting a solid kick to the face of the Cardassian who'd missed Steve with his dive. "Yeah, I can see that's going real well for you."
Steve turned to Tony with a grin before half-hopping onto the counter and kicking against one of the oncoming attackers, smashing both feet into the Cardassian's face, sending him permanently to the ground. Tony grabbed another Cardassian in mid-lunge and smashed his face into the counter, then twisted and grabbed the last attacker, still trying to struggle to his feet, and found the nerve in his neck that rendered him unconscious with a Vulcan pinch while Steve ran for the door and an escaping Sang Min. Tony listened for a moment to the scuffle and the furious hiss that meant Steve had captured his prey, then turned to the bartender and ran the ident card that came with Steve's false identity over the man's scanner. Tony grinned, "Charge all the damage to him. And I think I owe that nice table over there a bottle."
Tony stepped out of the bar and looked around for a moment before heading to the alley he assumed Steve would be interrogating in. Tony roamed into the chosen alley just in time to see Steve toss Sang Min into a wall and shout, "What do you know!"
Sang struggled against Steve's hold, "I don't know nothing!"
Tony grinned, "Whatever he does know is going to fall out of his head if you keep bashing him around like that."
Per usual, Steve wasn't really in a bantering mood when he was trying to get information and just rolled his eyes at Tony before turning back to Sang and hissed, "Tell me what you know."
"What the hell do you care? You look like a Bajoran, but you ain't one, what does it matter to you?"
"Why do I care?" Steve opined, shoving Sang into the wall, putting force on the sensitive neck ridges in a way far more vicious then he probably would've if Sang hadn't just questioned his Bajoran-ness. "You see, I care, because Tony cares. I care so he doesn't have to. Because you see, Tony does terrible things when he cares."
Sang scoffed as much as he was able and retorted, "What, he make you sleep on the couch?"
Tony smirked, something in his happy-go-lucky demeanor made Sang pause. "Sang, do you know who I am?"
Sang rolled his eyes at the obvious question, "You're the new Operations officer on Deep Space Nine. You're the bastard who's been getting in the way of business."
Tony tsked, "No, no, no, that's who Tony is. Do you know who Gard is?"
"That's your name; don't you know your own name, maket?"
Tony kept on grinning, "Yeah, but who's Gard?"
Sang rolled his eyes, "I dunno, your father?"
Tony laughed, "Did no one ever teach you about Trill?"
"Do I really need to be restrained for this?"
Tony lounged against the wall, "You see, I'm what's known as a Trill."
Sang huffed, "You got the spots, and probably got a damn snake too."
Steve slammed Sang up against the wall to stop the back talk while Tony continued with a slightly crazed smile. "First off, it's not a snake, it's a symbiote. My symbiote and I are joined, with it sharing all the experiences it has from his other hosts and me giving it new ones from my life."
"Your point?"
Tony leaned in a little closer, "Gard, my symbiote, he's had Steve's job before, for a very, very long time."
"So?" Sang spat.
Tony tutted and looked to Steve. "Why is it that none of these people can ever put the story together themselves? Really, it's embarrassing." Before Sang could interrupt Tony continued, "It means, that anything Steve can do, I can do better. Because while he was trained by the Bajoran government, who I admit have their own special version of ruthlessness after being suppressed by the Cardassians, I have been a spy, and a security officer, and an assassin, for over eight hundred years."
"If you gotta talk about it Trill, you don't have the guts to do it."
Tony grinned, something sharp and feral, and before either man could react he slipped Sang out of Steve's hold and whipped the man around, delivering two sharp jabs to his ribs to drive the air out of chest despite the armor and then pinched a point on his neck, dropping Sang to the ground while the Cardassian screamed in pain. Tony let it go on for a few seconds before he struck the same spot to stop the pain. Tony let Sang catch his breath before he crouched down beside him, "Now. How about you give us the information we're looking for and I won't do that again."
Sang hissed something foul under his breath and Tony placed his fingers back on the spot, "Don't be difficult, Sang."
"There's a meeting," Sang hissed. "Between the Klingons and the Federation."
Steve dropped down beside them, out of range should Sang decide to strike, but still close enough to listen. "Treaty negotiations?"
Sang snorted, "Knowing your maket species you're as likely to destroy the galaxy as you are to talk."
"But it's an alliance summit?"
"If anything a summit to talk about talking about a summit."
"And how do you know about this?" Tony asked.
Sang sneered, "I make money off the fighting. It's my business to know what might make it go away."
"Which means there are people out there trying to stop the meeting from happening." Tony summarized.
"Who?" Steve lunged forward and grabbed Sang to shake him. "Who's trying to stop it?"
"I don't got a name!" Sang shouted.
Tony put a calming hand on Steve's shoulder and said, "But you do know who's sending them."
Steve pulled back a little and Sang rolled his shoulders at the sudden freedom and muttered, "The Romulans want you makets shooting at each other while they try and make nice with everyone else."
"The same thing could be said about Cardassians." Tony interjected.
"Well it wouldn't be true!" Sang countered. "We like being the winners, but we ain't stupid. Cardassia wants to use you to put us back together before we put you in your place again."
"So how’s this Romulan spy plan on ruining the summit?" Steve asked.
"The way I heard it, he's on one of the boats you boys have going."
Steve smashed Sang into the wall again, "Which ship!"
"How the hell am I supposed to know that? You think the Romulans are going to tell me who their spy is?"
Steve smirked and pulled back a little, letting Sang Min have a little breathing space at just the right moment for Security to come rushing into the alley, shouting, "You there, stop!"
Steve released Sang Min immediately and put up his hands, giving the other man the chance to at least try to get away. Sang Min took the opportunity and headed for a door at the back of the alley, two Security officers chasing after him while Steve and Tony stayed put for the other two. Tony put his hands on his head and dropped to his knees when he was instructed and muttered to Steve, "Are we seriously about to be arrested by Federation security?" while Steve just laughed.
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Captain L. Jethro Gibbs was two minutes away from spacing half his crew and turning pirate with the rest.
The Federation Starship Valor had known no other captain but Jethro, and though he adored every inch of his obscenely well-armored ship, he could've done without the stacks of useless crewmen lying around, taking up valuable space and doing things to his blood pressure. Gibbs had intended to captain a Defiant class vessel, something with a small crew, designed to flit around the Federation preserving the peace without concerns for diplomacy, but then he'd been shown the massive, sovereign class Valor and all those plans went out the window. Though on days like today, where he was getting angry calls from the Admiralty demanding he appoint a First Officer while the rest of his crew was rotating through shore leave, he longed for that little ship and lack of restrictions that came with it.
But he was captain of a vessel with 5000 souls, a third of those civilians, and more than a hundred of them children. This was not the time to doubt his place at command. Gibbs tossed on his jacket and went straight for Ten Forward trusting, as he did most mornings, that Danny and his coffee would manage to make the morning a bit better.
Ten Forward was the bar/restaurant/cafe on the Valor's tenth deck where most everyone spent their free time. Gibbs tended to hate being anywhere where there were people, but bartender Danny believed in grinding and brewing his own coffee and refused to replicate alcohol, and that was worth being subjected to people.
Gibbs entered Ten Forward through one of the darker side doors, making it easy to pass unnoticed through the people already there, some for breakfast before alpha shift began and others just heading to bed after gamma shift. Gibbs slowed as he approached the bar, hearing the tense tone of Danny arguing with someone, staying back so he could listen properly.
"But Danny-" Cait scolded before Danny cut her off, "Absolutely not, Cait! Gibbs would keel haul me!"
Lieutenant Commander Cait Todd was ship's counselor and chief negotiator, one of the first in a long line of officers Gibbs had had forced on him, but over the last two years she'd proven herself more useful than not, despite her attachment to all things ordered and proper. Cait was a Caitian, a felinoid species and the pack mentality that came with that overrode the occasional impulsivity Gibbs preferred from a Starfleet officer.
Like right now.
Cait rolled her eyes at Danny, completely unaware that Gibbs was watching, "We're a starship, Daniel. You can't get keelhauled on a starship."
"Gibbs would be so pissed he would make Tim build him a special suit so I wouldn't explode in space, and he'd make Kono find him a particularly violent ion cloud, or asteroid belt, and then he'd keelhaul me."
Cait snorted, "He likes Gracie too much to actually do anything to you, Danny."
"The Cap does adore my kid. You know, I think the Cap adores my kid so much that after he's killed me, he'll adopt her, just so he can continue his quest to make my ex-wife wish that she'd killed me rather than divorced me."
Danny slid a drink down the bar to one of the crewmen who'd ordered his drink then smartly scampered out of the way when Cait had strode up to demand Danny's attention. "So, what you're telling me is that you're not going to switch Gibbs to decaf."
Danny tossed his hands into the air, "Ladies and gentlemen she's got it! No. I will not risk life and limb to mess with Gibbs' coffee."
"But Danny, he drinks like ten cups of the Terran stimulant a day! It's not good for him!"
Danny just stared at her in disbelief and looked down at the strange goop mix of juiced vegetables and blended leaves in Cait's own glass, "You know that right now, at this very moment, you're drinking a stimulant."
Cait snorted, "It's natural."
"It's grass from Orion. If you let it ferment it would be a hallucinogen."
Cait leaned forward and gave Danny a smirk, "Orion plants are human hallucinogens, Danny."
Danny rolled his eyes and went back to distributing drinks, "Of course, me and my human genetics, that's the problem with the Orions, that I'm not compatible with their drugs."
"You're just against Orions because you don't like Jenny."
"There's not a person on this boat who actually likes Jenny, Cait."
"I like her!" Cait denied, offended on the other woman's behalf.
"You like her because you're never on the bridge, so you never see Gibbs trying to deal with her. And, she sucks up to the women on the crew."
Cait sputtered in indignation, "Just because she's a female in a position of power-"
Ensign Kono slipped past Gibbs with a smirk and leaned around Cait to grab a bottle of her favorite juice from behind the bar and interjected, "People don't like her because she's a bitch to the Cap, her genitals have nothing to do with it."
Cait hissed at Kono, her long tail flicking in agitation. "Remember Ensign, you're speaking to a superior officer about a superior officer. Both are due some respect."
Kono just smiled in the terrifyingly Zen way that came from knowing that whatever fight Cait picked, Kono would win. Danny smirked and said, "I've got very few rules in my bar, Cait, but one of them is that there's no rank in this room. The Cap has given me leave to torture anyone I find offending this rule according to my own twisted whims. So maybe you ought to head off to sit with your friends before I have to throw you out."
Cait rolled her eyes in irritation at Danny, but walked away, her tail flicking back and forth in irritation that Danny was completely right; Gibbs had turned more than a few members of his crew over to Danny's tender mercies for breaking the rules of Ten Forward.
Kono lounged on top of the bar and waited while Gibbs slid up to the counter. The young officer turned to him with a bright grin and said, "Heya, Cap."
"Morning Ensign." Gibbs grunted back, unwillingly amused by the girl. "Where's Chin?"
"Cuz was on call for Security this morning, so he's running late."
Gibbs found Kono and Chin to be two of the more fascinating members of his crew and showed it by actually speaking to them. Chin was a pureblooded Vulcan in every sense of the phrase. He'd been slated for admission to the Vulcan Science Academy and betrothed to a girl in one of Vulcan's posher families. Everything was perfect in Chin's life until the day his cousin Kono came home from school crying.
Kono was half-Vulcan, half-Risan, making her a blend of the most uptight, logical people in the Federation and of the Federation's best pleasure planet. (The circumstances of Kono's parentage were blank on her Starfleet record, but Gibbs could only imagine what would have led a Vulcan into going on vacation to Risa and getting a girl pregnant.) Unlike his more logical brethren's apathy to the cruelty aimed at Kono, Chin had bundled up his littlest cousin and moved with her back to Risa. That moment of solidarity was the only thing Gibbs had cared about when he'd requested Chin's posting, and it had made Gibbs request little cousin Kono the moment she'd graduated.
Gibbs 'hmm-ed' in response to Chin's tardiness before Danny interjected, "Ask her why she's here instead of sleeping in until Chin's ready." Gibbs didn't even bother opening his mouth because Danny just barreled right along. "She and her insane cousin both think I'm pining and need to be distracted."
Gibbs appreciated that despite no one ever telling him things like this, Danny always just assumed Gibbs knew. "Your kid is off ship for the next month."
"Just because my Ex-Wife took my kid and her new husband to see her mother, who always hated me by the way, that does not mean I need coddling."
"Oh Danny," Kono laughed, "Any coddling I do is to protect everybody else from you."
Danny went to snark something back when Abby flopped down at the counter on the opposite side of Gibbs and groaned, "Caff-Pow Danny, I beg you."
Danny snorted, but thumbed the request for Caff-Pow into the replicator without looking, used to Abby's desperate pleas for caffeine after spending the night running experiments when she should be sleeping. Gibbs cleared his throat, but Abby didn't even bother raising her head from the counter and just patted Gibbs' hand saying, "Shh, Gibbs. No scolding before Caff-Pow."
Kono giggled and reached past Gibbs to tug on one of Abby's pigtails, "You're so tired even your pigtails are limp." Abby groaned and smacked at Kono's hand, but the girl wasn't at the helm for nothing, and her hand darted out of the way before contact and tapped Abby on the back of the head. "Come on Abs, tell cousin Kono all about it."
Abby grumbled, but blindly reached out for the Caff-Pow with one hand and for Kono's hand with the other. Abby was a Haliian, virtually indistinguishable from human except for the slight bulges above her eyebrows and the crevice on the bridge of her nose, but despite those small differences, her species had somehow developed touch empathy. Abby took Kono's hand and conveyed her exhaustion, not at the lack of sleep, but at the night of fruitless experiments in the science department. If Abby had something to show for all those hours she wouldn't be nearly as tired as the frustration at nothingness made her. Kono gave Abby a gentle smile in reply and Gibbs asked, "So, should I be scolding her for something?"
"Not unless you think she should have the ability to bend time and space to make her experiments work all the time."
Gibbs took a very long draw on his coffee and gave Abby a look that for a moment she thought he might actually demand to know why things hadn't worked out, and then he grunted, "Nope." and Abby started to laugh.
A throat cleared behind them, and Gibbs turned to see Chin waiting. "Apologies for interrupting, but I must speak with you Captain."
If you didn't know Vulcans it was difficult to tell when they were actually concerned about something and when they were just being Vulcans. Considering Chin hadn't said hello to Kono, Gibbs assumed this was the later.
Danny took one look at Chin and cursed, "He got himself in trouble again."
If Danny didn't look quite so pissed Gibbs expected Kono would've done some teasing, but as it was Chin quickly reported, "Apparently Commander McGarrett has experienced some complications while on Bajor."
"Of course he was! Because heaven forbid Steve McGarrett go anywhere without people trying to kill him!" Danny shouted.
Chin was quick to console Danny, "According to the report death seemed an unlikely outcome from the Commander's endeavors."
"And just what were the Commander's endeavors." Gibbs asked, pulling the attention right back to Chin's report.
Chin paused for a painfully long moment before he cleared his throat and replied, "According to reports from Federation Security Forces, Commander McGarrett was arrested in the company of an Anthony Gard for inciting an altercation."
"An. Altercation." Gibbs repeated, enunciating the words as his way of telling Chin that he was entirely aware there were details being left out and he didn't appreciate it.
"A bar fight."
Gibbs just stared at Chin while Abby failed to stop a giggle. "My Tactical Chief went back to his home planet and got arrested in a bar fight."
"With a Cardassian, Sir."
"That doesn't make it better." Gibbs stood, ready to storm out of the room when Danny grabbed him by the back of his uniform shirt and handed Gibbs a refilled coffee, this time in a thermos he could take with him rather than the mug. Gibbs grunted his thanks then strode out of the room and towards the transporter bay with Chin following behind. "And why in the hell am I hearing this from you Lieutenant, and not from my Security Chief?"
Chin paused for half a second, like there was no good way to answer that before he steeled himself and replied, "Commander Shepard received the call 27.36 minutes ago and informed me she would be handling Lieutenant Commander McGarrett's difficulty."
"That didn't answer my question, Chin. Shepard is Chief of Operations. She should've accepted the call and had it transferred to Security. So where in the hell is my Security Chief in all this?"
"I believe Lieutenant Commander Weston's main concern was for the welfare of Lieutenant Commander McGarrett and she believed Commander Shepard would achieve that end."
Gibbs snorted, not bothering to comment on all the things wrong with that sentence, and Chin took the continuing silence as a signal to report. "According to the Security report we received, Commander McGarrett initiated a conversation with a Cardassian soldier at a bar sometime very early this morning. Witness reports say the Cardassian proceeded to insult Bajor and Commander McGarrett swung first. Two of the Cardassian's associates went to his aid, and a Lieutenant Gard intercepted them. Witnesses also report that when it looked like the Starfleet officers were about to succeed in their altercation, two by-standing Cardassians took it upon themselves to aid their species in its defense, and they were likewise defeated. Apparently the fight ended with Commander McGarrett removing the original Cardassian from the premises and taking him outside. Lieutenant Gard used false identification that he attributed to Commander McGarrett to pay for the damage then went outside as well. All three men were discovered by Federation Security in a nearby alleyway approximately five minutes later. Commander McGarrett and Lieutenant Gard surrendered themselves immediately, while the unknown Cardassian fled and has not been apprehended."
"Are they being held at the main Federation compound in the capital?"
"Yes Sir."
"Get to the bridge and comm them that I'm beaming down immediately and I want to be shown to my men."
Chin gave a sharp nod then twisted down a different hallway that would take him to the turbolift rather than the transporter bay that Gibbs was heading for. Chin didn't waste any time asking why Gibbs hadn't bothered to call Shepard or Weston to get their reports. Gibbs' logic was ruthless in a way most of his crew didn't quite understand, a leftover in his blood from a Vulcan grandparent. Whereas most species would be comm-ing their officers to be sure they had all the details before stepping forward, Gibbs was clever enough to know without asking that Commander Jenny Shepard's distaste of Steve had colored her reaction to his predicament. She had kept Steve's call from Gibbs either in the hope that she could clean it all up and prove herself more worthy of Gibbs' esteem than Steve, or make the situation so terrible that Steve wouldn't be permitted back on the Valor. (Shepard was well aware that Steve was her main competition for the XO position, despite the Admiralty's orders to promote her and no other.) Lieutenant Commander Lori Weston would go along with Jenny's plan because, although Gibbs was her captain, Lori had orders from the Admiralty to do whatever she could to 'help' Gibbs along in appointing Shepard his first officer. It was only logical of Gibbs to circumvent all that chaos and go straight to Steve for his information.
Gibbs stepped into the transporter bay to see Doctor Donald "Ducky" Mallard already waiting for him, a wretchedly old school medical bag in his hands, chatting away at the transporter operator about one of his stories. Gibbs went straight to the transporter pad without bothering to exchange pleasantries, just, "You're not coming with me, Duck."
Ducky just snorted and stepped up onto the pad with Gibbs. Ducky was a Betazoid, a telepath with the ability to both read and speak in other's minds, uniquely helpful gift when dealing with patients unwilling or unable to articulate their pains. Straight to Gibbs' mind Ducky said, Our young Steven got into a fisticuff with a Cardassian and has gone untended for the last several hours. I am most certainly coming with you. That boy is nearly as awful as you about admitting his injuries. Besides, we need to talk and you keep avoiding me.
Gibbs rolled his eyes but nodded to the transporter tech, giving his permission to beam them down whenever the Federation base confirmed their approval. Don't pretend you haven't Jethro, that's unbecoming an officer.
Gibbs groaned and clearly thought, I haven't been avoiding you Duck, just got nothing to say.
Nothing to say! Jethro they're incompetent!
Gibbs looked to the ceiling and silently pleaded that they would beam down now, assuming that Ducky would stop this conversation when they were on planet and he had Steve to fuss over. Problems with the nursing staff again?
Problems? Ducky sputtered. One of these damn useless nurses actually fainted at the thought of having to splint something without a bone-knitter!
Gibbs smirked, sure that despite Ducky's irritation at the nurse's sensitive nature, he was more irritated about the ineptitude. Ducky didn't mind random appointments to his infirmary, though he did get touchy when people interfered with what worked, and the new nursing staff obviously didn't work. You know it can't just be you and Max with Jimmy as your nurse. There are too many injuries on this ship to go without help.
I am perfectly content to acquire more help, but I am not pleased with the help that you've had foisted upon me Jethro.
I thought your issue was that I wasn't the one doing the foisting.
It's a symptom of a larger problem, Jethro. Is this your ship or isn't it? Jethro let Ducky feel his irritation rather than try to come up with words to explain himself. Ducky just snorted, Wrath won't do you any good unless you do something with it, Jethro. Either appoint Jenny as your First Officer or find someone else to do the job. With all her efforts to prove herself a worthy successor that young woman is doing damage to the rest of us. Case in point being young Steven trapped without word to his Captain.
Gibbs rolled his eyes and ignored the drama of Steve being 'trapped'. I'm better off without an XO Duck, you know that.
No, I know you think that.
The last XO they sent me retired from the Fleet after I made him cry in front of the Admiralty, Duck.
I'm not saying your people management skills couldn't use some improvement. Goodness knows we could have less crewmen coming to me with ulcers because they happened to pass you in the hallway. But you and I both know they transferred Jenny to you because they thought you'd suddenly realize she's your perfect First.
Gibbs didn't bother to dignify that with a response, and Ducky kept nudging. So long as you refuse to choose a First, both Jenny and the Admiralty will think she's got a chance, and she'll continue make your life hell by appointing people you've never heard of to your ship and making me scold you."
The transporter tech finally looked up from his station and said, "Energizing, Captain." and with one final thought at Ducky, Gibbs said, I'm on it, Duck.
Chapter Two
Author: sunryder
Artist: pyalgroundblz
Crossover: NCIS/Hawaii 5-0 fused with Star Trek
Type: Slash
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 21042
Characters/Pairings: Tony/Gibbs, Steve/Danny, Ducky, Abby, Tim, Jenny, Cait, Ziva, Morrow, Chin, Kono, Gracie, Jameson, Joe, Kamekona, Max
Warnings: I don't particularly like Jenny
Spoilers: None
Summary: The Federation Starship Valor was one of the crowning jewels of the Fleet. Her Tactical Chief was a Bajoran with a penchant for blowing things up and asking questions later, her Security Chief was a human who'd followed his daughter halfway across the galaxy and now was relegated to serving drinks in Ten Forward, her newest officer was a Trill with a bright smile who teased the Captain far too much, and her Captain... well let's just say Gibbs wasn't a happy man.
Author’s Notes: A thousand thanks to ellie_pierson for being my beta, and loving the story even when I decided I didn't like it anymore, which brought me back to the writing. And to beautiful, beautiful, pyalgroundblz who's art powered me through the last week of editing and is better than the fic itself.
Link to Art Master Post: HERE
Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
Tony Gard meandered down the length of the bar with a filthy grin. The occasional sauced patron would stumble into his path and run bobbing fingers over the spots that trailed down the sides of Tony's face and ask obscene questions about how far down they went, but with over a dozen lifetime's experience Tony shifted them off with a grin and went on his way. As a species, Trill weren't known for being particularly sexual compared to some of the other species in the Federation, (Deltans drove their partners insane, and Orions released addictive pheromones), but people found something appealing about a species that could live for a few hundred years like the Trill.
Tony roamed down to one of the, still populous, but less obvious sections of the bar and leaned into Steve McGarrett's space, pressing tight to the other man's side with a grin. Steve wrapped an arm around Tony's waist and pulled him even closer, giving Tony the perfect chance to press his lips to Steve's ear and murmur, "Your contact just walked in downstairs. He's got one guard with him and another watching the door, waiting for whoever it is they're expecting."
Steve smiled like Tony had been whispering something far different and gave a whisper of his own, "Then let’s cause trouble."
If Tony had been working this op with anyone other than Steve McGarrett he probably would've tried to distract them and handle the questioning himself, but McGarrett had a pinched look to his face, only aggravated by the creases along the bridge of his nose. That look meant Steve was one sarcastic comment away from pulling out the phaser he had strapped to his ankle that he thought Tony didn't know about and shooting people until they started answering his questions. (A surprisingly effective method for Steve, but one that didn't so much work for Tony.)
As it was, Tony wasted his breath on a quick murmur of, “Are you sure this is the right guy?”
“My handler said he was the guy to contact.” Steve shrugged, and since Steve was never one for sharing information, Tony left it at that.
Two weeks ago Steve had turned up at the Deep Space Nine space station with a magical piece of paper granting him immunity and means, and Tony's captain had been all too willing to bend over backwards to accommodate him. (Partly because DS9 was in orbit around Bajor, and Steve was one of Bajor's favorite sons, but mainly because the man was a spineless worm.) Steve's magical paper gave him the right to ask for anyone or anything on the station, but all he'd wanted was Tony. The two men had run a few operations together before, and Tony was the only person Steve trusted for whatever suicide mission he was up to now. The two of them had thrown on civilian clothes instead of their Starfleet uniforms and hitched a ride on a slow shuttle to Bajor, the favorite stomping ground of their target, a Cardassian trafficker named Sang Min.
The two of them had been slumming around Bajor ever since, trying to track down the man who had just stepped in down the bar. Steve and Tony were both tired, bored, tired, and more than ready to get back to their real lives, which might have been why , instead of tailing their target or planting a listening device, Steve strode right up to the Sang Min and slouched against the bar beside him in a way that translated as lecherous, no matter the species.
With a sigh, Tony leaned against a wall out of the Cardassian's sightline but still in easy view of Steve, ready for the whole situation to fall apart. Steve ran his eyes slowly up and down the Cardassian in question and smirked out, "Hey."
Tony rolled his eyes at Steve's inept attempt at seduction. Steve was Bajoran, the species Cardassia had tried and failed to conquer half a dozen times over the last two hundred years, and the approach Steve was taking with their Cardassian trafficker was flirting. Idiot. Sang Min loomed over Steve (no small feat given the man's height) and sneered, "Run away now maket, before I break you."
Steve licked his lips and leaned in, "I think letting you break me could be fun."
Sang Min quickly shifted his weight and put Steve up against the bar, twisting fingers through Steve's hair and bending him back at an awkward angle that exposed his throat. "Your people are for hunting, not for mating little maket."
Steve gave Tony the barest flash of a glance, and Tony got out a put upon sigh before Steve smashed the heel of his hand into the ridges that swept down the Cardassian's neck and shoulders. The alien keened in pain for half a moment, just long enough for Steve to whip around his elbow and smash it into Sang Min's nose, sending him reeling back in pain.
Tony leaned over to the next table and grabbed their thick bottle of Andorian whiskey with a bright, "Sorry about this," then turned and bashed the bottle into the temple of a Cardassian on his way to help Sang. Tony's Cardassian stumbled with the blow and twisted around with a roar to confront Tony, who just gave him a bright grin before he scampered back over the table that he'd just stolen the liquor from. The Cardassian charged and Tony kicked out at the table between them, sending it crashing forward into the Cardassian's armored stomach, which did no good at all. Except, the Cardassian looked up at Tony to mock him for the move and got a steady swing of the still intact bottle to his neck ridges, and then another to his face.
The Cardassian stayed down, probably not for long, but enough time for Tony to dart over to Steve, who was in an inconvenient headlock from another Cardassian while Sang Min pulled back his fist to pummel Steve into a blob of useless Bajoran operative. Steve tossed all his weight back into his captor, buying him enough space to curl up his legs and thrust straight into Sang Min's chest. Straight into the same armor that Tony had had trouble with just moments ago.
Sang Min laughed at Steve for the effort, distracted enough by Steve's glower that he didn't see Tony charge and smash Sang Min up and over the counter. With that the other Cardassians who'd been mildly amused at watching a Bajoran and his Trill friend pick a fight with three Cardassians decided it was time to interfere. Steve wrenched out of one Cardassian's grasp only to be punched by another, and then Tony got distracted dodging punches of his own.
Tony forced one Cardassian back long enough to shout at Steve, "I told you we should've let me do the talking."
Steve dodged out of the path of a diving Cardassian, "I can talk!"
Tony grabbed a bottle from behind the counter and crashed it into someone's head before twisting around and planting a solid kick to the face of the Cardassian who'd missed Steve with his dive. "Yeah, I can see that's going real well for you."
Steve turned to Tony with a grin before half-hopping onto the counter and kicking against one of the oncoming attackers, smashing both feet into the Cardassian's face, sending him permanently to the ground. Tony grabbed another Cardassian in mid-lunge and smashed his face into the counter, then twisted and grabbed the last attacker, still trying to struggle to his feet, and found the nerve in his neck that rendered him unconscious with a Vulcan pinch while Steve ran for the door and an escaping Sang Min. Tony listened for a moment to the scuffle and the furious hiss that meant Steve had captured his prey, then turned to the bartender and ran the ident card that came with Steve's false identity over the man's scanner. Tony grinned, "Charge all the damage to him. And I think I owe that nice table over there a bottle."
Tony stepped out of the bar and looked around for a moment before heading to the alley he assumed Steve would be interrogating in. Tony roamed into the chosen alley just in time to see Steve toss Sang Min into a wall and shout, "What do you know!"
Sang struggled against Steve's hold, "I don't know nothing!"
Tony grinned, "Whatever he does know is going to fall out of his head if you keep bashing him around like that."
Per usual, Steve wasn't really in a bantering mood when he was trying to get information and just rolled his eyes at Tony before turning back to Sang and hissed, "Tell me what you know."
"What the hell do you care? You look like a Bajoran, but you ain't one, what does it matter to you?"
"Why do I care?" Steve opined, shoving Sang into the wall, putting force on the sensitive neck ridges in a way far more vicious then he probably would've if Sang hadn't just questioned his Bajoran-ness. "You see, I care, because Tony cares. I care so he doesn't have to. Because you see, Tony does terrible things when he cares."
Sang scoffed as much as he was able and retorted, "What, he make you sleep on the couch?"
Tony smirked, something in his happy-go-lucky demeanor made Sang pause. "Sang, do you know who I am?"
Sang rolled his eyes at the obvious question, "You're the new Operations officer on Deep Space Nine. You're the bastard who's been getting in the way of business."
Tony tsked, "No, no, no, that's who Tony is. Do you know who Gard is?"
"That's your name; don't you know your own name, maket?"
Tony kept on grinning, "Yeah, but who's Gard?"
Sang rolled his eyes, "I dunno, your father?"
Tony laughed, "Did no one ever teach you about Trill?"
"Do I really need to be restrained for this?"
Tony lounged against the wall, "You see, I'm what's known as a Trill."
Sang huffed, "You got the spots, and probably got a damn snake too."
Steve slammed Sang up against the wall to stop the back talk while Tony continued with a slightly crazed smile. "First off, it's not a snake, it's a symbiote. My symbiote and I are joined, with it sharing all the experiences it has from his other hosts and me giving it new ones from my life."
"Your point?"
Tony leaned in a little closer, "Gard, my symbiote, he's had Steve's job before, for a very, very long time."
"So?" Sang spat.
Tony tutted and looked to Steve. "Why is it that none of these people can ever put the story together themselves? Really, it's embarrassing." Before Sang could interrupt Tony continued, "It means, that anything Steve can do, I can do better. Because while he was trained by the Bajoran government, who I admit have their own special version of ruthlessness after being suppressed by the Cardassians, I have been a spy, and a security officer, and an assassin, for over eight hundred years."
"If you gotta talk about it Trill, you don't have the guts to do it."
Tony grinned, something sharp and feral, and before either man could react he slipped Sang out of Steve's hold and whipped the man around, delivering two sharp jabs to his ribs to drive the air out of chest despite the armor and then pinched a point on his neck, dropping Sang to the ground while the Cardassian screamed in pain. Tony let it go on for a few seconds before he struck the same spot to stop the pain. Tony let Sang catch his breath before he crouched down beside him, "Now. How about you give us the information we're looking for and I won't do that again."
Sang hissed something foul under his breath and Tony placed his fingers back on the spot, "Don't be difficult, Sang."
"There's a meeting," Sang hissed. "Between the Klingons and the Federation."
Steve dropped down beside them, out of range should Sang decide to strike, but still close enough to listen. "Treaty negotiations?"
Sang snorted, "Knowing your maket species you're as likely to destroy the galaxy as you are to talk."
"But it's an alliance summit?"
"If anything a summit to talk about talking about a summit."
"And how do you know about this?" Tony asked.
Sang sneered, "I make money off the fighting. It's my business to know what might make it go away."
"Which means there are people out there trying to stop the meeting from happening." Tony summarized.
"Who?" Steve lunged forward and grabbed Sang to shake him. "Who's trying to stop it?"
"I don't got a name!" Sang shouted.
Tony put a calming hand on Steve's shoulder and said, "But you do know who's sending them."
Steve pulled back a little and Sang rolled his shoulders at the sudden freedom and muttered, "The Romulans want you makets shooting at each other while they try and make nice with everyone else."
"The same thing could be said about Cardassians." Tony interjected.
"Well it wouldn't be true!" Sang countered. "We like being the winners, but we ain't stupid. Cardassia wants to use you to put us back together before we put you in your place again."
"So how’s this Romulan spy plan on ruining the summit?" Steve asked.
"The way I heard it, he's on one of the boats you boys have going."
Steve smashed Sang into the wall again, "Which ship!"
"How the hell am I supposed to know that? You think the Romulans are going to tell me who their spy is?"
Steve smirked and pulled back a little, letting Sang Min have a little breathing space at just the right moment for Security to come rushing into the alley, shouting, "You there, stop!"
Steve released Sang Min immediately and put up his hands, giving the other man the chance to at least try to get away. Sang Min took the opportunity and headed for a door at the back of the alley, two Security officers chasing after him while Steve and Tony stayed put for the other two. Tony put his hands on his head and dropped to his knees when he was instructed and muttered to Steve, "Are we seriously about to be arrested by Federation security?" while Steve just laughed.
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Captain L. Jethro Gibbs was two minutes away from spacing half his crew and turning pirate with the rest.
The Federation Starship Valor had known no other captain but Jethro, and though he adored every inch of his obscenely well-armored ship, he could've done without the stacks of useless crewmen lying around, taking up valuable space and doing things to his blood pressure. Gibbs had intended to captain a Defiant class vessel, something with a small crew, designed to flit around the Federation preserving the peace without concerns for diplomacy, but then he'd been shown the massive, sovereign class Valor and all those plans went out the window. Though on days like today, where he was getting angry calls from the Admiralty demanding he appoint a First Officer while the rest of his crew was rotating through shore leave, he longed for that little ship and lack of restrictions that came with it.
But he was captain of a vessel with 5000 souls, a third of those civilians, and more than a hundred of them children. This was not the time to doubt his place at command. Gibbs tossed on his jacket and went straight for Ten Forward trusting, as he did most mornings, that Danny and his coffee would manage to make the morning a bit better.
Ten Forward was the bar/restaurant/cafe on the Valor's tenth deck where most everyone spent their free time. Gibbs tended to hate being anywhere where there were people, but bartender Danny believed in grinding and brewing his own coffee and refused to replicate alcohol, and that was worth being subjected to people.
Gibbs entered Ten Forward through one of the darker side doors, making it easy to pass unnoticed through the people already there, some for breakfast before alpha shift began and others just heading to bed after gamma shift. Gibbs slowed as he approached the bar, hearing the tense tone of Danny arguing with someone, staying back so he could listen properly.
"But Danny-" Cait scolded before Danny cut her off, "Absolutely not, Cait! Gibbs would keel haul me!"
Lieutenant Commander Cait Todd was ship's counselor and chief negotiator, one of the first in a long line of officers Gibbs had had forced on him, but over the last two years she'd proven herself more useful than not, despite her attachment to all things ordered and proper. Cait was a Caitian, a felinoid species and the pack mentality that came with that overrode the occasional impulsivity Gibbs preferred from a Starfleet officer.
Like right now.
Cait rolled her eyes at Danny, completely unaware that Gibbs was watching, "We're a starship, Daniel. You can't get keelhauled on a starship."
"Gibbs would be so pissed he would make Tim build him a special suit so I wouldn't explode in space, and he'd make Kono find him a particularly violent ion cloud, or asteroid belt, and then he'd keelhaul me."
Cait snorted, "He likes Gracie too much to actually do anything to you, Danny."
"The Cap does adore my kid. You know, I think the Cap adores my kid so much that after he's killed me, he'll adopt her, just so he can continue his quest to make my ex-wife wish that she'd killed me rather than divorced me."
Danny slid a drink down the bar to one of the crewmen who'd ordered his drink then smartly scampered out of the way when Cait had strode up to demand Danny's attention. "So, what you're telling me is that you're not going to switch Gibbs to decaf."
Danny tossed his hands into the air, "Ladies and gentlemen she's got it! No. I will not risk life and limb to mess with Gibbs' coffee."
"But Danny, he drinks like ten cups of the Terran stimulant a day! It's not good for him!"
Danny just stared at her in disbelief and looked down at the strange goop mix of juiced vegetables and blended leaves in Cait's own glass, "You know that right now, at this very moment, you're drinking a stimulant."
Cait snorted, "It's natural."
"It's grass from Orion. If you let it ferment it would be a hallucinogen."
Cait leaned forward and gave Danny a smirk, "Orion plants are human hallucinogens, Danny."
Danny rolled his eyes and went back to distributing drinks, "Of course, me and my human genetics, that's the problem with the Orions, that I'm not compatible with their drugs."
"You're just against Orions because you don't like Jenny."
"There's not a person on this boat who actually likes Jenny, Cait."
"I like her!" Cait denied, offended on the other woman's behalf.
"You like her because you're never on the bridge, so you never see Gibbs trying to deal with her. And, she sucks up to the women on the crew."
Cait sputtered in indignation, "Just because she's a female in a position of power-"
Ensign Kono slipped past Gibbs with a smirk and leaned around Cait to grab a bottle of her favorite juice from behind the bar and interjected, "People don't like her because she's a bitch to the Cap, her genitals have nothing to do with it."
Cait hissed at Kono, her long tail flicking in agitation. "Remember Ensign, you're speaking to a superior officer about a superior officer. Both are due some respect."
Kono just smiled in the terrifyingly Zen way that came from knowing that whatever fight Cait picked, Kono would win. Danny smirked and said, "I've got very few rules in my bar, Cait, but one of them is that there's no rank in this room. The Cap has given me leave to torture anyone I find offending this rule according to my own twisted whims. So maybe you ought to head off to sit with your friends before I have to throw you out."
Cait rolled her eyes in irritation at Danny, but walked away, her tail flicking back and forth in irritation that Danny was completely right; Gibbs had turned more than a few members of his crew over to Danny's tender mercies for breaking the rules of Ten Forward.
Kono lounged on top of the bar and waited while Gibbs slid up to the counter. The young officer turned to him with a bright grin and said, "Heya, Cap."
"Morning Ensign." Gibbs grunted back, unwillingly amused by the girl. "Where's Chin?"
"Cuz was on call for Security this morning, so he's running late."
Gibbs found Kono and Chin to be two of the more fascinating members of his crew and showed it by actually speaking to them. Chin was a pureblooded Vulcan in every sense of the phrase. He'd been slated for admission to the Vulcan Science Academy and betrothed to a girl in one of Vulcan's posher families. Everything was perfect in Chin's life until the day his cousin Kono came home from school crying.
Kono was half-Vulcan, half-Risan, making her a blend of the most uptight, logical people in the Federation and of the Federation's best pleasure planet. (The circumstances of Kono's parentage were blank on her Starfleet record, but Gibbs could only imagine what would have led a Vulcan into going on vacation to Risa and getting a girl pregnant.) Unlike his more logical brethren's apathy to the cruelty aimed at Kono, Chin had bundled up his littlest cousin and moved with her back to Risa. That moment of solidarity was the only thing Gibbs had cared about when he'd requested Chin's posting, and it had made Gibbs request little cousin Kono the moment she'd graduated.
Gibbs 'hmm-ed' in response to Chin's tardiness before Danny interjected, "Ask her why she's here instead of sleeping in until Chin's ready." Gibbs didn't even bother opening his mouth because Danny just barreled right along. "She and her insane cousin both think I'm pining and need to be distracted."
Gibbs appreciated that despite no one ever telling him things like this, Danny always just assumed Gibbs knew. "Your kid is off ship for the next month."
"Just because my Ex-Wife took my kid and her new husband to see her mother, who always hated me by the way, that does not mean I need coddling."
"Oh Danny," Kono laughed, "Any coddling I do is to protect everybody else from you."
Danny went to snark something back when Abby flopped down at the counter on the opposite side of Gibbs and groaned, "Caff-Pow Danny, I beg you."
Danny snorted, but thumbed the request for Caff-Pow into the replicator without looking, used to Abby's desperate pleas for caffeine after spending the night running experiments when she should be sleeping. Gibbs cleared his throat, but Abby didn't even bother raising her head from the counter and just patted Gibbs' hand saying, "Shh, Gibbs. No scolding before Caff-Pow."
Kono giggled and reached past Gibbs to tug on one of Abby's pigtails, "You're so tired even your pigtails are limp." Abby groaned and smacked at Kono's hand, but the girl wasn't at the helm for nothing, and her hand darted out of the way before contact and tapped Abby on the back of the head. "Come on Abs, tell cousin Kono all about it."
Abby grumbled, but blindly reached out for the Caff-Pow with one hand and for Kono's hand with the other. Abby was a Haliian, virtually indistinguishable from human except for the slight bulges above her eyebrows and the crevice on the bridge of her nose, but despite those small differences, her species had somehow developed touch empathy. Abby took Kono's hand and conveyed her exhaustion, not at the lack of sleep, but at the night of fruitless experiments in the science department. If Abby had something to show for all those hours she wouldn't be nearly as tired as the frustration at nothingness made her. Kono gave Abby a gentle smile in reply and Gibbs asked, "So, should I be scolding her for something?"
"Not unless you think she should have the ability to bend time and space to make her experiments work all the time."
Gibbs took a very long draw on his coffee and gave Abby a look that for a moment she thought he might actually demand to know why things hadn't worked out, and then he grunted, "Nope." and Abby started to laugh.
A throat cleared behind them, and Gibbs turned to see Chin waiting. "Apologies for interrupting, but I must speak with you Captain."
If you didn't know Vulcans it was difficult to tell when they were actually concerned about something and when they were just being Vulcans. Considering Chin hadn't said hello to Kono, Gibbs assumed this was the later.
Danny took one look at Chin and cursed, "He got himself in trouble again."
If Danny didn't look quite so pissed Gibbs expected Kono would've done some teasing, but as it was Chin quickly reported, "Apparently Commander McGarrett has experienced some complications while on Bajor."
"Of course he was! Because heaven forbid Steve McGarrett go anywhere without people trying to kill him!" Danny shouted.
Chin was quick to console Danny, "According to the report death seemed an unlikely outcome from the Commander's endeavors."
"And just what were the Commander's endeavors." Gibbs asked, pulling the attention right back to Chin's report.
Chin paused for a painfully long moment before he cleared his throat and replied, "According to reports from Federation Security Forces, Commander McGarrett was arrested in the company of an Anthony Gard for inciting an altercation."
"An. Altercation." Gibbs repeated, enunciating the words as his way of telling Chin that he was entirely aware there were details being left out and he didn't appreciate it.
"A bar fight."
Gibbs just stared at Chin while Abby failed to stop a giggle. "My Tactical Chief went back to his home planet and got arrested in a bar fight."
"With a Cardassian, Sir."
"That doesn't make it better." Gibbs stood, ready to storm out of the room when Danny grabbed him by the back of his uniform shirt and handed Gibbs a refilled coffee, this time in a thermos he could take with him rather than the mug. Gibbs grunted his thanks then strode out of the room and towards the transporter bay with Chin following behind. "And why in the hell am I hearing this from you Lieutenant, and not from my Security Chief?"
Chin paused for half a second, like there was no good way to answer that before he steeled himself and replied, "Commander Shepard received the call 27.36 minutes ago and informed me she would be handling Lieutenant Commander McGarrett's difficulty."
"That didn't answer my question, Chin. Shepard is Chief of Operations. She should've accepted the call and had it transferred to Security. So where in the hell is my Security Chief in all this?"
"I believe Lieutenant Commander Weston's main concern was for the welfare of Lieutenant Commander McGarrett and she believed Commander Shepard would achieve that end."
Gibbs snorted, not bothering to comment on all the things wrong with that sentence, and Chin took the continuing silence as a signal to report. "According to the Security report we received, Commander McGarrett initiated a conversation with a Cardassian soldier at a bar sometime very early this morning. Witness reports say the Cardassian proceeded to insult Bajor and Commander McGarrett swung first. Two of the Cardassian's associates went to his aid, and a Lieutenant Gard intercepted them. Witnesses also report that when it looked like the Starfleet officers were about to succeed in their altercation, two by-standing Cardassians took it upon themselves to aid their species in its defense, and they were likewise defeated. Apparently the fight ended with Commander McGarrett removing the original Cardassian from the premises and taking him outside. Lieutenant Gard used false identification that he attributed to Commander McGarrett to pay for the damage then went outside as well. All three men were discovered by Federation Security in a nearby alleyway approximately five minutes later. Commander McGarrett and Lieutenant Gard surrendered themselves immediately, while the unknown Cardassian fled and has not been apprehended."
"Are they being held at the main Federation compound in the capital?"
"Yes Sir."
"Get to the bridge and comm them that I'm beaming down immediately and I want to be shown to my men."
Chin gave a sharp nod then twisted down a different hallway that would take him to the turbolift rather than the transporter bay that Gibbs was heading for. Chin didn't waste any time asking why Gibbs hadn't bothered to call Shepard or Weston to get their reports. Gibbs' logic was ruthless in a way most of his crew didn't quite understand, a leftover in his blood from a Vulcan grandparent. Whereas most species would be comm-ing their officers to be sure they had all the details before stepping forward, Gibbs was clever enough to know without asking that Commander Jenny Shepard's distaste of Steve had colored her reaction to his predicament. She had kept Steve's call from Gibbs either in the hope that she could clean it all up and prove herself more worthy of Gibbs' esteem than Steve, or make the situation so terrible that Steve wouldn't be permitted back on the Valor. (Shepard was well aware that Steve was her main competition for the XO position, despite the Admiralty's orders to promote her and no other.) Lieutenant Commander Lori Weston would go along with Jenny's plan because, although Gibbs was her captain, Lori had orders from the Admiralty to do whatever she could to 'help' Gibbs along in appointing Shepard his first officer. It was only logical of Gibbs to circumvent all that chaos and go straight to Steve for his information.
Gibbs stepped into the transporter bay to see Doctor Donald "Ducky" Mallard already waiting for him, a wretchedly old school medical bag in his hands, chatting away at the transporter operator about one of his stories. Gibbs went straight to the transporter pad without bothering to exchange pleasantries, just, "You're not coming with me, Duck."
Ducky just snorted and stepped up onto the pad with Gibbs. Ducky was a Betazoid, a telepath with the ability to both read and speak in other's minds, uniquely helpful gift when dealing with patients unwilling or unable to articulate their pains. Straight to Gibbs' mind Ducky said, Our young Steven got into a fisticuff with a Cardassian and has gone untended for the last several hours. I am most certainly coming with you. That boy is nearly as awful as you about admitting his injuries. Besides, we need to talk and you keep avoiding me.
Gibbs rolled his eyes but nodded to the transporter tech, giving his permission to beam them down whenever the Federation base confirmed their approval. Don't pretend you haven't Jethro, that's unbecoming an officer.
Gibbs groaned and clearly thought, I haven't been avoiding you Duck, just got nothing to say.
Nothing to say! Jethro they're incompetent!
Gibbs looked to the ceiling and silently pleaded that they would beam down now, assuming that Ducky would stop this conversation when they were on planet and he had Steve to fuss over. Problems with the nursing staff again?
Problems? Ducky sputtered. One of these damn useless nurses actually fainted at the thought of having to splint something without a bone-knitter!
Gibbs smirked, sure that despite Ducky's irritation at the nurse's sensitive nature, he was more irritated about the ineptitude. Ducky didn't mind random appointments to his infirmary, though he did get touchy when people interfered with what worked, and the new nursing staff obviously didn't work. You know it can't just be you and Max with Jimmy as your nurse. There are too many injuries on this ship to go without help.
I am perfectly content to acquire more help, but I am not pleased with the help that you've had foisted upon me Jethro.
I thought your issue was that I wasn't the one doing the foisting.
It's a symptom of a larger problem, Jethro. Is this your ship or isn't it? Jethro let Ducky feel his irritation rather than try to come up with words to explain himself. Ducky just snorted, Wrath won't do you any good unless you do something with it, Jethro. Either appoint Jenny as your First Officer or find someone else to do the job. With all her efforts to prove herself a worthy successor that young woman is doing damage to the rest of us. Case in point being young Steven trapped without word to his Captain.
Gibbs rolled his eyes and ignored the drama of Steve being 'trapped'. I'm better off without an XO Duck, you know that.
No, I know you think that.
The last XO they sent me retired from the Fleet after I made him cry in front of the Admiralty, Duck.
I'm not saying your people management skills couldn't use some improvement. Goodness knows we could have less crewmen coming to me with ulcers because they happened to pass you in the hallway. But you and I both know they transferred Jenny to you because they thought you'd suddenly realize she's your perfect First.
Gibbs didn't bother to dignify that with a response, and Ducky kept nudging. So long as you refuse to choose a First, both Jenny and the Admiralty will think she's got a chance, and she'll continue make your life hell by appointing people you've never heard of to your ship and making me scold you."
The transporter tech finally looked up from his station and said, "Energizing, Captain." and with one final thought at Ducky, Gibbs said, I'm on it, Duck.
Chapter Two