Big Bang 2010 - If Wishes Were Horses 4/18
Title: If Wishes Were Horses
Author: fringedweller
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Primarily Kirk/Rand, with background McCoy/Chapel and Pike/One and others, het and slash
Warnings: None
Length: 3996
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything recognisable in this fic and I’m not making any money from it.
Notes: Beta by seren_ccd
Summary: All her life Janice Rand had wanted one thing - to figure out just what she was supposed to do with herself. She drifted into Starfleet on a whim, and to her surprise, found a niche to fill. But being assigned to the Enterprise brings with it a challenge to her neat and ordered way of life, and Janice is unsure as to how much she's willing to let James T. Kirk affect her. But since when has love ever been easy? And will Janice let her heart stand in the way of her career?
Janice met Captain Christopher Pike on the worst day of her training. She was five weeks into her six week course and was doing a stint at the central records office when the entire computer system suddenly crashed, sending the room in an absolute panic. Blank screens refused to be coaxed into life no matter how many consoles were pulled apart, and technical support were as confused as anybody else about why suddenly nothing was working.
Requests were still coming in from all over the galaxy for information, from ships on active service in the far ranges of the beta quadrant, Starfleet stations on colony planets and facilities on Earth as well as Deep Space stations. The problem was that the administrators at the central records office had no way of accessing the information from their terminals, and personnel out in the black were getting impatient. Janice and six other trainees were sent to one of the auxiliary rooms to boot up the access terminals there. They were slower and outdated, but still reported as functional. The six of them were scrambling to funnel information back out into the data channels when a sharp and authoritarian voice rang out in the tiny, crowded room.
“Is it too much to hope for that you can actually give me the information that I want so I can do my damned job?”
A heavy hand slammed down on the counter that separated the anxious trainees from incomers to the room, and the stammering recruit standing behind it actually jumped back in alarm.
“Can I help you, captain?” Janice asked, moving over to the counter and gently edging the frightened recruit to a seated position at one of the access terminals. She made no apology for their state; she got the feeling that this man wouldn’t accept any excuses.
“I want the service records for potential candidates for First Officer for the new flagship,” the man told her shortly. “Except your department seems to have lost the record of Commander Spock. According to you, he doesn’t exist, which should come as a surprise to both him and his family on Vulcan!”
“I’ll get you the information you need, sir,” Janice promised and started typing furiously into the terminal next to her. Sure enough, the computer system reported that there was no Commander Spock registered in Starfleet. Janice risked a glance at the impatient officer, who was staring at her thoughtfully. Remembering what he had said, Janice ran a search for Vulcan officers, which also came back as negative. Annoyed, Janice slammed her hand against the side of the terminal.
“Problems, recruit?” he asked archly.
“No sir,” Janice lied, typing intently. Fine, if the computer didn’t want to play nicely, she didn’t have to either. Vulcans typically had long and complicated clan names, a fact that had stuck around due to her mandatory xenoculture classes. If she told the computer to scan and retrieve any Vulcan clan names in its databanks....There. Spock, S’chn T’gai. His career service record appeared on screen, and Janice immediately transferred it to the PADD being held by the impatient captain.
“There you are, sir. Commander Spock’s service record has now been sent to your PADD. Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?”
“No,” the man said. “As you were, recruit.”
“Yes sir,” Janice replied, saluting the man before returning to her station.
“He was horrible,” whispered the nervous recruit.
“He was annoyed,” Janice replied. “You’re going to have to get used to people snapping at you.”
“It’s not our fault we can’t do the job,” said the recruit sulkily. “The computers aren’t working.”
“The information was there,” Janice told him. “You just had to dig it out.”
The recruit pointedly turned his back on her. Janice rolled her eyes and went back to work. She was not in the habit of coddling idiots. The recruits manned the station for another three hours, during which another five officers came in for information that they couldn’t find from the computers, each of them snarling and barking orders. Once had made Janice think the situation was genuine, twice was a coincidence, but by the time the third officer came in, she was convinced that this was another test. Two of the other recruits had arrived at the same conclusion, so by the time the fourth allegedly irate officer stormed into the room, the team moved smoothly to locate the hidden information.
After their three hours was up, there was a general announcement informing everybody that the computer systems were now fully functional, and that all recruits should return to their designated duty stations. When each recruit got an individual message analysing their performance during the simulated computer crash, Janice was surprised to see that some of them actually looked shocked. Hadn’t they worked out that it was just another test?
She looked down at her data screen. “Professional, quick-thinking, calm under pressure,” it read. It was signed Christopher Pike, and a quick records check pulled up the picture of the angry captain that had been the first visitor to their little room. A new message flashed onto her screen, from Captain Pike, ordering her to his office at the end of her duty shift.
Janice closed it, not being given long to dwell on its significance before her team were allowed to go for their lunch break. Namara had been rhapsodising about her improving kitchen skills, so Janice dutifully went to try whatever her friend had been cooking up during her training session that morning.
Later, as ordered, Janice reported to the office of Captain Christopher Pike. A few minutes’ research over lunch (which was actually pretty good, Namara was definitely improving) had shown him to be an ex-starship captain that had requested a period of teaching at the Academy. He was slated to take command of the new flagship that was currently being built out in Iowa, but that was still several years away yet. Pike taught advanced tactical strategy, and Janice had absolutely no idea why he would need to see her, a recruit not yet qualified. Still, when an officer said jump, enlisted personnel asked how high, and whether he would like coffee on the way down.
The outer office, where she reported first, was empty. The desk where his yeoman should sit was vacant and looked unused. The door to his inner office was shut. Seeing no alternative, she knocked on the door herself.
“Come in!” yelled a familiar voice, and she stepped through the doors. Inside was chaos, utter chaos. Stacked on every surface were PADDS, old paper text books, replicas of ancient charts, models of ships both of the sea faring and space kind and other things that Janice didn’t have time to categorise before Captain Pike looked up and smiled at her.
“Ah, recruit, you’re on time. Perfect. Have a seat.”
He waved her towards the visitor’s chair that sat in front of his desk, but it was stacked so high with precarious piles of paper that Janice was scared to move them in case they fell.
“If it’s all the same to you sir, I think that maybe I should stand,” Janice told him, still holding her salute as she had been taught.
“Perhaps you’re right.” Pike frowned, looking at the chair properly. “At ease, recruit.”
Pike shifted some of the detritus around on his desk to reveal his information screen.
“I’m looking at your record, Rand,” he told her, skimming down the display. “It’s very good.”
“Thank you, sir,” Janice replied, still lost as to her place in this conversation.
“In fact, you’re the most promising recruit in the administrative stream,” he continued, with a slight frown on his face. “To be honest, you should have been transferred to the Academy for officer training, but it says here that you turned the transfer down. Can you tell me why, recruit?”
“I would prefer to be a yeoman, sir,” Janice replied. “Officer training isn’t part of my career path, sir.”
Pike looked at her carefully, and then nodded his head.
“Your choice, of course, Rand. And it’s not like you can’t change your mind later on.”
Internally, Janice knew that she would never want to change her mind. Officer training involved major decision making, and learning how to send people to their deaths, and that was something that she never wanted to do. Life as an organiser, working quietly in the background ensuring that everything ran smoothly, suited her just fine.
“Anyway,” Pike continued, “I suppose I should be grateful you chose this particular career path, because as you can probably see, I am in dire need of administrative help.”
Janice wisely kept her mouth shut. It looked like there had been an explosion in a library, one that had taken out a museum display at the same time. Pike nodded again, a small smile playing on his lips. She had obviously passed some kind of personal test of his.
“My last yeoman did decide to change his career path, and I’ve discovered that finding his replacement hasn’t been as easy I thought it would be. I’ve become a little behind on my organisation.”
Again, Janice said absolutely nothing and kept her face expressionless.
“So, you can imagine my joy when I came across you this morning during that training exercise. As soon as you finish your basic training, you’ll be assigned to me as my personal yeoman. Your first, and it has to be said, most Herculean task, will be to get my office into order in time for the start of the first teaching semester at the Academy.”
“Permission to speak, sir?” Janice asked.
“Go ahead,” Pike told her.
“Is there any chance I could start before the end of my training, sir?” Janice asked, looking around her. “I’m willing to use my downtime.”
“Are you that keen, Rand?” Pike asked, surprised.
“No sir, it’s just that I’m not sure I’ll be able to get the job done otherwise,” Janice said honestly.
Pike barked out a surprised laugh, and nodded.
“Agreed, recruit. You can have access to my office whenever you need to. The code for the door is Pike-Gamma-six. I’ll get security to add your voice and retinal prints to the locks.”
“Thank you, sir,” Janice told him, aware of the trust he was giving her based on a five minute meeting.
“Dismissed, recruit.”
Janice saluted again, and left the room. On the way out to the main corridor she stopped at the vacant yeoman’s desk and ran her hand down the smooth surface. Soon, it would be her desk. She frowned as she noticed dirt on her fingers, and made a mental note to bring some cleaning supplies with her next time. Dusting her hands clean, she left the room and went to find Namara to tell her the good news.
“Captain’s yeoman? Already? Jan, that has to be some kind of record!”
Namara threw her arms and tentacles around her and squeezed, before letting her go. They were in the bar that Maggie had recommended, having a celebratory drink. Janice had thought it best to be discreet about learning her posting; the rest of the class wouldn’t know until the end of the week. She had to tell Namara though, as she was bursting to tell somebody.
“I’m sure it’s not,” Janice said modestly.
“I’ll bet you anything you like that not many people get plucked out of basic training to be yeoman to a captain, let alone one as gorgeous as Pike!”
Janice rolled her eyes. “What he looks like has got nothing to do with it,” she told her friend archly.
“Of course not, the honour is the same no matter who the captain is,” Namara agreed. Then a sly look crept over her face and a tentacle snuck out and prodded Janice in the ribs. “It doesn’t hurt though, does it?”
“He’s not my type,” Janice said firmly, grabbing hold of the tentacle and waggling it, making Namara giggle. She was incredibly ticklish. “I prefer my men a little younger, and not as far up the chain of command.”
“But it’s so romantic,” protested Namara, laughing. “The handsome, older captain, the young, beautiful yeoman, thrown together for long hours working alone behind a locked door...”
“Shut up,” said Janice firmly. “Not going to happen, Namara.”
“There’s a reason so many romantic novels have been written about it, Jan,” Namara teased. “It’s perfect!”
“It’s a cliché,” Janice told her. “And completely unprofessional. I am not going to have an affair with my boss. End of story.”
“You’re no fun,” Namara told her, without heat.
“You can have an affair with him, if you like,” offered Janice, generously.
“No, I’m already juggling three.” Namara sighed. “I couldn’t possibly handle a fourth, no matter how attractive.”
“Three?” said Janice disbelievingly. “And you haven’t given me any of the details? Spill, woman! Tell me everything!”
The conversation shifted towards Namara’s deliciously complicated lovelife, and away from Janice’s promotion. Janice made sure that it stayed that way for the rest of the evening.
Janice spent the next two years serving as Captain Pike’s yeoman, and for the first time ever she felt completely satisfied with her life. She lived on base, sharing a room with another yeoman that worked in the central records office. Namara shipped out soon after completing her course as a Culinary Specialist. She was assigned to the Wollstonecraft where she soon reported to Janice that a Pictsie engineer known as Small Dave had taken her under his wing, courtesy of Maggie and Tara.
Working for Captain Pike was everything she hoped it would be. It had taken her three weeks of non-stop work to get his office and files sorted into an order that she could work with. He grumbled a little at the change to the system his previous yeoman had instilled, but Janice held firm and won the battle eventually. Now the basic system was in place, she could deal with the paperwork that came from his role as developer of the Enterprise and his teaching work without getting the two hopelessly confused. The historical models were displayed neatly on a storage unit that Janice had requisitioned for the outer office, and she had found an antique bookcase to house the even older books that Pike insisted on using.
Now when you went into his office you could actually see the floor, a fact that was remarked upon by a beautiful brunette who walked in unannounced one morning while Pike was giving her the daily orders regarding his correspondence.
The look on Pike’s face was that of stunned joy; Janice was already heading out of the room as he gave the order for her dismissal. Before the doors slid shut she saw him vault athletically over the desk and sweep the woman into his arms; Janice decided that discretion was definitely the better part of valour, and engaged the privacy lock on the inter-office comm system.
She left a message on the incoming comm unit that she would be out of the office until after lunch, and that in the case of emergency she could be found in the Central Records Office. She gathered her things and left.
She put in a morning’s work in the main administrative hub, choosing not to notice the curious stares of some of the other yeomen. It was odd for her to be there; her position as captain’s yeoman guaranteed her the privacy of her own office, a much-coveted perk that was the cause of not a little jealousy amongst other yeomen who had been qualified for longer than Janice, but were still part of the main administrative pool. The Senior Chief in charge of the shift said nothing when Janice arrived and requested a work area, but did approach her quietly when Janice stopped for a coffee break half way through the morning.
“You’re certainly good, Rand,” he said approvingly. “You’d be surprised how many yeomen aren’t as discreet as you in their first few years.”
“I’m sorry, sir?” Janice asked, frowning. “I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”
“The Farragut docked this morning, and Pike’s old Number One is captain. I understand that she paid him a visit this morning.”
“I left Captain Pike entertaining a guest,” Janice said warily.
“I bet he is.” The Chief chuckled. “The Farragut has been on a three year trip, this is the first time it’s been back to Earth since they got their orders. Three years is a long time for a couple to be apart.”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that, sir,” Janice said stiffly. She felt oddly possessive about Captain Pike’s privacy, and the Chief nodded approvingly.
“See that you don’t,” he advised. “Your captain’s private business is private. It’s your job to make sure it stays that way.”
“Understood, sir,” Janice nodded.
“The Farragut is here for three months before shipping off again,” the Senior Chief told her. “I’ll keep a desk available for you here, should you decide that you’d like a little company while you’re working.”
“Thank you, sir,” Janice said, blushing a little as the man winked at her and left her to enjoy her coffee in peace.
She stayed for a few hours more, checking the comm system in case there were any urgent matters that she had to attend to. Finding none, she left for her lunch and managed to find a small table in the back of the mess where she could enjoy her spaghetti.
She was halfway through the meal when the brunette woman from earlier that morning appeared with a tray of her own. Janice immediately stood to salute, and the woman kept her standing for a moment as she scrutinised her before she gave Janice the order to sit down and continue with her meal.
“I didn’t get chance to talk to you this morning, yeoman,” the older woman began, ignoring the fragrant chicken in front of her.
“No ma’am,” Janice replied slowly. “My duties called me to the Central Records Office for the morning.”
“A shame,” the captain replied. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Yeoman Rand. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
The captain stared at her intently. Her brown eyes were intelligent but wary, and Rand knew immediately why the captain had sought her out.
I wonder how many people think I’m having an affair with my boss she wondered, a little annoyed at the archaic standards people seemed to judge her by.
“Thank you, ma’am,” she said, keeping her feelings to herself and assuming a bland but pleasant smile. She picked up her glass and took a drink while the other woman continued to stare at her.
“Relax, yeoman, I don’t think you’re sleeping with my man.”
Janice choked, and ended up spitting the contents of her drink over her half-finished meal and the woman sitting opposite her.
“Too blunt?” the captain offered, mopping herself with a pile of napkins that had been stacked on the side of her tray.
“A little,” Janice admitted, taking some of the proffered napkins to clean herself and the table.
“I just thought you’d appreciate a little plain talking,” the captain said.
Janice smiled. “I do,” she admitted. “But it’s a little hard when you’re dealing with a superior officer, ma’am.
“Understood,” the older woman said. “But right now, try and put that to the back of your head and speak honestly. That’s an order.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Janice said automatically. “I’m really not attracted to Captain Pike,” she added.
“A fact I’m glad of,” the captain told her. “Three years is a long time when a beautiful young blonde is at your lover’s beck and call.”
“Surely Captain Pike has told you that we have a strictly professional relationship?” questioned Janice, taking advantage of the order to speak honestly.
“Of course he has,” replied the older woman. “I got a comm message that said, and I quote, ‘I finally found someone who can deal with my mess. She’s half my age, blonde and gorgeous, but don’t worry, honey, she wouldn’t look at me twice.’”
Janice blushed, and her dining companion laughed.
“He’s teasing, of course,” the captain said fondly. “But I just didn’t want any stupidity to come between us. I’m going to be away for a long time, and having you know about me and Chris could be helpful when it comes to scheduling comm time and leave arrangements.”
“I’ll be discreet, ma’am,” Janice promised.
“I know you will,” the other woman said, with only the slightest hint of menace in her tone. “Chris trusts you, and I trust him. Ergo, I trust you.”
The woman pushed back her chair and smiled. Her meal was untouched.
“I’m sorry I ruined your meal, Yeoman Rand,” she said in apology. “Here, take mine.”
She swiftly swapped their trays, leaving Janice with the delicious-smelling chicken.
“I’m sure I’ll see you around, Yeoman,” she told her, then turned and left, handing the ruined food on Janice’s tray absently to a culinary crewman who was cleaning empty tables.
Janice ate her chicken, and realised that she had just passed the latest in Starfleet’s unannounced tests. She was glad; she got the feeling that it was much better to have departing captain as a friend than an enemy.
Captain Pike was in a fabulous mood for the next three months, then an absolutely foul one for the month following his lover’s departure on the newly-refitted Farragut for her next mission. Janice weathered it with a smile plastered onto her face, even at the times when she felt like picking up the nearest historical model and smashing it down across his head. Sometime in the second month after the Farragut’s departure, Janice received through a rare real-time message from the absent captain.
“He’s on a call with Admiral Shen at the moment, captain,” Janice told her, fingers flying over her comm panel. “But that’s scheduled to end in a minute or two.”
“I’ll hang on,” the captain told her. “No telling when I can get the time for a live call again if I hang up now. How’s he been, Rand?”
“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?” Janice asked.
“Always,” the captain chuckled.
“Like a bear with a sore head,” Janice told her with feeling. “But nothing I can’t handle.”
The captain sighed. “Men,” she said, with mock-annoyance. “Always so emotional. Don’t accept any nonsense from him, Janice. Give Chris an inch and he’ll take a mile.”
“Understood,” Janice told her. A flashing light on her comm board notified her of the end of Pike’s call to the admiral. “I can patch you through now, captain.”
“Just a moment, Rand,” the captain told her, and Janice took her finger off the transfer switch. “It will get better. As soon as he can get aboard the Enterprise and start harassing the build engineers, he’ll miss me less. Just make sure that you keep feeding him a steady stream of information about the ship.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Rand said, a little confused.
“She’s my competition,” the captain sighed. “Not any real woman.”
“Oh, I don’t know, ma’am,” Janice said unexpectedly. “It seems fair. After all, Captain Pike has to compete with the Farragut.”
Hundreds of thousands of light years away, the dark haired woman smiled and stroked the desk she was sitting at affectionately.
“You know, Rand, you may just be right,” she laughed. “Patch me through the sore headed bear, and let’s see if I can cheer him up a little.”
“Yes ma’am,” Janice said happily, and pressed the button. About a minute after she had transferred the call, a button flashed on her desk indicating that Pike had put the privacy lock on his door and the comm line. Smiling, she left a message that she’d be in the Central Records Office, and left Pike to the ministrations of his lover from a million miles away.
Provided by website-hit-counters.com site.
Author: fringedweller
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Primarily Kirk/Rand, with background McCoy/Chapel and Pike/One and others, het and slash
Warnings: None
Length: 3996
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything recognisable in this fic and I’m not making any money from it.
Notes: Beta by seren_ccd
Summary: All her life Janice Rand had wanted one thing - to figure out just what she was supposed to do with herself. She drifted into Starfleet on a whim, and to her surprise, found a niche to fill. But being assigned to the Enterprise brings with it a challenge to her neat and ordered way of life, and Janice is unsure as to how much she's willing to let James T. Kirk affect her. But since when has love ever been easy? And will Janice let her heart stand in the way of her career?
Janice met Captain Christopher Pike on the worst day of her training. She was five weeks into her six week course and was doing a stint at the central records office when the entire computer system suddenly crashed, sending the room in an absolute panic. Blank screens refused to be coaxed into life no matter how many consoles were pulled apart, and technical support were as confused as anybody else about why suddenly nothing was working.
Requests were still coming in from all over the galaxy for information, from ships on active service in the far ranges of the beta quadrant, Starfleet stations on colony planets and facilities on Earth as well as Deep Space stations. The problem was that the administrators at the central records office had no way of accessing the information from their terminals, and personnel out in the black were getting impatient. Janice and six other trainees were sent to one of the auxiliary rooms to boot up the access terminals there. They were slower and outdated, but still reported as functional. The six of them were scrambling to funnel information back out into the data channels when a sharp and authoritarian voice rang out in the tiny, crowded room.
“Is it too much to hope for that you can actually give me the information that I want so I can do my damned job?”
A heavy hand slammed down on the counter that separated the anxious trainees from incomers to the room, and the stammering recruit standing behind it actually jumped back in alarm.
“Can I help you, captain?” Janice asked, moving over to the counter and gently edging the frightened recruit to a seated position at one of the access terminals. She made no apology for their state; she got the feeling that this man wouldn’t accept any excuses.
“I want the service records for potential candidates for First Officer for the new flagship,” the man told her shortly. “Except your department seems to have lost the record of Commander Spock. According to you, he doesn’t exist, which should come as a surprise to both him and his family on Vulcan!”
“I’ll get you the information you need, sir,” Janice promised and started typing furiously into the terminal next to her. Sure enough, the computer system reported that there was no Commander Spock registered in Starfleet. Janice risked a glance at the impatient officer, who was staring at her thoughtfully. Remembering what he had said, Janice ran a search for Vulcan officers, which also came back as negative. Annoyed, Janice slammed her hand against the side of the terminal.
“Problems, recruit?” he asked archly.
“No sir,” Janice lied, typing intently. Fine, if the computer didn’t want to play nicely, she didn’t have to either. Vulcans typically had long and complicated clan names, a fact that had stuck around due to her mandatory xenoculture classes. If she told the computer to scan and retrieve any Vulcan clan names in its databanks....There. Spock, S’chn T’gai. His career service record appeared on screen, and Janice immediately transferred it to the PADD being held by the impatient captain.
“There you are, sir. Commander Spock’s service record has now been sent to your PADD. Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?”
“No,” the man said. “As you were, recruit.”
“Yes sir,” Janice replied, saluting the man before returning to her station.
“He was horrible,” whispered the nervous recruit.
“He was annoyed,” Janice replied. “You’re going to have to get used to people snapping at you.”
“It’s not our fault we can’t do the job,” said the recruit sulkily. “The computers aren’t working.”
“The information was there,” Janice told him. “You just had to dig it out.”
The recruit pointedly turned his back on her. Janice rolled her eyes and went back to work. She was not in the habit of coddling idiots. The recruits manned the station for another three hours, during which another five officers came in for information that they couldn’t find from the computers, each of them snarling and barking orders. Once had made Janice think the situation was genuine, twice was a coincidence, but by the time the third officer came in, she was convinced that this was another test. Two of the other recruits had arrived at the same conclusion, so by the time the fourth allegedly irate officer stormed into the room, the team moved smoothly to locate the hidden information.
After their three hours was up, there was a general announcement informing everybody that the computer systems were now fully functional, and that all recruits should return to their designated duty stations. When each recruit got an individual message analysing their performance during the simulated computer crash, Janice was surprised to see that some of them actually looked shocked. Hadn’t they worked out that it was just another test?
She looked down at her data screen. “Professional, quick-thinking, calm under pressure,” it read. It was signed Christopher Pike, and a quick records check pulled up the picture of the angry captain that had been the first visitor to their little room. A new message flashed onto her screen, from Captain Pike, ordering her to his office at the end of her duty shift.
Janice closed it, not being given long to dwell on its significance before her team were allowed to go for their lunch break. Namara had been rhapsodising about her improving kitchen skills, so Janice dutifully went to try whatever her friend had been cooking up during her training session that morning.
Later, as ordered, Janice reported to the office of Captain Christopher Pike. A few minutes’ research over lunch (which was actually pretty good, Namara was definitely improving) had shown him to be an ex-starship captain that had requested a period of teaching at the Academy. He was slated to take command of the new flagship that was currently being built out in Iowa, but that was still several years away yet. Pike taught advanced tactical strategy, and Janice had absolutely no idea why he would need to see her, a recruit not yet qualified. Still, when an officer said jump, enlisted personnel asked how high, and whether he would like coffee on the way down.
The outer office, where she reported first, was empty. The desk where his yeoman should sit was vacant and looked unused. The door to his inner office was shut. Seeing no alternative, she knocked on the door herself.
“Come in!” yelled a familiar voice, and she stepped through the doors. Inside was chaos, utter chaos. Stacked on every surface were PADDS, old paper text books, replicas of ancient charts, models of ships both of the sea faring and space kind and other things that Janice didn’t have time to categorise before Captain Pike looked up and smiled at her.
“Ah, recruit, you’re on time. Perfect. Have a seat.”
He waved her towards the visitor’s chair that sat in front of his desk, but it was stacked so high with precarious piles of paper that Janice was scared to move them in case they fell.
“If it’s all the same to you sir, I think that maybe I should stand,” Janice told him, still holding her salute as she had been taught.
“Perhaps you’re right.” Pike frowned, looking at the chair properly. “At ease, recruit.”
Pike shifted some of the detritus around on his desk to reveal his information screen.
“I’m looking at your record, Rand,” he told her, skimming down the display. “It’s very good.”
“Thank you, sir,” Janice replied, still lost as to her place in this conversation.
“In fact, you’re the most promising recruit in the administrative stream,” he continued, with a slight frown on his face. “To be honest, you should have been transferred to the Academy for officer training, but it says here that you turned the transfer down. Can you tell me why, recruit?”
“I would prefer to be a yeoman, sir,” Janice replied. “Officer training isn’t part of my career path, sir.”
Pike looked at her carefully, and then nodded his head.
“Your choice, of course, Rand. And it’s not like you can’t change your mind later on.”
Internally, Janice knew that she would never want to change her mind. Officer training involved major decision making, and learning how to send people to their deaths, and that was something that she never wanted to do. Life as an organiser, working quietly in the background ensuring that everything ran smoothly, suited her just fine.
“Anyway,” Pike continued, “I suppose I should be grateful you chose this particular career path, because as you can probably see, I am in dire need of administrative help.”
Janice wisely kept her mouth shut. It looked like there had been an explosion in a library, one that had taken out a museum display at the same time. Pike nodded again, a small smile playing on his lips. She had obviously passed some kind of personal test of his.
“My last yeoman did decide to change his career path, and I’ve discovered that finding his replacement hasn’t been as easy I thought it would be. I’ve become a little behind on my organisation.”
Again, Janice said absolutely nothing and kept her face expressionless.
“So, you can imagine my joy when I came across you this morning during that training exercise. As soon as you finish your basic training, you’ll be assigned to me as my personal yeoman. Your first, and it has to be said, most Herculean task, will be to get my office into order in time for the start of the first teaching semester at the Academy.”
“Permission to speak, sir?” Janice asked.
“Go ahead,” Pike told her.
“Is there any chance I could start before the end of my training, sir?” Janice asked, looking around her. “I’m willing to use my downtime.”
“Are you that keen, Rand?” Pike asked, surprised.
“No sir, it’s just that I’m not sure I’ll be able to get the job done otherwise,” Janice said honestly.
Pike barked out a surprised laugh, and nodded.
“Agreed, recruit. You can have access to my office whenever you need to. The code for the door is Pike-Gamma-six. I’ll get security to add your voice and retinal prints to the locks.”
“Thank you, sir,” Janice told him, aware of the trust he was giving her based on a five minute meeting.
“Dismissed, recruit.”
Janice saluted again, and left the room. On the way out to the main corridor she stopped at the vacant yeoman’s desk and ran her hand down the smooth surface. Soon, it would be her desk. She frowned as she noticed dirt on her fingers, and made a mental note to bring some cleaning supplies with her next time. Dusting her hands clean, she left the room and went to find Namara to tell her the good news.
“Captain’s yeoman? Already? Jan, that has to be some kind of record!”
Namara threw her arms and tentacles around her and squeezed, before letting her go. They were in the bar that Maggie had recommended, having a celebratory drink. Janice had thought it best to be discreet about learning her posting; the rest of the class wouldn’t know until the end of the week. She had to tell Namara though, as she was bursting to tell somebody.
“I’m sure it’s not,” Janice said modestly.
“I’ll bet you anything you like that not many people get plucked out of basic training to be yeoman to a captain, let alone one as gorgeous as Pike!”
Janice rolled her eyes. “What he looks like has got nothing to do with it,” she told her friend archly.
“Of course not, the honour is the same no matter who the captain is,” Namara agreed. Then a sly look crept over her face and a tentacle snuck out and prodded Janice in the ribs. “It doesn’t hurt though, does it?”
“He’s not my type,” Janice said firmly, grabbing hold of the tentacle and waggling it, making Namara giggle. She was incredibly ticklish. “I prefer my men a little younger, and not as far up the chain of command.”
“But it’s so romantic,” protested Namara, laughing. “The handsome, older captain, the young, beautiful yeoman, thrown together for long hours working alone behind a locked door...”
“Shut up,” said Janice firmly. “Not going to happen, Namara.”
“There’s a reason so many romantic novels have been written about it, Jan,” Namara teased. “It’s perfect!”
“It’s a cliché,” Janice told her. “And completely unprofessional. I am not going to have an affair with my boss. End of story.”
“You’re no fun,” Namara told her, without heat.
“You can have an affair with him, if you like,” offered Janice, generously.
“No, I’m already juggling three.” Namara sighed. “I couldn’t possibly handle a fourth, no matter how attractive.”
“Three?” said Janice disbelievingly. “And you haven’t given me any of the details? Spill, woman! Tell me everything!”
The conversation shifted towards Namara’s deliciously complicated lovelife, and away from Janice’s promotion. Janice made sure that it stayed that way for the rest of the evening.
Janice spent the next two years serving as Captain Pike’s yeoman, and for the first time ever she felt completely satisfied with her life. She lived on base, sharing a room with another yeoman that worked in the central records office. Namara shipped out soon after completing her course as a Culinary Specialist. She was assigned to the Wollstonecraft where she soon reported to Janice that a Pictsie engineer known as Small Dave had taken her under his wing, courtesy of Maggie and Tara.
Working for Captain Pike was everything she hoped it would be. It had taken her three weeks of non-stop work to get his office and files sorted into an order that she could work with. He grumbled a little at the change to the system his previous yeoman had instilled, but Janice held firm and won the battle eventually. Now the basic system was in place, she could deal with the paperwork that came from his role as developer of the Enterprise and his teaching work without getting the two hopelessly confused. The historical models were displayed neatly on a storage unit that Janice had requisitioned for the outer office, and she had found an antique bookcase to house the even older books that Pike insisted on using.
Now when you went into his office you could actually see the floor, a fact that was remarked upon by a beautiful brunette who walked in unannounced one morning while Pike was giving her the daily orders regarding his correspondence.
The look on Pike’s face was that of stunned joy; Janice was already heading out of the room as he gave the order for her dismissal. Before the doors slid shut she saw him vault athletically over the desk and sweep the woman into his arms; Janice decided that discretion was definitely the better part of valour, and engaged the privacy lock on the inter-office comm system.
She left a message on the incoming comm unit that she would be out of the office until after lunch, and that in the case of emergency she could be found in the Central Records Office. She gathered her things and left.
She put in a morning’s work in the main administrative hub, choosing not to notice the curious stares of some of the other yeomen. It was odd for her to be there; her position as captain’s yeoman guaranteed her the privacy of her own office, a much-coveted perk that was the cause of not a little jealousy amongst other yeomen who had been qualified for longer than Janice, but were still part of the main administrative pool. The Senior Chief in charge of the shift said nothing when Janice arrived and requested a work area, but did approach her quietly when Janice stopped for a coffee break half way through the morning.
“You’re certainly good, Rand,” he said approvingly. “You’d be surprised how many yeomen aren’t as discreet as you in their first few years.”
“I’m sorry, sir?” Janice asked, frowning. “I’m not sure what you’re referring to.”
“The Farragut docked this morning, and Pike’s old Number One is captain. I understand that she paid him a visit this morning.”
“I left Captain Pike entertaining a guest,” Janice said warily.
“I bet he is.” The Chief chuckled. “The Farragut has been on a three year trip, this is the first time it’s been back to Earth since they got their orders. Three years is a long time for a couple to be apart.”
“I wouldn’t know anything about that, sir,” Janice said stiffly. She felt oddly possessive about Captain Pike’s privacy, and the Chief nodded approvingly.
“See that you don’t,” he advised. “Your captain’s private business is private. It’s your job to make sure it stays that way.”
“Understood, sir,” Janice nodded.
“The Farragut is here for three months before shipping off again,” the Senior Chief told her. “I’ll keep a desk available for you here, should you decide that you’d like a little company while you’re working.”
“Thank you, sir,” Janice said, blushing a little as the man winked at her and left her to enjoy her coffee in peace.
She stayed for a few hours more, checking the comm system in case there were any urgent matters that she had to attend to. Finding none, she left for her lunch and managed to find a small table in the back of the mess where she could enjoy her spaghetti.
She was halfway through the meal when the brunette woman from earlier that morning appeared with a tray of her own. Janice immediately stood to salute, and the woman kept her standing for a moment as she scrutinised her before she gave Janice the order to sit down and continue with her meal.
“I didn’t get chance to talk to you this morning, yeoman,” the older woman began, ignoring the fragrant chicken in front of her.
“No ma’am,” Janice replied slowly. “My duties called me to the Central Records Office for the morning.”
“A shame,” the captain replied. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Yeoman Rand. I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”
The captain stared at her intently. Her brown eyes were intelligent but wary, and Rand knew immediately why the captain had sought her out.
I wonder how many people think I’m having an affair with my boss she wondered, a little annoyed at the archaic standards people seemed to judge her by.
“Thank you, ma’am,” she said, keeping her feelings to herself and assuming a bland but pleasant smile. She picked up her glass and took a drink while the other woman continued to stare at her.
“Relax, yeoman, I don’t think you’re sleeping with my man.”
Janice choked, and ended up spitting the contents of her drink over her half-finished meal and the woman sitting opposite her.
“Too blunt?” the captain offered, mopping herself with a pile of napkins that had been stacked on the side of her tray.
“A little,” Janice admitted, taking some of the proffered napkins to clean herself and the table.
“I just thought you’d appreciate a little plain talking,” the captain said.
Janice smiled. “I do,” she admitted. “But it’s a little hard when you’re dealing with a superior officer, ma’am.
“Understood,” the older woman said. “But right now, try and put that to the back of your head and speak honestly. That’s an order.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Janice said automatically. “I’m really not attracted to Captain Pike,” she added.
“A fact I’m glad of,” the captain told her. “Three years is a long time when a beautiful young blonde is at your lover’s beck and call.”
“Surely Captain Pike has told you that we have a strictly professional relationship?” questioned Janice, taking advantage of the order to speak honestly.
“Of course he has,” replied the older woman. “I got a comm message that said, and I quote, ‘I finally found someone who can deal with my mess. She’s half my age, blonde and gorgeous, but don’t worry, honey, she wouldn’t look at me twice.’”
Janice blushed, and her dining companion laughed.
“He’s teasing, of course,” the captain said fondly. “But I just didn’t want any stupidity to come between us. I’m going to be away for a long time, and having you know about me and Chris could be helpful when it comes to scheduling comm time and leave arrangements.”
“I’ll be discreet, ma’am,” Janice promised.
“I know you will,” the other woman said, with only the slightest hint of menace in her tone. “Chris trusts you, and I trust him. Ergo, I trust you.”
The woman pushed back her chair and smiled. Her meal was untouched.
“I’m sorry I ruined your meal, Yeoman Rand,” she said in apology. “Here, take mine.”
She swiftly swapped their trays, leaving Janice with the delicious-smelling chicken.
“I’m sure I’ll see you around, Yeoman,” she told her, then turned and left, handing the ruined food on Janice’s tray absently to a culinary crewman who was cleaning empty tables.
Janice ate her chicken, and realised that she had just passed the latest in Starfleet’s unannounced tests. She was glad; she got the feeling that it was much better to have departing captain as a friend than an enemy.
Captain Pike was in a fabulous mood for the next three months, then an absolutely foul one for the month following his lover’s departure on the newly-refitted Farragut for her next mission. Janice weathered it with a smile plastered onto her face, even at the times when she felt like picking up the nearest historical model and smashing it down across his head. Sometime in the second month after the Farragut’s departure, Janice received through a rare real-time message from the absent captain.
“He’s on a call with Admiral Shen at the moment, captain,” Janice told her, fingers flying over her comm panel. “But that’s scheduled to end in a minute or two.”
“I’ll hang on,” the captain told her. “No telling when I can get the time for a live call again if I hang up now. How’s he been, Rand?”
“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?” Janice asked.
“Always,” the captain chuckled.
“Like a bear with a sore head,” Janice told her with feeling. “But nothing I can’t handle.”
The captain sighed. “Men,” she said, with mock-annoyance. “Always so emotional. Don’t accept any nonsense from him, Janice. Give Chris an inch and he’ll take a mile.”
“Understood,” Janice told her. A flashing light on her comm board notified her of the end of Pike’s call to the admiral. “I can patch you through now, captain.”
“Just a moment, Rand,” the captain told her, and Janice took her finger off the transfer switch. “It will get better. As soon as he can get aboard the Enterprise and start harassing the build engineers, he’ll miss me less. Just make sure that you keep feeding him a steady stream of information about the ship.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Rand said, a little confused.
“She’s my competition,” the captain sighed. “Not any real woman.”
“Oh, I don’t know, ma’am,” Janice said unexpectedly. “It seems fair. After all, Captain Pike has to compete with the Farragut.”
Hundreds of thousands of light years away, the dark haired woman smiled and stroked the desk she was sitting at affectionately.
“You know, Rand, you may just be right,” she laughed. “Patch me through the sore headed bear, and let’s see if I can cheer him up a little.”
“Yes ma’am,” Janice said happily, and pressed the button. About a minute after she had transferred the call, a button flashed on her desk indicating that Pike had put the privacy lock on his door and the comm line. Smiling, she left a message that she’d be in the Central Records Office, and left Pike to the ministrations of his lover from a million miles away.
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