<USS Avalon> "Choices Then, Choices Now"

"Choices Then, Choices  Now" 
feat. Ensign Delaney Scott and Marine Captain Adrian  Phillips   


Laney had been so stunned that  Captain Skyler's orders had so closely 
mirrored her own wishes, she was a second  behind Adrian Phillips as he headed 
toward her shuttle. She had to jog a few  steps to catch up, walking beside him 
in 
silence until they reached the  Einin, where she led the marine to the rear 
and keyed open the hatch,  allowing him to enter first.

Stowing his gear inside the shuttle,  Adrian looked over at Laney. "Well 
then, ma'am, are we ready for an exciting  trip?" he said with a wink as he 
headed 
into the  cockpit and sat down in  the co-pilot seat. 

More like exciting and terrifying, she  amended silently as she closed the 
hatch, thinking of the fact that she would,  for all intents and purposes, be 
alone for the duration of this mission with a  man she knew next to nothing 
about, yet had beyond all comprehension found  herself incredibly attracted to. 
The unexpectedness of the emotions she found  herself dealing with since 
meeting 
Adrian Phillips had thrown her off balance.  She was unsettled by the 
attraction, when she'd  never really given much  thought to relationships 
before. 

Why now - when she knew it was  virtually impossible for her to get involved 
with anyone, considering what she  was? 

Following him into the cockpit, she was again stunned  when she saw that  he 
had taken what was commonly held to be the co-pilot's  seat on a Delta-class - 
to the left and behind the pilot. "You're not  gonna fly, Captain?" Laney 
found herself asking. 

Adrian looked  back to see his companion still standing on the threshold 
between the rear  compartment and the cockpit. "As I understand it, Ensign, 
this 
is your ship. In  here, you're the captain. So you get to fly." 

His comment  had started out serious, but the last he said with a grin meant 
to disarm. It  worked to an extent, motivating Laney to slowly walk past him 
and down into the  lowered flight control section, where she settled herself 
into the pilot's seat  in silence. His casual demeanor thus far - And that 
boyish  grin that's  just so damn cute! she thought - had brought butterflies 
to 
her stomach, and  they were fluttering about more and more with every ounce of 
charm he directed  her way. 

"Um, can you start the preflight  checks for me? I  need to send a quick memo 
to my fellow deck officer to let him know he needs to  come down and power 
down the Lancelot  since we're not using him."  

"Him?" Adrian asked. 

Laney nodded, looking back  quickly before returning her attention to her 
console and bringing it to life.  "Yes, sir. Never understood why ships have 
been 
referred to as 'she' even when  they're named after men. I made it a personal 
policy back when I first entered  the service that I wouldn't do that. For 
the most part, names are  gender-specific, and as such, I refer to each one 
according to the gender of  it's name." 

Back when she first entered the service? Adrian  mused, wondering what she 
had meant by that comment. Surely Ensign Scott had  only signed up in the last 
few years - after all, it made sense considering her  rank and age, or at 
least, her apparent age. Not that he thought she looked  older than she should, 
of 
course, but upon first sight he had immediately pegged  her at mid- to 
late-twenties. 

Shrugging it off (but filing his  curiosity away for later exploration), 
Adrian simply said, "Makes sense to me.  And I'll be glad to do the preflight 
for 
you so you can make sure the  Lancelot's taken care of." 

"Thank you," she replied, adding  a quick "Sir" as she linked the shuttle's 
comm system with that of the  Avalon and sent Farraday a text message about 
taking care of the  Lancelot. That done, she set about powering up Einin's 
impulse  engines. 

Adrian had just informed her that Einin was ready  to go when they heard 
Captain Skyler's voice over the intercom. "Attention  all shuttles: We have 
been 
cleared for departure and will be leaving shortly.  Let's head to the ship, do 
what we have to do, and return home."  

Laney saw through the main window that Farraday had miraculously  made it 
into the bay to operate the door controls. Even though she'd programmed  
Avalon-C's central computer to handle the task, she was glad to have the  
responsibility taken on by a living person. Besides, it was standard policy to  
have a 
deck officer perform those procedures from the control room or a  stand-alone 
console on the shuttle deck. With her going on the mission, she  couldn't 
afford 
to waste the time running from the console or control room to  the Einin, 
which was why she'd programmed the computer to do it for  her.

She felt better having Farraday's hands at the  controls.

Elijah Farraday waved a signal to her as the bay door  opened and  first the 
Arthur,  then the Merlin, flew out  through the forcefield and into space. He 
was letting her know that he'd gotten  her message about the Lancelot. 

Laney swallowed as she  eased  Einin through the barrier. Now she was alone 
with  Captain Phillips. The realization made her nervous. She wasn't sure if 
they were  supposed to talk or not, or even what they would talk about. She'd 
never  not known what to say to anyone, and that upset her internal balance 
even 
 further. The whole business of being unsure of herself around this guy was  
maddening in a way. That added anger at herself to the excitement and terror,  
and that  made her feel foolish. 

For goodness'  sake, Delaney, get a grip! You are being an idiot - he is just 
 a man. 

Setting the coordinates for the Avalon-B,  Laney engaged the autopilot and 
sat back. Closing her eyes, she drew in a deep,  steadying breath, inhaling 
slowly through her nose. She held it for five seconds  before just as slowly 
releasing the air through her partially opened lips.  Knowing that a 
relationship 
of a romantic nature was out of the question, she  set about pursuing the one 
thing she knew she could  have with  Adrian Phillips - 

- friendship. 

Turning in her seat,  she looked up at him and asked, "Captain, what do you 
think you and I will be  doing onboard the B?"

Adrian considered her question for a moment.  "I think you and I ought to 
recover all the hand weapons left behind. Unless you  have personal items to 
collect first?"

Certainly not, she  mused. Back when the B had shut down, she was still in 
prison.  

"No, sir. I didn't come on until Izar. Anything else we should go  after?"

"As I understand it, our priority is to get in and get out  as quickly as 
possible. Personal items and sensitive equipment only. Anything  not absolutely 
essential, like padds and whatnot, I assume we're leaving behind  to be picked 
up by a cleaning crew once we tow  B to the nearest starbase."  

Laney knew it was for the best, and nodded her agreement.  "So...weapons 
first, deck by deck?"

Adrian nodded. "Starting with  the bridge. I know each  service  room on a 
starship has hidden  compartments where weapons can be held in case of 
emergency. Rifles are  restricted to the main security storage locker. If we 
keep to 
the main areas  where weapons are most likely to be stored, we ought to make 
fairly quick work  of it." 

"If you like, sir, I can download a schematic of the B  onto a tricorder or 
padd to take with us, so we know exactly where to go," Laney  suggested. 

The marine captain grinned. "Then we'll be done in no  time," he said. "I 
like the way you think, Delaney." 

Laney could  feel her cheeks coloring, and  rose quickly, moving past him 
toward the  rear. 

"Ensign, something wrong?" Adrian asked. 

"Uh,  no, sir. Just going to get a padd. I'll, uh, have to replicate one 
since I don't  have any on board." 

Adrian nodded, watching her go in silence.  He wasn't remiss to the increase 
in tension coming from her, and his gut told  him he was the cause. But why? 
What had he said or done to make her  so...nervous? So far as he could tell, 
he'd been nothing but professional.  

Well...there were  a couple of times he'd turned on  the charm on purpose, he 
mused with a smile. It was difficult not to. Just as it  was difficult not to 
notice how pretty she was - an idiot with half a brain  would notice. Well, 
whatever it was, he had to make it right with her if they  were going to work 
together. 

He stood and started back toward the  rear compartment, starting through the 
doorway as she was coming up the few  steps from the back, a freshly 
replicated padd in hand. His sudden appearance  elicited a gasp, and she 
inadvertently 
drew the padd up to her chest.  

Adrian stopped, keeping the two or three feet of distance between  them. "I'm 
sorry. I didn't mean to startle you," he apologized.  

Laney swallowed visibly. "Um, don't worry about it. No harm, no  foul." 

Stepping back to allow her room to pass, Adrian remained  silent as she came 
through the small passage and brushed past him. He watched,  saying nothing, 
as she settled back into the pilot's seat and thumbed on the  padd, then 
accessed the shuttle's computer, presumably to get the weapons'  storage 
locations 
of the Avalon-B. 

She's a bit tense,  Adrian thought to himself as he walked over behind her. 
Don't know what's  gotten her all riled up, I'm just exploring the options 
after all. He smiled  to himself as he stepped up behind her seat and placed a 
hand on it, looking  over at her. "You doing alright Ms. Scott?" Adrian asked 
with a smile on his  face. "Seems to me like you're a bit tense and I'm not 
sure 
why. Hope its not me  or anything," he added with a wink.

Oh man. She'd so been  hoping he  hadn't noticed. Well, ya got that one 
wrong, didn't you? she chastised  herself. How was she going to do this? Spend 
hours alone with him traipsing  around an empty starship? 

Plastering a smile on her face, she  swiveled her chair around and looked up, 
doing her best to meet his gaze. "I'm  not tense at all. Really. Well, I 
guess I am nervous about this mission - I  didn't expect to be picked for an 
away  
team so soon." 

Adrian  smiled, both inwardly and outwardly. Well, that's a valid enough 
claim in my  book - could be more, but then again, I don't really know her that 
much yet, he pondered to himself as his hands turned her chair slightly around 
again  and gently found their way to her shoulders, starting a smooth massage. 
"Relax  then. Captain Skyler seems to be capable enough in my mind that she's 
got trust  in you for this assignment, if anything then to keep me from going 
hog-wild." He  paused for a moment and continued. "You seem to me like a fine 
officer and I  have no doubts that she feels the same, otherwise you probably 
wouldn't be on  this crew either." 

Laney felt his hands on her shoulders and her eyes  widened in startled 
surprise. She didn't know what had compelled him to start  rubbing her 
shoulders, 
but she had to admit he had strong hands, and the tension  in her neck and 
shoulders was beginning to melt away.

Besides, he was  right. She had to relax. If she continued to display this 
kind of nervous  tension around him, it was bound to get noticed by others 
eventually.  

Patting his left hand, she sat forward, breaking the contact. Turning to  
look back at him, Laney said, "Thanks. You're right, too. The captain chose me  
because she knows I can do a good job. And I know that too. Maybe I just needed 
 to hear someone else say it." 

"Sometimes that's all we need, a second  opinion if you would." He smiled as 
he sat down again at his seat and went over  the schematics of the Avalon-B. 
We're almost there now, lets see if we  can't close the deal, his mind said 
cooly to itself. 

Laney shook her  head as she returned her attention back to her console. If 
she wasn't mistaken -  and the fact that he'd rubbed her shoulders seemed like 
good enough proof -  Captain Phillips was flirting with her! She couldn't help 
but smile, thinking  that perhaps he was attracted to her as well.

On the other hand, what  good was a mutual attraction when they could do 
nothing about it? At least, she  couldn't. There were restrictions against her 
from the Commander-in-Chief of  Starfleet that she was not, under any 
circumstances, to reveal her true nature  to anyone. But there was no way she 
could ever 
have a relationship, with Adrian  or anyone else, and not  tell the truth. 

Which was really  the problem, wasn't it? She would want  to be totally 
honest, but  she wouldn't be able to because of orders. And even if she could 
trust 
him to  keep the secret, she was afraid that telling the truth would scare 
him away.  

Laney sighed. For the first time, she began to question her decision to  go 
to the Changeling homeworld. While she had needed to know the truth, she  
really didn't like how much more complicated that choice had made her  life.

Silence was always a curious thing to Adrian, but  usually silence was during 
one of two things. Either someone was about to get  killed, or it was an 
awkward moment. Since nobody was being hunted or being  ambushed at this point, 
Adrian just smiled to himself and figured that it was  time to break any 
awkwardness that may or may not have been there. 

"So,  how have you enjoyed the Avalon so for?" he asked, rather innocently,  
knowing where his thought process was headed. 

"Uh, just fine,"  Laney replied. "I don't really know anyone beyond Chief 
Petty Officer Farraday,  my one and only subordinate. Oh, and we have a 
reporter 
from the FNN on board -  I met him too." 

Laney cocked her head to the side, realizing  something. Most of the people 
she'd gotten to know since joining the  Avalon crew were men, those being 
Admiral Ketchum, Adrian, Elijah and the  reporter. The only females she'd made 
even 
a passing acquaintance with were a  yeoman and Captain Skyler. 

At that, she couldn't help but chuckle, and  think, Man, do I need to get out 
more. 

Leaning back in his seat,  Adrian smiled to himself as he spoke again. "Ah, 
well sounds like you need to go  exploring a bit. What say you and I grab some 
food when we get back, walk about  the ship a bit, meet some people and have a 
good time?" And there's the  offer, laid out like a silver platter, he 
thought as he watched Laney for a  reaction. 

Laney's head jerked up, and she spun in the seat again. "Did  you just ask me 
out?" she asked him incredulously, not quite believing what she  had heard. 

"Maybe," Phillips said with another boyish grin. "Or maybe I'm just offering, 
as a friend, to take you out and introduce you to some  folks." He leaned 
back once again in his seat and smiled. This was getting  better and better by 
the moment. 

"Which would you prefer?" 

Oh  God, he expected her to answer that?! Duh, of course he did - he'd asked, 
hadn't  he? 

So what was her answer? Well, Laney knew what she  wanted  to say, but did 
she dare? She could certainly use another  friend, but she also knew that what 
she really wanted from Adrian was more than  that, if they could have more. 
What was the point in denying it? He was tall,  handsome, and gainfully 
employed 
- the three strongest plusses for any man. And  since it appeared that the 
feeling was mutual... 

But damn! What about  the hush order? If she let herself get involved with 
Phillips, if she acted on  her feelings, Laney just knew that she would fall 
for 
him. Hard. And if that  happened, she knew that she would want to tell him 
the truth. It occurred to her  that what scared her was not falling for him - 
it 
was putting her heart on the  line. Because in telling the truth she would be 
doing that. What she feared the  most was being rejected because of what she 
was. That he would hate  her.

Just like her father did. 

Adrian's eyebrows rose - he  appeared to still be waiting for a response. 
Taking a good, long look into his  dark brown eyes, searching for a reason to 
take a chance, Laney made her  choice.

"Friends would be great, Captain. More would be  better."

He smiled. "That's perfectly fine by me, Ms. Scott. We'll just  play it by 
ear and see what happens." He looked back over his console and nodded  to 
himself. "We're almost at the Avalon-B, so for right now the formality  is 
fine. But 
afterwards, it's Adrian," he said with a grin. 

Laney nodded  mutely and, turning back to her console, began entering 
commands. She could feel  her face splitting into a wide, foolish grin as she 
thought,

Oh, for  the love of Earth... did I just agree to date him?   





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