<USS Avalon> "Not Such A Living Hell After All"

"Not Such A Living Hell After All" 
By: Ensns; Josh Garrity and Annabelle Chase
 
It wasn't exactly a typical setting for a first date, or any kind of date,  
not that this was a date of course. She just wanted the chance to know him, to  
be friends with him. She selected the setting on purpose, knowing that he'd 
feel  more at ease here. He always seemed to be in his element in the shuttle 
shop at  the academy. If he weren't in class, hiding behind his studies, or 
just plan  hiding, he could be found working on the shuttles. 
feel more at ease here.  He always seemed to be in his element in the shuttle 
shop at the academy. If he  weren't in class, hiding behind his studies, or 
just plan hiding, he could be  found working on the shuttles. Annabelle sat on 
the bench outside the shuttle  hanger, her jean clad leg bouncing nervously. 
It was a beautiful midsummer  afternoon, warm and humid, more small touches to 
make Josh feel more relaxed.  Annabelle sat there and watched the shuttles and 
flyers over the bay and  wondered if Josh was even going to show. 
 
Josh approached the holodeck nervously, still questioning whether or not he  
should be there. Remembering Mac's threat, though, he entered and froze, eyes  
wide with wonder, in spite of the over brightness of the sun. He smiled,  
surprised how warm it was, almost comfortable as he walked toward the hanger.  
That's when he spotted her. He stopped a moment, then forced himself to  
continue. He approached her silently, trying to remind himself to breathe,  
forcing 
himself not to bolt into the hanger. What was he doing? He asked  himself. What 
had made him think he could do this?
 
As soon as she saw him her face lit up. Annabelle stood quickly but fought  
the urge to step towards him. She'd seen first had what happens when you 
startle  Josh. "I wasn't sure you'd come." She said as she shifted her weight 
from 
one  foot to the other. 
 
Josh  blushed furiously. Finally, he forced himself to answer  honestly, 
"Neither was I"
 
His reply really didn't surprise her, which made his appearance even more  
delightful. A slow smile spread across Annabelle's face. "I'm glad you came. I  
hope you don't mind the setting. There's a new shuttle design and I thought we 
 could have a look." 
 
Josh's eyes lit up, and he smiled as he nodded, looking longingly at the  
shuttle hanger.
 
Annabelle couldn't recall ever seeing Josh smile before. She thought she  had 
once when the Commodore had asked Josh, who was only a first year at the  
time, if he'd give a the Nova flyers a once over before the team started it's  
yearly try outs, but she'd been on the other side of the hanger can couldn't  
have really been sure with all those brown curls in the way. This time however  
she was sure she'd seen him smile. It was a very pretty smile. "Well? What are 
 you waiting for? The hanger isn't going to come to us." She teased as she  
returned the smile. 
 
He almost laughed at that as he took long strides into the hanger. His  
breath caught in his throat as he gazed upon what had to be the most beautiful  
sight known to man. A sixteen passenger shuttle, full quarters, dual navigation 
 
sensor arrays, triple shielded warp core and nacelles...he'd read about her in 
 all the journals, seen holovids, but hadn't gotten close to one yet.
 
Annabelle laughed at the look one Josh's face. He looked just like a child  
looking at a toy in a store window that they just had to have. It was such an  
innocent look and it's purity suddenly made Annabelle blush. She wondered what 
 he must have felt and looked like each time he'd found one of her little  
markers. After a moment of not knowing what to say or do, Annabelle finally  
cleared her throat. "The shield matrix on this one won't stay aligned. Tools  
and 
 equipment are just were they were during classes." 
 
It was all Josh could do not to run to the shuttle, though he still all but  
flew as his long legs carried him swiftly there. He leapt aboard her and  
immediately began the diagnostic that would tell him what he needed to know,  
powering the shields up and listening carefully to the sounds most didn't even  
hear...the sounds that would tell him how to make her whole.
 
"You know, Josh. I wasn't sure you'd remember me." Annabelle said as she  
boarded the shuttle behind him. "I didn't think you noticed to many people back 
 
at the academy." 
 
"I noticed," he admitted quietly as he deftly input sequence after sequence  
on the diagnostics panel. The truth was, he noticed most everyone. It was part 
 of how he'd learned to survive. Pay attention, notice, but don't get 
noticed.  The echo of a voice he couldn't place reminded him yet again to stay 
down. 
Be  invisible. He blinked at the sound and listened closer to the shuttle, 
then  smiled yet again as he corrected the imbalance in the matrix.
 
"Then you must be good at noticing without calling attention to yourself."  
She watched the way he worked the controls of the shuttle just like she use to  
and found that his gentleness still amazed her, but it was different now. She 
 was no longer seeing the shy boy she'd shared classes with, his movements no 
 longer simple and 'awfully soft for a boy', and Annabelle found herself 
having  to shake her mind clear of the new thoughts. "You'd been damn good on  
Marksbury's team skill wise but I can't see you doing the whole covert ops  
thing." 
 
Josh blushed slightly and shook his head. He couldn't see himself doing  that 
either, though he did have a tool or two they might find useful. If it  
weren't for the fact he wasn't supposed to have them. He thought about the  
decoder 
chip prototype they'd taken from him at the academy and wondered what  they'd 
do if they knew he'd improved upon it. Finally, he answered. "Me  either."
 
Annabelle was amazed. She was fairly sure he was getting close to saying  
more in one night then he had the whole fours years they were at the academy.  
"So aside from your trips to the turbo lifts, how's the adjustment to ship  
life 
 been for you? I kinda miss being under a shuttle, covered in goo and  grease 
myself. Not much call for that kinda stuff here." Annabelle nearly  laughed 
at herself. The brash young woman who'd had the guts to leave sex toys  in the 
turbo lifts had been reduced to shy small talk, and all because of a shy  
young man who could cause any girl to crumble with the  bat of his eyes. 
 
Josh blushed furiously at the mention of the lifts and wasn't sure how to  
answer that. After a moment he gave a noncommittal shrug and began running a  
system wide diagnostic to make sure the problem was really solved. He gave the  
slightest glance toward her, raising his brow inquisitively. Hoping she'd  
continue talking, he turned his eyes back to the screen, though his attention  
remained hers.
 
"Anything I can do to help?" Annabelle asked as she moved towards the aft  
controls. She quickly read over what he was doing and brought up a visual of 
the 
 shuttle. "These larger shuttles are so much better then those cramped type 
twos.  There a lot more fun to play with too." She smiled over her shoulder at 
him and  then she laughed. "Do you remember the week it took our team to fix 
that type  nine that the senior class trashed during hell week?"
 
Josh rolled his eyes. He remembered. Silently laughing, he shook his head,  
remembering also that it wouldn't have taken half so long if two of the still  
drunk seniors hadn't insisted on trying to help with the repairs.
 
"Don't suppose we'll see anything like that out here." Why hadn't she made  
more of an effort back then with him? Smiling, Annabelle went back to teasing,  
she wasn't good at small talk. "You do know that back then you were the  
Commodore's golden boy and with good reason. You made the profs look stupid." 
 
He looked at her, his expression one of surprise and no small degree of  
confusion. He wasn't sure exactly what all that meant, but it didn't sound like 
 a 
good thing. He was pretty sure that making the professors look stupid was  
frowned on. Wasn't it?
 
Annabelle tried really hard not to laugh. "Don't look so shocked or  worried, 
Josh. A professor worth his or her Ph.D. thrives on students who excel.  It's 
their job to train and teach the best and the brightest.. They get off on  
having a student like you.. It's the other students you have to worry about.  
Some of them would stab you in the back with a spanner of they could, but the  
ones like them are small minded. I thought you were amazing." Annabelle blushed 
 and turned quickly, hiding her face behind an open panel. 
 
Josh blushed furiously, too, and turned his gaze back to the panels he was  
working on. After a moment he completed the task and indicated she should 
buckle  into at navigations. He seated himself at the helm and began the 
preflight  
check.
 
Taking her place at navigations, Annabelle smirked as brought the system  
fully on line. "Where too, Captain?" She asked. She couldn't help herself. She  
liked the color in Josh's pale cheeks when he blushed. 
 
Josh resisted the urge to just point out the heading he'd already entered,  
knowing full well that wasn't protocol. Still, he found himself smiling as he  
quoted one of the great captains they'd studied and answered, only just 
audibly  "that-a-way."
 
Annabelle looked out the front viewer and smiled. âGolden Gate, nice  
choice.â
 The shuttle lifted off the ground with ease and sailed out of the  hanger. 
There was just something about the feel of shuttle or flyer taking off  that 
made Annabelle feel weak in the knees in a good way. âBring the shield  
matrix 
on line.â
 
Josh grinned broadly as he end-over-ended the shuttle up and over the  
bridge, then barrel rolled left over the ocean. He hadn't flown in so long. 
He'd  
forgotten how much he loved it.
 
This was new. She and Josh had never flown together since they would both  
normally test fly at the same time. "Why on Earth weren't you on Nova? Oh wait  
never mine I forgot.. There but not there." Annabelle laughed as Josh flew the 
 shuttle. "All systems working above standard perimeters. Guess next time 
we'll  have to program something harder. Or," Annabelle smiled as she turned to 
look at  Josh. "Have you heard talk of some kind of model building race thing?" 
 
Josh shook his head. He hadn't heard of anything like that. He glanced at  
her curiously, waiting for her to go on.
 
"I've heard people talking in the mess hall and in the tubes about this  
race. People enter ship models they've built. Some enter whole fleets." She  
explained. 
 
For a moment Josh's eyes lit up as he thought of the specs he'd so  carefully 
drawn out a hundred times finally being used. It lasted only a moment,  
though. Competitions meant people. Crowds. Questions. Attention. All things he  
knew well enough to avoid. With a sigh, he put the ship through her paces with 
a  
few last basic maneuvers then turned her back toward the hanger.
 
She saw the flicker light up and then dim in a matter of a few seconds.  
Working on an entry would be a perfect way to spend time with him and get to  
know 
him. She had to think fast. "We could work on it as a team, enter as a  team. 
I could go to the actual competition and feed you a live visual." 
 
Josh thought a moment, then shook his head. He had his reasons for keeping  
his name out of things like that. Reasons he didn't dare try explaining to  her.
 
She wasn't having any luck and Annabelle found herself biting the inside of  
her cheek as she thought about how to get him to agree. Suddenly she 
remembered  the final quad projects. Josh's quad had used one of his ideas and 
he'd 
done  most of the work but took none of the credit. "We can enter as a team but 
leave  your name out of it." 
 
Josh sat up straighter in the seat, as the light in his eyes rekindled.  They 
could do that. They could definitely do that. He gave a barely perceptible  
nod, a ghost of a smile touching his lips as he brushed his unruly curls back  
from his eyes, then loop-the-looped back over the bridge and cannoned back 
into  the hanger. He glanced at her and nodded again. "We can do that," He 
agreed 
 quietly, then blushing, looked away quickly again.
 
A  very bright smile lit up Annabelle's face. "Great. So, maybe we can  talk 
about it more over coffee after our shifts sometime this week?" 
 
Josh nodded slightly and was about to respond when the red alert klaxon  
sounded. Shelving whatever he'd been about to say, he called, "computer end  
program." and ran for the exit, hoping she'd understand. Duty called.
 
Josh nodded slightly and was about to respond when the red alert klaxon  
sounded. Over his comm came, "Sierra to Engineering, please have a team sent to 
 
deck thirteen. We need their help in deactivating the field around our  
mysterious packages." Shelving whatever he'd been about to say, he called,  
"computer 
end program." and ran for the exit, hoping she'd understand. Duty  called.

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