The Fleet Admiral typed in the last of her report and let the small palm held computer slip from her fingers to the desk. It hit with a small clatter, breaking the quiet drone of the engines.
It had been hours and hours since she had eaten dinner. She was almost hungry again. But she just needed to be back in her quarters where she didn’t have to be anybody but herself.
She sighed and turned in her chair to look at the stars behind the glass. They were cold and lifeless to her now. Like they didn’t know her and she didn’t know them. Maybe she would have to use the holodeck more often. It was sure nice to look up at a sky that you’ve known all your life.
She made a note to ask Daemon for her two Lieutenant Generals at a later date. Squall had been right. She needed canine companionship. And they were the only ones available. She was sure she could have asked Hakate to borrow his summon dogs. But it just didn’t feel right. They needed to be told what was going on before they could react to anything.
But the Inu brothers, they were normally not far from the action. They knew what was happening all the time. And when they were near Lois could just relax.
And even that brought up some painful points. She should, by all rights and purposes, be a mother by now. She was 27 already, but she had yet to even find a mate.
Sure she had Squall, but he was human. She couldn’t expand the pack with him. She wasn’t even sure it would work physically.
Maybe that was why the stars didn’t reach out to her anymore. They probably thought she had abandoned her duty to her pack. But damn it, her crew was her pack now. She even had two cubs, Naomi and Marlene. They weren’t hers, not in the least, but their parents trusted her to raise them to be fine woman.
And even finding a mate isn’t as easy as one might think.
Although the Inu brothers were royalty and dogs, just like she was, to cross the bloodlines would put shame on all. Not that the dogs have any sense of style anyway. Word had it that the brothers were in love with each other.
And even being who she was she couldn’t confirm or deny those rumours. Every time she had been around the pair they were always at each other’s throats.
Either way she didn’t care about their personal lives. All Lois cared about at the moment was if they could keep up with her rolling gait.
Lois turned back around in her chair and picked up a few small palm held computers. Stacking them one on top of the others in an order she only knew.
She took a deep breath and then stood and walked from her ready room to the bridge. She took note that the night crew was already in place.
‘So it’s been longer then I thought.’
She stood there for a moment to take in the scene before her. The skill of the night crew was impressive, every thing was by the book, and everything was clean and perfect.
Too bad she was about to mess up that picture.
“Valentine,” The tall silver haired man stood to attention when his name was called. “This is tomorrows duty assignments. Make sure everybody on the crew gets a copy by oh eight hundred hours.”
“Yes ma’am,” he replied as he took the document from her.
“Lawliet,” She handed off the next palm computer. “That is a full report of the incident earlier.” She laid another beside it. “This is the recommendation for updating the lock out systems. And this,” she laid a third palm top computer beside the other two. “This is a list of thing I would like to be added to the systems.”
Lois step away, not even letting the raven-haired man time to respond.
“Kirk, take us to a higher orbit. I want to see a proper space sunrise in the morning.”
“Yes sir.”
“Elric,” Lois laid the last two palm top computers in front of a small dirty blonde boy. “Have these files transferred to the Andromeda.” She tapped one of the screens. “If they ask it’s tactical data. And this last one send to Master General Vassago Daemon, her eyes only. Have an uneventful night gentlemen.” She finished.
Walking out of the room she hoped that she hadn’t jinxed them in some way. She already knew that the Enterprise wouldn’t be able to do much if they were to be attacked again.
Lois eventually made it back to her quarters to see that the dishes had been done and that everything was set to rights again.
And that Squall was nowhere to be seen.
Not that it surprised her. She had told the man that if he didn’t want to stay he didn’t have to.
The wolf-woman took off her heels and let herself feel the plush carpet under her feet. Hours in those shoes was just murder. But they were part of the uniform. She guessed that now they were in space she could throw out formality and wear what she wanted. But she needed to set an example for the whole crew. The moment she started to relax was the moment her whole crew would.
Her coat was removed then and tossed onto a chair near the door, the leather garment thumping against the floor as it missed.
She shrugged and vowed to pick it up later. She was tired now and need to get into bed.
Lois undid the strap behind her neck and let them fall forward over her breasts. He hands followed the invisible lines where they had once sat until she was fingering the edge of her top.
Sighing she crossed her arms and pulled the red article of clothing from her body tossing towards, and missing again, the small basket just inside her bedroom door.
“Computer, play list three, volume level two.”
As the soft music floated around the room Lois made her way over to her sword. The poor blade hadn’t been oiled that night. Nor was it where it should have been. There were only a select few who could even lift the blade let alone wield it.
She ran her fingers over the nicked metal. Each and every mark on it a memory.
Lois ran some of the more favourable memories through her head as she went to the food replicator to get a small snack. “Large Chocolate Chip Cookie, warm.”
She hummed along with the music as she enjoyed her gooey cookie. Dancing when one song came on that she really enjoyed listening too.
“Computer, music off.” She said around her tongue as she licked the last of the chocolate from her fingertips.
She smiled and turned toward her bedroom, undoing the straps on her skirt, and letting them fall to gravity, before she started to unbutton it.
Once released from that last article of clothing she tossed it to the same place as her top.
Shivering in the cold she walked over to the bed and noticed a large lump in her bed.
Crawling in she snuggled in close to that warm body and let her tail wrap around it.
“Run with the stars wild one,” a deep voice said clouded with sleep.
“Let the moon be your guide free spirit,” she replied working herself closer to the warmth that was Squall before falling asleep.
-----x-----
Squall was in the small kitchenette the next morning. Coffee had been the first thing he had made. It had always been the first thing he did upon waking. He had learned long ago that it was safest to make the dark drink first.
Pouring two cups he waited for the inevitable. He could hear Lois from the other room yawn and stretch, followed by a rather large thump. Which was then followed by cursing in every language he knew and some he didn’t.
Lois appeared at the door to the room looking rather put upon. And her purple hair seemed to be pointing in every direction then it really should have. But the unholy mess was covering everything that needed to be covered. The Fleet Admiral had a habit of forgetting that she slept in the nude sometimes. But her long locks usually saved her from many embarrassing situations in the mornings.
She grumbled something and grabbed one of the coffee cups before stalking out of the main living area to her small office.
She returned a short moment later with a confused look on her face. “Squall have you …” She started to ask.
Squall just pointed to the small box sitting on the living room table.
“Oh, thanks.” She picked up the box and walked back into her office, only to return a few moments later.
“I’m going for a shower, you coming?”
“I had one already.” Squall replied as he finished chopping what he would need for breakfast.
Lois cursed early risers under her breath and walked out of the room into the bathroom.
When she returned Squall was just putting the finishing touches on breakfast. A towel wrapped around her was the only thing that saved their visitors from an eyeful.
She took one look at the three men sitting on her couch and raised and eyebrow. “Am I running that late this morning?”
“No sir. We came early in the hopes that Leonhart would feed us as well. But it seems our efforts were in vain.” A small brunette explained. Squall just rolled his eyes and laid the plates on the table.
“Well if you’ll excuse me. I am out of uniform.” Lois walked calmly away from the men. Water dripping from her hair and tail onto the carpet. Slamming her door behind her nearly taking the door off the hinges.
“Has she had her coffee yet,” a baritone voice asked.
“Only half a cup,” Squall sighed. “Auron, you of all people should have known to stay away from here until I have her fed.”
“Don’t remind me.” The older man growled. “I still have some of the scars from one rough morning.”
“I don’t get it,” the last man in the room said quietly.
The small brunette jumped up and pointed to Auron. “Yugi, he was the Fleet Admirals lover before Leonhart.” Jumping from foot to foot in excitement that he wasn’t the last to know something.
“Thank you Sora for pointing out the obvious.” Auron growled at the hyperactive young man.
Sora stopped and plopped back down where he was sitting.
“Should we go and them come back later?” Yugi asked in his usually quiet voice.
Both older men shook their heads.
“She knows you are here. And it will make things worse if you leave and she has to track you down.” Squall warned.
“And I don’t want to be running all over this damn ship to find you.” Lois said from the door to her bedroom.
She sat down at the table and took a bite of her breakfast. The food melted in her mouth making her visibly relax and slump backwards in her chair.
‘I have tamed the savage beast,’ Squall thought. ‘I just hope they don’t bring it out again.’
“I am not a savage beast.” Lois growled.
Squall had forgotten to lock down his thoughts again. He forgot she could read surface thoughts like people heard words. And he did tend to have diarrhoea of the mind like Reno had diarrhoea of the mouth.
“Now gentleman, what do you have to report?”
Sora stood up first. “We have all weapons back online, but we’ve severely damaged one of the aft torpedo launchers. I don’t know if it will stand up to any prolonged usage. We can also give you warp up to 5 if you need it. We will need to replace some of the di-lithium crystals before we attempt anything faster.”
“Very good.” Lois filed away that information for later.
Auron was next to report. “Security teams one and three reported an altercation in the bar last night. The parties involved were sent to the brig to sober up. Work on the system modifications is nearly done. We estimate some time near the noon hour.”
Auron twisted his hand around the jug he always carried with him. “Also Captain Lawliet and Commander Yagami would like a word with you and Vice Admiral Leonhart about the situation yesterday.”
“Very well. Tell them that we will attend to them at thirteen hundred hours.”
“There are no casualties to report at this time.” Yugi spoke up. His voice strong and steady now that he was working. “Ensign Nicol Amarfi suffered a serious injury. We would like to keep him in sickbay for a week or more depending on his progress. Rear Admiral Iruka Umino, Captain Genesis Rhapsodos, and Commander Roy Mustang all have serious, but not life threatening injuries and will not be able to report for duty for a few days. Lieutenant Harry Potter and Lieutenant Yzak Jule have both sustained head injuries. Until both men wake we have no idea on their condition. There were also a number of minor injuries that were treated and then released.”
“Do you have details on the serious injuries?”
“I do.” The young tri-coloured spiky haired man started. “Mr Umino has broken his arm in three places. One of the breaks ruptured the skin. Mr Rhapsodos and Mr Mustang had received third degree plasma burns when a conduit ruptured. Mr Amarfi requires surgery to remove a large piece of bulkhead that is lodged in his left side.
“All four men were brought in fully conscious, but Mr Amarfi lost consciousness due to blood loss shortly after arrival.”
“Have Tsunade make Nicol’s surgery a priority. I can’t afford to lose anybody else right now.” Lois stood from her chair. Food long finished. “Is there anything more?”
Squall nodded.
“Report Leonhart.”
“Young Wildman was here this morning. She requests extra power to the astrometrics laboratory. She requires the extra power to boost the scans for her mapping project.”
“Granted. Anything else?” The fleet Admiral looked from one face to the next. None indicated that they had anything further to report. “Dismissed.”
All four men started to leave the room.
“Leonhart, a word?”
The tall brunette paused and looked back as the other three left them alone.
Lois took a few steps forward and kissed him. “Thank you for breakfast.”
“You’re welcome.” Squall turned and left the room.
“Computer, unlock the Teleporter, voiceprint Alpha, Alpha, Delta. Run diagnostic and forward report to main engineering.”
“Teleportation systems unlocked. Diagnostic systems running. Full teleportation systems in 14 minutes.” The formless voice replied.
“Fleet Admiral Corbiere to Admiral Shikyo.”
“Shikyo here.” Her second in commands voice came over the speaker.
“Set course to Centurus Minor, warp 3. And inform the Andromeda that if they wish to tag along they will need to dock. Have helm hold position until confirmation.”
“Ey Sir.”
Lois left the comforts of her living room and sat down behind her desk. She got up again and walked to the food replicator and stared at it for a moment while she decided what she wanted.
“Chai tea, hot, one sugar, whipped cream and chocolate sprinkles.”
The drink magically appeared on the pad within.
Scooping the hot drink up she went back to her desk, sat down and began to read the reports.