Chapter Text
01.15.2412
Commander Chloe Beale leaned back in her chair with her feet up on her desk. While her duty shift was over, she had some reports to catch up reading. So, she decided to before she met Lieutenant Beca Mitchell for dinner.
“Commander,” Commander Aubrey Posen stood with her hands clasped behind her back at Chloe’s office door.
“Aubrey,” Chloe said with a smile. She was never one to be overly formal when it came to using her best friend’s rank. “What can I do for you?"
“I came to speak with you about your authorization on a personal matter,” Aubrey said stiffly. She stepped forward to hand the PADD to Chloe.
Chloe took the PADD in hand. She raised an eyebrow as she watched Aubrey shut the door before the first officer took a seat in one of the chairs before her desk. Once Aubrey was seated she started to read. “This is a request for me to give permission for you to start an intimate relationship with Stacie."
“It is,” Aubrey nodded. “As you are aware from your relationship with Lieutenant Mitchell, for Starfleet to not court marshal senior officers for engaging in intimate relationships among themselves, up to three criteria must be met."
“Any direct command of the two parties must be mitigated,” Chloe listed the easy one first while holding up a finger.
“Lt. Commander Conrad will now directly report to Captain Paris as chief engineering officer. I will have no direct authority over her role in engineering, only aid as she requests,” Aubrey supplied.
“The commanding officer of both must agree,” Chloe counted off on her fingers as she held up a second.
“Captain Paris has signed off after speaking with Lt. Commander Conrad and me. She believes there will be no noticeable reduction in performance for either of us,” Aubrey very nearly smiled as she spoke.
“And finally, if the two parties are different species, they need the chief medical officer - me in this case - to sign off,” Chloe was starting to see why Aubrey shut the door.
“As Lt. Commander Conrad is one quarter Romulan and I am formerly of the Borg, we meet that threshold.” Aubrey folded her hands in her lap as she spoke.
While most of the Borg technology was able to be removed after she was freed from the Collective she still bore some of their technology. The most visible was the ocular implant with a cortical node above her left eyebrow. The cortical node controlled and regulated the rest of her implants. On her left hand she had metal tubing from the tips of her fingers over the back of her hand and up to the middle of her forearm where the tubes dove under her skin.
“You and Stacie have seemed close lately,” Chloe leaned farther back in her chair to stretch her legs out before swinging them to the floor to sit up straight. Aubrey sat still as she spoke but with her Betazoid blood and natural gift of telepathy, Chloe could feel the swelling of emotions in her chest. Nervousness, fondness, and something else she thought might be bitterness over the situation and needing permission.
"I enjoy the Lt. Commander's company," Aubrey said.
“I’ve known you a very long time, Bree,” Chloe’s voice softened. “We’ve been best friends since our first year as cadets. You wouldn’t go to your commanding officer for permission to date if you just enjoyed her company.”
Aubrey drew in and let out a breath. “When I am with her I feel as though my difficulties at being ex-Borg are irrelevant. She allows me to feel human in a way that I have not since I was assimilated.” Her voice was a whisper as she looked down at her hands in her lap. “When I was disconnected from the Collective, I felt utterly alone. Years of having trillions of voices acting as one snatched away in a nanosecond. When I am with her, I feel as though we are a Collective of two. I no longer feel alone."
“Bree…” Chloe whispered. Her own emotions swelled too much to get a pure reading on Aubrey’s, but the look on her face told her all she needed to know.
“I am looked at like I am to be pitied so often,” Aubrey said as she lifted her head to look at Chloe’s black Betazoid eyes. “Fear, uncertainty, revulsion. Those are the looks I so often see. Even now,” Aubrey’s jaw tightened just slightly. “She looks at me as if I am good."
Chloe smiled before pushing herself up from her chair and moving around her desk. “Stand up. I’m going to give you a hug."
“Is it a requirement of you signing off on my request?” Aubrey quirked a brow.
“Absolutely,” Chloe laughed even as they both knew she was lying.
Aubrey stood, tugging slightly at her uniform top to make sure it laid perfectly. She opened her arms as Chloe stepped forward to hug her. She stiffened a moment before she relaxed just slightly. Chloe was one of the very few beings that she trusted in a moment of vulnerability.
“I have to ask you questions,” Chloe said as she rested her chin on Aubrey’s shoulder as she maintained the hug. “Nothing I don’t know the answer to already. But I have to cross the T’s and dot the I’s for the report I have to submit to the Captain."
“Very well,” Aubrey said as the hug broke. “Ask so you may write your report and submit it this evening. If possible."
“Plans tonight?” Chloe asked as she retook her seat.
“Yes,” Aubrey answered without further explanation.
/ /
Meanwhile, down in engineering, Stacie was in the middle of trying to figure out why there was a 2% drop in stability in a section of the ship’s shields. It was small enough that it likely wouldn’t be a catastrophic issue, but any drop was something to be worried about on a ship like the USS Barden.
“Why did your girlfriend put a voice lock on my girlfriend’s office door?”
Stacie looked up to see Beca in her office doorway. “She isn’t my girlfriend. Yet."
"Yet?" Beca questioned as she crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyebrows furled up, running into the ridges of her half Klingon forehead.
“Chloe has to sign off on it,” Stacie sat back in her chair, running her hand over her face. “Chief medical officer and all."
“Ah,” Beca pushed off the wall and headed deeper into the office before plopping down in a chair in front of Stacie’s desk. “Chlo and I had to deal with that bullshit too. Because half Klingons and half Betazoids are so rare,” She said as she rolled her eyes.
Stacie laughed before signing. “Ex-Borgs are rare. Aubrey’s like no one else I know.”
“Not many people have Borg tech put in them and live to tell the tale,” Beca nodded. “Even if she has a stick so far up her ass I wonder if she assimilated it as Borg. But you haven’t been so into someone in a long time."
“She’s an admiral’s daughter, Bec,” Stacie pointed out. “She was raised to be the perfect Starfleet officer. Her time with the Borg, it made some parts of her harder and tried to erase others."
“Chloe mentioned she has been relaxed more lately than she’s seen her since she came back to Starfleet,” Beca mentioned. “Though I’m not sure I can tell the difference."
“It’s how she holds her hands,” Stacie explained the easiest sign. “She puts them behind her back when she talks when she is stressed or wants to show her authority or she’s nervous. When she lets them hang by her sides, she’s usually more relaxed.”
“Good to know,” Beca nodded. “Anything else I should know about my girlfriend’s best friend and my best friend’s girlfriend?"
“She doesn’t hate you,” Stacie laughed. “Even if you think she does.”
“She totally hates me,” Beca said with a roll of her eyes. “She gets on me more than any other department head. She is always asking follow up questions on my reports. She is always giving me that damn eyebrow raise of hers." As chief security officer Beca had to have a lot of meetings with Aubrey. Too many in her opinion.
“That damn eyebrow raise gets me every time,” Stacie grinned as she leaned back in her seat. “But she doesn’t hate you. She just finds you frustrating. Klingons and ex-Borg are about as far apart on the communication scale as you can get."
“Klingons are great communicators,” Beca protested. “Chloe and I don’t have any problems at all."
“Chloe is also a telepath. She can feel your emotions. I’m pretty sure that is a cheat code,” Stacie said.
Beca just flipped Stacie off.
“Mature,” Stacie broke out in a laugh.
“I’ll try to be a little nicer, alright?” Beca held her hands up. “I want you to be happy. And if Chloe and I ever … you know … she’ll want Aubrey involved in the wedding."
“Already thinking about weddings?” Stacie raised an eyebrow.
“We’ve been together for two years. At some point it’s going to be a thing,” Beca shifted a little uncomfortably in her seat. “I want to. You know? But it makes me itchy thinking about it."
“Because of your parents?” Stacie asked.
“My parents, my maternal grandparents and most of my aunts and uncles. Mitchell’s don’t do very well at staying married,” Beca sighed. Because her father was a Klingon she took her mother's last name. “We’re great at getting married. We’re great at fucking up when we do. But we’re terrible at staying married and happy."
“You’re not the rest of your family,” Stacie pointed out.
Beca just signed. “So more about Aubrey?” She asked, trying to shift the subject.
“Believe it or not she has a great smile,” Stacie grinned.
“She smiles?” Beca asked.
“Not often. But when she does it’s like the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen,” Stacie nodded. “She is great at pool. Her ocular implant coupled with her ability to figure out angles before she takes a shot gives her a major advantage."
“You haven’t figured out a way to distract her like you usually do to the person you play pool against?” Beca questioned.
“We’ve been taking it slow,” Stacie explained. “So, me bending over the pocket in a low cut top would just leave me more frustrated.”
“Stacie Conrad is doing slow?” Beca all but giggled.
“I’m hoping Chloe signs off and files her report tonight, so I don’t have to take it any slower than Aubrey wants,” Stacie said. While her Romulan ancestry had been watered down by her human side; her ears were just as pointed. Right now the very tips were blushing a pale green.
Lt. Commander Conrad and Lieutenant Mitchell, report to Commander Beale’s office.
“That’s our call,” Stacie said when the sound of Aubrey’s voice came through the communicators on their chests.
/ /
Aubrey wasn’t one for PDA either before or after her time with the Borg. Walking side by side with Stacie toward the engineer’s quarters with their hands brushing against each other was about all she would consent to publicly. At least for now.
Stacie entered her code before the door swished open.
The first officer and department head had quarters that were nearly identical. A main living area with a large window with a sofa in front of it, a dining table large enough for six on one side of the window with a personal work space to the other side. A doorway to a large enough bedroom and bathroom with a tub as well as a shower. They even had their own replicator. Though Aubrey also had a Borg regeneration pod in her quarters.
When the door swished shut behind them they both looked at each other. Captain Paris had approved the report just minutes after Chloe submitted it. They were Starfleet legal.
“Hey,” Stacie said after a moment. “It’s just me.”
“You are many things, Lt. Commander but you are not just anything," Aubrey's lip quirked up slightly as she spoke.
“Stacie,” Stacie corrected. “You and I have bared ourselves to our captain and our chief medical officer. You can call me Stacie in private, Aubrey."
“Stacie,” Aubrey agreed with a nod.
Stacie stopped closer to Aubrey as they stood in the middle of the main living area. She reached behind Aubrey to pull the pin holding her hair in a tight bun. After looking into Aubrey’s eyes a moment she lifted her hand back up to run her fingers through Aubrey’s hair to smooth it.
“Thank you,” Aubrey whispered.
“I always feel better when I take my hair down at the end of the day,” Stacie said. She reached back to take hers out of the ponytail she had been wearing it in.
Aubrey hummed in agreement. “I admit that I am at a loss. My focus in the last several weeks was devising a plan to convince Captain Paris to grant our request. Now that it has been granted I am unsure of the plan forward."
Stacie tilted her head and smiled. “Well,” She stepped even closer to Aubrey. “How about this?” She asked before brushing her lips against Aubrey’s.
Stacie hoped she wasn’t overstepping her boundaries as she leaned in for a deeper kiss. Just when she was starting to worry that she had pushed too far Aubrey kissed back, her arms wrapping around Stacie’s waist. Stacie wrapped one of her arms around Aubrey’s waist while her right hand moved to the back of Aubrey’s neck. She swiped her thumb over a node only to feel Aubrey melt a little more into her embrace.
“I have had no one touch any of my implants in such a pleasing way before,” Aubrey admitted as she pulled out of the kiss. “The hardened layers of skin on your fingers from your work are most pleasing."
Stacie smiled at her like it was the best compliment she had ever heard. And maybe it was. The most honest at least. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Aubrey leaned in to kiss Stacie again. This was easy. It wasn’t talking, it wasn’t having to decide on words that she didn’t always have. It was natural. Organic. Easy. Aubrey craved something easy after years of relentless fighting to regain her rank, her humanity, her own body.
“I know decisions can be difficult for you right now,” Stacie said breathlessly. “Words and emotions, they don’t come easy. But this isn’t a time I can assume your permission,” She said as her hand moved to palm Aubrey’s hip. “We go as far as you want. Tonight and every night. No farther."
“Relationships are about reciprocity. We should not go farther than your desires either,” Aubrey said as she tilted her head down so her forehead rested against Stacie’s shoulder to compose herself.
“Oh Bree,” Stacie laughed. “There’s no limit to how far I’d go if you asked me to."
Aubrey lifted her head back up to look into Stacie’s green eyes. “I should not stay the night tonight. We should not rush. But perhaps we could sit on the sofa and continue the first session of my education on human and Romulan hybrid anatomy?"
Stacie grinned ear to ear as she pulled Aubrey to the sofa. “Gladly."