Chapter Text
"Lieutenant Brad Boimler, Lieutenant Beckett Mariner, please report to my ready room" said Ransom's voice over their combadges.
Both Lieutenants looked at each other, sighed, and made their way towards the turbolift.
When they arrived, the Captain barely looked away from the PADD he was reading.
"Lieutenants, the Cerritos was ordered to Trava V to assist in second contact; However a situation has also developed, on a nearby research asteroid; Some sort of disagreement between the scientists".
Mariner snickered slightly, after hearing the mention of a "research asteroid", but if Ransom noticed he gave no indication.
"So I decided to send my two acting co-first officers to handle it" he continued.
"Uhm, Sir" Boimler piped up. "Shouldn't one of us stay with the ship? Won't you need a first officer on Trava V?"
Ransom smiled and looked up at Boimler. "I want to see how my two provisional co-first officers handle a diplomatic mission on their own. Besides, the Cerritos is only assisting on Trava V, we don't expect any trouble".
Ransom slid a PADD over to them, information about the research asteroid displayed on the screen. "You are leaving in half an hour, better get to it Lieutenants"
Boimler dutifully picked up the PADD, and after he and Mariner left the room, she turned to him and with a playfully dramatic tone complained. "Ugh, I can't believe we are being sent to mediate a dispute between some scientist on a fucking research asteroid".
Boimler didn't look up from the PADD as they walked. "I don't know Mariner, it seems pretty interesting. Apparently they are researching a naturally occurring verteron lattice inside it."
"Whatever. How long will this mission take anyway. Where are we even going?" Mariner pouted.
Mariner heard some beeps and swipes as Boimler searched for the information. Finally he answered. "The asteroid is located in interstellar space. The trip there should take 3 days. Then after we're finished, the Cerritos should pick us up."
"Ughhhhhh, 3 days in a shuttle, with you" Mariner groaned.
"I thought you liked spending time with me" stammered Boimler, some offence evident in his voice.
"Oh, Boims" her voice was sweet. "That's not what I meant, I just don't want to spend 3 days in a cramped shuttlecraft. That's all"
After half an hour, they had both made it to the shuttle, each carrying a Starfleet-issued duffel bag, Mariner's noticeably heavier than Boimler's.
After they both sat in their respective seats, Mariner in the pilot's seat and Boimler in the co-pilot's seat. She looked at him and half-jokingly declared "I bet you packed a dress uniform, didn't you?"
Boimler didn't look up from his controls, clearly embarrassed.
That made Mariner laugh even harder. "YOU DID!? What do you think we'll be doing there. Attending a wedding?" Mariner's laugh filled the shuttlepod.
Boimler still didn't look up from his console, his cheeks were now slightly flushed. He stammered out something about "being ready for anything" as Mariner continued laughing.
When they were finally clear of the Cerritos and Warp drive was engaged, Mariner leaned back, exhaled, and started rummaging around her duffel, the sound of glass hitting glass was evident, she finally pulled out a bottle of brightly coloured liquid.
Boimler winced at the sight of it, but said nothing.
After Mariner took a large swig of the liquid, she offered the bottle to Boimler, shaking it in front of his face.
He finally reacted, pushing the bottle away from his face as he glared. "Mariner can you not get drunk the second we're off the ship?" he said, irritation was evident in his tone.
"First of all." Mariner put her index finger up to emphasise her point "I waited until we were at warp; And second", Mariner proceeded to further emphasise her point by raising her middle finger, "we will be at warp, for like 3 days STRAIGHT, why not relax a little?"
To even further emphasise her point, Mariner took another large swig of her drink, as Boimler stared at her.
To rile him up even further, Mariner put her legs on the console, leaned back, and let out an exaggerated sigh.
Brad just sighed and looked away. Then he picked up his PADD and began swiping away at it.
"Really?" Mariner laughed "You are going to use this time to READ? Gosh Boims, you can still be so BOOOOORING". Mariner emphasised that point too, by stretching her limbs in all directions theatrically.
"Why don't we do something fun? God, I would be fine with just talking. ANYTHING to make the time pass faster" she groaned, pulling at her eyelids. "What are you even reading?"
"Mariner, we literally JUST left the Cerritos; How are you this bored already?" Boimler shot back. "And I am reading, about, the mission Mariner. Something you should probably do too!" his voice was slightly raised by the end, and as he went through his tirade, he was slowly turning towards Mariner, and raising his index finger in the air. Mariner snorted at the gesture.
"Come on Boims. This mission is easy" she said slyly, then pulled the PADD out of his hands, and started swiping and scrolling through the mission briefing.
"Bla, bla, bla" she said in a sing-songy voice, while scrolling away. "Asteroid outpost in Interstellar space ... naturally occurring verteron lattice ... Scientists had an argument, and now they want Starfleet to fix their problems" she trailed off, then turned off the PADD, and placed it face down on the shuttle's console.
She then swung her chair around to face Boimler and swung her legs in a wild arc as she plopped them on his lap. Savouring seeing him wince slightly, as they connected with his thighs.
"See Boimler." She said condescendingly "I just went through the mission brief in 10 seconds flat".
Boimler groaned, and rolled his eyes. "I was going to read other things too" he muttered under his breath, while crossing his arms.
"Now; Why don't we do something fun." She ignored his statement and took another swig of her beverage "We barely get any free time since we became acting co-first officers" she pointed out.
Finally Boimler relented, and his face relaxed. "I guess you're right", he sighed as a smile crept up his cheeks.
Mariner blushed slightly at seeing him smile at her, she didn't want him to see how his smile made her feel, and most importantly she didn't want to admit it to herself, so she took a large and exaggerated swig from the bottle. After she felt her blush subside, she put the bottle down and offered it to Boimler, again.
To her surprise he took the bottle and took a tentative sip, and after he was done he placed it on the shuttle's floor, next to where he was sitting.
He then turned around in his chair to face Mariner, forcing her to remove her legs from his lap, as her legs thumped to the floor, she felt a pang of loss flicker in her chest.
"So" she started "That away mission to Drevo III you went on last week with Ransom. Done anything you didn't put in the official report?" her tone was slightly sultry. "Meet any hot babes when you were planetside?" she mimed elbowing him, while winking.
"Nothing that wasn't in my report" he said slightly annoyed. Besides you are the only hot babe I would ever want to be with he thought to himself, quietly.
"Besides with my new duties, I didn't have any time to sneak off, and 'have fun'" he punctuated that point, by making air quotes with both hands.
Mariner felt a strange sense of warmth and relief upon hearing Boimler's answer. "Good" she said, under a thick layer of sarcasm. "Wouldn't want you to have too much fun without me" she joked as she playfully punched his shoulder.
Boimler was just about to open his mouth to respond, when his thought was interrupted by a slight jolt and a warning chirp, and a blinking light on his console.
He and Mariner immediately swung the chairs to face their viewscreen, and put their hands on the console. In front of them, the stars shimmered slightly, as if they were occluded by some swirling mass.
Beeps emanated from Mariner's console, as she moved her hands around different controls. "Nothing conclusive on sensors" informed Mariner.
"Confirmed, whatever is in front of us is messing with our sensors. Some readings show empty space, while others report a solid mass in front of us" replied Boimler. His focus was on his controls, and different sensor readouts.
"Well unless there is something wrong with our eyes, there is definitely something in front of us" supplied Mariner.
From the view of the viewscreen the swirling mass of stars was appearing to get bigger as they approached it.
"Recommend we drop to impulse and change course" said Boimler.
"Agreed. Dropping us to impulse" Mariner responded.
"SHIT!" yelled Mariner hitting the controls with her fist. "Impulse engines not responding, Attempting to adjust course"
"WHAT!?" yelled Boimler in surprise. "You can't just adjust course mid-warp, it's incredibly difficult and dangerous" he continued to yell, in his shrill panicked voice.
"Relax Boims." she tried to assure him. "I did this maneuver before" yes in a simulator she thought to herself.
She opened navigational control on her console, and started inputting new navigational vectors.
"Mariner, short range sensors report, we will collide with whatever is in front of us in less than 15 seconds", he informed her with a shrill, yet composed tone.
"FUCK IT" grumbled Mariner. "We don't have time for a proper course adjustment" she yelled. She opened up the manual engine controls instead.
Boimler noticed what she was accessing, and concluded what his friend was about to do.
"NO! Mariner, that's not a controlled maneuver" he shouted.
"Don't care, no time" she yelled as she slammed her fist against the starboard nacelle fuel valve control. "BRACE!"
The starboard nacelle lit up as its supply of fuel was increased. The shuttle had begun to shake, sparks flying from the controls, and the lights had started to flicker.
Suddenly the shuttle made a sharp turn towards port, and Mariner was flung from her chair and flew towards Boimler, who to her surprise, caught her. Despite their current situation, a soft feeling settled in her chest. As she got her bearings and looked towards the viewscreen she saw them moving past the swirling mass of stars -- they were making it out of this situation yet.
Boimler's next words however crushed that thought. "Too late Mariner, we will still graze the anomaly in 5 seconds".
Right before Boimler saw the countdown hit 0, he yelled "BRACE!", and enveloped Mariner in a tight protective hug.
As the shuttle clipped the anomaly, the starboard nacelle exploded, causing a chain reaction that detonated the console showering both with sparks and Cordry rocks, and knocking them both back. Before the detonation, however Boimler shifted slightly to take the brunt of that impact.
Then for both of them the world went black.