DS13
Deck 30
Gamma Shift
Ensign Walker stood in the turbolift, heading back to her quarters after a hard day in Engineering. She produced her ancient earbuds and fiddled, trying to get them to stay in her ears. She had a love of outdated and ancient Federation technology and had been tinkering with these in her spare time. She was finally going to test them. She connected the input she had fashioned on her PADD and scrolled through her database and hit a random song. “My Cherie Amour” filled her ears and she grinned, turning up the volume, closing her eyes and letting the music soothe her. At some point she started swaying and clearly did not feel the turbolift stop at Deck 30, nor see the doors open as she had her back to them and eyes closed, completely lost in Stevie Wonder.
She did, however, feel the hand on her shoulder. Her eyes snapped open with shock and instinctively she turned and lashed out with a balled fist, it connected with something hard but fleshy. The owner of the hand was not expecting such a reaction, doubling over, gasping, winded.
Walker, adrenaline running through her, rained a blow down on the back of the man’s neck to fully take him down. As her blow connected, she realised she’d screwed up. The shaven head was the first clue, the starfleet uniform, the second. It was dear, sweet Nick Loxton. She’d unintentionally surprised him in a way only a Klingon would find romantic, with loving blows to the stomach and back of the neck.
Loxton went down and rolled out of the turbolift, groaning as Walker instantly panicked. In her rush to help the fallen security officer, her earbuds and PADD dropped, the wire of the PADD catching on the front zipper of Walker’s tunic, unzipping it to expose her clavicle. The strewn wire caused her to trip as she went to help Loxton and sprawl onto him as he rolled onto his back. They lay there, spread-eagled, panting as they both recovered.
“Oh! Nick!” She gasped as quarters doors began to open and heads began to peer out into the hallway.
Loxton shook his head, looking at Walker across him, clavicle exposed, hair disheveled. He turned his head and called down the hallway.
“Everybody back in their quarters! Nothing to see here! Just a minor misunderstanding!” Loxton scrambled to his feet, helping up Walker.
They stood there a moment before Loxton spoke. “I startled you. I apologise, Ensign.”
“Oh call me Michelle, Nick! We’re off duty! But yeah, I reacted badly. I am so sorry. I just, instinct kicked in and I…I…” Walker stammered. Nick turned towards her, mustering a smile.
“You should consider transferring to security if you get tired of engineering. That was a good, clean, take-down. I haven’t been surprised like that in a while.” Nick said and then gestured to her zip. Walker quickly zipped up, clearing her throat.
“We’ll say no more about this, as it was a misunderstanding and I’m sure that display will cause a few more tongues to wag. If it gets raised by the senior staff, I shall make sure the truth is known.”
“Thank you, Nick. I’ve got to, uh, get going now. Thankskaybye!”
Walker walked at a brisk pace down the hallway. Loxton turned, seeing her strewn PADD and ear buds on the floor, he called out to her but she’d gone. He picked them up and examined one of the buds with a frown, hearing a tinny sound coming from it, he pressed it to his ear to hear the last strains of ‘My Cherie Amour’ play out. He carefully wrapped the wire around the PADD and headed back into the turbolift, rubbing the back of his neck and smiling to himself.