Posted by Captain Dante Knight (Commanding Officer) in Starfleet Academy - First Cadet mission

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Natasha Knight (Chief Medical Officer) in Starfleet Academy - First Cadet mission

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Natasha Knight (Chief Medical Officer) in Starfleet Academy - First Cadet mission
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

Snip

Some people might have thought her raised voice was a ‘fight’ of sorts, but Dante knew her well enough by now to know it was her just wanting his attention and affection. He also knew her well enough to know he had to make her work for it slightly, she was passionate and loving but in a way that was only enhanced when she was feisty, and both of them revelled in that passion she carried.

When she had walked off the middle of the intersection and was facing him, he took a step forward so they were close, far closer than the ‘proper’ distance required them to be but he knew she loved the feeling of breaking the rules slightly. It was now that he reached up and tilted her face up to him, and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear the way he always did when he wanted her to remember and focus on the fact that he was in love with her, even if it was still early in their relationship.

“Sunshine I promise you that you will get your seven hours of bliss and a glass of wine, I’ll make it happen, trust me. But not this weekend, this weekend we have a job to do and you are my Chief Medical Officer. I chose you because I can trust you, I believe in you, and want to be near you every moment of the day. After this, you get your bliss and more, I promise you that.” As he spoke, he had moved his lips close to hers but did not touch them with his, and he spoke gently but firmly. “Now say thank you, and add a sir to that, Natasha.”

Cadet Dante Knight

As much as she wanted to continue her tanty as Dante called it, Natasha had a hard time staying mad at Dante when he was like this. She had a hard time staying mad most of the time. It was his voice. Something in his tone and rhythm had a hypnotic effect on her. When he whispered low and soft, it made Natasha stop and pause, focusing all her attention on him. Some claimed it was Dante just learning to use the command voice all cadets recognized as authoritative. Natasha knew he had mastered that skill already when I came to her, when she wanted it to that was.

“I only say thank you when services are rendered....Sir,” she raised an eyebrow at him with a smirk on her face. Nat paused long enough after Dante issued his order to let him know she had put a pin in this conversation but was ready for the next idea he had suggested. “Kiss me and I won’t make your life hell,” she teased him softly and daring him to continue what he started. This was not Find a Spouse University as Herman Hornsby called it. No one lip-locked in the center of the campus, in broad daylight, unless they were that bold enough not to care about demerits if caught. Closing her eyes, Natasha raised on her toes so that Dante had to move even less than a moment earlier. Holding a perfect releve was not an easy task but Natasha Daye was half Russian. Ten minutes after she was born her Babushka had her in ballet lessons which made bridging the height difference between her and Dante easy as making borscht.

“You already make my life hell, and you know it,” Dante said to her quietly. “That’s why I love you so much,” he grinned and put his hands on her waist, leaning forwards to kiss her as she asked. He wasn’t worried about repercussions, they had a mission to do and it wasn’t likely that they were going to be grounded over the weekend that the assignment was scheduled.

Out of nowhere a heavy weight pounced on his back lurching him forward slightly. The action threw Dante’s head into Natasha’s creating an audible crack as their foreheads banged into each other. “Dude what are you two doing,” Kelly laughed pitching Dante’s hat off the front of his head. “You know that will get you both demerits and then no away mission.”

“I was banking on the away mission being extended to get more time away, Kelz,” Dante said sarcastically as he stood and put a hand on his head and glared at his room mate. It wasn’t an honest glare, Kelly knew exactly what she had done and the reason was a fair one. Still, it meant that Dante now had a reason to get her back and even the score.

“I think I have a concussion,” Natasha rubbed the top of her forehead as if trying to smear the pain away.

“You are fine. The only person’s head harder than yours is his,” she pulled at her skirt adjusting the length back to where it was supposed to lay. Most of the women wore the pants option for uniforms thinking it made them look more authoritative or some random bull like that. Kelly never understood why looking like a woman because she was a woman was ever a bad thing. It also helped to procuring things Dante’s serious scowl never would. A loud, sharp whistle echoed through the quad turning everyone’s attention to a ruggedly handsome senior cadet on the path across the grass from them. Kelly’s smile brightened considerably as she turned to face the sound.

“Cadet Shultz I am going to suggest you do not perform that maneuver with that hem line. I will be performing a uniform inspection and reviewing your ability to take down an enemy before the away team departure,” he snapped never breaking his stride or facial expression.

“Yes sir. I am having issues with the chapter on escaping from security restraints,” Kelly called out never taking her eyes off the man on the other path. A laugh erupted from the stern man and he spun around walking backward, spreading his arms wide indicating he was speechless. Only Kelly could render him speechless like few others but if you knew Kelly and Ric you would know why.

“Is that what the kids are calling it these days,” Natasha hit her shoulder forcing the young blonde Co-Ed to focus her attention back to Knight and Daye.

“It’s what I am calling it,” Kelly’s smile was wide.

“As I recall,” Dante said, taking Natasha around the waist and Kelly by the shoulders and turning them in the direction of a block of buildings in the distance, “You failed that course as well Tasia. It must be something like the Kobyashi Maru test, you know, something you just can’t win. Let it go,” he smirked at the both of them.

“Okay so if she is wanting to escape then you are doing something wrong my friend,” Kelly hip checked Dante with a laugh. “I mean I can give you both steps to the bloss…” Kelly began as she twisted one hand around the other and began to stand on one foot.

“I know anatomy and aren’t we supposed to be working this weekend on something other than biology,” Natasha replied squeezing Dante’s waist slightly and tugging at his uniform so that his attention was directed down towards her face. “We are so trying that tonight,” she mouthed to Dante with a gleam in her eyes.

“So who do we have for the command team. Nat as CMO, me as your better half, Ric as the security rockstar, Phil as our science guy,” Kelly began walking with Dante and Nat towards the hangar. They still had three hours to form the team but the last thing Kelly wanted was to be assigned someone. They already got stuck with Phillip Sye the overzealous science guy. She didn’t want some boot kissing, promotion seeker on this mission who would run back to command with a PaDD filled with an unofficial performance review on all of them just to get another pip attached to his neck. “So who are we getting for the tactical position,” Kelly asked Dante matching his stride.

“I know a guy,” Dante said, but the tone of his voice was dodgy.

“Since when do you know a guy,” she reared her head back slightly. “That’s my line. I got the legs, north forty, and south forty to prove it. You got two girls and all the girls you are ever gonna need. I’m your left and she is your right,” Kelly hooked a thumb at Dante causing Natasha to bust out laughing. “Sorry but you only get two and if you stray we will double team you and take you out like a thief in the night…Knight.” Kelly’s tone was fun but serious and she ended the sentence with a play on words.

Kelly had known Dante for four years. The first three she dubbed the red years filled by the copper vixen Kelly had fully intended to blow out the air lock if Dante had ever had the audacity to think about marrying Ashely. Kelly and Ashley were like oil and water. It started when Miss Madison needed a lesson about how no one was ever going to be his right hand man except for her. Then came Natasha the firey brunette that was able to accomplish in less than a semester what Kelly had not done in six. Regardless of what happened with Dante and Nat in the future, Kelly would be eternally grateful to the ballsy Russian fourth class cadet.

“So you have in mind for tactical,” she asked Dante.

“But your not gonna like it Kelz. Thankfully I’m the boss on this one, you’ll just have to follow my lead.” Walking with Daye on one side and Shultz on the other, Dante turned down a path towards another block of buildings. There were a lot of blocks of buildings on campus. “Trust me, I know what I’m doing.”

“Parker, Levinson....Donelley,” she snapped her fingers trying to figure out who Dante had already selected. Kelly had learned to match Dante’s pace over the four years they had been together at the academy to keep up without running because Dante had learned to shorten his stride and speed just slightly so that Kelly could lengthen and quicken hers. The visual image was that of a command team in sync wherever the went. Thier legs moved as one in a perfect synchronicity with the sound of thier steps masking whether they were alone or in a pair as the ascended the marble steps to the building.

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Alexander Hall
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The doors to Alexander Hall always felt oppressive even though the pneumatically retracted upon approach. It was probably the decor of the room that made Kelly feel this way. Alexander Hall was home to the tactical officers of Starfleet. The murals, mosaics, and art that lined the walls was of every military tactician in history. Kelly’s heels clicked a steady beat in time with Dante just at a different pitch from his flat soled boots. By now many cadets knew this sound because Kelly and Dante were the most well known of the cadet command teams. She never left Dante and Dante never chose anyone but her. The relationship was so close many wondered where Daye or Ric fit into the picture when it came to Shultz and Knight. Stopping at the door Kelly’s contact at the registrar’s office told them they could find one Senior cadet Ethan Nash.

Cadet Natasha Daye

“Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me. We are not taking this guy,” Kelly moaned hearing the last member of the command team. “The guy is too serious, moody, an overachiever, and we are not sure he is rowing on the right side of the boat,” she began to pepper Dante with the facts of why anyone but Ethan Nash should be selected for the mission.

“I’m telling you we need the guy,” Dante told Kelly, glancing at Natasha for support and angling his eyebrows that she should already be giving it. “Ethan is the best in his year at the Tactical Simulations, just because Perkins wants him on his team doesn’t mean we shouldn’t bring him along. The guy doesn’t know what he’s getting into with Pitiful Perkins, it’s our duty to steer him right. Right?”

“If he is steering at all it should be a way for Perkins. You know me. There is no dissension in the ranks regarding Reginald Perkins. If you are not with us then you are against us.” Even though every cadet was assigned by their years, schools of study, ranks, and specialties the lesser-known division was a matter of two sides: Perkins vs. McLaren. Perkins versus McLaren was the Starfleet version of the Hatfields and McCoys. Strangely enough, there were rumors that the classic feud did go back that far in history especially when noted McLaren was from Kentucky and Perkins was from West Virginia. As with true Perkins form, Reginal cited his mother’s ancestry from New York and Washington DC to give him more political clout instead of his true roots in the backwoods.

“Are you asking me to sleep with the enemy,” Kelly asked crossing her hands. To be fair, Nash seemed like one of the few people on campus that stayed out of the whole McLaren-Perkins feud preferring to focus on whatever task or assignment that would best prepare him for the future.

“Okay maybe that, thing, means that you two haven’t exactly gotten along for a while,” Dante admitted, scratching the back of his neck as he looked at Kelz. “But he still knows what he’s doing, and you do want to pass, right? We need him, admit it, and play nice for a change.”

“I am always nice,” Kelly rolled her eyes and curled her lip annoyed.

Cadet Natasha Daye

At that moment, the door opened and a Cadet walked out. Wearing his Academy uniform without a wrinkle in sight and shoes polished to enable scans to be taken from the reflection of the sun, the young man was laughing with a number of other cadets, including a stunning redhead that for all the world looked like she wanted to be walking with her hand around his waist. Instinctively Dante slid his own hand around Natasha’s waist and pulled her closer to him. The woman Ethan was walking with wasn’t Ashley, but her hair flowed around her shoulders in the same way with the same sheen that Dante’s former girlfriend had.

Spotting Dante, Nat and Kelly off to the side with their attention on him, Ethan paused a moment then made his way over to the trio. “It looks like the three of you are lost,” he said to them, and crossed his arms while his gaze settled on Kelly. “Or did the three of you get assigned refresher courses for some idiotic scheme that Dante or Kelly came up with?” The girl Ethan had been talking to walked up beside him and smiled at the three, “Hi,” she said to them, then looked at Ethan as if he was forgetting something. “We need to go, we’re going to be late and I do not want Hornsby assigning me cleaning duties in the changing rooms again, that is so gross.”

Cadet Knight