Reunion

It had been a long time since they had sat across from one another. Jones raised his beaker and felt the blood rush to his cheeks.

"Now the way I see it, it's pretty simple." He straightened his tunic before casually rounding the table in easy, deliberate strides. "We need a strong, unified crew to beat the Klingons. Let's draw on the strengths of each individual crew member.

"Michael." Jones rested his hands on the shoulders of a spotty teenager. "Stay low. Cover the lower sectors. Sweep and retreat until you hear my signal."

The light of battle flared in the young lad's eyes and Jones moved on to Brookes, a cracking engineer, with a cute ass in a jumpsuit.

"Kelly use your feminine wiles. Make them think that you are weak and defenseless whilst Murph hides in the shadows and picks them off."

"Oh, I like being bait!" Brookes squirmed excitedly and winked at Murphy who blushed into his coke.

"Damn it, Jones!" he said. "I'm a doctor, not a sniper."

"You can do it. For the crew. For the ship. For the honour of the Federation."

Jones looked into the eager faces of his crew and knew that he'd go to hell and back for each and every one of them.

"Let's go kick some Klingon butts!"

The crew abandoned their cokes and unfinished burgers and headed back into Lazar Quest. This year the Battle of Ralnclar Valley, Reunion Party would end very differently. Very differently, indeed.

(249 wds)