This Is Shore Leave?

After stumbling over the rubble, the four Fleet officers ran for several blocks, then found a narrow alleyway to hide in and catch their breaths. Sakura immediately pounced on Pavel, her arms around his neck, beginning to smother him with kisses.

“Talk Russian again,” she begged.

“Pavel, let go of her!” Ruth snapped.

Chekov glared at the Antari. “This is hardly my idea,” he growled.

“An’ you puttin’ up one hell of a fight, ain’t you, son,” DelMonde drawled, but he grabbed Tamura’s arms, puling her away from the unresisting Russian. The yeoman immediately transferred her wantonness to the engineer.

“Cajun, it’s been such a long time…” she was murmuring.

“An’ it have to be a while longer, cher,” he told her. “We gotta find us someplace safe to hole up.”

“Preferably somewhere without too many breakables,” Chekov added sourly with a baleful glance at Ruth.

She ignored him. “We should get out of the city if we can,” she suggested.

“Your head on straight enough to do a li’l reconnaissance?” Del asked, fending off Sakura’s eager hands.

“I think so,” the Antari replied. “It seems to take a little while for the explosions to build up.”

“Wonderful,” Chekov muttered.

“Shut the fuck up, T-Paul,” DelMonde said pleasantly.

Ruth closed her eyes, turning her head slowly back and forth. “There aren’t any outlying suburbs,” she reported at last, “and we seem to be in a fairly rugged environment…” After another few moments, she said, “There’s a small mountain range about a mile that way.” Her arm rose, her hand pointing off to the right. “And… ah, a nice, dry cave about 300 yards back and fifty feet up.”

“And when you next explode, we’ll be trapped by falling rocks, yes?” Chekov predicted sourly.

“I not tell you to shut the fuck up?” Del repeated.

“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”

“You got a better idea?” After a pause in which the navigator fumed silently, DelMonde nodded. “I not t’ink so. Let’s get movin’.”

“Please,” Sakura was moaning, “just a quickie, somebody, please!”

Del looked at Ruth. Ruth was wincing, but she nodded. “Just make it really quick,” she said.

“If I understand this non-conversation,” Chekov put in with no little superiority, “and from my understanding of the effects of the Haven drug known as venus, and assuming, of course, that Noel is correct regarding Miss Tamura’s accidental ingestion of such a chemical…”

“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Del enunciated.

“… what is known in the vernacular as a ‘quickie’ will not only be of no assistance to the yeoman whatsoever, but will, in fact, exacerbate the situation further…”

“Thank you, Mr. Mini-Spock,” Ruth said, her teeth bared in an approximation of a smile. “But if she doesn’t get some release, her tension is going to make me explode that much sooner. Yeah, it’ll make it worse in the long run, but we’ve got to deal with the short run NOW.”

“It is, in fact, dealing only with the short term which has gotten us into this…” Chekov began again.

DelMonde took two steps forward and punched the Russian in the mouth.

“I said shut the fuck up!” the engineer suggested. As he turned back to Sakura, Chekov’s face got very red, then very hot. Before Ruth could intervene, the navigator had grabbed the Cajun’s arm, pulling the taller man around and landing a hard right cross to DelMonde’s jaw.

Ruth saw the thundercloud rapidly developing over Del’s head, and hurriedly put herself between the two men. “No time, damn it!” she shouted. “And Del, he’s raging, he can’t help himself! Tend to Gypsy so we can get the hell out of here!”

Del rubbed his jaw, his dark eyes blazing at the Russian. “I get to you later, son, an' that a fact,” he snarled, then grasped Sakura’s arm. “Come on, cher, we go on back behind this dumpster.”

The yeoman was already clinging desperately to him as they moved a few feet farther into the alley.

“Were you afraid I was going to harm your lover?” Chekov sneered at Ruth.

“No, you dumb fuck,” Ruth retorted. “I was afraid your brain was going to end up a big dumb bowl of borscht.”

Daffy was pacing nervously when Sulu and Jeremy approached the comm terminal. They looked fairly respectable in their uniforms, though there was an odd darkening at Paget’s throat, and from the way Sulu’s eyes were gleaming, the chemist was fairly certain she wasn’t the only one cruising.

“So where’s this police station?” Sulu asked brusquely.

“The bartender said Fourth Precinct, and she gave me directions from the bar,” Daffy replied. “But I think the bar is farther away than we are… but I can’t seem to put her directions together with the city map.”

Paget looked at Sulu, who rolled his eyes. “Uh, Daf, did you try accessing the city map?” Jeremy asked. “Since you know the precinct number?”

Daffy hit herself on the forehead. “That’s why you get the big Security credits,” she said.

“That and you’re not speeding your brains out,” Sulu muttered.

“I heard that, Mister Guided Missile,” Daffy retorted. Her fingers moved rapidly over the touch-screen of the comm unit. “Here it is, Fourth Precinct.” She pointed. “Three blocks that way.”

“Let’s get this over with,” Sulu sighed as the three started off in the direction Daffy had indicated

“You keep muttering and sighing and rolling your eyes at me and we’re gonna have BIG problems,” Daffy threatened.

“Who’s doing who a favor here, Daphne?” Sulu returned.

“Because of course they’re not your friends…”

“Because I didn’t get them into huge-ass trouble…”

“Neither did I! I just went to pee!”

“And whose idea was the bar and the smoke and the chemicals and the alcohol?”

Daffy had stopped, glaring belligerently at the helmsman, her hands on her hips. Sulu glared back, folding his arms. Paget made a face, turning back to them.

“Knock it off, you two,” he said in his best no-nonsense voice. “It don’t matter whose fault it is. Our objective is to get them out of the pretty fuckin’ serious trouble they’re in, right?” He paused, waiting. “RIGHT?”

Sulu’s eyes flashed at the TerAfrican, but he said tightly, “Yeah, you’re right.” After a pause of his own, he added, more quietly, “And don’t think you won’t pay for playing top with me, bitch.”

“I can hardly wait,” Jeremy replied, then, with a submissive drop of his gaze, “sir.”

“Oy god, I think I’m about to be sick,” Daffy grimaced.

Paget grinned at her. “But I’m right, right, Daffodil?”

Without answering, Daffy started forward again.

Sulu rolled his eyes.

When they arrived at the precinct, the place was in an uproar. The first things Jeremy noticed were a) there were no windows in the frames of the station house, b) there was no furniture in the main booking room, and c) there seemed to be an awful lot of cursing and dust in the air. He cleared his throat and took an authoritative step forward.

“Gentlemen, I’m Lieutenant Paget from the U.S.S. Hood,” he said. “I understand there’s been a mishap with a few of Starfleet’s officers?”

“Chief of Security Takeda Sulu for the U.S.S. Enterprise,” Sulu added. “What’s going on here?”

“Do you gentlemen know that there’s a planetary regulation regarding the registering of potentially lethal alien life-forms?” a uniformed man snapped at them, turning from the small group of officers he’d been swearing at.

“Potentially lethal?” Jeremy asked politely.

“Alien life-forms?” Sulu continued, not nearly so polite.

"Well, one of ‘em was Antari,” one of the officers put in, his lowered tone of voice nowhere near to concealing his disdain.

“Antaris are neither potentially lethal,” Sulu enunciated, “nor are they, in the Federation of Planets, considered an alien life-form, officer…” He paused. “I’m afraid I’ll need your name and badge number.”

The man gulped, and the first uniform, obviously the man in charge, stepped forward. “I understand the usual distinctions, Lieutenants,” he said, “but in this case, believe me, the ‘potentially lethal’ designation is more than warranted. Your Antari officer wrecked this station house, from taking out our windows and furniture to blowing an escape route through the back wall of our security cells.”

“An escape route, you say?” Daffy piped up happily.

“Daf, hush,” Jeremy whispered. He returned his attention to the sergeant. “On what charges were they picked up?”

As the sergeant gave the litany of charges, Sulu closed his eyes, shaking his head. “That’s quite an impressive list,” he conceded when the officer finished. “When we find them, what do you suggest as an acceptable compromise?”

“Since we’ll obviously be taking care of the disciplinary actions ourselves,” Paget rejoined.

The sergeant frowned. “I thought Starfleet policy was to allow its officers to stand trial by the local authorities,” he said.

“It really sounds like our people simply let a shore leave get out of hand. These kinds of brawls aren’t all that uncommon. Certainly, they’ll pay for the damages to the bar and this station, but as far as the other charges go…” Jeremy leveled his best red-shirt gaze on the shorter, squatter man. “I’m sure you’ll allow us an investigation of our own before making any final decision.”

The man looked from Paget to Sulu and back again. Jeremy lowered his eyebrows. Sulu smiled – a very intense, very Kamikaze-type smile. The sergeant grew red in the face, and his lips tightened.

“Of course,” he growled. “Assuming, of course, that you can find them.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, Sergeant,” Sulu replied. “We’ll be in touch, I’m sure.”

“That went well!” Daffy commented as the three walked away form the station house.

“If you consider the fact that there’s obviously something wrong with Ruth, yeah,” Sulu grumbled.

“Wrong with Ruth? What could be wrong with Ruth?”

“Didn’t you hear?” Sulu returned with a frustrated glare. “She blew up the station. That’s hardly normal behavior for her.”

“Oh, well… she was a little drunk – and stoned…” Daffy’s voice trailed off. “Both of which she could get rid of in an instant if she had to. I see what you mean. But do you really think she…?”

“And if she’s in a bad way, no tellin’ what’s happenin’ with NC,” Jeremy mused.

“Uh, yeah,” Daffy said. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

“How many other things hadn’t you thought about?” Sulu said irritably.

“I said I see what you mean!” Daffy snapped.

“It’s a good thing for you that this latest disaster involves other people,” Sulu informed her, “because otherwise, you definitely wouldn’t be worth all this aggravation.”

“And if I’d had any other options, I would never have presumed to intrude on your urgent shore leave, Prince, Precious, Pet!” The final word of the sentence was spat out with all the venom with which Daffy Gollub was capable – more than considerable.

Sulu froze.

Jeremy winced.

Very slowly, the helmsman turned his head, lowering it to paralyze the chemist with a dark, icy stare. “I’d suggest, Daffodil,” he said in a soft voice, thick with silky menace, “that you never call me any of those three names again.”

Daffy started to open her mouth for a brazen retort.

“And I really don’t have to enumerate the consequences if you do, do I?” Sulu continued in the same deadly tone.

Daffy shut her mouth, swallowing.

“Lower your eyes,” Jeremy was whispering to her. “Step back. Say, “no, Kam.’”

Daffy lowered her eyes, took a step back and managed, “No, Kam.”

“There’s my good girl,” Sulu murmured approvingly. He turned away and Paget let out a shaky sigh.

“You sounded like you were giving directions for dealing with a rabid dog,” Daffy said quietly to Jeremy, quickly hiding the moment of naked submission.

Jeremy glanced over her head to Sulu. “Honey,” he said, “I was.”

After the more than distracting moans and groans that came from behind the dumpster, Chekov was in a worse mood than before. He found himself irrationally angry that DelMonde had taken it upon himself to give the yeoman what she’d obviously wanted from him. At the smile on the engineer’s face when he and Tamura returned, that anger was once again close to boiling over.

“She be fine fo’ a li’l while now,” DelMonde announced smugly. “Let’s move it.”

“Do not be so proud of yourself,” Chekov grumbled. “Any dog could do what you just did.”

“May be, but not half as good,” was the Del’s comment.

“I hate you,” Chekov assured him darkly.

“Doublé,” came the off-handed reply.

As it had before, Pavel’s vision went red and again Ruth stepped between them.

“Get hold of yourselves,” she ordered. “Del, stop egging him on. Pavel, try and remember that you can control yourself, even on ruby.”

DelMonde shrugged. “He start it, cher.”

“And I’m finishing it before I blow up half the city,” she reminded. “Come on.”

She grabbed Sakura’s hand and started off at a pace that was not-quite running. Del gave Pavel a hearty, friendly pat on the shoulder.

“Why are you in such a good mood?” Chekov scowled, then interrupted himself. “Of course. Sapphire and sex.”

“I surely not beat that combination,” Del chuckled. “Truce, T-Paul, non?”

“For the time being,” Chekov agreed tightly, and the two men started off after Ruth and Sakura.

They found the cave Ruth had seen less than an hour later. Sakura was already soaring again, desperately trying to attach herself alternately to DelMonde and Chekov. The engineer kept saying, “jus’ a li’l longer now, cher,” and Pavel kept trying not to simply throw the yeoman to the ground. Once inside the small cave, Ruth curled up, her head resting on her knees, her hands at her temples.

Del quickly dropped next to her.

“Here, babe,” he murmured soothingly. “Lemme help.”

“How can you…” she began.

“I full o’ sapphire,” he reminded her. “You wrap yourself ‘roun’ me an’ the blue should protect us both.”

“What about…?”

“Oh, honey girl, young T-Paul over there jus’ dyin’ to take care o’ li’l Gypsy.”

“But he’s raging, he might hurt her.”

“She been wit’ Kam ‘nough times I doubt it bother her much.”

Ruth opened one eye, glancing up at him. “You know, Daffy said something like that, too. I don’t know where you two get the idea that Sulu could ever…”

“Hush, we not talk ‘bout it now,” Del deflected. He softly kissed her, opening his mind to hers. Come here, now, Raw-eth. Jus’ be wit’ me.

With a grateful sigh, Ruth relaxed, welcoming the deep blue into the buzzing chaos of her thoughts.

Chekov didn’t wait for Sakura to jump on him. He grabbed the yeoman, pushing her harshly back against the cave wall. He felt her shudder with anticipatory delight and wasted no time in raising her layered skirt over her hips. She wasn’t wearing panties, and he found himself wondering if she’d had any on in the bar, or if she’d discarded them behind the dumpster. Then it ceased to matter as her hands nimbly undid the seam along the front of his slacks. His knees bent slightly to achieve the correct positioning, and as he entered her, she gave a little hop to drive him into her and wrap her legs around his hips. He grasped her buttocks and thrust hard, her loud gasp of pleasure music in his ears.

“Russian, Russian, Russian!” she moaned, and Pavel started growling in the beautiful if guttural language, saying things he knew she wouldn’t understand and, if he’d been in his right mind, eternally grateful she wouldn’t understand. He kept his eyes open, staring at the passionate expressions on her face. The grimaces and responses and contortions, all timed with his increasingly brutal movements, fed both his hunger and, incongruously, his rage. He slammed into her harder and she cried out, then urged him deeper and higher.

It took a while, but eventually a standing position wasn’t satisfying enough. Pavel pulled away from the wall and Sakura let out a desperate cry, clinging to his body.

“Don’t worry, my sweet one, I am not done with you yet,” he murmured in Russian. He carried her small body a few steps from the cave wall, then lowered himself onto his back. “Ride me,” he said, his eyes gleaming red.

Sakura shivered, getting her feet under her and adjusted herself until she was crouching over him, her hands pushing flat against his chest, her hips moving and grinding in frenzied ecstasy.

After only seconds, the fury was building again, and Chekov grasped her hips, pulling her into harder, harsher thrusts. “I said ride me!” he snarled and Sakura was throwing her head back, shrieking, the sound echoing off the confines of stone.

Another eternity passed, and that position, too. was no longer satisfactory. Pushing himself up, Chekov flipped Sakura over, again driving into her with raging passion. Her legs came up, her knees nearly at the sides of her head, and she was gasping “more, more, more!!”

Pavel Chekov obliged.

“So, how do you suggest we go about finding them?” Jeremy asked as he, Sulu and Daffy headed to the bar where Daffy had last seen their friends.

“Maybe somebody’s seen them?” Daffy suggested brightly. She was walking backward in front of the uniformed officers, jittery and brittle, having completely ignored the previous interaction with Kamikaze since it happened.

“Can we beam up to the ship and see if we can pinpoint an Antari life reading?” Sulu said.

“Anybody on the Enterprise likely to do that without gettin’ the captain’s okay?” Paget replied.

Sulu frowned, shaking his head. “Nor on the Hood, hmm?” He shrugged as Jeremy shook his head in turn.

“Maybe we should try shouting?” Daffy put in.

Sulu stopped walking. “You know,” he said slowly, “that’s not a bad idea.”

“I was kidding, Your Majesty,” the chemist scowled.

Sulu glowered and Paget silently mouthed ‘watch it’ to Gollub.

“I didn’t mean actual, vocalized shouting,” Sulu was saying. “Ruth and Del are both telepaths. If we tried focusing on their ‘hearing’ us…”

Daffy squealed and clapped her hands delightedly. “Great!” she enthused, and squeezed her eyes tightly shut.

“Wait, let’s coordinate this,” Jeremy said.. “On three, we all mentally shout ‘RUTH!’ all right?”

“Sounds good, Jer,” Sulu returned with a more than fond smile.

“Control freak,” Daffy commented, but looked expectantly toward the Security lieutenant.

Paget took a deep breath. “One,” he said, “two… three.”

What the…!

Ruth’s body bolted upright from underneath Del’s, toppling him off of her. He swore inventively, then reached for her. “Honey, you ‘bout to explode again?” he asked, trying not to sound as testy as he felt.

“You didn’t hear that?” she demanded.

He grinned, but it was much closer to a grimace. “’Tween your sweetness an' the blue, I not be hearin’ nothin’.”

“Try,” she pleaded. “Listen.”

Del sighed and focused his telepathy. After a moment, he said, “Not a t'ing, babe,” but the words were barely out of his mouth when he was hit with a thunderous burst of static.

“There!” Ruth cried.

“Yeah, cher, I hear it all right that time.”

“What do you think?”

“It jus’ noise to me. You get somet’ing more?”

“I think…” Ruth began and the static again crashed into Del’s brain. “Yes!” the Antari cried. “It’s Daffy – and, I think, Sulu and Jeremy Paget!”

This time it was Del who sat upright. “Can you get through to ‘em?” he asked, “tell ‘em where we are?”

“I don’t know, it’s so hard to concentrate…” She turned huge, pleading violet eyes to him. “Help?”

“Any way I can, babe,” he assured her.

“Wrap me up again, I seem to do much better when you’re blocking the buzzing.”

The grin was genuine. “I can surely do that, honey girl.” He glanced for a moment across the cave. “Even wit' those two caterwaulin’ like Caitians in heat.”

Ruth giggled. “They are just a little loud.”

“I jus’ hopin’ there not too much blood loss.” He took her into his arms, kissing her. Adjusting their positions, Del slid his still-hard cock smoothly into her moist folds.

Okay, babe?

Mmmm, more than.

Say hello back, then.

He heard her preparing to send her thoughts and did his best to lure the buzzing distraction away from them.

Daf? Roy? Cobra? Where are you?

“She hears us!” Sulu exclaimed.

“What?” Daffy said. “I don’t hear a thing.”

Sulu glanced at Jeremy, who shook his head.

“Me neither, babe.”

“Well, I do. She’s asking where we are.”

“Tell her the bar!” Daffy said excitedly.

Sulu hesitated. “I can’t do this by myself, y’know.”

“No problem,” Paget said. “’The bar’ on the count of three. One… two…”

That a navigator’s job, non?

Stopping their tandem movements, Ruth glanced over Del’s shoulder to Chekov. I don’t think he’d like being interrupted just now.

‘Bout time he earn his keep on this leave.

Isn’t keeping Gypsy’s nervous system from eating her alive earning his keep?

By fuckin’ her? Naw, that a bonus.

Still…

All right, Del grumbled. The jail ‘bout five blocks east, three south o’ the bar, we ran seven further south, an' then high-tailed it a mile or so south by southeast. So they need t’ go ‘bout two miles southeast.

Ruth’s mental self smiled warmly. So who needs a navigator?

Ain’t that what I been tellin’ you?

“She says they’re about two miles southeast of here, in a cave in the mountains,” Sulu reported, then rubbed his temples. “Damn, how the hell does she do that on a regular basis?”

“She’s a telepath, babe,” Jeremy said sympathetically. “I’m told it helps.”

The helmsman glared at Daffy. “You so fuckin’ owe me,” he snarled.

Daffy started a sarcastic retort, then caught Paget’s slow shaking of his head, and shrugged. “Whatever, bubee,” she said instead. “Let’s go get them and get back to our leaves, shall we?”

“Daf, you really think goin’ back to partyin’ in the city is a good idea?” Jeremy asked.

“Well, maybe not in the city, per se…”

“We’re goin’ back to the hotel as soon as we get them out of this,” Sulu promised, but somehow it sounded more like a warning.

“With the thanks of a grateful blah blah blah,” Daffy agreed.

Paget sighed. “Daffodil, just shut up.”

Sakura groaned a soft, “More!”

Chekov, who had wearily flopped onto his back, raised his arm over his face. “That is out of the question,” he mumbled. He felt her fingers begin crawling over his chest and, irritated, grabbed her wrist, flinging her hand roughly away from him.

“But Pavel,” the yeoman pouted, “I still need!”

“And I am not a superman,” he snapped.

“You could’ve fooled me,” she murmured silkily.

The lewd compliment, rather than either warming him to the idea, or softening his mood toward her, only increased his annoyance.

“Then you should be satisfied by now,” he growled.

Tamura sat up, slapping his shoulder. “You’re mean!”

“Do you want to see how mean I am?” he threatened as he, too, rose to a sitting position.

Sakura giggled. “Come and show me, big boy.”

Chekov’s vision went red. The next thing he knew, he had the pretty yeoman by the throat and was about to bash her head against the cave wall and someone was grabbing his arms, shouting unintelligibly in his ear.

Then something exploded.

Ruth had once again let herself get lost in the deep, cerulean blue of Del’s mind. Normally she would’ve been horrified and angry, but knowing that this time he hadn’t taken the chemical on purpose seemed to ease her usual disdain of the Haven drug. Her own hornets – and she wondered for a moment why Del had named them that - weren’t exactly gone, but they were moving in slow-motion, their buzzing only an almost-pleasant drone. The mental and emotional union intensified the headiness of their physical love-making, and the feel of the engineer’s body next to and inside hers in turn magnified the pleasure of their shared head-space.

She caught a stray thought. Maybe this time….

No, Del, don’t spoil it. Don’t think about things like….

How I help it, babe? When this feel so very right…

Ruth started a protest, then stopped. This time did feel different, and very, very right. Their joining was passionate, but almost serene; the steady glow of a well-tended hearth, not the dangerous but exhilarating flames of an open fire.

You usin’ fire images, babe? Del chuckled.

Yeah, that’s weird, isn’t it?

Mus’ be th’ hornets.

Del, what exactly are these ‘hornets’?

Jus’ some kind o’ stim, I be t’inkin’. Leastways, that the effect it always have on me.

Always has on you?

Had, I swear, had, way back at th’ Clave. Not since. Don’ get agitated, cher, it make th’ buzzin’ worse.

Ruth took a mental deep breath, calming herself. She felt Del giving the sapphire a push, sending its calm rippling over her in warm waves.

After the wordless silence ebbed enough for her to think again, she sighed. At least I see now why you like this, she told him.

It not a matter o’ like fo’ me, you know that, he returned with just a touch of bitterness.

I know, she soothed. I just meant this could be a really nice place to be, on occasion.

I t’ink you not t’ink that way if th’ hornets not be buzzin’. When you not need the deep blue, it only annoy you.

Ruth mused silently on that for a while. Did the reason being with Del this time felt so different have anything to do with her being different? On some kind of drug, no longer confident of her control, needing his calm and peace the way he usually needed hers? Did she really need – or worse, want – a strong man to protect her, or…

Ah hell, Raw-eth, why you gotta make everyt’ing black an’ white for? Del interrupted her thoughts. Your Daddy a strong man, non? That make your Mama weak?

Well, no…

So one time you need me. Or am I s’posed to be all unmanned ‘cause I usually th’ one needin’ you? Mere de duin, girl, don’ you know how that make me feel?

I’m sorry…

So you be t’inkin’ that maybe this feel so right ‘cause we both on drugs. Maybe that be part o’ it. Fuck, maybe that be all of it! Would that be so goddamned bad? Doin’ a li’l bitty bit o’ chems once in a while an’ that make us able to be together fo’ th’ rest o’ our lives? I take that deal an' done any day!

Del… Something was tingling in the back of Ruth’s mind, and she shuddered.

But you not do, wouldja? You so high an’ mighty an' superior to th’ rest o’ us – so clean an’ sober an’ so all-fuckin’ perfect…

She winced, the Cajun’s harsh words making her apprehension grow by leaps and bounds. Please, Del, stop!

I love you, Raw-eth, more than my own life. I do anyt’ing fo’ you. I work my damn ass off to keep from needin’ this blue salvation only ‘cause you t’ink it some kind o’ damn sacrilege…

Del, something’s wrong, wait, please…

An’ now you see what it do fo’ me. You finally understand why I need it, the peace an’ room to breathe it give me, an’ you even be t’inkin’ it might be a way for us to be together, an’ somehow that a bad t’ing?

DEL SHUT UP!!

With sudden clarity, Ruth knew what was wrong. She pushed Del’s body off of hers and started scrambling toward the other side of the cave.

“Chekov!” she managed, “Ruby! Del, stop him or I’m going to…”

The emotional confrontation was immediately forgotten. DelMonde pushed himself to his feet, charging across the cave. He grabbed the Russian by the arms, preventing him from bashing Sakura’s head against a rock, shouting at the navigator to think… Then, with a loud ‘BANG!’ the cave wall fractured into dust.

Go to Part Four

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