The Final Frontier

by JulieGee

CHAPTER 25

The next morning the captain walked onto the bridge with a big grin on his face. He looked around and blinked in surprise. The captain was almost always the focus of attention, but this time it was like being under a microscope. He had far too many responsibilities to concern himself with it for long.

As he sat down in the command chair and prepared to begin his log entry, Merlin's frantic thoughts travelled along their bond in a barely intelligible stream.

ImSoSorryImSoSorryImSoSorry!

He studied his mate curiously. Merlin had NOTHING to apologize for! The night had been spectacular... Passionate... Liberating. Gwen interrupted the captain's soft, subconscious purring.

"Captain, um, did you see the subspace broadcast of the Stardance? I think you might want to check it out. People are... Impressed. Onscreen," Gwen said with a twinkle in her eye.

The symbol of FNN, the Federation's main newsnet, rotated slowly on the screen before the recording of the broadcast started.

"This is FNN, the Federation News Network, broadcasting live from the Central Plaza at StarDance Risa. The stars are out tonight!"

"D'Hien of Sandar is attending with his entourage, as is Precept Vanna of the T'kon Constituency, Grand Nagus Zek of the Ferengi Alliance, HighQueen of the Saridin Arthur Gaylord Pendragon, and his mate Marlun Emrayes."

Arthur made choking sounds as an image of him and his partner flashed up on the viewscreen. The image had been taken half-way through the dance. They weren't wearing their shirts.

The captain had panicked when he woke up and found them missing. He had the ship scan for the articles of clothing any terrorist group would have paid a small fortune for. The reactor in their shirts was the ultimate concealable explosive. He relaxed when they finally locked onto his and beamed it back aboard the ship. T'Lar was still scanning for Merlin's. She had narrowed it down to within a square kilometre and she had assured him it wouldn't take much time before it was back in his possession.

Merlin was disturbed by the image on the screen. He was angry about something far more mundane.

"DAMN! They never pronounce my name right," he grumbled, trying to ignore his fluorescent red partner sitting behind him in the command chair.

"I wish the pronunciation of 'Gaylord' was the worst of MY problems," Arthur sighed. "I'm a Starship captain, not some party boy.'"

"The Alpha Quadrant thinks you're both, Sir," Gwen informed him. "You don't get it, do you? You were the centre of attention at the StarDance! Billions of people across the Federation were watching. You got more attention in two minutes than the President gets in a year! Everyone saw you all sweaty and glittery and gorgeous and stuff, and no one's going to forget it."

"And, um, with your hand down what the newsnets are referring to as your 'boytoy's' microshorts..." she said as she nodded at the new image displayed on the screen. That photo had been taken later that night.

Arthur's screech of horror was very uncaptain-like. He massaged his temples as he frantically willed the graphic image to go away. At least the camera hadn't found them towards the end of the evening. It only caught him with his hand down the back of Merlin's shorts instead of the front.

Gwen didn't bother to complete her sentence. She touched the flashing light on the Comm panel reminding her of the priority communication from the Admiralty. Arthur closed his eyes and sighed as a porcine face appeared on the viewscreen, red from laughing.

"Arthur! I'm calling in a favour! My nephew wants an autographed photo. Two of them, actually," the extremely amused Admiral Terradin said. He had seen Arthur's Dabo Girl dance in front of the Admiralty in the courtroom several weeks before. He hadn't expected to see it again, and was delighted by the fact that the captain had 'chosen' to share it with the Federation.

"I've seen the auction results, Terradin. You've already bought four of the photos! Why don't you give him one of those?" the captain grumbled.

"Oh, he doesn't want one of those phaser ones. He wants one of the valuable ones. The one of you and your boy gyrating on the dance floor with tongues down each other's throats and hands down each other's pants at that StarDance thing. He wants one for his high school locker, and one for... Well, I don't know what he's going to do with the second one, and I REALLY don't want to. All he'll say is that he needs to get it laminated before he 'uses' it."

Arthur paused to consider the unwanted information. He had been a teenager once. That was one photo he would NEVER want back!

"FINE! We'll sign them and send them to you shortly. Hopefully no one else wants one." He paused and looked at the eager faces staring at him from around the bridge. "You all want one, don't you?"

"YOU, TOO?" he hissed when he saw T'Lar looking as eager as he had ever seen her. She raised an eyebrow.

"I know your hard-earned popularity, or perhaps 'earned while hard' popularity is more accurate, must be difficult to come to terms with. Try to preserve a modicum of humility, Captain. I assure you, in my case, no lamination will be required. I intend to auction my copy to raise money for the Bajoran Orphans' Fund."

"Just think of it as peddling your ass for charity, Captain. And his," Morgana purred in delight as she nodded at Merlin.

The captain's glare could have melted a block of tritanium in a second.

"I'm curious about one thing, Arthur, as is the rest of the Admiralty," Terradin interrupted. "Would you care to explain why you chose to turn the most technologically advanced Starship in the Federation into what my nephew describes as the quadrant's 'way coolest' disco ball?"

"WHAT?"

Merlin looked sheepish. "I, uh, guess I forgot to tell you. Excalibur has some really powerful phasers and they can be tuned to different visible frequencies. That's where all those coloured beams drawing patterns on the ocean came from. The main tractor beam created the synchronized waves. I mean, the ship was just sitting in geosynchronous orbit above the Grand Plaza. Why not use it?"

He was about to throw his mate in the brig for an hour or two before he realized the access level required to generate phaser fire for such an extended period of time. It required the authorization of the person sitting in the "big chair."

The captain glared at his snickering first officer as he made a slashing gesture across his throat with his hand. Gwen followed his silent order and 'hung up' on the chortling admiral. The terribly embarrassed captain leapt out of the command chair as he glared at his mate.

The sarcasm as he reminded Merlin of his comment the previous evening came through their bond loud and clear.

"No one's going to pay any attention to us. Promise!"

Oops!

Merlin thought back at him as he blushed.

"I'm going to my Ready Room. I don't recommend interrupting me for anything short of a missing Genesis Device." He blushed with a sigh. "Or Emrys' shirt."

"Commander, set course for the Neutral Zone, maximum warp. We'll be joining the Seventh Fleet shortly," he snapped.

Merlin didn't know why they had diverted to Risa in the first place. He was Arthur's mate. That didn't automatically increase his security clearance and Arthur wouldn't break orders. However, all embarrassment aside he was VERY happy they had. The evening had been one of the happiest of his life. He became a lot less happy a few seconds later.

"Um, Captain, before you go there's the small matter of your 'inbox,'" Gwen said as she glanced at the rapidly increasing number of messages. "23.8 million so far, sir. It looks like a lot of them are... Computer, how many of the messages to the captain include sexual overtures?"

"19.2 million. The vast majority of the remaining messages involve overtures to both the captain and the ensign as a couple."

The captain didn't want to hear any further details. Merlin obviously didn't, either. His possessive irritation flowed through their bond clearly.

*&^$%#*$&$!

This time the yell wasn't caused by inexperience like it had been with Arthur. It was pure, unadulterated, telepathic swearing.

The door to his Ready Room opened, but before he could step through his first officer asked, "Did you enjoy yourself last night, Captain?"

Her eyes sparkled with delight as Arthur smiled in spite of himself.