Rachael and Ryan woke up together, as usual. It had become a regular thing in the past few weeks, and both were getting used to it and enjoying the feel of sleeping next to each other. The Nimitz had been stationed at Belaeus IV with USS Gryphon until USS Excalibur could return from being repaired. Calhoun had taken his Sovereign Class Battleship to Starbase 763 for repairs a week ago, and the entire crew was itching to find out if Friday was still alive or not. He was more than a fellow pilot and crewmate. He was a friend.
Rachael had asked Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise to see if they could make it to the NZ8 system to search for Friday, and he had said that it would be possible after a quick pirate investigation along the Neutral Zone, since it was in the same general vicinity. That had been a day ago, and Jean-Luc had commed them to say he was now enroute to NZ8-257.
*****
Eight days after their crash landing, and 1 day before Enterprise began the journey to their little piece of Paradise, Jason and Delaara had settled into a routine of sorts. Up at dawn to do Physical Training, which included swimming, abdominals and arm strength workouts for two hours. Then a run to the pool for a quick wash under the small waterfall and a leisurely cooldown stroll back to their campsite. They had taken to sleeping inside the downed Valkyrie's single crew compartment behind the cockpit since a storm had rolled in on the evening of their third day and washed their fire away. The wreck was high enough on the beach and heavy enough that the waves from the storm couldn't wash it out to sea.
They had also discovered, entirely by accident, that they had similar taste in music. During their morning workout, Delaara had plugged a small music device into her ear for some workout music. When Jason asked what she was listening to, she smiled and placed the listener over his ear. His jaw just about hit the ground when he heard "Aces High" blasting into his eardrum. He then pulled out his own MP7 player that he used while flying on routine patrols and hit the play button. He had over 500 gigabytes of music on there. Mostly late 20th and early 21st century Heavy Metal. The familiar drums of "Where Eagles Dare" began playing from it.
"Honey, I have to ask. How the hell did you get Iron Maiden in the Empire?" Jason asked incredulously.
"I went to Earth once about ten years ago as part of a security detail for our Ambassador. As a pilot, I didn't have much to do, so I went shopping in downtown San Francisco while the talks were taking place. I went into a small shop that had a lot of old music, and I heard "Aces High" on the sound system. I asked the owner, Ricky, about it, and he was only too happy to show the 'hot alien babe' the Heavy Metal section." She chuckled at the memory. "We talked for hours about the similarities and differences between Human and Romulan music."
"Tesla Records!" Jason exclaimed and started laughing.
Delaara's eyes grew wide. "How did you know?"
"Where do you think I got my collection?" he grinned. "Ricky still owns the place, and his hair is even longer now. If we get the chance to go to Earth, we are gonna have to pop in and say 'hey' to him." They both laughed at that, and the memory of the long haired metalhead who was their friend.
"He was funny, that's for sure! He showed me a holopic of his wife and kids while I was there."
"His oldest, Jimmy, enrolled in the Academy a year after I did. He should be graduating in about a month from now." What were the odds? He had a feeling that if Starfleet rescued them, she would be made welcome by his friends on Earth. Their grins got even wider at the shared history.
"Why couldn't we have met before the war, Jason? We might already have a life together", she smiled sadly as she asked that question.
"Hey, sweetheart. We have a life now, and we'll have a life together after we're rescued." He took her into his arms and kissed her softly. He had always loved tall women, and Delaara was only half an inch shorter than he was.
Delaara loved his kiss, and she loved the beard he had been growing for nearly a week since the battle. She stroked it as they kissed even more passionately.
Just then, a roar passed overhead along with a very large shadow. They both looked up and drew their weapons.
"Orions", Jason growled.
"How did they find us?" Delaara asked nervously.
"The ionosphere messes with sensors, remember? It makes sense that pirates would hide out here. Looks like they're landing on the other side of the island." Jason was both relieved and frightened at the prospect of encountering Orions here. Frightened for Delaara's safety, while relieved that if they could somehow wrest control of that battle raider from them, they could rescue themselves.
"If we can get ahold of that ship, I could fly us out of here. I can read Orion", Delaara said hopefully.
"I love the way you think, baby." Jason leaned in and kissed her. They started into the light jungle towards where the battle raider appeared to touch down.
*****
On board the Enterprise, the investigation of pirate activity along the Neutral Zone was complete, except for one Orion battle raider that had escaped. Lieutenant Commander Worf turned to Captain Picard and informed him of the ship's probable destination as the NZ8 system.
"Good news, Mr. Worf. We might be able to get two birds with one stone." Picard smiled at the thought that he might be able to find out what happened to young Lieutenant MacKenzie and track down the escaped pirate ship at the same time.
"ETA is two hours until NZ8-257, sir", said Commander Riker. "When we get there, I'll have an away team ready to go when we determine their position."
"Excellent, Number One. Helm, engage."
*****
Jason and Delaara slipped forward in a low crawl as they topped the hill overlooking the battle raider's landing site. They spotted two Orions, a male and a female, outside the ship looking around. He used his ocular to zoom in on them, and discovered something odd.
"Delaara, take a look at this. Anything seem a bit off to you?" he asked as he passed her the mini-telescope.
She looked through it and saw it immediately. The male Orion seemed to be taking orders from the female. As they watched, three more Orion males came down the boarding ramp at the back of the ship. The female ordered them to secure the area, judging by her hand gestures.
"She's in charge, Jason. I don't like this. If a female Orion is in charge, that means....." she couldn't finish the sentence.
"She's the baddest bitch of the bunch, honey." Jason didn't even want to think about the horrors she was capable of. Male Orions were nasty enough. If a female was commanding them, she would have to be twice as mean and twice as deadly.
"What do we do?" They probably saw our camp, so they'll be heading our way soon." Delaara handed Jason his ocular back and he stowed it in the flight suit's left leg cargo pocket.
"The only thing between us and that ship is five Orions. Probably two still inside the ship as security. so add two to the estimate and we're dealing with a possible total of nine crewmembers. Orion Pirate crews are nearly always all male, so the odds are that any females onboard aren't active crew, but concubines. If we open fire from here, they'll just up skids and gone. If we manage to kill Queen Bitch down there with the first shot, her XO will call evac, and we still won't have a ship. Our best option to capture it is to get up close, somehow. Any ideas?" Jason looked at her as he asked.
"Orion males are lecherous fools, so a stranded female Romulan fighter pilot who was downed here might be able to persuade them to take her onboard with them. For the promise of some latinum, of course." She grinned and could see him slowly shake his head 'no'.
"With a male captain, I would say 'hell yes, go for it'. With a female captain, she would see you as a rival and burn you down where you stand. I would stand a better chance of getting their attention while you snuck around and neutralized their onboard security detachment. I know Orion females, and most of them are sex-starved nymphos. Even the crazy ones." He could see that she didn't like the idea. "I don't like it either, but a direct assault is out of the question, here. They outnumber us nearly five to one, sweetheart."
