Peggy Morgan, the Inyx's science officer, made sure to offer a proper salute to Captain Vasser as she finished up her duty shift on the bridge and headed into the turbolift that would take her back down to her quarters, in the bowels of the ship. As soon as the doors slid closed with their distinctive hiss, though, she slumped against the wall.
Another awful day.
It just wasn't getting any easier. Peggy had always hoped that, somehow, once she made it to a senior enough post, she'd be able to fit in. No such luck. Instead, it felt like other members of the crew were constantly laughing at her behind her back, be it because of the way she looked, or the way she talked, or her tendency to get lost in daydreaming and fantasy when during an uneventful shift.
Yes, Peggy was a huge nerd. She understood perfectly well that she was a complete stereotype of a science officer. Peggy was pale and freckled, with long, red hair and huge, round glasses. She couldn't handle contact lenses or laser correction, and a nervous habit meant that she often stuttered or lisped when she spoke. Thanks to that she usually kept quiet - but when she found her voice, she sometimes got carried away with her scientific explanations.
It wasn't her fault that the finer points of subquantum physics were so fascinating! Really, other Alliance officers should try to educate themselves. Instead, when Captain Vasser cut her off, they just giggled behind their hands. And why did the captain have to be so short with her anyway? She was an officer! A young one, yes, but she still deserved respect.
Peggy sighed. Hopefully, once they were through with this mission, she could get herself transferred to a ship that suited her better. Until then, there was no use dwelling on it. All she could do was go back to her quarters after every shift and try to take her mind off it all by indulging in her favorite hobby.
Anime.
Yes, being obsessed with twenty-first-century media was often considered cringe. No, it didn't help with her image as a complete and total dork. But Peggy didn't care. Anime was her life. There was nothing better than curling up in her bunk with her body pillow and waifu plushes to burn through a few seasons of classic animation.
It was such a shame that Peggy didn't have anyone to share her passion with. Unfortunately, to most people, anime was just some boring, old-fashioned, dead medium, no different from opera and ballet. Apparently, your average Alliance starship officer didn't have much interest in classical culture. Oh, Peggy had tried to spread the good word. But just like everything else, it had mostly gotten her ignored and quietly made fun of.
Fine. Whatever. All Peggy needed to do to escape their scorn was make it back to her quarters without running into anyone unpleasant. Then she'd have the evening all to herself.
But it was never that easy. Peggy cursed her luck when she rounded a bulkhead and found herself staring at the Inyx's chief of security, Samira Carter.
Great.
Chief Carter was one of the worst. Peggy had spent her entire education looking forward to the day she no longer had to deal with abrasive, small-minded, meat-headed jocks. But as it turned out, they had a way of following you wherever you went. Peggy and Chief Carter were never going to be friends. Chief Carter had that loud, swaggering confidence that just grated uncomfortably on Peggy's nerves. She treated the whole ship, and everything in it like it was her own personal playground - especially the women. It was infuriating that, just because she had a few muscles, she assumed she could have any girl she wanted. It was even more infuriating that she seemed to be right.
Peggy would have disliked Carter even if she'd left the science officer completely alone. She was everything Peggy had learned to resent and avoid. But in typical fashion, she was also the ringleader of all the mockery Peggy had received. She had been the first to make cutting comments about Peggy's love of anime, and she was always the one who laughed the loudest whenever she tripped over her words or got shut down by Captain Vasser. And since she was such a big presence wherever she went, the rest of the crew had ended up taking their cues from her.
Peggy had tried to give Chief Carter the benefit of the doubt. It wasn't like the security chief was singling her out in particular. She treated almost everyone this way. Probably, it was her version of being friendly. 'Harmless banter', she'd call it. It wasn't her fault that Peggy was so bad at sticking up for herself, and so easy to make fun of. But at the end of the day, that didn't matter. She was making Peggy's life miserable, and Peggy couldn't forgive her for it.
So, as they walked towards each other, Peggy just fixed her eyes on the floor and silently prayed that Chief Carter didn't take any notice of her. She couldn't take one more mean comment. Not today. Hopefully, she was busy. Hopefully, she had something else on her mind. Hopefully, she was-
"Hey, Morgan. How's it going?"
Her deep, cocksure, sultry voice was like nails on a chalkboard to the science officer. She kept her head down and quickened her pace, hoping against hope that Chief Carter would just let it go.
No such luck.
"Woah! What's the hurry?"
Peggy felt herself thrown suddenly off balance as something slammed into her shoulder and spun her around. Immediately disoriented, she braced herself to hit the floor before she realized that, instead, something was bearing down on her and keeping her pressed firmly against the nearest bulkhead.
It was Chief Carter. The security chief had slammed her against the wall.
Immediately, Peggy was flinching and panicking. Physical abuse? She hadn't imagined even Carter would sink quite that low. It was a major escalation. What was Peggy going to do? She could take it to the captain, yes, but that was slim consolation while she was getting her face pounded in by a brute of a security chief. Peggy started bringing her hands up to fend off the blows, shaking furiously.
"Hey," Chief Carter said, in her very lowest, smokiest, most seductive voice. "Why such a hurry, cute thing? Surely whatever you're doing tonight can't be better than spending time with me."
Peggy barked an awkward, disbelieving laugh. It took her a long moment to process, with disgust, that Chief Carter didn't want to beat her.
She wanted to screw her.
Scarcely a more appealing proposition.
"G-g-g-get off m-me!" Peggy spluttered. Chief Carter just laughed good-naturedly.
"No need to be afraid, Morgan," she cooed. "I don't bite... much."
Peggy felt like she was going to hurl. This was completely ludicrous.
"L-let me go!" Peggy doubled her efforts to squirm free. "Or I'll... I'll..."
To her surprise, Chief Carter actually eased up on her a little - although not enough for her to escape.
"C'mon. Is the prospect of spending an evening hanging out with me really that bad?" Chief Carter's voice gave Peggy pause. She sounded surprisingly sincere.
"S-save it," Peggy replied wearily. "You're just making fun of me anyway."
"Huh?" Now Chief Carter seemed all but wounded. "No, not at all. Why would you think that?"
"B-because it's what you always do!" Peggy exploded. "I'm used to it by now, OK? You're not gonna fool me that easily."
"Morgan..." Chief Carter's eyes turned big and deep and sorrowful. She reached down to gently caress Peggy's cheek with the back of her hand. "I'm so sorry that you were hurting. I never knew. Won't you let me make it up to you?"
