Admiral Portia Stoyer took the onset of artificial gravity in stride as she descended the boarding ramp from her personal, high-spec shuttle down into the hangar bay of the Inyx. It had been a long journey out to the rim, and it was always a relief to be back under gravity--even if, now that her hair was turning gray, some of her joints seemed to prefer the weightlessness of the void. But Admiral Stoyer had absolutely no plans to retire yet. She remained razor sharp, and she knew her reputation as the hard-ass who had mentored Captain Vasser preceded her. For her and her protégé in the Alliance starfleet, there were still a lot of rungs left to climb.
Especially now that Captain Vasser had successfully captured Wasp, the most infamous vandal-hacker in the Alliance.
Admiral Stoyer had received the transmission while she was already en route. Sure enough, upon her arrival, she'd seen Wasp's infamous ship just across the hangar bay. Presumably now, with its mission complete, the Inyx would soon be returning to populated space, but she had decided to carry out her inspection regardless. It was merited after such an arduous tour, and there was nothing wrong with letting the victorious crew take a victory lap in front of a member of the Admiralty.
Not that she'd go easy on them, of course. An inspection was still an inspection, and Admiral Stoyer knew that, in her neat, highly-decorated uniform, she cut a formidable figure. Once the venting coolant steam cleared, she expected to see only the most upright backs and stiffest salutes from the honor guard that would be there to greet her.
Instead of an honor guard, though, at the bottom of the ramp, only one person was waiting for the admiral. A woman she recognized from the crew files as the ship's doctor, Yuzuko Hiraga.
"Doctor Hiraga, I believe?" the admiral called out, stepping off the ramp, face pressed into a displeased frown. "There better be a good reason you're the only one who-"
She paused to deepen her frown as she took note of what the doctor was wearing.
The long, white lab coat was regulation. The garment Dr. Hiraga had on underneath was anything but. It was a bodysuit that covered her from neck to ankles, and clung to her form so tightly it was plainly completely inappropriate for a medical professional. But what truly caught Admiral Stoyer's eye was the way the strange, featureless bodysuit reflected the hangar bay's rows of dim, blue, artificial lights up and down her torso. It was made of some kind of taut material--Rubber? Latex? The admiral wasn't sure--and polished to a mirror shine, lending it an unfamiliar, almost alien look. An undeniably fetishistic look, too.
The doctor was even wearing high heels, equally polished and reflective. Heels! It was ridiculous.
"Admiral Stoyer." Dr. Hiraga saluted the admiral with perfect form, as if nothing were amiss. "It's a pleasure to welcome you aboard the Inyx, ma'am."
"I'd say 'it's a pleasure to be here', but that now appears to be in doubt," Admiral Stoyer replied testily. "Doctor, before I express my displeasure with your flagrant disregard for uniform regulations, how about you explain to me why Captain Vasser isn't here to greet me?"
Irritatingly, the icy glare that had ruined the day of many an Alliance cadet failed to make the doctor flinch. "She sends her apologies," Dr. Hiraga said calmly. "Unfortunately, an alien pathogen has recently been detected aboard the ship. To minimize the risk of infection, the captain decided that I should meet you alone so that I can administer the countermeasure."
"An alien pathogen?" Admiral Stoyer narrowed her eyes. "That wasn't in any of the reports."
The doctor remained unfazed. When Admiral Stoyer studied her more closely, the only thing she could read in Dr. Hiraga's face was the faintest hint of a pink, somewhat lurid blush in her cheeks. Was she getting off on what she was wearing?
"May I administer the inoculation?" Dr. Hiraga asked, smiling.
"Inoculation?" Something about this was setting Admiral Stoyer's nerves on edge. It had been a few years since her last combat and her instincts were growing dull, but perhaps they were trying to tell her something.
"A simple procedure." Dr. Hiraga reached into one of the pockets of her lab coat and pulled out a medical device; a hypospray with a long, wickedly pointed tip. "It'll only take a moment."
For a long moment, Admiral Stoyer considered arguing. All of this was, after all, entirely against standard procedure. Something was obviously wrong aboard the Inyx--but, she reasoned, if there truly was an alien pathogen, perhaps the captain had seen fit to impose unusual measures. Limiting contact made sense. Dr. Hiraga's bodysuit still didn't, but Admiral Stoyer hadn't come all this way to argue with a mere medical officer. Better, she decided, to simply get this over with and proceed with her inspection.
At the end of the day, Yvonne Vasser was a top-notch commanding officer. Admiral Stoyer was sure she could trust her to have matters under control.
"Very well," Admiral Stoyer said gruffly. "Make it quick, doctor."
"Of course." The blush in Dr. Hiraga's cheeks deepened as she stepped toward the admiral and brandished the hypospray. "In your ear, if you please. And don't worry. I assure you, the implant is completely painless."
A few minutes later, Admiral Stoyer came back to herself. She was still standing on the same spot, but she was struck with the sudden awareness that she had lost time. It was as if she had just fallen asleep and woken back up. Her vision was stained with swirling, bright patterns, like the kind she might see behind her eyelids if she closed them after staring straight into a bright light, and her ears rang with an unfamiliar voice, the memory of which was already slipping away from her.
It had to be the procedure, Admiral Stoyer decided. Painless, perhaps, but clearly not free of all discomfort. That was something else she'd need to have words with Dr. Hiraga about later.
Something... else?
Admiral Stoyer frowned. For a moment, that strange voice in her ear seemed to surge, becoming deafening, whispering suggestions to her--although somehow the words themselves remained indistinct. The colors surged too, and the admiral briefly lost track of her own thoughts as the world around her seemed to fade away, and she was left floating in space, staring at a great, shifting spiral as if she was looking down from above the galactic plane itself.
Then the moment passed, and Admiral Stoyer was left picking up the pieces of herself.
Something else? What else? What else about Dr. Yuzuko Hiraga might give Admiral Stoyer cause for complaint? She couldn't seem to remember. When she looked at the doctor with fresh eyes, hoping to remind herself, Admiral Stoyer certainly couldn't find anything to pull her up on.
