Red Means Dead

Nightmare

Smoothing my hands down the front of my dress uniform, I take a deep breath and nearly march into the room, looking more confident than I feel. Several officers are already there including Mr. Spock, Uhura, Mr. Scott and the Captain. Other lieutenants and a few bridge personnel round out most of those in attendance and surveying them, I relax slightly realizing that formalities aren't really obligatory at the moment.

Everyone is milling around, most with drinks in hand, all relaxed and enjoying the impromptu time off.

I'm happy, and a bit nostalgic for the other times I've attended such events, Mei in tow, the spotlight not necessarily turned on me. Commendations aren't totally uncommon, especially on missions such as ours, but this was the first that I got to experience solely for me.

"Ah! Walker! Come join our conversation, lass. Sulu was just sharing a bit of history with us."

I look to the small group and see several officers from the bridge and Scotty, who had called to me.

"My first name actually came from a comic book. And my last, well of course it is from the Sulu Sea. My ancestors wanted a fresh start after the Eugenics Wars of the 90s and they liked how the waters touched every shore."

I've heard all this before, from Mei, and it stings that she's not the one telling me but I focus on how happy she had been. That is until she found out about his husband and had moved on to the next object of attraction.

My attention wanes as I see McCoy walk in, his full dress blues looking crisp and impressive. All else seems to fuzz out as he smiles my way and we convey everything we're thinking before he walks over to the small group, greeting everyone.

"Lieutenant Walker," he smiles, taking hold of my hand and shaking it slowly. "Should we be thanking you or congratulating you?"

The group reacts positively, turning even more of their attention my way.

"Apologies, Walker!" Sulu proclaims, clasping my shoulder. "This is your big night!"

"Hardly. I was just doing my job."

McCoy squeezes my hand and I let out a breathy chuckle. I can't help it. I don't want the attention.

"Scotty tells us your math skills are amongst the highest of the engineers. There's a few computations I wouldn't mind running by you for the targeting array."

I blink, surprised. "Uh, sure."

"Wheesht." Scotty makes a flabbergasted noise and rolls his eyes. "Don trouble the lass with such havers!"

We all chuckle at his outburst, not quite certain what he said but getting the gist.

"Really, Scotty, I don't mind."

"Be that as it may, lass, I'd rather such a valuable member of me team doin' me work and gettin' me all the credit."

We all laugh again and I feel my cheeks warm and another affirming squeeze from McCoy. He's been holding my hand for a noticeable length of time now to the point that I can feel the weight of whispers on my shoulders. Clearing my throat, I put all efforts in extracting my appendage but he ups his game and pulls me tight to his side with his other arm. I'm momentarily stunned which manifests as a shocked puff of air but no one else really reacts.

"C'mon, hero," he asserts, "Let me buy ya a gratitude drink."

"They're already free," I deadpan.

"Let me throw in on that!" Sulu pipes up.

"Aye! I'll make it a double fer ye!"

I scoff but let McCoy lead me away to the counter where several glasses filled with various colored liquids are set.