Starbase 12 - Off-Duty Recreation Hall
The music was too loud. The lights were too bright. And the crowd? way too close. Ariel stood against a back wall, half in shadow, fingers wrapped around a chilled glass of synthehol she hadn't touched. Her green eyes tracked the movement across the dance floor - familiar Starfleet uniforms mingling with locals and strangers. Everyone laughing. Loud. Confident. Loose. She envied it, but didn't want it. Her black hair curtained her face as she kept her head down.
But someone noticed. A man she didn't recognize - not from the Enterprise. Gold command stripes, but the arrogance didn't feel Starfleet. More like someone who'd spent more time at bars than on bridges. "Why's a girl like you hiding back here?" he slurred, voice thick with something stronger than synthehol. "Don't you know it's a party?" Ariel gave a small, polite smile and tried to step away. "I'm fine, thank you." He didn't take the hint. "Come on... just a drink. Or something better." She stiffened. "No, really. I-" She moved to walk around him, but his hand clamped around her wrist.
"Don't be like that. I'm just being friendly." His grip wasn't hard - not yet - but it was possessive. Like he'd decided she was his prize for the night. She tried to pull away. "Let go of me." But he only laughed and leaned closer. His body caged hers, forcing her against the wall. Her heart raced - not in fear exactly, but in that frozen panic that rises when someone crosses a line and doesn't seem to care.
"Hey." A single word. Quiet. Crisp. Heavy.
The man froze as a hand landed on his shoulder from behind. Ariel looked up. Montgomery Scott. His voice was calm, but there was a dangerous calmness to it - like a warp core just before overload. "Lad, I suggest you take yer hands off her. Right now." The man scoffed. "Who the hell are-?" Scotty didn't let him finish. He pulled the man back in one fluid motion and drove his fist into his jaw - once, solid and controlled. The man hit the floor with a grunt, clutching his face.
"Ach. Must be somethin' wrong with your ears," Scotty muttered, shaking out his hand. "She said no." Ariel's breath came out in a gasp she hadn't realized she was holding. Her wrist still tingled where the man had grabbed her. Scotty knelt, grabbed the guy by the collar, and hissed something sharp and low in his ear - something Ariel couldn't hear but saw the effect of. The man scrambled off, disappearing into the crowd like smoke.
Then Scotty turned to her. His expression shifted instantly. From steel to softness. "You alright, lass?" he asked, voice low. She nodded, but the adrenaline was still burning through her veins. "Y-Yeah. I... I didn't expect - Thank you." He looked down at her wrist, then back to her eyes. "Did he hurt you?" "No," she whispered. "Just... startled." He exhaled slowly, then muttered, almost to himself, "Should've stayed closer." She blinked. "You were watching?" He cleared his throat, a little embarrassed. "Nah, just - keeping an eye on things. Noticed you'd been over here a while. Figured maybe you weren't the dancefloor type."
Ariel smiled, small but genuine. "I'm not." Scotty gave a soft chuckle. "Neither am I. I'd rather be crawlin' through a Jefferies tube than stuck in here." Ariel hesitated. Then, quieter: "But I'm glad you were." Their eyes met. There was a moment of silence between them - not awkward, not tense, just... present. He glanced at the door. "D'you want to get outta here? There's a maintenance deck upstairs with a view of the starfield. Peaceful, and... no drunk idiots."
She bit her lip - nervous, unsure - then nodded. "Yeah. I'd like that." And for the first time all night, Ariel stepped forward on her own - following the one person who'd seen her in a crowded room and simply listened.
